Topic: WCDT Strips 3171-3175 (07 March - 11 March 2016) (Read 36287 times)

St.Clair · « **Reply #50 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 11:24 »

Just wanted to mention and applaud all the different "camera angles" in this strip. A far cry from a lot of "everyone stands around for N panels in front of an identical / limited / no backdrop" strips.

Roborat · « **Reply #51 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 11:46 »

I love Faye's insults. Also, I am surprised May still has her arms attached after they are pulled like that in the last panel.

Kugai · « **Reply #52 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 13:42 »

This is going to prove interesting

Morituri · « **Reply #53 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 14:33 »

It has potential - in particular I'm imagining May's reaction to having Faye do "better than OEM" repairs, or giving her a substantially remodeled custom face that she likes better.

But, honestly, if Faye just plain does a good job, she'll appreciate it. For all her flaws, cynicism, and impulse control issues, May is someone who has major loyalty and gratitude for people who do something nice for her, especially when it's something they didn't have to do and when it's somebody she's been an ass to earlier.

But on some level it's still going to be disappointing, at least to me. I really wanted to see Chibi!May inhabiting Momo's old chassis and asserting her own identity in it.

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #54 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 15:12 »

Quote from: Morituri on 08 Mar 2016, 14:33

But, honestly, if Faye just plain does a good job, she'll appreciate it.

I'm wondering how good a job Faye does will prove more important. If Faye just fixes the problem, that's all well and good, everyone is happy.

But if Faye decides to do a little more work than the obvious repairs, that could land May in far more trouble, because one would assume that as a parolee, May would only be "lent", for want of a better word, the chassis for use during her parole. It could even be a case that when the terms of her parole ends, May will have to return the chassis in a condition close to when she was given it. Meaning any aftermarket upgrades or mods could have serious repurcussions for her.

Ultimately this is going to walk on a very fine line for May and her future.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #55 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 15:14 »

I wonder what happened to the chassis May used before she went to jail...or if she had one at all.

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #56 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 15:23 »

I can't quite remember, but I think May was originally a military or corporate AI looking to get herself a chassis, just one that involved a couple of million of military grade hardware.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #57 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 15:43 »

She was trying to buy a fighter jet on the black market to transfer her consciousness to, but that doesn't mean she didn't already have a humanoid chassis.

DonInKansas · « **Reply #58 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 15:51 »

I wonder how many butt autographs (buttographs?) Jeph ill be asked to sign at cons now.

improvnerd · « **Reply #59 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 16:41 »

Quote from: DonInKansas on 08 Mar 2016, 15:51

I wonder how many butt autographs (buttographs?) Jeph ill be asked to sign at cons now.

Probably about the same.

Morituri · « **Reply #60 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 17:19 »

This might very well be the same chassis she had before going into the robo-jail. With its maintenance neglected while she was embezzling and saving money for the new fighter-jet chassis, then warehoused for however long she was in, during which time its warranty expired.

In a similar vein, when convicts are getting out of jail they have the clothes and possessions they had on their person when arrested returned to them. So, their old wallet with their expired drivers license and years-out-of-date photos of family who've left them while they were in, the jeans and shirt they were wearing, etc. Maybe for the synthetic set this includes the old chassis.

jheartney · « **Reply #61 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 17:55 »

Quote from: Morituri on 08 Mar 2016, 17:19

This might very well be the same chassis she had before going into the robo-jail. With its maintenance neglected while she was embezzling and saving money for the new fighter-jet chassis, then warehoused for however long she was in, during which time its warranty expired.

In this comic it says pretty explicitly that May was given a new chassis upon leaving incarceration. It's even called a "reformChassis," kind of like giving an ex-con a striped shirt to wear all the time.

Perfectly Reasonable · « **Reply #62 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 18:09 »

Run May! Run while you can!

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #63 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 18:18 »

Quote from: Method of Madness on 08 Mar 2016, 15:14

I wonder what happened to the chassis May used before she went to jail...or if she had one at all.

If she wasn't just living in a server rack but had an actual body, it may have been seized and auctioned off to pay restitution or fines or court costs or parole fees or jail room and board or any of the other bites the system takes from convicts.

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #64 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 18:23 »

Quote from: jheartney on 08 Mar 2016, 17:55

Quote from: Morituri on 08 Mar 2016, 17:19
This might very well be the same chassis she had before going into the robo-jail. With its maintenance neglected while she was embezzling and saving money for the new fighter-jet chassis, then warehoused for however long she was in, during which time its warranty expired.

In this comic it says pretty explicitly that May was given a new chassis upon leaving incarceration. It's even called a "reformChassis," kind of like giving an ex-con a striped shirt to wear all the time.

