Hue/Saturation

If Lemon were actually GOOD at her job, I could forgive a lot of annoyance. Yay helping Bubbles, for example.

Matt Grayson

Given her history, I highly doubt Bubs would fight unless absolutly neccessary, and given that she's a highly advanced military bot, and her Armor (if shes wearing it at the time) there would be little that could match her.

Eric Pike

I had actually been having a mild one yesterday before this strip ran, due to doing something exceptionally emotionally stressful. I handle it and pull out of it *much* easier than I used to, so I guess the bright side is it can get better. Solidarity, dissy folks.

Clifton Royston

I am extraordinarily impressed by your actually researching the number of fruit cultivars, and I want to see this as an illustrated fanfic.

Clifton Royston

Argh, “helpers” like Lemon drive me nuts - they make the helping about them. Beeps is right on point without realising it - the best help.

James Dore

That's a bit of an unkind framing. Consider that she's excited to be able to help, to be able to useful in a capacity in which she basically just got entirely brushed off. She could definitely be more composed and tactful in this scenario, but framing her excitement as being centered around Roko's suffering is kind of harsh.

Dev

And May, you’re probably as tall as Elliot now. Please do not get into a fight with him. He has a history of unintentional robot damage. For that matter, I don’t think one CAN get into a fight with Bubbles. She can avoid you. She can disable you. But fight? Only if she’s playing.

Matt Grayson

I know I'm better in a immediate crisis than in long-term management.

Beeps, you're being the leader you didn't think you were.

OldGoat

1) I just love seeing May so happy! And for flat out calling Roko a friend; I know she sometimes has trouble admitting to liking someone. 2) Ahhhh Roko! :( I'm so proud of Beeps for swinging in like that and handling it so smoothly. She truly is the ideas person ;) 3) LEMON!!!

Green

Lemon already worked with Roko before and after her transition to new body, and she clearly stated that there is no magic pill for that.

Evgeniy Semyonov

BEEPS 2020

Brian

Roku was very integrated with her old body. She hasn't been adjusting well to the change

tamtheotter

I like Lemon, but right now her behavior and attitude call to mind this quote by (I believe) Thoreau: If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.

Joseph Bonnar

That's true, but there are people for whom being hugged during a dissociative episode would only make things worse. Probably safest way to help is the "bad trip" help procedure (if professional help is not available, of course): make sure that person is put in the safest (for them) environment, with calm but not dim lighting, no (or very calm) background music, with someone near talking about something unimportant but pleasant, and for tactile sensations something small and fuzzy helps really well, (like plush toy or even a towel). I understand that this is an overly serious answer to your comment, but this knowledge really helped some people I know.

Evgeniy Semyonov

Beeps is doing great. I'm still confused

Bagge

Lemon is way too excited that Roko is suffering.

Lisa

Im half expecting lemon to pop open a hatch on Roko's ass, flip a switch and apologize about forgetting to take her new body out of Demo mode.

William Davy

Those Fruit (And Vegetable*) Sisters are just a little bit off somehow! It's because they tried to literal copy-clone them instead of generating a unique random seed from the Ellicot-Chatham quantum core! I wrote a whole headcanon thing called Saving Roko about this! *(there are 4097 of them and only 2000 fruits and named fruit cultivars)

Shane Wegner

May doesn't know Roko's history, plus she is allowed since she is riding pretty high from getting a new body.

Shawn K. Younkin

NEW ass

Minzoku Bokumetsu

It upsets me that May is so oblivious to Roko’s emotional state after everything Roko has tried to do for her :(

JD

The Bodyhub may have in-house equipment for fine-tuning an AI's perceived experience in driving their body. Lemon might see this as a common product use issue in the business, which is what she was trying to get at with May when she kept asking how she felt.

Czarzhan

If I could see into the future, I'd pick the winning lotto numbers. Not to get rich. I'd pick 'em every time, put the ticket in an envelope, mail it to the lottery redemption address. No return address; postmarked the day of the drawing, so they knew it was sent before the numbers were drawn. Do that every drawing for two or three weeks. See what happens.

Adam Friedlander

And Leon M., I mean Noel M. (Too obscure?)

