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MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Oxxidation posted:

The missing ear was probably just happenstance. I doubt he was much less of a moody bastard before Coyote fixed him up.

I think the missing ear was the court's fault in some way - there's a bismuth symbol over it in the Third Treatise

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MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




The Kins posted:

Surprised this didn't get linked when Tom tweeted it, but Boxbot tried to make a friend. Look how awful he is!

Fortunately, she had some other, awesome robots to be friends with.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Magnus Condomus posted:

Everybody loves robox.

Yeah, Robox is the best.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Tollymain posted:

It's kind of sad reading this comic, actually. It's become more and more obvious just how little Annie and Kat have in common, other than their friendship. I really hope they don't end up on different sides of whatever ends up going down, but at the same time, I do, because it'd be less of a story without conflict. :smith:

Them pushing through this and remaining friends whilst being drawn to opposite sides of Whatever Ends Up Going Down will probably be the driving force in resolving Whatever Ends Up Doing Down.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




I'm thinking the heart has something to do with the mysterious Seed Bismuth that's been thrown around in the comic before, including just a couple of pages ago.

I'm also thinking this idea of buildings that grow might have something do with why the court is so absurdly enormous beyond all practical use. What if they found a way to grow buildings like they were organic but it just never stopped?

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 03:00 on May 17, 2011

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




nothings posted:

As far as I recall:

It was a bird when Ysengrim found it by the faires. It was a bird when Ysengrim presented it to the court many months later. There's no evidence that it ever grew from a smaller thing into a bigger thing at all except that he claims so, and yet he was already lying in the first place about other aspects of that story. So I don't see any reason to give that idea credence.

Well when he found it by the faeries he buried it rather than just took it then; I assumed he did so because he knew it would grow and wanted to incite an incident. Why else do it?

I used to think Jones might be a golem before Coyote called her Wandering Eye; now I'm more partial to the idea that she might literally be an eye of Coyote that went off to have a life of its own.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Bobulus posted:

You know, all the robots actually being sophisticated golems explains a lot about how Annie was originally able to put Robot together from spare parts. Lot harder to gently caress up when parts don't actually have to, you know, be mechanically suitable.

Robot's a modern mechanised robot. Only Diego's creations were golems. None of them work anymore. Well, up until today.

The latest comics seem to imply the basis of the AI of the newer ones is that they've basically scanned in the intructions off the golems and virtually interpret it.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Who are they going to rise up against? They pretty much seem to do what they do voluntarily.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Was that a Bicentennial man reference?

I hope to hell that the old robot's up for a Q&A session before he dies.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Boxman posted:

"Microscopes now. Will the fun never end, this chapter?"

"She wants to thank him for the free door"

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Tea-san posted:

I was not very pleased with this chapter. Back when I was writing it, it just seemed off, even though it contained events that are important to the rest of the comic. Towards the end I was just wanting to get it finished and ended up making it shorter than it was originally planned. Judging by reader reaction, people did not find it too interesting, as I guessed.

I love writing about the robots, and Kat discovering about them, but it doesn't provide visually interesting imagery for the reader.

Eh, I love the robots and hearing about them. I don't think there was any problem with the content of this chapter; the pacing was just a bit off, stretching too long in the middle and then far too fast at the end.

That and the final payoff after activating the old bot was a severe letdown given the amount of mystery set up in the comic about the early court and how much he could have answered. It was kinda like when you're watching Lost and want to shake the characters for not asking obvious goddamn questions when they have the chance.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Jun 28, 2011

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Tea-san posted:

While I always try to improve my art, I also really want to improve my writing. It's my standard excuse, but I only have a limited time to work on the comic, and I wish I could spend a lot longer on all aspects of it. As long as the comic remains nothing more than a side hobby, I'm always going to be aware that it just isn't as good as it could be.

Anyone looking for a professional story edited to perfection will not be finding it here, I'm sorry to say.

Believe me, you have the plotting and pacing and editing down ten times as well as any number of professional stories I could name. We nitpick because we love but any complaints are minor at worst; you don't see any of us not eagerly checking three times a week.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Interesting parallel, but blunted a bit by how pissed off Kat would be if she were to find out about Robot's cult.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Don't know about Australian public (government) secondary schools, but public primary schools and private schools of any level use a house system too. That said, we don't divvy classes by them. They're mostly just used for things like sport and stuff.

I would imagine house systems are a lot more prominent in any boarding school, though.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 13:44 on Jun 29, 2011

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




I wanna know why this is a worry now? Did the kids get caught up and in trouble over the Power Station expedition? (Any why do they need robots rather than just leave the decoy transmitter in their beds?)

Also yes I want to meet Bud.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Elysiume posted:

Also,


B..but she has black hair and is in a webcomic! THAT IS INTERNATIONAL NERD CODE FOR ASIAN!

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Elftor posted:

The Romani people originally came from India, so Kat is Asian. That's why she likes building robots.

