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Roko gets the big bust of her dreams.

Corpsewitch does something to set up Faye & Company.

Bubbles does some raccoon extermination.

Spathe Ham and Waffles.

Cloistered chlorine Chloe

[jwhouk]

Strip's up and no poll? For shame!

[Is it cold in here?]

What on earth does Detective Raccoon think she's doing?

This is a place that is full of fighting robots. The options that are consistent with any officer safety training are staying away and coming in with a SWAT team.

Maybe we should start calling her Clouseau.

[MrNumbers]

What on earth does Detective Raccoon think she's doing?

This is a place that is full of fighting robots. The options that are consistent with any officer safety training are staying away and coming in with a SWAT team.

Maybe we should start calling her Clouseau.

She wants to go in so she can have enough information to get a warrant to come back with a SWAT team.

Except any information she gets by trespassing in this manner voids her chances of getting a warrant. Absolutely wouldn't be permissable in court, either.

This is really shoddy police work. Seems to be a lot easier to have gone undercover straight out as one of the gamblers, then file for an audit.

[jheartney]

Except any information she gets by trespassing in this manner voids her chances of getting a warrant. Absolutely wouldn't be permissable in court, either.

Would it be trespassing if the rink is a public space? If whatever she wants to use as evidence is in plain view from a public space, she wouldn't need a warrant.

Lilac did tell Faye she was worried about anyone being taken advantage of; Faye indulging her fetish for face meats against May's will might qualify.

[J]

wow, i think the actual Robocop was better at subtlety than this robot cop lady

[Magniras]

...How often does Pintsize go to strip clubs?

[SubaruStephen]

May: "I ain't no charity case."
       "I'll take the long nights,
            impossible odds.
     I'm gonna be a blue-faced robotic woman!"

[BenRG]

I've got a feeling that what Lilac is about to see transpire in Bubbles and Faye's workshop will permanently rid her of any notion that there is a vast criminal conspiracy using the Underground Robot Fighting League as a cover. It's going to be difficult to believe that anything that farcical could be malign.

I suppose that she could spin it as them trying to alter the identity of a convict so that she can slip away from the authorities. That said, doing so without altering May's IFF codes and probably also altering the geometry of her face would be a wasted effort. In order to make the allegation plausible, they'd also have to be able to show that May is trying to claim she isn't who she is, which would be nearly impossible.

On a side-note, if Corpse Witch is confused about the bills used in the fee, I suspect that May only needs to say "I got it from Pintsize". The "Ooohhh!" of sudden comprehension would indicate that all was explained.

...How often does Pintsize go to strip clubs?

Probably quite frequently when a new one opens that doesn't know that he has already been barred from every other one in Northampton. Then very frequently until he is barred from that one too!

[Tova]

What on earth does Detective Raccoon think she's doing?

This is a place that is full of fighting robots. The options that are consistent with any officer safety training are staying away and coming in with a SWAT team.

Maybe we should start calling her Clouseau.

She wants to go in so she can have enough information to get a warrant to come back with a SWAT team.

Except any information she gets by trespassing in this manner voids her chances of getting a warrant. Absolutely wouldn't be permissable in court, either.

This is really shoddy police work. Seems to be a lot easier to have gone undercover straight out as one of the gamblers, then file for an audit.

But she's not trespassing...

[BenRG]

A twist has just occurred to me:

"Corpse Witch has just been arrested!"

"Arrested? For what?"

"Laundering money from an illegal arms deal! Those $2 bills were marked!"

Bubbles is the cosigner on the lease for the Skate Park; she's the boss now!

[Is it cold in here?]

Did she check in with the bouncer at the front door?

What if Clouseau is one of those police officers who think that two-dollar bills are counterfeit?

[riccostar]

Could it be the $2 bills become plot relevant? 

You'd think Corpse Witch would know the story behind the denomination seeing as she's in the market for arms (the appendage type (and the fighty type))

[VicDor]

Attention please!!!
Ahem...

Grab her by the face meats!

That is all.

[MrNumbers]

Thought: How bad does this end for our ex-con on probation?

[anahata]

I have to agree with May in the final panel.
Faye's doing her a favour, but there's no excuse to get that creepy.

[BenRG]

Thought: How bad does this end for our ex-con on probation?

It depends on what happens; May is very, very small fry who Lilac probably wouldn't even be bothered with if she can snare a big fish. The only thing that she might say to May is: "Get out of here right now and I'll forget that I ever saw you. Oh and stay clear of illegal set-ups in future."

