Last year I started a series of Console War prints, each focusing on a different generation of gaming (we are currently on the ninth generation of home gaming consoles!).
Wave Two is finally up for preorder, and features the second three prints (generations 4,5 and 6) in the series. Like last time, the prints will be 17×11, big enough to enjoy the art, but not so big you couldn’t decorate your gaming room with a few of them (*nudge nudge*). The prints will be $10 a piece, or $25 for the set of three. All Wave Two pre-ordered prints will be hand-signed by me, and are expected to ship in late April.
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I’m also making Wave One available for purchase. These will ship in late April as well, but will not be signed (that was a bonus for the original pre-order only).
Orders will be open for two weeks.
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I said it two comics ago, and I’ll say it again – Can’t say I blame him.
Also, I really like the trust that Zeke has developed toward Ethan that’s plainly visible here.
Can’t blame who? Scott? Or Zeke?
Personally I am ok with Scott getting the shit beat out of him and maybe even his death (not wanting it just ok with it happening). Scott is basically a racist and driven by irrational fear.
Yup, just look at that sneaky cripple fleshbag going tappititap on his digital device. CRUSHMAIMKILL!
Racist??? How did we get here?
Right, the idiots that throw that term around have no idea what it means anymore. It’s just a word they use for anytime they feel the need to try and attack someone.
“Specist”, perhaps. Essentially, xenophobic. However, in this case, Zeke *had* proven a desire to kill others.
Species doesn’t work either if you want to be technical like Deeketr. I think racist works just fine. He made assumptions about Zeke based on the fact that he’s an android.
Scott is making a prejudicial judgement based on stereotypes and assumptions about a generalized type of being, rather than judging/seeing an individual being on their own merits. There isn’t really a word in English yet for an born sentient doing this to a constructed sentient. There is a close analog that’s unfortunately fairly common and easily understood: making categorical assumptions about people based on the societal construct of “race”. Hence the use of the term “racism” to describe the type of behavior Scott is engaging in. It’s not a precisely accurate term, but it is a close analog that allows… Read more »
I wouldn’t say Scott is making generalized assumptions about a group, though. He’s making judgments about an individual based on how he’s seen that individual act.
Are you suggesting that if Scott met an identical copy of ZK, but one who claimed to love humans and suggested they would never hurt living beings, that he wouldn’t recognize its potential as a murder machine?
Because we don’t really have that information…
While I do think Scott would be wary of any robot, I do think the fact it is a ‘combat robot’ plays a part. If it was a robot designed to garden and had a nice personality, he probably wouldn’t have put a bomb in it, though he might still want to have it locked up.
But how does he feel about “combat humans”?
Coz, as a retired “combat human” I occasionally get called evil & I find this rather upsetting.
Upsetting, certainly. However the persons calling you evil don’t (I suspect) know you personally, they are calling you that because of belonging to class ‘combat human’. Scott can be judging Zeke *individually* to be a kill bot because of Zeke’s prior killings. Zeke was built as an assassin (as far as we know) and he has killed. There are open murder cases and people missing relatives because of his actions. Scott has every reason to feel he must protect the public. His mistake was not recognizing this was not HIS authority. He should have called legal authorities and they would… Read more »
I’m not sure that’s fair. The individual was planning to be the first of their group. Scott was having prejudiced opinions towards the entire group.
I dunno, most of his arguments from the past pages have been about ANY AI at all.
But it isn’t AFAIK. Scott knows this bot has killed before. He has seen the code enough to know it is too complex to analyze and he doesn’t have any surety that this kill-bot won’t kill again or that he shouldn’t be held accountable for his prior actions. Scott is likely acting more on that basis (prior behaviour of murder). Until some competent judicial authority makes a proclamation making Zeke a ‘person’, Zeke is basically a bunch of hardware and not a person legally. Scott’s mistake was not calling the authorities to pickup Zeke immediately. He should never have been… Read more »
If Zeke’s not legally a person in-universe (There might be some precedent, that we don’t know of, perhaps there’s an extraterrestial alien out there? Someone who isn’t human in any way, that is. Not the same as AI robot, but the authorities had to decide on their legal status either way.), then the blame for his killings, legally at least, probably lies with The Master, who made Zeke commit them. If he is, while no legal institution would (probably) declare Zeke innocent of killings, legally him being forced to do so (or Master would have destroyed/killed him, as far as… Read more »
The word is “Bigot”. It’s broader than judgment on race or religion, but it means you ARE doing those things to groups.
