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

[Johanny]

This ellipse leaves so many questions unanswered...

Where's the "capitalism is evil" here?
Who cleans the house? Are they paid for it?
In what world is this type of mansion anywhere close of environmental-friendly?
What leads to: is global change a thing in QC World? Did they binarily-handed it with AI? Was the point to make this kind of standard survive in the US while other places seem to keep less developped patterns (see Hannelore's lore) AND acculturation still?

[Gnoman]

I put it to you that it probably isn't the case because, were it a 3-bedroom house with 2 combined gaming rooms, that would imply that of the 3 beds needed (Marigold/Dale, Momo, and May), at least 2 of them would be sleeping in a combined bedroom/gaming room. I don't see either Momo or May putting up with that, and it would be very impractical to have a gaming room - where Marigold works - also be (for example) May's bedroom.

Why would May and Momo need beds? It has been shown in universe that AI don't sleep. Momo used to live on Marigold's dresser until she got a bigger chassis.

[DavidSh]

Why would May and Momo need beds? It has been shown in universe that AI don't sleep. Momo used to live on Marigold's dresser until she got a bigger chassis.

I thought I recalled some of the AI, at least, having some down time at night equivalent to sleep. For example, the recent bit with Evanescent Incinerator. But beds were not needed.

[Traab]

Look, I just wanted to have SOME hope that maybe something interesting was going to happen, is that so wrong? Apparently so since the potential for rich person drama just dropped about 35%

[Ionathus]

This ellipse leaves so many questions unanswered...

Where's the "capitalism is evil" here?
Who cleans the house? Are they paid for it?
In what world is this type of mansion anywhere close of environmental-friendly?
What leads to: is global change a thing in QC World? Did they binarily-handed it with AI? Was the point to make this kind of standard survive in the US while other places seem to keep less developped patterns (see Hannelore's lore) AND acculturation still?

This isn't anything new -- Jeph's had rich people in the comic ever since Sven, after all.

The difference to me is that, back then, the money wasn't the plot, and Sven's drama didn't spring from it. It played nicely into him being a sleazeball, because in an indie rock webcomic, what's worthy of more condemnation than someone who writes hackneyed country music for money?

But now, half the cast is rich (including sympathetic POV characters), and plotlines are connected to having (or not having) money. May's chassis is a big example, but Roko's AI Civil Rights campaign is another one. Meanwhile Faye and Bubbles are still scraping by at Union Street Robotics.

Friend groups can absolutely have wealth disparity - I think everybody here can distinguish their "rich" friends from their "poor" friends (or maybe you are one of those two). It can even lead to some interesting dynamics, like when Spookybot gave all their money to charity and it just pissed Roko off because it made all of her work feel meaningless, or when Sven donated too much money for May's new body and then it killed their chances of staying Acquaintances With Benefits. These plots about money can work...but they won't if Jeph doesn't focus on that disparity, and I think he's just not interested in that level of worldbuilding.

It's fun to give Marigold a big gamer mansion, so he does that. If it undermines the weight of Marigold's previous gift to Momo for her chassis, then so be it. (Oh man, remember when she guilted Momo about that even though it had been a gift? That was a great little "Marigold learning to be considerate" arc. Not to be a broken record but I miss Old QC )

[Wraith]

Why would May and Momo need beds? It has been shown in universe that AI don't sleep. Momo used to live on Marigold's dresser until she got a bigger chassis.

And when she got a bigger chassis, she got a bed - there's several comics dedicated to her formally becoming Marigold's roommate and being able to decorate a room of her own, as well as a few others where she is in bed reading a book and writing her journal. Same reason that she takes a shower instead of removing her dermal layer and running it through the dishwasher - its more human.

It would also be weird for Marigold to buy a giant new house with multiple gaming rooms and basement, and spending years living with Momo as a person, only to tell them "by the way, AI aren't really people and I'm rich now so you can fold yourself into the cupboard from now on".

[otakuryoga]

This ellipse leaves so many questions unanswered...

