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Post by Casey on Apr 9, 2010 12:20:42 GMT
I think it's been pretty solidly established that in the Gunnerkrigg universe, robots definitely AREN'T "just robots". Furthermore, I think that that is something that Jack once knew.
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Alex
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Post by Alex on Apr 9, 2010 12:39:26 GMT
Even if the robot is sentient, I would be shocked if the CPU actually broke. That kind of force seems unlikely to have exerted any stress across the chip in the first place.
He's going to need a new motherboard, though.
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Post by emjoseph on Apr 9, 2010 12:45:35 GMT
Jack took a turn to the serious side rather quickly...
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Post by Casey on Apr 9, 2010 12:57:05 GMT
How could anyone seriously think that a blow strong enough to crush a metal box isn't going to also be strong enough to break a little silicon chip?
I think Jack-lovers are trying to diminish the impact (no pun intended) of the horrible actions that their favorite character is taking in order to justify still seeing him as some sort of anti-hero. Confirmative bias is a powerful, terrible thing.
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Post by todd on Apr 9, 2010 13:07:52 GMT
And shippers are a committed folk; something like this won't deter them. Unfortunately true. All the same, even before this page, I didn't think that Jack would make a good boy-friend for Annie. Grinning nastily at her, calling her an "ice queen", and apparently only declaring a truce with her out of necessity doesn't bode well for a romantic relationship. Jack's apparent etheric talent is the only trait that might give us any hope, but that's not enough (especially since we don't even know whether it's natural to him or a side-effect of the etheric spider and other consequences of his adventure in Zimmy's nightmare city; for all we know, he'd lose the ability to see Annie's etheric self if he was freed from the spider). Of course, I'm biased; I have a hard time imagining Annie in a romantic relationship, period. But even if I didn't, I think that she could do a lot better than Jack.
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Post by linnabean on Apr 9, 2010 13:14:01 GMT
woah I absolutely did not expect thiiiiiiiis.
I honestly don't know how to feel about this page. I totally see Jack's reasoning for braining the robot but then I also see Annie's POV in being horrified that he essentially killed it.
Dude's strong though, gotta give him that.
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Post by fjodor on Apr 9, 2010 13:15:57 GMT
How could anyone seriously think that a blow strong enough to crush a metal box isn't going to also be strong enough to break a little silicon chip? For the same reason a crowbar splitting a skull may very well leave all teeth unharmed, I guess.
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Post by Reynaerde on Apr 9, 2010 13:25:55 GMT
Guardbot had it coming with his ´whistle´ , still, that was a harsh thing to do for Jack.
Couldn´t he just use a disrupter? We've seen those things before, and I'd say Jack is enough techno-savy to build one.
But I guess that's because Jack is slowly going crazy due to that etheric spider :-(
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Post by Afalstein on Apr 9, 2010 13:26:29 GMT
Wow. Dark side much, Jack? Where'd all that empathy for the laser cows with rocks in sinovial joints go?
I mean, okay, I kinda understand, I don't think Jack quite gets the sentience of the robots yet, it's something Kat found out only by her association with Annie, and Annie found out only through building S13, but still... Ouch. Maybe you could let Annie handle the next one?
So... I dunno. I doubt Annie will save the chip from this one. We can't have Kat making two robot bodies, after all. My prediction is that next page Annie will find the broken chip and start getting mad at Jack.
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Post by Refugee on Apr 9, 2010 13:41:32 GMT
Morning coffee art note: I like the flashlight trails in the first two panels.
Annie's not going to do a post-mortem right there on the spot. She needs to either keep up with Jack and find out what's going on; or raise the alarm herself.
That choice will say everything about whether or not Annie herself regards the bots as real people, because if it were a human guard, you would be ethically compelled to raise the alarm (as soon as you could without getting killed yourself), unless you had overwhelming evidence that he was knowingly guarding something evil.
Oh, and having done a certain amount of equipment bashing, yes, it is very possible to whack something into non-functionality with a crowbar without damaging the CPU. Think about airplane Flight Data Recorders ("Black Boxes"): they're heavily armored against far worse.
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Post by Per on Apr 9, 2010 14:12:57 GMT
Jack, you parkour hero jerk.
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Post by haggidubious on Apr 9, 2010 14:27:39 GMT
Yeah, I'm on the side of the robot-loving folk here. I just hope the CPU can be salvaged. And Jack's terrifying look backward hardly bodes well for this mission. Reynard has Annie's back, I hope it's enough.
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Post by drakebloodiv on Apr 9, 2010 14:35:07 GMT
Man, Jack has just gotten seriously intense.
