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Brun and the Mystery of Elliott (Why Does He React That Way Around Her?)

The Bubbles and Pintsize Show (Is Pintsize dumb or just suicidal?)

Who are that dark-haired guy and his redheaded girlfriend who live with Faye?

Marigold has come to consider Sam her Sensei in the ways of "Let's Play" shows

Hannelore has a personal life too!

The Return of the Bianchis, the worst parents in Northampton!

The Gods Meet to Discuss Creepybot (Station and Dr E-C dialogues)

Bubbles thinks that there is something odd about Emily and wishes to investigate

Time for the adults (specifically, Veronica and Jim) to have a week in the sun

Other

[Sullivan]

You know, if your work is being compared to a book of the Bible, you must be doing something right.

I suspect Jeph had issues with how to deal with the whole "Bubbles' Brain" storyline without resorting to DEM (gee, sounds like "Spock's Brain," don't it?), and it's showing with the rather clunky ending.

"Brain, brain! What is brain???"

[Morituri]

I suppose having four bodies would enable one (if that's the right word?) to get a lot done in a day.  And these four may be just a representative sample....

[Storel]

I suppose having four bodies would enable one (if that's the right word?) to get a lot done in a day.  And these four may be just a representative sample....

What makes you think they weren't all the same body?

[TheEvilDog]

You know, if your work is being compared to a book of the Bible, you must be doing something right.

I suspect Jeph had issues with how to deal with the whole "Bubbles' Brain" storyline without resorting to DEM (gee, sounds like "Spock's Brain," don't it?), and it's showing with the rather clunky ending.

"Brain, brain! What is brain???"

WE. DON'T. TALK. ABOUT. THAT. EPISODE!

[St.Clair]

Or "Code of Honor".  Or "Profit and Lace". Or "Threshold".  And definitely not "These Are The Voyages".

[Kugai]

Just a few things to tidy up before it's back to HQ and Paperwork.  Then feet up and a nice hot cup of Oil. 


Took me a moment to recognise Punchbot in that last Panel too.

[Spoom]

I've done my own taxes for more than a decade but by God, I would hire Punchbot & Punchbot CPA in a heartbeat.

[Carl-E]

I suppose having four bodies would enable one (if that's the right word?) to get a lot done in a day.  And these four may be just a representative sample....

What makes you think they weren't all the same body?

What makes you think they aren't separate?  Perhaps the plural is more appropriate than we think! 


I envision a veritable army of dapper little gray-I's dressed in black, running around North Hampton getting things done...

[TV4Fun]

What do you mean, Matrix trilogy? There was only one Matrix film. Are there more planned? That would be awesome.

Additionally, there are only 2 seasons of Gargoyles and  Transformers: Kiss Players never happened.

Also, there were 12 seasons of Firefly.

[Orannis]

I gotta say, I have to side with the Deus Ex Machina argument on this one. While there are still problems for the main cast, this particular story line has been wrapped up pretty cleanly, barring Corpse Witch pulling some kind of Houdini escape out of her metal ass.

However, I also do feel that this story has been running out of steam, and that it's a good place to end it. Creepybot sticking a bow on it may have been an awkward resolution, but considering that any alternatives would take quite a while longer to pan out, I think mercy killing the story arc with our new, very attractive robot overlord was the right choice.

[brasca]

Am I the only one wondering if Creepybot knocked out Dora again?

I have to wonder if this is it or this arc may have one more twist like the thing that is worse than robot jail paying Creepybot a visit.  They may not like meddling in their business.  It could be the AI equivalent of the Guild of Calamitous Intent.

[mikmaxs]

Am I the only one wondering if Creepybot knocked out Dora again?

I have to wonder if this is it or this arc may have one more twist like the thing that is worse than robot jail paying Creepybot a visit.  They may not like meddling in their business.  It could be the AI equivalent of the Guild of Calamitous Intent.

I kind of got the impression that Creepbot WAS worse than Robot Jail. Even if she's not the thing that Corpse Witch was referencing, the description is still apt. And, honestly, if something even more powerful than Creepybot shows up, my poor, ailing suspension of disbelief is just going to wither up and die.

[Texanhick20]

remember, this is a post singularity society.. nobody understands how the AI's work.. If you dig deeper, you're probably going to find larger, more powerful, much older AI's... It's turtles all the way down mate..

[Texanhick20]

Just a few things to tidy up before it's back to HQ and Paperwork.  Then feet up and a nice hot cup of Oil. 


Took me a moment to recognise Punchbot in that last Panel too.

It's the glasses..