Possibility: Pintsize is a CI for the Massachusetts State Police and helped set up this whole unlikely sequence of events (right down to paying May in tainted cash, knowing that it would end up in Corpse Witch's hands) as part of his own immunity deal.

[blt]

I figure the next few pages are going to lead to Faye coming in to see Bubbles, who has the good sense to ask "you were concerned about police involvement here, but you brought an AI on parole to our workspace?" leading to an "oh shit" from Faye.

And cues the timely appearance of Codename Lilac Raccoon.

[DashaBlade]

Probably unrelated, but there's a recycling center where I live that buys scrap metal - and they make a point in their TV ads (as well as on their website) that "We pay in $2 bills!"

That's just the stray thought that I had when seeing that May paid in $2 bills.

[brasca]

What on earth does Detective Raccoon think she's doing?

This is a place that is full of fighting robots. The options that are consistent with any officer safety training are staying away and coming in with a SWAT team.

Maybe we should start calling her Clouseau.

I have to wonder about the competence of law enforcement in this universe.  Considering what Pintsize gets up to he should've been busted years ago. 

[Method of Madness]

Faye's meats

[TheEvilDog]

Two theories.

1 - Pintsize is actually a deep cover AI cop, one of the first, whose mission is to uncover and to undermine a growing crime ring in Northampton. The whole wacky personality is just part of the deep cover.
2 - Officer Lilac isn't actually a cop, she's an AI that for some reason never made it as a cop, hence all the glaring mistakes she's making. She's just impersonating an officer so she can get payback against Corpse Witch.

[Is it cold in here?]

Thought: How bad does this end for our ex-con on probation?

Her best hope is that Jeph doesn't tend to do dark things.

If it were our world, she could get coerced into being an informant and then caught and killed by the mob. That happens repeatedly.

[J]

2 - Officer Lilac isn't actually a cop, she's an AI that for some reason never made it as a cop, hence all the glaring mistakes she's making.

you're sayingshe's george zimmerman?

[Kugai]

This is gonna be interesting

I sense a Plot Twist coming









Of coures, I could be wrong

[Gyrre]

What on earth does Detective Raccoon think she's doing?

This is a place that is full of fighting robots. The options that are consistent with any officer safety training are staying away and coming in with a SWAT team.

Maybe we should start calling her Clouseau.

She wants to go in so she can have enough information to get a warrant to come back with a SWAT team.

Except any information she gets by trespassing in this manner voids her chances of getting a warrant. Absolutely wouldn't be permissable in court, either.

This is really shoddy police work. Seems to be a lot easier to have gone undercover straight out as one of the gamblers, then file for an audit.

She's clearly watched one too many cop movies.

Oh well, looks like CW might be able to use the 'charity work' wild card after all.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Um, does that panel say what I think it does?
"WARNING: NO OFF BUTTON"

[MrNumbers]

Now there's no issues with the trespasser theory, for a lot of reasons; Clear invitation and reasonable concern.

[Is it cold in here?]

Now everything Clouseau sees is admissible in court.

Uhh, Clouseau? That EMP gun is not going to have any effect on Faye. Something tells me Bubbles is EMP-hardened as well.

[Method of Madness]

Oh shit, she's got a, um...Wiimote?

[SomeCanadianWeirdo]

CW seems quite unconcerned.  I'm guessing she knows Roko has nothing she can use.

I'm guessing "Raccoon at the door" is a code phrase between CW and Bubbles.

[blt]

This paints Bubbles in a weird light to me.  The fact that she and Corpse Witch have a code phrase and SOPs for police calls makes it seem less like she's a good person in a bad place and more "willing accomplice".

Maybe she justifies it to herself the way May does, that it's illegal for the wrong reasons, but still.

[TheEvilDog]

I'm guessing "Raccoon at the door" is a code phrase between CW and Bubbles.

Or it could be that Bubbles has told CW about the cop that has been snooping around, about how she trapped her in a garbage can and chased after a raccoon. Which makes it more of an in-joke than a code phrase.

This paints Bubbles in a weird light to me.  The fact that she and Corpse Witch have a code phrase and SOPs for police calls makes it seem less like she's a good person in a bad place and more "willing accomplice".

Maybe she justifies it to herself the way May does, that it's illegal for the wrong reasons, but still.

I think its more Bubbles knowing that the cop is going make trouble, not for her but for others. May is a recent parolee, Faye is her friend and there are probably other AIs who are in need of repairs that the skate park provides. Its the lesser evil to deal with the cop via CW than to have the cop come busting in and messing something up.

Which is probably going to happen, something getting messed up.

