New OOTS products from CafePress
New OOTS t-shirts, ornaments, mugs, bags, and more
Page 12 of 50 FirstFirst ... 234567891011121314151617181920212237 ... LastLast
Results 331 to 360 of 1474
  1. - Top - End - #331
    Troll in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jul 2015

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

    Quote Originally Posted by LeSwordfish View Post
    I'm not gonna say he's being the most eloquent social writer about it, but I agree with him, unironically ban billionaires.
    'Ban billionaires' is a political stance - which a person may or may not agree with and we can't discuss anyway due to forum rules, but that's not the issue here, at least not really. The problem is that Jeph has portrayed the idea of fixing wealth distribution problems as something can be done with hand-waving ease by the ultra-rich, which is absolutely not true. It's a complex policy question that raises considerable issues with implementation and requires certain trade-offs within the legal framework that would be theoretically erected to combat the problem. Large-scale social issues cannot be solved by individual actions, they require systems actions, which means government and bureaucracy.

    Jeph's lack of awareness of the differences created by scale causes him to present them in a comically oversimplified way and this causes a break in verisimilitude that weakens the story, or, in the case of pretty much everything involving Spookybot, causes it to fall apart entirely. QC is a very small scale story, it's about a group of people in a specific small city in a relatively out-of-the-way region who are broadly disconnected from important events. In the past, there was some awareness of this and whenever they left their bubble - like the time Martin and Marigold visited Hanner's Dad's space station - the absurdity of events was played up to emphasize this.

    These characters simply aren't the correct characters to engage in a story about society level issues, and it is very clear that Jeph doesn't know enough about how the relevant institutions (law enforcement, etc.) work to tell those stories properly even if they were the right characters, nor is the world of QC constructed with sufficient attention to detail to present those issues without collapsing inward in a pile of robot mess. Honestly, the world isn't sufficiently well built to even tell stories about robots in the small-town context effectively, never mind at a large scale.

    I suspect a core part of the problem is that it seems like most of the major human characters have run out the sitcom string as it were. Martin, Faye, and Dora are all in seemingly stable relationships, with Dora's agreement to tai's proposal being the most recent concluding event here. Hannelore is off on walkabout, Dale and Marigold are a rather low drama couple, and most of the other human characters are either minor or long-absent. The story needs to shift to Clinton, Elliot, Brun, Renee, and that circle, but it's seemingly moved toward the robots instead, and that simply is not working.
    Now publishing a webnovel travelogue.

    Resvier: a P6 homebrew setting

  2. - Top - End - #332
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Griffon

    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    England
    Gender
    Male

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

    If hoarding money is a disease, then surely the demonising of billionaires is a form of ableism?

    This isn't "Check mate, Jeph! You just got owned!"; this is "You're a recovering alcoholic, perhaps we should think more carefully about criticising other people for ****ty-yet-compulsive behaviour".
    ~ CAUTION: May Contain Weasels ~
    RPG Characters What I Done Played As (Explained Badly)
    17 Things I Learned About 40k By Playing Dark Heresy
    Tales of a Role-Play Gamer - Horrible Optimisation

  3. - Top - End - #333
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Kato's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Germany
    Gender
    Male

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    "Wealth hoarding is a disease".

    Really... Jeph... come on.
    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    If hoarding money is a disease, then surely the demonising of billionaires is a form of ableism?

    This isn't "Check mate, Jeph! You just got owned!"; this is "You're a recovering alcoholic, perhaps we should think more carefully about criticising other people for ****ty-yet-compulsive behaviour".
    Thank you for taking the words out of my mouth, kind of.
    If he considers it a disease he should consider the implications. If he uses 'disease' as an insult, he should... Just stop.


    On a much more positive note, I like the fact that the situation in comic is apparently better.
    "What's done is done."

