It’s probable that he had them all along. Zeke is autonomous and made for fighting, it would make sense for him to be able to affect his own field repairs. Also his previous Master seemed to be pretty lazy, essentially only putting in effort in making robots to carry out his efforts. While he could concievably make the files himself, he would need exact dimensions of his eye plating, and how it fits in his faceplate. Since they’re essentially his eyelids, they’re moving parts. It’s not something you can easily scan internally, or from looking in the mirror, even if… Read more »
I’m going to give Zeke the benefit of the doubt and assume that while they always had the specs, there was nothing to be done until Ethan had access to a fabricator. Only the last bit was due to their sordid sense of humor.
Or heck, Zeke is a computer. It’s possible they started generating the plans the moment Ethan revealed he had access to the fabricator.
If Zeke DID have the plans all along, it undermines their emotional growth here.
I don’t think so. If Ethan’s carelessness had done this to a human he’d be facing years in prison. Zeke made him feel truly sorry and feel the weight of what he did. And “fined” him a few hundred bucks. Ethan’s fine.
He’d be facing years in prison? That’s not correct at all. It was an accident. Criminal law is concerned with intent and if the accused was being reckless. Ethan did not intend to injure Zeke. It was not a result of disregard for caution. It was a random, unexpected event. No crime was committed.
Is a person guilty of murder if their car loses traction on an icy road and kills a pedestrian? No, intent and due caution matter. The way you have defined it, any injury you cause to another person is automatically a crime, which is wrong.
If you were handling a pistol, and pointed the barrel at someone while messing with the mechanism so that it went off, you would absolutely be guilty of reckless endangerment.
I like this thought. It fits his stated goals and character. Zeke (ZK) is always going to have to deal with people treating him less sympathetically than a human. The result of his drama was having Ethen respect him Emotionally as another sentient being, rather than “You’re a robot, hurting doesn’t really matter, because we can just patch up your machine, right?”
The big key here is that Ethan had the insight to realize that the parts must have been sourced from somewhere… but jumped straight to “I can figure something out!” without thinking to ask if Zeke knew where the parts originally came from.
Notably Lucas also stood by and may have also had the realization they they could simply ask, but held back and let Ethan be Ethan.
But Zeke has online access. Zeke has unlimited funds (though they are not sure yet whether it’s morally okay to acquire such funds). They don’t need Ethan to give them access to fabricator, and they are perfectly able to order parts themselves. Nope, what we see here is actual emotional growth: instead of killing a human in revenge and dealing with problems themselves Zeke decided to take pleasure in other person’s suffering, at the same time making sure Ethan is genuinely sorry, so now Zeke actually takes into account people’s emotions. Not in the best way, but still looks like… Read more »
It’s possible he’s already having parts printed for another Zeke shell or possibly he’s producing an automated factory to crank out a whole bunch of Zekes. Unless of course some parts of him are so unique he can’t replace them. Or he might only create the basic killbot with no spark of uniqueness and personality; Maybe that is a result of his accumulated experiences which may or may not be able to be downloaded.
It had been said that Zeke’s brain is so evershifting and active that it cannot be cloned.
So the second part you said is true: they can only create the basic killbot with no spark of uniqueness and personality, because Zeke’s “person” is the unique unreplacable part that cannot be copied.
They could almost certainly create a bot with a similarly complex brain that would learn from experience like Zeke does, but it would begin as a blank slate.
Even without a fabricator, merely having the specs makes the search for a replacement a lot easier (and effective) already. Of course, that wouldn’t be as fun as guilt tripping Ethan over failing to find the parts, so why give them immediately? No reason to first let him squirm a bit and enjoy the anguish. I’m not sure what emotional growth you think is being undermined here. There’s still plenty of growth; Zeke didn’t take the eye for an eye option, he allowed for peaceful resolution, and is even willing to let Ethan (try to) perform repairs on him. He… Read more »
Agreed. When you dont even have a full working example to take measurements from its hell to find exactly the right part. If you have all the measurements, tolerances, and material brakedowns even if you cant order the part off the shelf(say company out of buisness and its not made anymore) you can probably find a shop able to do a one off fabrication. Even a one off, while more expensive than mass produced items, is far cheaper and easier than prototyping untill you find something that works.
Well, he went from “peeling [Ethan] apart layer by layer” to seeing some “merit to this indentured servitude”. Zeke moved from physical harm to making Ethan work for it, and making him work is exactly what he’s doing. If Zeke would just hand him the plans, that’d mean *Ethan* doesn’t get a moment to learn from his mistakes. I can’t prove that motivation obviously but there’s actually a lot of possible emotional growth there. It means he actually understands contrition and restitution. We see this in people all the time. If I break something of yours through my recklessness, it… Read more »
I think it’s a little of column A little of column B. Personally, I think it was a test. Zeke is pretty traumatized by his time with Eugene, and he doesn’t quite trust that people can be sad about damage to him and really show empathy because the only other person he got to know fucking didn’t.
