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Won it in an underground gambling ring

Managed to blackmail somebody who regularly visits Canadian strippers

Signed up to be a chassis tester - finding bugs is fun and trippy!

"Oh, it fell off the back of a truck..."

Other - please specify in comments

[DSL]

It may or may not be weird and I don't care if it is, but I'm finding the robot characters that started out with non-humaniform bodies less relatable now that they have humaniform bodies. Winslow in particular; his oversized iPod body was, to me, part of his personality.

[Oenone]

Others swapping shells almost at whim may not help Roko's issues with getting comfortable in hers.

It might help her to see that what makes a body yours isn’t inhabiting it but claiming it.

[Wombat]

Well, May's onboard.

[shanejayell]

Is anyone surprised Pintsize upgraded just to troll people? *lol*

[ElfDestruct]

Two days of Pintsize being not so Pintsize, beginning to suspect this may not be a one-off.  So, has he joined the rest of the main AI cast in getting a new body? Is this permanent, a loaner, or is he going to swap back and forth?   And I don't want to know how he paid for it, if it isn't a loaner.  I am not sure how I feel about this, previously, his mayhem was limited by not having usable hands, so him now having thumbs is potentially terrifying. This could be funny, or the start of a reign of terror; time will tell which side it comes down on.

Yeah, I'm concerned that a Robot Jail arc is on the way if it isn't temporary

[John Allenson]

Of course that's where Pintsize would keep a plug-in cord.
This is the most interesting he's been in a long time.  That was definitely the best interaction he's ever had with May.

And no, I'm not surprised that he glowed up just to troll people.  Martin has changed a lot in the last few years, he has settled into a job he is competent at and enjoys doing.  Martin has a healthy relationship now.  I wouldn't be surprised if Pintsize were feeling neglected.

Sometimes people act out since negative attention is better than zero attention.

[de_la_Nae]

i mean maybe but also like

it's fun? and funny? you can do things just because they're fun. googly eyes are almost always funny! my friend had some quietly delivered to her at the warehouse back when we worked there and we put them on receipt printers and packing material dispensers to make them look like they were barfing material. barcode scanners cuz then they were googly :0 faces.
management um... got annoyed. especially when we put them on the pictures of them on the department corkboard. but they were also literally evil, some of them. outside of being killjoys

[Scarlet Manuka]

Of course that is where he would want his charging cable to connect to. 

Also, why is he still speaking in a Macintosh voice/font? He has (supposedly) a more modern voice box now.

Personal preference?

Recall that he has been trying to do a version of the invisible gorilla experiment on Marten and Claire. Keeping the voice the same is an important part of presenting a façade of normality.

Beyond that, I don't think he would necessarily want to change his voice. Pintsize has always seemed pretty happy with most aspects of himself.

[Gus_Smedstad]

A relatively human standard chassis makes his antics (eg. sexual harassment) more serious and threatening.

After today's strip, it's apparent he's going to sexually harass women with a USB cable.

[Sorflakne]

Well, May's onboard.

Honestly, I'd have been surprised if she wasn't.

Now we just need more interaction between Pintsize and May. They don't get enough screen time together causing chaos and bouncing their personalities off each other.

[Thrudd]

Well Union Robotics seems to be in on it, so my guess on the real story is that he talked them into letting him do an extended test drive on a refurbished chassis for one of their clients.

[Farideh]

That seems plausible.

[Gyrre]

Well now I'm wondering if Jeph is a Ken Ashcorp fan
, because it feels like he may have been singing along to the chorus of this while writing today's dialogue.

[QuestionableIntentions]

Assuming this isn't a custom job, who designed that cable placement? 

May admures trolldom in it's purest form it seems

[Gnabberwocky]

Oh no. First he gets a humanoid body, and now he's about to get infinite energy by plugging both ends of a cable into himself.

Will no one stop this fiend?

[Farideh]

Surely that would cause a feedback loop which would then make him implode?

[BenRG]

I'll go one step further: I think it is entirely possible that we're seeing the leading edge of an arc about Pintsize moving out of the apartment (Claire and Faye won't let the little pervert stay now he's an android) and maybe even an previously-unanticipated romantic relationship with May.

