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Free cosmetic upgrade consultation with Faye. "We'll make you unique!"

5 (14.3%)

See if they can get a charity gig doing zero-profit repair work for low-income synthetics & then persuade clients to purchase optional extras

5 (14.3%)

Take May up on her 'dancing with a sandwich board whilst handing out fliers' idea

1 (2.9%)

Get Roko, Punchbot, Chimevera and other satisfied customers to do on-line endorsements

4 (11.4%)

Live-stream major rebuilds (not only would there be an audience, I'm sure synthetics would volunteer to be the subject!)

4 (11.4%)

"Say 'Bubbles Sent Me' and you get a FREE Sam Bean original spray!"

1 (2.9%)

Get Marigold's help to seriously upgrade the shop's on-line presence and SEO

12 (34.3%)

Ask Crushbot or the Cloaked Emu to hang out outside the shop; the customers will soon be streaming in!

2 (5.7%)

Other (please specify in comments)

1 (2.9%)

Total Members Voted: 35

[BenRG]

Technical Note:
Do you remember when May's right arm fell off? That was an issue with the retaining ring too. I'm thinking that early decay of those particular components is a known issue with that class of chassis.

[b_jonas0]

All she does is doodle on people with sharpies for ****'s sake and she acts like she owns the place. 

All she does is doodle people with sharpies and then those people spread the word about the place on social media.  Union Robotics has no advertisments or anything, Sam's drawings are how every paying customer finds the place. 

[Akima]

Technical Note:
Do you remember when May's right arm fell off? That was an issue with the retaining ring too. I'm thinking that early decay of those particular components is a known issue with that class of chassis.

Sounds feasible. Or scheduled maintenance on hard-worked components has been neglected.

Can anyone explain the "Sven is not a mooch" comment? My American English dictionary defines mooch (as a noun), as a beggar or scrounger. Sven is well-off so why would he be begging? Especially off May? I am confused.

[TV4Fun]

I'm not too worried about Faye's financials. More money will come from the same place as all of Union Robotics' high-end equipment.

[Castlerook]

(If she's got a kink for bread, does that make her a sliced pansexual?)

FTFY.

[TV4Fun]

Can anyone explain the "Sven is not a mooch" comment? My American English dictionary defines mooch (as a noun), as a beggar or scrounger. Sven is well-off so why would he be begging? Especially off May? I am confused.

I don't think anyone understands that comment. You are correct on the definition of mooch, but Sven is nowhere to be seen here. I think perhaps it is meant to contrast Sven to May, who is acting like a little bit of a mooch here, or to say Sven probably should owe May a little bit for repairs, seeing as he did deposit at least some of the, ah, material in her leg socket, but those are just guesses.

[Castlerook]

So if we apply Occam's Razor, Jeph made a mistake and meant May, not Sven.

[Wingy]

Technical Note:
Do you remember when May's right arm fell off? That was an issue with the retaining ring too. I'm thinking that early decay of those particular components is a known issue with that class of chassis.

Sounds feasible. Or scheduled maintenance on hard-worked components has been neglected.

Having fixed my share of retaining rings on various devices, I can see why they would be covered under a maintenance system (replace every 300,000,000 steps or annually, whichever comes first), which we know May's Chassis no longer has support from.  And having seen May in action before, she'll figure out a way to repay everyone eventually.

[alc40]

Can anyone explain the "Sven is not a mooch" comment? My American English dictionary defines mooch (as a noun), as a beggar or scrounger. Sven is well-off so why would he be begging? Especially off May? I am confused.

I don't think anyone understands that comment. You are correct on the definition of mooch, but Sven is nowhere to be seen here. I think perhaps it is meant to contrast Sven to May, who is acting like a little bit of a mooch here, or to say Sven probably should owe May a little bit for repairs, seeing as he did deposit at least some of the, ah, material in her leg socket, but those are just guesses.

The Sven comment was used at the bottom of comic 4101, so perhaps Jeph started from that comic and accidentally left the bottom phrase unchanged.