Honestly, that chassis seems like its designed more to encourage a parolee to break the law again rather than help them reform.

DrBear · « **Reply #65 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 18:50 »

The vibe I get from this is a sitcom where one actress has demanded too much money for next season, is disfigured in the final show of the year and is replaced the next season by a different actress.

Undrneath · « **Reply #66 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 18:53 »

You mean Jeph wants to explain why May might look completely different once we see her again?

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #67 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 19:09 »

This is exactly how I see this arc ending.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #68 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 19:28 »

If May becomes a supervillain, will she go back to prison, or will Hannermom hire her?

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #69 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 19:28 »

Hannermom can get her out of prison. Probably makes it easier to negotiate a salary that way.

jheartney · « **Reply #70 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 20:00 »

Quote from: TheEvilDog on 08 Mar 2016, 18:23

Honestly, that chassis seems like its designed more to encourage a parolee to break the law again rather than help them reform.

Exactly right. The QC AI parole system sounds a lot like the actual parole system.

Detachable Felix · « **Reply #71 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 20:19 »

I wonder, does this mean May's going to have a different face? or is it just a skin* replacement?

Undrneath · « **Reply #72 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 20:40 »

It would appear to be a "skin" replacement. What I want to know is since the face won't match the rest of the body will Faye keep going with the make over until May looks entirely different.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #73 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 20:43 »

The kind of teasing Faye is doing can do real damage to someone who's been traumatized.

Undrneath · « **Reply #74 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 20:47 »

I'm not sure she is teasing, I think she is just so excited with the prospect of learning more techniques that she is oblivious to May's discomfort. Not to mention the fact that her typical "patients" generally let her do whatever she wants.

Dicrostonyx · « **Reply #75 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 21:00 »

Quote from: Undrneath on 08 Mar 2016, 20:40

What I want to know is since the face won't match the rest of the body will Faye keep going with the make over until May looks entirely different.

We don't know how different their available dermal covering is from May's normal colour, and since it's the face, a very small distinction would be visible. It's completely possible that they can make a shade of blue that wouldn't be too different from her body, especially given that different colours on the face and body don't seem to be entirely uncommon, so they just have to do the entire head.

Of course, given May's history, she might use a face/ body colour difference as an excuse to go back and look into further modifications. It could present a new temptation. She doesn't want to go back to jail, but if the only upgrade option available to her is illegal, then how far should she take it...

Undrneath · « **Reply #76 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 21:08 »

But are the repair / modifications themselves illegal or is it just where they are happening the issue?

Tova · « **Reply #77 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 21:14 »

Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 08 Mar 2016, 20:43

The kind of teasing Faye is doing can do real damage to someone who's been traumatized.

May's traumatized?

Radium_Coyote · « **Reply #78 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 21:17 »

If May's not traumatized, she's probably going to be. Having a whole new face is non-trivial thing. Not that anyone will do anything less than their best, but it won't be her old face.

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #79 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 21:27 »

Okay, tonights comic is the kind of thing I was thinking about. If they change the skin colour on her chassis, that could lead to some serious questions from May's parole officer. That's a major change on what is essentially (I presume) federal property (May's chassis for the duration of her parole). And that is something the parole officer is going to notice, even if it is just a shade off the original dermal covering.

Tova · « **Reply #80 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 21:28 »

Quote from: Radium_Coyote on 08 Mar 2016, 21:17

If May's not traumatized, she's probably going to be. Having a whole new face is non-trivial thing. Not that anyone will do anything less than their best, but it won't be her old face.

Her current face isn't her old face either.

Undrneath · « **Reply #81 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 21:29 »

Are AI's as "attached" to their skin as us meatbags so as to be traumatized by its possibly drastic change?

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #82 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 21:31 »

Quote from: Tova on 08 Mar 2016, 21:14

Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 08 Mar 2016, 20:43
The kind of teasing Faye is doing can do real damage to someone who's been traumatized.

May's traumatized?

We don't know but it's possible. Depends on just how bad a place Robot Jail is.

Tova · « **Reply #83 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 21:35 »

Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 08 Mar 2016, 21:31

We don't know but it's possible. Depends on just how bad a place Robot Jail is.

Sure, it's possible. It's possible that any of the many many people Faye has met, for example, in the cafe while she was working there could have been traumatized at some point in their lives.

Is there some concrete reason that you think that Faye's teasing might cause real damage? Because to me she simply seems to be nervous in a way that is perfectly normal and healthy for someone whose face is being operated on while awake.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #84 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 21:52 »

Concretely, May has just emerged from an environment where she was frighteningly vulnerable. If I'd had someone threaten to toss me into an incinerator(*), I might twitch a bit when someone exulting at using flensing tools on me.