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Post by nikita on Apr 9, 2010 14:35:17 GMT
Annie would probably like "The Second Renaissance" from Animatrix.
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Mar
New Member
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Post by Mar on Apr 9, 2010 15:01:58 GMT
Bravo, Jack! You've just crossed the line into sadism, and alienated Annie both <i>and</i> the viewers in one fell swoop! Also I doubt Annie would enjoy watching her own kind get literally ripped to pieces and do stupid things. Or all those robots getting beaten to death, for that matter.
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Post by Mishmash on Apr 9, 2010 15:21:15 GMT
This page is really evocative. Everything about it is perfect... I really hope Annie and Rey salvage that robot, maybe Kat will be able to fix him. After all, look at the beating Robot (S13) took, and he is still around.
Also, drawing Jack with eyes like Zimmy just drove home how disturbed he has become. I am scared.
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Post by the bandit on Apr 9, 2010 15:31:45 GMT
Whistle dilemma: Solved! ...for one thing, I don't think that Jack's treatment of Annie so far is a promising beginning to a romantic relationship.... Not according to the rules of Game. This page is really evocative. Everything about it is perfect... +1 The comic relief, the flashlight trails, you actually feel the impact, Panel 7 ... it's amazing! Good one, Tom!
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Post by shouqi on Apr 9, 2010 15:35:53 GMT
This one changes things. He's been manic, sure, but not violent. It's a scene that reminded me of Romeo and Juliet, act 3: it's a climatic scene in its own way.
It's also out of an established character. He fixed one of the LC robots simply because he could, and possibly because they'd be useful later. Just smashing a robot without regard is a step outside of what has been established, and is a sign of the encroaching etheric spider.
It's going to be interesting to see what Tom has in store for the next few comics. Hopefully we'll see some resolution here.
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optern
Junior Member
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Post by optern on Apr 9, 2010 16:12:53 GMT
... M-murder!!!
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Post by Mylian on Apr 9, 2010 17:50:15 GMT
Personally I think that was pretty awesome. I mean, Jack must have had to be pretty strong to take that guy down like he did, with one hit too. Alternatively, that robot was made out of cardboard (or at least, out of aluminium). Still, even with a weak structure, Jack appears to be wielding a piece of rebar. To whip something that thin and light with a crushing force is impressive.
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Post by snarkamedes on Apr 9, 2010 18:12:29 GMT
All work and no play has made jack a naughty boy. No doubt he's read up on the court's take on Annie/Reynard (including what the faculty would prefer to do to Rey) and is planning on using one or both of them as the fall guy. "It wasn't me sir! It was the evil fox spirit who's killed so many here at the court in the past!"
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Post by centzontotochtin on Apr 9, 2010 18:14:17 GMT
To be honest, I was kind of hoping for something like this to happen (I'm a Bad Person, I know), but I wasn't sure Tom would go through with it. This jarring act of violence shows us that Jack, while affable, is still messed up. Also it speaks volumes of how dedicated to the story Tom is that he'd show that one of his most popular, charismatic characters isn't just crazy awesome, but also just crazy.
Way to go, Tom.
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Post by the bandit on Apr 9, 2010 18:19:20 GMT
No doubt he's read up on the court's take on Annie/Reynard (including what the faculty would prefer to do to Rey) and is planning on using one or both of them as the fall guy. eightyfour said about the same thing. I forgot to mention in my first post that I think this is a very reasonable speculation. EDIT: Welcome to the forum, by the way.
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Post by Afalstein on Apr 9, 2010 18:30:15 GMT
Shoulda gone with Annie's. "We have antennas. We are clearly robots" ploy. Maybe on the next one.
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Post by Ulysses on Apr 9, 2010 19:05:43 GMT
That Securitybot was only 2 days away from retirement, too.
It's less that he's gone crazy, more that he's lost all faculty for empathy, although I won't deny that his actions are desperate and quite manic. He's on a mission to save himself, and God help anyone who stands in his way. If Jack doesn't find anything in the power station to help him, that's when the real fireworks are going to start flying. He'd have to hunt down Zimmy, although I get the feeling that she's avoiding him. Not that that makes sense, she's only got Gamma's assertion that no one else was there to go on, but nevertheless I just have a feeling.
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Post by sebastian on Apr 9, 2010 19:13:19 GMT
Bravo, Jack! You've just crossed the line into sadism, and alienated Annie both <i>and</i> the viewers in one fell swoop! Also I doubt Annie would enjoy watching her own kind get literally ripped to pieces and do stupid things. Or all those robots getting beaten to death, for that matter. Of course if Annie just said from the first moment that the power station have nothing to do with Jack's condition the poor robot would still be whole. She is almost as responsible as Jack for what happened, if not more, because at least he have the justification of his mental condition. Honestly I still don't understand why she didn't said something to him, maybe not something direct like, "you have an etheric spider on your head" but something and just choose to follow him in this wild goose chase. Edit: and the robot will be fine, all he need is a new body for his chip. Beside we are not even sure if the chip is actually in the head or somewhere else.