[Stoutfellow]

Just a thought: perhaps the comment is meant contrastively: Sven is not a mooch (but May is).

[Gyrre]

Can anyone explain the "Sven is not a mooch" comment? My American English dictionary defines mooch (as a noun), as a beggar or scrounger. Sven is well-off so why would he be begging? Especially off May? I am confused.

I don't think anyone understands that comment. You are correct on the definition of mooch, but Sven is nowhere to be seen here. I think perhaps it is meant to contrast Sven to May, who is acting like a little bit of a mooch here, or to say Sven probably should owe May a little bit for repairs, seeing as he did deposit at least some of the, ah, material in her leg socket, but those are just guesses.

A mooch more specifically seems to carry the conotation of the beggar/scrounger being unwilling to make an effort to reciprocate others' generosity towards them. Often referred to as an 'unrepentant mooch'. A number of sitcoms have one of these characters.

EDIT: Found a good entry on Urban Dictionary:

Someone who takes and takes but never gives. They could take food, money or anything that you give them but never give you anything in return.

[hedgie]

Aye.  They're the one who is perpetually, magically absent when it gets to be their round, or conveniently "forgets" their wallet every time that they go out.  Their actual income or resources don't matter.

[David F]

The Sven comment was used at the bottom of comic 4101, so perhaps Jeph started from that comic and accidentally left the bottom phrase unchanged.

Supporting your theory, the topline got reused as well.  Comic 4128 has "4101: IOU" at the top, not the correct number.

The reuse is kind of amusing given the situation, though...

[andrybak]

Roko hasn't experienced a bread episode since The Squishing, has she?  Maybe that's the problem, her bread lust is gone.

(If she's got a kink for bread, does that make her a pansexual?)

Roko was crushed in #3900, and checked out The Secret Bakery in #3959.

Find out more at the QC Wiki!

[OldGoat]

Roko hasn't experienced a bread episode since The Squishing, has she?  Maybe that's the problem, her bread lust is gone.

(If she's got a kink for bread, does that make her a pansexual?)

Roko was crushed in #3900, and checked out The Secret Bakery in #3959.

Find out more at the QC Wiki!

I know.  I was just too eagar to do the pan (spanish for "bread") gag.  Since my life hasn't been threatened I must assume no one got the joke.

[Tova]

More likely a lot of people decided not to encourage you.

[Thrillho]

Slow your roll! As far as I am concerned, those people are the problem, and are a bunch of croutons to boot!

I thought that pun was pantastic. I'm bread to enjoy such things. I always want a pitta that. Anyone on this forum who doesn't agree with me is toast or secretly loves puns and is being an open-faced liar. It's unfortunate that OldGoat's joke got overlooked, sandwiched as it was between serious discourse about the comic.

 

(click to show/hide)

SOURDOUGH BLOOMER

[OldGoat]

Slow your roll! As far as I am concerned, those people are the problem, and are a bunch of croutons to boot!

I thought that pun was pantastic. I'm bread to enjoy such things. I always want a pitta that. Anyone on this forum who doesn't agree with me is toast or secretly loves puns and is being an open-faced liar. It's unfortunate that OldGoat's joke got overlooked, sandwiched as it was between serious discourse about the comic.

 

(click to show/hide)

SOURDOUGH BLOOMER

No worries.  I'll just go back to loafing around.

[chris73]

Yeah capitalism sucks but its still better than anything else currently available

[Tova]

Sorry, everyone.

[jwhouk]

About what? There's no knead to apologise for anything!

[Tova]

It's just that once this thread gets a starter, it's toast.

[shanejayell]

New strip up.

Faye is just too nice at times.

One wonders if the money Spooky donated will eventually pop up.

[Killspree]

Ditching a paying customer to go ogle a sentient being's dismemberment as if they were a just a thing...yeah...

At least Beeps is getting a first hand look at May's issues.

