Questionable Content XV: I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS! I Told You This Thread Was Weird

[Stevesciguy]

Roko doesn't live with Melon; Melon lives down the hall, with Arthur.

....It's an aura ability! Just living within proximity of Melon has done this to her!

Wait, really? Melon was in her apartment so much I just assumed she lived there

[Wraith]

Wait, really? Melon was in her apartment so much I just assumed she lived there

Melon lives in the apartment above Roko's.

She occasionally drops in to sit on Roko's couch.

[Traab]

Roko doesn't live with Melon; Melon lives down the hall, with Arthur.

....It's an aura ability! Just living within proximity of Melon has done this to her!



Today's strip feels like we might be moving in that direction. Roko's old body is "absolving" her of all her "guilt" and her new one is introducing itself to be pleasant and friendly... One unfortunate interpretation of that is that Roko could just make peace with her situation and "get over" her problem overnight, if she wants to.

I really hope I'm just being cynical and that Jeph isn't going to hand-wave it away like that. Maybe "Dream Roko" could be Squid-bot in disguise, helping her out but trying to make it look like she's not involved? That would open up an interesting conversation about consent, responsible use of power, that sort of thing. Just... please don't... "Roko had a dream and is fixed now".

Original body roko is spookybot, new body roko is melon. And yeah, im getting the feeling that this is going to be a fast resolve. At least to the point where she isnt having panic attacks and disassociatve episodes.

[archon_huskie]

Or we take the dream at face value. New Roko's body's message makes no sense because Roko still doesn't understand it.

[Willie the Duck]

Annnndddd… that was odd and without an obvious point.

[Hackman]

Annnndddd… that was odd and without an obvious point.

What, you want something more than robot dream lesbians making out?

[Traab]

What, you want something more than robot dream lesbians making out?

Robot dream lesbian TWINS making out! Thats like, robot dream lesbians making out cubed for sheer hawtness.

[Willie the Duck]

What, you want something more than robot dream lesbians making out?

1) I didn't actually say I had a problem with anything, now did I? I said it was odd and without an obvious point, which I still think it is. 2) In isolation, perhaps as a filler strip, this would be kinda funny -- although in that context, I'd expect Melon, Lemon, Spooky, and (why not) Crushbot to be in on the action, perhaps with cheerleader pompoms and a bubble machine (lower case b there, don't go overboard).

In series, however, we have four days of dreamscape which we'll need another strip at least to explain how it affects any of the ongoing body dysmorphia plot. I'm... not upset like some people tend to get with this strip... but rather just nonplussed. It hasn't been particularly good and leaned too hard into the lolrandom zone that dream sequences do.

[Wraith]

For me, I think the last few strips have been quite sensitively handled - Jeph could have stuck with the tease of Squid-bot jumping in and fixing everything, or that Roko just had a nice dream and woke up "cured", but he didn't and that's commendable.

What we DID have, however, was a whole week of mental trauma, presented as body dysmorphia-instigated anxiety topped off with the punchline as borish as "hurr hurr lesbians are sexy". I mean, putting aside the use of "gay people as a joke" which isn't particularly sensitive, it kind of undermines the seriousness of the strips prior, y'know?

[archon_huskie]

I took the punchline as dreams are weird.

And I assume that this answers the great question. No. Robots do not dream of electric sheep.

[mythmonster2]

Yeah, I've seen other entertainment where making out with yourself in a dream or other circumstance is the punchline, not necessarily the fact that it's gay.

[Max_Killjoy]

"Right before the good part..."

[Traab]

Now I feel kinda bad for melon.

[Kish]

I swear, Jeph sometimes chooses his titles and alt-text to deliberately taunt the people who want him to keep his politics out of the comic.

[Wraith]

It seems that "Greg L." is literally a bot account.

In the QC universe, undoubtedly a (ro)bot account, but that would explain the arbitrary and uncaring way in which May's body problems haven't been addressed.

[DavidSh]

Can anybody read Beep's shirt? Top word is "ROBOT", but I can't read the bottom word.

[MoonCat]

Can anybody read Beep's shirt? Top word is "ROBOT", but I can't read the bottom word.

'Overlord.' I imagine it's a reference to the 'I, for one, welcome our ____ overlords' meme.

[Max_Killjoy]

I swear, Jeph sometimes chooses his titles and alt-text to deliberately taunt the people who want him to keep his politics out of the comic.

His comment on today's comic ( Oct 23^rd ) doesn't offend me one bit, I quite thoroughly agree... even if other days I roll my eyes or grumble at his comments.

[archon_huskie]

I swear, Jeph sometimes chooses his titles and alt-text to deliberately taunt the people who want him to keep his politics out of the comic.

You mean HIS comic (that he makes available for free)?

[Vinyadan]

You mean HIS comic (that he makes available for free)?

I never really understood these arguments. Sure, an author can write about anything. But people like having a comic they like, and dislike when this comic, which they love for its wider, usual themes, suddenly comes up with a message that they don't share, or that they simply see as ill-placed (not sticking to the format). Paying or not has no influence on this process.

And the paying thing also doesn't mean much in this era. Private TV channels have been free of cost for the viewer for who knows how long, but their programs are still subjected to scrutiny and criticism.

This is a general argument, and isn't really about QC.

Concerning the incriminated title, I really like what the Onion has been doing lately.

[Agi Hammerthief]

maybe they should offer smartass

[Morquard]

They really need a talk with Sam about personal responsibility. If anything would have happened to her in there, it would likely ahve been Faye and Bubbles on the hook for it.

[Max_Killjoy]

I'm stuck between my admiration of Sam as a bit of a budding badass, and worrying for her safety.

[Landis963]

I'm wondering why that window is able to be opened in the first place.

[Max_Killjoy]

I'm wondering why that window is able to be opened in the first place.

Ventilation. A lot of those old over-door windows will open enough to allow air flow.

[John Cribati]

I'm stuck between my admiration of Sam as a bit of a budding badass, and worrying for her safety.

As someone who has halfway raised several children to nominal adulthood, that's just how it be in the teenage years.

[Gez]

And if you have a mechanics' workshop, a place where you're going to be soldering things, mixing chemicals, running engines, and doing a lot of other fume-generating activities, you want good ventilation.

[Landis963]

Ventilation. A lot of those old over-door windows will open enough to allow air flow.

And if you have a mechanics' workshop, a place where you're going to be soldering things, mixing chemicals, running engines, and doing a lot of other fume-generating activities, you want good ventilation.

This is a good point.

[Traab]

Its going to be kinda hard to enforce limits here on sam, she seems to have spent a lot of her time kinda free range iirc even her school doesnt care if she shows up so long as she is doing something she can learn from or whatever.

[Wraith]

Faye and Bubbles are just lucky that Sam was the first person to notice the window, rather than some opportunistic burglar who tossed all their equipment in a van and drove off before they even knew he was there.

Stern talk with smart-ass teenager is one thing; going out of business and being thousands in debt because insurance doesn't cover you if you leave a door unlocked/window open is another entirely.