    Pony Avatar thanks to Elemental

  4. - Top - End - #334
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    GnomeWizardGuy

    Join Date
    Nov 2013

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

    Yeah, I'm not touching the wealth hoarding topic with a 10-foot pole. Said it before and I'll say it again, Jeph needs to stop doing politics. It's not what he's good at.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mechalich View Post
    I suspect a core part of the problem is that it seems like most of the major human characters have run out the sitcom string as it were. Martin, Faye, and Dora are all in seemingly stable relationships, with Dora's agreement to tai's proposal being the most recent concluding event here. Hannelore is off on walkabout, Dale and Marigold are a rather low drama couple, and most of the other human characters are either minor or long-absent. The story needs to shift to Clinton, Elliot, Brun, Renee, and that circle, but it's seemingly moved toward the robots instead, and that simply is not working.
    He tried to shift to them, but it didn't really work. Elliot isn't an interesting enough character to hold down a major role, Renee is too unlikable. Brun being atypical makes her hard to write stories for. He's tried to rehabilitate Clinton after his poor initial impression, but I just don't have any interest in reading about him.

    Mostly I get the feeling that Jeph doesn't want to do QC any more, but is afraid to lose the revenue and that his audience won't follow him to a new project. So we get him trying to write the stories in the QCverse instead.

  5. - Top - End - #335
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Griffon

    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    England
    Gender
    Male

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Kato View Post
    On a much more positive note, I like the fact that the situation in comic is apparently better.
    It is what I was hoping for. Despite the in-universe paradoxes they create, I am starting to find Spookybot to be quite endearing, and I also like how Roko is being "Mom" to a bunch of AIs who haven't quite figured out corporeal existence.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rodin View Post
    He's tried to rehabilitate Clinton after his poor initial impression, but I just don't have any interest in reading about him.
    I don't disagree, but of all the people you just mentioned I think that Clinton is the one who is being wasted the most. Jeph has written some good stuff about human relationships and seems to want to talk about robots; Clinton being a cyborg has a lot of potential in which to talk about transhumanism and a perspective from both sides of the fence, especially if he could be used as a comparison for the Faye/Bubbles and Sven/May dynamics. Although someone having a robot BOYfriend might make an interesting change, too... Elliot x Winslow? Or Hanners x Station-in-a-body?

    Mostly I get the feeling that Jeph doesn't want to do QC any more...
    He's denied as much on his Twitter, but as we've been seeing this week; what Jeph says and what he's actually doing are not necessarily the same. *shrug*
    ~ CAUTION: May Contain Weasels ~
    RPG Characters What I Done Played As (Explained Badly)
    17 Things I Learned About 40k By Playing Dark Heresy
    Tales of a Role-Play Gamer - Horrible Optimisation

  6. - Top - End - #336
    Troll in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jul 2015

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Rodin View Post
    Mostly I get the feeling that Jeph doesn't want to do QC any more, but is afraid to lose the revenue and that his audience won't follow him to a new project. So we get him trying to write the stories in the QCverse instead.
    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith
    He's denied as much on his Twitter, but as we've been seeing this week; what Jeph says and what he's actually doing are not necessarily the same. *shrug*
    I think it's more that Jeph doesn't want to do Questionable Content in the same way as he did before, as a slice-of-life comic about 20-somethings on the economic margins with robots providing wacky antics for comic relief. That's not really surprising, the comic is over 15 years old and began in a place that was obviously very, very personal that he's simply not in anymore (most obviously, he doesn't live in the US anymore).

    In particular, I think he wants to tell stories with greater stakes. Unfortunately, I don't think he has either the background or the research approach (and he's writing the comic full time, so research is a hard thing to put in) to properly ground such stories. Roko's an obvious case. He just didn't have the perspective to portray a cop character effectively once she moved from side to main status, especially not when he's added the 'she's a robot' complication to the whole thing. And as for Spookybot, well, just, that's a huge mess on every level. It was a fine as a one-off to save Bubbles - the existence of a super-powered AI was just another weird backdrop element echoing the whole 'future-shocked' theme - but bringing in a god-like entity as a recurring character is fraught with peril and it's started to degrade quickly.

    Personally I think he should try writing a QC story arc set somewhere other than Northampton for a while, maybe a 50-strip story or so, perhaps focused on Hannelore ending her journey of discovery, and trying to introduce new characters in a new location - perhaps somewhere in Canada - and seeing if any take and offer the potential for restructuring the current setup.

