Questionable Content XIX: Give Jeph Just A *Little* Credit, Here

[Wraith]

From the sound of things, she is very well known as the acerbic child who chases off anyone who dares to try and communicate with her while screeching about her brilliance. Also, moray is apparently sending out constant updates for whats going on in cubetown and this guy reads them.

That feels like an oxymoron. She's avoided contact with anyone for 2 years, and explicitly hasn't done anything in that time - hence her breakdown - so what's there to report? What has Moray been reporting? "Hey everyone, here's an exhaustive list of everyone on the island who currently exists along with their mugshot", kind of thing?

People just know each other in QC, I guess. If the Head of Security also moonlights as a chambermaid, why shouldn't the bartender have photographic recollection of everyone who has never set foot in their bar?

And they dont think AIs are useless morons, what? Think moray and that security guard are kinda dumb, but most ais are fairly smart and aware of whats going on around them, if a bit strange due to invisible llama building and whatnot.

I'm thinking of the comic from about 4 months ago where even Marten scowled and shouted "WHY ARE [AI] LIKE THIS!?" in front of everyone. Then later when Claire talked to the Director and said 'everyone I've met so far is a weirdo'. Okay, maybe they doesn't think they're morons specifically, but they know what they're 'like'! What, in the last 4 months, have we seen that suggests that they should trust the judgement of ANYONE on this idiot island?

They have no reason to refuse a bartenders choice of beer. Especially as he has yet to do anything remotely stupid or strange.

Claire knows that AI sniff tea and hallucinate giraffe housewives. I feel like that is warning enough about their concept of taste. Serving gassy, over-hopped, hipster IPAs in today's comic only proves my point....

[Vinyadan]

Robots having photographic recollection isn't that odd... The privacy law issues of something like this would be impressive, but that's a different story.

I think Liz wasn't hiding as well as she thought. People knew she was there, isolating herself and getting nothing done, they just didn't care about her. That, or people remember when she was introduced to the island and her little speech.

EDIT: Back in the day, IIRC, Marten explicitly asked someone "do you really want to be served food by an AI?". Because of the later AI-minority overlap, I later felt it felt like an itchy thing to say, even though AIs are alien and frequently seem to be so random, they verge on what we would call insanity. I guess he got more trusting?

[Traab]

That feels like an oxymoron. She's avoided contact with anyone for 2 years, and explicitly hasn't done anything in that time - hence her breakdown - so what's there to report? What has Moray been reporting? "Hey everyone, here's an exhaustive list of everyone on the island who currently exists along with their mugshot", kind of thing?

People just know each other in QC, I guess. If the Head of Security also moonlights as a chambermaid, why shouldn't the bartender have photographic recollection of everyone who has never set foot in their bar?



I'm thinking of the comic from about 4 months ago where even Marten scowled and shouted "WHY ARE [AI] LIKE THIS!?" in front of everyone. Then later when Claire talked to the Director and said 'everyone I've met so far is a weirdo'. Okay, maybe they doesn't think they're morons specifically, but they know what they're 'like'! What, in the last 4 months, have we seen that suggests that they should trust the judgement of ANYONE on this idiot island?



Claire knows that AI sniff tea and hallucinate giraffe housewives. I feel like that is warning enough about their concept of taste. Serving gassy, over-hopped, hipster IPAs in today's comic only proves my point....

"Month 14, I sought to contact the angry little goblin scientist girl only to be yelled at once again for interrupting her brilliant brilliance. Lets leave her be for another month." Is along the lines of what id expect from moray to write about each member of this enclave. A brief update on how everyone is, and in this girls case, angry and frantic any time someone tries to talk to her for reasons they may or may not be aware of. Someone who behaves like that gets a reputation fast, and this isnt northampton, its basically a small floating company town. So id imagine most people are aware of their fellow employees. I mean heck, goblin girl was able to identify MARTEN despite her efforts to remain isolated for the last two years.

[KillianHawkeye]

I think Liz wasn't hiding as well as she thought.

This.

We all saw her attempts at stealth, lurking half obviously in the background, before she was properly introduced. It's likely that she does this every time she needs to go out for supplies or whatever, and everyone just plays along since they know by now she wants to be left alone.

[Cikomyr2]

I would hire this robot as a negociating nuke.

[Delicious Taffy]

Alright, I kinda dig this one. Weird kid, patient sarcastic adult. Very Iron Giant, innit.

[VoxRationis]

Emmett's level of expertise vis-a-vis tails is clearly overstated; a prehensile tail does not usually permit long, bulky hair like that of a fox.

[georgie_leech]

Emmett's level of expertise vis-a-vis tails is clearly overstated; a prehensile tail does not usually permit long, bulky hair like that of a fox.