The Indian people originally came from Africa, so Kat's clearly a

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Bloody hell, they have grown up. Look at them being all... long.

Annie in the first panel is a fantastic depiction, especially. So simple but so telling. And her pose against that counter's great.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 10:44 on Jul 20, 2011

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




I dunno, in a twisted way Winsbury might be trying to help Paz. And Matt. But not Paz and Matt.

Y'know, in the same way you shoot a fatally wounded animal that's going to take way too long to die and just in too much pain.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Slime posted:

She also totally walked off with his jacket.

Well I'm guessing that the MP3 player was in the jacket, not that she has sticky fingers.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Annie's expression versus words in the large panel are totally baffling me.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




On one hand, I would want to hang it on my wall, but on the other hand, it would never stop watching me.

That said, people would pay plenty of money for that even if Gunnerkrigg didn't exist. It's a great work anyway.

Also, I'm getting some serious deco vibes from it.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




What happened between the last panel of the last comic and the first panel of this comic? I can't help but feel that Annie hit a level of anger where she'd snapped and automatically faked being nice to work even worse revenge. Again. Although the last few panels of this may have thrown a kink in that.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 10:56 on Sep 12, 2011

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




People criticising us for not being sure as to the emotions at this point should keep in mind that half of the Annie/Jack part of this chapter has been deception and falsehood on that front, so it's not inconceivable to wonder about that some more, especially on fast turnarounds like the anger at the end of last comic to the friendliness at the start of this one.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Sep 13, 2011

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Wow, she broke down (albiet only a little) fast there. Teenage whiplash indeed.

I'm glad that she and Jack are reconciled. Even if they don't want to be romantic, when he's not insane the two of them are both (for the most part) fairly nice people with similar interests who can get along pretty well. A long term conflict without something to prompt it would feel... artificial. Although Annie was doing her best to prompt one there.

MikeJF fucked around with this message at 09:27 on Sep 16, 2011

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




yellowyams posted:


Also, it's not a super polished drawing or anything but I had to doodle Eglamore from this chapter. His dress is so cute, I want it! :3:




Either you mean Paz, or Eglamore got up to some weird poo poo as a kid.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




This one needs a special shout out.


(But really, in addition to those posted, this is one of my favourites. Simple, but really nice)

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Paz in the first panel is freaking me the gently caress out. Stop looking at me like that!

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




DontMockMySmock posted:

That much should be abundantly clear to anyone who is at all familiar with lobsters. He looks more like a half-crab half-lobster half-soulless-abomination-out-of-time-and-space-that-man-was-not-meant-to-know.

Also, in that third panel? Wee bit SeaQuest.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Oh god, I bust a gut laughing. Tom, I love you.

Now gimmie a kiss

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




FactsAreUseless posted:

Did Tom change something about his lettering? It looks a lot better now than in those early chapters, but it's the same font. Is it just that it looks better printed smaller?

The letters are spaced closer now, even accounting for a smaller font. Also they seem to be thicker.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




SynthOrange posted:

That's a pretty convenient thing to have. Girlfriend on demand. Bam.

By the look on her face, it may not be that useful.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Gravitas Shortfall posted:

Remember, it's Parley who can teleport. Smitty just predicted when she'd turn up.

Yeah, but she was having random teleportation problems, and he makes random stuff happen in an orderly way that works out.

If he gestures at a spot and says 'bam', she'll probably 'randomly' pop in there.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




So do Parley's year and up not have to wear uniforms? Or are they old enough to have graduated (and stuck around for some reason) and Parley's just not wearing one now...

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Tea-san posted:

Once you get to sixth form in a lot of UK schools (and the one I went to) you don't wear a uniform anymore.

Damnit, how did Australia inherit the UK's predilection for dressing their kids up in irritating and absurd uniforms, but not this part? :argh: I had to wear that tie until the very end.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Tea-san posted:

Yeah me too. I can only work on the comic at the weekends though, and I don't make money from it.

This comic is really of a quality where there has got to be a way to monetise this better.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Fecha posted:

I'm not sure why an RSS is necessary, since the comic automatically updates at midnight PST...

'cos I have about fifteen webcomics in Google Reader so I don't have to bother remembering to check individual ones.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Opposing Farce posted:

This isn't really related, but I just realized that we know why Kat's mom is crying on the next page now. :smith:

We always did, didn't we? Annie didn't transfer in until Surma had actually died, and the audience knew they were friends by that point in the comic. She was just crying at her friend's death.

MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Opposing Farce posted:

Right, but it wasn't until a couple hundred pages later that we found out Surma died because she had Annie.

Yeah, but that doesn't really change why she's crying in that scene, though. I don't really get how it was foreshadowing anything.

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MikeJF
Dec 20, 2003




Benagain posted:

Because if Annie wasn't able to leave her mother's side until her mom finally died. Ergo, if she's transferring in, that's kind of an automatic death notice.

Well, yeah, but it was apparent that was a death notice even before we knew of the connection between Annie and her mother.

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