Todd Ellner

The deliberate off-register to show she really isn't "with" her body is subtle and disturbing.

Sleepy John

Answer: Bubbles.

Matt Grayson

Poor Roko. I think anyone who has had a tough time with mental health issues could find themselves wanting to give Roko a big hug right now.

Anne Welborn

This legitimately hurts my eyes a little bit - weird effect

Roger Judd

"Treat yourself to the ass you deserve", right?

Dean Smith

LOL, they're all too young to get that joke?

Erin Halfelven at BigCloset

Needs degaussing :(

Mitchel Huffa

100% agree!

Andrew Mitchell

I disliked Roko so very much as a cop, and when she saw the systemic problems and left, she became one of my favorite characters, and it is hurting me to see her suffering as if I am seeing an actual friend suffer, and I guess what I am saying is Jeph DAMN you are an amazing storyteller.

Creepy Cat Lady

Honestly, I know Lemon is sort of a joke character but this might be a point where she can make a positive impact on the story. It's literally her job to help with body change issues (robot dysphoria), and Roko could really use some actually professional help. I don't think she's thought to seek therapy, yet. Maybe this will prompt her to.

MiaKitty

This would make sense, actually. Yay is concerned about her, afterall.

MiaKitty

hope Roko is ok. hurts to watch.

Joe

This reminded me of that line from Return of the Jedi: “Increase forward fire batteries!” “Toooo laaaaate!”

Matthew Van Gangelen

Dissociation sucks, but I suspect you knew that. (I recently unwittingly described perfectly having a depersonalization episode to my therapist, ha ha wheee)

R. Francis Smith

BEEPS IS PROMOTED TO PRESIDENT

Anyone else ever had the thought that if they could see a day into the future, they'd totally be posting cryptic comments on QC posts hinting at the next day's strip?

She's gotten more competent now that the stress of actually being in charge is off her shoulders.

C-Cubed

If you are having a PTSD episode triggered by medical trauma, a hospital is the last place you’d want to be.

Kristina Preusker

I love Lemon, Melon, Nelom, Lonem, and the rest of their (as yet unseen) family!

Douglas E. Smith

Wow. Beeps handled that perfectly. I'm honestly quite shocked.

JD

If you're gonna have a heart attack, there's no better place to do it than at a hospital. Similarly, I suspect the best place for an AI to be when having a dissociative episode is a body shop.

Barry Callahan

Psychological, but there could be some mechanical undertones we don't know of.

Shawn K. Younkin

I think what gets me about May rn is that she has the identical makeover with a new body, but that's self-image for you. Meanwhile Roko: MY BUTT

SpookyPenguin

Good on those sentient cacti to help Beeps take care of Roko.

Will Weaver

Guess: Yay is monitoring the situation (by logging into bodyhub's camera) and will make an appearance presently, much to Beep's shock.

Michael Boettger

Agreed. Her text in the text bubbles are slanted, too.

Teacup

Oof, this is a huge mood... it sucks to be unable to celebrate good stuff because your brain is being dumb

emmavoid

Behind the ear? Wait no that'll turn her into a marble

Pejo

Headcanon: That's Roko hearing the muffled echo of Beeps's voice.

Pejo

Poor Roko... :( I know that feeling.

Forgettable

No good deed goes unpunished

Jeph you left some text hidden in the cacti

Trust in the Lemon!!!

Shawn K. Younkin

I hope Lemon has a paperclip handy. Give Roko a reset

Michael Boettger

Well good on May for wanting Roko to join in, but I think even if she had seen what Roko was going through, and insisted on bringing her along, that her continued presence was just going to be making things worse. Right now she's triggering Roko unintentionally and the only way to fix that is to leave.

BioYuGi

Poor Roko 🙁

Lord Crusade

Too late 😂😂😂💓💓💓

doorbender

oh babe 😔 is it mechanical or psychological? I worry, Roko! I just worry!

Boots McGoot

Oh, I actually love the colour shift... Thing, you're doing to represent her dissociative episodes. It's a really good visual explanation of what it feels like to be experiencing your own body from a detached perspective

That’s brilliant using color misalignment as a visual indicator for a dysphoric episode.

orangejuicenut

lemon.......

Tamara Macadam