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Faye (general technicality)

Hannelore

Claire

Bubbles

Brun

Melon

Tilly

some I forgot [please specify]

Marigold (Marbear)

Emily

[Zebediah]

Just a sign of how much QC has changed: in the last 30 comics, we have had exactly one appearance by one of the original main characters (Faye, in Monday’s comic.)

[Is it cold in here?]

When is the last time we saw Marten?

[hakko504]

When is the last time we saw Marten?

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3672

Only time this year that he appeared at all.

Skickat från min SGP611 via Tapatalk

[cesium133]

In the last 100 comics, Marten has appeared 7 times, mostly during the Tilly/Taffy story.

[awgiedawgie]

Mmmm, bread.  Maybe Roko used to be a toaster.

Actually, we know she didn't. She said she's had the same body since she was born.

[rejoice]

i mss hannelore so, so, much. i know she needed to get away from life for a moment, but i just miss my little anxious baby a lot.

[awgiedawgie]

Comic's up. So now do we get to see if Faye can vent steam as well? 

[St.Clair]

That was pretty much my same/own thought.
(FWEEEEEEE)

[Milayna]

AND of COURSE she runs into Clinton. 

He's looking for Brun...

Who, IMO, is making it quite clear that she'll simulate a bread fetish if it will get her Elliott's attention.

Hmmmm. Is that what that was? I interpreted it as trying to inject herself into the conversation, and doing so by awkwardly relating it to herself, as that's the easiest/quickest thing to understand. Hence Renee's dismissive "we know, dear" - essentially telling her that she wasn't adding anything and she didn't need to be involved. As I've said before, though, my interpretation is not necessarily the correct, or best, one.

[Milayna]

To me, it just seems that Brun sometimes wants to contribute to the conversation, but is a bit lost as to how to properly do so.

Anyway, I think Roko has a bit more than tuppence worth in that bag.

Ah, this is pretty much how I took it. Also kudos for making me look up tuppence, but in my defense, it's apparently British.

[SubaruStephen]

I definitely want to see what Bubs can do with her hips.

[zisraelsen]

Hell yea, more technical robot discussion, I love this part of the NOPE NOPE DID NOT SIGN UP FOR SURPRISE HYPEREXTENSION.

If it's within safe range of motion, why is there a "KRKK" sound effect?

[Is it cold in here?]

Faye spends her days immersed in robot bodies. In most cases she is probably as unshakable as a surgeon.

Does her reaction to Bubbles's range of motion imply that she's thinking of Bubbles as a human now?

[Milayna]

Hell yea, more technical robot discussion, I love this part of the NOPE NOPE DID NOT SIGN UP FOR SURPRISE HYPEREXTENSION.

If it's within safe range of motion, why is there a "KRKK" sound effect?

What, you've never cracked your elbow?

[brasca]

I love it when Bubbles makes Faye squirm.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

It's a warning:
"This is outside the normal operating range. Try not to do it often."

[BenRG]

You know, sometimes I think that Faye does forget that Bubbles is a synthetic, not a human. I do think it is useful for her to have the occasional reminder that, whilst her friend is a person, she's not entirely like her, especially on a physical level. That said, I also think that Bubbles enjoys occasionally freaking Faye out. It tells me that, now she's getting over her various traumas, she has a very mischievous personality.

Another thing that tells us a lot about Bubbles' essential personality is panel 1. It isn't enough for her to fix Punchbot's arm (again). No, she wants to fix the underlying cause, specifically Punchbot liking to punch stuff with an unsuitable arm for the job. It think that it both shows the instincts of a true diagnostician and also the degree that she cares for her customers.

Finally, there's panel 4 (you didn't think that a Fayebles shipper like me would ignore that, did you? ). Mostly, Bubbles is teasing Faye but, as I read through the bound volumes of strips 1-1800, it does have the same feel as Faye's early teasing flirtation with Marten. So, yeah, she's flirting with Faye. Whether she's fully consciously aware of the subtext to what she's doing is another matter entirely. Also, Faye maybe wants to see what Bubbles can do with her hips.

Jeph definitely enjoys teasing us!

[Mordhaus]

[haikupoet]

Looks like Bubs is getting ready to make a move...

[Torlek]

You know what her hips don't do? Lie.

[Bollthorn]

Faye spends her days immersed in robot bodies. In most cases she is probably as unshakable as a surgeon.

Does her reaction to Bubbles's range of motion imply that she's thinking of Bubbles as a human now?

Possibly that, and/or because she cares for her on a deep emotional level seeing any kind of apparent injury or trauma will naturally distress her.

Also that last panel teases so hard it HURTS!! >.<

[traroth]

Of course you want to see what Bubbles can do with her hips, Faye... 

[BenRG]

Why isn't Faye blushing in panel 4? Well, seriously, would you blush whilst still recovering from seeing your friend seemingly dislocate and then relocate their shoulder without a flinch?

Give Faye a few seconds (or a strip or two, IRL) to process what Bubbles said and her own reply.

[JoeCovenant]

Why isn't Faye blushing in panel 4? Well, seriously, would you blush whilst still recovering from seeing your friend seemingly dislocate and then relocate their shoulder without a flinch?

