Questionable Content 11: It's Like Seeing a Unicorn

[tomandtish]

This is a lot of drama and yelling over something that isn't very dramatic.

I think we might have our next thread title...

I have to agree with this.

She could keep her busy without conning her out of her hard earned money. She's going to get a terrible reputation for ripping off her customers if she keeps this up, then she'll have no customers.

What do you mean conning? Melon is the one who suggested that amount. Yeah, it would have been nice of Faye to not accept it, but its not like she had to persuade melon to give up that much or anything.

From a perception point of view, one doesn't necessarily have to do with the other.

It's perfectly valid for Faye to accept money freely offered.

It's ALSO perfectly valid for someone witnessing that transaction to have doubts about Faye's honesty when it comes to doing repairs if she's not willing to speak up and say "Hey, I didn't do anything here other than a minimal consult. You don't owe me anything." (or only owe me X).

Note that I'm not saying she is or would be dishonest, but it is the type of thing that creates the impression of dishonesty.

[Shadow of the Sun]

And it looks like this might be the fallout of... Evie (had to look that up)... explaining to Bubs about her studies. And perhaps some resentment towards Faye for bringing people over without asking first?

[The Glyphstone]

Have to admit, I like the phrase coined by The Glyphstone: Questionable Content 12 - Artificial Unintelligence.

Short, snappy, apt... I think it's great

While I hadn't intended this as a thread title, I will happily and whole-heartedly retroactively endorse it.

[Vinyadan]

The scold breweth

[Max_Killjoy]

And it looks like this might be the fallout of... Evie (had to look that up)... explaining to Bubs about her studies. And perhaps some resentment towards Faye for bringing people over without asking first?

It's a business location, people are going to show up that you didn't know were coming all the time. A passerby or whoever with far less tact and a far less good-intentioned viewpoint could walk in at any moment during business hours.

If that's actually what's bugging Bubbles, that's not Faye's fault.

[Wraith]

A counter-argument to that may be that Faye was late to work because she was out scrounging free coffee (again) and didn't bring anything back for Bubbles. Instead, she brought back her sister and a stranger (who distracted and then insulted Bubbles), screwed around for half an hour and is now going out for lunch; When is she going to get any work done? Bubbles is clearly doing something regarding Punchbot's shoulder, so it's not as though there's nothing to do - Faye's attitude is very unprofessional, for someone who a week ago wasn't able to budget food into her weekly expenditures.

It's similar to the argument they had before; Faye made a big decision about the business (the lease) without consulting Bubbles, and now she's swanning about amusing herself in business hours while Bubbles is left doing something worthwhile. She's taking Bubbles for granted, making decision without input and leaving the unpleasant logistics for 'underlings' to take care of - just like Corpse Witch used to do.

There may be some exaggeration in there, but I think you can see what I'm getting at. Amanda's visit is disrupting more that just Faye's lunch break and Faye's cavalier attitude does not really express her devotion to the business even if $100 bills might be delivered on a random (and possibly controversial?) whim.

[Max_Killjoy]

A counter-argument to that may be that Faye was out scrounging free coffee and didn't bring anything back for Bubbles; instead, she brought back her sister and a stranger (who distracted and then insulted Bubbles), screwed around for half an hour and is now going out for lunch. When is she going to get any work done? Bubbles is clearly doing something regarding Punchbot's shoulder, so it's not as though there's nothing to do - Faye's attitude is very unprofessional, for someone who a week ago wasn't able to budget food into her weekly expenditures.

It's similar to the argument they had before; Faye made a big decision about the business (the lease) without consulting Bubbles, and now she's swanning about amusing herself in business hours while Bubbles is left doing something worthwhile. She's taking Bubbles for granted, making decision without input and leaving the unpleasant logistics for 'underlings' to take care of - just like Corpse Witch used to do.

There may be some exaggeration in there, but I think you can see what I'm getting at. Amanda's visit is disrupting more that just Faye's lunch break and Faye's cavalier attitude does not really express her devotion to the business even if $100 bills might be delivered on a random (and possibly controversial?) whim.

It's not like she planned for her sister and guest to show up today, and we've not seen that it's a regular issue have we?