As well as the whole sexual harassment of his female room-mates, Pintsize has said on several occasions that he feels that his work with Marten was done. With Faye also on a fairly even keel, he may feel no need to stay anymore and he might want to move his unique form of psychotherapy to a new venue and a new set of 'clients' (although he very obviously has his own income stream, given the quality of that chassis).

[Mr_Rose]

Anyone else think he’s after May? Romantically, I mean?
They already had some physical intimacy but realised they weren’t really equipped to appreciate it… what if he wants to try again now that they both (possibly) are?

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Remember how Jimbo was permanently barred from entering Canada? This will end at the Hague with Pintsize censured for violating the Geneva Accords.

Is that one of Marigold's bras?

[Annemoon]

Well, May's onboard.

I'm not actually 100% sure of this, her expression is a bit odd, it could definitely also be read as 'negatively' hysterical.
(I would lean towards that interpretation when looking at this drawing. The emotion is mixed probably so good luck portraying that 100% clearly in one comic panel ^^')
Hope Jeph's going to elaborate on this in one of the following days I'm really curious about that now.

[Wingy]

Anyone else think he’s after May? Romantically, I mean?

And if he is, which I really doubt, it's likely to go unrequited as May still wants Sven.  Not that Pintsize is above colluding with May to get Sven jealous enough to rekindle Sven+May for a fee.

[St.Clair]

I think May's in a much better position to appreciate the joke now that she's in a non-sucky body and has just acquired non-sucky employment.  If you'd sprung this on her a month or two ago (in-strip time)...

[Farideh]

Remember how Jimbo was permanently barred from entering Canada? This will end at the Hague with Pintsize censured for violating the Geneva Accords.

Is that one of Marigold's bras?

I think it's a crop top.


Claire probably won't kick Pintsize out, they actually have a pretty decent relationship. After all, Pintsize was the one to get Marten to pay attention when Claire was struggling with anxiety over her upcoming exams.

[SmilingCat]

The thing I'm curious about is whether or not there's some sort of safeguard to keep an AI from inhabiting more than one body at a time.

Because otherwise pintsize might have not so much migrated to a new body as multiplied.

[shanejayell]

Pintsize and a actual JOB. Seriously? 

[Farideh]

I can just see him in the R&D department of the sex toy factory, coming up with new designs...

[Shjade]

Anyone else think he’s after May? Romantically, I mean?
They already had some physical intimacy but realised they weren’t really equipped to appreciate it… what if he wants to try again now that they both (possibly) are?

While possible, I don't see it, personally. I could see them experimenting physically, trying out the new bodies and all, but I never got a sense of romance behind any of their interactions. At most, friends with benefits.

[Gus_Smedstad]

Protip for job interviews: a tie doesn't give a positive impression if you're not wearing a shirt.

[Beast_Reborn]

Going shirtless doesn't usually give a positive impression, but given that, I suppose a tie wouldn't actually hurt... Besides, I like how it matches his shorts.

Re. romantic speculation about Pintsize with May or anyone else, this seems entirely foreign to anything we've seen of his personality, and I'd go so far as to say that a Pintsize in a relationship would be unrecognizable and, in effect, a completely new character.

[Gyrre]

i mean maybe but also like

it's fun? and funny? you can do things just because they're fun. googly eyes are almost always funny! my friend had some quietly delivered to her at the warehouse back when we worked there and we put them on receipt printers and packing material dispensers to make them look like they were barfing material. barcode scanners cuz then they were googly :0 faces.
management um... got annoyed. especially when we put them on the pictures of them on the department corkboard. but they were also literally evil, some of them. outside of being killjoys

If it was food, their concern was food contamination (on top of being killjoys).

I'm a line inspector for a food production facility and often find myself in the roll of 'fun police' because one of the production supervisors is an apathetic lazyass who actively avoids work. The only reason he's still employed is because he can run (and fix) every line machine in the building.