There's no reason it couldn't, as the bits that grow hair aren't all that closely connected to the muscular and skeletal bits that make it prehensile. I mean, we could grow hairy hands like many other mammals, but evolution frowns on your grippers having lots of fur, so we don't. Artificially constructed ones though? Go nuts.

[VoxRationis]

Yes, I suppose it is physically possible, but why sink resources into a mass of hair that will be worn away in normal use? It would make great repeat business for Union Robotics and its vat of artificial fiber growth, but I don't see the advantage for the client.

[Wraith]

I don't particularly dislike Emmett, their "feral demon-spawn masquerading as a person in a hoodie" gimmick is kinda fun. I wish Jeph would decide if they're 14 years old or 8 years old though, the 'owo so cuute' thing was wearing very, very thin when we first did it ~6 years ago with Marigold, and Sam, and probably several other infantalised adults.

It would make great repeat business for Union Robotics and its vat of artificial fiber growth, but I don't see the advantage for the client.

From what we've seen of QC's AIs, this would probably qualify as a 'human experience', like cashing a cheque or going to the coffee shop. It doesn't have inherent physical value for them, but it would create a situation where they would have to make monthly visits to 'the hairdresser' and get their tail 'styled' according to occasions or fashion.

Y'know, all the stuff that real-life internet perverts would like to do, given the option.

[Scarlet Manuka]

Ah, back to the classy commentary on the human condition that we have come to expect from QC.

[Delicious Taffy]

Is anyone else confused about how we're supposed to view what's-her-name? Is she a toddler who needs to be adopted by a 32-year-old, or an adult who can drink alcohol and be drawn pantsless without the FBI knockin' on Jeph's door? I'm getting mixed signals here. Bypassing all the weird directions that conversation could go, I'm just not sure what sort of character she's supposed to be, other than "funnyface derp derp derp gremlin".

[Taevyr]

Yeah, I get the intent of "guys, isn't dropping your phone in the toilet and resulting stuff relatable", and it could have fit in parts of early QC (when still done well), but he really shouldn't have picked the "actually 1000 years old tween" character to do it with. Not to mention he could just have'em drop the phone in the toilet as they enter, as someone who's inebriated might do, thus evading the nudity which isn't at all necessary here?

Could be I'm simply all out of credit to give Jeph, but it just seems an odd choice, might be he's deliberately trying to stir up some stuff for views. Probably succesfully once it reaches reddit.

[Vinyadan]

You know, I would have never thought that the nudity in this page can be read as something sexual.

[Ionathus]

Is anyone else confused about how we're supposed to view what's-her-name? Is she a toddler who needs to be adopted by a 32-year-old, or an adult who can drink alcohol and be drawn pantsless without the FBI knockin' on Jeph's door? I'm getting mixed signals here. Bypassing all the weird directions that conversation could go, I'm just not sure what sort of character she's supposed to be, other than "funnyface derp derp derp gremlin".

She exists in a quantum state, simultaneously both childlike & needing protection and a fully-grown adult with relatable job problems, depending on the story he wants to tell.

Just like how almost all QC's AI have slowly morphed from entertaining and interesting "goofy little chaos bastard"-style AnthroPCs into pastel humans who are simultaneously oppressed daily & denied basic civil rights, but also qUiRKy weirdos with a near-suicidal lack of common sense who basically have to be babysat by the humans.

Jeph isn't interested in consistency, he just wants to tell the stories that interest him. That means sometimes the AI stuff is treated seriously and sometimes it's played extremely opposite for laughs. And I don't even necessarily begrudge him that: you've gotta write what you care about or you'll burn out fast. But it does make reading the comic confusing and makes it hard to maintain immersion if you're the kind of reader (I know I am) who needs consistent characterization.

[Rodin]

You know, I would have never thought that the nudity in this page can be read as something sexual.

*nods*

The strips disgusting and unfunny, but I don’t see the same sketchiness others seem to. As someone who doesn’t drink I’m very bemused by “drunk people, amirite?” humor.

I am starting to hang out on the Reddit page a bit though, there are alternate comic edits that are significantly funnier than the main comic. A bit hit and miss (some are just mean spirited swipes at the comic without an attempt at humor), but some of them have jokes I’d expect to see in old QC.

[halfeye]

You know, I would have never thought that the nudity in this page can be read as something sexual.

Me three.

rhubarb

[Ionathus]

*nods*

The strips disgusting and unfunny, but I don’t see the same sketchiness others seem to. As someone who doesn’t drink I’m very bemused by “drunk people, amirite?” humor.

I am starting to hang out on the Reddit page a bit though, there are alternate comic edits that are significantly funnier than the main comic. A bit hit and miss (some are just mean spirited swipes at the comic without an attempt at humor), but some of them have jokes I’d expect to see in old QC.

