I think after his conversation with Lucas, a lot of big questions started rattling around his CPU. It took time for him to realize he didnt necessarily need to follow the master’s orders to live a life. Now his problem is that the master has a kill switch on him. I have a feeling that if that kill switch got bypassed or disabled… well he would just immediately be his own robot – not following what the master wants him to do, but not necessarily a good guy either. Just a powerful and intelligent robot with an axe to grind… Read more »
Sounds like a job for Scott. Maybe he could bypass the killswitch.
If the killswitch is deactivated the master can’t extord him to do stuff for him anymore.
At first I was trying recall what conversation Lucas had with him, but then I went back and reread that issue. Hard to believe that was almost FOUR YEARS AGO. Then again, I’ve been reading since year 1 of 1.0, so I guess I’m invested at this point.
I don’t believe its possible to be intelligent and not have feelings. Even Star Trek had to do away with that concept for Vulcans. If you dont have feeling you cant like/dislike doing things. You can’t want something.
David K.
4 years ago
Ethan is being surprisingly insightful here.
Kaitensatsuma
4 years ago
I’m surprised he didn’t throw a “Meatbag” in there.
Richard II Weatherfield
4 years ago
And so it begins.
Jsn
4 years ago
Not sure where this is headed, but I’m hooked, and want more. Thanks @ Tim for your awesome writing and artistic talents. Thank you for sharing them with us.
Inzeen
4 years ago
Decently writen, as most of this series is. Bit I feel this is a bit of a heel-face turn for Zeke, seeing as how his persona was portrayed in earlier panels. Why does he let Ethan get this close, all of a sudden? This is some real deep talking, out of left field. Feels a bit forced.
And that’s a bit sad, ‘cos I think this is the best IP this site has.
They are not fighting currently, and they now have a few common experiences to talk through. Reminds me a bit of the movie “Enemy Mine” though it has been years since I’ve seen it.
Long Time Lurker
4 years ago
The contrast between the robot who doesn’t wasn’t to die and the human who can’t stay dead is really interesting.
I just had a crazy, wild thought. Probably dumb, too.
When Ethan dies, he respawns. Not naked, but fully clothed, with all his tools, gadgets, etc. Even when all those things are destroyed – like when he blew himself up, when they went up against that kid with the power glove.
What controls that? Skin to skin contact? Close proximity? An internal sense of ‘self’?
I guess, my question is… if Ethan’s, say, grappling with Zeke, and Zeke explodes, killing Ethan and himself… when Ethan respawns, does Zeke do so, too?
I’d assume it would be anything that fits on a character sheet or equipment screen. Thus, generally that wouldn’t include “robot grabbing onto you”. For example, it doesn’t seem to include weapons stabbing him in that calcuation, and presumably also wouldn’t include a net covering him… but we’d have to see.
How small is Zeke’s core CPU? If Ethan had something in his pocket or even in a small bag he was wearing, I’d buy it respawning with him. Wouldn’t want Ethan losing his house keys or driver’s license if he exploded in a fight, after all.
The problem, of course, is that a newly respawned Zeke would still be programmed to explode in 24 more hours.
In X-COM, you can actually put your fellow soldier or an alien into your bag.
FITCamaro
4 years ago
Cmon Zeke ol’ buddy…
Dodgy
4 years ago
Weebmaster has to sleep, doesn’t he? Just take the switch away from him and torture him until he gives up the codes. Oh and ofcourse videotape the torture so you can sell it on the darkweb later for some extra cash.
If he had two brain cells to run together, he’d have Zeke deactivated when he slept.
Seeing as we already have seen Zeke activated, I’m guessing that’s just standard procedure.
fatheaded
4 years ago
Dead Clones in Jars under the city… Reminds me of the Movie “The Prestige”
Twilight Faze
4 years ago
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease let this be foreshadowing of Zeke’s “rescue.” I want to see him hand the Master’s ass to him on a silver platter.
And be one of the heroes again. That’d be swell too.
Crestlinger
4 years ago
Words to live by for more than should have to.
John
4 years ago
That is very interesting. I wonder if scott can figure out a way to give him a third option? Imagine if scott cracked the code and could also send him that survival code? possibilities…
Completely plausible. After all, Weebmaster seems to be transmitting the signal via a small handheld device, so the signal it sends can potentially be duplicated.
