Update:
The next set of Console War prints will be up for sale on Wednesday, 3/16. There will be a pre-order window for a couple of weeks. I’ll also make the original set available for purchase again.
Prints will be $10 a piece, or $25 for the set of three.
Generation 4: Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis vs Neo Geo
Generation 5: Playstation vs Nintendo 64
Generation 6: Playstation 2 vs Xbox vs Dreamcast vs Gamecube
I mean, fair. He had that elbow coming.
I’m actually worried about Scott at this point – I doubt he’s ready for direct combat, if push comes to shove. And something tells me ZK is not in a particularly charitable mood at the moment.
They did listen to reason once before, so hopefully Ethan finds a way to defuse the situation.
This may have less to do with mood, and be more akin to something like brain damage, given the way he’s speaking.
Probably Zeke’s robot brain is better able to repair this sort of damage than a human’s can, though.
Also. This has little to do with charitability.
Scott tried to kill Zeke. They almost died.
Of course they are scared and angry.
I predict, that they will try to escape this potentially lethal situation.
No matter how.
I am sure this is not the case. ZK seems to be very aware of the situation and understood immediately what happened and who did it.
He figured it out in panels 4-5 when Ethan said “they” put the security in place, which is kind of tragic because Lucas wasn’t really responsible for this but Ethan and now Zeke don’t get that yet.
I think that Ethan jumping to defend Scott or Luke and ZK accidentally kills Ethan, instantly brining them back to ‘normal’ would be interesting.
welp, understandable, have a nice day
Can’t say I blame him
Scott looks oddly not afraid. Maybe even curious. Not angry that it did not work.
I think that’s “stunned.” Considering that he’s just saying the one word… I think it more likely his brain’s thinking as fast as it can on how to kill Zeke before they retaliate.
I think you’re absolutely right on the ‘stunned’ part. Let’s not forget that the characters don’t have days to analyze each panel like us, for them most of this is happening in moments. Over the past minute or so Scott’s had the highly dangerous robot do something utterly unexpected, seen the failsafe detonate, had a heated argument over said failsafe detonating, and now the failsafe appears to have possibly failed anyway. That’s a lot to process. I doubt he’s even thinking on how to kill Zeke (yet), I think his brain needs a moment to catch up first. Give him… Read more »
thats provided in the next panel or 2 zeke isnt performing his version of “snap out of it” on scott, namely snapping scotts legs off and beating him to death with them. afterall ethan did say “they” and that means zeke has 2 targets to go after. the fighter (lucas) and the squishy brain (scott)
“And thusly the failsafe did fail, and was revealed to not be so safe…”
He literally responded with “shit”. Not “…shit” as if he were continuing the Lucas’s “holy”. Nope. Just shit. He’s disappointed that he didn’t successfully murder Zeke. I hope Zeke builds a throne out of Scott’s living flesh.
Surprising vitriol considering your username.
I only ever read usernames when someone points them out. Epic response, Gruff!
While it was intentional, technically only Scott still knew it was active, Lucas thought he disabled it. He knows humans damaged him and it wasn’t an accident, I’m just not sure if he’ll blame Ethan as well or just attempt to take his anger out on the others.
judging by the way he said “they” before going into red rage, he heard what ethan said, that ethan had no idea, that they (meaning scott and lucas) were the ones who set that up, (ethan doesent know scott lied to lucas cause lucas when he saw scotts face and realized the bomb was still in play tried to warn zeke) and im pretty sure he wont blame ethan. lucas on the other hand might lose some teeth, but if he manages to convince zeke that he thought scott had dismantled the failsafe, then scott will become the main focus.… Read more »
I dont think this is just anger per se. He’s under attack and responding as any of the three humans in the room would likly do. Act to prevent more harm.
Confused, fearful, the robot equivalent of being in pain. This would be understandable just as a base-level defense subroutine, or maybe even an instinct in their case. Hopefully it’ll be that and not a desire for revenge.
it might turn into revenge. the way he repeated the word “they” means he processed ethan’s remark that ethan didnt know, which means lucas and scott are gonna be hurting. and if lucas manages to convince zeke that scott lied to him and he didnt know until too late the bomb was still there and armed, then scott will be MAJORLY hurting.
Oh no.
This is going to get real bad.
lol he got brain damage
Yes. Brain damage is super hilarious. Well done for spotting the comedic genius.
No but seriously, fuck off.
way to feed the trolls
So many downvotes over a benignly silly remark about a fictitious character…
Just because it’s fiction doesn’t mean how we respond to it doesn’t say something about us.
I’d say what Wesley says above would count as “morbid humor”, which usually comes from a frame of reference of something harmful one has recovered from, endured, suffered from, dealt with, or is in danger of. Otherwise it’s just “haha, make fun of bad thing that causes real misery”, which can come off as disrespectful.
It’s in poor taste, lots of people have actual brain damage or mental illnesses/conditions and whatnot, and these comments are made about them. I can’t speak for Wesley’s intent with the comment, but the negative reaction isn’t unjustified.
