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A discussion of the resale value of human limbs

A quick jump to the hospital to maintain a PG-13 rating whilst still having a traumatic amputation

A panic-stricken Dora and Hanners wrestling the Sword away from Brun

Brun saying: "This is a joke. Ha-ha."

Officer Basalisk complaining to Jeremy about everyone being suspicious of her.

Bubbles and "Small Friend" (Claire) interaction.

A recap of recent events by Faye at the support group entitled: "Why I still want to drink"

May and Pintsize discussing the aesthetics of synthetic ingestion.

Steve telling Cossette about his past life as a super-spy (she doesn't believe him, of course).

Other (please specify in comment)

[BenRG]

Might as well get back to basics.

Jeph may continue one of last week's story arcs (and I actually hope he does). However, it is equally possible that he's going to go onto something else. What do I think? I suspect that we're going to go onto some more robot hijinx, possibly following up Officer Basalisk's difficulties in socialising. However, because Jeph is currently fitting in at least two micro-arcs in per week, I'm also wondering if we're also going to follow up Brun... and I think that we're going to learn just how difficult it is to tell when someone is playing a prank when they've cultivated a reputation of not necessarily understanding how society works!

[jheartney]

My alternative scenario for this week:

The aftermath of Bubbles' addition of limbs to Jeremy, told in the same manner as the "It's Alive!" scene of the original "Frankenstein." Faye as Igor. Jeremy, amidst lightning strikes, arises from the table as a quadruped, albeit unable to deal with his new limbs. Driven mad, he ransacks the skating rink and then escapes into the darkness. Roko arrives just in time to survey the carnage, where Bubbles sobs in despair. "What did you DO!" Roko demands. But the monster has fled; what Northampton innocents will pay the price for Bubbles' hubris?

[Method of Madness]

What hath Gary wrought?

[TheEvilDog]

My prediction for the week.

Things happen, events occur, laughs are had, people will complain on the forum.

So business as usual.

[shanejayell]

PLEEEEESE god drop the clock plot thread.

That was a cute update, anyway.

[BenRG]

Jeremy has... a crush? Wow, he's lucky that Faye doesn't work there anymore! He'd never hear the end of it from her!

The real brilliant part of this strip is Faye and Bubbles reaction: Faye is all "SQUEEE!" like she's a teenager again. Meanwhile, Bubbles is acting like she's heard it all before (then again, she's known Jeremy a lot longer than Faye - She probably has) and is sticking firmly to practical issues.

Jermey's modded chassis looks like an integrated model to me but I'm not sure if that's just Faye and Bubbles having got bits that look like they go together. The arm is so much longer relative to the legs that I'm thinking that either it can telescope or is from a similar but larger model. Either that or the engineer who designed it had a thing for the body architecture of gorillas. For some reason, I can also hear a distinct pneumatic "Chshhh-chshhh!" nose as Jeremy moves.

[EDIT]
P.S.: Number Seven appears in the fourth panel of this strip. From the shape of the hip assembly and thoracic panelling, I'd say that she identifies as female.

No credit to me; the archive ninja in question was DasGanon over on the subreddit.

[oeoek]

Now that one was unexpected. However, seeing how scary welding is, I predict getting this much body work done will impress the hell out of number Seven!

[JWoodrell]

I guess robots celebrate festevus.  There will totally be an airing if grievances later

[brasca]

Perhaps Jeremy should forgo the plastic coverings.  The way he looks now is more Crow T Robot than C3PO. 

[Zebediah]

Seven actually appears to have the same base chassis as Bubbles, except with a head more like Jeremy's.

[St.Clair]

Jermey's modded chassis looks like an integrated model to me but I'm not sure if that's just Faye and Bubbles having got bits that look like they go together. The arm is so much longer relative to the legs that I'm thinking that either it can telescope or is from a similar but larger model. Either that or the engineer who designed it had a thing for the body architecture of gorillas. For some reason, I can also hear a distinct pneumatic "Chshhh-chshhh!" nose as Jeremy moves.