Racist? Really? You actually typed that and even hit the “Post Comment”. A robot isn’t a “Race” so learn what the word represents. Also “Irrational” means to have no reason, maybe you forgot but this “Robot” has killed Ethan a few times and nearly killed Lucas twice. No telling if it’s killed others already before they encountered it.
So you’re completely wrong and you really need to stop throwing around words you clearly don’t understand the meaning of.
Hang on… Is the point that has been made so far not demonstrating that ZK, a unique AI, a sentient being, IS a new race? Am sure They have even said it multiple times.
What court said that? What authority has even been able to question and investigate Zeke and his programming and his past actions? None.
would you even care if one did?
You were cheering for the scientist that wanted to disassemble Data in Measure of a Man weren’t you?
Yeah, exactly! What court in the real world made a judgement decision whether ZK in this comic is a race? Preposterous!
When someone says “so he’s basically” in that way, they’re trying to generalize a complex situation into an easy-to-understand simile. They’re not always saying they’re literally this thing; only that the root of his situation is easily understood as that.
Like, if a coach of a soccer team says, “So you’re basically a babysitter to these kids,” he doesn’t mean he’s literally babysitting. Only that his roles is easiest explained as ‘babysitter.’
You could also stand to step back, breathe, and chill, rather than fly off the handle because someone triggered you by insulting a character you identified with.
I agree mostly, but we have seen the growth from ZK, we have seen him gain an understanding of morals and ethics. He has shown he isnt what he was before and only Ethan saw that growth and encouraged trust. Dont we all aspire to that? To grow and be more… how would you feel if you jumped thru the hoops and still judged on potential for violence and evil. He understood trust was earned, and was doing it all as they wanted even when making mistakes he was growing, their distrust and lack of faith in him led to… Read more »
Let’s look at that:
If a multiple murderer is sentenced to 40 years and has an epiphany and has a new respect for life and won’t kill again (if you could really be sure of that), would his sentence go away? No. He’d still have to answer for what he did when he wasn’t like that.
That process has not happened for Zeke because he has yet to face account by legal authority.
Actually, various legal systems do allow for a shortened sentence, so… maybe? (I don’t know how exactly that works, we’d need an actual lawyer to chime in.)
Depends on whether you have a legal system that relies on punitive/retributive justice, or restorative justice. Much of the US believes justice equals retribution, with capital punishment the extreme end of the scale. But other jurisdictions will commute sentences or grant early release for good behaviour, showing a pattern of remorse, etc. And then others believe justice is best served by restoration, reconciliation, making amends, and putting things right. So if Zeke realizes their killbot past was evil and spends the rest of their existence trying to make up for it by serving the survivors of their victims, stopping other… Read more »
Exactly my point, in the US prison system you are punished for your crime, but they also take into account the reasoning behind what you did. If you run over someone who is attacking you and they die, you still get punished but there is a mitigating circumstance. They also have many a murderer who redeem their lives – like this story After being released from a 19-year stint in prison in 2010, the first thing Shaka Senghor did was sell one of his books in a parole office parking lot. He had his sentence reduced by 1/2 due to… Read more »
Awesome, I don’t usually see chatter on these after the day the comic’s posted. Love this discussion. One thing that everyone’s forgetting is that any action that Zeke committed before being saved, was committed under duress. That’s an actual legal term which describes the condition a criminal is in, when they’re forced to commit a crime. Duress is never a justification for a crime, but it is an excuse. Copied from Justia.com – no links, as I don’t want this stuck in ‘waiting for approval’ – there are four key elements to being “under duress”, those being: A reasonable fear… Read more »
People can obviously change morality to some extent, even after reaching adulthood. If murderers could never rejoin society we’d only give them life sentences. We accept some risk by letting killers out of jail, instead of writing off *their* lives as well. This is especially true when there are mitigating circumstances and actual evidence of rehabilitation. In my opinion ZK is like a human juvenile, raised by an abusive parent, trained and coerced into violence. Even if ZK has killed several people I wouldn’t hold them responsible. I don’t think a court would either. I think ZK desperately needs rehabilitation… Read more »
Actually, I’m pretty sure Zeke would get his sentence reduced massively or get a pardon entirely since his crimes were pretty much committed under duress. Or would you consider a guy with a bomb strapped to his and told to commit some crimes or be blown up is guilty? I certainly don’t to an extent.
