Questionable Content 12: Artificial Unintelligence

[PhantomFox]

If your love life requires close air support, something has gone terribly wrong.

Okay, gotta love that line.

[qechua]

Okay, gotta love that line.

Pretty much. I know we're a while away from new thread, but that's gotta be a contender for thread 13 title

[Yana]

I'm sorry, Faye, but how in the name of sanity are you this dense? You just spent a dinner with your sister and her girlfriend actively shipping you with Bubbles (with an ever increasing lack of subtlety), and when you ask Bubbles about the matter, she gets incredibly evasive.

At this point, I fear it may literally take an anvil falling out of the sky on her head to get her to see the obvious.

[Traab]

I'm sorry, Faye, but how in the name of sanity are you this dense? You just spent a dinner with your sister and her girlfriend actively shipping you with Bubbles (with an ever increasing lack of subtlety), and when you ask Bubbles about the matter, she gets incredibly evasive.

At this point, I fear it may literally take an anvil falling out of the sky on her head to get her to see the obvious.

Too be fair, aside from some earlier prompting, the doc girlfriend backed off and kept fayes sister from saying too much. I think she at least understood that it wasnt their place to push this much. And this is not only fayes first female romantic connection, but her first female robo connection, so its not hard to understand why she wouldnt leap to the right conclusion quickly.

[georgie_leech]

Tragedy and hilarity struck in equal parts today at the launch of the S.S. Baye. Everything appeared to be on schedule and running smoothly, until the captain ordered full steam ahead. The ship promptly accelerated back into shore, lodging itself in the beach. "Had the silly thing in reverse," the ship's engineer claimed. Onlookers, eager for a successful launch, were both dismayed and amused. "Oh come on!" one is reported to have shouted.

[Max_Killjoy]

Sink all ships.

[Cikomyr]

Too be fair, aside from some earlier prompting, the doc girlfriend backed off and kept fayes sister from saying too much. I think she at least understood that it wasnt their place to push this much. And this is not only fayes first female romantic connection, but her first female robo connection, so its not hard to understand why she wouldnt leap to the right conclusion quickly.

She has to get there herself of by Bubbles making a move.

Anything else is interloping.. and maybe Fayes just doesnt feel it.

[geoduck]

I will be fairly surprised if the ship doesn't get launched eventually.

[John Cribati]

I seem to remember Angus doing most, if not all, of the work when it came to getting with Faye. And I don't think we've ever seen her pursuing someone in a romantic manner- The closest was Sven, and that was a Friends With Benefits Except We're Not Really Friends until Faye caught actual feelings.

[dps]

Pretty much. I know we're a while away from new thread, but that's gotta be a contender for thread 13 title

I'm thinking of putting it in my signature on another forum.

[Brance_a_Lot]

All I know is that Close Air support needs to be easier to tell apart from Friendly Fire!

[The Glyphstone]

All I know is that Close Air support needs to be easier to tell apart from Friendly Fire!

Does Bubbles know that everything is air-droppable once?

[Mith]

That second last panel is so cute.

[georgie_leech]

That second last panel is so cute.

True, but I think it's overshadowed somewhat by the last. Mutual blushing is so...

[Beelzebub1111]

Oh for God's sake just ████ already and put it to bed! This is starting to piss me off. You know it's happening, I know it's happening, you have waggled your eyebrows long enough Jeph. ████ or get off the pot.

[Kato]

Yeah this is cute... but... But. It's also evolving into one of those annoying couples where the creator keeps teasing the audience to the point where they might stop caring. I get it, the situation is not as simple as your standard couple in a TV show but still...

Also... I know this is secondary but... I really start to wonder how this would work in the bedroom.

[Wraith]

Oh for God's sake just ████ already and put it to bed! This is starting to piss me off. You know it's happening, I know it's happening, you have waggled your eyebrows long enough Jeph. ████ or get off the pot.

You do remember the first.... what, 3 years of the comic between Faye and Marten, right?

[Beelzebub1111]

You do remember the first.... what, 3 years of the comic between Faye and Marten, right?

I do, and it gave me a migraine then, too. Nobody got time for that anymore.

[Mith]

True, but I think it's overshadowed somewhat by the last. Mutual blushing is so...

True. I think the second last panel works really well as a stand alone panel sans context.

As for "get it over with one way or another." discussion, I can also very much appreciate it.

[Max_Killjoy]

Maybe it's a generational thing, but to me it feels more forced if characters end up "in the sack" within 5 strips or within a few hours of in-comic time.

[Gwynfrid]

It makes more sense to me if a relationship is shown developing over time, especially if it is as unlikely a pairing as this one (although, given the way AI are being portrayed as 99% human from an emotional perspective, maybe not so unlikely). I guess we can understandably be impatient, but that has more to do with the nature of a webcomic that updates once a day. If we were reading this in a book I don't think anyone would think it's dragged out.

[Wraith]

I do, and it gave me a migraine then, too. Nobody got time for that anymore.

I hear ya - I too found Marten/Faye tiring, but I've realised now that I give it a pass because while it was happening, other things were going on.

Hannelore moved in, Marten got his job at the library, the Coffee of Doom staff had their arguments and side-plots, Faye's slow revelation of her tragic past, Pintsize had wacky hijinks but occasionally showed a sensible, I-genuinely-do-care-for-Marten side...