[jheartney]

Maybe I'm literal-minded, but a few questions occurred to me on a second look at today's comic:

1. Jeremy is now proprietor of the skating rink. Which apparently nobody skates at, because it was really a robot fighting ring. How will it stay open now?

2. Why is Basilisk knitting? Do robots get cold, and need sweaters and hats and scarves? (This raises the larger question of why the humaniform AIs wear clothes; they have no genitalia to cover, so why bother? CW was an interesting case of a non-humaniform AI who favored skirts. And of course there are plenty of unclothed robots.)

3. Creepybot tells Emily that Bubbles' mindspace could be instructive in future. How would that work? Is Emily going back in there? Because all she saw the last time was a minimalistic virtual space with stacked doors and an empty room behind a lock; how does that constitute  "research material?"

4. Punchbot turns out to be an accountant. This suggests he didn't need to fight for money; accountants make a decent salary. Which robots were the "underprivileged" ones May was talking about? And why does an AI need glasses?

[Killspree]

For some reason, Spookybot has the same voice as Farscape's Scorpius in my mind. And it is awesome.

I read Spookybot's voice as 'HIM' from Powerpuff Girls from time to time.

[Gyrre]

I suppose having four bodies would enable one (if that's the right word?) to get a lot done in a day.  And these four may be just a representative sample....

What makes you think they weren't all the same body?

The same character could probably answer both questions; the hero Harem from Grrl Power.

[Orannis]

remember, this is a post singularity society.. nobody understands how the AI's work.. If you dig deeper, you're probably going to find larger, more powerful, much older AI's... It's turtles all the way down mate..

Turtles, you say?
http://i.imgur.com/ubdIeOX.gif

[BenRG]

Y'know what I got from this strip? Jeph was telling us: "Deus ex Machina? Ha! You haven't even seen Deus ex Machina yet!" Seriously, Spookybot seems to be on a 'let's see if we can't solve all the problems Corpse Witch caused, directly or indirectly, in one evening!' mission.

Just a few things to add:

I've been looking again at Panel 1. Spookybot isn't fixing their tie, they're rubbing their knuckles. I've got a feeling that they joined the 'punch Corpse Witch' club just because, as much as psychic torture is invigorating, actually physically expressing their disgust at Corpse Witch's life choices was so much more cathartic.

Panels 2 and 3 also make me frown. I've got the feeling that they are in Roko's apartment and Emily's family home, having apparently appeared out of thin air. Does that confirm that they can teleport? Or is their chassis really a nanobot homunculus that slide under doors and the like? Why do I say Emily's home? She's using a SNES controller, which implies strongly that she's at her parents' house by the lake in the woods.

Finally... Just where do they get their intel on people? I'm thinking that they are hooked up to the grid in a big way and are continually processing everyone's social media and work-related activity to find out people's likes, needs, interests and the like. That level of connection and the processing power that knowing this implies is staggering and more than a little frightening. It really does put Spookybot in the demi-divine bracket at least on the information level!

[Geographus]

Maybe I'm literal-minded, but a few questions occurred to me on a second look at today's comic:

1. Jeremy is now proprietor of the skating rink. Which apparently nobody skates at, because it was really a robot fighting ring. How will it stay open now?

2. Why is Basilisk knitting? Do robots get cold, and need sweaters and hats and scarves? (This raises the larger question of why the humaniform AIs wear clothes; they have no genitalia to cover, so why bother? CW was an interesting case of a non-humaniform AI who favored skirts. And of course there are plenty of unclothed robots.)

3. Creepybot tells Emily that Bubbles' mindspace could be instructive in future. How would that work? Is Emily going back in there? Because all she saw the last time was a minimalistic virtual space with stacked doors and an empty room behind a lock; how does that constitute  "research material?"

4. Punchbot turns out to be an accountant. This suggests he didn't need to fight for money; accountants make a decent salary. Which robots were the "underprivileged" ones May was talking about? And why does an AI need glasses?

1) There doesn't need to be any activity, the house itself has value and with him being the proprietor he could make money with whatever business might be moving in.

2) Maybe it's just a hobby. For what I understand AI-minds work similar to human minds in QC. And many AIs might wear clothes simply because they like it or to blend in more with the crowd. Or some consider themselfs "Naked" without them.

3) Remember that nobody really understands on how exactly an AI-mind work, so this simplification might give Emily some insight and material to theorize about such things ... "Food for Though" if you want.

4) Remember that he just loves to punch things!

[quotidian]

I think this is the most literal Deus Ex Machina that I've ever seen!