    Edit: Thinking on it further, Roko - if she's going to continue to be a main character - should absolutely re-locate somewhere else. You do not want keeping living in a town where you will always be the one who quit the force, it's a bad idea on many levels, and as a robot she has far less to tie her down than any human character.
    Last edited by Mechalich; 2019-07-05 at 05:29 AM.
    Now publishing a webnovel travelogue.

    Resvier: a P6 homebrew setting

  7. - Top - End - #337
    Troll in the Playground
     
    Devil

    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Over there!
    Gender
    Male

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

    Those of you calling for Jeph to write other styles/scopes etc of stories, did any of you read Alice Grove? Wondering what your thoughts on that were.
    GNU Terry Pratchett

  8. - Top - End - #338
    Colossus in the Playground
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    right behind you

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Mechalich View Post
    I think it's more that Jeph doesn't want to do Questionable Content in the same way as he did before, as a slice-of-life comic about 20-somethings on the economic margins with robots providing wacky antics for comic relief. That's not really surprising, the comic is over 15 years old and began in a place that was obviously very, very personal that he's simply not in anymore (most obviously, he doesn't live in the US anymore).

    In particular, I think he wants to tell stories with greater stakes. Unfortunately, I don't think he has either the background or the research approach (and he's writing the comic full time, so research is a hard thing to put in) to properly ground such stories. Roko's an obvious case. He just didn't have the perspective to portray a cop character effectively once she moved from side to main status, especially not when he's added the 'she's a robot' complication to the whole thing. And as for Spookybot, well, just, that's a huge mess on every level. It was a fine as a one-off to save Bubbles - the existence of a super-powered AI was just another weird backdrop element echoing the whole 'future-shocked' theme - but bringing in a god-like entity as a recurring character is fraught with peril and it's started to degrade quickly.

    Personally I think he should try writing a QC story arc set somewhere other than Northampton for a while, maybe a 50-strip story or so, perhaps focused on Hannelore ending her journey of discovery, and trying to introduce new characters in a new location - perhaps somewhere in Canada - and seeing if any take and offer the potential for restructuring the current setup.

    Edit: Thinking on it further, Roko - if she's going to continue to be a main character - should absolutely re-locate somewhere else. You do not want keeping living in a town where you will always be the one who quit the force, it's a bad idea on many levels, and as a robot she has far less to tie her down than any human character.
    Considering his take on the wealthy is about on par with a stereotypical 20 something college student who just read this book that has an AWESOME idea in it, it doesnt seem he has moved very far from his roots.
    "Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum"
    Translation: "Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe."

    Quote Originally Posted by Nerd-o-rama View Post
    Traab is yelling everything that I'm thinking already.
    "If you don't get those cameras out of my face, I'm gonna go 8.6 on the Richter scale with gastric emissions that'll clear this room."

  9. - Top - End - #339
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Max_Killjoy's Avatar

    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    The Lakes

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Traab View Post
    Considering his take on the wealthy is about on par with a stereotypical 20 something college student who just read this book that has an AWESOME idea in it, it doesnt seem he has moved very far from his roots.
    Yeah. Without getting into detailed political discussion, my own views on things like policing, wealth, etc, are... complex, to say the least.

    Jeph's statements on a lot of these "Issue Items" have had all the nuance and comprehension of a splitting maul, and show the sort of absolutism and good-bad binary thinking typical of a college sophomore.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

    Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.

    The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.

    The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.

  10. - Top - End - #340
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Kato's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Germany
    Gender
    Male

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

    Not at all an attempt to derail this discussion but... What is going on with Spooky's hair? At least one part of it seems to be sentient and moving on its own.
    Also, why is there a black background on panel 3?
    "What's done is done."

    Pony Avatar thanks to Elemental

  11. - Top - End - #341
    Colossus in the Playground
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    right behind you

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

    I dunno about the background, but the hair just looks like its a lock of hair thats slowly getting more and more out of control, like spooky slicked it back and its coming loose.
    "Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum"
    Translation: "Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe."