But right now? Faye and Bubbles meet. Faye and Bubbles are at odds. Faye and Bubbles get to know each other. Faye and Bubbles lose their jobs and go into business with each other. Faye and Bubbles on the precipice of a relationship... How about now.... Maybe this time... No, this time for serious.... How about we introduce 2, 3 maybe 4 new characters whose only role is to enable and/or interfere with Faye and Bubbles before disappearing forever?

I would never presume to tell Jeph Jacques how to write his own comic, that would be arrogance without measure, but I think it a very fair assessment to say that most readers really enjoyed the interlude with Hannelore confronting her mother because it was something else that wasn't Faye-and-freakin'-Bubbles for a short time.

Putting a story on a slow burn to build suspense is fine; putting it on a slow burn because it's being dragged out and we're not getting a break from it for weeks at a time is another and more difficult to tolerate.

[halfeye]

You do remember the first.... what, 3 years of the comic between Faye and Marten, right?

Nope.

I might need to dungeon dive that sometime, but not today.

[Hackman]

I would never presume to tell Jeph Jacques how to write his own comic, that would be arrogance without measure, but I think it a very fair assessment to say that most readers really enjoyed the interlude with Hannelore confronting her mother because it was something else that wasn't Faye-and-freakin'-Bubbles for a short time.

Counterpoint: We had Renee & Brun subplot, but nobody enjoyed that.

[Thufir]

I hear ya - I too found Marten/Faye tiring, but I've realised now that I give it a pass because while it was happening, other things were going on.

Hannelore moved in, Marten got his job at the library, the Coffee of Doom staff had their arguments and side-plots, Faye's slow revelation of her tragic past, Pintsize had wacky hijinks but occasionally showed a sensible, I-genuinely-do-care-for-Marten side...

But right now? Faye and Bubbles meet. Faye and Bubbles are at odds. Faye and Bubbles get to know each other. Faye and Bubbles lose their jobs and go into business with each other. Faye and Bubbles on the precipice of a relationship... How about now.... Maybe this time... No, this time for serious.... How about we introduce 2, 3 maybe 4 new characters whose only role is to enable and/or interfere with Faye and Bubbles before disappearing forever?

Emily got hired at Coffee of Doom (related: Dora works on some of her problems). Ms. Reed moved in with Jim and Sam. Odd appearances of Sam, May, Momo, Marigold, etc. Winslow got a new body. Claire trying to push Clinton towards Emily -> Brun -> Renee -> Elliot -> back to Clinton. Other things are still going on.

I also must point out that Hannelore's first appearance was in the aftermath of The Talk, which I would consider the end of Marten/Faye; and I'm pretty sure Marten getting his job at the library was later. Neither of those were concurrent to Marten/Faye.

[Rodin]

The problem right now is one I've mentioned before:

There's nothing new to learn about these characters.

Everyone in the strip is happy and in a settled relationship. Everyone has worked through most of their issues. There's no story left to tell, no drama to raise. QC has been fun in the past because there's a number of stories on a slow burn, rotating through a large cast of characters to keep things fresh.

That can't happen anymore unless Jeph takes a hatchet to the happy endings the cast have received. The other option is to introduce a whole raft of new characters.

I've been steadily coming to the opinion that the current incarnation of QC needs to end, just so we can get a fresh start.

[georgie_leech]

We also just had a significant turning point in Hanners' character, with her calling her mother on her BS and directly standing up to her.

[John Cribati]

That can't happen anymore unless Jeph takes a hatchet to the happy endings the cast have received. The other option is to introduce a whole raft of new characters.

Given the sheer amount of venom and vitriol I've seen directed toward every mew character for the past... let's say year and a half... I expect the second option would not be very happily received.

[Wraith]

Counterpoint: We had Renee & Brun subplot, but nobody enjoyed that.

I count that under "interference", in the sense that their inane nonsense literally squats on-screen and interferes with the way of resolving the Faye/Bubbles thing faster.

Emily got hired at Coffee of Doom (related: Dora works on some of her problems). Ms. Reed moved in with Jim and Sam. Odd appearances of Sam, May, Momo, Marigold, etc. Winslow got a new body. Claire trying to push Clinton towards Emily -> Brun -> Renee -> Elliot -> back to Clinton. Other things are still going on.

And Faye/Bubbles specifically are still doing the same oblivious dance that they were months and months ago. I may have given in to hyperbole previously, but I stand by the gist; the pair of them are stagnating, and I genuinely look forward to any strip which does not feature them.

We also just had a significant turning point in Hanners' character, with her calling her mother on her BS and directly standing up to her.

Which we all enjoyed and celebrated, and then we rolled our eyes and sighed wearily when it was ended with a WhatsApp conversation about how she was getting on a bus and wouldn't be back for a long time, and we went back to Faye and Bubbles awkwardly fumbling down the same boring will-they-won't-they path.
Again, the path that they have been walking for months and that Faye/Marten did for years previously.

[AuthorGirl]

We also just had a significant turning point in Hanners' character, with her calling her mother on her BS and directly standing up to her.

Honestly, I think it would've been better to stick with that for a while and show Hanners and Winslow on their road trip.