Skull Buddy
UNSETTLING
Comments (79)
Pintsize and Claire need to see a day in the life of Faye and Bubbles, specifically things such as these repairs being performed on Melon (an ideal version of events without this argument), and the repair and enhancement work they did on Millefeuille. I believe they might find even more new opportunities to develop their friendship. It may also help with the reset on things that Faye and Pintsize discussed when she was examining his new chassis.
So, when we cut to Faye at Coffee of Doom, do Dora and Tai have a code for this occasion too?
Clearly there’s some subtext here that is being missed by Faye…I see nothing inherently wrong with how Faye handled things to start with, but Bubbles immediately turned things up to 100 with her reaction. Clearly this is hiring Bubbles badly for some specific reason that isn’t obvious to Faye (or me, for that matter).
All of Bubbles' friends in the military died because she was disabled by an EMP weapon. She may still wonder whether something was missed. A defect. Some minor flaw that made her vulnerable.
For everyone here that's on Bubbles' side, think about what she said: She and Faye have been doing this for a while, and they've been repairing bots that are in terrible conditions. Faye made a call about a part that she didn't think was messed up beyond discoloration. You do that kind of thing in maintenance all the time, as both a time-saving and cost-saving measure: if the part is fine but it doesn't look pretty, why replace it if you're not gonna see it? Sometimes you mess up, and you find out when someone else checks your work. When that happens, you go "Huh, well fuck, let's replace that then" and you carry on with your day. Bubbles decided to take it a step further and question Faye's ability to do her job over this one clearly small mistake. That's not cool. If someone in my shop did that to me or one of my guys, we would have serious words. And before we get on the whole "standard of care" argument, there ARE different standard of care between humans and AI with regards to bodies. AI bodies are not integral to the survival of their host conscious like a humans are, they're much more akin to cars. The AI in universe even treat them this way, with really the only exception we've seen being Roko: everyone else can swap their chassis as they please or make changes or upgrades as they see fit, with the only real barrier being money. As such, the standard of care for an AI chassis is much more on the level of an auto mechanic than a doctor.
It’s a very sound argument. Honestly my first thought is I want Bubbles and Faye to host an NPR/Car Talk style podcast about fixing AIs.
You know you're in danger when Bubble is using contractions.
I guess many people here argue for and against both Faye and Bubbles as if it was simply about professionalism, attention to detail and even emotional connection between two persons. While it is important, I guess it is some long repressed emotions bubbling up (no pun intended). Also there's a very important bit about cultural differences. Imagine this situation if they were working in barbershop, and Bubbles and Melon were Black women, while Faye was... well, Faye. And now imagine Faye messing up something with Melon's hair, and brushing it off as a minor mistake. It would invoke some really bad reactions from Bubbles, even if she knows that Faye is not racist and generally a good person.
So, as a POC... I have like a half-formed understanding of what you're talking about, but mostly I don't. Maybe it's that I've never worked in a barbershop or really fussed around with hair? Mostly I'm saying that your choice of thought exercise is shining absolutely no light on this for me.
I'm currently going through a lengthy (and potentially terminal) argument with a partner, and this storyline is playing absolute hell with my emotions.
I really hope Bubbles is able to upgrade Melon's hair by sewing again. I think Yay and Melon would have tons of fun with that.
Vibe activated.
Melon actually looks pretty cute like this.
SKULLMASTER is missing OUT! She'll be so mad.
"This fight isn't about the fact that I was wrong, it's about the fact that I don't like how you responded to me being wrong!"
The fight is about treating Faye as a competent but inexperienced partner willing to improve as opposed to a deliberately sloppy and lazy underling.
Hoo boy, this one gives me relationship anxiety. I've been on the Faye side of things too often to give Bubbles the benefit of the doubt here. If someone close to you makes a mistake and your first reaction is to be passive aggressive about it, all you're doing is escalating the issue. It's not constructive and it doesn't make anybody feel good.
Everyone can see why Bubbles is mad. To see why Faye is mad, imagine if the previous conversation had gone like this: "Oh, it looks like the scorching on that jaw is worse than we thought, this part is warped, let's replace that." ... life continues.
This was an excellent teaching moment for Bubbles. Faye admitted that Bubbles was better before even starting and when the issue was first pointed out Faye was receptive to the valid criticism. Bubbles failed in taking the role of a teacher here, however. Instead of using this as an example of how to identify and diagnose heat damage, Bubbles insulted and belittled Faye. The lesson is lost in the insults and insinuations, and Faye is on the defensive.
