[2923] "The first of the New People to die."

[imaginaryfriend]

I have so many issues with the things Robot has been saying over the last few updates that I'm not sure what angle to take in addressing it and am going to just wait until he's done to comment.

[caber]

Okay, that tone shift is pretty funny. Robot is being all melodramatic and Annie has to drop a, "So, this is kinda awkward but..."

[blahzor]

Close but no cigar Robot

[laaaa]

Is it important to be the first one to die???

[bicarbonat]

If ever the urge to self-flagellate rises to unsustainable levels, we can look to these pages as the proverbial chew deterrent for the wretched cat of low self-worth that gnaws us from time to time.

[blahzor]

Apr 3, 2024 8:30:26 GMT laaaa said:

Is it important to be the first one to die???

You set the gold standard of behavior. He doesn't know Kat kicked the can down the road

[guntherkrieg]

Robot wanted to be the first one to install the firmware in Robot Heaven.

[guntherkrieg]

Apr 3, 2024 8:41:00 GMT bicarbonat said:

If ever the urge to self-flagellate rises to unsustainable levels, we can look to these pages as the proverbial chew deterrent for the wretched cat of low self-worth that gnaws us from time to time.

That's great and everything, but this is a Wendy's. 

[arf]

When the punishment meted out isn't the one you were expecting...

I get the impression that Annie has just ruined Robot's day.

[exquisitecorpus]

Apr 3, 2024 8:30:26 GMT laaaa said:

Is it important to be the first one to die???

Well, since dead souls' beliefs fuel the ether and therefore gods/godlike beings... I guess yes? It means Robot would be the one setting precedents for the terms of Kat's apotheosis? I think? Or maybe he just likes the dramatic flair of being the first "martyr."

[philman]

"Oh woe is me, I will be a martyr for those who come after, I will be the first to fall in the new reality we create"

"Uh no, someone already did that, sorry you put yourself through that for nothing."

[morrahadesigns]

Wow....Robot needs some serious mental help. This is....wow.

[Cori]

Robot's over-inflated ego, sense of self-importance, and martyr complex have reached their obnoxious zenith, only for Annie to poke a hole in it and deflate it like a sad balloon.

Sorry, Robot. Maybe next time don't base your delusions of grandeur on something you can't control.

I think the most insulting thing here, from Annie and Shadow's perspective, is that Robot assumes Kat would in fact sentence him to death like that. His version of Kat is so slanted and unrealistic that it's like he hasn't been paying attention to her at all--only when she does things that he can twist to suit his narrative, like accidentally destroying the wing or intentionally destroying the "whale".

[TBeholder]

The best plans of men, mice and robots…
Well, if he wanted to achieve more than becoming a celebrity as the first of them to die, this probably was not the best plan. Should have asked Annie about such matters.

[ctso74]

Play poorly calculated games, win poorly calculated prizes.

[davidm]

I have a terrible feeling this is all Boxbots fault. He was the first to be terrible, and robot got jealous and wanted to surpass him.

[blahzor]

Apr 3, 2024 13:22:10 GMT ctso74 said:

Play poorly calculated games, win poorly calculated prizes.

was TOO into his excel sheet

[yellowb]

I'm kind of worried that when Robot learns that Sam died when they were in Annie‘s memory, he will blame Annie.

Let's just hope that won't happen.

[OGRuddawg]

Apr 3, 2024 14:23:29 GMT yellowb said:

I'm kind of worried that when Robot learns that Sam died when they were in Annie‘s memory, he will blame Annie.

Let's just hope that won't happen.

I don't think Robot will blame Annie. He has a LOT of issues, but with Annie's assistance and support of Kat I doubt she will become a target for Robot. He's in a pretty deep cycle of self-blame. I think it's going to be a while before Robot's able to look past himself in terms of assigning fault to things not going to plan.

[Cori]

Apr 3, 2024 14:23:29 GMT yellowb said:

I'm kind of worried that when Robot learns that Sam died when they were in Annie‘s memory, he will blame Annie.

Let's just hope that won't happen.

I think he's too far up his own ass to think like that--it doesn't matter "how" a new person died, just that it wasn't him.

[blahzor]

Apr 3, 2024 14:23:29 GMT yellowb said:

I'm kind of worried that when Robot learns that Sam died when they were in Annie‘s memory, he will blame Annie.

Let's just hope that won't happen.

he would LOVE to blame him mom then. the drama queen

[Runningflame]

Tom said:

A triumph.

I'm making a note here: Huge Success

[blazingstar]

Apr 3, 2024 7:25:14 GMT caber said:

Okay, that tone shift is pretty funny. Robot is being all melodramatic and Annie has to drop a, "So, this is kinda awkward but..."

Same. I feel like I really shouldn't have laughed at this page, and yet here we are.