My assessment is that they're actually all intended to be identical (but Jeph didn't exactly measure), two ending in feet while the third has a grasper... which would actually make Jeremy "disproportionate" by human standards, as our arms are notably shorter than our legs.
Assuming the remaining arm is from the same batch, and not a one-off "all I could find", Jeremy is likely to end up more like a quadruped standing on its hind limbs than a humanoid biped.  And may find the first mode of locomotion more efficient, unless he needs to keep hands free.

[Mehre]

They does seem to be telescopic, at least i looks like that in panel 4. It may be that its just really hard to draw hands like that doing human things and Jeph shortened them there to make it easier to draw. But if he does that regularly we may as well call them telescopic.
Great comic title, by the way

Edit: Now i noticed it may be just perspective thing.

[Kugai]

I wonder if Ratchet would approve of Jeremys cobbled together body  

Dawwwwwww, AI Love. 

[Perfectly Reasonable]

That is an impressive job of modding. I hope Jeremy's firmware can handle it. He was never intended to be ambulatory after all.

And Jeremy -does- have a more active social life than Bubbles. Called it!

[OldGoat]

Seven actually appears to have the same base chassis as Bubbles, except with a head more like Jeremy's.

You'd think they were drawn by the same artist.    But, yep, you're right.

[celticgeek]

Well, Brun apparently still has the clock and her right leg.

[Gyrre]

Seven actually appears to have the same base chassis as Bubbles, except with a head more like Jeremy's.

You'd think they were drawn by the same artist.    But, yep, you're right.

Not necessarily the same chassis per se. Bubbles is wearing armor and we're not entirely sure which bits are removable armor and which aren't.

07 is also shorter than Bubbles. Probably shorter than Elliot, too. But still taller than Faye.

[TinPenguin]

I am not remotely knowledgeable enough about incense to either attempt an answer to Brun's question or understand her pun.

[Truec]

Seven actually appears to have the same base chassis as Bubbles, except with a head more like Jeremy's.

You'd think they were drawn by the same artist.    But, yep, you're right.

Not necessarily the same chassis per se. Bubbles is wearing armor and we're not entirely sure which bits are removable armor and which aren't.

07 is also shorter than Bubbles. Probably shorter than Elliot, too. But still taller than Faye.

Actually, we do know. The parts we see are two different layers of armor, with her chassis underneath.

[BenRG]

The cutest bit about today's strip is that Brun totally misses the implication of Renee's comeback to Elliot. Either she doesn't get the significance (likely) or she's so firmly on the 'pun' kick right now that it's crowding out most other thoughts.

Come to think of it, Brun may invite Elliot to pet her head anyway on the grounds that he wants that and not understand why it is such a big deal to him!

[neurocase]

The "softening" of Brun's character by giving her more interesting idiosyncracies like a fondness for dog puns and clocks has made me far more tolerant of her character, but I still find the strips centralizing around her very uninteresting., and not particularly compelling. Am I the only one?

Maybe it's just because I can't stand Renee.

[BenRG]

IMO, it is nothing to do with Brun (and Renee) and everything to do with the fact that I think Jeph has been struggling to find a direction in which to take the strip after Faye's post-Angus breakdown and its consequences. Only in the Faye & Bubbles arc has he found something that really works. More or less everything else has the feel of throwing plots and character quirks at the wall to see which one sticks.

Personally, I find Brun cute and interesting (especially in the unique way she sometimes sees the characters - seeing familiar things through new eyes is always an interesting experience). However, there is a risk in turning her into a 'joke' character or deciding not to progress her because of the easy humour inherent in her current living situation.

[gopher]

Clocks, weak puns and Renee, oh dear. Still, tomorrow is another strip.

[Zog]

I really like Brun but her puns embarrass me.

[Akima]

What kind of incense do horses like to eat?

(click to show/hide)

Nag champa.

[Storel]

I am not remotely knowledgeable enough about incense to either attempt an answer to Brun's question or understand her pun.

You've never heard of patchouli? Very popular in the Sixties and Seventies, especially with hippies. Supposed to be good for hiding the scent of marijuana.

What kind of incense do horses like to eat?

(click to show/hide)

Nag champa.

Okay, that's one I hadn't heard of -- thanks for the link!