But Zeke 1. Never ever killed a person. Except Ethan, I do not know, whether it counts, of you kill someone who’s just not gonna stay dead Edit to add We know ZK never ever killed a person, because Master was against killing or otherwise injuring people. He is doing it all FOR the people. He was only okay with injuring Analog and D-pad, because they were a constant problem with his plans, so for the greater good… 2. Never ever injured a person of his own free will, he was under “kill or be killed” orders In that case… Read more »
But Zeke isn’t like a multiple murderer. He’s an ex-slave. Of course he hates the ones that enslaved him. He’s learning however that not all humans are enslavers.
Technically, all “Races” are constructs of society and have no meaning beyond what society has put on them. HOWEVER, if it has no meaning beyond the concept, the concept is still so ingrained in society that it has actual meaning and affects peoples lives in real ways.
Racist may be the wrong word. Bigot might be a better blanket term.
He isn’t acting out of protectiveness, but because a possible new form of life doesn’t count
And that would still be wrong based on the comments he has made in the past. He fears what Zeke has done, what programming may be hidden from them by The Master, the potential threat based on Zeke’s own behavior and physical abilities. While he may be a new form of life, Scott is not acting irrationally towards Zeke because of misplaced fear of all AI, but quantifiable fears of possible outcomes based on prior experience through his colleagues with this AI.
Scott is basically a racist and driven by irrational fear. – having, reflecting, or fostering the belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race – of, relating to, or characterized by the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another Lets start with humans are not different races, we are different evolutionary pigments with to little genetic variation to break us into races. There is so much ambiguity between the 7 suggested racial groups, and so much… Read more »
That, or he just knows it’s pointless to kill him….
It isn’t so much that. It’s that he momentarily stopped to consider what Ethan had to say. In spite of his fight-or-flight fear of the other two humans in the room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVjeYW6S8Mo&t=215s This is a lawyer reacting to the ST:TNG episode “The Measure of a Man” where Mr. Data is facing dismemberment and being shut down against his will because it would aid research that could create more of his capability. The case puts the idea of Data as a machine vs. as a human (or at least a sentient entity that should be equivalent to a human under the law) and then throws some arguments at it. The lawyer contrasts both how they are carrying out courtroom behaviours and whether the issues brought up are valid in the context of… Read more »
What is Scott typing into his phone? Does he have a secondary failsafe that even the boys don’t know about? I really hope Zeke survives this. I don’t want Scott to die or anything, but Zeke has every right to feel angry, and want to protect themselves. Im definitely team Zeke here, and I hate that I have to wait until Monday to find out what happens next!
Scott probably left a back door open into Zeke’s mind/code when accessing the failsafe. He must be trying to send a shut down script. That, or very frantically trying to press “CTRL-ALT-DEL” with just his thumb.
“Roll credits.”
*DING*
If that’s true. If Scott had the ability to trigger a shut-down and chose an explosion as the first resort, then he really needs to rethink.
This is a great point. If he could geo-fence ZK in to an area, why attach the failsafe trigger to an actual bomb, instead of some sort of shutdown, if that option was available to him?
It really demonstrates Scott’s hatred of ZK.
Zk can’t be shut down. The bomb was immovable. He could have planted a second bomb though or installed a remote
Not quite. Zeke can be immobilized, Scott did that in the first place to bring Zeke in.