Part of the problem I think I have with webcomics discussion is that I'm always looking for a greater sample size than we're given, and other fans react to what feels to me to be a very small sample.

See, Dora and Martin's breakup. It's since been treated as this thing that had been coming for a long time and a lot of incidents lead up to it, but on my recent archive binge, even knowing that it was coming it seemed to come out of the blue, with just a couple of moderate-severity disputes leading up to it.

[Vinyadan]

If you are fixing cockerels today, and your brother shows up unannounced from Australia, you still need to spend your day fixing your poultry, brother notwithstanding.

[Fawkes]

I just realized. Faye, you are (or were) in the process of creating a giant metal robot wiener for Pintsize. This is not a hypothetical situation, somebody did come in and pay you to do it already.

Questionable Continuity

[Mith]

Also, we don't know if Faye and Bubbles have regularly planned lunch outings just to get away from the shop for a bit.

As for Faye "faffing about", going to get coffee isn't a big deal, nor is bringing by family that want to see the new business. I suspect the bigger problem is Evie's comparing an ex military AI to a nuclear weapon is the problem, especially with her time with Corpse Witch having her worried that the kill switch may send her amok first.

[eee]

Aw, guys, don't tell her! Let's see how long it takes Faye to figure it out on her own...

[The Glyphstone]

New thread title proposal:

Faybles Forever

[otakuryoga]

yeah..they ship it

[Rodin]

See, Dora and Martin's breakup. It's since been treated as this thing that had been coming for a long time and a lot of incidents lead up to it, but on my recent archive binge, even knowing that it was coming it seemed to come out of the blue, with just a couple of moderate-severity disputes leading up to it.

I have to disagree here. Without even archive-binging I was able to come up with seven different incidents foreshadowing trouble in the relationship.

The real killer one happened not too long before the break-up, if I'm recalling correctly. That would be the "Toto Compatibility Test". Faye and Angus both realize they have the same favorite Toto song, which makes Faye realize this is a good match since it's not most people's favorite Toto song. She asks the same of Marten and he answers differently - she gives him a pat on the head. That's because she's realized they're better off as friends, and the Toto answer proves that.

Marten then asks Dora the same question, she says Toto sucks, and Marten is visibly upset by this.

In foreshadowing terms, that's 400 foot tall flaming letters spelling "BREAKUP INCOMING".

I wasn't surprised by the breakup...my response was closer to "Finally!"

[Ibrinar]

Foreshadowing and showing the reasons for something are not really the same. You can foreshadow with patterns people are familiar with from other stories or with symbolism or…, point is you can foreshadow in ways that tell people something is coming that only work as signals because readers know they are reading a story. The toto thing counts as foreshadowing but does little to actually demonstrate problems in their relationship.

[John Campbell]

Foreshadowing and showing the reasons for something are not really the same. You can foreshadow with patterns people are familiar with from other stories or with symbolism or…, point is you can foreshadow in ways that tell people something is coming that only work as signals because readers know they are reading a story. The toto thing counts as foreshadowing but does little to actually demonstrate problems in their relationship.

But... but... if two people don't have the same taste in crappy '80s music, how can they possibly have a meaningful relationship?!?!?

[Traab]

New thread title proposal:

Faybles Forever

BAYE! dangit! How often can you make a ship name thats a play on a term of endearment for your significant other?

[Max_Killjoy]

I have to disagree here. Without even archive-binging I was able to come up with seven different incidents foreshadowing trouble in the relationship.

The real killer one happened not too long before the break-up, if I'm recalling correctly. That would be the "Toto Compatibility Test". Faye and Angus both realize they have the same favorite Toto song, which makes Faye realize this is a good match since it's not most people's favorite Toto song. She asks the same of Marten and he answers differently - she gives him a pat on the head. That's because she's realized they're better off as friends, and the Toto answer proves that.

Marten then asks Dora the same question, she says Toto sucks, and Marten is visibly upset by this.

In foreshadowing terms, that's 400 foot tall flaming letters spelling "BREAKUP INCOMING".

I wasn't surprised by the breakup...my response was closer to "Finally!"

