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Post by todd on Nov 2, 2009 23:16:02 GMT
Look at him! His primary function is clearly making irritating noises at night! He looks more like a praying mantis than a cricket to me. (Now I'm wondering if Tom was engaging in a bit of subtle visual word-play in having the robot who looks like a praying mantis choosing the spire of a cathedral for his observation headquarters - combined with all the talk about Kat as an angel.)
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Post by tyler on Nov 2, 2009 23:18:41 GMT
You guys better get some rest. Sounds like the flu.
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Post by cespinarve on Nov 3, 2009 0:11:15 GMT
Perhaps Robot will leap out of the shadows and attempt to maul Boxbot, before being disgusted at the terribleness.
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Post by Ulysses on Nov 3, 2009 2:21:16 GMT
Damn you Jiminiminy! Damn you all to hell! *sobs on a beach*
But I didn't see Twitter or your post before I guessed, although in retrospect my guess was fairly redundant as I wouldn't have made it if I'd not skim read the thread. Your post could have prevented me from making a fool of myself, and yet my very foolishness did not allow me to read it! Curse my foolishnness!
Does anyone else think that Robot's new head looks like Boxbot turned sideways? Maybe Kat cannabalised one :S
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Pig_catapult
Full Member
Keeper of the Devilkitty
Posts: 171
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Post by Pig_catapult on Nov 3, 2009 6:15:34 GMT
I did think that it looked kinda like a Hunter from L4D, but I thought that that was purely coincidence, and way irrelevant, so didn't mention it. >_>
I feel very silly.
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Post by TBeholder on Nov 3, 2009 7:44:17 GMT
Musing: really, what it is? Test: query --ident "sky watcher" --property description | grep 'provide something cuddly to fans of sharp objects' Test: query --ident "sky watcher" --property description | grep 'cuddl' Notion: ok, probably not.
...at the same time in comments:
P.S.: That's great. Only, you know, i can't stand looking at Kat in last 3 panels for 15 seconds without sobbing and rolling under my table. ;D
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Post by bluemotion on Nov 3, 2009 15:45:07 GMT
So I was thinking about Robot's new body a bit, and something occurred to me; he is actually a character we know very little about.
When he's with Kat and Annie, he seems very sweet and innocent, but for all we know, he's hundreds of years old. And do we even know why and how he ended up in the BOX OF SCRAPS that Annie found him in?
Now, we see that not only does he know some sweet moves, he finds them fairly normal; his new body is just "easier to get around in". Could his old body do the same parkour-like moves this one can?
He also knew EXACTLY where to find Sky Watcher. Did they know each other in the past? It also seems that he knows his way around the Court remarkably well. For all we know, he has the entire layout memorized!
How old is he? Why was de disassembled? WHEN was he disassembled? What is HIS primary function? We don't even know that!
My point is, this is a character as full of mysteries as the day he was introduced. I can't wait to find out more!
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Post by Per on Nov 3, 2009 16:12:39 GMT
What an evil switcharoo! At the beginning of the comic, Robot and Shadow both seemed childlike, while Rey seemed like a timeless demonic entity body-hopping from the beginning of time. Now we know Rey hasn't actually been a body-hopper for all that long and isn't all that demonic, while Robot and Shadow are the unfathomable beings who have both been around the Court since the time of... the dinosaurs!!
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Post by nikita on Nov 3, 2009 16:18:45 GMT
Maybe he violated the laws of robotics. The name Elsie=LC reminded me of Asimov's robots too, but this could be conincidence.
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Post by Casey on Nov 3, 2009 16:43:39 GMT
bluemotion, I would suggest having your questions put on the Master List of Unanswered Questions, if they aren't already. (I didn't check.)
EDIT: I checked, they're not on the list. Do it!
