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Faye

Bubbles

Corpse Witch

Marten

Space Ham

Pie

Nope

[Thrudd]

Speaking of which, I now want pie. Jeph and all posters in this thread are complicit.

Sorry, no pie but I do have some small country bakery peanut butter cookies that are very low in sugar yet very good.

[brasca]

It's difficult to say how different the legal system would be in the QC world considering everything that's changed, but I also have to wonder how they might arrest Corpse Witch if she changes chassis.  I'm sure she has some spare ones. 

I could see one possibility being Corpse Witch torching the fighting arena before the police can raid it and seeming disappearing in the fire only to reemerge later.  This might be the best scenario since Bubbles wouldn't have any other choice, but to go into business with Faye.  After a few months Corpse Witch appears to tell her she's putting the fighting ring back together and needs her back which would compel Bubbles to choose between her old life and the new. 

[jheartney]

It's difficult to say how different the legal system would be in the QC world considering everything that's changed, but I also have to wonder how they might arrest Corpse Witch if she changes chassis.

Unless there were some unique identifier attached to each AI core personality (which seems likely), this would be an inherent problem with attempting criminal justice on any AI. Still, I'd imagine there's some sort of gestalt analysis of an AI that would be both identifying and invariant.

OTOH there's the old Trek Transporter problem, where it's not clear that the AI in the new chassis is actually the same one from the old chassis, or instead just a copy that thinks it's the same AI. If that were the case, it'd serve CW right for trying to abscond.

[Is it cold in here?]

If anybody is getting mistreated there then Momo should already have acted.

[Kugai]

I'm not sure Morituri, but I think it's been mentioned or hinted at either by Bubbles herself or by others that she has already been Discharged from Service and the Fight Club gig is her Civvie Street job.

It's going to be intersting to see which direction this Story Arc is going to go in.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

In a sensible world, AIs wishing to fight in arena combat would be allowed to do so, since it is clear that real damage to their core personas is extremely unlikely. And those wishing to bet on the outcomes would be allowed to do so -- within reasonable limits. It appears that the QC-verse is not yet perfect in this respect. Giving latitude to the Big Fish that Officer Lilac is interested in. And pie.

[themacnut]

Whenever something is prohibited, there is potential opportunity for an enterprising individual not overly concerned about little things like legality.

[brasca]

In a sensible world, AIs wishing to fight in arena combat would be allowed to do so, since it is clear that real damage to their core personas is extremely unlikely. And those wishing to bet on the outcomes would be allowed to do so -- within reasonable limits. It appears that the QC-verse is not yet perfect in this respect. Giving latitude to the Big Fish that Officer Lilac is interested in. And pie.

The robot fighting may not be the problem, but the gambling. is another matter  Only a few states and reservations allow anything beyond lotteries.  And even if it is legal there's always people who want to evade taxes like those people who spend all their time making moonshine.  Prohibition ended decades ago, but moonshiners don't want to pay any taxes so they engage in an activity that is legal, but with some restrictions.  And of course there is marijuana which many will swear up and down is harmless, but that doesn't matter to law enforcement.  We still don't know enough to determine if the police bot is just a cog in the legal machinery or truly believes in what she's doing. 

Wonder if the source of Hannelore's insomnia is the same as her eating disorder. 

[Sullivan]

You know, I can completely see Hanners picking locks as a hobby.

[Deadman]

Insomniac Hannelore is quite pleasing reminds me a bit of early Hannelore really hopeful this vib shows up more.

[Neko_Ali]

Uh-oh.. Hanner's floof is starting to reach dangerous levels. I think it has become jealous of Claire's floof. Soon there will be a Floof-Off that will consume all of Northampton.

[Clubman8]

Hannelore gets cuter every time she shows up in this comic. Plus dat floof.

[SomeCanadianWeirdo]

Something about her face in that last panel is just so  cool.

[94ssd]

I can totally relate to Faye's 'This fucking town' comment. I spent the last 4 and a half years in the weirdest mountain college town you can imagine. Mix Appalachian 'hillbilly' culture with a bunch of pot-smoking dreadlock-wearing hippies and add in a healthy dose of millennial hispterism and you've got that town.