Check
4 years ago
Well there’s also a crucial flaw in Ethan’s “what happens after he wins” argument: the odds are VERY stacked against that plan’s success. Yeah, optimistically he might beat Analog and D-Pad, but what happens when he gets bumped up the wanted list? When Captain Prime, Fireside, or Voltigo put him in their sights? When the city decides that he’s becoming too inconvenient to ignore? Forget conquering the world and convincing the inhabitants to embrace (neo-)Luddism, I’d be shocked if he could successfully put a single state at his mercy. To put it a little more concisely: “What happens to you… Read more »
I feel the brevity isn’t a flaw. If you take any argument to it’s best conclusion, however improbable, and you find the result to be unsatisfying or undesirable, then there is no need to discuss where the infinite number of failures may land.
The guy here is shown to be the usual insane villain archetype . His plan has so many potential downfalls it would never work but he still chooses to commit to such a dumb plan.
Instead of doing something sane like renting his robots out to help with the elderly or what not and using the money from that to buy himself an island where people could live without technology.
Hero vs villain scenarios only make sense if the villains are insane.
Well to clarify, what I was getting at isn’t that the plan is doomed to failure, but that the inevitable failure of the plan grants Zeke a life expectancy that roughly matches if not exceeds that of his creator. The balance of probability simply is such that it’s unlikely he’d ever become more than a local terrorist (read: not even national), so there functionally is no “after he creates his world” to worry about. Furthermore, even if he somehow does manage to take over the world, there’s little to no chance that people wouldn’t just rebuild unless he went full… Read more »
DrakeStarkiller
4 years ago
Zeeeeekeeeeeee the best non meatbag ever right alongside hk 47 cmon scott you gotta save him
james bowden
4 years ago
is this comic going to bypass our usual wintereen mas celebrations?
Tonkin
4 years ago
Aww and the hint of green light zeke shines thru, even just a lil
24
After tones of a common philosophy, usually heard when things have gone wrong already. But realistic all the same.
“I do not want to die.”
Also you want to kill all of humanity, let’s not forget that point, shall we?^^
… “evolution. Like the dinosaur.”
Dinosaurs evolved to sh*t on our heads and cars.
The second part is just a hobby.
Wait, is Ethan actually going to get through to him whereas Lucas couldn’t? Must be the connection they share across the multiverse.
I think after his conversation with Lucas, a lot of big questions started rattling around his CPU. It took time for him to realize he didnt necessarily need to follow the master’s orders to live a life. Now his problem is that the master has a kill switch on him. I have a feeling that if that kill switch got bypassed or disabled… well he would just immediately be his own robot – not following what the master wants him to do, but not necessarily a good guy either. Just a powerful and intelligent robot with an axe to grind… Read more »
Sounds like a job for Scott. Maybe he could bypass the killswitch.
If the killswitch is deactivated the master can’t extord him to do stuff for him anymore.
Yes, but now he can do it for himself which, considering his views on “meatbag” organisms I’m not sure if that’s a good thing left unchecked.
At first I was trying recall what conversation Lucas had with him, but then I went back and reread that issue. Hard to believe that was almost FOUR YEARS AGO. Then again, I’ve been reading since year 1 of 1.0, so I guess I’m invested at this point.
he’s a good robot
They’re all good robots, Bront.
Are we all just going to ignore the fact the robot has feelings?
Off cause it has. It’s the most basic function of any brain.
I don’t believe its possible to be intelligent and not have feelings. Even Star Trek had to do away with that concept for Vulcans. If you dont have feeling you cant like/dislike doing things. You can’t want something.
Ethan is being surprisingly insightful here.
I’m surprised he didn’t throw a “Meatbag” in there.
And so it begins.
Not sure where this is headed, but I’m hooked, and want more. Thanks @ Tim for your awesome writing and artistic talents. Thank you for sharing them with us.
Decently writen, as most of this series is. Bit I feel this is a bit of a heel-face turn for Zeke, seeing as how his persona was portrayed in earlier panels. Why does he let Ethan get this close, all of a sudden? This is some real deep talking, out of left field. Feels a bit forced.
And that’s a bit sad, ‘cos I think this is the best IP this site has.
Who, in his entire life, has seen him brought to weakness, shame, humiliation?