If Tom doesn't remove them from the List, then we'll know that those questions are important ones, and ones that we should get an answer to before all is said and done
Pretty astute observation in my opinion. If I had to theorize, I would say that the whole Seraph line was designed by Diego to be extremely agile, and when you think of Robot as a descendant of S1 (or even, a 12-times-improved version) then the agility certainly makes some sense.
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Post by bluemotion on Nov 3, 2009 17:24:28 GMT
Thank you Casey, I have now done just that.
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Post by TBeholder on Nov 3, 2009 21:33:16 GMT
Now, we see that not only does he know some sweet moves, he finds them fairly normal; his new body is just "easier to get around in". Could his old body do the same parkour-like moves this one can? New bodies seems to be derived from magitech originals, but not equal to them. Two Seraphs ran to the "boring door" slow enough to be tracked, no acrobatics. But S13 is fully compatible with S1 body... that was deft and strong enough to go through Diego's ballet. After which he can compare performance with original one, as well as his own and substitutes. He also knew EXACTLY where to find Sky Watcher. Did they know each other in the past? It also seems that he knows his way around the Court remarkably well. For all we know, he has the entire layout memorized! Why not? Or just asked other robots, like delivery teams / pilgrims. What is HIS primary function? We don't even know that! My point is, this is a character as full of mysteries as the day he was introduced. I can't wait to find out more! It's funny, but robots with clearly defined functions (loading hands, guards, Sky Watcher) has more specialized forms while all prototypes are more or less humanoid. These models may just as well have no special purpose known to anyone but Diego and be used to work with human equipment when needed. Maybe he violated the laws of robotics. Highly unlikely. First, this setup was explored many times and turns out rather flawed (ever saw Freefall?) even by Court robots' standards. Second, if the doorbot functions properly and able to keep humans out of a safe place, they aren't. Third, if Annie convinced them she's a robot, they aren't good with recognition of humans, which is the main prerequisite.
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Post by Mishmash on Nov 3, 2009 22:58:51 GMT
I think nikita was joking about the laws of robotics! Also isn't the fact they are flawed kind of the point? Just about every story in I, Robot is about flaws that arise due to the three laws.
Anyway no one likes a thread derailer so I'll add that like many people I am excited by the prospect of learning a little more about Robot. As Annie said early on, he is his own person, and yet we have seen very little of his personality, history and day-to-day life. Another thing: Sky Watcher is indeed gorgeous!
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Post by todd on Nov 3, 2009 23:41:35 GMT
I don't think that Robot is as old as that; for one thing, according to the evidence the evidence we have, the robots go back to Diego - and Diego's own clothing seems relatively modern, say, late Victorian or Edwardian. (I'd even say that the mere fact that he's a robot suggests that he can't be that ancient, though Greek mythology does contain several robot-like beings built by Hephaestus and Daedalus.)
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Post by nikita on Nov 3, 2009 23:55:22 GMT
No I wasn't, but Third, if Annie convinced them she's a robot, they aren't good with recognition of humans, which is the main prerequisite. is a convincing argument that the court robots weren't built with the Three Laws in mind. But, even without using Asimov's laws in particular, the robots are probably expected to at least to not harm anybody. Anyway: We know that the cpu of criminals is sent to research, but Robot still had it's CPU when Annie found it. Also ist would be pretty dense to put dangerous robot in a box and just hope nobody ever reassembles it. So I guess he just got put there because he was missing an arm and therefore useless. Or there was some other reason why he wasn't needed anymore and his arm was takes as a replacement for another robot. The laws are not as flawed as they may seem. They are the laws we all live by. (or try to) The real problem is, that Asimovs robots are unable to make arbitrary decisions. If we humans are given orders that are bullsh... inconsistent, we can deal with it - the robots on the other hand just shut down or look for a weird compromise. However, we should not be so arrogant to say that we don't suffer from this. Making the right decision can be pretty hard and stressful. As a result, humans too make the mistakes robots do, start constructing useless compromises or make no decision at all.