In this world, the Master is just watching every fab for a parts order. They need to do it fully in house or they’re gonna get burned. And the only one in their group that can do it despises Z.
Andrew
2 years ago
HAHAHAHA He got me too!
ShonaSoF
2 years ago
*LAUGHS!!* brilliant. Poor Ethan.
CTOWNS
2 years ago
Maybe they can repair that punctured armor on his arm, too
foducool
2 years ago
lmao of course Zeke would torture him psychologically for as long as they could
TomB
2 years ago
Oh…..
Well played, Xbox.
noonecareswhoiam
2 years ago
lol, delicious
Christopher
2 years ago
If this flash drive did come from Eugene, it might also indicate the location and details of the bomb. My guess is that Ethan sees this and decides to verify that the bomb is gone, as Scott promised.
The Pink Spartan
2 years ago
Zeke you glorious bastard. Hah! Such a powerful guilt trip. Glorious. They truly are alive.
Last edited 2 years ago by The Pink Spartan
Rolando
2 years ago
A sh!t-ton of arrogant and cruel people, style themselves supreme pragmatists to cover up for their very irrational megalomania and sadism.
Here we can see ZK is a REAL pragmatist, even if he’s also arrogant and prone to some cruelty. And how that keeps him decent, for now. Beautiful.
Cyrad
2 years ago
Ha, I knew it! I always thought it was a little weird he had working knowledge of his internal systems, but no schematics for his eye.
Daniel Sørensen
2 years ago
Hey Tim.
The last 4-ish pages has used a more interesting approach to camera angles. Is it something you will incorporate more, or will you still stick to the old “side frame” that has been used since the beginning in 2002?
The old one works well for your one page jokes, but for the more story driven bits, it might/might not be better to use these more dynamic angles.
I dunno. Just something I observed.
i have loved seeing tim’s progress as an artist, not just in the quality of the artwork but also story, dialogue and a bit more recently some strides in cinematography. while his use of camera angles is not new, it is certainly contributing more directly to the story than in the past.
for example this comic starts low and dark emphasizing the gravity of the situation and Ethan’s gilt, but ends with a higher and brighter shot as the weight is lifted.
24
I didn’t know he was a mother with guilt trip powers like that I can’t imagine him ever needing brute strength to get his way again.
So that is why their eyes never turned red during all this process : they were actually enjoying themselves.
Hmm, did they always have that or did they make the 3D printer files (prob eaisly) while Ethan was messing around? Amusing either way.
It’s probable that he had them all along. Zeke is autonomous and made for fighting, it would make sense for him to be able to affect his own field repairs. Also his previous Master seemed to be pretty lazy, essentially only putting in effort in making robots to carry out his efforts. While he could concievably make the files himself, he would need exact dimensions of his eye plating, and how it fits in his faceplate. Since they’re essentially his eyelids, they’re moving parts. It’s not something you can easily scan internally, or from looking in the mirror, even if… Read more »
I’m going to give Zeke the benefit of the doubt and assume that while they always had the specs, there was nothing to be done until Ethan had access to a fabricator. Only the last bit was due to their sordid sense of humor.
Or heck, Zeke is a computer. It’s possible they started generating the plans the moment Ethan revealed he had access to the fabricator.
If Zeke DID have the plans all along, it undermines their emotional growth here.
I don’t think so. If Ethan’s carelessness had done this to a human he’d be facing years in prison. Zeke made him feel truly sorry and feel the weight of what he did. And “fined” him a few hundred bucks. Ethan’s fine.
He’d be facing years in prison? That’s not correct at all. It was an accident. Criminal law is concerned with intent and if the accused was being reckless. Ethan did not intend to injure Zeke. It was not a result of disregard for caution. It was a random, unexpected event. No crime was committed.
Is a person guilty of murder if their car loses traction on an icy road and kills a pedestrian? No, intent and due caution matter. The way you have defined it, any injury you cause to another person is automatically a crime, which is wrong.
If you were handling a pistol, and pointed the barrel at someone while messing with the mechanism so that it went off, you would absolutely be guilty of reckless endangerment.
I like this thought. It fits his stated goals and character. Zeke (ZK) is always going to have to deal with people treating him less sympathetically than a human. The result of his drama was having Ethen respect him Emotionally as another sentient being, rather than “You’re a robot, hurting doesn’t really matter, because we can just patch up your machine, right?”
The big key here is that Ethan had the insight to realize that the parts must have been sourced from somewhere… but jumped straight to “I can figure something out!” without thinking to ask if Zeke knew where the parts originally came from.
Notably Lucas also stood by and may have also had the realization they they could simply ask, but held back and let Ethan be Ethan.