    Quote Originally Posted by Nerd-o-rama View Post
    Traab is yelling everything that I'm thinking already.
    "If you don't get those cameras out of my face, I'm gonna go 8.6 on the Richter scale with gastric emissions that'll clear this room."

  12. - Top - End - #342
    Titan in the Playground
     
    AvatarVecna's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2014

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Rodin View Post
    That still bugs the heck out of me. Corpse Witch was really interesting as a jerk with a heart of jerk who could not be faulted directly on her actual positions. She got mad at Faye for using company property without asking permission, got mad at her for bringing her friends to an illegal operation, and told Bubbles that people outside would be racist towards her and got proven right. She was the sort of antagonist I like in a story - one who has a strong foundation for her positions while still acting in a way that made her easy to hate.

    And then because Jeph wanted to move the story in a different direction he turned her into a villain that required a literal Deus Ex Machina to get rid of. Yeesh.
    The comic before Spooky showed up, the gang was talking with Station (the most powerful AI to date, and that was saying something), and Station was pretty nervous about going in and poking around the whatever-it-is CW left in Bubbles' head. The story arc could very well have ended a few comics later with Bubbles making a hard decision to do the right thing at her own expense, we get a nice moral about how working with criminals, even seemingly-helpful ones, can end with you getting hurt, and those memories being essentially permanently locked away lead to tension and drama later in the comic when Bubbles has some regrets over the decision made.

    But no. Instead we get AI God teleporting in out of nowhere to solve the problem with super-hacking tools in the hands of Emily The Literal Computer Wizard, and tie up every last loose end, to the point that even half the characters involved in the storyline can't believe this is how it's getting resolved either.

    Jeph wrote himself into a corner where probably the best path forward was "sometimes you don't get a happy ending and have to live with the consequences" and instead saw an off-ramp leading to pretty literal Deus Ex Machina. CAN'T PASS UP AN OPPORTUNITY LIKE THAT, THEN MY CHARACTERS WOULD BE SAD.


    Currently Recruiting WW/Mafia: Logic's Deathloop Mafia and Book Wombat's A Small Wager - A Practical Guide To Evil

    Avatar by AsteriskAmp

    Quote Originally Posted by Xumtiil View Post
    An Abattoir Vecna, if you will.
    My Homebrew

  13. - Top - End - #343
    Titan in the Playground
     
    AssassinGuy

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Gender
    Male

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

    Quote Originally Posted by EvilDMMk3 View Post
    Those of you calling for Jeph to write other styles/scopes etc of stories, did any of you read Alice Grove? Wondering what your thoughts on that were.
    I think if he had been doing it the way he did QC, it would have been really interesting. As it was, it kind of felt like watching a TV show where you miss every other episode.
    “Evil is evil. Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I'm not a pious hermit, I haven't done only good in my life. But if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”

  14. - Top - End - #344
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Max_Killjoy's Avatar

    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    The Lakes

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Keltest View Post
    I think if he had been doing it the way he did QC, it would have been really interesting. As it was, it kind of felt like watching a TV show where you miss every other episode.
    I liked the story, but yeah, it would have benefited from telling the exact same story with about 10% more "updates" to convey a bit more of what was going on without the use of so much "implied between-update movement".
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

    Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.

    The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.

    The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.

  15. - Top - End - #345
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Mordokai's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2007

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Felius View Post
    Rich people are not Scrooge McDuck. They do not keep giant buildings full of currency around to swim in. That's unproductive and wealthy people do not stay wealthy by letting their money sit.
    I know this is not really pertinent to the debate at hand, but even Scrooge has liquid assets(hopefully, I am using the correct term). In the Don Rosa's book on his origins, the last story, when Donald and nephews meet with him on Christmas, he explains as much, when Donald is shocked into believing the uncle Scrooge keeps all of his money in the bin.

    As for QC... at this point, I'm reading it out of habit. It's not really enjoyable anymore, but it has not sunk to the levels where I'd say "eff this" and turn away in disgust. I suspect that point may not be too far off in the future, but it's not quite here yet.

    I miss the "slice-of-life" comic. Maybe, as so many have eluded, it's that Jeph isn't good at telling larger stories. Maybe it's just my own preferences. But yeah, I miss days when it was just Martin, Faye, Dora, Hanners and Pintsize and a bevy of supporting characters. I'm just not the fan of most of the new characters.

