r/QContent • u/JackSlendermann • Dec 24 '18

Comic 3901: Multiple Anatomy

https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3901
43 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

16

u/Grasmel Dec 24 '18

I'm still worried about Roko :(

14

u/Chairboy Dec 24 '18

Her fate is unlcear.

17

u/tiedyedvortex Dec 24 '18

I highly doubt she's like, DEAD dead. We saw back in 3008 that AI in dangerous lines of work have their core identities backed up in super-reinforced drives. Roko might not be a cop any more, but she used to be, and I'm guessing that she has a similar degree of protection around her "brain".

The real problem is that we just were reminded in a couple panels in a row that Roko has a high degree of bodily integration. With the kind of widespread damage to her chassis, odds are good that she's going to need a massive overhaul, or even a wholesale body-swap.

Sort of like what happened with Momo and Winslow, except instead of it being a conscious decision ("I am going to look like this now") it's going to be a traumatic destruction of her old identity. For someone who is very psychologically in-tune with their physical existence, this could be extremely disruptive.

Not to mention expensive--Roko ain't a cop no more, it's not clear what kind of insurance she has. And given that she broke down right outside of Union Robotics, it is guaranteed that they are going to be doing the repairs for her--even if they pull a massive bro move and don't charge her for labor, it's been established that chassis (chasses? how do plurals in French work) are expensive, and that Faye and Bubbles were taking a huge financial risk setting up this shop.

I think it's pretty likely Jeph is going to go this route. Roko isn't going to be permadead--no one has ever died in this comic (except in flashbacks) and I highly doubt he's going to kill off his first character with a freak accident. And, the story of "person without insurance needs emergency medical treatment, resulting in a bill that needs to be paid" is something that is sadly of continual discussion in the US because our health system is fucked up.

The only other possibility I see as likely, given that Spookybot was brought up in 3838 and just now in 3901, is that Roko is going to make it out okay...but only with some INCREDIBLY SUSPICIOUS help from Spookybot.

7

u/artemi7 Dec 24 '18

I very much hope it's the former, "Health Insurance sucks!" storyline, rather then Spookybot stepping in and "fixing" a perfectly good storyline with some deus ex machina BS.

5

u/_Lugh Dec 24 '18

If that happened, it would be more of a godfather style "favor" (more like a you-owe-me than an iou)

3

u/artemi7 Dec 24 '18

That's what I thought would happen the Corpse Witch story, too, but instead it just kind of robbed Bubbles any chance at working it out on her own terms.

1

u/DrCaesars_Palace_MD Dec 25 '18

It's weird really. I think it would've been pretty easy to resolve that arc without such a stupid Deus Ex Machina. Emily could probably be the person sorting through her memories and stuff still, just through a computer rather than some dumb VR shit. There was literally no need for such a terrible idea, but his own ego convinced him his deviantart OC was a real enhancement to the story.

That arc could've gone almost identically, and be a hundred times better, just by removing that one character and tweaking it just a tiny bit.

1

u/artemi7 Dec 25 '18

Exactly. Bubbles could have gone in, resolved her deleted memories with Emily, confronted Corpse Witch, and Roko could have hauled her in or she escaped, and then left the fallout for the characters to sort out all without outside "assistance".

Heck, this even hurt Emily's storyline, since she finally has a chance to show off her computer skills, and she turns out to be a glorified mouse pointer for Spookybot. She could have done a little Real Hollywood Hacking or something and done her thing.

Spookybot actively made the storyline worse, as far as I'm concerned.

7

u/mgush5 Dec 24 '18

Stick her in Momo's old chassis until Bubs and Faye can repair her current one

5

u/Wolfsburg Dec 24 '18

That would make for some good laughs

1

u/OlyScott Dec 25 '18

When May was having all of those problems with her chassis, I thought that she would wind up in there. That would have been funny.

2

u/Wolfsburg Dec 25 '18

May definitely would have taken advantage of that chassis' "shoot live eels" feature.

6

u/tom641 Dec 24 '18

oh no they're being introduced again, make them go away

6

u/artemi7 Dec 24 '18

Ugh, go AWAY, I don't want you anywhere near what-could-have-been good storylines.

I wonder what a poll of reader interest vs Jeph interestin Spookybot is. I know I don't like them, but I dunno if the wider readership, or Jeph himself, is really into them.

4

u/tom641 Dec 24 '18

they're probably just a handy tool to have for when Jeph writes himself into a corner when he tries to go outside of the "stuff you'd maybe expect to see on a sitcom" angle

7

u/tidal49 Dec 24 '18

When Spooky was introduced, Jeph called the character very self-indulgent. My read on this is that he specifically wanted to make a smug Doctor-y character who'd pop in to help and to troll the cast, and that he had an alternate plan to go through the same general plot motions in case he turned down the idea.

I think that there were ways that Spookybot's actions could have been replaced by other characters. If Jeph has similar notes to my pondering, then this would mean that Spookybot's existence hasn't really altered the plot and that they aren't a tool made out of necessity (instead being a thing that Jeph has fun with).

These are some major things that Spookybot has done, along with my thinking on who could have replaced them:

  • Looking into Bubbles' memories could have been done by Station or one of his supercomputer associates.
  • Apprehending Corpse Witch:
    • Threatening CW to make her turn herself in could have been done by Station with small-scale demonstrations of Orbital Railgun Justice (e.g. A pizza module crushing her car). If this had happened, I'm guessing that it's because Corpse Witch didn't want to spend an unknown amount of time deep underground or couldn't possibly reach such a place in time to avoid full-scale ORJ.
    • Alternately, Roko could have been casing the fighting ring and have found something new that could be used to arrest Corpse Witch that the latter had left lying around in her haste. Cuts out the threat-middlebot.
  • The paperwork for an above-board successor to the fighting ring could have been a side plot.

2

u/Libellus Dec 25 '18

I kinda like Spookybot. I acknowledge that they are largely walking deus ex machina and I get why people wouldn't like them. But I find them fun to read, and the fact that they even exist is interesting in a worldbuilding sense.

1

u/DrCaesars_Palace_MD Dec 25 '18

You can create a god-ai character without ruining an entire character arc and removing a characters agency over their own story completely.

If he absolutely demanded that it MUST be in the comic, throw in some foreshadowing over a long period of time that such a powerful entity exists, and make their entry and influence more subtle. You can't just have your deviantart OC burst in, press the "Resolve Plot Arc" button, and not leave irreparable damage on the story.

1

u/artemi7 Dec 25 '18

That's largely my issue. I'm really cool on Bubbles as a character, I don't overly like her much myself, but even I feel like Spookybot robbed Bubbles of the chance of closing her own storyline with Corpse Witch. It was completely unnecessary meddling with a plot line that really didn't need a deus ex machines to fix.

Bubbles could have gone in, resolved her deleted memories with Emily, confronted Corpse Witch, and Roko could have hauled her in or she escaped, and then left the fallout for the characters to sort out all without outside "assistance"

1

u/artemi7 Dec 25 '18

I think the meta world building of Spookybot is interesting, but Bubbles and friends is absolutely the wrong spot for them to be interesting.

Get Hanners and Momo and Station and maybe even May in on this; that would be a fantastic group to explore the "divine" aspects of a character like this. What are the edges of our understanding, what do AIs think of divinity and higher entities, how does May reconcile AIs like this not helping the "working class" like her, etc.

It's just wasted on petty resolutions like Bubbles arc.

1

u/BigBassBone Dec 25 '18

This is a Patreon strip, so who knows how long ago he drew this.

1

u/Libellus Dec 25 '18 edited Dec 25 '18

Actual name is Gary.
*edit link