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A panicking Faye quizzes Bubbles about the 'Robot Hegemony' thing

Bubbles: "Actually, Faye, They promised you to me as a pet! That is a joke."

Claire: "Marten! I've found a new true calling in my life! I want to be a materials engineer!"

Dora and Tai exploring when Dora became the Den Mother to the main cast

Hannelore goes to visit Spookybot to discuss the Hegemony in a way that suggests it is a huge practical joke on intelligent life

Bubbles and Hanners silence Dora...by shushing her every minute for no obvious reason

[Morituri]

If May and Melon have chassis from the same company, could there be a recall in the offing?

And - if there were - how would that work anyway?

[TheEvilDog]

Trying to come up with a story that ends with "... and then her butt just fell off!" 
 

"I was telling Melon a joke and she laughed so much, her ass fell off."

If May and Melon have chassis from the same company, could there be a recall in the offing?

And - if there were - how would that work anyway?

I think it was mentioned that May's chassis was really quite old and out of warranty. Part of May's problem was that she couldn't afford to buy a newer chassis and the government wasn't willing to help her.

[Case]

Q: If Melon's butt fell off, why can't she move herself? I'd think that even without a butt she'd be able to walk around anyway. Though looking a bit silly without a butt, but anyway. Or is her friend just overly fond of dramatic entrances?

Don't know how closely AI chassis' model human musculature, but our gorgeous butts are pretty much a prerequisite for bipedal locomotion (or just running? I don't clearly recall). Helps with standing up after you fell on your face, too.

[Kugai]

I wonder if we're just being the butt of a  Jeph Joke

[A small perverse otter]

Q: If Melon's butt fell off, why can't she move herself? I'd think that even without a butt she'd be able to walk around anyway. Though looking a bit silly without a butt, but anyway. Or is her friend just overly fond of dramatic entrances?

Don't know how closely AI chassis' model human musculature, but our gorgeous butts are pretty much a prerequisite for bipedal locomotion (or just running? I don't clearly recall). Helps with standing up after you fell on your face, too.

We require our gorgeous butts to stand up, much less walk or run.

[Gyrre]

Frankly, the AIs we've met haven't shown any more wisdom, compassion, or morality than the humans. Which is fine, but it makes it a bit arrogant for an AI to talk about taking over for the "good" of humanity.

Well, we've got plenty of humans that think they can solve others' problems simply because they believe themselves to be superior. Though they usually try to dress up their blatant bigotry in some fashion ("better technology", "more sophisticated", "know better", etc.)

So, I guess it vaguely makes sense (in the context of QC AI) that the AIs would have a few among with the AI equivalent of a white-savior complex.

[Killspree]

Okay, I like the new guys. They seem fun.

[Tova]

COMIC

Looks like butt jokes are really taking off.

[Neko_Ali]

Looks like Melon and Arthur were going for a moon shot. I hope it wasn't too expensive. Poor Melon doesn't need to lose an arm and a leg too. She'd be half the bot she was before.

[Kugai]

He got the joke - give that Robot a Cookie!!!

And as for how she lost it  I assume nothing 

[foolsguinea]

I read Tuesday's without having seen Monday's, and I was very confused.

I wasn't sure about the new blue robot. She looks kind of like May with new hair. And May is almost that wacky.

[BenRG]

Okay, I'm thinking that Melon put a large number of firecrackers inside her butt panel "because I thought it would be funny". Meanwhile, Arthur is playing the role of the enabler friend who ought to be the one stopping her from doing stupid things.

Today's strip fits in with yesterday's strip because it shows us the following:

• Synthetics can be just as utterly and self-destructively stupid as any human;
• There is a reason why AIs aren't ready to rle the world!

I suspect that Melon is eventually going to confess that she was copying a stunt from the AI version of Jackass, something that IRL has already cut a swathe of injury and death.

[Storel]

Me: Why do you have a detachable butt?
Melon: Why wouldn't I?
Me: ...I asked you first!

[Morituri]

It is almost certain that she did it with noodles.