    If Jeph wants to continue down this road, more power to him. But as so many times in life, I foresee a split in the road. Whether we'll continue down the same road remains to be seen. If not, I'll wish him a safe journey and bade farewell.
    Adrie, half elven bard. Drawing by Vulion, avatar by CheesePirate. Colored version by Callos_DeTerran. Thanks a lot, you guys.
    This place is not a place of honor…no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here… nothing valued is here.
    "There will come a day so dark you will pray for death. On that day your prayers will be answered."
    Book of shadows, book of night, wake the beast and banish light.

  16. - Top - End - #346
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    AssassinGuy

    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Tor zur Welt
    Gender
    Male

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

    Well, I still like reading QC.
    it has it’s lows but for me the current arc isn’t one of them.

    but I read it as a 5 comics a week strip without overthinking or analysing too much into it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Felius View Post
    Rich people are not Scrooge McDuck. They do not keep giant buildings full of currency around to swim on. That's unproductive and wealthy people do not stay wealthy by letting their money sit.
    that might actually be less destructive overall, than what is happening IRL: Super rich having money invested in outdated buisenesses and spending millions on lobbying to keep those business models protected by politics.
    * my emphasis

    http://dmreference.com/SRD/
    http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/

    Things that don't kill me make me strong
    Things that do kill me leave me dead

  17. - Top - End - #347
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Nov 2013

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

    The scrooge method would use quite a bit of metal. But if someone just left billions lying around digitally, well would that it exist even matter except for the potential that it could be used? (Okay in a bank the bank would be using it so there it clearly does, but if we had a bitcoin system or something.)

  18. - Top - End - #348
    Titan in the Playground
     
    AssassinGuy

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Gender
    Male

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Ibrinar View Post
    The scrooge method would use quite a bit of metal. But if someone just left billions lying around digitally, well would that it exist even matter except for the potential that it could be used? (Okay in a bank the bank would be using it so there it clearly does, but if we had a bitcoin system or something.)
    Even the existence of that kind of money would have huge implications on inflation and the relative value of the currency. Its not really feasible to have that kind of wealth gathering dust.
    “Evil is evil. Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I'm not a pious hermit, I haven't done only good in my life. But if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”

  19. - Top - End - #349
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    Kish's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2004

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Rodin View Post
    That still bugs the heck out of me. Corpse Witch was really interesting as a jerk with a heart of jerk who could not be faulted directly on her actual positions. She got mad at Faye for using company property without asking permission, got mad at her for bringing her friends to an illegal operation, and told Bubbles that people outside would be racist towards her and got proven right. She was the sort of antagonist I like in a story - one who has a strong foundation for her positions while still acting in a way that made her easy to hate.

    And then because Jeph wanted to move the story in a different direction he turned her into a villain that required a literal Deus Ex Machina to get rid of. Yeesh.
    Not even that. All she would have required to get rid of villain!Corpse Witch, was for Bubbles to accept that she wasn't getting her memories back and walk away. It just wouldn't have been the pat "the villain gets punished" ending Jeph wanted. And he also, hundreds of strips before having Spookybot state their unwillingness to tamper with other people's minds, preemptively demonstrated that that claim could only be horsecrap; Spookybot was perfectly happy to tamper with Corpse Witch's mind and laugh about it.

    Like a couple other people, I have no objection at all to the politics Jeph has stated (and Hannelore is not a good counterargument: Hannelore is not particularly rich even though she could be if she cozied up to her mother, has been working to support herself at the same stratum as the other major characters of the comic ever since she was introduced, and loudly denounced her amoral, entitled billionaire mother in her last storyline), but I think it gives him narrative trouble in cases like that one: he wants both to take a stance against powerful authoritarians, and to have problems solved in ways that require authoritarian displays of power.