“Skullmaster, draw me like one of your skull girls”
Not to make light of the situation/fight but I doubt Melon is going to be upset in any form in regards to Faye messing up. I could see Melon ‘missing’/deleting the coding to be angry at people.
We'd call Melon a happy little Vegemite here, complications are noise that gets boring.
Gonna make y'all mad at me maybe. I think you're missing the point, both their approaches are valid, they're just *incomplete*. Faye and Bubbles are an item because they compensate for each other: Faye is hazy on details sometimes but she has unerring artistic ability, and intuition about people. Bubbles has unerring technical ability, strength and perfect attention to detail, but can't see what's going on inside very often. And both understand this, but aren't seeing that as a positive, projecting their strengths as flaws in each other. As an autist hermit who is stressed by people I totally get that.
This!
I am so happy that Melon is being developed more as a character, makes me love her even more ♥️
How the f have I never realized melon has two different eye colors???? EDIT: Scrolled back and realized the color change of the one eye correlates to the damage. Clever. Goodness. I am in awe of the detail and the character development that Jeph does here.
Both have been through a lot and their past circumstances dictates their present. I think it will be easier for Bubbles to slowly ease out of her military OS than it will be for Faye to ease out of her defensive reactions. Yes, Faye needs to be more professional in her work but, Bubbles needs to have a more sliding scale in what deserves getting called out for major work versus minor work, and it’s pretty clear Faye thought the damage done on Melon was much more minor. There’s always a chance that Faye relapses, but I’m hoping/betting there will be a mirror of what Beeps did when Roko had a disassociation episode and made sure her friends were there to support her. Maybe Melon will suggest this to Bubbles now we know she saw/heard everything.
Yeah, Faye made a mistake, Bubbles' reaction wasn't professional or kind. When Faye's reaction made it clear that Bubble's reaction landed poorly, Bubbles doubled down. I hope they learn from this experience and develop new skills.
So Melon was the real Skullmaster all along!
Wow, so Melon does have intelligence!
Unfortunately for Bubbles, your tone DOES matter when you're talking to someone you love, professional setting or not. Bubbles immediately jumped to passive aggressiveness, which is not what I'd call "professional" regardless. Not to say Faye is in the right, though; I can understand why Bubs would be frustrated with how flippant Faye was being. In the end, they were both being a bit shitty.
Bubbles has been hitting all the points. It didn't even occur to me that someone could think she was in error,... I was sweating the fact that it looked like Faye was self destructing her relationship. I don't want that. (Understatement) WTF is this "good enough" mentality. When I fixed stuff I did the best I could or said the reason why, (Im sorry ma'am, you sat out on you patio with this computer all summer, the motherboard is corroded, your fans are full of sand, I got enough gunk off it to see the corrosion and the shorts - but this can't be fixed.), if I did a good enough - the device was to be used ONE MORE TIME because it needed to work. Faye is too casual here.
She noticed one mistake her girlfriend had made and immediately implied that the rest of her work must have been bad too and that she didn't deserve to have her job. If someone did that to me, I'd be emotionally crushed.
All the people who think that Bubbles is being unreasonable- If this were two doctors with an unconscious patient on the table, where one didn't do their job correctly and put the patient in danger: Would you still think Bubbles was being unreasonable? And in this comic she's being extra smart by telling Faye to go to lunch to prevent escalating as Bubbles is now going to have to rego over Faye's whole evaluation. This is not, Ooops, Faye made a mistake, this is oops Faye majorly fucked up in a way that could harm Melon, and Faye is just not getting that and is making light of it. I think Faye would be looking at this differently if she regarded Melon as equally deserving of treatment as humans. Also, Melon, wtf lol.
If these were doctors, then it is the responsibility of the more experienced one to help the other become better from this. And to put it in perspective, this is not Faye hacking at things without care or a plan, she miss-diagnosed something which she saw literally minutes prior. Yes it was a mistake on her part, but not because she was rushing or lazy. Faye knew her limitations, which is why she asked Bubbles to handle this part; to ensure Faye's inexperience did not lead to greater damages.
Jeph's "haha woo" on the last comic made me wonder if this was gonna get a lot worse before it gets better. I remember him talking about how much he hates making his characters fight, like when Marten & Dora split. 😓
Did anybody here think she was actually asleep?
Yes, shamefully.
Oh nooooo Mommy and Mommy are FIGHTING 😢
Just think of the make-up sex though. They may need a hotel room so Marten & Claire gets some sleep.