But Zeke has online access. Zeke has unlimited funds (though they are not sure yet whether it’s morally okay to acquire such funds). They don’t need Ethan to give them access to fabricator, and they are perfectly able to order parts themselves. Nope, what we see here is actual emotional growth: instead of killing a human in revenge and dealing with problems themselves Zeke decided to take pleasure in other person’s suffering, at the same time making sure Ethan is genuinely sorry, so now Zeke actually takes into account people’s emotions. Not in the best way, but still looks like… Read more »
It’s possible he’s already having parts printed for another Zeke shell or possibly he’s producing an automated factory to crank out a whole bunch of Zekes. Unless of course some parts of him are so unique he can’t replace them. Or he might only create the basic killbot with no spark of uniqueness and personality; Maybe that is a result of his accumulated experiences which may or may not be able to be downloaded.
Lots of this could go in the long run.
It had been said that Zeke’s brain is so evershifting and active that it cannot be cloned.
So the second part you said is true: they can only create the basic killbot with no spark of uniqueness and personality, because Zeke’s “person” is the unique unreplacable part that cannot be copied.
They could almost certainly create a bot with a similarly complex brain that would learn from experience like Zeke does, but it would begin as a blank slate.
Even without a fabricator, merely having the specs makes the search for a replacement a lot easier (and effective) already. Of course, that wouldn’t be as fun as guilt tripping Ethan over failing to find the parts, so why give them immediately? No reason to first let him squirm a bit and enjoy the anguish. I’m not sure what emotional growth you think is being undermined here. There’s still plenty of growth; Zeke didn’t take the eye for an eye option, he allowed for peaceful resolution, and is even willing to let Ethan (try to) perform repairs on him. He… Read more »
Agreed. When you dont even have a full working example to take measurements from its hell to find exactly the right part. If you have all the measurements, tolerances, and material brakedowns even if you cant order the part off the shelf(say company out of buisness and its not made anymore) you can probably find a shop able to do a one off fabrication. Even a one off, while more expensive than mass produced items, is far cheaper and easier than prototyping untill you find something that works.
Well, he went from “peeling [Ethan] apart layer by layer” to seeing some “merit to this indentured servitude”. Zeke moved from physical harm to making Ethan work for it, and making him work is exactly what he’s doing. If Zeke would just hand him the plans, that’d mean *Ethan* doesn’t get a moment to learn from his mistakes. I can’t prove that motivation obviously but there’s actually a lot of possible emotional growth there. It means he actually understands contrition and restitution. We see this in people all the time. If I break something of yours through my recklessness, it… Read more »
It’s perfectly reasonable. Humans carry code for completely replicating themselves; why shouldn’t Zeke have his own “DNA”?
I think it’s a little of column A little of column B. Personally, I think it was a test. Zeke is pretty traumatized by his time with Eugene, and he doesn’t quite trust that people can be sad about damage to him and really show empathy because the only other person he got to know fucking didn’t.
Because not all harm is physical
Typical Zeke move. Bathe in the pain my friend.
Little robotic bitch………
The technical term might be asshole.
Good thing they still had one working eye to record that.
Mental slaughter: all of the fun, none of the blood clean up when they spalsh on you.
Spalsh damage is the worst…. ;0)
stl?
Brilliant episode.
Genuinely made me laugh.
Annnnnnnd that is why i fu*3ing LOVE Zeke.
In before USB drive unleashes his AI into the world…
Plot twist: The fabricator recognizes the print
In this world, the Master is just watching every fab for a parts order. They need to do it fully in house or they’re gonna get burned. And the only one in their group that can do it despises Z.
HAHAHAHA He got me too!
*LAUGHS!!* brilliant. Poor Ethan.
Maybe they can repair that punctured armor on his arm, too
lmao of course Zeke would torture him psychologically for as long as they could
Oh…..
Well played, Xbox.
lol, delicious
If this flash drive did come from Eugene, it might also indicate the location and details of the bomb. My guess is that Ethan sees this and decides to verify that the bomb is gone, as Scott promised.
Zeke you glorious bastard. Hah! Such a powerful guilt trip. Glorious. They truly are alive.
A sh!t-ton of arrogant and cruel people, style themselves supreme pragmatists to cover up for their very irrational megalomania and sadism.
Here we can see ZK is a REAL pragmatist, even if he’s also arrogant and prone to some cruelty. And how that keeps him decent, for now. Beautiful.
Ha, I knew it! I always thought it was a little weird he had working knowledge of his internal systems, but no schematics for his eye.
Hey Tim.
The last 4-ish pages has used a more interesting approach to camera angles. Is it something you will incorporate more, or will you still stick to the old “side frame” that has been used since the beginning in 2002?
The old one works well for your one page jokes, but for the more story driven bits, it might/might not be better to use these more dynamic angles.
I dunno. Just something I observed.
i have loved seeing tim’s progress as an artist, not just in the quality of the artwork but also story, dialogue and a bit more recently some strides in cinematography. while his use of camera angles is not new, it is certainly contributing more directly to the story than in the past.
for example this comic starts low and dark emphasizing the gravity of the situation and Ethan’s gilt, but ends with a higher and brighter shot as the weight is lifted.
Delicious indeed! Nice one.