  20. - Top - End - #350
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    NecromancerGuy

    Join Date
    Jun 2009

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Kish View Post
    Not even that. All she would have required to get rid of villain!Corpse Witch, was for Bubbles to accept that she wasn't getting her memories back and walk away. It just wouldn't have been the pat "the villain gets punished" ending Jeph wanted. And he also, hundreds of strips before having Spookybot state their unwillingness to tamper with other people's minds, preemptively demonstrated that that claim could only be horsecrap; Spookybot was perfectly happy to tamper with Corpse Witch's mind and laugh about it.
    Or you know he could have Station and his buddies go like 2 or 3 strips earlier say "Ok, we give it a shot" and be them uncover the memory hole. He could have done all that, the only reason we know he can't is that he said he can't. ANd then 2 strips later super-robot shows up, doing just that.

    Or Corpse Witch wouldn't have to have the killswitch Dinosaur in there, so she couldn't actually have done anything to Bubbles, that would have required massive "brain surgery" There was no indication of that thing, till Emily was inside the brain. Up till then the blackmail material was "I can delete the key faster than you can punch me". But yes as you say she would have to be willing to walk away from it.

    Bubbles could have cooperated with the Police to have CW locked up, for the "the villain gets punished" ending. But I somehow feel Jeph doesn't particularly like "snitches" either.

    In other words, there had been plenty of ways that he could have wrapped up that plotline without Spookybot

  21. - Top - End - #351
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Max_Killjoy's Avatar

    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    The Lakes

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Morquard View Post
    Or you know he could have Station and his buddies go like 2 or 3 strips earlier say "Ok, we give it a shot" and be them uncover the memory hole. He could have done all that, the only reason we know he can't is that he said he can't. ANd then 2 strips later super-robot shows up, doing just that.

    Or Corpse Witch wouldn't have to have the killswitch Dinosaur in there, so she couldn't actually have done anything to Bubbles, that would have required massive "brain surgery" There was no indication of that thing, till Emily was inside the brain. Up till then the blackmail material was "I can delete the key faster than you can punch me". But yes as you say she would have to be willing to walk away from it.

    Bubbles could have cooperated with the Police to have CW locked up, for the "the villain gets punished" ending. But I somehow feel Jeph doesn't particularly like "snitches" either.

    In other words, there had been plenty of ways that he could have wrapped up that plotline without Spookybot

    Given the rather cartoonish and un-nuanced understanding of police he's shown, I doubt he considered a resolution that showed any competence or helpfulness on the part of police.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

    Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.

    The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.

    The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.

  22. - Top - End - #352
    Troll in the Playground
     
    RedWizardGuy

    Join Date
    Mar 2014

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Kish View Post
    Like a couple other people, I have no objection at all to the politics Jeph has stated (and Hannelore is not a good counterargument: Hannelore is not particularly rich even though she could be if she cozied up to her mother, has been working to support herself at the same stratum as the other major characters of the comic ever since she was introduced, and loudly denounced her amoral, entitled billionaire mother in her last storyline), but I think it gives him narrative trouble in cases like that one: he wants both to take a stance against powerful authoritarians, and to have problems solved in ways that require authoritarian displays of power.
    It's worth noting, though, that Hannelore didn't denounce her mother for doing things like amassing wealth or flouting the laws and strictures that apply to the majority of the populace, but rather for the horrible crime of giving Hannelore a servant for free and giving Tilly a nice section on the resume as part of a negotiating tactic.

  23. - Top - End - #353
    Troll in the Playground
     
    Devil

    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Over there!
    Gender
    Male

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

    Quote Originally Posted by VoxRationis View Post
    It's worth noting, though, that Hannelore didn't denounce her mother for doing things like amassing wealth or flouting the laws and strictures that apply to the majority of the populace, but rather for the horrible crime of giving Hannelore a servant for free and giving Tilly a nice section on the resume as part of a negotiating tactic.
    Critisism of a specific case can be taken in most cases are critisism of the general pattern.
    GNU Terry Pratchett

  24. - Top - End - #354
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Max_Killjoy's Avatar

    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    The Lakes

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

    I thought the final nail was the way her mother treated Tilly like a disposable negotiating chip, to be discarded the moment she had what she wanted from Tilly's father.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

    Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.

    The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.

    The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.

