Questionable Content XVII: "My Brain Is Trash And I Live On The Internet"

[otakuryoga]

those ducks know what they did...

[Delicious Taffy]

I really like Aurelia's hair in this one.

[Windscion]

I really feel more kindly disposed to Aurelia's progeny after seeing her utterly and completely fail to back off when told to back the frick off.

[Wraith]

I really feel more kindly disposed to Aurelia's progeny after seeing her utterly and completely fail to back off when told to back the frick off.

Have to admit, I'm kind of siding with Aurelia. It was a very silly misunderstanding, and she's the first one to offer an olive branch and apologise unreservedly even though it was a mutual mistake. Claire even admitted to Faye that it was silly and she needed to get over herself, but this conversation with her mom is very much bratty teenager.

That last panel is especially unpleasant. Aurelia is asking if they can still love each other, and Claire just says "No". Not "I'm still angry and need time to process" or "Can we please talk about it later when I'm not at work", or "I love you, but right now I don't like you" just.. "No, no love here".

I KNOW that's not what Jeph intends it to be, but damn that's cold and all because Aurelia wasn't excited about a job that Claire has done nothing but complain about. Claire is very much the unreasonable one here, I feel.

[Manga Shoggoth]

That's the thing. Clare has already told Aurelia to back off - panel 3 to be precise.

I'm not going to blame Claire for going teenage and bratty at this point, any more than I am going to blame Aurelia for going maternal. Both characters know what they are doing, but they are - to a degree - slaves to 20-odd years of prior relationship. Claire has only just left home, and it takes years for a parent to adjust to the difference in the dynamic.

As to the last panel - from Claire's point of view, Aurelia is making light of the situation while she is still angry. That will naturally not go down well.

[Max_Killjoy]

Doing this at Claire's workplace is not great.

This is Aurelia putting her own need to not feel bad about what happened, ahead of Claire.

[georgie_leech]

As one of my characters was fond of saying... "Time and Place." Seeing family/friends at work can be awkward enough without explicitly bringing up baggage. I don't think Claire is actually saying she doesn't love her mother here, but is really not wanting to deal with this right now.

[Kish]

Have to admit, I'm kind of siding with Aurelia. It was a very silly misunderstanding, and she's the first one to offer an olive branch and apologise unreservedly even though it was a mutual mistake. Claire even admitted to Faye that it was silly and she needed to get over herself, but this conversation with her mom is very much bratty teenager.

That last panel is especially unpleasant. Aurelia is asking if they can still love each other, and Claire just says "No".

That is, apparently, a way it is possible to read the comic.

Looking at it again now, it jumps out at me that "I'm proud of you no matter what kind of job you--" is utterly backhanded. The only way she could make it more doubling down on her initial reaction would be if she explicitly spelled out, "Of course I'm, somehow, proud of you that you have this pathetic job which is utterly beneath you!" Then Claire said "could we please not do this right now," and Aurelia agreed and then--one panel after doing so--was right back to pushing Claire for an emotional concession.

Edited to add: Actually, looking at the recent comics, it's even further from what you're saying than that. At no point does Claire suggest that she considers Aurelia's reaction might have been justified or appropriate; the closest she comes is apologizing to Faye for having a breakdown over the cake when Faye and Bubbles somehow manage a not-backhanded congratulations for her new job.

[Windscion]

No one like you, Crushbot.

[Vinyadan]

I think Aurelia should show her consideration for Claire's job by also getting a job at Coffe of Doom, or, even better, at one of the competing coffee shops.

Wouldn't that make Claire jump from joy?

[Wraith]

I think Aurelia should show her consideration for Claire's job by also getting a job at Coffe of Doom, or, even better, at one of the competing coffee shops.

Wouldn't that make Claire jump from joy?

Oh! I hope it's that sketchy place that Marten and Hannelore wouldn't even dare step foot into before they discovered the Secret Bakery. Aurelia strikes me as the type who would get on well with enormous, eye-patch wearing bikers, and who DOESN'T like bloodstained-window-chic?

[Cikomyr2]

No one like you, Crushbot.

that one joke really made me laugh out loud. Was the perfect bathos after such a heartfelt scene

[DavidSh]

I had thought Crushbot was named for his strength and clumsiness, but this suggests a penchant for sudden infatuations is also possible.

[Cikomyr2]

I had thought Crushbot was named for his strength and clumsiness, but this suggests a penchant for sudden infatuations is also possible.

SEe, I didn't read the reference to crushbot as "he is pining for one of the Barista", but just that he really needs a therapist and over-open and overshare with them because he feels lonely.

[Wraith]

SEe, I didn't read the reference to crushbot as "he is pining for one of the Barista", but just that he really needs a therapist and over-open and overshare with them because he feels lonely.

