PF Episode 6 (Page 49)

[Mao]

Particularly when dealing with something that has abilities in the realm of thought.  Thoughts are much faster than most things.

[Ren Gaulen]

Particularly when dealing with something that has abilities in the realm of thought.  Thoughts are much faster than most things.

"A thought is faster than a trigger finger." ..But is it really the case?

[Sofox]

I've had a lot of thoughts about this strip, but I've already told them all to Tape.

One of them was the suggestion that he could drive a car at full speed towards the target and even if the killswitch did kick in, momentum would finish the job.

Another thought was referencing the end of Robocop, which I spoiled for him in case he ever decides to watch that movie again.

Finally, I think I also expressed dismay that Joshua never considered that Jakob wouldn't provide for the possibility that what he created turning against him.

[Tapewolf]

Finally, I think I also expressed dismay that Joshua never considered that Jakob wouldn't provide for the possibility that what he created turning against him.

True, but on the other hand, I'd be interested to know what you'd have done differently in his position.

Fun fact - originally this strip and the previous strip were a single, intricate page.  Unfortunately it was too dense and the captioning wouldn't fit, so I split it into two pages - which also raises the chapter from 7 pages to 8 and makes it print out better.  Ren deserved a break anyway.

[Mao]

Ren deserved a break anyway.

Aww.. you're so generous to your Sla...er.. artist.

[Sofox]

True, but on the other hand, I'd be interested to know what you'd have done differently in his position.

Honestly, I'd never want to kill him in the first place. Granted, this wouldn't make me a good agent, but in this situation I'd do everything I could to get the plane working, even if it risked getting caught. This is both because of moral reasons and because there's too much uncertainty in a plan that involves trying to kill Jakob (see more below).

But let's say there's this hypothetical situation where I know (I couldn't just suspect, I'd have to be certain) that Jakob's actions would bring about terrible circumstances with great loss of life and that there was no way of avoiding it if I didn't do something. First I'd see if there was an indirect way to halt his plans (aside from escaping). Destruction of equipment, even taking a hammer to that soul gem thingy would be one option. Destroying the prototype (essentially suicide) would be gutsy, but I don't know if I'd do that even if I knew there was no other option (no one knows until the situation arises).

And if it came to confronting Jakob and I had to kill him? Well, I'd be scared stiff. He's a Cubi with unclear magical powers a spate of unknown technologies so there's a gigantic X factor I wouldn't know how to approach. Gunshots seem to be a standard thing a guy like him would protect against so if I decided on a gunshot, it would be from behind without warning and preferably at a vital organ. Simply confronting him head on would give him way too much opportunity to do who knows what? Of course, I would do this with the assumption that the killswitch is something needs to be manually activated by him so I'd still be screwed in the end. Preferably I'd see if there was another way with more certainty and impact. I don't know how readily available explosives are in the base (I've never been there) but that would be one thing I'd consider as it would give a strong enough punch ensure Jakob doesn't set up a shield or regenerate after injury. I'd need to look around the base to see if there are any other resources I could utilise (call me MacSofox!), but if there's nothing else I could use, then it looks like I'd have to fall back on the gun.

So in conclusion, I suppose you're right. I'd be a lot slower to resort to murder in Joshua's situation but if circumstances meant I'd had to, it would be out of desperation and I'd plan something where I struck fast with Jakob not seeing it coming (hard when Cubi are mindreaders). However, even if I didn't get qualms, get caught or freeze at the last moment, I'd still fail anyway because I'd fall victim to the killswitch which I'd always assume it was manual, not something automatically triggered if I tried to kill him.


Boy, that was an extremely long winded and wordy reply to a simple question, but in my defense, you did ask for my thoughts on a subject.

[Amber Williams]

And now we cue to the scene change where shonen-ai snugglings take place.

...

...eh? eh? 

(And thus Amber never gets to draw guest comics for Project Future)

Seriously though, nifty stuff. I look forward to the next updates.

[Ren Gaulen]

And now we cue to the scene change where shonen-ai snugglings take place.

Aaaaah, don't give me bad ideas!!

[Amber Williams]

How about if the bad ideas are disguised as good ones?

[AmigaDragon]

Another thought was referencing the end of Robocop, which I spoiled for him in case he ever decides to watch that movie again.

Finally, I think I also expressed dismay that Joshua never considered that Jakob wouldn't provide for the possibility that what he created turning against him.

How can you spoiler a movie that someone might watch AGAIN? Does he have amnesia regarding the movie he's seen?