  25. - Top - End - #355
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Griffon

    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    England
    Gender
    Male

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Morquard View Post
    Bubbles could have cooperated with the Police to have CW locked up, for the "the villain gets punished" ending. But I somehow feel Jeph doesn't particularly like "snitches" either.
    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    Given the rather cartoonish and un-nuanced understanding of police he's shown, I doubt he considered a resolution that showed any competence or helpfulness on the part of police.
    Another recent tweet suggests that this is exactly it. A recent news story described how 4 cops went into a Starbucks, bought coffee, and stood around talking before their 4th of July overtime shift began only to be asked to leave by the barista because another customer had complained that the police were making them feel "uncomfortable". There's absolutely no suggestion that the cops did anything wrong - they were just buying coffee and talking, and when asked to leave they did without incident - but the story is that Starbucks' Head Office offered apologies to the officers involved for their humiliation.

    Jeph's response was "F--- the police, respect to the barista.". Just completely without irony - to him, cops deserved to be discriminated against and should be ostracized just for being cops.
    Cops being anything less than amoral, organised criminals doesn't seem to fit into his worldview, no matter how vaguely it might be implied and even in his fictional comic by letting them solve crimes or be competent.

    Quote Originally Posted by VoxRationis View Post
    It's worth noting, though, that Hannelore didn't denounce her mother for doing things like amassing wealth or flouting the laws and strictures that apply to the majority of the populace, but rather for the horrible crime of giving Hannelore a servant for free and giving Tilly a nice section on the resume as part of a negotiating tactic.
    To be fair, there was a couple of decades worth of emotional abuse that she escaped from before all that, and even the episode with Tilly was an example of attempted manipulation. Forcing herself into Hannelore's life, disrupting her every action and telling her it's for her own good is a lie, and classic abusive behaviour.
    ~ CAUTION: May Contain Weasels ~
    RPG Characters What I Done Played As (Explained Badly)
    17 Things I Learned About 40k By Playing Dark Heresy
    Tales of a Role-Play Gamer - Horrible Optimisation

  26. - Top - End - #356
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Max_Killjoy's Avatar

    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    The Lakes

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    Another recent tweet suggests that this is exactly it. A recent news story described how 4 cops went into a Starbucks, bought coffee, and stood around talking before their 4th of July overtime shift began only to be asked to leave by the barista because another customer had complained that the police were making them feel "uncomfortable". There's absolutely no suggestion that the cops did anything wrong - they were just buying coffee and talking, and when asked to leave they did without incident - but the story is that Starbucks' Head Office offered apologies to the officers involved for their humiliation.

    Jeph's response was "F--- the police, respect to the barista.". Just completely without irony - to him, cops deserved to be discriminated against and should be ostracized just for being cops.
    Cops being anything less than amoral, organised criminals doesn't seem to fit into his worldview, no matter how vaguely it might be implied and even in his fictional comic by letting them solve crimes or be competent.
    That attitude about police is pretty much the same sort of broken thinking as the anti-vax movement.

    Basic concern about the safety of medical procedures or medicines is rational, but the irrational counter-factual mistrust of all vaccines can only flourish in a world where vaccines have made people unaware of what a world without vaccines is like. A tiny number of people suffering almost always minor complications from vaccines, or large numbers of people sickened, crippled, or killed by the diseases the vaccines would have prevented...

    Jeph's attitude towards police can only really flourish in a place and time when law enforcement is relatively effective and responsive. Bad cops should be punished, fired, and barred from working in any capacity that holds authority, but the blanket hatred of cops is missing the entire forest for the bad apple trees.

    Full disclosure, my brother is a highly accomplished and decorated police officer, who has saved lives, rescued people under fire from criminals by going into the line of fire himself, and ended hostage situations with the hostages alive both peacefully and with the use of force. I doubt any of the people whose lives he's saved or whose loved ones' lives he's saved would say "F the police".

    When Jeph says those sorts of things, he comes across as a clueless petulant juvenile manchild.


    E: and I'm going to leave it at that, and move on to other things.
    Last edited by Max_Killjoy; 2019-07-07 at 03:37 PM.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

    Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.

    The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.

    The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.