[Near Lurker]

Is this the first confirmation we've had that Beeps goes by "she"?  I remember that was a bit of confusion a while back...

[BenRG]

Oh, hello Beepatrice! You know, I'm thinking that maybe she's overdoing the "Roko is edgy and that is what makes her strong and assertive, therefore I must look more edgy" assumption! Still, if she is getting a kitty, it isn't going to at all be out-of-character for her!

It also might be useful for one of May's two case-workers to be here right now, given yesterday's conversation about funding. I wonder if Beepatrice will realise that or if none of this will reach Roko's ears until the 'what did you do yesterday?' conversation beside the coolant top-up machine?

There is such an edge of sweetness to this. Sam desperately wants to be involved in the engineering side of this and the wonderfully teenage way she tries to avoid Faye's glance made me grin. Of course, Faye has been there herself (probably many times) and she knows the symptoms, so Sam doesn't fool her! FWIW, I'm wondering just how undignified Sam's doubtless very rapid scramble from a kneeling position behind Beepatrice to a standing position in front of Faye was in retrospect?

[JoeCovenant]

As has been noted above...

Sam really is a Faye Mini-Me now, huh!? 

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Sam has an ally in May.

and ... Don't poke the pube, Sam!

( cute kitty huh see the fangs the claws i mean just lookit the bones )

[cybersmurf]

Sam is giving me focus whiplash. First she's overly excited and focused on sprays, but now that Faye has some of her actual work to do, Sam wants to drop everything and be all up in her business.

GET YER SPRAYS DONE FIRST, KID!


Don't get me wrong, it's good to be excitable about possible future career path options, but Sam seriously needs some chill. Maybe once puberty has settled.

[zisraelsen]

Yea, I'm feeling some second-hand awkwardness for Beeps here. Imagine getting a tattoo and your artist jumps up to help someone work on a car halfway through. Or, I guess... assist in surgery? AI/human metaphors are tricky sometimes.

[Wingy]

At least Beeps is getting a first hand look at May's issues.

It's not clear Beeps knows who May is (Roko hasn't named May to Beeps in-strip yet) and even if she does know, hasn't officially met May or even seen May.  I expect May is behind a curtain or in another room at the shop, so not within Beeps sight currently.  So to Beeps, Sam leaping up to help isn't all that sensical.

[brasca]

Sam is giving me focus whiplash. First she's overly excited and focused on sprays, but now that Faye has some of her actual work to do, Sam wants to drop everything and be all up in her business.

GET YER SPRAYS DONE FIRST, KID!


Don't get me wrong, it's good to be excitable about possible future career path options, but Sam seriously needs some chill. Maybe once puberty has settled.

Sam is there to learn about robot repair and while the sprays are something to do that she has a talent for an opportunity to observe emerges so she really should be there for it.

[shanejayell]

New strip up.

Ah, May, never change. 

[Theta9]

Some of still don't have a leg attached.

 

[Tova]

At least she’s not legless.

[BenRG]

May, I don't know if you've been following but what Faye and Sam are doing is sort of a prerequisite to reattaching your leg. Faye probably never realised that she has it in her to be a teacher. Meanwhile, Bubbles never realised that she would end up being an elementary school teacher for a bunch of adults.

Bubbles' cat face made me think of an article I read about true sentience. A machine, no matter how 'smart' its software could only reproduce an image it has either captured or is in its memory to the best quality its hardware can provide. A true AI can actually 'draw something that looks like a cat face' that is an amalgam of memories and abstract ideas about what cats ought to look like. Bubbles probably never saw that cat before she started drawing; that's what marks her a real conscious being.

[Mr. Doctor]

At least Beeps is getting a first hand look at May's issues.

It's not clear Beeps knows who May is (Roko hasn't named May to Beeps in-strip yet) and even if she does know, hasn't officially met May or even seen May.  I expect May is behind a curtain or in another room at the shop, so not within Beeps sight currently.  So to Beeps, Sam leaping up to help isn't all that sensical.