[Storel]

Finally, we know the officer's name! "Roko Basili", hmm, is that a reference to anything? Roko sounds like possibly an anime name.

[TheEvilDog]

Finally, we know the officer's name! "Roko Basili", hmm, is that a reference to anything? Roko sounds like possibly an anime name.

Bear in mind that "Basili" isn't the full name, she got cut off by CW. Could be Basilisk, Basilica, Bastiliatcos, or Bastiliastephloccus (she's Greek, her mother was Galatea)

[jheartney]

Wouldn't an EMP pulse gun take out Lilac Roko-Basili at the same time as the other AI's? EMP's are not aimable.

Bubbles is on CW's side for obvious reasons: the fighting rink is the sole livelihood for Bubbles and a whole lot of other AI's, and any attempt to implement a dragnet by Roko will inevitably draw in both Bubbles and everyone around. Plus, in comic, Roko has been transformed from a threat to a silly clown.

[Tova]

This paints Bubbles in a weird light to me.  The fact that she and Corpse Witch have a code phrase and SOPs for police calls makes it seem less like she's a good person in a bad place and more "willing accomplice".

Maybe she justifies it to herself the way May does, that it's illegal for the wrong reasons, but still.

I personally feel that although Bubbles is a willing accomplice in a robot fighting ring in spite of her apparent disapproval, she remains involved because, although she can't stop it from happening, she can at least do some good by providing the kind of chassis repair service to the participating robots that would not otherwise be available to them because they don't have the cash or it's otherwise too dangerous for them to seek repair (because it would expose the activity). Thus she is making a bad situation better. Lighting a candle.

Corpse Witch tolerates what she and Faye do only because they also fit modifications to make the fights more entertaining. I suspect Bubbles doesn't care for this aspect of her work, but she agrees to it so that she may continue.

She's probably helping May out (in spite of the risk involved) for much the same reason.

Finally, we know the officer's name! "Roko Basili", hmm, is that a reference to anything? Roko sounds like possibly an anime name.

Bear in mind that "Basili" isn't the full name, she got cut off by CW. Could be Basilisk, Basilica, Bastiliatcos, or Bastiliastephloccus (she's Greek, her mother was Galatea)

I vote for Bastiliastephloccusexpialadocious.

[WoaLG]

Wouldn't an EMP pulse gun take out Lilac Roko-Basili at the same time as the other AI's? EMP's are not aimable.

They're not aimable in OUR universe. Their technology is different and more advanced than ours in some ways. The fact it's shaped like a gun suggests that it is aimable.

Also, It's so weird seeing CW acting nicely.

[Is it cold in here?]

Before I invest time figuring out the physics of it, consider that as a job requirement Clouseau might be issued an EMP-hardened chassis.

[WoaLG]

Before I invest time figuring out the physics of it, consider that as a job requirement Clouseau might be issued an EMP-hardened chassis.

Fair point, but an undirected EMP would risk taking out innocent AIs and any other electronics in the area.

[cesium133]

Finally, we know the officer's name! "Roko Basili", hmm, is that a reference to anything? Roko sounds like possibly an anime name.

[Random832]

Finally, we know the officer's name! "Roko Basili", hmm, is that a reference to anything? Roko sounds like possibly an anime name.

Bear in mind that "Basili" isn't the full name, she got cut off by CW. Could be Basilisk, Basilica, Bastiliatcos, or Bastiliastephloccus (she's Greek, her mother was Galatea)

It's a reference to Roko's Basilisk

Clearly her life goal is to torture everyone who didn't believe in her before she was born. Or something, I'm kind of fuzzy on the concept (i've heard being fuzzy on the concept helps defend against it).

[Tova]

Before I invest time figuring out the physics of it, consider that as a job requirement Clouseau might be issued an EMP-hardened chassis.

I speculate that it would fire magnetic bolts that would also, uhh, discourage meatbags from disobeying.

[vforvancouver]

Roko Basilisk.

Hmmm. If I can remember correctly, Roko's Basilisk began in LessWrong, basically as a steampunk version of Pascal's Wager. It was eventualy banned there and then, 'cuz the Streisand Effect, it spilled everywhere else.
So the quintessential claim is that in an indeterminate but inevitable future an almighty superintelligence will punish those whom have failed to help it to exist, by reaching back into the past to punish people who weren't altruistic to its existence. Perhaps you'll only be punished if you knew about the task at hand and, while being able to help, choose not to help; perhaps everyone who knew and didn't collaborate will be punished, and perhaps merely reading about the Basilisk will grant you damnation and hell. Or perhaps not.