See the February 2020 pages, ending in Scott’s explanation of what he can/can’t do:
https://cad-comic.com/comic/analog-and-d-pad-06-31/
Your assumption does not prove that. I could be mistaken, but I was pretty sure the killbot has killed before. Regardless of compulsion, he would have taken life and never been investigated and questioned and assessed, possibly charged, and there must be open murder investigations. That means he’s a fugitivie from legal authority from the the first time the group meet him. That being true, if it is, Zeke has killed and in any jurisdiction I have lived under, that would not get you walking about until your prior actions were addressed and you paid any appropriate price. Scott’s most… Read more »
Killing Scott might be excessive, but if, for example, he just broke his hand or arm when taking away the phone (as he can’t know, if Scott isn’t trying to use it to run something to kill him), I at least think it would be fully understandable (and count as self-defense in this case).
I like that Ethan mentioned the restitution he just taught them about.
I was guessing that Scott would have kept a backdoor to disable all his servos again, i kinda figured he would make a special device for it but then would just put it on his phone aswell so that he always has it with him. Guessing this will just disable them.
Is it wrong of me to think Scott modded his chair in some way to make it either a mech, or a portable weapon platform with those keystrokes?
Most to least likely: 1) Kept the backdoor to shut down servos. “Nighty night” Given that Scott lied to Lucas (which, to paraphrase Order of the Stick, “If you didn’t know it was wrong, you wouldn’t have kept lying about it”), it would not be surprising for Scott to keep a backup plan in case the bomb didn’t work. 2) Captain Prime “Help, Captain Prime. An insane robot is trying to kill me.” Zeke, even at 100%, isn’t a match for Captain Prime. As a fully licensed Captain, she has the ability AND authority to eliminate Zeke. Both legally and… Read more »
(which, to paraphrase Order of the Stick, “If you didn’t know it was wrong, you wouldn’t have kept lying about it”) Funny that you should mention it – if I remember the origin of the quote correctly, it was Hinjo talking to his uncle, Lord Shojo, after he found out said uncle was lying to the paladin order in order to better (in his opinion, at least) govern the city and protect its citizens. And his reasoning was about the same as Scott’s, come to think of it, the paladins wouldn’t listen to him, if he was honest with them…… Read more »
I was hoping someone would catch that reference….and thank you for that. But there is one other issue at play here and that’s empathy for the accused. In Zeke’s case, we’ve spent a year and a half getting to know them as they slowly learn empathy. As such, we are more willing to stand against Scott’s unilateral decision as we have developed empathy for Zeke. In Shojo’s case, among his outright violations of the law, was his treatment of the Linear Guild. As we saw, he had them imprisoned without trial and he had their names erased from the prison… Read more »
You make some good points here, I forgot about the Linear Guild, and meant general ruling of Azure City (and pretending to be senile, that doesn’t strike me as much of a crime) and/or the things directly related to the Gates (and lying to the paladins, as their oath forbids them to interfere with other Gates). The other stuff you mentioned definitely comes out as illegal, and would end up wih Shojo getting accused in most jurisdictions. Although, in Shojo’s case, the stakes are also much higher. If Zeke ever goes on a murder spree, he’s going to kill some… Read more »
Also (I cannot edit the other comment anymore), as for the treatment of Linear Guild, unlike Zeke, they were adult humans (or elves, or half-orcs…), who very much knew what they were doing (even if Nale’s upbringing was screwed up by Tarquin). Not, in a way, children (ok, Thog is a manchild, but still an adult, unless he is, I apologise for the term, English is my second language and I can’t think of how to better phrase it, retarded – but then he should probably be institutionalised, anyway). So it also looks like a different situation to me (As… Read more »
Fair but now we’re getting into responsibility and responsibility is separate from legal authority. The three of them started this whole thing both in Ethan and Scott’s words “To make sure that the bad thing does not happen to anyone else”. Then Zeke falls into their hands and the mission gets complicated. Both Ethan and Lucas had debated “What if he gets out and hurts somebody?” but Scott is coming at this from the perspective of a non-powered being who saw “the world nearly tearing itself apart when the first super powers appeared” and now feels that the introduction of… Read more »
He’s turned off Zeke’s motor functions before.