They have met before

[DSL]

Cross-training and broadening the institutional skill set. This will be good for the future of Union Robotics (and Body Art).

[Tai Fanboi]

I dunno why but Panel #3 gave me flashbacks to the pottery wheel scene in Ghost lol. 

[Wingy]

It's not clear Beeps knows who May is (Roko hasn't named May to Beeps in-strip yet) and even if she does know, hasn't officially met May or even seen May.

They have met before

Ooops.  Thanks for the reminder.

[cybersmurf]

There are two types of people: those who can extrapolate from an incomplete set of data.


Bubs, what you've done here - although probably highly skilled - might not exactly be what Beeps has signed up for...

[JoeCovenant]

There are two types of people: those who can extrapolate from an incomplete set of data.


Bubs, what you've done here - although probably highly skilled - might not exactly be what Beeps has signed up for...

But which side is which artist's??
(Have you extrapolated from an incomplete set of data??    )

[Castlerook]

If Beeps raises a point, they could always say that its a comment about the dichotomy of the originality of art and the mass production of "art". Or something to that effect.

[BenRG]

Such an explanation would, of course, raise the spray to the status of 'fine art' with the automatically-assumed increase of fee by about a solid order of magnitude.

[theMarc]

Some of still don't have a leg attached.

 

Because of how brains work, I didn't notice that typo at first; my mind just kept filling in the missing word.

[Theta9]

Some of still don't have a leg attached.

 

Because of how brains work, I didn't notice that typo at first; my mind just kept filling in the missing word.

Honestly, I passed over it on my first reading as well.

I just take some comfort in seeing an artist fuck up publicly. Like when I saw Fates Warning live and there was a slight goof in the second chorus of "Silent Cries" (I didn't actually notice it, but the band members laughing about it was hard to miss) - I had regarded them as somewhat godlike up until then. Or on my Kenso concert DVD where Dr. Shimizu fucked up the opening guitar lick on "Shining in the Sky", a mistake preserved for posterity. That bothered me at first, but now I'm like "okay, he's a human being too."

[cybersmurf]

Some of still don't have a leg attached.

 

Because of how brains work, I didn't notice that typo at first; my mind just kept filling in the missing word.

Not only yours. I kept looking for a misspelling, not a missing word. Guess that's why it slipped JJ.

There are two types of people: those who can extrapolate from an incomplete set of data.


Bubs, what you've done here - although probably highly skilled - might not exactly be what Beeps has signed up for...

But which side is which artist's??
(Have you extrapolated from an incomplete set of data??    )

I created a multi-part extrapolation. Which means it's probably wronger than I'll ever care to admit.

The way I see it, Bubs is o the left off Beeps, so the left side is hers. And judging by the designs other customers left with, none had the detail that one half Beeps has, and also Bubbles is waaaaay too proud to complete the spray with the right side if Sam's was the left half.

[Wingy]

And here I was thinking Bubs could just duplicate Sam's left half on the right to complete the spray.  Seems like it would be easy: impose a grid on the visual data stream and then (re)draw the mirror image.  But I suppose that wouldn't be "artistic"...

Actually, as far as characterizations go, I'm kinda disappointed in this strip.  While Sam may be in character, seems to me Bubs and Faye aren't - they would be forcing Sam to finish with her customer first.

[Roborat]

And here I was thinking Bubs could just duplicate Sam's left half on the right to complete the spray.  Seems like it would be easy: impose a grid on the visual data stream and then (re)draw the mirror image.  But I suppose that wouldn't be "artistic"...

Actually, as far as characterizations go, I'm kinda disappointed in this strip.  While Sam may be in character, seems to me Bubs and Faye aren't - they would be forcing Sam to finish with her customer first.

Maybe Beeps said it was okay and she would wait? That would be in character for her.

[rtmq0227]

Something I'm surprised I haven't seen mentioned here so far: Didn't Jim explicitly say "no more power tools?"

Is Sam going to keep this from him or will she spill the beans and get everyone in trouble?