[Tova]

Yes, and the beauty of noodle incidents is that each one of our headcanons is totally legit. I accept them. I accept them all.

[JoeCovenant]

Null / Void:

Salesbot #!: "DESTROY NINETY-NINE PERCENT OF KNOWN HOUSEHOLD PESTS WITH PRE-SLICED,  RUSTPROOF, EASY-TO-HANDLE, LOW CALORIE SIMPSON'S INDIVIDUAL EMPEROR  STRINGETTES, FREE FROM ARTIFICIAL COLORING, AS USED IN HOSPITALS!"

Salesperson #2: It's...Super Absorbent String!

Salesbot #!:   "ABSORB WATER TODAY WITH SIMPSON'S INDIVIDUAL WATER ABSORB-A-TEX STRINGETTES!  AWAY WITH FLOODS! AWAY WITH THE DULL DRUDGERY OF WORKADAY TIDAL WAVES!  USE SIMPSON'S INDIVIDUAL FLOOD PREVENTERS!"

Melon:   

Concerned Friend:  I think I should have made a left at Albuquerque

Could have worked...

If you'd gotten sex into it...

 

[JoeCovenant]

F: "We need to do something to prevent this from happening again."

B: "Hmmm. I suggest a bio-mechanical replacement gluteus maximus. It should be sown with follicles to allow cylindrical, keratinized, filaments to grow from the upper epidermis."

F: "You... You want it to grow hair??"

B: "Yes."

F: "How on earth will that stop it from falling off again?"

B: "Buttresses."

[Sullivan]

Maybe it's a service access point.

I'll service your access point, if you know what I mean.

...I'll let myself out.

Well, you do know where the exit is.

[Case]

B: "Buttresses."

Ok, Joe wins the thread. Everybody can go home now.

G'night!

[shanejayell]

Well, that was a thing... 

[brasca]

I give them credit for originality.  A cracked butt would be the most obvious and overused joke. 

As for having a detachable butt there is someone I recall with a similar condition: 

  Just to be safe I will say this video is semi NSFW. 

[wlewisiii]

I give them credit for originality.  A cracked butt would be the most obvious and overused joke. 

As for having a detachable butt there is someone I recall with a similar condition: 

  Just to be safe I will say this video is semi NSFW.

Oh I hadn't seen/heard that in years. Thanks!

[USS Martenclaire]

After her companion's rather cheeky entrance, Faye and Bubbles begin their assigned task. The replacement had a crack in it, but it was fine as it was supposed to be there. Melon starts to fall a little behind on her payments and then into arrears. After attempting to pay with a bum check, she lands a well paying job at the bakery handling buns.

[brasca]

I give them credit for originality.  A cracked butt would be the most obvious and overused joke. 

As for having a detachable butt there is someone I recall with a similar condition: 

  Just to be safe I will say this video is semi NSFW.

Oh I hadn't seen/heard that in years. Thanks!

Were you introduced to it through Beavis & Butt-head?

[JoeCovenant]

Well...
As we're *going there*...
Here's one from my childhood...

[Roborat]

So, does this mean Butts Disease has crossed the barrier from human to robot? That is quite the mutation.

[Zebediah]

Well, it's always been a memetic rather than organic virus, so it's not that big a leap.

[Case]

Well, it's always been a memetic rather than organic virus, so it's not that big a leap.

Yes, but AI are a 'species' for which butts are optional rather than mandatory?

[Zebediah]

One need not have a butt to have Butts Disease. The primary symptom is thinking excessively about butts. So all you need is a mind.

[oeoek]

I think I know how the butt got launched: just a little blockage in the system after a  certain app was installed.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Dang, ninja'd.

[Kugai]

I wonder if Faye takes Buttcoin 

[BenRG]

Wow! This is taking on more and more the characteristics of a Noodle Incident turned up to eleven! If Faye wants to maintain anything resembling sanity in her life, I suspect that she'll want to decide that she doesn't want to know.

Also, Melon, honey? No-one likes a freeloader. Some people are genuinely in need. Others (like you) have made a bad decision and need to pay for it!