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Post by Aris Katsaris on Nov 3, 2009 23:57:43 GMT
How old is he? Why was de disassembled? WHEN was he disassembled? What is HIS primary function? We don't even know that! Two of these I believe we know, or atleast know enough about to make educated guesses: He was created during Diego's time, after the loss of Jeanne -- his primary function was to stand in for Diego in the mock-duel with Young-robot. Edit: On second thought, I guess my previous paragraph is about Seraph 1, not Seraph 13. Nevermind then.
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Pig_catapult
Full Member
Keeper of the Devilkitty
Posts: 171
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Post by Pig_catapult on Nov 4, 2009 0:30:15 GMT
Maybe he was disassembled because he wasn't particularly needed at that point in time. Too many cooks spoil the soup, and, presumably, too many robots spoil the. . . uh. . .
I'm not sure where I was going with that metaphor.
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Post by todd on Nov 4, 2009 0:37:09 GMT
Maybe he kept on going out into the Court rather than keeping a low profile (judging from how those two robots who saw Annie at the start of Chapter Twelve hurried back to the robot section of the Court in a hurry, the robot community - with a couple of exceptions, such as the robot horse - apparently wants to keep itself separate from the human part of the Court).
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Post by TBeholder on Nov 4, 2009 12:44:19 GMT
We know that the cpu of criminals is sent to research, but Robot still had it's CPU when Annie found it. Also ist would be pretty dense to put dangerous robot in a box and just hope nobody ever reassembles it. So I guess he just got put there because he was missing an arm and therefore useless. Or there was some other reason why he wasn't needed anymore and his arm was takes as a replacement for another robot. I'd bet S13 was damaged doing something considered not "criminal" but "damn silly" and as such wasn't deemed important enough for research, but wasn't restored either. Either this, or humans found a broken robot, packed everything in a box, and then forgot they wanted to send him for repair. The real problem is, that Asimovs robots are unable to make arbitrary decisions. If we humans are given orders that are bullsh... inconsistent, we can deal with it - the robots on the other hand just shut down or look for a weird compromise. Such broad formal rules are likely to either cripple or (if it got initiative and is capable of planning) not restrict much. Or a half of both ("Freefall" case). (judging from how those two robots who saw Annie at the start of Chapter Twelve hurried back to the robot section of the Court in a hurry, the robot community - with a couple of exceptions, such as the robot horse - apparently wants to keep itself separate from the human part of the Court). And again, doorbot. " robots only", not "authorized personnel". Meaning, contact is minimal. Though probably at least security (robots that dealt with dogs and kept students away) accepted orders from "proper authority".
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Post by Seth Thresher on Nov 4, 2009 14:46:16 GMT
(judging from how those two robots who saw Annie at the start of Chapter Twelve hurried back to the robot section of the Court in a hurry, the robot community - with a couple of exceptions, such as the robot horse - apparently wants to keep itself separate from the human part of the Court). And again, doorbot. " robots only", not "authorized personnel". Meaning, contact is minimal. Though probably at least security (robots that dealt with dogs and kept students away) accepted orders from "proper authority". Interesting litmus test: what would they say to Jones? >)
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Post by warrl on Nov 4, 2009 16:55:56 GMT
Define "he". I'd go with the CPU. We know that we first encountered this CPU with body S13, which of course is not as old as body S1 - but there's no telling how long the gap is. We're aware of a grand total, I believe, of four Seraph-bodied robots. On the other hand, this CPU has that extra part on top that we're theorizing is an etheric processing unit. And S1's original CPU was removed. My guess is that Robot's CPU actually is S1's original CPU, and further investigation that the #1 bodies of all the oldest models have the extra part. If that's correct, body S13 probably was manufactured very shortly after Diego arranged the robots in the arena.
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Post by warrl on Nov 4, 2009 17:00:03 GMT
Interesting litmus test: what would they say to Jones? >) We already know that Jones is not a robot. But what she is... she is something that Reynardine thinks would mystify Coyote. (I think Coyote would get a real kick out of that.)
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