  27. - Top - End - #357
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    GnomeWizardGuy

    Join Date
    Nov 2013

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Mordokai View Post
    I know this is not really pertinent to the debate at hand, but even Scrooge has liquid assets(hopefully, I am using the correct term). In the Don Rosa's book on his origins, the last story, when Donald and nephews meet with him on Christmas, he explains as much, when Donald is shocked into believing the uncle Scrooge keeps all of his money in the bin.

    As for QC... at this point, I'm reading it out of habit. It's not really enjoyable anymore, but it has not sunk to the levels where I'd say "eff this" and turn away in disgust. I suspect that point may not be too far off in the future, but it's not quite here yet.

    I miss the "slice-of-life" comic. Maybe, as so many have eluded, it's that Jeph isn't good at telling larger stories. Maybe it's just my own preferences. But yeah, I miss days when it was just Martin, Faye, Dora, Hanners and Pintsize and a bevy of supporting characters. I'm just not the fan of most of the new characters.

    If Jeph wants to continue down this road, more power to him. But as so many times in life, I foresee a split in the road. Whether we'll continue down the same road remains to be seen. If not, I'll wish him a safe journey and bade farewell.
    I increasingly feel like the guy in the bottom panel of this strip. I'm not reading so much for the comic itself, I'm reading so that I can keep up with the discussions here.

    Not touching the cop thing though - far too political.

  28. - Top - End - #358
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Griffon

    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    England
    Gender
    Male

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    Jeph's attitude towards police can only really flourish in a place and time when law enforcement is relatively effective and responsive. Bad cops should be punished, fired, and barred from working in any capacity that holds authority, but the blanket hatred of cops is missing the entire forest for the bad apple trees.

    When Jeph says those sorts of things, he comes across as a clueless petulant juvenile manchild.
    Though I don't remember the specific source, I seem to recall that Jeph has shared an anecdote or two about why he dislikes police so much. It amounts to him being pulled over and drug-tested and the cop in question was quite rude to him, or his apartment was broken in to and it took a few days for someone to investigate, or something as equally trivial and white privileged.

    The point is, he hardly lived through the Rodney King riots and his dislike seems to be entirely the product of what he's read on the internet - something that has been suggested before, with his half-baked research into weed use and the likes.
    ~ CAUTION: May Contain Weasels ~
    RPG Characters What I Done Played As (Explained Badly)
    17 Things I Learned About 40k By Playing Dark Heresy
    Tales of a Role-Play Gamer - Horrible Optimisation

  29. - Top - End - #359
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Max_Killjoy's Avatar

    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    The Lakes

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Rodin View Post
    I increasingly feel like the guy in the bottom panel of this strip. I'm not reading so much for the comic itself, I'm reading so that I can keep up with the discussions here.

    Not touching the cop thing though - far too political.

    I wouldn't go into that much detail, but this "cops are the enemy" attitude that's festering out there is going to get some good cops, maybe someone like my brother, killed, so for me it's not political, it's personal. It already happened in Houston and NYC, just random cops shot for being cops.


    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    Though I don't remember the specific source, I seem to recall that Jeph has shared an anecdote or two about why he dislikes police so much. It amounts to him being pulled over and drug-tested and the cop in question was quite rude to him, or his apartment was broken in to and it took a few days for someone to investigate, or something as equally trivial and white privileged.

    The point is, he hardly lived through the Rodney King riots and his dislike seems to be entirely the product of what he's read on the internet - something that has been suggested before, with his half-baked research into weed use and the likes.
    Half-baked... heh.
    Last edited by Max_Killjoy; 2019-07-07 at 05:00 PM.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

    Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.

    The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.

    The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.

  30. - Top - End - #360
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    AssassinGuy

    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Tor zur Welt
    Gender
    Male

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    ...his half-baked research into weed use and the likes.
    I made that mistake too, put it straight in a tea instead of baking it first, result was a bit disappointing.
    Last edited by Agi Hammerthief; 2019-07-07 at 05:27 PM.
    * my emphasis

    http://dmreference.com/SRD/
    http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/

    Things that don't kill me make me strong
    Things that do kill me leave me dead

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •