Spotless

Or, she might find someone who would be thrilled to trade. “New lamps for old! New lamps for old!“

Holly Nelson

I would think that the newer models have both more realistic <i>and</i> more durable skin.

awgiedawgie

Technically, her original butt is still hers, wherever it is. And she (or rather Arthur) paid $75 for a new one. So, as if she weren't already weird enough, she is also unique in that she has two butts.

awgiedawgie

What butt? I realized that my comment needed me to link to the page I was referring to. Here it is: <a href="https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3487" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3487</a>

Not her own butt, apparently

Bagge

Yeah, but what is?

awgiedawgie

I get the feeling that Melon has older-model skin, which doesn't feel as realistic, but it's probably more durable.

Some Ed

Having a sense of dissociation can help. The body isn't you... and the part of you that's compelled to scratch until the you is visible isn't part of that body, so it isn't actually a thing that physically exists, so physical damage isn't done.

Some Ed

That, and we are seeing the ones who for some reason want to be around us, and who we automatically fit into categories devised for sorting humans. That's not really a weird human, it's a perfectly ordinary AI trying to fit into a weird situation. AIs who hang out almost entirely with AIs probably seem, not entertainingly weird, but just profoundly different. Come to think of it, you can see that happening with Spookybot. They are getting interested in humans and scaling part of themselves down to where they can interact with humans, and as a result are becoming slightly comic.

Microwaves are not Melon-safe

Bagge

I'm sure her old chassis model is available on eBay....

Matt Grayson

“and it turns out she forgot to bring her dermal sensitivity back to the default setting after the bakery! And she’s just surprised by the mildness of the feeling of water!” /among the many excuses my brain is making to prevent me from tearing up about dysmorphia 😢

This whole thing made me think back to when Marigold got that new chassis for Momo. Obviously it was a very different scenario in that Momo *wanted* the new body, but I have to imagine she went through similar things. Especially given the sheer difference in scale between her old and new bodies.

Jono Hayward

oh no

Brian

It might also be a consequence of intelligence which is similar to us but not quite the same. AI seem to have a similar emotional spectrum to humans, probably because of the computer scientists that created them, but their thought processes aren't necessarily a 1:1 analogue.

Eric Lusby

it's a sign of how good you are at the story thing, Jeph, how down this one makes me feel. I'm still at time surprised by my own level of investment in the characters. and there's always been something I really liked about Roko.

Joe

Really, a LOT of the AIs seem to be ... struggling (or, alternatively, seem to be, to us, “entertainingly weird”) - would this perhaps even be an inevitable side effect of the “singularity” (I dislike the name, perhaps even the concept), I wonder?

Ísabel Pirsic

Poor Roko. -_-

Kuragari

If the chassis were defective, yes. But that's not the problem here.

awgiedawgie

And she just came home from working at the bakery, so her face likely had more than just a little that needed to be washed off. When I worked at McDonalds, the first thing I'd do when I got home was jump in the shower.

awgiedawgie

True, but one shower a day would do for that. Or a spritz of oven cleaner and a paper towel. The good news is that if Melon can use oven cleaner, Roku is unlikely to hurt herself by repeated washing even if she scrubs hard.

She may not have oils, but the world does. A washup every day would keep her from growing, like, lichen or something,

Holly Nelson

Fuck I'm pretty much crying, this doesn't so much hit close to home as it does hit my home in the balls.

Griffon

I was wondering why a robot would have to wash her face at all. They wouldn't have skin oils, and it would make sense to give them an integument that didn't smudge easily. Now we know. I don't identify with my face particularly, but occasionally I look at my hands and think "Jesus! What happened?" It would be rough to feel that way when young.

I have this terrible feeling she got sourdough spores in her skin. stupid advanced technology

GragSmash

Shades of *that* Poltergeist scene.

Clifton Royston

It's not always about what you prefer. I think that if Jeph were required to write a formulaic comic which repeats the same motifs again &amp; again, he might become bored quite rapidly, which would have a potentially destructive impact on the comic.

Michael Voorhis

Hey, it’s a new chassis, there should be a warranty... “Melon Laws” should apply at the very least.

Way to go to the weekend on such a low note. **SARCASM** *Old man rant mode on* I preferred when cliffhangers in QC were all about kisses and reactions to them. These were simpler, merrier days, when robots were small and cute, and any dialogue at any moment could turn into an obscure indie music reference fest. *Old man rant mode off* **SARCASM OFF**

Evgeniy Semyonov

Ooommff...that's uncomfortable.

CalmWeaver27

Ok. So the thing im worried about here is we know it's not difficult to for AIs to peel off that layer of artificial skin. This is gonna be the May thing all over again.

Dylan T

Oh boy, looks like QC is about to take a turn for the serious again. It's been a while.

Cody Renton

It's worse. It's not "like" she's experiencing it. She is. Elliot and Melon better get in there before she hurts herself.

The Secret Sponsor

it's like she's experiencing body dysphoria. this is awful :(

JD

:-(

Bagge

I never expected to care about Roko this much but i guess that’s Jeph’s MO

Leona

Roko … :(

Erin Hartshorn

This fucked me up

Olivier Laroche

Go with your gut, Elliot. Yes, you should go check on her.

awgiedawgie

Best guess says "no". I can relate to seeing a face in the mirror that looks sort of like it used to, but not quite. It looks similar enough that other people hardly notice, but I see every little difference. I had to accept that it was still me, and there wasn't anything I could do about the changes. But I understand that for many people it's not as simple as it was for me. And of course, for Roko, it's her whole body that doesn't quite feel like herself, so seeing the face in the mirror is just the icing on the cake.

awgiedawgie

She's gonna be visiting Faye and Bubbles at this rate...

allanfranta

:(

Alcaria Swain

Oh no... poor roko

Kyle Jenkins

I've kinda been waiting for that.

Buck Caldwell

I would love to see Roko and Claire have a discussion. While it's obviously under extremely different circumstances, Claire can relate to her not feeling comfortable in her own body.

JD

Ah I know that feeling well, it's just off enough that you can't ignore it, you can spend days focusing on a compulsion like that, pick or scrub away at the body until you draw blood, gotta imagine it's worse when your entire sense of self comes into question.

Oh, noes! Poor Roko...

Andrew Mitchell

Aww, Roko...

Mordaeus

Looks like someone with OCD repeatedly scrubbing because they can't feel clean.

Terry Parry

Aw, Roko… D:

Mike de Jong

Melon... no.

drone r0m-3

what is she *doing*

Umm, is she doing OK?

Terry Parry