My favorite place was a 'general store' actually quite a ways outside of town. Owned by a man named 'Dawg' (who is also a Plott Hound breeder), he sold produce, baked goods, and farming supplies out of an old tin-roof shack. There was also a sign out front advertising that you could buy homemade moonshine by the case.

It really is an improbable place. On the same block of main street a man with a long white beard and overalls will be busking on his banjo right next to the couple selling spirit rocks and hemp bracelets while meditation music plays on their boombox.

[St.Clair]

mmmm, sarsaparilla.

[Gyrre]

Woot! My favorite type of pop got a shout out!

Ironically enough, some brands tout themselves as be 'Kansas City style', yet there isn't a single place in KC that makes or sells sarsaparilla (and hasn't been since the 1930s).

If you're ever in Wichita, KS, the Cow Town Museum actually makes their own sarsaparilla on site. You can also buy 1 liter bottles of sarsaparilla (Frostop brand) at any Atwoods. Leeker's Family Foods (at 61st and Broadway) sells Souix City brand. Does anyone else think it's weird that out of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas; the only one of those states that has anywhere that sells sarsaparilla is Kansas?

BTW: If you like mixed-drinks, there is one for sarsaparilla called a 'Spaghetti Western'. It's a 1:1 mix of sarsaparilla and Root 100 (a 100 proof root beer flavored liqueur). It's usually half a shot glass of each.

[Morituri]

I can totally see Corpse Witch having an "emergency exit" through one of the fighters at the ring.  They're pretty casual about letting her take the AI drive out of their chassis and trusting that she'll put it back.  In a pinch, with ten minute warning that the police are coming, I could see her coming up with some spur-of-the-moment pretext, then flat-out stealing someone's body to get away in. 

[BenRG]

Yes, Faye, you'd forgotten that, hadn't you? You live with a somewhat-hipster Indie Music nerd with dreams of art-house metal stardom. Your next-door neighbour has a laundry list of psychological issues, is a genius and has absolutely no concept of 'boundaries' when she wants something, even if only as an idle whim.

It's easy to forget that sort of thing when there's so much drama in your life. I know that we'd sort of forgotten what the typical domesticity is in the apartment; it hasn't exactly been in the comic for a thousand strips or so!

[TinPenguin]

Is Marten.. an ironic hipster?

[St.Clair]

I imagine that at this point, everyone is (or believes that they are) just doing it "ironically."

[Squiddlywinx]

I'm proud of Hanners for always being collected and personable at her job.

[Zebediah]

I can totally relate to Faye's 'This fucking town' comment. I spent the last 4 and a half years in the weirdest mountain college town you can imagine. Mix Appalachian 'hillbilly' culture with a bunch of pot-smoking dreadlock-wearing hippies and add in a healthy dose of millennial hispterism and you've got that town.

My favorite place was a 'general store' actually quite a ways outside of town. Owned by a man named 'Dawg' (who is also a Plott Hound breeder), he sold produce, baked goods, and farming supplies out of an old tin-roof shack. There was also a sign out front advertising that you could buy homemade moonshine by the case.

It really is an improbable place. On the same block of main street a man with a long white beard and overalls will be busking on his banjo right next to the couple selling spirit rocks and hemp bracelets while meditation music plays on their boombox.

Asheville?

[SubaruStephen]

An Out Of Nowhere Theory: Officer Lilac/Robocop and Punchbot are the same person.

She switches into her Punchbot chassis as a undercover disguise (explains why he's such a bad fighter), but the fighters aren't allowed into some areas and aren't privy to how the skatepark is actually run, so she needs to lean on Faye to get evidence on Corpse Witch.

[ankhtahr]

I'm not sure I'd trust this "artisanal" sarsaparilla. This reminds me far too much of the (fake) news report of a guy selling 2 litre bottles of home made "energy drink", containing meth and gasoline, from his tree fort.

[Gyrre]

I imagine that at this point, everyone is (or believes that they are) just doing it "ironically."

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."
— Kurt Vonnegut

[TheEvilDog]

An Out Of Nowhere Theory: Officer Lilac/Robocop and Punchbot are the same person.