[BenRG]

I've been thinking about the clock arc and I think I know where this is going. Renee has previous form in doing things for Brun without her permission because she (with varying degrees of justification) thinks it is for Brun's own good. I think that Renee may try to sell the clock in Brun's name. She has no intention of keeping any of the money for herself, not even a 'transaction fee'. However, this is ignoring Brun's clearly-stated determination that she will not sell, disrespecting her and (in a way) disrespecting Hannelore's gift.

I suspect that Brun will be sensible and level-headed (she may even give a time estimate of how long it will take to forgive Renee) but will insist on moving out of Renee's apartment on the grounds that, at least for present, she cannot trust her around her things. Where she moves then may determine the future of her arc:

• Hannelore's apartment - She becomes part of the 'core cast';
• Claire's mother's house - Claire and Clinton hear about the incident and intervene.

[JimC]

However, this is ignoring Brun's clearly-stated determination that she will not sell, disrespecting her and (in a way) disrespecting Hannelore's gift.

It could be worse than that. In my moral code if someone gifted me something they had no way of knowing was valuable and I sold it straight away I would consider myself morally bound to hand over at least a large percentage of the money to the giver.  In my ethics gifts are quite different to buying and selling in that respect. But if its an item I desire for itself, not for its value, and plan to keep indefinitely I wouldn't think myself under any such obligation.  That would mean that if some idiot took it on themselves to sell the item for me I would feel morally bound to hand the cash over. So if Brun thought like me the end result of Renee selling the clock would be Brun having neither the money nor the clock.

[brasca]

Good thing Brun lacks the wherewithal to know that Renee just embarrassed Elliot with this disclosure otherwise this would be mutually awkward. 

[jheartney]

I think Renee's kind of terrible, but I don't think she'd sell Brun's new old clock without permission. A better next storyline would be a spy story (remember we just checked in on Steve and Tortura) about how the clock got down there in the first place (hint: decade-old microfilm). Or maybe the family of spiders that lived inside clock taking up residence in Renee's toothbrush holder.

[Neko_Ali]

There is also the point that collectibles are only worth what  you can get for them. When people talk about the value of a collectible item like this clock, they are talking about how much people have paid for them. A clock like that may have sold before for $3000, but if Brun can't find someone to pay that, then it's worth whatever they are offering. The other side of it is, how much is it worth to the person who owns it. Personal value can be much higher than what it could sell for. In which case, it's clearly not worth selling unless one is desperate.

[TinPenguin]

Exactly. The only reason you might get that much money for this clock is because of how much it means to some people... people like Brun.

[jheartney]

If you watch Antiques Roadshow, the valuations are generally presented in terms like "At auction, this should bring $x." So you're assuming an organized auction among interested buyers. OTOH if you just put it on Craigslist, you won't get the same kind of money.

[Magniras]

I'd let Elliot pet my head.  He looks like he has large hands.

[Kugai]

PLOT TWIST:

Tortura is in town not only to visit Steve, but she's also in town looking for the clock as it holds vital information hidden inside it that could save or destroy the world.

[brasca]

PLOT TWIST:

Tortura is in town not only to visit Steve, but she's also in town looking for the clock as it holds vital information hidden inside it that could save or destroy the world.

Or she's there to spring Corpse Witch from jail.  Perhaps Tortura's employer is interested in either eliminating or subduing Spookybot and wants to speak to a witness.  It might also be possible that Corpse Witch was working for this organization all along and Bubbles was actually the bait for luring Spookybot out. 

[Perfectly Reasonable]

It's not a matter of money for Brün. This clock uses her favorite escapement.

[celticgeek]

Elliot looks like an excellent head patter.

[SubaruStephen]

It's not static electricity, her hair just wants more pats.

[Thrudd]

Animal Magnetism? - confirmed

[TheEvilDog]

IMO, it is nothing to do with Brun (and Renee) and everything to do with the fact that I think Jeph has been struggling to find a direction in which to take the strip after Faye's post-Angus breakdown and its consequences. Only in the Faye & Bubbles arc has he found something that really works. More or less everything else has the feel of throwing plots and character quirks at the wall to see which one sticks.

Italicised emphasis is mine.

And with that in mind: Really? I mean seriously?