Oh come on guys. Finding humor in others getting harmed has even been a part of CAD since it began in 2002. Remember the early arrow-through-Ethan’s-chest gags? The Players regularly maiming and dismembering one another? The horrific warfare of the Console Wars, inspired by actual real-life warfare in which countless good(and bad) people of past and present are violently and permanently damaged or killed? Granted, the continuity of the Analog and D-Pad arcs is inherently more serious in that characters cannot magically heal between comics, but honesty I would be genuinely surprised if Zeke doesn’t end up healing from this.… Read more »
*Shrug* Given how many people have been hoping that a man in a wheelchair gets murdered/tortured for the last week
*Looks up at the above comment involving Hacksaws vs Chainsaws*
the comments section for these comics has been going WAY off the rails well before Wesley said anything.
Ha, I got some now too
People have become so iffy nowadays, can’t take anything anymore as humor, even if cynical …so sad.
But that’s what you get in an (anti)social media driven herd minded world.
Sure seems that way. And herd mentality, oh man…
’That controversial post already has a lot of downvotes, so it must be wrong. I’m going to downvote it, too!’
Maybe an exaggeration, but then again maybe not. I’m sure it’s going on to at least some extent.
I wonder how many downvotes this response will get?
Or maybe everyone just found it in poor taste. Physical humor can be hilarious, but this isn’t always a comedy comic, and this is the climax of the most dramatic scene so far. 4
Not to mention that Tim’s spent literal years putting Zeke on a rehabilitation arc and endearing them to (most of) us. It’s one thing if they was just gone… but it’s almost more painful to bear someone you care about being severely mentally damaged, rather than dead. It’s heartbreaking to see Zeke lurch to life, barely able to string words together, scared, broken, and screaming “N-No! No hurt!”
It really hits home that inside, they’re really just a child.
So it looks like the mini-explosion didn’t take out all of Zeke’s processing cores, or maybe they had a backup system. They seem to have regressed to a simpler child-like mentality.
Or the explosive had degraded over time or was plain simply badly made in the first place
Anyone else notice how Zeke instantly takes Ethan at his word right before he clocks Lucas one?
Yeah, that makes me think Zeke might not be that damaged in terms of mentality, but that it’s more of a damage to their systems. Remember when Lucas and Ethan did the EMP and Zeke was glitching out when trying to speak then? This is large scale damage to their processor. Zeke probably heard and comprehended everything that was being said, but couldn’t express themselves because of all the damage.
…either that, or the destruction caused a factory reset and they’re starting from scratch, reverting back to when they were first turned on. But I’m thinking it’s the first option.
Did he believe Ethan, or did Lucas get hit because he touched them first?
I suspect it’s the latter for two reasons – Lucas just happened to be the closest organic lifeform, and if they think they were just intentionally attacked (which, given the conversation, of COURSE they do!), anyone would think “Now they’re taking a second crack at me” and defend themselves.
But this time it’s not “Destroy All Humans,” it really IS self-defense.
I think it’s more of the former, based on the “T-T-THEY…?” in the second to last panel. This seems to be him repeating what Ethan said in the previous panel, indicating that he believes this was something done by Lucas/Scott and Ethan was as blind as Zeke.
Completely agree. Also, consider the eye shift – still, innocent, confused, scared yellow in panel 4, when processing; red on panel 5, when he hears ‘they’ and is touched. He presumably can tell who is touching him from voice.
I think it’s a good sign that Zeke at least trusts Ethan’s words. Though we’ll have to see how this plays out.
Or because he knows he will respawn over and over?
if it was simple rage at the betrayal, zeke wouldnt think about ethan’s respawning, he would have struck him too. im thinking he believes lucas and scott are to blame. hopefully lucas can explain he didnt know until the last second that scott hadnt deactivated the failsafe. preferably before zeke breaks his neck
He clearly processed the “they” in panel 5. I’d say Zeke has two targets. Besides what Ethan just told him he knows that Scott at least has advocated that he isn’t alive and needs to be destroyed all along.
I would say it is the sentient robot equivalent to having a concussion after getting a serious hit to the noggin. Confused and afraid. Zeke is basically stuttering having problems to find the right words.
Ya thats to be expected. I do kinda hope we get a reason the failsafe build in by the master was ineffective. Id think he would have known how effective it would be.
I’ve seen some strange suggestions about why the explosive didn’t kill Zeke (from “the Master is incompetent” to “the explosives degraded over time”). But if we assume it’s not going to be a completely unsupported ass-pull, then there’s one obvious explanation: The explosive’s installation was compromised when Ethan struck Zeke in the head so hard that it broke their face open.
Just seems odd to me that this isn’t assumed to be the case, especially without any prior evidence that suggests the alternate theories.