She switches into her Punchbot chassis as a undercover disguise (explains why he's such a bad fighter), but the fighters aren't allowed into some areas and aren't privy to how the skatepark is actually run, so she needs to lean on Faye to get evidence on Corpse Witch.

Equally out of nowhere theory - It was Momo who alerted the police. Largely in part that because if there were alignments in QC, Momo would be Lawful Good. Thing is, Lawful Good is fine for a perfect world, where people don't need to run underground bodyshops or fight clubs to make money. The QC world is not a perfect world, decent people do have to do underhand things in order to pay their rent, to feed themselves and so on. Likewise, in a perfect world, the cops would be able to bring down the fight club by cutting off the head, not threatening one of the peons (and let's face it, Faye is a peon here) with jail time if they don't work for them.

Momo did it with the best of intentions, but as we all know, the path to hell is paved with good intentions.

[bhtooefr]

Couldn't it be argued that Momo had an alignment shift to Neutral Good, when she saw Law's failures, and outright suggested that May go there for facial repairs?

[Is it cold in here?]

I remember that conversation, in fact. Momo was shocked and wanted the skate park shut down but listened when May explained that the people working there had few choices implying that a raid would leave them worse off.

[BenRG]

This is why I think that the complainant is Bubbles, possibly after one of her 'Hmmm...' moments at Corpse Witch's behaviour.

[Timemaster]

I´m a bit at a loss today.
I have never heard of sarsaparilla before. I´m from Germany and that stuff is quite uncommon here and mostly used as an ingredient in homeopatic medicine. So I had to google it. Aunt Google told me about a softdrink flavour and about some kind of root beer.
Is that really common? People make artisanal softdrinks and sell them in casks? Or is this just a joke I´m not getting?
I someone could enlighten me, it would be so kind.

Apart from that todays strip is kinda QC-oldschool. The crew is sitting together, cracking jokes and throwing around puns. Nothing serious, but a lot of fun. I like it. 
And Hanners is looking at her best again. Her smirky smile reminds me of Sedna from Alice Grove.

TM

[cesium133]

I´m a bit at a loss today.
I have never heard of sarsaparilla before. I´m from Germany and that stuff is quite uncommon here and mostly used as an ingredient in homeopatic medicine. So I had to google it. Aunt Google told me about a softdrink flavour and about some kind of root beer.
Is that really common? People make artisanal softdrinks and sell them in casks? Or is this just a joke I´m not getting?
I someone could enlighten me, it would be so kind.

Nope, it's totally real. Around here some of the microbreweries sell root beer as a side business to their main beer business.

[TheEvilDog]

Couldn't it be argued that Momo had an alignment shift to Neutral Good, when she saw Law's failures, and outright suggested that May go there for facial repairs?

Oh course, it could have been a case that Momo made an "anonymous" tip to the police before May started falling apart and before she spoke to Bubbles. Police investigations do take time and it could have been a while before they were in a position to actually look for someone in the group to squeeze.

And I'm just going to add this here, I'm not being at all serious with Momo as the informant. I just think it'd be a funny twist.

[Neko_Ali]

This is why I think that the complainant is Bubbles, possibly after one of her 'Hmmm...' moments at Corpse Witch's behaviour.

The trouble is that this makes no sense. If Bubbles made a complaint to the police about what was going on, then Officer Lilac wouldn't have needed to lean on Faye hoping to get some inside information. She would already have someone who has been there longer, who lives there and is far more familiar with what goes on at the park. It also wouldn't have made much sense for it to have been an anonymous tip from Bubbles because first, it doesn't fit her personality. She is reserved, but when she acts she is straight forward. She doesn't go through intermediaries or blinds. Second because if if the police raid the place due to an anonymous tip then everyone will wind up arrested, including herself. But if she goes to the police and works out an immunity deal then she wouldn't have to worry about it.

To a lesser degree I don't think she would throw the robot fighters under the bus like that. While it's possible she might want to see Corpse Witch taken down, having the police raid and shut down the place would mean everyone goes to jail. Even if in the end the fighters were let go they would have no job, and several at least no place to stay. And honestly, it's very unlikely that would happen. You don't see street walkers let go and just their pimps arrested. No, the most likely result of a police raid is everyone caught there wind up sharing server space at the Robot Jail.