Disregarding the discussion here before reading page 42, it left me with more questions than answers. Did Jakob/Kris/Cross actively stop Josh? Did a safety program shut him down (just barely) before pulling the trigger? Did he pull the trigger (stopped by shield. we didn't see/hear a gunshot, did we?) just before collapsing? Did he have a computer/mechanical version of a fainting spell (unrelated to the safety shutdown idea)?

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Now playing on Winamp: Richard Strauss - Don Juan (Classical Minnesota Public Radio)
via FoxyTunes

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

How about if the bad ideas are disguised as good ones?

I thought that was?

[Tapewolf]

How can you spoiler a movie that someone might watch AGAIN? Does he have amnesia regarding the movie he's seen?

Robocop came out on general release in 1987, so my dad would have rented it about 19,20 years ago.  I don't think I actually sat and watched it end-to-end anyway, but I certainly saw chunks of it.  Either way, I'd forgotten the ending until Sofox mentioned it.  That and I was intending to buy the DVD, which I'll still do at some point, spoiler or no.

Did a safety program shut him down (just barely) before pulling the trigger? Did he pull the trigger (stopped by shield. we didn't see/hear a gunshot, did we?)

What happened will come up in the next page, though it has been hinted at already somewhere in the comic.

And now we cue to the scene change where shonen-ai snugglings take place.

This time next year, perhaps...

(And thus Amber never gets to draw guest comics for Project Future)

We-e-ll, if you're offering, there's a short segment around chapter 12 that would work wonders...

[Ren Gaulen]

How about if the bad ideas are disguised as good ones?

I thought that was?

You were right. I should have written "Ebil ideas".

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I thought that was?

You were right. I should have written "Ebil ideas".

... also applicable, no?

[Tapewolf]

Honestly, I'd never want to kill him in the first place. Granted, this wouldn't make me a good agent, but in this situation I'd do everything I could to get the plane working, even if it risked getting caught. This is both because of moral reasons and because there's too much uncertainty in a plan that involves trying to kill Jakob (see more below).

In this case it's not a particularly practical approach since the aircraft will take a fair amount of machining to replace the front undercarriage so it can even take off.  Fixing the fuel line and refueling it is easy by comparison.  Even if he knows the location of and can work out how to operate all the necessary equipment in the base, he's not going to be able to do much in the time he has to hand.  If he did somehow get it working, the patrol aircraft would intercept him as he tried to escape.  If he tried to leave on foot, they'd be able to detect him as he left the perimeter and send the panthers after him.  All these things are things which have been made clear - or at least implied - to him around chapter 2.

Destruction of equipment, even taking a hammer to that soul gem thingy would be one option.

If you meant the communicator, that wouldn't prevent it. 

Destroying the prototype (essentially suicide) would be gutsy, but I don't know if I'd do that even if I knew there was no other option (no one knows until the situation arises).

I hadn't considered that, but now I think about it, Joshua would have been included in the ruleset himself, so it's likely that he can't deliberately kill himself.  At the very least he'd have a very tough time as the body was designed to be well-protected.

Preferably I'd see if there was another way with more certainty and impact. I don't know how readily available explosives are in the base (I've never been there) but that would be one thing I'd consider as it would give a strong enough punch ensure Jakob doesn't set up a shield or regenerate after injury. I'd need to look around the base to see if there are any other resources I could utilise (call me MacSofox!), but if there's nothing else I could use, then it looks like I'd have to fall back on the gun.

I don't think they have explosives.  They wouldn't really need them.  It might just be possible to set up a booby-trap, but I wouldn't bank on it.

[Mao]

And now we cue to the scene change where shonen-ai snugglings take place.

Aaaaah, don't give me bad ideas!!

See, bad is such a relative term.  I mean, what's bad for one is downright peachy for another.  Beyond that, the way he's all incapacitated on the floor like that, curled up a bit.. it looks like he's all set up to be little spoon. 


Just sayin'.

[Tapewolf]

the way he's all incapacitated on the floor like that, curled up a bit.. it looks like he's all set up to be little spoon.

Do I want to know what that means?

[Ren Gaulen]

the way he's all incapacitated on the floor like that, curled up a bit.. it looks like he's all set up to be little spoon.

Do I want to know what that means?

If you asking "Do I want to know?", then you probably don't want to.

[Zedd]

Hmm well that was upsetting for the cyborg huskie

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Do I want to know what that means?

If you asking "Do I want to know?", then you probably don't want to.

I'm happy to enlighten you.

Big Spoon and Little Spoon are the two parts to spooning, or cuddling-with-intentions...

[Tapewolf]

Big Spoon and Little Spoon are the two parts to spooning, or cuddling-with-intentions...