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Post by Jiminiminy on Apr 9, 2010 19:22:22 GMT
Before other things, I would like to repost some things that the /co/mrades said earlier today regarding the page. "I think that Jack is more anti-hero than villain. And I think that this attack reflects less on his morals than it does on his ideology. After all, "they're just robots." He hasn't seen the robot society like Annie and Kat have. Christ, most of his robot exposure is probably Boxbot. Who, as we all know, is terrible." And in response. "This. Jack has been deliberately kept on the 'outside' of the loop. He knows that magic exists, and there's some weird stuff going on, but his picture is woefully incomplete. He probably DOES just think of the robots as things. A bit eccentric in their old age... but you could say the same thing about an car. While an old car may have a 'personality,' it exists solely int he eye of the beholder who anthropomorphizing it. The car is still a thing, not a person. Concepts like "kindness" and "mercy" don't apply to things... and not showing kindness and mercy to a car doesn't make you evil, or a bad guy.
If Jack is ignorant... well she's conspired to keep him so. Annie bears part of the responsibility for the results of that ignorance. (Lord knows she's been content to sit by and do nothing while he's been eaten away inside by whatever plagues him, as long as it didn't cause him to do anythign nasty where she had to see. Some highly selective moral concern there.)" Morning coffee art note: I like the flashlight trails in the first two panels. Reminded me of that thing Picasso did with the light pen, really. Alternatively, that robot was made out of cardboard (or at least, out of aluminium). Still, even with a weak structure, Jack appears to be wielding a piece of rebar. To whip something that thin and light with a crushing force is impressive. It looks to be about an inch thick at least, and I suppose leverage would help the speed a fair bit. I don't doubt that he would be able to crush it, but in one blow is pretty fantastic. I suppose he's been working out, or maybe the spider has dulled or eliminated personal restraints. Bravo, Jack! You've just crossed the line into sadism, and alienated Annie both <i>and</i> the viewers in one fell swoop! To be honest, I was kind of hoping for something like this to happen (I'm a Bad Person, I know), but I wasn't sure Tom would go through with it. This jarring act of violence shows us that Jack, while affable, is still messed up. Also it speaks volumes of how dedicated to the story Tom is that he'd show that one of his most popular, charismatic characters isn't just crazy awesome, but also just crazy. Back in Residential, we saw that Jack is capable and willing of both understanding and aiding the robots. This is really important now, as it shows that, even affected as he was back then, he was capable of these things, and that he is not ignorant about robots (though not nearly as knowledgeable as Annie and Kat), and that the present attack was based on disregard as opposed to ignorance. He understands them and knows about them, but just doesn't care. Strictly speaking, that is Psychopathy. I still think he's awesome though.
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Post by hal9000 on Apr 9, 2010 19:46:17 GMT
How could anyone seriously think that a blow strong enough to crush a metal box isn't going to also be strong enough to break a little silicon chip? I think Jack-lovers are trying to diminish the impact (no pun intended) of the horrible actions that their favorite character is taking in order to justify still seeing him as some sort of anti-hero. Confirmative bias is a powerful, terrible thing. Since we're making up names for people we don't like now, what should we call you, exactly? Also, what reason would he have to suspect the robots were something more than just automatons (albeit automatons with quirky UI)? He wasn't there when Kat and Annie made the discovery about the robot shrine, or when they went to robot 'society' to watch the archival footage, or even when they rescued robot from S13. He might have some practical experience fixing or modifying robots, but that doesn't imply he has any knowledge of how they were constructed or whether they have souls.
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four
New Member
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Post by four on Apr 9, 2010 20:08:13 GMT
*BAP*
What the hell, Jack? You were starting to seem human, and you go and smash a copbot! I'm beginning to wonder whether your problems started with the spider in the first place or not...
Now I'm really waiting to see what happens if he ever catches sight of Zimmy.
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Post by wynne on Apr 9, 2010 20:25:05 GMT
Um, hal, not to fan the flames, but when did Casey make up a name for people he doesn't like in that quote? And I think we can assume Jack knows that the robots aren't mere automatons based on his actions during the residential, when he treats the laser cows affectionately and calls one "girl," as has already been pointed out. On the page, though, I think we can safely say Jack is no longer in control of himself. Given the competency of other court robots with similar posts, the whole smashing thing really wasn't necessary.
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