I don't feel like the strip is sexualized, I just don't like getting a full-body shot of anyone sitting on the toilet, in particular this person whose ambiguous perceived age is kind of focused-on by the story. It doesn't feel predatory or sexual, just uncomfortable. And then she (as I interpret it) grabs a turd instead of her phone, so I have to live with that in my brain now too.

But hey, I have zero benefit of the doubt left to give Jeph when it comes to toilet-related stuff since that truly unforgivable fetish reference during the vtubers arc, so that's probably coloring my opinion too.

To your second point: the subreddit edits are hit or miss but I overall really enjoy the squirrelclamp ones. Like you said, they bring back a nostalgic vibe for the older QC humor.

[Taevyr]

I don't feel like the strip is sexualized, I just don't like getting a full-body shot of anyone sitting on the toilet, in particular this person whose ambiguous perceived age is kind of focused-on by the story. It doesn't feel predatory or sexual, just uncomfortable.

This is essentially how I feel as well. I wouldn't say it's sexualized, it just feels weird and out-of-place to do so, particularly with this character.

[Wraith]

I think that it could potentially fall onto the far, far edges of sexualised, but only in the context that Jeph has also sexualised sitting on cakes, robot feet, lolita demon girls and anthromorphic toilets. After all; technically, we can see more of what's-her-face's butt than we did of Claire's when she stripped naked and prepared to lose her virginity.

We wouldn't give it a second thought in another webcomic, but QC has strayed into this territory before and it ended.... poorly. It is still crude and kind of stupid, and I think one would have to be extremely prudish to consider it pornographic or anything of that bent. It's sexual like a **** joke; it involves a person and their private anatomy, but that in itself isn't the objectionable part.

[Traab]

Im pretty sure she is basically technically an adult age wise (like between 18-21) but has been so sheltered all her life she is like a little kid.

[Wraith]

Im pretty sure she is basically technically an adult age wise (like between 18-21) but has been so sheltered all her life she is like a little kid.

She's 19 years old, which means she was working on 2 PhDs from 12-to-14 (probably, it's a ridiculous premise but whatever) to 17 and has been hiding in a closet ever since. Emotionally, she is probably the same age as Sam and Emmett, or thereabouts.

[Scarlet Manuka]

I have to ask - what the heck is up with Liz's face? In both 5019 and 5016 it seems to start off normal and get progressively wider throughout the strip, changing shape quite dramatically.

[Ionathus]

Looks like at least part of this is the camera zooming in - Marten & Claire's faces get bigger in those comics too.

But I think this is mostly just a stylistic choice for the sake of the joke. Liz is making funny faces so they get exaggerated. Especially in 5016, which I think is meant to distort her face so much because it's supposed to play into the "took too much" joke.

[otakuryoga]

Marten is going into full dad mode with Liz

[PhantomFox]

If this ends with Frankenstein robo-furries being a fad in the AI community... well, I guess I'd be more baffled than anything.

[Ionathus]

Enjoying the Faye/Bubbles/Emmett banter here. I suspect the promise of more Union Street Robotics is going to be the thing that keeps me checking back into the site.

If this ends with Frankenstein robo-furries being a fad in the AI community... well, I guess I'd be more baffled than anything.

Would you? Considering what this comic has explored in just the past two-ish years, would you really be baffled?

[Wraith]

Of the two storylines, I too prefer the Union Robotics version. Emmett is just a teenager with nothing better to do, hanging out with newly acquired friends at a place that isn't actively hostile to their presence makes perfect sense as a premise, and the "what weird stuff can we do to AIs to get money from them" is a perfectly normal conversation, considering how we've already had similar conversations at Coffee of Doom, etc.

I just don't understand why Jeph has split his comic into two on the premise of having different directions to go as and when he feels like it, and then is telling more or less the same story in either at the same time. Two adults, one serious and the other more quirky, are at work and having to humour/babysit an awkward and poorly socialised teenager while wacky AI idiots wander through occasionally. Isn't there anything that anyone else could be doing, rather than watching one plot mirror the other on alternating weeks?

[Gnoman]

One of the newsposts mentioned that the entire Cubetown arc was intended to remove Marten from the comic, because he wasn't fun to write anymore, but the arc made him fun again. That's a pretty believable way the current oddness could start.

[tomandtish]

She's 19 years old, which means she was working on 2 PhDs from 12-to-14 (probably, it's a ridiculous premise but whatever) to 17 and has been hiding in a closet ever since. Emotionally, she is probably the same age as Sam and Emmett, or thereabouts.

Not THAT ridiculous. Karl Witte was 13 when he got his PhD (he's the current record holder). So two by 17 seems possible (if extremely unlikely).