Less concretely, since Robot Jail is "horrible" (strip 2503), it might have psychological effects analogous to harsh prisons for humans (warning: it's rough reading).

(*)Apparently plausibly, since May didn't rule out the possibility that Momo could follow through.

Somebody · « **Reply #85 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 22:55 »

"these days"
http://questionablecontent.net/2713

BenRG · « **Reply #86 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 23:30 »

Well, it looks like May's going to get a full face transplant with differing-colour pseudo-skin. That could be difficult unless she begs for a pair of gloves in the same colour. Then she can just pass for that colour all over. This may have some interesting consequences, especially if the new colour is human flesh-tone. A lot also depends on how much the 'underlying gel' controls the shape of the face; she might come out of this looking very different.

Meanwhile... Yeah, Faye needs to learn a better bedside manner, especially for when the patient is conscious.

pwhodges · « **Reply #87 on:** 08 Mar 2016, 23:49 »

I wonder if May's non-human colour is a badge of her parole, which changing it will violate.

Akima · « **Reply #88 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 00:44 »

Quote from: Tova on 08 Mar 2016, 21:14

May's traumatized?

Yes, definitely. My reading, given her reference to having a physical body "now", is that robot jail is just a big room full of 19" racks full of disembodied AI cores (let's be honest, that's what our prison authorities would do if they could). Not a nice place for one who dreamed of being a fighter-jet.

Flensing... There's a word I haven't come across since I read Moby Dick. Faye is having a whale of a time.

Doc · « **Reply #89 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 01:07 »

Looking up 'debridement' ...
Yegh.

Welu · « **Reply #90 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 02:44 »

Faye's expressions the last two days have been fantastic. I am worried for May though, hopefully it'll just be a little off colour but maybe May would prefer looking like Sally's dress from Nightmare Before Christmas.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #91 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 04:31 »

Quote from: pwhodges on 08 Mar 2016, 23:49

I wonder if May's non-human colour is a badge of her parole

That would be absolutely fucking terrible.

Case · « **Reply #92 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 04:41 »

Does anybody else find Faye's enthusiasm slightly ... unsettling?

DSL · « **Reply #93 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 05:20 »

"Slightly"? ... No.

MooskiNet · « **Reply #94 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 07:44 »

I'd think the ability to negate pain (or what passes for it) would be a standard feature on the chassis for an AI - in fact, reporting pain data would seem to be more difficult than not reporting it.

Skin color is non-trivial, I suppose, but Momo's hair color changes quite easily.

Faye needs work on her bedside manner, but it should be noted that she mostly works on patients who are a little more blasé about getting wrecked.

May is having a favor done for her, and is reacting in the way May typically does - she throws insults left right and sideways because she's never been very good at gratitude.

MrWoodchip · « **Reply #95 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 07:59 »

Bubbles is a really great person. She'd probably get hell from Corpse Witch if she agreed to give away Fight Club^{^{^{^{Whoops, broke the rules}}}} repair stuff to non-clubbers, so she came up with a reasonable excuse to seriously help out this person that she doesn't even like, for free (probably). Warms my heart.

Of course, the one doing the repairs is someone who has no practise doing it, but Faye is a great sculptor, so it should turn out well.

osaka · « **Reply #96 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 08:27 »

For all we know, Faye could very well be trained on working with faces and Bubbles is just acting this way because of how May acted when they first met. One of the first things we saw her working on was Barry's head after all.

comicalArchitect · « **Reply #97 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 08:34 »

The "raid on the arena" prediction seems sadly pretty likely. And if it does happen, even if May, Faye, and Bubbles all manange to stay out of trouble somehow, Corpse Witch will likely retaliate against May somehow.

Morituri · « **Reply #98 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 10:25 »

I think it's fun to imagine May looking like UNITY from Skin Horse. But I don't imagine that's going to happen.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #99 on:** 09 Mar 2016, 12:43 »

Quote from: cucumber error on 09 Mar 2016, 06:40

Quote from: Undrneath on 08 Mar 2016, 21:29
Are AI's as "attached" to their skin as us meatbags so as to be traumatized by its possibly drastic change?

Seems more like being *in* the chassis and conscious while it's being altered would be the potentially traumatic thing. At least in May's case, right now, because she hates her current chassis and has since it was issued to her. AIs like Momo who got to choose their own chassis, or have just had the same one for a long time, might feel more like their chassis is an important part of their identity.

There may not be a precise comparison to carbon-based people but it seems from how the robots act that a chassis means a little less than a body but far more than clothes. In which case getting stuck on a server rack in Robot Jail would be serious punishment all by itself.

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Author Topic: WCDT Strips 3171-3175 (07 March - 11 March 2016) (Read 36287 times)

TheEvilDog

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