Also: if Creepybot is an AI, why are its speech balloons round instead of square?

[BenRG]

Also: if Creepybot is an AI, why are its speech balloons round instead of square?

That's been discussed before; the consensus is that they have a very high-fidelity speech synthesiser that makes them sound entirely human.

[Mr_Rose]

What do you mean, Matrix trilogy? There was only one Matrix film. Are there more planned? That would be awesome.

Additionally, there are only 2 seasons of Gargoyles and  Transformers: Kiss Players never happened.

Nono, don't you remember? The third season of Gargoyles got cancelled after the first episode because of that fire that destroyed all the remaining taped episodes and all the masters, so the author put them out as a comic when the studio wouldn't authorise a re-shoot because all the actors were busy working on the eighth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation…

[Storel]

Maybe I'm literal-minded, but a few questions occurred to me on a second look at today's comic:

1. Jeremy is now proprietor of the skating rink. Which apparently nobody skates at, because it was really a robot fighting ring. How will it stay open now?

I got the strong impression from the final panel that Punchbot is going to reopen it as a legitimate robot fighting arena, after getting the permits and insurance taken care of that CW never bothered with. Presumably Creepybot's "relevant documentation" includes info on all the requirements he'll need to handle.

[DrizztLink]

I like this arc even more just from Jeremy's reaction. "YES SIR OR MADAM ALL THE LIMBS RIGHT AWAY."

[oeoek]

I was not fully sure and wondered if punch bot had a brother (yep, it took me a while to realise AI robots might look similar anyway).
Faye's response with facial decoration must have caused some problems with maintaining his alibi. Not everything is solved with a pair of glasses.

I really like the way loose end are tied up for once.
I don't like movies that end with 'villain is dead, hooray, we're done'. A series of Dutch 'young adult books' I greatly enjoyed (Bob Evers series) was very good at ending adventures properly. Most times the next books would start with a chapter in which the three heroes were busy sorting out the mess left after their last adventure (car has to be hoisted out of canal, who owned that house we accidental burned down, and what can we do with that bag of money?).


 

[Tova]

4. Punchbot turns out to be an accountant. This suggests he didn't need to fight for money; accountants make a decent salary. Which robots were the "underprivileged" ones May was talking about? And why does an AI need glasses?

Punchbot didn't need to be there, obviously. He just loves to punch.

Also, he doesn't need the glasses. He just wears them so that his clients take him more seriously. Hey, it's a tough gig when you're a Punch Bot and everyone assumes you're all brawn and no brain.

[badbum61]

BARTHOLOMEW Punchbot???? Who knew?   
Of course, if the firm is called Punchbot & Punchbot, it would get messy if they were both just called Punchbot...

[BenRG]

4. Punchbot turns out to be an accountant. This suggests he didn't need to fight for money; accountants make a decent salary. Which robots were the "underprivileged" ones May was talking about? And why does an AI need glasses?

There is a definite Fight Club reference in this: A middle-class professional AI who needs the emotional release of mindless violence every now and then to handle the stress and tedium of his job. Creepybot, kindly, realised that he'd be happier in a different job and offered him the chance to take on a new career and make something big of it.

[peacetokengy]

Know what I need? I need Angus. I can't wrap my head around QC anymore. I continue to read it in hopes of Jeph returning to older characters and filling in all the blanks. Don't get me wrong, I love some of the new characters but I am also severely missing older characters that  really shouldn't have vanished. I expected Angus to fight for his relationship with Faye. I really wanted to see him drop everything to be with her. Not that I don't want Angus to succeed in his career  or anything but I think it would have been good for Faye to see real love like that. I can't be the only one wishing for that can I?

[ZoeB]

Gary Jeremy will be forewarned.

[pwhodges]

Angus will return for a brief cameo with his fiancee and their baby child, to ask for Faye's blessing on the way his life has gone.  Three strips and done.

[Tawdry Quirks]

Now that is a Deus Ex Machina.

Hi Ho Silver etc.

Officer Basilisk knitting? Darn. I've managed teams of Israelis, Germans and Australians on a seriously clsssified defence project. I've helped get a spacecraft to Mercury and have it transmit images intact. I've been on a team of two on another project that was directly instrumental in saving 250,000 lives.

But neither I nor the other gal on that team can knit. The ability to take two sticks and some string and make fabric by tying knots will forever be as much of a mystery to me as Special Relativity theory is to many.