Give Faye a few seconds (or a strip or two, IRL) to process what Bubbles said and her own reply.

So, you're expecting...
...The slip of her hips make Faye's heart skip a beat?

(Too obscure?)

[Zebediah]

Bubbles has no tattoos, though.

[BenRG]

Oh, I'm sure Bubbles has skin decorations. They say things like "Rotate Clockwise to Tighten", "Storage Compartment Access - Keep Clear" and "External Power (120V DC) Jack Here".

[shanejayell]

Them hips don't lie! 

[Neko_Ali]

And I'm on tonight you know my hips don't lie
And I'm starting to feel it's right
All the attraction, the tension
Don't you see baby, this is perfection

Hey Girl, I can see your body moving
And it's driving me crazy
And I didn't have the slightest idea
Until I saw you dancing

And when you walk up on the dance floor
Nobody cannot ignore
The way you move your body, girl (just move)
And everything so unexpected, the way you right and left it
So you can keep on shaking it

[Magniras]

Oh, I'm sure Bubbles has skin decorations. They say things like "Rotate Clockwise to Tighten", "Storage Compartment Access - Keep Clear" and "External Power (120V DC) Jack Here".

I could see her having something like, "Ammunition Storage" on each bicep.

[Is it cold in here?]

Damn near impossible to read Faye's reactions as "just friends".

[WoaLG]

Damn near impossible to read Faye's reactions as "just friends".

Jeph knew exactly what he was doing by posting this on Friday. He knows readers are going to obsess all weekend about what exactly it means.
Then on Monday he'll post another Melon page to let us suffer a bit more before he shows the fallout on Tuesday.

(I'm probably wrong, but I'll laugh my head off if he does do that to the hardcore shippers that are barely kept at bay around here.)

[awgiedawgie]

Damn near impossible to read Faye's reactions as "just friends".

Only because you already know the tension that's been going on in both of their heads. I've actually had a similar conversation with an extraordinarily flexible young dancer not long ago. I am quite certain when she said "look what I can do", she didn't mean anything other than that she was excited to show off her skills. And she was excited - like a kid who just learned to ride a bike, except she's been dancing since she was little. And there was no hidden meaning behind my enthusiasm whilst watching her. I really was just curious to see what she could do. She was actually similar to Bubbles in other ways as well. I had watched her go from a shy teenager with only a couple friends, to this outgoing young woman who loved being around people. I am proud that I had a small part in that transformation.


Besides, everyone - including Faye - has been quite impressed by Bubbles' booty, so it's only natural that Faye would be curious what it's capable of. So if we weren't privy to what each of them has been thinking about the other, I wouldn't think this was any more than Faye saying "well, I didn't, but now that you brought it up, yeah, I kinda wanna see what you can do."

[Gyrre]

Roko fantasizes about being sandwiched.  Literally.

Hurry up and get her into some kind of intimate relationship, Jeph.  That poor woman needs a cybergasm in the worst way, so much that it's getting painful to watch.

So long as vore isn't involved. (If you don't know what it is, you're better off not knowing.)


 (Seriously,  how does a kink like that happen?)

[cesium133]

After archive binging over the past week, I think Faybles shippers should be very careful what they wish for... there seems to be an exclusion principle governing the relationships of Marten and Faye. If Faye and Bubbles get together, Marten and Claire are destined to break up, just like Marten/Claire broke up Faye/Angus, which broke up Marten/Dora. 

[awgiedawgie]

After archive binging over the past week, I think Faybles shippers should be very careful what they wish for... there seems to be an exclusion principle governing the relationships of Marten and Faye. If Faye and Bubbles get together, Marten and Claire are destined to break up, just like Marten/Claire broke up Faye/Angus, which broke up Marten/Dora. 

I think you may be reading a little too much into it. At least I hope you are. I like Marten with Claire, but I don’t wish spinsterhood on Faye just to ensure that they don’t break up.

[cesium133]

After archive binging over the past week, I think Faybles shippers should be very careful what they wish for... there seems to be an exclusion principle governing the relationships of Marten and Faye. If Faye and Bubbles get together, Marten and Claire are destined to break up, just like Marten/Claire broke up Faye/Angus, which broke up Marten/Dora. 

I think you may be reading a little too much into it. At least I hope you are. I like Marten with Claire, but I don’t wish spinsterhood on Faye just to ensure that they don’t break up.

(I think you're taking my post a little too seriously)

[Gyrre]

Also, Faye maybe wants to see what Bubbles can do with her hips.

Morbid curiousity can be a damned powerful thing. Especially for scholarly  types and even more so for topics someone's passionate about. Learning to tell the voice in your head shouting "I want to know" that it's wrong is quite difficult.

Damn near impossible to read Faye's reactions as "just friends".

I can hyperflex my shoulders to point the backs of both elbows forward with the outside of my wrists resting on my lowest pair ribs. Seeing this tends to freak a fair few people out. Being that Bubbles is very humanoid, seeing joint dislocation and whatnot probably  mess with Faye in the same way that seeing a similar injury/hyperflexion in a person might. But, Faye also knows that Bubbles is an AI inhabiting a chassis. So I'd wager that Faye's reaction in panel 4 might be a logic conflict between that visceral reaction to seeming injury and her intense interest in advanced robotics.

