Zeke didn’t try to harm them once he saw the threat to himself was neutralized, might’ve given Scott some insight that it’s not just meant to hurt people, for now.
Nah. Zeke said it himself. Ethan is a vulnerability he can’t afford to have. Proving to himself Ethan is the only person that can reason with him as Ethan is truly his only friend, and killing scott would have severed him to complete isolation.
Zeke specifically told Scott that they were giving him a second chance. Immediately after they understood where his fears were coming from, displayed empathy, and compared those fears to their own. And yes, I’m sure that their friendship with Ethan influenced the decision, but they very clearly made that decision based off of Scott’s words and actions.
Yeah, but it’s “. . . Zeke” instead of “Zeke”. It’s like someone saying, “How is your . . . girlfriend?” instead of “How is your girlfriend?” — not as unqualified as it really out to be.
Honestly how I saw this going down was zeke would try to shoot Scott, Ethan would either get in the way or zeke would shoot Ethan thinking he would respawn soon, either way Scott would tell zeke about Ethan and the troll causing a crisis in him about if he would want to save a human.
Oyee
1 month ago
Ethan’s peace offering accepted. Sweet!
Logic
1 month ago
While Zeke may be paying for the boards, one does have to wonder where he is getting the currency from.
This is a world with secret identities, there has to be some means of either procuring a new identity (claim your old one has leaked and you need protection), or using the secret identity only in financial exchanges, to avoid traceability to your regular persona.
That’s assuming that Zeke had to ‘steal’ anything at all.
I have a feeling that Eugene is still very much alive. With at least one or two attendants with him at any time. With every one of his actions closely monitored. Probably with some sort of device inserted into his own cranium.
There’s still plenty of instances where it’s useful to have a human. Packages to sign for, bank withdrawals to make, etc.
Zeke said Eugene still lives, because Zeke needs him to help build more robots like themselves. I don’t think they are lying about that. (although it may come to bite Zeke back, if Eugene manages to sneak something in, be it hardware or software)
theres this wonderful thing called cryptocurrencies that dont need any KYC and a bot able to rewrite its programming as its being read could easily handle the processing of.
Well, if you look at the inner workings of stock exchange trading, there seems to be no shortage of mechanisms for generating money out of thin air. One of the more absurd things being “high speed/frequency trading” which , imho, borders on computer fraud.
High speed trading is one of the worst things of this society. They offer no benefit to the society. They just get in between the process of two parties that would have found each other anyway, leeching a bit of the money. There is no service or anything. It is tantamount to stealing.
He mentioned that in an older comic if I recall correctly. Was something along the lines of “taking a fraction of a cent off from all kinds of platforms and transactions, so no one even notices a loss”
Danny
1 month ago
I’d ask Zeke where they got the money to leave at these sites as payment, but it’s become increasingly apparent that Zeke is
pretty much* completely operating according to Ethan’s taught morals, and Zeke probably got the money through some perfectly aboveboard means. Probably something involving the half-pennies of everybody’s checks.
*with the notable exception of killing their former master.
The Master isn’t dead. It looks like Zeke is going for the reparations, which is creating another one of themselves. Though they did suggest that the Master is… uncomfortable. As not all morals have been explored, they probability improvised.
I think it is not a moral thing. It seems practical. Zeke is smart, they doesn’t want to attract unwanted attention when they has enough to deal with, Paying for goods is a way to avoid dealing with law officers.
Kenju
1 month ago
Would be touching if Ethan at least got a Friend request so they could co-op, they need Zeke for a full Helldiver squad.
Very touching and very good wrap up to this though, good to see both Scott and Zeke having developed a measure of…I wouldn’t go as far as to say trust, but, respect perhaps?
I want to see the Megagame ads when they find out.
Derfman
1 month ago
I wonder what Scott thought Ethan could do to stop him. Pretty much out of his hands at this time.
Solauren
1 month ago
I can see Zeke making the money as a computer programmer. He’s got the mental capacity to be doing that 24/7 in his own head, and then uploading completed code/projects before deadline.
omg omg
1 month ago
Last panel melted my heart.Ethan and Scott are true brothers, they had their differences, but at the end they care for eachother.
Shona-SoF
1 month ago
I am really impressed with how this was resolved with actual empathy rather that the obvious route of leaning on the question of Ethan’s power working or not to drive the resolution in some way.
Pulse
1 month ago
positives: zeke is alive, apparently semi hostile instead of outright, and relaxed enough to still want games.
negatives: zeke is desiring companions on his level, and is acquiring the materials to do so. the last dimension didn’t end well after that happened…
Jeff
1 month ago
“Invent Quantum Teleportation already, you useless apes.” – That is an EPIC line.
24
‘Zeke’ rather than ‘it’ now
Zeke didn’t try to harm them once he saw the threat to himself was neutralized, might’ve given Scott some insight that it’s not just meant to hurt people, for now.
Nah. Zeke said it himself. Ethan is a vulnerability he can’t afford to have. Proving to himself Ethan is the only person that can reason with him as Ethan is truly his only friend, and killing scott would have severed him to complete isolation.
Zeke specifically told Scott that they were giving him a second chance. Immediately after they understood where his fears were coming from, displayed empathy, and compared those fears to their own. And yes, I’m sure that their friendship with Ethan influenced the decision, but they very clearly made that decision based off of Scott’s words and actions.