Foreshadowing and showing the reasons for something are not really the same. You can foreshadow with patterns people are familiar with from other stories or with symbolism or…, point is you can foreshadow in ways that tell people something is coming that only work as signals because readers know they are reading a story. The toto thing counts as foreshadowing but does little to actually demonstrate problems in their relationship.

There's a TV series I used to love, a crime drama/comedy... but it got to the point where I could predict the outcome of each episode based not on the evidence at hand, but on "story writing elements", on the tropes the writers liked to hit, on the patterns established, etc. To understand what was happening and would happen next, the things going on within the "world" of the show mattered less than the things going on at "story level", and it ruined the series for me.

Sometimes things happen in QC that might make sense at a "story" level, but they don't make sense at a "we're looking in on the lives of these individuals" level. Not that this is an issue unique to this one particular webcomic.

[Cikomyr]

New thread title proposal:

Faybles Forever

Kayfaybles ?

[SaintRidley]

Kayfaybles ?

This ain't a wrestling comic.

[Lethologica]

People who are in relationships looking for ways to 'test' their relationship is a significant red flag for me. Phrasing disagreement confrontationally for its own sake, like they're looking for an argument, is another one. I would absolutely count that scene as a sign of potentially serious relationship issues, despite the trivial topic.

That doesn't mean I would always take it that way in the real world, but the author can only show us so much of his characters' lives, so the significance of events like that is necessarily higher than the background significance of real life events.

[Fawkes]

I have to disagree here. Without even archive-binging I was able to come up with seven different incidents foreshadowing trouble in the relationship.

I'm curious what the other six were. The only thing I can think of is Dora freaking out about Marten's haircut.

Faye and Angus both realize they have the same favorite Toto song, which makes Faye realize this is a good match since it's not most people's favorite Toto song.

Didn't they pick Africa? Toto's biggest hit?

[Comrade]

I'm curious what the other six were. The only thing I can think of is Dora freaking out about Marten's haircut.

Well, there was the time Dora flipped out at Marten when he said he 'still had feelings' for people he dated in high school... and the time Dora flipped out at Marten for not telling him somebody had asked him out... and the time Dora flipped out at Marten for comforting Faye in a certain state of undress... and the time Marten flipped out because Dora had violated his privacy and gone looking at his porn... Suffice it to say, Dora had some issues to work through, though supposing there weren't any 'off-screen' fights of a comparable scale, they still seem like they could have been talked through. Truth be told, Dora probably just wasn't into Marten anymore.

[AvatarVecna]

Didn't they pick Africa? Toto's biggest hit?

This was during the part of the comic where the main cast were all still giant music hipsters. It being Toto's biggest hit is probably why Faye would expect somebody she likes wouldn't like it; it was her secret mainstream guilty pleasure (as mainstream as Toto gets, anyway?).

[Max_Killjoy]

How long has it been since we got an obscure music joke or reference in the comic?

[Vinyadan]

A big signal was when Dora went "I love you" and Marten wasn't "there" yet, they even had a small discussion about what it meant to love somebody, and it didn't seem to me that they were on the same page.

[Max_Killjoy]

So we're on page 50, should someone create a new thread and link to it before it's too late?

[Lacuna Caster]

The real killer one happened not too long before the break-up, if I'm recalling correctly. That would be the "Toto Compatibility Test". Faye and Angus both realize they have the same favorite Toto song, which makes Faye realize this is a good match since it's not most people's favorite Toto song...

I'd love to see some statistical evidence that this, like, actually works.

[Max_Killjoy]

Well, there was the time Dora flipped out at Marten when he said he 'still had feelings' for people he dated in high school... and the time Dora flipped out at Marten for not telling him somebody had asked him out... and the time Dora flipped out at Marten for comforting Faye in a certain state of undress... and the time Marten flipped out because Dora had violated his privacy and gone looking at his porn... Suffice it to say, Dora had some issues to work through, though supposing there weren't any 'off-screen' fights of a comparable scale, they still seem like they could have been talked through. Truth be told, Dora probably just wasn't into Marten anymore.

I took a lot of those as "Dora has issues she needs to work on", not "Dora and Martin are doomed".

[AvatarVecna]

So we're on page 50, should someone create a new thread and link to it before it's too late?

Come enjoy the new thread smell.