EDIT: typo fix

[awgiedawgie]

After archive binging over the past week, I think Faybles shippers should be very careful what they wish for... there seems to be an exclusion principle governing the relationships of Marten and Faye. If Faye and Bubbles get together, Marten and Claire are destined to break up, just like Marten/Claire broke up Faye/Angus, which broke up Marten/Dora. 

I think you may be reading a little too much into it. At least I hope you are. I like Marten with Claire, but I don’t wish spinsterhood on Faye just to ensure that they don’t break up.

(I think you're taking my post a little too seriously)

No, I’m not really. My response was supposed to come off more sarcastic or light-hearted - I’m not even sure which - but I was so tired (still am, really) that I couldn’t get it to sound right.

[Zebediah]

Besides, it's clearly now Claire and Clinton who can't both be involved at the same time.

Or maybe it's Clinton and Elliot. Or Roko and Melon. Or it could be Momo and May. Anyway one of those pairs has a relationship exclusion principle, or possibly a totally different pair, or maybe nobody.

(click to show/hide)

Or not.

[Is it cold in here?]

But, Faye also knows that Bubbles is an AI inhabiting a chassis. So I'd wager that Faye's reaction in panel 4 might be a logic conflict between that visceral reaction to seeming injury and her intense interest in advanced robotics.

That she had that visceral reaction implies that her viscera are treating Bubbles's chassis like the body of an organic friend.

[Gyrre]

But, Faye also knows that Bubbles is an AI inhabiting a chassis. So I'd wager that Faye's reaction in panel 4 might be a logic conflict between that visceral reaction to seeming injury and her intense interest in advanced robotics.

That she had that visceral reaction implies that her viscera are treating Bubbles's chassis like the body of an organic friend.

Exactly.

[Is it cold in here?]

We know she treats Bubbles as an equal and a friend but if she starts emotionally regarding Bubbles as an organic, that's a step along the shipping road.

[awgiedawgie]

I think it's more active vs. passive, or maybe conscious vs. subconscious. I don't think Faye is actively (or consciously, if you will) treating Bubbles as an organic, but rather she is simply not treating Bubbles as any different from herself, because she doesn't think of her as different. Sure, she knows there's a physical distinction, but not the person inside. But that's really how she acted toward a lot of the AIs at the skate park. Even Jeremy, when he was only an assembly arm, was just one of the guys. And they all respect her for it.


So it's understandable that she would be simultaneously freaked out and fascinated by Bubbles being able to bend in ways that would land a normal person in the hospital.

[WoaLG]

A while ago I remember a similar conversation on these forums based on Veronica Reed giving Sam and Momo cookies and then realizing that Momo couldn't eat them.

[Is it cold in here?]

That one was profound. Momo simultaneously headed off guilt and and (what would in other people be) defensiveness and made a demand for major effort from the organics.

"If everyone does their best" is totally different from good intentions.

That means independent study of what matters to most of the people in a marginalized group. That means scrutinizing what you publish. For example, even though "normal"  can have a neutral meaning, there's a message of exclusion when calling the majority "normal".

That means owning up to mistakes. Someone here, who definitely had good intentions, answered criticism without defensiveness but with "I regret causing offense. You deserve better.".

That means, when someone is angry, listening.

There's more. Momo set the bar high.

[Neko_Ali]

I don't think that Faye's reaction to Bubbles' arm twisting has anything specific to do with her. But rather it's a general reaction to how similar to human form anthro PC chassis like Bubbles, Momo and May's is, and the unexpected timing. It's sort of an offshoot of the uncanny valley effect, where something is in the appearance of a human, but not quite right and therefor off putting. In this case, watching someone twist their arm suddenly in a way that would involve a violent break for most humans.

In truth it doesn't even need to be a robot involved. Look at extremely flexible acrobats and actors who can contort their bodies in ways that the majority of people can't. They make a living moving ways that freak and/or gross people out because our minds tell us 'Humans can't move like that!' human like anthro PCs seem to keep their range of motion within average human variation for similar effect. There is no reason why a the Idoru chassis couldn't come with  a neck join that rotates 360 degrees.... But I dare say Momo spinning her head completely around would freak people out when they first saw it. Same as Bubbles appearing to break her arm. Even though it's completely withing normal movement range for her, it isn't for most humans so Faye's first reaction was to freak out, even though intellectually she knew better.

[zmeiat_joro]

Actually a friend of mine in high school could do that with her elbow.

[Gyrre]

Actually a friend of mine in high school could do that with her elbow.

Hyperflexion of the shoulder or that 190° extension some people can do?

[zmeiat_joro]

At a bigger angle than Bubbles did in the comic. Probably 40 degrees? Don't remember exactly.

[awgiedawgie]

For a human to do it requires dislocation of the elbow, as well as the extreme extensibility in the muscles and tendons. I've seen it done too. It's not unheard of, but it's quite uncommon.