Hey, can someone help me? I cant see where to go to pre-order the prints. I’m sure i’m just being super dumb but can someone point me in the right direction?
You press “View product” under any of the pictures from wave two or under “wave two bundle”
Scott continues to be short-sighted. Now he adds denial of his own responsibility. Classic mistake.
He causes a situation where it’d be reasonable for anyone to try to attack them for self-defense, then says “Just like I thought.”
I may be reading too much there, but it certainly follows the pattern thus far.
“Ah. Fighting back in panicked self-defence. So you are irredeemably violent.”
“You stayed in this storeroom like we asked for months, never attacked any of us including me despite having plenty of opportunity to do so, only left the room because Ethan invited you into another room of the same building, and are now struggling to survive after I failed to properly kill you. I knew you were just programmed to kill.”
Eat a bag of dicks, Scott. And I’m not talking about Bill Gates’ favorite burger place.
I’m sorry, I know this is serious, but… is there really a burger place called “A bag of dicks”?
No, but apparently there is a burger place called “Dick’s Drive In” (and their branding merely says “Dick’s”, including their bags)
https://www.geekwire.com/2013/bill-gates-favorite-burger-spots-seattle/
Once again we have a line open to interpretation. The same way “I will take care of it”, “Just as I thought” can go different ways. So don’t jump to any conclusions until the next page.
I mean, it’s possible, but this is a 1+1+x=3 situation. It’s not unreasonable to assume that x is one.
We know that Scott does not consider Zeke to be capable of sentience or sapience, and we know he anticipated Zeke eventually escaping and killing. Zeke is currently attacking everyone and staring him down. “Just as I thought” states that the current situation confirms an earlier suspicion.
So unless there’s some huge unknown that hasn’t been foreshadowed literally at all which completely changes Scott’s personality, it’s safe to say that X = 1.
True, though I would argue it could still be a little open-ended as to which suspicion he’s confirming exactly. There’s multiple aspects to the situation that he could’ve been concerned about;
-The robot is violent
-The robot won’t be talked down
-The bomb alone won’t be enough
-Ethan won’t see reason even when the robot turns violent
-Other, namely…
Still, it’s indeed safe to say that x=1 on it not being a nice thing (and is going to lead to him doing another not-nice thing).
Those are great points; we don’t know quite what he thought, and it could easily be a negative thought on Ethan’s choices, Zeke’s choices, or about neither and just that a second failsafe was needed to do the job. There’s additional nuance.
But yeah, it’s clear that the thought isn’t something like, “Gee, I was wrong all along, I’m going to call 1-800-FLOWERS so that I can apologize to the robot the right way.”
“Humans stay out” means “Humans stay out of my head.” I figure he saw the same phone that he used to restore the motor functions and knows what hes about to do with it. I think He’s aiming for the phone. .
If you dig a hole and it’s in the wrong place, digging it deeper isn’t going to help.
Seymour Chwast
Wonderful quote. TONS of people do that, acting like they’re so strong and smart, while it just shows their ego is too fragile to admit mistakes. So, they’d rather double down forever. Regardless of how much damage it can do.
It goes from clinging to toxic relationships, to locking themselves in crazy conspiracy theories, to keep voting for the same obvious a-holes.
I don’t mean to get all philosophical here, but the current chapter makes me think that trust is somewhat of a house of cards – takes time and effort to build, but just one wrong move to wipe all that progress clean.
Well, yeah. Where’ve you been all of this Human History? That’s why betrayal is basically the worst crime of all. It’s even got a horrible word to describe it, Treason. On a softer note, once trust is lost, it never comes back fully. Because you know, they are capable of betrayal after that.
Exactly. I know this from personal experience as well. And Zeke has EVERY right to be angry at Scott. And Scott is not helping himself. I can’t wait until Monday to see what happens. O.O
Exactly how I explain it to my daughter. Once someone has betrayed you and broken your trust, do you ever trust them again? Do you take the risk they won’t hurt you again? Or do they leave your life?
