Payload

As a trans woman on hormones for two years, I relate to that last panel. Both characters.

I used to have a friend who liked puns like that. He's dead now.

Chris Crowther

So you think we should all be sent to the puniteniary?

Mike

lol, this entire comic was a setup for that pun, wasn't it. :p

Daryl Sawyer

Masilisk is good, I could go with that one.

tl;dr.

Paul Grodt

Masilisk. Or Mayko (although that's something from the Last Airbender universe?).

Evgeniy Semyonov

Does it make me a bad person that I want her to decide to go back to a maid outfit? Prolly. Don't care.

Paul Grodt

For some reason I really want these two to go to a Punk or Metal concert together. Even though it would probably end with May's head and various other appendages coming off, I think they'd enjoy it.

Somebody Else

May is truly a monster and belongs in prison for that pun...and so do half you, looking over the comments.

Chris Crowther

She probably wants to make the breast of a bad situation.

Andrew Diseker

Basilmay? Finding a good name for this ship ain't as easy as the Six Pint....

The agonized scream you just heard was me, realizing that we're on the two day comic hiatus... And I'm already suffering MayRokk withdrawal!

Random Access Mammaries?

Dolan

Is it fair to say that one goal of this arc seems to be to get people to think more about prison and justice reform, even while it's also to tell a good story? My comment is based on that premise--that the author is trying to get people who might not be thinking much about these issues to be more aware and active in it. In real life, it's important to do this just because it's right, as @Chuck Dee pointed out. But if you want to use a fictional story as a tool for that, you want to create a situation that highlights the injustice of the situation--usually by showing a character's agency or attempts to improve their lot being thwarted by an unjust system. For example, in Les Miserables, this is why we follow Jean Valjean, rather than others who might have taken the bishop's gift and kept stealing--not because only he deserves mercy, but because it's easier to see injustice to a group when we have a single person who is being thwarted despite their efforts. My comments are not based on whether May deserves everything that's happened or not. My comments are based on the premise that because of the pre-existing themes and the way that May's arc has gone so far, I don't think is succeeding in delivering that message as strongly as it could. And I commented not because I think he's wrong or that May should go through everything she is, but because I think that this could be a really good arc that really gets people thinking about new issues they might not have considered before. (That said, based on him chiming in earlier, it sounds like he plans to work more into this arc. It's also possible that I'm wrong and this arc is more meant to reinforce what people already believe than to move people who aren't as active in it.)

Elizabeth Sullivan-Burton

a) it's a web comic. re-fawkin-lax. b) she's paid her debt to society - whether or not she shows what _you_ feel is the appropriate amount of remorse or the oh-so-correct 'proper attitude'. get over your own self-righteousness for a moment & breathe.

Joe

Hmm... If she were to be transferred into an armored combat vehicle, say an Abrams, would that be "Tanks for the Mammories?" (I'll go quietly now, occifer Raccoon.)

Not in the slightest.

Matt Grayson

So she wants a chassis with more mammory?

Summer Sudbrink

If I was an AI, that would pretty much be the ultimate existence. (Although to be honest, I’m more of a B-52.)

Populuxe

The text of your comment is inconsistent with the existence of your comment.

Jonathan

@Diptych - This is one of the things that's missed too many times today; that we need to do right because it's right, not because the other person deserves for us to do right.

Chuck Dee

It was a joke. Based on the fact that she wanted a new chassis, or 'housing'. Yes, I realize the rest of it.

Chuck Dee

If he took it into account, though, it means that you were entirely right that it needed taking into account. You were supposed to be feeling exactly what you did. That means that the comic is working right and that you are reading right.

That's fair! I figured as soon as I said something I'd be eating my words on something preplanned. :)

Elizabeth Sullivan-Burton

I think you should wait and see what tomorrow's comic is like.

Jeph Jacques

Fucking hell people, it's a comic. Relax, enjoy, and stop beating up on the artist because he doesn't keep exactly to your personal pet peeves.

Ted Van Roekel

I actually agree with you. But from a *character arc* perspective, this is creating a disjoint between the way other character's mistakes have been treated and how this character's mistakes have been treated, and IMO, it makes the arc have less punch. And if you want to inspire people who maybe haven't thought about it to get active in a particular issue, you probably WANT that character arc to have as much punch as possible. I personally think the best tweak would be if we were shown in some way that Robot Jail just made May angry and bitter and more likely to act out rather than helping her not make the same mistakes in the future. (Maybe a flashback or the like?) That could then contrast with Feye and Sam who were, fundamentally, lucky that they didn't really get any super-lasting consequences from their actions. Edit: Obviously I'm just one reader but part of the reason I said something was that I think this arc has a lot of potential TO raise awareness about an important and complex issue and I don't think it's quite working yet.

Elizabeth Sullivan-Burton

I'd say it doesn't need to. We don't need to reform the justice system because convicts are actually nice people - we need to reform the justice system because it's the right thing to do.