The Master using an inadequate bomb wouldn’t be entirely unsupported though. The guy has never been a beacon of competence, there’ve been multiple remarks on his work being poor quality, and Scott did remark that it was a rather small bomb at some point.
“Incompetent” could be both too strong a word and otherwise entirely accurate at the same time. The dude being genius enough to create a truly autonomous AI and an army of lesser commando-bots doesn’t instantly mean he will be good at everything else he does. Creating and properly using explosives is an entirely different science. Overestimating the yield overall, underestimating the strength of the target (Zeke’s processing unit), or overestimating the strength of Zeke’s outer shell and it’s ability to contain the explosive force and focus it onto Zeke’s processing unit (which is clearly less than stellar, since a single… Read more »
Moreover, how much control was the master exerting from the psychological aspect of, “I’ve installed a fail-safe” which could perhaps be identified as existent but effectiveness unknown to ZK.
Also, the fail-safe explosive might have been part one of a two stage system; part one temporarily incapacitates, part two would be a combination of restrain/repair/reprogram. Perhaps the explosive would reveal an off switch to put them to sleep, in a less destructive and irreversible manner? The explosive was never originally intended to be set off by anyone other than the master, who could have been in close proximity himself.
I don’t think your theory is obvious, but I do think it’s clever.
Great, you erased all his progress……..
D: Zeke just assumes that they did something wrong 🙁
I mean… they did… and Zeke is smart. Piecing together his current condition and what Ethan was saying it’s not hard for him to get a rough guess of what just happened
I meant that Zeke’s immediate assumption was “why do something wrong” which I took to mean “why? Did I do something wrong?” Even if they immediately after that get pissed at Lucas, the first thing Zeke said, at least to me implied that Zeke immediately assumed that Zeke, did something wrong to cause this.
No disassemble!
LOL. Nicely said Johnny 5. ?
Damn, just realized that you beat me to commenting on that. I made the same reference a few hours later
IT lives yet again!!!!
Are these threads your one social interaction every few days? Is that why you’re like this, gotta get your attention?
Grow up.
Bite me. If you don’t like it go elsewhere.
How’s your campaign to make other people into asses like you coming along? …awww. That’s too bad. Gotta say its nice to know from my standpoint that this is a social thing that you’ve clearly lost. Try pulling that shit at work, etc and see how long you last. Society has moved on from you and there’s nothing you can do about it.
To quote Henry Frankenstein: “It’s Alive, It’s Alive”
Looks like Zeke might still be ok 🙂
My guess is, that it’s Zeke’s processor(s), that was/were damaged, but the data storage is (hopefully) intact, meaning that (unlike human with brain damage) he might be repairable, given that he gave Ethan the USB stick containing schematics of all his parts (hopefully including the internals). Sure, constructing a processor is much harder than 3D printing a faceplate – they’d need Scott for that, at the very least (if he can be talked into it, and, that’s a big second IF, they’d trust him not to put any surprises in there) – but in general it’s possible, someone had to… Read more »
NO DISASSEMBLE NUMBE … I mean ZK!
On one hand, Lucas deserves at least that much for this situation, on the other… here’s hoping Ethan can defuse the situation more than Scott defused that bomb because otherwise Scott is in some serious trouble. Trouble he arguably deserves, but I don’t really want him dead for what he did. His point of view isn’t unjustified, even if he was being a bit of an ass about it. Also mildly amused that the Master managed to create the world’s first sapient AI but the bomb he used as the failsafe not only didn’t destroy Zeke, but didn’t even damage… Read more »
Building robots, programming and the creation and use of explosive ordinance are very different fields of expertise. and Explosive Ordinance is a VERY in depth job, with WAY more variables than just the chemical power of the explosive used. For example, a tennis ball full of C4 taped to a 6 inch thick rebar reinforced concrete wall with a single piece of table will barely even flake off the surface. But that same tennis ball full of C4 mashed against the wall, taped securely in place, with a 5 gallon plastic fuel can full of tap water taped against it… Read more »
I expect ZK to run off rather than seek revenge in this moment. ZK’s extremely damaged, scared even, and seems to value tactical retreats in past encounters IIRC. Like a ninja.
I think the final panel supports that. Angry as ZK is, they don’t demand human death (as they flippantly do in casual conversation) but just to be left unharmed.
Oh hey, I’ll happily take this route over what I was expecting.
So we aren’t going with the cliche of “Ethan tried to kill me?!”, unless I’m speaking one chapter too soon.
Seems like there’s a 50/50 chance now that Zeke will either lose trust on all humans, or only trust Ethan. Cuz he did differentiate via the word “they” before knocking Luke into next Wednesday.
hmmm… promoting war posters doesnt sit well at the moment, even if its supposed to be funny, considering current events
I’m not doing this again on a different page. https://cad-comic.com/console-war-gen-4-6/#comments
Y’all really need to learn how to separate fact from fiction.
And no doubt, Scott is going to take this as a sign that his paranoia was right. After all, no way would a human lash out like this after surviving an assassination attempt.