Yeah, but it’s “. . . Zeke” instead of “Zeke”. It’s like someone saying, “How is your . . . girlfriend?” instead of “How is your girlfriend?” — not as unqualified as it really out to be.
Context matters. It reads that he was overriding his usual tendency to say ‘it’.
Scott character growth good
Zeke character growth good
All in all the Troll’s plan seems to have caused things to wind up better than they might otherwise have been, so that’s neat
I still feel a sense of foreboding for the coming pages
It’s at least something to restart a relationship with
Good stuff
Honestly how I saw this going down was zeke would try to shoot Scott, Ethan would either get in the way or zeke would shoot Ethan thinking he would respawn soon, either way Scott would tell zeke about Ethan and the troll causing a crisis in him about if he would want to save a human.
Ethan’s peace offering accepted. Sweet!
While Zeke may be paying for the boards, one does have to wonder where he is getting the currency from.
Probably hacking from the Master money. Look like the guy that would have all his money in cash (you know, for no trusting the digital pay system)
I wonder why Zeke thinks how breaking into a factory, printing circuit boards and leaving a pile of cash is not going to raise any red flags…
It’s not that old.
Make $15.276,07 from home every week using this simple trick…
But there’s plenty of options for someone of their capacities, even legal ones like stock trading etc. . Could also have confiscated Eugene’s assets.
Exchanges require KYC info, so he must be committing identity theft to get into stock trading.
This is a world with secret identities, there has to be some means of either procuring a new identity (claim your old one has leaked and you need protection), or using the secret identity only in financial exchanges, to avoid traceability to your regular persona.
That’s assuming that Zeke had to ‘steal’ anything at all.
I have a feeling that Eugene is still very much alive. With at least one or two attendants with him at any time. With every one of his actions closely monitored. Probably with some sort of device inserted into his own cranium.
There’s still plenty of instances where it’s useful to have a human. Packages to sign for, bank withdrawals to make, etc.
Zeke said Eugene still lives, because Zeke needs him to help build more robots like themselves. I don’t think they are lying about that. (although it may come to bite Zeke back, if Eugene manages to sneak something in, be it hardware or software)
theres this wonderful thing called cryptocurrencies that dont need any KYC and a bot able to rewrite its programming as its being read could easily handle the processing of.
Or, mining some type of bitcoins?
Either itself, or by some of the….. drones/pets?
I believe it was mentioned in one of the earlier chapters that Zeke was able to ‘shave’ coins from internet transactions
It worked in Office Space, right?
Also with Richard Prior in Superman 3!
Well, if you look at the inner workings of stock exchange trading, there seems to be no shortage of mechanisms for generating money out of thin air. One of the more absurd things being “high speed/frequency trading” which , imho, borders on computer fraud.
High speed trading is one of the worst things of this society. They offer no benefit to the society. They just get in between the process of two parties that would have found each other anyway, leeching a bit of the money. There is no service or anything. It is tantamount to stealing.
He mentioned that in an older comic if I recall correctly. Was something along the lines of “taking a fraction of a cent off from all kinds of platforms and transactions, so no one even notices a loss”
I’d ask Zeke where they got the money to leave at these sites as payment, but it’s become increasingly apparent that Zeke is
pretty much* completely operating according to Ethan’s taught morals, and Zeke probably got the money through some perfectly aboveboard means. Probably something involving the half-pennies of everybody’s checks.
*with the notable exception of killing their former master.
Ah, yes. The Gus Gorman gambit.
The Master isn’t dead. It looks like Zeke is going for the reparations, which is creating another one of themselves. Though they did suggest that the Master is… uncomfortable. As not all morals have been explored, they probability improvised.
I would imagine that Zeke could easily formulate an algorithm to predict Lottery numbers.
How he claims the money… well…that’s a different kettle of fish.
I think it is not a moral thing. It seems practical. Zeke is smart, they doesn’t want to attract unwanted attention when they has enough to deal with, Paying for goods is a way to avoid dealing with law officers.
Would be touching if Ethan at least got a Friend request so they could co-op, they need Zeke for a full Helldiver squad.
Very touching and very good wrap up to this though, good to see both Scott and Zeke having developed a measure of…I wouldn’t go as far as to say trust, but, respect perhaps?
immediate team kill against the bots. there will be no killing of their own kind!
I predict mysterious customers arriving at a certain game store.
Even more mysterious than usual.
Am I the only one who kind of wants to see Eugene being forced to go to Game Haven to buy a new game for Zeke at some point?
I want to see the Megagame ads when they find out.
I wonder what Scott thought Ethan could do to stop him. Pretty much out of his hands at this time.
I can see Zeke making the money as a computer programmer. He’s got the mental capacity to be doing that 24/7 in his own head, and then uploading completed code/projects before deadline.
Last panel melted my heart.Ethan and Scott are true brothers, they had their differences, but at the end they care for eachother.
I am really impressed with how this was resolved with actual empathy rather that the obvious route of leaning on the question of Ethan’s power working or not to drive the resolution in some way.
positives: zeke is alive, apparently semi hostile instead of outright, and relaxed enough to still want games.
negatives: zeke is desiring companions on his level, and is acquiring the materials to do so. the last dimension didn’t end well after that happened…
“Invent Quantum Teleportation already, you useless apes.” – That is an EPIC line.