Where's the "capitalism is evil" here?
Who cleans the house? Are they paid for it?
In what world is this type of mansion anywhere close of environmental-friendly?
What leads to: is global change a thing in QC World? Did they binarily-handed it with AI? Was the point to make this kind of standard survive in the US while other places seem to keep less developped patterns (see Hannelore's lore) AND acculturation still?

{Scrubbed}

[Mechalich]

One thing here is that high-end real estate in Northampton is not that expensive. Marigold could purchase a big and spacious place for under $1 million, a price point well within reach for a 1-percenter blessed with the ability to work in the area. For example, this one or this one. However, any such large place she bought would almost certainly be old (Northampton's population peaked in 1960 and the place is full of century-old homes) and cry out for considerable renovation. That's a whole other skipped story!

[Beelzebub1111]

One thing here is that high-end real estate in Northampton is not that expensive. Marigold could purchase a big and spacious place for under $1 million, a price point well within reach for a 1-percenter blessed with the ability to work in the area. For example, this one or this one. However, any such large place she bought would almost certainly be old (Northampton's population peaked in 1960 and the place is full of century-old homes) and cry out for considerable renovation. That's a whole other skipped story!

Marigold doesn't seem like the "fix-er-up-er" type. I haven't seen the exterior but judging by the entryway with the ridiculously tall window above the door and the kitchen with its electric range and unnecessary island, this has the style of your standard McMansion. Which sort of fits with her character, so I'm not complaining if it is intentional.

It even has an awkward front facing skylight in the yoga room. I bet this building is an absolute eyesore from the outside. A blight on the seneses.

[Mechalich]

Marigold doesn't seem like the "fix-er-up-er" type. I haven't seen the exterior but judging by the entryway with the ridiculously tall window above the door and the kitchen with its electric range and unnecessary island, this has the style of your standard McMansion. Which sort of fits with her character, so I'm not complaining if it is intentional.

It even has an awkward front facing skylight in the yoga room. I bet this building is an absolute eyesore from the outside. A blight on the seneses.

Well, there hasn't been enough time for her to have a home custom-built from scratch. I wouldn't expect her to conduct the renovations herself, she has lots of money and can hire people to do that for her. Directing renovations to the very specific needs of a vtuber celebrity would have been a fun arc for May, Momo, Dale, and any other character who happened to stop by at some point in the process.

[tyckspoon]

Well, there hasn't been enough time for her to have a home custom-built from scratch. I wouldn't expect her to conduct the renovations herself, she has lots of money and can hire people to do that for her. Directing renovations to the very specific needs of a vtuber celebrity would have been a fun arc for May, Momo, Dale, and any other character who happened to stop by at some point in the process.

For Marigold I would expect something more along the lines of buying a place that is modestly discounted because it has stuff that needs repaired or would be expected to be renovated and then ... just ignoring it. Because the house is otherwise livable, and Marigold can't be bothered to care that the bathrooms are painted in colors that were in fashion 30 years ago or the lawn sprinkler system doesn't work or whatever; roof doesn't leak and there's good internet service available, it'll do. If there is anything that is an actual health and safety priority I would bet Momo is on top of having it corrected.

[Vinyadan]

I'm starting to believe May just doesn't like handheld.

[Shadow of the Sun]

This strip is realistic to every gacha fan I've ever met.

[Beelzebub1111]

Is that a wall of windows leading to a massive empty room underneath an indoor balcony?

Is there a floorplan of this place? I would say get some furnishings (And definitely some curtains), but I'm not sure if it can even be saved. Again, I would have to see the exterior to be sure, but this has all the signs of a McMansion. Just an architectural disaster that someone decided looked expensive.

[Rodin]

Is that a wall of windows leading to a massive empty room underneath an indoor balcony?

Is there a floorplan of this place? I would say get some furnishings (And definitely some curtains), but I'm not sure if it can even be saved. Again, I would have to see the exterior to be sure, but this has all the signs of a McMansion. Just an architectural disaster that someone decided looked expensive.

I'm assuming that the indoor balcony is just the upstairs - rather than a full upstairs landing/corridor that bit of the upstairs isn't floored in order to provide for the large living room.