In other news, it's my birthday. Yay!

[Truec]

I don't even pretend I understand physics, but a single search on Wikipedia tells me that there are lots of kinds of EMP, and some of them go from point A to point B.  I don't know if a gun that shoots lightning bolts is any more realistic though.

[Is it cold in here?]

Happy birthday!

[Magniras]

Hands and other appendages

other appendages

How many times has this lady arrested Pintsize?

[BenRG]

Yeah, I think it's pretty clear that our friendly neighbourhood AI detective thinks that Corpse Witch is Northampton's answer to Al Capone... or possibly even the town's answer to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen version of Fu Manchu.

Yeah, whatever 'illegal' is going on at the arena, it's increasingly clear that Bubbles is a willing participant. Which, given how much she hates the fights, is odd. I'm still wondering if she started out with deliberate criminal intent to get revenge on the world that alienated her and it's become almost a comfort zone for her. As Corpse Witch has already implied, a sort of "you're in too deep to back out now" situation. Would that still work if Bubbles suddenly had a different priority than surviving her post-military life?


[edit]
Another possibility that occurs to me: We are seeing the outcome of all those 'Hmmm...' moments.

Bubbles recently spent time at Marten and Faye's apartment, during which time she identified Pintsize as having an ex-military chassis as well as being morally deficient. I'm wondering if they may have had a silent conversation over a military-only short-range RF channel. To what purpose?

It occurs to me that one interpretation of events is that Bubbles may have arranged a sting and triple-cross of a kind rarely seen. She may have set up a series of events that get rid of Corpse Witch, using Roko as the trigger-bot and May as an innocent patsy, whilst keeping her own manipulatory appendages squeaky clean. It would certainly be an interesting development if it turned out Bubbles had that ruthless and manipulative edge to her personality.

My justifications for this theory:

• Pintsize's crack about $2 bills being 'the preferred currency of illegal international arms deals' strikes me as a Chekhov's Gun;
• Prostitution (with Pintsize no less) doesn't strike me as something May would have automatically chosen as a means to earn extra cash to get a new face sheath; I'm wondering if Bubbles may have pointed May in his direction;
• There is no particular reason why Bubbles should have wanted Corpse Witch to respond to Detective Basilisk's presence (there was nothing happening that she wouldn't have seen before) unless Bubbles wanted her in the skate park and in a position to do a spot check.

[Akima]

Before I invest time figuring out the physics of it, consider that as a job requirement Clouseau might be issued an EMP-hardened chassis.

But so, almost certainly, was Bubbles (hardened electronics are de rigueur in military equipment, I think), and Faye is made of meat not printed circuits. Corpse Witch is standing behind the detective, and so presumably outside the cone of fire, so the only person likely to get zapped is the one she's trying to rescue. I think Detective Basilisk needs an update to her tactical software.

[hedgie]

After officer Basilisk pulls that weapon, I'd say it's a safe bet that her targets are petrified.   

[blt]

I'm guessing "Raccoon at the door" is a code phrase between CW and Bubbles.

Or it could be that Bubbles has told CW about the cop that has been snooping around, about how she trapped her in a garbage can and chased after a raccoon. Which makes it more of an in-joke than a code phrase.

This paints Bubbles in a weird light to me.  The fact that she and Corpse Witch have a code phrase and SOPs for police calls makes it seem less like she's a good person in a bad place and more "willing accomplice".

Maybe she justifies it to herself the way May does, that it's illegal for the wrong reasons, but still.

I think its more Bubbles knowing that the cop is going make trouble, not for her but for others. May is a recent parolee, Faye is her friend and there are probably other AIs who are in need of repairs that the skate park provides. Its the lesser evil to deal with the cop via CW than to have the cop come busting in and messing something up.

Which is probably going to happen, something getting messed up.

It doesn't sound in character to me for Bubbles to tell CW about dealing with the cop, let alone to turn it into an in-joke.  So it's not that she thought it would be better that CW dealt with it, but that they already seem to have established plans for this situation.

It occurs to me that one interpretation of events is that Bubbles may have arranged a sting and triple-cross of a kind rarely seen. She may have set up a series of events that get rid of Corpse Witch, using Roko as the trigger-bot and May as an innocent patsy, whilst keeping her own manipulatory appendages squeaky clean. It would certainly be an interesting development if it turned out Bubbles had that ruthless and manipulative edge to her personality.

I would actually love this twist, but it would also probably lead to her losing Faye as a friend (unless this comic suddenly took a wildly different tack) and that would basically bring her back to status-quo with Marten and Co, and that would be a shame.