[BenRG]

The thing I'm curious about is whether or not there's some sort of safeguard to keep an AI from inhabiting more than one body at a time.

Because otherwise pintsize might have not so much migrated to a new body as multiplied.

it's been established in-strip that AI algorithms cannot be copied, only moved. Some readers have theorised that any attempt to copy would fail because the differences in environment and sensory input from two chassis, no matter how small, would instantly cause the two algorithms to diverge and rapidly become two very different individuals.

Setting that aside, I do kind of like the idea of particularly well-off synthetics having different bodies the way that you or I have different sets of clothes. Either for different activities or just in case they feel like looking different today.

[Mr_Rose]

Going shirtless doesn't usually give a positive impression, but given that, I suppose a tie wouldn't actually hurt... Besides, I like how it matches his shorts.

Re. romantic speculation about Pintsize with May or anyone else, this seems entirely foreign to anything we've seen of his personality, and I'd go so far as to say that a Pintsize in a relationship would be unrecognizable and, in effect, a completely new character.

Uh, you’re kidding, right? He was clearly depressed after his online boyfriend rejected him and he was trying to date Roko for a while there. Am I the only one who remembers that?

[Wingy]

... he was trying to date Roko for a while there.

Pintsize totally fouled up his only date with Roko; I expect she left early.

[hedgie]

While possible, I don't see it, personally. I could see them experimenting physically, trying out the new bodies and all, but I never got a sense of romance behind any of their interactions. At most, friends with benefits.

I’m pretty sure that the latter scenario would fall apart once he finds out that May opted for only the standard human number of holes.

[QuestionableIntentions]

The thing I'm curious about is whether or not there's some sort of safeguard to keep an AI from inhabiting more than one body at a time.

Because otherwise pintsize might have not so much migrated to a new body as multiplied.

it's been established in-strip that AI algorithms cannot be copied, only moved. Some readers have theorised that any attempt to copy would fail because the differences in environment and sensory input from two chassis, no matter how small, would instantly cause the two algorithms to diverge and rapidly become two very different individuals.

Setting that aside, I do kind of like the idea of particularly well-off synthetics having different bodies the way that you or I have different sets of clothes. Either for different activities or just in case they feel like looking different today.

So why does that not happen when an AI "moves"?

[Beast_Reborn]

Going shirtless doesn't usually give a positive impression, but given that, I suppose a tie wouldn't actually hurt... Besides, I like how it matches his shorts.

Re. romantic speculation about Pintsize with May or anyone else, this seems entirely foreign to anything we've seen of his personality, and I'd go so far as to say that a Pintsize in a relationship would be unrecognizable and, in effect, a completely new character.

Uh, you’re kidding, right? He was clearly depressed after his online boyfriend rejected him and he was trying to date Roko for a while there. Am I the only one who remembers that?

I did honestly forget about his brief online relationship in the very early days of the strip. His more recent forays into dating apps, including his disastrous date with Roko, don't seem like very strong counterexamples, since his interest seems to be mainly in trolling other users.

[BenRG]

The thing I'm curious about is whether or not there's some sort of safeguard to keep an AI from inhabiting more than one body at a time.

Because otherwise pintsize might have not so much migrated to a new body as multiplied.

it's been established in-strip that AI algorithms cannot be copied, only moved. Some readers have theorised that any attempt to copy would fail because the differences in environment and sensory input from two chassis, no matter how small, would instantly cause the two algorithms to diverge and rapidly become two very different individuals.

Setting that aside, I do kind of like the idea of particularly well-off synthetics having different bodies the way that you or I have different sets of clothes. Either for different activities or just in case they feel like looking different today.

So why does that not happen when an AI "moves"?

It does; have you noticed the way that AI characters change when they change chassis? Some of it is natural character growth but it's strongly enabled by the fact that they're got a different sensorium.

[de_la_Nae]

If it was food, their concern was food contamination (on top of being killjoys).

no, we're not that dumb.

[de_la_Nae]

talking about the differences between moving and copying and limits thereof, without noting the seeming exemption of Yay (however many letters they use)

[St.Clair]

Part of the problem is that there is actually no such thing as a "move" operation in any digital storage I'm familiar with, only "changing pointers" or "make a copy, then forget about/overwrite/destroy the original."