What I don't get is the lack of, well, anything. There's nothing on the walls. There's two couches in otherwise empty rooms. The only other furniture we've seen looks fitted. Marigold's old room was massively cluttered and filled with stuff. Where the heck is it all?

I've done the move from a one bedroom apartment into a larger house. You have some amount of furniture and wall decoration to put up. You buy more furniture so that the rooms look livable. If it was just Marigold by herself you could maybe argue that she's not responsible enough to handle this basic task. But there's four people living in this house. What the actual hell?

[Ionathus]

Lack of stuff makes sense to me if they're new and didn't have a lot of stuff. Especially if Marigold's the "meal ticket" here, it's possible the others are uncomfortable about pushing her to buy furniture or feel like it's "her" house and they just live there.

Again, would be interesting to get a wealth disparity plot with this crew here. How has Marigold's wild success affected everybody? Even just that first scene with Marigold playing the original gray brick GameBoy on a couch in an unfinished basement almost seems to point towards Marigold being uncomfortable with her wealth, wishing to return to simpler times, wanting to just "play games for fun," whatever that is.

I don't think we're actually headed towards that, mind. But it would be interesting.

[Mechalich]

Lack of stuff makes sense to me if they're new and didn't have a lot of stuff. Especially if Marigold's the "meal ticket" here, it's possible the others are uncomfortable about pushing her to buy furniture or feel like it's "her" house and they just live there.

There's also broadly minimalist tendencies among Millennials and the compounding minimalism among AIs. Neither May or Momo have anything like the human need for stuff, and the most human-oriented AI in the comic, Roko, openly admitted that she bought stuff in a bit of self-deception about trying to appear more human.

Again, would be interesting to get a wealth disparity plot with this crew here. How has Marigold's wild success affected everybody? Even just that first scene with Marigold playing the original gray brick GameBoy on a couch in an unfinished basement almost seems to point towards Marigold being uncomfortable with her wealth, wishing to return to simpler times, wanting to just "play games for fun," whatever that is.

I don't think we're actually headed towards that, mind. But it would be interesting.

Well, that would require properly quantifying exactly how much money is involved here, which is very much the opposite of Jeph's approach to well, everything regarding money throughout the comic.

For example, let's say Marigold makes in the vicinity of $1-2 million USD per year (this is along the lines of what the highest paid streamers/vtubers make), but, critically, even with the timeskip she's only been doing this for around one year, maybe a year and a half at the most. Considering that taxes will take in the realm of 40-50% of her earnings (Massachusetts has high state tax), she's unlikely to have accumulated more than around one million in true income after expenses. Previous comments regarding her hiring May suggests that she's not paying either Dale or Momo anything beyond their daily expenses (and they now live with her, which means they aren't paying rent), so let's say the expenses directed toward the rest of the trio amounts to 100,000 in aggregate. Purchasing and renovating a fairly large house very easily could have swallowed up the entirety of her liquid assets (assuming she paid in cash or at least 50+% down). Her current cash could very easily be only around 100,00-200,000.

Then there's the question of sustainability. Internet flame tends to be fleeting. While streaming wealth is new enough that we really don't know how long any of the various celebrities in this space can keep going - the world's wealthiest streamer, Ninja has only been famous since roughly 2017 (though he spent several years as a pro gamer before that, the 'hustle stage' that Marigold skipped entirely). Estimates will therefore be very nebulous but it seems to me foolish to count on more than ten years of significant income as Bugger Oni and more likely a mere five. That means Bugger Oni's total earnings might max out in the low eight-figure space, before taxes. At the end of the day, she'd probably face 'retirement' in her early thirties with an after-tax income of 5-10 million.

Now, that's a lot, and certainly enough to support four people in upper middle-class comfort for the rest of their lives if managed properly (for example, with 8 million in the market, an annual 5% return would allow for 400,000 a year to live on), but it's not a limitless fortune by any means. Really, Marigold is looking at the kind of income a member on the edge of the 1% (ex. a high-powered doctor or lawyer) makes over a lifetime compressed from 30-40 years into 5-10. This is in many ways similar to the career of a low-level professional athlete (an NBA bench player, for example) and carries a high risk of going broke later in life if not managed with care, as happens to many athletes.