Who, in his entire life, has defended him? Lashed out at his slaver?
Doesn’t feel forced. Everyone needs someone to talk to.
They are not fighting currently, and they now have a few common experiences to talk through. Reminds me a bit of the movie “Enemy Mine” though it has been years since I’ve seen it.
The contrast between the robot who doesn’t wasn’t to die and the human who can’t stay dead is really interesting.
I just had a crazy, wild thought. Probably dumb, too.
When Ethan dies, he respawns. Not naked, but fully clothed, with all his tools, gadgets, etc. Even when all those things are destroyed – like when he blew himself up, when they went up against that kid with the power glove.
What controls that? Skin to skin contact? Close proximity? An internal sense of ‘self’?
I guess, my question is… if Ethan’s, say, grappling with Zeke, and Zeke explodes, killing Ethan and himself… when Ethan respawns, does Zeke do so, too?
I’d assume it would be anything that fits on a character sheet or equipment screen. Thus, generally that wouldn’t include “robot grabbing onto you”. For example, it doesn’t seem to include weapons stabbing him in that calcuation, and presumably also wouldn’t include a net covering him… but we’d have to see.
How small is Zeke’s core CPU? If Ethan had something in his pocket or even in a small bag he was wearing, I’d buy it respawning with him. Wouldn’t want Ethan losing his house keys or driver’s license if he exploded in a fight, after all.
The problem, of course, is that a newly respawned Zeke would still be programmed to explode in 24 more hours.
In X-COM, you can actually put your fellow soldier or an alien into your bag.
Cmon Zeke ol’ buddy…
Weebmaster has to sleep, doesn’t he? Just take the switch away from him and torture him until he gives up the codes. Oh and ofcourse videotape the torture so you can sell it on the darkweb later for some extra cash.
If he had two brain cells to run together, he’d have Zeke deactivated when he slept.
Seeing as we already have seen Zeke activated, I’m guessing that’s just standard procedure.
Dead Clones in Jars under the city… Reminds me of the Movie “The Prestige”
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease let this be foreshadowing of Zeke’s “rescue.” I want to see him hand the Master’s ass to him on a silver platter.
And be one of the heroes again. That’d be swell too.
Words to live by for more than should have to.
That is very interesting. I wonder if scott can figure out a way to give him a third option? Imagine if scott cracked the code and could also send him that survival code? possibilities…
Completely plausible. After all, Weebmaster seems to be transmitting the signal via a small handheld device, so the signal it sends can potentially be duplicated.
Well there’s also a crucial flaw in Ethan’s “what happens after he wins” argument: the odds are VERY stacked against that plan’s success. Yeah, optimistically he might beat Analog and D-Pad, but what happens when he gets bumped up the wanted list? When Captain Prime, Fireside, or Voltigo put him in their sights? When the city decides that he’s becoming too inconvenient to ignore? Forget conquering the world and convincing the inhabitants to embrace (neo-)Luddism, I’d be shocked if he could successfully put a single state at his mercy. To put it a little more concisely: “What happens to you… Read more »
I feel the brevity isn’t a flaw. If you take any argument to it’s best conclusion, however improbable, and you find the result to be unsatisfying or undesirable, then there is no need to discuss where the infinite number of failures may land.
The guy here is shown to be the usual insane villain archetype . His plan has so many potential downfalls it would never work but he still chooses to commit to such a dumb plan.
Instead of doing something sane like renting his robots out to help with the elderly or what not and using the money from that to buy himself an island where people could live without technology.
Hero vs villain scenarios only make sense if the villains are insane.
Well to clarify, what I was getting at isn’t that the plan is doomed to failure, but that the inevitable failure of the plan grants Zeke a life expectancy that roughly matches if not exceeds that of his creator. The balance of probability simply is such that it’s unlikely he’d ever become more than a local terrorist (read: not even national), so there functionally is no “after he creates his world” to worry about. Furthermore, even if he somehow does manage to take over the world, there’s little to no chance that people wouldn’t just rebuild unless he went full… Read more »
Zeeeeekeeeeeee the best non meatbag ever right alongside hk 47 cmon scott you gotta save him
is this comic going to bypass our usual wintereen mas celebrations?
Aww and the hint of green light zeke shines thru, even just a lil