If you want to knit, don't hold your needles how Officer Basilisk is holding hers...that's not a valid knitting position at all.  Notice how the piece isn't even on the knitting needles.   And although there is a valid knitting style that does involve needles pointing down like that, which is called 'Parlour Style', it is freaky rare.  I've only seen one photo of actual Parlour style knitting, and I have never found video of the technique.

The reason I'm disappointed by the depiction of knitting in today's strip is because the depiction of knitting hands in strip #2904 is absolutely fucking perfect.

[Ravenswing]

In reference to this being a Deus Ex Machina:
Yeah, it totally frikkin' is. Just because Spookybot could eventually end up causing problems later, and just because things aren't entirely perfect, doesn't make it *not* a Deus Ex Machina. Within the current storyline, we were presented with a problem, told that it was insurmountable, and then an all-powerful being with effectively infinite resources and power showed up and singlehandedly resolved the problem, dispatched the villain, and neatly tied up every subplot that might have come about from this arc.

Yeah, sure, Bubbles wasn't magically cured of her PTSD, but when Zues shows up and kills the sea monster for our plucky hero, that doesn't magically end his quest either - It just ends the interesting conflict in the most boring way possible.

The only difference between this and a traditional Greek myth is that in the myth, people at least knew that the gods existed and were mucking about *before* they showed up and saved the day.

A couple weeks ago, when Creepybot showed up, I made a jump-the-shark post, and a few people saw fit to make jeering responses nasty enough for an admin to poke a head in.

Permit me, this snowy morning, a small satisfied smirk.

[osaka]

Jeremy's three new limbs will actually be tiny motorized wheels so he can move around the compound because he loves being an assembly arm.

Also, while we can discuss about the Deus Ex Machina nature of how everything was solved, let's stop a minute and think what would be the logical succession of events after CW confesses. Mercedes would obviously have the information to make a report and hand it to the authorities, CW would be in no position to keep managing the skate park and passes ownership to the one thing that will always stay there, and the last two panels are just suggestions. I would consider an even more convenient thing that Punchbot is one half of Punchbot & Punchbot accounting tbh, who would've guessed.

Shit maybe both punchbots used to show up at the rink for some punching.

Looks like a ton of job done, but really it's nothing more than the results of somebody confessing and going to jail.

[TinPenguin]

Wow, seriously? This latest comic wraps everything up so neatly, it seems almost self-aware of how Deux ex Machina/God Mode Sue it is.

That's actually why I'm now much happier about all this after strip 3414. Most deus ex machina these days tries so hard to pretend it isn't, but this is just pure straight-faced Euripidean god-on-a-crane, and I reckon if you're going to use the device, do it properly. Jeph knows exactly what he's doing and doesn't care because his narrative interest is clearly elsewhere.

[hakko504]

I had a few thoughts as well about today's comic:
Panel 1: Doesn't it look like Creepybot is adjusting their tie, just like they just put it back on. And Corpse Witch looks exhausted to me, like she's been doing a workout, situps maybe? Though it's probably just that Creepybot has disabled Corpse Witch. Permanently, since Jeremy is instructed to take over, or at least until Officer Basilisk can collect the Corpse.
Panel 4: Doesn't Punchbot usually have a couple of tattoos on his face? I nearly didn't recognize him at first.

[Zebediah]

I really get the impression that all four panels of today's comic happened simultaneously.

[anahata]

If you want to knit, don't hold your needles how Officer Basilisk is holding hers...that's not a valid knitting position at all.
...
The reason I'm disappointed by the depiction of knitting in today's strip is because the depiction of knitting hands in strip #2904 is absolutely fucking perfect.

Welcome, observant new person!

Also: perhaps the way the fingers work on an AI chassis (especially a fairly cheap looking one like Basilisk's) might necessitate a different way of holding knitting needles from the way humans do..

[JimC]

The reason I'm disappointed by the depiction of knitting in today's strip is because ...

But is it a depiction of knitting, or a depiction of someone who has just stopped knitting because Spookybot has just materialised out of thin air into their front room...

[Caleb]

Well mystery solved then.

Emily clearly is using an original NES controller (or 3rd party NES controller) rather than the NES Classic Edition controller.

As we have seen from previous panels Emily is pretty tall and if she was using an extension cable for the NES Classic Edition then we would see if in today's panel.

I am glad that finally got wrapped up.

[A small perverse otter]

I don't think this comic ties up the loose ends. It only ties up four of the unimportant ones: what happens to the two minor characters who played a role in the robot fighting ring, CW, Officer Basilisk, and Emily.