[Endellion]

Is it just me or does Hanners look extra super duper cute and adorable in this strip?

[BenRG]

@Neko_Ali,

Bubbles' report would have been anonymous and specific to Corpse Witch. As for the rest? Who knows what kind of plans that Bubbles may have for that place and its workers once CW is out of the way?

[Neko_Ali]

The police would not come in and just haul Corpse Witch away and leave the criminal enterprise she was running though.  The same that they don't just arrest the person in charge of animal fighting rings and leave the rest to keep operating. Yes, those who are not there or manage to get away usually restart the same thing in a different location. But again, that wouldn't help the fighters who live and work at the park. Officer Lilac may have specified she was looking into AI rights violations and exploitation. But she also indirectly said the police knew about the fight club and deliberately turned a blind eye. If they did have a reason to go after the fight club, they have to take it all in, otherwise they themselves are implicit in the crimes committed there.

Up until the point where someone was arrested they could pass it off as an 'ongoing investigation' or something similar. But they cannot go in, arrest one person and leave the rest of it still running. Plausible deniability only works so long as it is actually you know.. plausible.

[Is it cold in here?]

There might not have been a local tip at all. The cops may be working downhill from the "big fish" until they find someone vulnerable enough to turn, at which point they can begin working uphill again.

Or they may be picking low hanging fruit. That's happening in real life in our world, with law enforcement assistance money tied to arrest statistics.

In any case, the underground fight ring is one of those open secrets locally. If there's a human trafficking investigation going on, they have a list of every "skate park" in the state.

[Sullivan]

Yes, Faye, [...] Your next-door neighbour has a laundry list of psychological issues, is a genius and has absolutely no concept of 'boundaries' when she wants something, even if only as an idle whim.

My gf lives in a rural area in eastern Pennsylvania. Apparently the natives consider it completely reasonable to just knock on your door for an unannounced visit. Moreover, if your house has a back door (like a kitchen door), they'll use that (walking all the way around your house, on your property, invading your back yard, instead of using the front door which is just steps from the street). If the kitchen door is unlocked and they know you even moderately well they'll sometimes just let themselves in and say "hi!". I was SO startled the first time I found an unexpected person in the kitchen. I knew the person and knew she was ok to be there, but... damn.

[Zastie]

That "Chotto Latte!" shirt.. it needs to become a reality. It can't just be me.. can it? ... Wait a second.. it is a reality. Hallelujah, praise be!

[Storel]

I´m a bit at a loss today.
I have never heard of sarsaparilla before. I´m from Germany and that stuff is quite uncommon here and mostly used as an ingredient in homeopatic medicine. So I had to google it. Aunt Google told me about a softdrink flavour and about some kind of root beer.
Is that really common? People make artisanal softdrinks and sell them in casks? Or is this just a joke I´m not getting?
I someone could enlighten me, it would be so kind.

Yes, sarsaparilla is a real soft drink. According to my mother, it's correctly pronounced "SASS-pa-rilla". (She was a Phi Beta Kappa English major at UC Berkeley, so she was usually pretty trustworthy about pronunciation, but she may have been drawing on her Oklahoma upbringing for that one.)

However you pronounce it, sarsaparilla is part of a family of soft drinks that also includes root beer, birch beer, and cream soda, all of which I think are fairly unknown outside the U.S. Root beer is the most popular one. I believe all of them can actually be brewed like beer, which is why some breweries also produce some of these sodas -- Sprecher brewery in Milwaukee, besides producing a nice beer, also brews root beer and cream soda, for example.

[Method of Madness]

I heard it said aloud long before I saw it in writing, so my surprise was at the spelling, not the pronunciation. Faye should love sarsaparilla. She certainly loves sass!

[Sullivan]

Is it just me or does Hanners look extra super duper cute and adorable in this strip?

It's not just you.

[Tova]

Yes, sarsaparilla is a real soft drink. According to my mother, it's correctly pronounced "SASS-pa-rilla". (She was a Phi Beta Kappa English major at UC Berkeley, so she was usually pretty trustworthy about pronunciation, but she may have been drawing on her Oklahoma upbringing for that one.)