I really hope Faye gets advice from Marten. I’m not sure who Bubbles should get advice from although I will be pleased and amused if it turns out it should be Melon in an absurdist yet meaningful way.
I could imagine Yay discreetly telling Roko to check by Union Robotics. Make sure the ankle won't develop that hitch again, something like that.
I’m with Faye here. It’s hard to accept wrong-doing instantly when you screw up in a professional capacity, it might take a second to put your pride aside. But there’s no excuse for Bubbles coming in so passive-aggressive, and then DISMISSING her? That’s aggro as hell.
Nah, Bubbles told her why the mistake was important and Faye just about brushed it aside, then complained. I think they're both putting it out of proportion a bit, but at least in Bubble's case it's likely a bit more personal, and professionalism in AI repair is held to a higher standard.
When MY spouse is being intolerable, I eat lunch, and that fixes him.
I’m more with Faye here. Bubs caught a mistake, Faye accepted it, Bubs asked if there was anything else Faye might have missed (but in a fairly shitty way) and then got more shitty with the config file comment. Yes it would have been more serious if the repair had continued without fixing the error, but it was caught (and why it was an issue was pointed out to deal with possible future occurrences). Nothing in Faye’s initial response was really out of line since she was recording. Bubs last response was unprofessional to have on a recording for a client (Faye should not have mentioned the $20 just said well we sure can’t give this recording to Melon now). And even though Bubs could keep working, telling Faye to leave was another escalation.
They're both being shitty & both are understandable. Faye blew off the discoloration initially (understandably), then when Bubs said, "No actually this matters," Faye said, "Huh, OK," which didn't exactly inspire confidence in her empathy or work.
... and then THEY fucked?
I feel as though Melon may be about to set out after Sarah Connor
I'd watch that movie.
At least they have the common sense to take a minute and cool off. Question is whether they come back and talk it out, or come back and start arguing again.
Good idea to separate and cool down before escalating
Is it just me, or do Bubble's eyes get a lot redder when she is angry?
I think it's not just you
Faye's not usually this careless about their clients. Is it because it's Melon? Or is something else up?
I think Bubbles is getting a little fed up w/ Faye's attitude about things concerning AI's - When Mellie got her butt implants Faye was like "I'll sell you a pair of my shorts for $20 bucks." While I do think they will discuss it, I think it could also have a worse outcome.
Maybe if Melon had been in standby the myomer attachment points would have been in the right position.
Melon needs to sing them "Twinkle twinkle, little star" - it worked for Roko. 😏😏
How am I just noticing Melon has heterochromia now? I'm assuming she damaged one of her eyes when she caught on fire and had to get a replacement, but I'm surprised it took me this long to notice.
To be fair, the different skin tones that she temporarily had may have distracted from the irises.
Oh man, as a teacher, an 11am lunch break is just any ol’ day for me 😅 and it often ends up earlier than that because I end up having to tutor during my lunch break
So AIs can talk without moving their mouths. Interesting. Makes you wonder how much of their appearance is for humans' visual comfort versus actual utility.
Those aren't the only options. We've seen a lot of AIs who enjoy their own bodies beyond mere practicality. Up to and including wanting to have a big butt!
Faye please apologize and make up :(
Faye... At least be smart enough to not let this cause a relapse.
I… don’t know that that’s a matter of “smart”. Behavioural patterns tend to be pretty subconscious, as far as I understand. Overriding ingrained patterns is… complicated, even if we understand those patterns to be counterproductive when we’re in the clearest headspace. Stressful situations often have us operating reflexively, and that’s not a great recipe for clarity. YMMV. Brains are complicated.
Faye- you're either being utterly tone deaf to the implications of your actions, or you're an idiot. Go get a cup of coffee and let your friends try to set you straight.
Maybe each of them will furtively post on r/amitheasshole
I *knew* Melon wouldn't be in standby mode!
Also Faye and Bubs are gonna break up and their business will go under and they might could die, but I'm trying to focus on the positives.
Something that could be avoided with a simple "oh shit my bad".
I mean, on what level are Faye and Bubbles basically doctors/surgeons except they do ai instead of humans?
My take is a question of standard of care. Are AIs deserving of a lesser standard because one can do a do over after a later date.
At least it’s their first major fight as a couple. I hope they can resolve it.
... I'm with Bubs.
Same. I'm guessing she wouldn't be so cavalier about it if the patient were human.
Oh, dear.
Even IF she was on standby, that's a wake interrupt if I ever saw one.
Oh buddy