[pyradonis]

Apr 3, 2024 7:25:14 GMT caber said:

Okay, that tone shift is pretty funny. Robot is being all melodramatic and Annie has to drop a, "So, this is kinda awkward but..."

Same here, I couldn't help laughing. The poor self-deluded fool.

Also, this is the second time in this arc that someone spends pages to explain their great plan only to be told that it already failed. First Coyote gloating only to be told that Loup fell in love with *another* redhead, now uber-martyr S13 realizing that some former pipe maintenance bot has already been the first to die and set the precedent.

And since nobody has mentioned them yet, who do you think the executioner and the other figures watching in the background are? They have the grey skin and glowing green eyes of robots, but S13 wanted to transition and be executed only after every other had been transitioned. They also remind me of medieval depictions of Death, which makes sense for the executioner, but not really for the audience. If they are supposed to be New People, then why the skeleton look? And if not, then what are they supposed to be? Some new robotic guard created by the Angel? The Seraphs after transitioning?

[eyemyself]

Apr 3, 2024 12:59:18 GMT Cori said:

His version of Kat is so slanted and unrealistic that it's like he hasn't been paying attention to her at all--only when she does things that he can twist to suit his narrative.

And that, right there, is the difference between healthy interpersonal relationships and unhealthy, one-sided, fanatical obsessions. Conformation bias is a heck of fallacy to run your life on.

Sadly, like robot, many, many, many people get this wrong in the real world, too. Believing our assumptions match reality is an easy mistake to make - our brains are hard wired to make sense of reality by using our incredible pattern recognition skills to fill in gaps and draw reasonable conclusions from incomplete data and for the most part they do a fairly good job of it - but boy howdy does that failure rate spike when applied to something as complicated as the internal state of another sentient being. And the cost of failure, as we can see from what’s happening here, can be incalculable.

Robot’s been looking for a scenario that fit his internal narrative would validate his martyr complex for a long time. Longer than he’s been part of this story. I wonder how much of Diego’s particular mix of megalomania and guilt is buried in that little green special component attached to his chip. All this fixation on an angel who would elevate the robots to something more than machines had to come from somewhere.

[eyemyself]

Apr 3, 2024 13:30:46 GMT davidm said:

I have a terrible feeling this is all Boxbots fault. He was the first to be terrible, and robot got jealous and wanted to surpass him.

FWIW: I have a secret wild spec that Boxbot IS future robot after Kat learns of his deception. Far more on brand for Kat to give him a /very/ disappointing new body rather than granting him the chance to ascend once she learns of his secret machinations.

A fate worse than death! No admission into the ether for you - instead, for the rest of your existence you will be terrible.

[TBeholder]

Apr 3, 2024 13:44:16 GMT blahzor said:

Apr 3, 2024 13:22:10 GMT ctso74 said:

Play poorly calculated games, win poorly calculated prizes.

was TOO into his excel sheet

I don’t see why it’s the case, but am willing to agree that fetish for Microsoft products is never healthy.

[OGRuddawg]

Apr 3, 2024 16:49:35 GMT pyradonis said:

And since nobody has mentioned them yet, who do you think the executioner and the other figures watching in the background are? They have the grey skin and glowing green eyes of robots, but S13 wanted to transition and be executed only after every other had been transitioned. They also remind me of medieval depictions of Death, which makes sense for the executioner, but not really for the audience. If they are supposed to be New People, then why the skeleton look? And if not, then what are they supposed to be? Some new robotic guard created by the Angel? The Seraphs after transitioning?

Spitballing here, but he may be imagining the post-transformation Seraphs. He is the one who manipulated them into going along with the boat incident. They have the most significant reason to be angry with S13. I wonder if the Seraphs are willingly keeping robot bodies until all other robots have become Nupersoned, or if Kat told them they're going last because of the boat incident. I have a felling she still doesn't trust them, but I don't know if the reason none of them have transitioned has been spelled out in-comic.

[grahamf]

Will Robot become the designated psychopomp for the New People? The position is open and he might be suitable for the role and self flagellating enough to take it.

[rabbit]

I was tempted to make a remark such as "Give Robot a break, he is new at being emo and still figuring it out" - but it occurred to me that this is not the first evidence we have of the seraph robots being a bit, um, overwrought. All the way back in Chapter 18 we were treated to a 'morbid play' acted out by the seraph robots that Kat discovered. I have to wonder if this tendency is an artifact of their creator, Diego. He was a coward who fabricated a fantasy about Jeanne and his guilt over her death - a death, a murder in fact, that he conspired to make happen.

If overwrought emotion and a tendency toward the morbid is Diego's legacy to the seraphs, what is Kat's legacy to the NPs? Curiosity, open-mindedness and -heartedness? It may be that Robot, as a seraph, is fundamentally different from the NPs in a way that almost predestines him to misunderstand her.

A small aside: If we as createes inherit some of the characteristics of our creators, it would behoove us to choose our creators with care.
Just sayin'