Diptych

I really don’t feel like the May arc is working right now, and I’d like to see it developed a bit more. At the moment, it feels like it’s clashing badly with the existing established themes. Personal responsibility has been a big deal throughout this story. Think about the Faye alcoholism arc—Faye starts to slide into her addiction, gets fired, and as a result, ends up having to work a crappy job. Or more recently, Sam’s arc with the power tools. She uses them irresponsibly, and as a result, she isn’t allowed to use them for a while. In both cases, the characters are shown needing to own up to their mistakes and start trying to fix them. Here’s the problem. Let’s think about plausible consequences. Faye drinking on the job, what’s the worst that could happen? Maybe she burns herself or she mouths off too harshly at a customer and they don’t come back. That’s not good, but it’s comparatively trivial. Sam messing around actually could have been much more serious—she could have been badly hurt and she’s lucky she just lost a nail. May tried to steal $750 million to buy a fighter jet on the black market. Let’s think through that. First of all, she stole a massive amount of money from somewhere. Second, she was going to pay that money to buy a black market fighter jet, meaning that the money was likely going to fund groups doing illegal activity and almost certainly involved in violence and more. Third, if she’d actually gotten the fighter jet body, she could have caused a massive international incident by flying an unauthorized jet around, possibly gotten people killed if she crashed it or if they shot her down. And so far as has been shown, she did it because she wanted to, and without mitigating circumstances like addiction (in Faye’s case) or youth (in Sam’s case). So far, she’s been shown regretting being caught and regretting the results, but she hasn’t shown any real remorse or regret for what she did. Nor has she really been shown working to become a better person who wouldn’t do that sort of thing. As a result, a lot of her arc is falling flat for me because it comes off as “I don’t like the results of what I did so the consequences themselves are wrong.” I think this could work—for example, it could show that the prison system often makes people angry and maybe fearful of being caught, but often doesn’t address or even worsens the behaviors that got them into this mess in the first place. It could also do more to show that the consequences are applied even to people who committed a crime out of desperation or need. It could also work if it shows her trying to really address the behaviors that caused her to commit the crime, and still having trouble making headway because of the mark on her record. But at the moment, I just don’t think her character arc is doing a great job of supporting the social commentary.

Elizabeth Sullivan-Burton

It's commentary on everything really - the difficulty in finding employment if you have a record, the difficulty in accessing healthcare, insurance and other necessities and, most of all, the fact that it becomes a 'Mark of Cain', impacting on the rest of your life no matter how long ago it was and how totally reformed you are now.

Ben Russell-Gough

I don't think that would work. It's quite possible that someone said: "Hey, didja hear about the latest con they let out? She was trying to embezzle money to get transferred into her own fighter jet body! Crazy, huh?" However, there's no automatic cause why she should have associated that with May.

Ben Russell-Gough

Hmm... is this commentary on ex-con 'housing'? ;-)

Chuck Dee

Office gossip?

Bagge

CAMB sounds like a type of ordnance that May would add to her payload. "Hey, load me up with some AMRAAMs, CBU55, and add a couple of CAMB too!"

Evgeniy Semyonov

That joke was incendiary!

Evgeniy Semyonov

Combine that with 'Constable of Common Sense' and I think that she'll unite the sensible end of the community behind her!

Ben Russell-Gough

Roko suddenly starts the local chapter of the Pun Police

MikeT

Maybe the cops get a briefing on every AI released from jail in their area?

Am Queue

Pretty sure that's how Spookypants came about in the first place.

Ting

Maybe when they raided the garage she did a full check?

Kevin Symonds

It suddenly occurs to me that Roko knows the details of May's case. Why should she know this unless she was briefed on her, likely at the time of her release? I'm starting to think that May got higher up the criminal threat ladder than she realised!

Ben Russell-Gough

SHIP SIGHTED AHEAD, CAPTAIN!

orange slice

Just so you know, Roko, this is why May's friends only tolerate her in short bursts (with the exception of Dale, who I think has an 'older brother' sense of responsibility towards her).

Ben Russell-Gough

Jeef you are going to make me ship them and I will both hate and love you for it.

Stoodmuffin

I’m really loving the dynamic developing between May and Roko in the recent comics!

Abhimat Gautam

I don't think she's pretending. See also her time as an AR hologram, and her first meeting with Marigold.

Diptych

Don't listen to them, May. Im proud of that joke

Dylan T

I know some HUMANS who should go to Robot Jail for their puns.

Churchill (formerly TeaBear)

The year isn't over.

Jason Zions

There’s an entire field of ordnance jokes for her to make.

Chris Crowther

...i liked that joke. CAMB

jeff fearnow

That one really wasn't that bad, but it seems a tad contrived. Perhaps May's humor algorithm determined that if she pretended to want a chassis with bigger breasts Roko would question this choice after her previously stated preference and walk into the joke.

Brent Catherman

May wanted to be a fighter jet?!? How could I have forgotten that?

Andrew Mitchell

You know what I'm just gonna go ahead and ship ALL the robots not already in relationships with all of the other ones (except Pintsize). I just wanna throw Roko, May, Momo, Winslow, Spookybot, Melon, and Gary into one big sexy polycule and see what happens

Fart Captor

Yep, May's a boob gal.

Diptych

Also, Yay! May is making new friends!

Grace Kieser

Jeph should go to AI jail for that pun!

Grace Kieser

Cue "bomb rack" May fanart in 3...2...1...

Nobilis Reed (personal)

Heh, that's fair.

Bagge

Bubbles is in a multi million dollar military chassis, and still requires a specialized chemical solution under near laboratory conditions to slowly grow her hair overnight. May is in the cheapest used-and-disposed-of chassis Robot Jail could find. A single inch of Bubbles's hair probably costs more than May's entire body

gatherer818

The handling's where they get you.

Jamison Town

Robot jail isn't severe enough punishment for that joke.

drone r0m-3

I feel like Pintsize would try to help with that. She wakes up to find two grenades taped to her chest.

JPMK! {verb}

Where in the building up a shipping Do breast jokes & puns come into play?

Miyaa

Ah, finally: I've been punning all day today, and now one comes my way! Yay!

BobC

That or working for an advocacy group, like the ACLU or the AI equivalent of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Populuxe

Panel 4 wins the internet.

Tim Eldred

most painful QC pun of 2018, right there

Matt

Can't she just, I don't know, grow them? If Bubbles can change her hairstyle at will, why is this different?

Zach Elwyn

Roko should look into becoming a public defender.

Shawn K. Younkin

Bwhahahahahahah!!!

Shawn K. Younkin