We've had two slow burning and very dark and very intense storylines over the last two years; Faye's alcoholism and its affect on her life and the relationships with those around her, and we've had the seedier side of the AI community. We've had a woman brought down the very foundation of rock bottom, all by her own fault and we've gotten an emotionally destroyed AI that wanted some measure of peace from what has happened to her. Faye has had to rebuilt her life from the bottom up and Bubbles has now found out that she has nothing left to rebuild.

Know what the major rule for writers is when they do such dark storylines? YOU TAKE A BREAK WHEN THE STORY HAS BEEN WRAPPED UP!

Writers can get into a very dark place when they get into those storylines and its obvious that there's a fair bit of Jeph's past in what Faye has gone through. Its a stressful thing to do and to revisit over a long period of time. And it can be damaging to a creator to constantly do the dark stuff.

So you do a silly bit. Not just one comic, but a string of them. You laugh, to banish those thoughts. You make others laugh or at the very least smile, because as a writer, or in Jeph's case, a comic creator, you can.

This isn't a case of Jeph trying to get back into the groove. This is venting and getting away from a dark place. This is getting back to the roots of QC, the slightly absurd humour coupled with the sometimes wacky members of the cast.

There are plenty of comics that go into the darker recesses of the mind. Questionable Content is not one of them.

Also, I've always thought Elliot had an uplifting personality.

Although it might just be a hair-raising experience for him.

[fayelovesbubbles]

Brun Brun Brun...you naughty girl, stealing the boys' hearts. And so innocent and unaware of social graces, yet still irresistible to men. Haha.

I wonder what Clinton is up to.

[theMarc]

It's not static electricity, Brun's going Super Saiyan.

[Gyrre]

Know what the major rule for writers is when they do such dark storylines? YOU TAKE A BREAK WHEN THE STORY HAS BEEN WRAPPED UP!

As I understand it, the FLCL anime came about for this very reason after the team that worked on Evangelion finished up.

[Skewbrow]

Static electricity? Possibly? But I think it is more likely that Elliot was kneading somewhat sticky dough ... and should volunteer to wash Brün's hair next.

[BenRG]

The first thing that popped into my head after reading today's strip was "Aaawww! How cute!" It's sweetly and quintessentially Brun that she would decide that, in order to make things better, she needs to let him do the odd thing that Renee says that he wants to do in blissful unawareness of just how odd it actually is!

The second reaction was: "Elliott, I hope that you're going to wash your hands before going back to that dough!"

Know what the major rule for writers is when they do such dark storylines? YOU TAKE A BREAK WHEN THE STORY HAS BEEN WRAPPED UP!

I'm sure that you do and, the minute that Jeph does another difficult and personally emotionally-taxing storyline like Faye's he'll take a break but, and I need to make this entirely clear, to me the 'Bubbles' Memories' arc was not even remotely a 'dark, taxing storyline'. My reading of his Twitter feed and his reaction to writing and drawing it has led me to a very different conclusion as to what he decided to do afterwards. I also stick by my assertion that the 'Bubbles' Memories' arc was the first time that the strip seemed to find serious direction after Faye's episode.

I feel that I should emphasise that my post that EvilDog quoted wasn't meant to be a negative criticism; it was meant to be a neutral observation.

[Tawdry Quirks]

So, is Elliot secretly part Van der Graaff generator?

[USS Martenclaire]

I've been thinking about the clock arc and I think I know where this is going.

360 degrees every 60 seconds.

[Tova]

I'm sure that you do and, the minute that Jeph does another difficult and personally emotionally-taxing storyline like Faye's he'll take a break but, and I need to make this entirely clear, to me the 'Bubbles' Memories' arc was not even remotely a 'dark, taxing storyline'.

I agree with TheEvilDog that he's taking a break from the previous story and writing a bunch of lighter comics right now. It makes more sense to me than the idea that he wants to start another serious story but can't figure out what to do next. I feel like this kind of light riffing off some ideas stuff is the heart and soul of what has always been QC.

[MrNumbers]

I don't know whether to start humming Lemon Demon's "Geeks in Love" or Hamilton's "Take a Break" regarding this storyline... Dilemma.