However you pronounce it, sarsaparilla is part of a family of soft drinks that also includes root beer, birch beer, and cream soda, all of which I think are fairly unknown outside the U.S. Root beer is the most popular one.

I am quite sure that at least sarsaparilla is reasonably well known and available in Australia, and given that, probably in the UK as well. It's a bit old-fashioned, though. Probably better known by the oldies among us.

Here is one popular Australian version.

https://www.bundaberg.com/brew/sarsaparilla/

Root beer I suspect is at least known, although the name in Australia is... well... *cough* let's just say that it is not marketing magic.

You may well be right about birch beer, though. I've not heard of that one.

I heard it said aloud long before I saw it in writing, so my surprise was at the spelling, not the pronunciation. Faye should love sarsaparilla. She certainly loves sass!

Yes, I had to look at the spelling again to figure out why I should be surprised at the pronunciation.

Edit: In any forum, the answer to a question starting with, "Is it just me ...," is always no.
Edit 2: I forgot to mention that creaming soda in Australia is popular, though I couldn't say whether it is the same here as it is anywhere else.

[Method of Madness]

"Creaming soda" just sounds wrong.

[Tova]

Yeah, well.

Root beer.

[Kugai]

One of my best memories as a kid was going to visit my Dad up the Coast here to one of those small Dot In The Road township/farming communities.  The store there was was a very unique place as it served the entire community around it.  It was a large, almost Warehouse sized Tin Roofed Barn structure and it sold just about everything.  From the Petrol Pumps out front, to the Vesicle Repair Shop/Garage tacked on to the side to the actual Barn itself that was filled with Farming Supplies, tools and hardware, clothing etc, a Mini-Market type store, right down to the the Fish and Chip shop/Takeaways/Cafe - it even had Toilets in the back.  It was a veritable Aladdin's Cave that I later learned had grown up over ensuing Decades to serve the dispersed Farming Community around it.

I remember going up there about two or so years back when my Dad died - the place had gone.  There was now only a large Mini-Market cum Shell Station with a small Cafe attached that served the area and passing tourists.  Modern technology and the ease of ordering Online had ended the place.  I was kinda sad actually.



I wonder if they'll become the Mission: Improbable team 

[Perfectly Reasonable]

'Artisanal' is code for 'pretentious' and 'over-priced'.

Hanners last-panel expression  would look more at home on May.
And I'm pretty sure you don't pick locks with a guitar pick for fluffs sake.
'Everything is awful?' What?

[Tova]

And I'm pretty sure you don't pick locks with a guitar pick for fluffs sake.

Did I miss something? Guitar pick? What are you talking about?

[cesium133]

Woot! My favorite type of pop got a shout out!

Ironically enough, some brands tout themselves as be 'Kansas City style', yet there isn't a single place in KC that makes or sells sarsaparilla (and hasn't been since the 1930s).

If you're ever in Wichita, KS, the Cow Town Museum actually makes their own sarsaparilla on site. You can also buy 1 liter bottles of sarsaparilla (Frostop brand) at any Atwoods. Leeker's Family Foods (at 61st and Broadway) sells Souix City brand. Does anyone else think it's weird that out of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas; the only one of those states that has anywhere that sells sarsaparilla is Kansas?

A current snapshot inside my fridge: 

[War Sparrow]

Hannelore is welcome to break into my house and rearrange my bookshelves, my dishes..

My gf lives in a rural area in eastern Pennsylvania. Apparently the natives consider it completely reasonable to just knock on your door for an unannounced visit. Moreover, if your house has a back door (like a kitchen door), they'll use that (walking all the way around your house, on your property, invading your back yard, instead of using the front door which is just steps from the street). If the kitchen door is unlocked and they know you even moderately well they'll sometimes just let themselves in and say "hi!". I was SO startled the first time I found an unexpected person in the kitchen. I knew the person and knew she was ok to be there, but... damn.

Isn't that everywhere? I have friends who would never consider knocking on each other's doors. We all just waltz right in. I kind of always figured it was the norm.


Edit: Fixed quote tags - Felix