Not quite as bad as I'd thought.  But not about to happen, either.

Hmm well that was upsetting for the cyborg huskie

Well, I think he's more shit-scared than upset just now.  And technically he hasn't been a cyborg for a while now, having lost all his organic components...

[Sofox]

Hey Tape, pretty clever about including the person in their own ruleset. As for the rest, I guess it shows how few options Joshua had. I hate to criticize, but it would have been nice if some of these nuances were more clear in the comic, it just seemed a little sudden for me for Joshua to quickly turn his mind to murder, he didn't seem to agonize over it that much or at least give a good emotional glimpse into why he feels that murder is the only option. This is all of course my own personal opinion.

By the way, I almost lost that guest text update I wrote. I figure you don't hold onto text updates since you showed how you just uploaded a new file that overwrote the previous one, but fortunately Google cache held onto #41's update so I was able to grab myself a copy.

[AmigaDragon]

Hmm well that was upsetting for the cyborg huskie

Well, I think he's more shit-scared than upset just now.  And technically he hasn't been a cyborg for a while now, having lost all his organic components...

I was wondering about that since his mind/soul was originally organic-based before being grafted to cybernetics (thus, cyborganic). Does transfer from cyborganics to cybernetics actually change his status from cyborg to android? I'd think it could be debated either way, between origin and current state.

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Now playing on Winamp: George Butterworth - English Idyll No. 2 (Classical Minnesota Public Radio)
via FoxyTunes

[Tapewolf]

Hey Tape, pretty clever about including the person in their own ruleset. As for the rest, I guess it shows how few options Joshua had. I hate to criticize, but it would have been nice if some of these nuances were more clear in the comic, it just seemed a little sudden for me for Joshua to quickly turn his mind to murder, he didn't seem to agonize over it that much or at least give a good emotional glimpse into why he feels that murder is the only option. This is all of course my own personal opinion.

I like to think that he was bluffing at first, or at least aiming for the shoulder as a warning when he pulled the trigger.  Yes, it would have been nice if we could have gone over all the options in more detail.
Actually, looking at the last panel of chapter 5 there does seem to be enough room to add more text so I might expand on it slightly and update it retroactively.  I don't usually make a habit of this... I prefer to correct things only within a single chapter, but it has happened.

By the way, I almost lost that guest text update I wrote. I figure you don't hold onto text updates since you showed how you just uploaded a new file that overwrote the previous one, but fortunately Google cache held onto #41's update so I was able to grab myself a copy.

Good.  You should have asked - the file is probably still on the eeepc or the memory stick.  And actually, I have been archiving most of the rants on my mac.  I made sure to grab yours as soon as I got back.

I was wondering about that since his mind/soul was originally organic-based before being grafted to cybernetics (thus, cyborganic). Does transfer from cyborganics to cybernetics actually change his status from cyborg to android? I'd think it could be debated either way, between origin and current state.

Difficult to say.  His body certainly is an android rather than a cyborg, but his mind is a tricky one.  Is Joshua an artificial intelligence?  I'd say no, because it was grown naturally, though that's kind of what you're arguing to say that he's a cyborg.
Personally, I just refer to them as android replicas and leave it at that.

[Ren Gaulen]

I was wondering about that since his mind/soul was originally organic-based before being grafted to cybernetics (thus, cyborganic). Does transfer from cyborganics to cybernetics actually change his status from cyborg to android? I'd think it could be debated either way, between origin and current state.

Difficult to say.  His body certainly is an android rather than a cyborg, but his mind is a tricky one.  Is Joshua an artificial intelligence?  I'd say no, because it was grown naturally, though that's kind of what you're arguing to say that he's a cyborg.
Personally, I just refer to them as android replicas and leave it at that.

Well, Joshua's body is 100% artificially created, and the soul is the only part of the original Joshua that's left. So I guess he is an android alright, but a one with a living soul for its core. So first and foremost, he is still Joshua. Android is just a term to describe his current state.

[Tapewolf]

I'm thinking of updating page 40 to add slightly more detail as to why Joshua can't flee.
These are the two versions of the page, comments would be much appreciated.

http://www.project-future.org/strips/comic/strip040.png - old

http://www.project-future.org/strips/comic/strip040a.png - new

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Mmm. That makes more sense. It also highlights the perimeter alarms, which it's been a while since we last saw...

[Mao]

Yeah, it's a lot more clear this way, at least to me.

[Sofox]

To me too.

[Tapewolf]

Okay, I've gone with it.  Page 40 is now updated.  I'll have to remember to make a note about that when I do the rant.