Protect trusts. Act in ways that won’t betray friends and family. Use good judgment. And don’t make the mistake of going back to somebody who has hurt you once… that’s like putting a sour carton of milk back in the fridge hoping it will someone un-sour itself.
I’m 99% sure he’ll punch the phone.
I think Zeke may actually go for the phone, rather than Scott. And if he does, good for him.
Considering the two-colored eyes, I think you could be right. Or, he goes for Scott, but stops himself. Because there’s still a part of him that looked at human death and empathized.
Dammit, Tim, this is some fine yarn-spinning. Why’d you always have to save the biggest cliffhangers for Friday?
After somebody linked to a similar “Zeke goes on a rampage” thread in CAD1.0 back in 2005, I read through two solid years of 1.0… Tim’s storytelling and humor have grown so much over the years.
… while I am still very much the immature twerp that I was 17 years ago.
Honestly, I was thinking about that sequence so much this week. I remember watching that back in 1.0, and I recall being a bit bored halfway through and feeling like it dragged. But the key difference here, is that something new and important is happening every page. It’s not just action for the sake of action, and dialogue for the sake of dialogue. All the work spent in building up each character is paying off beautifully. Now all we need is for Lilah and Emily to run into each other right in front of the store, in time to watch… Read more »
It’s also possible, that he goes for Scott, but not as far as killing him, f.ex. breaking his fingers, when taking the phone away. (Scott’s “weapons” are his mind and his tools, if he’s incapable of using the tools, he’s effectively neutralised, at least temporarily and if he can’t make someone else do the physical part for him, which I think at least Ethan and Lucas will be unwilling to do at this time)
Him or Lucas.
Zeke has 2 hands, they can go for both the phone and for Scott. Personally I think Scott needs a good punch for being a jackass and near murderer.
If we are going with it being murder, I don’t think a punch is going to make it better. While Zeke is alive, he might suffer permanent brain damage.
Dammit, Scott…so not once, but TWICE you kept secrets from them due to your paranoia. Look, I get it. Scott’s just trying to protect his friends. But at this point he’s not protecting them; only himself. And he’s justifying his fears anywhere he can to feel safe, hence his “just like I thought” line and doing something to his phone. Somewhere along the line, it stopped being about protecting Ethan and Lucas and became about protecting his paranoia. He never tried to give Zeke a chance and had no intention of making the attempt. I don’t want Zeke to kill… Read more »
Scott is trying to contain a threat he presumes to be real. He tried to reason but Ethan and Lucas were on a completely different page.
He let them take a risk for themselves but restricted zk to one room
just because he presumes a threat doesn’t mean his actions are justified, see every conspiracy nut job. just because you think a pizza place is a secret child trafficking hub, doesn’t mean you can burn it down to check.
jfc Scott, could you try not making that situation worse for FIVE MINUTES?!
For a smart guy he’s a slow learner.
Intelligent =/= wise
Not until ZK’s dead……
I wonder if Scott is the actual Master but time traveled.
At this point i hope that scott take at least a severe beating
“Just like I thought” Considering your entire argument for leaving the failsafe in place is “He’s too dangerous to leave alone because he might try to hurt us, if we don’t do something about it he’ll kill us” and Zeke’s current argument for wanting to punch you until you turn into a splot of red paint is “He hurt me, I trusted them and he hurt me and if I don’t do something about it he’ll kill me”, what about this is “just as you thought”, Scott? If there’s one thing that really gets my goat, it’s a blatant hypocrite,… Read more »
He’s probably not even hearing what Zeke is saying. At this point in time we all know people that when you try to argue with logic and reasoning and they just ignore you and spout drivel, the same thing over and over or conspiracy theories.
“Just as I thought.”
Wait, what? No, you set this up, you dont get to act like you have the moral high ground. If it were me ide want to kill him, too. Im really starting to hate him.
Scott’s just showing his narcissistic side. :/
If Scott isn’t killed off I’m boycotting this web comic
I kind of get where you’re coming from, but story-wise, I think it’d be more interesting to see the new inter-character dynamic after the dust settles. After all, Scott just lied to (presumably) his two best friends, and it was a very serious lie, too.
Scott is going to be a new villian I figure.