That's how I read it too, and it left me wondering, "Why Crushbot? Why not the neurotic pink guy who used Faye as a therapist, he seems the sort who needs emotional stability even more."

[Rakaydos]

That's how I read it too, and it left me wondering, "Why Crushbot? Why not the neurotic pink guy who used Faye as a therapist, he seems the sort who needs emotional stability even more."

Because Crushbot is less seen but more memorable, making it a better long term callback.

[Manga Shoggoth]

And also that Crushbot has some history with Claire, while neurotic pink guy hasn't, so it makes more sense to refer to Crushbot.

[Max_Killjoy]

Doesn't a cube have 8 corners?

[The Glyphstone]

He does say four 'elbows'. So maybe those eight corners = 4 elbows and 4 knees?

[Gez]

It's in the context of spooning, so only one face of the cube is relevant.

[Windscion]

So, confirmed: Union Robotics hasn't really taken off if Sam is "subsidizing" them.

[Keltest]

So, confirmed: Union Robotics hasn't really taken off if Sam is "subsidizing" them.

I rather doubt that Fey is speaking out of a genuine financial situation, and more out of general saltyness.

[Morquard]

I rather doubt that Fey is speaking out of a genuine financial situation, and more out of general saltyness.

Well, equally worrying is that when Faye askes, "Whats up today" Bubbles immediately goes to Sam's schedule and not their own. Which seems to indicate, they don't actually have any clients booked today. Which is not good.

[Kish]

Faye and Bubbles' shop has been established as teetering on the edge of bankruptcy literally every time how well it's doing has been mentioned; I am not seeing why anyone would assume that's changed, unheralded.

Spoiler: to avoid being irritating

Show

My cat thought this post needed a lot more white space.

[Mechalich]

Faye and Bubbles' shop has been established as teetering on the edge of bankruptcy literally every time how well it's doing has been mentioned; I am not seeing why anyone would assume that's changed, unheralded.

An independent specialty repairs facility is likely to be teetering on the edge of bankruptcy regardless, since it's a market that is easily saturated. The problem isn't that Faye and Bubbles are shown barely being able to make ends meet, it's that they are repeatedly portrayed as having essentially no business at all.

The comic had an entire, massive and recent, plotline about how AIs need maintenance. If this is true, then Union Robotics should be absorbing at least some of that maintenance stream. Instead the comic makes it look like the desire for AIs to get cool body art is greater than their need for basic maintenance. It's the incongruity that's problematic.

[Keltest]

An independent specialty repairs facility is likely to be teetering on the edge of bankruptcy regardless, since it's a market that is easily saturated. The problem isn't that Faye and Bubbles are shown barely being able to make ends meet, it's that they are repeatedly portrayed as having essentially no business at all.

The comic had an entire, massive and recent, plotline about how AIs need maintenance. If this is true, then Union Robotics should be absorbing at least some of that maintenance stream. Instead the comic makes it look like the desire for AIs to get cool body art is greater than their need for basic maintenance. It's the incongruity that's problematic.

Its not that problematic to me. May was the equivalent of somebody who had massive, systemic health issues constantly needing medical attention that she couldnt pay to have treated enough to completely cure. A lot of the day to day stuff they would need would almost certainly be something they could handle on their own, the equivalent of putting on a bandage or disinfecting a scratch. We certainly havent seen any AI suddenly stop what they were doing and go "oh, shoot, my knees need lubricating, better make my way to the repair place!"

[Morquard]

Ok, gotta say, new Pintsize - still not funny

[Manga Shoggoth]

I tend to agree - nearly all of Pint-and-a-half-size's humour thus far has been to emphasize how unfunny his humour is when placed in the context of a humanoid body.

I grant that "why does the toaster have a USB slot" is funny, but (a) that's not Pintsize, and (b) that's largely because interconnection is being forced into so many devices for no real good reason. Most of the time you were better off with the original dumb device.

[Max_Killjoy]

Given the size difference, he should change his name to Gallonsize.

[Wraith]

I grant that "why does the toaster have a USB slot" is funny, but (a) that's not Pintsize, and (b) that's largely because interconnection is being forced into so many devices for no real good reason.

It'd be funnier if USB toasters weren't a real thing. I mean, they STARTED out being a joke article from the Onion, but then someone decided that a portable travel toaster with a Universal power connection might actually work, so...

The disturbing part comes from the fact that AIs genuinely have sex via USB. It's not just mildly transgressive that the cable plugs into his groin, it's also plausible that he is having relations with that toaster. Hence the smile, I guess, and the.... ahh... 'pop' at the end? The point is, in the QC universe why wouldn't everything have a USB slot? And also, how does Marten not know that he has a $60-80 toaster? What did he think he was paying for?