[Traab]

He may also be conflating youtuber money with streamer money, with pewdipie as the banner, the dude at his peak made 16 million in a single year, and he was doing it for well over a decade as basically the top earner. There were ups and downs but even today the guy has a net worth estimated at 40 million. So even if his career just vanished overnight he would be well off for the rest of his days so long as he wasnt stupid. Investments alone would probably keep him in the 1% range.

[Shadow of the Sun]

Since we're talking about vtubers, maybe we should look at vtubers.

https://playboard.co/en/youtube-rank...orldwide-total

In this list, the top 4 are all vtubers. Obviously youtube takes a cut, and if they're corporate, that takes a cut too, but that's not exactly a small amount of money, although that's over years of streaming. Amusingly enough, the top two in that list are both retired for over a year now - the 3rd is still active and she's the most popular female streamer in the world, with 6.48 million hours watched during the first quarter of 2023.

Jeph's established that Marigold, while popular, isn't the top level of popularity since that's apparently Aurelia. But it is certainly possible that she's made enough money - especially if she's done subathons which usually result in quite a lot of people subbing and donating money - that she could at least afford the down payment on a big fancy house and be able to keep up with the mortgage payments, depending on the financing.

Then again Jeph also had someone randomly donate 4.5 billion dollars to charity as a vague punchline without ever looking into what that really means so I don't think he's thinking about this as deeply as I am, but...

[Beelzebub1111]

I am trying to map a mental floorplan of this place and it's breaking my head. So just to the right of this massive space with the 5 windows appears to be an identical room with more windows? And now that we have a lower angle we can see a support pillar for the freestanding room above that we could see on the previous page?

I need to see the floorplan of this house. Just to marvel at how absurd it is. This is of course assuming Jeph is working off of one and interpreting the scales correctly. I'd also like to look at the exterior.

For what we've seen so far I don't believe a house with this layout couldn't exist, but I do think it's the ugliest house I've ever seen in any fiction so far.

[tyckspoon]

This is of course assuming Jeph is working off of one and interpreting the scales correctly. I'd also like to look at the exterior.

Assumes facts not in evidence >.> At most, maybe using reference pictures of particular rooms in some example 'big house', but I'd be amazed if there is any consideration given to how any particular scene or room connects to another or what the overall house layout looks like. Like there's 'kitchen' and 'basement' and 'great room/sunroom', and when those are depicted they might be vaguely consistent with previous scenes in the same room, but I would be surprised if there's any particular plan for how each one relates to the others.

[Rodin]

The room next door also appears to be entirely empty.

Just to re-iterate here: Marigold and Co. have lived in this place for 6 months. My dining room has more furniture in it than this entire house (excluding the kitchen, which will have been like that when Marigold arrived) and that's taking into account that the dining room has been almost entirely emptied while I have it rebuilt.

I'm sorry, but "minimalist millenial" doesn't begin to cover this situation. Marigold appears to have bought a house far larger than she needs (which is fair enough if she has the money) and then proceeded to...do nothing with it. No decorations on the walls, the floors, no rugs other than the one in the entryway. We haven't even seen a dining table, they ate breakfast in the kitchen by all appearances.

I just don't get it. If the lack of furniture is a plot point, surely we should be dealing with that instead of the gacha stuff?

[DavidSh]

Just to re-iterate here: Marigold and Co. have lived in this place for 6 months. ?

How do we know that? I'm not saying you are wrong, just that, as far as I know, 6 months is a maximum, not a known value. Perhaps this house was only ready for a move-in a couple of weeks ago, even if the Marigold-tachi were looking to buy six months ago.

[Traab]

The room next door also appears to be entirely empty.

Just to re-iterate here: Marigold and Co. have lived in this place for 6 months. My dining room has more furniture in it than this entire house (excluding the kitchen, which will have been like that when Marigold arrived) and that's taking into account that the dining room has been almost entirely emptied while I have it rebuilt.