[Case]

I wonder if Faye takes Buttcoin 

[OldGoat]

May and Melon appear to have the same model chassis.   Does it appeal to low-lifes the same way late '80s Camaros/Firebirds appealed to methamphetamine cooks?  Or are we going to find out that May and Melon have consecutive serial numbers?

[BenRG]

May and Melon's chassis are similar but not identical. I suspect that there is a market for generic and low-fidelity humanoid chassis for those AIs with either limited finances or a liking for the basic look (I suspect that Melon is one of the latter). Note especially that Melon doesn't have ears but rather has pink 'dish covers' covering her auditory sensors.

[JimC]

...suspect that there is a market for generic and low-fidelity humanoid chassis...

Its the Sears and Robutt catalogue...

[Akima]

I suspect that there is a market for generic and low-fidelity

It's pretty much the explanation for Ford and Holden, after all.

[JoeCovenant]

Woah!!!

Full frontal Robo-nudity! 

[Zebediah]

Yes, this is clearly the real reason Jeph started this whole "robot repair" thing: So that he could draw nude females and get away with it. We saw May topless when she was getting repaired and now a bottomless Melon.

[BenRG]

More importantly, it fixes in the reader's mind that these low-fidelity chassis are, as Faye and May have noted on many occasions 'big Barbie dolls'.

[A small perverse otter]

May and Melon's chassis are similar but not identical. I suspect that there is a market for generic and low-fidelity humanoid chassis for those AIs with either limited finances or a liking for the basic look (I suspect that Melon is one of the latter). Note especially that Melon doesn't have ears but rather has pink 'dish covers' covering her auditory sensors.

I was thinking that this robot looked more like the policebot who was investigating Corpsewitch, but, either way, it does look like there's a line of low-fi chassis around for AI's who don't want or can't afford a more customized one. In fact, it looks like there are at least two such lines: the 'girly' line (May, Melon) and the 'big guy' line (Punchbot, Arthur).

[brasca]

Wow! This is taking on more and more the characteristics of a Noodle Incident turned up to eleven! If Faye wants to maintain anything resembling sanity in her life, I suspect that she'll want to decide that she doesn't want to know.

Faye lives with Pintsize so I think she is used to not wanting to know all the details. 

I'm actually surprised that a replacement bottom only cost $75.  However, the price of things is probably different in their world than ours. 

[shanejayell]

Parts and labor. So it's actually less than $75. 

One does wonder how 'losing a butt' is a EMERGENCY actually. Does being butt-less cause catastrophic illness?

[JimC]

... 'losing a butt' is a EMERGENCY actually.

Is there some subtext to 'emergency' that escapes those of us who don't live in the US health care regime?

[Neko_Ali]

Parts and labor. So it's actually less than $75. 

One does wonder how 'losing a butt' is a EMERGENCY actually. Does being butt-less cause catastrophic illness?

Hey, do not doubt the seriousness of a buttastrophe. It's an absolute asspocalypse. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this story. Jeph wouldn't just leave us hanging in the breeze, would he?

[dna_level_c]

Hey, do not doubt the seriousness of a buttastrophe.

This cracked me up.

[OldGoat]

May and Melon's chassis are similar but not identical. I suspect that there is a market for generic and low-fidelity humanoid chassis for those AIs with either limited finances or a liking for the basic look (I suspect that Melon is one of the latter). Note especially that Melon doesn't have ears but rather has pink 'dish covers' covering her auditory sensors.

I think the ear covers or whatever they are are more like after-market outside mirrors or cheap plastic replacement hubcaps, not part of the chassis which corresponds to the human head & torso and perhaps limbs.  Hair, ears, possibly eye color would be among a small assortment of factory options offered, with third party vendors cranking out anything else imaginable.  If May is any indication, there's a market for naughty bits, too.

[Roborat]

I am getting a definite Disney vibe here, with her wearing a shirt but no pants.

[DSL]

I am getting a definite Disney vibe here, with her wearing a shirt but no pants.

For the full Disney vibe, she'll put on some sort of bottom clothing for swimming.

I never could figure that about D. Duck.