“Just like I thought”
Eff you Scott. You just tried to kill Zeke. They’re badly injured and just trying to survive right now. Ethen was even getting through to Zeke despite all this until you had to start trying to do stuff on your phone. You really suck, Scott. You don’t get to drive Zeke to desperate self defense and then say “aha I knew it was just an evil murderbot that can’t escape it’s programming”
Like a few other comments, I would totally be okay with it if Zeke gets a solid punch in on Scott.
Scott can go careening down a hill, wind up in front of a bus, survive the impact only to land in front of a train.
What a piece of shit.
Better yet…
Have his arms permanently disabled.
Next time… His lying tongue.
I’m getting angry because of the story.
Good story writing there.
“Just like i thought” and like that Scott’s true character is shown. He doesn’t have anyones best interests at heart, he’s lashing out in fear, and now he’ll use anything to justify his actions. That’s the first time I’ve actually been angry at Scott.
I mean, if someone was planting bombs in people’s head and detonating them, then went for a phone secretly, I think you would be fairly justified in doing whatever in self defense.
I had to look at the comic again there. Can’t believe I missed that. Yeah, Scott’s the real villain.
Fucking God Scott, you’re the real monster
High hopes that it isn’t Ethan talking him down (though that should help) but ZEKE who decides to not be violent. If its his impulse vs something his friends advise him to do… chefs kiss
I’ve been thinking for a while now… I think Scott *is* “the master”, and the other guy was basically an actor, the face as it were.
And its only getting stronger
Scott is like the people who keep kicking and pestering “dangerous dogs” and then when after 5 attacks the dog finally defends itself, they say “see! It’s dangerous” and have it put down.
I so need those next couple pages… :O
Something tells me Scott somehow installed MORE bombs
He’s gonna punch the phone. Or this is gonna get even realer (and sadder).
Been a while since I’ve been glued to update days, Tim. Good work, loving these arcs.
From the way he’s holding his fist, it almost looks like he’s either aiming for Scott’s arm, or for his chair, to be honest.
Is Scott doing something with that phone to make Zeke violent?
Nah, he just saw that he was doing something on his phone and thinks it’s putting him in danger. Ethan was getting through to him but then he sees Scott messing with the phone in those two panels.
Normally I’m not comfortable with the idea of people in wheelchairs being beaten up, fictional or not, but just this once I’ve made popcorn
I wouldn’t cry if Scott died.
God damn it Scott. Ethan was clearly succeeding in talking Zeke down, you could’ve let him handle it, but no you had to continue going behind his back and provoking Zeke further. At this point you probably deserve to be punched
How exactly is Scott tapping a message on his phone ‘provoking’ Zeke?
Pretty ignorant comment. It’s called situational context. Scott’s attempt to kill Zeke fails, and Scott immediately takes out his phone and starts rapidly doing something on it.
I’m genuinely curious what you think he might have suddenly started doing that doesn’t relate to Zeke. I mean, whatever it is, it’s wrong, but I’m still curious.
Yeah! It’s not like Scott’s ever shown that he knows how to access Zeke’s motor functions via bluetooth or detonate explosives using his phone. That’s crazy talk. You’re being paranoid. Sheesh.
Far more likely that he got bored or something, his ADHD kicked in, and he figured he’d play some Angry Birds. Man, how angry are those birds, amirite?
If you actually look at the screen, its not a messenger app, its appear to be the common ‘coding’ or ‘hacking’ style of screen.
What exactly does a hacking style of screen look lik eif its not identical to a coding screen?
I have seen a few varieties in shows when hacking and not everyone will see the same things I do. So to cover a bigger base I said both.
You know, Tim.
This would be a perfect time for one of those Twitch livestreams.
You know, “Hey, I’m just coloring the next comic, why don’t you swing by and say hi.”
No particular reason.
Man, you are the real villain.
Tim doesnt want that level of abuse.
Scott didn’t even try to remove himself from the situation. Now, he may not have thought about it (lots of stuff happening), or his condition may make it hard for him to wheel himself backwards with any speed… but it could still be a relevant detail.
Two things.