It kind of left out the resolutions for two of the characters involved in the story: Faye and Bubbles. The two characters around whom the whole arc revolved. The two characters who saw significant character development. The two people who genuinely lost their jobs, and have to face the consequences of that. How are they going to pay the rent? What are they going to do with their lives? How is their relationship going to evolve? We've seen Faye act as support for Bubbles -- does that change her self-image? There are a lot of loose ends here

[heyjames4]

One thing I've enjoyed about the discourse on this arc is how the discussion has used so many different names for Them, and all of them make perfect sense.

[JimC]

...Faye and Bubbles...... lot of loose ends here

At a guess those are more in the way of significant future plot threads than loose ends - and, I submit,  rightly so.

[OldGoat]

If you want to knit, don't hold your needles how Officer Basilisk is holding hers...that's not a valid knitting position at all.  Notice how the piece isn't even on the knitting needles.   And although there is a valid knitting style that does involve needles pointing down like that, which is called 'Parlour Style', it is freaky rare.  I've only seen one photo of actual Parlour style knitting, and I have never found video of the technique.

The reason I'm disappointed by the depiction of knitting in today's strip is because the depiction of knitting hands in strip #2904 is absolutely fucking perfect.

She's a cop and an unknown humanoid has just appeared out of nowhere in her living room.  She's re-positioned her needles so she can go for the eyes if the intruder gets too close and buy herself time to lunge for her pistol.  (Yeah, yeah, yeah, stabbing Spook in the eyes wouldn't do any good even if she could manage it, but she doesn't know how close to omnipotent they is, and none of her programming, training or speculation has prepared her for an encounter with androgynous demigod.  It's a reasonable punt.)

[FreQ]

I think Hanners is great, hopefully she gets a bit of character development in a future arc.
We've seen a lot of Bubbles and Faye recently, I think focusing back on either of them would be a mistake. I'm also not sure how many people would actually care about the parents backstory. The danger of having so many characters is that it's tough to flesh them all out without neglecting the core cast.
Saying that, I think the majority of the QC cast are strong

[Somebody]

Here's the thing - before Faye was fired, there was never any indication that Bubbles had a hole in her memory, no? We knew she was PTSD, etc, but this whole arc has in a sense been running in circles.

Especially if Faye & Bubbles get rehired by the new, "legit" owners.

It kind of left out the resolutions for two of the characters involved in the story: Faye and Bubbles. The two characters around whom the whole arc revolved. The two characters who saw significant character development. The two people who genuinely lost their jobs, and have to face the consequences of that. How are they going to pay the rent? What are they going to do with their lives?

You don't think Punchbot & Punchbot of Cyber Punching Arenas will need workers to repair the fighters?

[osaka]

Punchbot & Punchbot of Cyber Punching Arenas

That's excellent, that way they don't have to reprint their cards 

[BenRG]

It kind of left out the resolutions for two of the characters involved in the story: Faye and Bubbles. The two characters around whom the whole arc revolved. The two characters who saw significant character development. The two people who genuinely lost their jobs, and have to face the consequences of that. How are they going to pay the rent? What are they going to do with their lives?

You don't think Punchbot & Punchbot of Cyber Punching Arenas will need workers to repair the fighters?

It could take months for Barty to get the League registered an operational again. Furthermore, a legitimate operation will certainly be legally required to ensure that their maintenance staff have formal licenses and qualifications, neither of which I suspect Faye and Bubbles have. No, I think that they are going to have to find at least a placeholder job for a while.

I suddenly visualise Faye and Bubbles doing a Chassis Maintenance and Repair course at the Adult Community Education Centre at Smif College. This could lead to some interesting interactions with Tai and Marten as well as with Claire and her fellow MLS students.

[A small perverse otter]

Here's the thing - before Faye was fired, there was never any indication that Bubbles had a hole in her memory, no? We knew she was PTSD, etc, but this whole arc has in a sense been running in circles.

Especially if Faye & Bubbles get rehired by the new, "legit" owners.

Running in circles? I really don't think so. We've seen a *lot* of character development in those two.

At the beginning of the arc, Bubbles was functionally agoraphobic -- she couldn't even deal with a friendly party. By the end of the arc, we've seen her enjoying tea at Coffee of Doom, confronting CW and walking out of the fighting gym in spite of very real risk, and confronting her past. And Faye? Alcoholic, bitter, abusive Faye? She changed so much that she told Bubbles that she was there if Bubbles couldn't deal with her lost memories.

And that ignores the growth of their friendship. Faye never really had a close friend other than Marten, and Bubbles has never had a close friend, as far as we know.

No, the characters have changed a lot. Even if they go back to repair at the P&P Robot Martial Arts Gym, they're very different.