I'm sorry, but "minimalist millenial" doesn't begin to cover this situation. Marigold appears to have bought a house far larger than she needs (which is fair enough if she has the money) and then proceeded to...do nothing with it. No decorations on the walls, the floors, no rugs other than the one in the entryway. We haven't even seen a dining table, they ate breakfast in the kitchen by all appearances.

I just don't get it. If the lack of furniture is a plot point, surely we should be dealing with that instead of the gacha stuff?

Im guessing her focus was on the game rooms first and foremost. Maybe the bedroom. But yeah, i can see her laser like focus on making the most epic gamer rooms possible, one for consoles, one for computer, one for her to roll gatcha on handhelds. (They havent gotten started decorating that one yet) And basically ignoring the rest. Like "Ok, my gaming areas are set, we have a room to watch tv, and the beds are arranged, thats all I care about."

[Wraith]

Long enough for Marten's hair to go from this to this. Hardly a concrete yardstick by which to measure, but when Clinton said 'months' I think the implication is 'more than two'

Similarly, consider; about 2 days before Marigold and Aurelia met, Emmett fainted because it was 80 degrees and they were wearing a hoodie. That's July/August kind of temperature, which makes sense because Claire had gotten her exam results and had spent a few weeks looking for work. It's now Autumn, and has been long enough for most of the trees to have turned, so... October? Probably not yet Halloween?

I'd say three months is likely, four is plausible, and five would maybe be possible but only with freakish weather.

[DavidSh]

That says how long the time skip was, but how do we know when the Marigold gang moved in? Was there a mention along the lines of "and Marigold and Dale just bought a new house" before the time skip?

[KillianHawkeye]

Considering we may have witnessed one of the first times Dale has attempted to cook on the stove in this house, I'm leaning more towards the place being relatively new for them all. We don't know how long Marigold waffled over her sudden urge to get a house, or how indecisive she was about what kind of place to get. Most house hunting operations take weeks or months (for normal people), and while a sudden millionaire technically could just go buy the first big house they see, we don't know for sure what happened.

[Mechalich]

The room next door also appears to be entirely empty.

Just to re-iterate here: Marigold and Co. have lived in this place for 6 months. My dining room has more furniture in it than this entire house (excluding the kitchen, which will have been like that when Marigold arrived) and that's taking into account that the dining room has been almost entirely emptied while I have it rebuilt.

I'm sorry, but "minimalist millenial" doesn't begin to cover this situation. Marigold appears to have bought a house far larger than she needs (which is fair enough if she has the money) and then proceeded to...do nothing with it. No decorations on the walls, the floors, no rugs other than the one in the entryway. We haven't even seen a dining table, they ate breakfast in the kitchen by all appearances.

I just don't get it. If the lack of furniture is a plot point, surely we should be dealing with that instead of the gacha stuff?

My boomer parents have more furniture in their dining room than I, a millennial, have in my entire house (and it would be even more extreme if they hadn't forcibly donated furniture to me). It's not that unusual. Marigold spent years living a life in which bed, couch, and desk were her only furniture options and has maintained that lifestyle. There's no real reason not too.

Yes, there's a lack of wall decorations in a house that probably should be plastered in anime posters, but that's probably just artistic conservation at work - Jeph has never drawn heavily decorated backdrops at any point, there's usually one thing in the background max.

[tyckspoon]

Yes, there's a lack of wall decorations in a house that probably should be plastered in anime posters, but that's probably just artistic conservation at work - Jeph has never drawn heavily decorated backdrops at any point, there's usually one thing in the background max.

Yeah, I'd be expecting display cases full of Funkos/figurines/statuettes, storage devices full of boardgames, maybe one of those fancy boardgame/table-top RPG tables doubling up as a dining table. Bookcases full of manga and anime. The kind of stuff you'd expect a hardcore geek to go a bit wild on if they were suddenly freed from the dual concerns of "How do I pay for it and where do I store it." Although Marigold's hoarding looks to go more to the digital, so it's probably more lootbox games and a League of Legends account where she bought All The Skins.

[Vinyadan]

Maybe gacha game addiction left her without any money to decorate, and she's too lazy to unpack the stuff from the old apartment?