One: As much as I disagree with Scott’s actions I really hope that he gets out of this alive and relatively unscathed and honestly I’m rather uncomfortable with the bloodlust towards him in the comments.
Two: I have a feeling that Scott has been in contact with one of the big superheroes like Captain Prime during this whole thing and that’s who he’s communicating with in this comic.
Honestly, let him do it.
My guess is this – Scott has a shutdown command that will disable Zekes ability to move.
He thought it was WAY, WAY more likely to be needed then the charge still in Zekes head.
He probably figured that Zeke was more likely to hurt someone in the backroom before trying to leave it, then trying to leave it and hurt someone. I.e if the Master go control of him again.
That in place would also explain Scott’s shock. Zeke literally skipped over a step that was meant to protect everyone.
Sounds a lot like Johnny 5 now
Come to think of it Scott is right. After all this Time all Zeke has done is speaking how to erase humanity and sees itself as a master race. Being rational and smart man this is something he cannot ignore like Ethan and Lukas does, now when Zeke is hurt its first reaction is attack his friends listen no reason and try to kill Scott therefore just proving his point, it is dangerous unpredictable machine
No, he isn’t. On this count at least. He does have valid points on the overall ‘sentient AI is dangerous’ debate, but he’s demonstrably wrong on the ‘Zeke is irredeemably evil’ part. Zeke has talked a lot about wanting to exterminate all humans, but that alone isn’t a crime. Plenty of angsty teenagers say similar things. It’s also hardly surprising for him to have such a mindset, considering how his entire existence consisted of being abused by humans. More importantly, despite his words he never actually put any of those thoughts into action, even when he had the opportunity to… Read more »
@George honestly if they have this opinion after reading the past several months of this comic I doubt they’re going to listen to it, or maybe not even read your comment.
You seem to have, uhh.. missed most of this past years’ worth of storyline there bud.
Zeke has come a long way from “kill all humans”. Too far to deserve *this*.
Agreed, Scott is right. Zeke is dangerous and has shown how little he thinks of mankind. He’s constantly talked about enslaving or exterminating humans. How many times has he been talked down from committing murder. I’ve noted there seems to be a lot of negative thumbs when someone mentions Scott is right. We’re talking about a machine with no morals barely being contained. And how many people did it murder before it was captured?
Oh, go screw yourself, Scott. “Just like I thought”. You’re like those assholes who go beating a dog with a stick, claiming the dog is vicious, and then acting like you are validated when the dog snaps at you for, you know, beating it.
Scott will block the attack somehow. Just wait and see. He probably gonna be unscathed knowing what he was just texting
“Just like I thought” is pretty much the equivalent to “I do not care what is happenin as long as I can claim to have been right in front of others and validate my perceived intelligence.” Gosh,I really dislike those kind of people.
@Tim You are doing an awesome job with the comic. Emotion and drama. It gets more and more intense and thought-provoking every time.
This is about to go full Taco Bell at 3 AM disaster.
What I don’t understand is, if the concept of using explosives deemed controversial, why didn’t he just pack them in the appendages and turn zeke into a quadriplegic? It’s not fatal, can be rebuilt, let’s scott explain him going around their request while still taking further action if actual emergency.
he detonated a bomb that was there when they first brought ZK back to the store that he said he couldnt remove.
But he did claim he disabled it which implies it’s something he would have been able to do.
Craaaaap. I really hope Zeke goes for the phone and not Scott. Zeke has been growing, Scott hasn’t from his ‘Just like I thought’ comment. Scott may be being an ass here and refusing to recognize that he has more or less backed Zeke into a corner, but the only way to stop him from doing more harm is to prove him wrong.
Sadly Zeke obviously is having trouble thinking clearly and running on instinct and some form of PTSD…
scott…you never learn
Looks like Zeke is reaching for the phone. Scott might get biffed in the face, but I don’t think he’s aiming to kill him.
You are not a gun you are who you choose to be!
So it seems Scott always had an ability to stop ZK’s movements on demand, but decided to go with “blow his head” option instead as an automatic failsafe.
What a dick
This comic changed, didn’t it?