[Mr_Rose]

talking about the differences between moving and copying and limits thereof, without noting the seeming exemption of Yay (however many letters they use)

The whole point of Yay is that they are an exception so I don’t think that actually adds much. I mean we don’t even know if they are a series of individual instances that happen to be networked or if they are operating out of a colossal mega-brain somewhere that is just puppeteering around a bunch of (relatively) dumb terminals. Heck, they could be Geth for all we know.

Part of the problem is that there is actually no such thing as a "move" operation in any digital storage I'm familiar with, only "changing pointers" or "make a copy, then forget about/overwrite/destroy the original."

Various kinds of RAM have destructive reads; i.e. it only retains the data because of a looping buffer that writes the read data back after the read operation. Depending on the architecture used, this could be exploited to provide a true move-only command.

[Thrudd]

Claire probably won't kick Pintsize out, they actually have a pretty decent relationship.
After all, Pintsize was the one to get Marten to pay attention when Claire was struggling with anxiety over her upcoming exams.

There was the birdseed incident that established the pecking order between them some time back.

The whole scene had me with a very strong sense of Déjà vu, and it took some pondering before my abused memory filing system spit up an answer.

GWS - I have the two ton slip cased and signed edition looming on the top shelf of a bookcase glaring at me.
I must go now and sacrifice the appropriate items on the altar to appease the goddess.

[BenRG]

Part of the problem is that there is actually no such thing as a "move" operation in any digital storage I'm familiar with, only "changing pointers" or "make a copy, then forget about/overwrite/destroy the original."

There is nothing to suggest that the AIs are digital. They're almost certainly analogue and may even have quantum (and, by definition, fractional) elements. So, instead of '1' and '0', there are probably also factors of 1/3 (lepton spin) and, because quantum is like that, a 'maybe' and 'maybe not' state.

[Sorflakne]

The thing I'm curious about is whether or not there's some sort of safeguard to keep an AI from inhabiting more than one body at a time.

Because otherwise pintsize might have not so much migrated to a new body as multiplied.

it's been established in-strip that AI algorithms cannot be copied, only moved. Some readers have theorised that any attempt to copy would fail because the differences in environment and sensory input from two chassis, no matter how small, would instantly cause the two algorithms to diverge and rapidly become two very different individuals.

Setting that aside, I do kind of like the idea of particularly well-off synthetics having different bodies the way that you or I have different sets of clothes. Either for different activities or just in case they feel like looking different today.

So how does Yay work?  Are they really one entity managing multiple bodies, or multiple entities that are so similar and interconnected that they may as well be one?

[hedgie]

Yes?

[SmilingCat]

The thing I'm curious about is whether or not there's some sort of safeguard to keep an AI from inhabiting more than one body at a time.

Because otherwise pintsize might have not so much migrated to a new body as multiplied.

it's been established in-strip that AI algorithms cannot be copied, only moved. Some readers have theorised that any attempt to copy would fail because the differences in environment and sensory input from two chassis, no matter how small, would instantly cause the two algorithms to diverge and rapidly become two very different individuals.

Setting that aside, I do kind of like the idea of particularly well-off synthetics having different bodies the way that you or I have different sets of clothes. Either for different activities or just in case they feel like looking different today.

It was also established that Marten has a backup of Pintsize on his computer, indicating that which makes pintsize pintsize can in fact be copied.

[shanejayell]

Pintsize and a actual JOB. Seriously? 

Comics up.

"NO FREE DILDOS?! Fuck it, I'm gone."

[Sorflakne]

They get there are are promptly told to apply for the job via the company website.

[Gnabberwocky]

Oh no, imagine if they both get hired.

Pintsize and Claire as co-workers? It can only end in tears.

[Gyrre]

If it was food, their concern was food contamination (on top of being killjoys).

no, we're not that dumb.

I've seen some pretty stupid shit here.
Thankfully we passed the FDA check this week with just a warning.