Oh, that makes things clearer for me, too, though now that I look at it in that light, “elevates a bot” reads like a double meaning for arousal, so DarkStarling’s “That’s hot!” reading, plus a little extra bow-chicka.
Yes but it’s debatable how seriously either one of them takes it. Or maybe I mean how finely the relationship is. As per http://skin-horse.com/comic/labs-any/
I love how bubbles has developed her body language over time. At first she had a very unnatural stance and then, over time, without us noticing, she has become quite adept at expressing things with her drone body. And all that while still being clearly distinct from Violet 1, Violet 2, Nick and WhimsyCorp.
Actually, it’s not only her body language, her spoken language has evolved a lot too. Now she’s much more communicative, even with her 5 words. That watercooler surely has grown.
I’m wondering the extent to which Bubbles was planned. I know that Shaenon works crazily far in advance (to the extent of probably having much of the plot planned from the very start), but Bubbles seems to show signs of just spontaneously taking a silly idea and deciding to run with it as far as possible. So far she’s been straddling the border between relevance and irrelevance, not really contributing anything to the story besides humor, romantic tension, and holding the drone when no one else is using it for plot.
I suppose Unity’s gender is, technically changeable – so, she *could* be a dude. Also, it occurs to me, isn’t Unity the one who gave Bubbles coffee, back when she was still a water cooler? That would certainly explain the love. 🙂
No no, her SEX is swapable and combinable however she wants but I’m pretty sure Unity is a girl. Also, I’d forgotten about the coffee 🙂 Unity is sweet, in her way. She’s lucky to have someone that appreciates it.
Now I’m wondering which words would be added first if the gang tried to expand Bubbles’ vocabulary. Probably everything that gets overwritten when Nick speaks.
I would love to know how much work Shaenon and Jeff put in to taking Service Is My Only Joy and developing so many expressive permutations. I’ll bet it was a lot, accompanied by a lot of cursing and whining that they couldn’t have made the base phrase just one or two words longer.
Okay… Assuming Sweetdaddy understands Bubbles just fine (which seems to be the case), and that Bubbles is referring to Unity (who is afaik the main person she’s been seeing)… is Sweetdaddy’s comment in the last panel a comment about him picturing the… for lack of a better term… “girl”-on-“girl” action? :-\
Man I’m glad I’m not new to reading this strip, otherwise the exchange between Bubbles and Sweetdaddy would have been cinfusing enough, let alone the waterfall of comments and insight that followed.
What could possibly go wrong with jumping in at the point where an android who was formerly a water cooler and has a five-word vocabulary converses with a funky robot about relationships?
These days, that’s only marginally unusual in a comic. I’m currently reading one with a duck that had an encyclopedia downloaded into his brain, one where the characters hid the planet Earth from an alien invasion and then misplaced it, and one where a character just invented the concept of color, in a black-and-white strip.
Water cooler/zombie/robot love triangles just don’t stand out in that environment. 🙂
Bubbles truly is happy when speaking about Unity in panel three (unless she is actually talking about a new girl, she met in her temporary job, called Joy)
if those two ever converse, they’d have a introduction panel, a brief comment in the middle and then “19 hours later” they’re finishing an in depth conversation that everyone else found to be profoundly moving.
…I find it funny that people have an entire chain of comments about characters with limited vocabularies and yet are able to use those very limited vocabularies to convey a wide variety of ideas through context and not mention the Unseen University’s Librarian from Discworld. Guy can only communicate through Ook and Eek and yet is able to rule the library of a college of wizards with an iron fist.
Aw, “Only is only”! What a beautiful expression of monogamy!
Yep, Bubbles is quite cute and expressive. It’s amazing what she can get away with..
I love how much context Bubbles can convey when she only has a vocabulary of five words.
Six, counting that one time she said “not.”
Oh, yes, I’d forgotten!
Two times she said not by my count, but yes.
Should we know who Bubbles’ “Only is only. Joy.” is? I got nuthin’.
Unity?
Unity.
Translation: “So what’s the dude’s name?” “it’s not a dude” “picturing this makes me feel a little better” “Don’t be so cis-normative!”
Eh, close enough :p I would have said “That’s hot” “Don’t be rude” myself, but whatever floats your boat.
Best part is, with bubble speak BOTH layers may apply at once.
“Don’t be rude” is a better translation. I meant a scold in as in don’t be prurient/don’t objectify my love as a fantasy for your entertainment.
So, like a miamaska?
heteronormative, not cis-normative.
*fuss fuss*
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Thanks.
Oh, that makes things clearer for me, too, though now that I look at it in that light, “elevates a bot” reads like a double meaning for arousal, so DarkStarling’s “That’s hot!” reading, plus a little extra bow-chicka.
Gotta be. Sweetdaddy is elevated by the thought of hot drone-on-necro action.
Anyway, why does the link under the comic say ’29 comments’, but ‘7 comments’ when you click on it?
And after I posted that comment, all 29 (er, 30) show up.
And the beginning is “How’s it been? *wink* ” “Good but…I’m not single.” “Aw man really?” “I know but there it is.”
She’s vbeen dating UNITY for awhile. Well, awhile in real time, I’m not sure what the timeline is in-comic.
Yes but it’s debatable how seriously either one of them takes it. Or maybe I mean how finely the relationship is. As per http://skin-horse.com/comic/labs-any/
Looks like Bubbles takes it seriously. Unity either takes everything, or nothing, seriously. It’s kind of hard to tell.
OTOH, fair enough, although it could be simply that Bubbles misunderstood the invitation, and was overwhelmed with the unexpected attention.
I love how bubbles has developed her body language over time. At first she had a very unnatural stance and then, over time, without us noticing, she has become quite adept at expressing things with her drone body. And all that while still being clearly distinct from Violet 1, Violet 2, Nick and WhimsyCorp.
Actually, it’s not only her body language, her spoken language has evolved a lot too. Now she’s much more communicative, even with her 5 words. That watercooler surely has grown.
I’m wondering the extent to which Bubbles was planned. I know that Shaenon works crazily far in advance (to the extent of probably having much of the plot planned from the very start), but Bubbles seems to show signs of just spontaneously taking a silly idea and deciding to run with it as far as possible. So far she’s been straddling the border between relevance and irrelevance, not really contributing anything to the story besides humor, romantic tension, and holding the drone when no one else is using it for plot.
She has been my favourite character for a while now! Not that I don’t love the others.
Isn’t Bubbles dating Unity? Not her fault Sweetdaddy assumes she’s dating a dude.
I suppose Unity’s gender is, technically changeable – so, she *could* be a dude. Also, it occurs to me, isn’t Unity the one who gave Bubbles coffee, back when she was still a water cooler? That would certainly explain the love. 🙂
http://skin-horse.com/comic/less-fun/
No no, her SEX is swapable and combinable however she wants but I’m pretty sure Unity is a girl. Also, I’d forgotten about the coffee 🙂 Unity is sweet, in her way. She’s lucky to have someone that appreciates it.
Two someones.
And Remy, too.
Yup, Unity seems to charm wherever she goes.
There’s also Alfie.
“picturing this elevates the bot slightly” implies, like most guys, he finds that bubbles is seeing a girl, kind of hot.
This conversation would make Unity pretty happy.
Don’t forget her rarely-used sixth word!
In case of emergency, break circuit.
I was wondering, but it seems Unity has nothing to worry about.
Unofficial translation for the confused from the slightly less confused:
Sweet Daddy: Shall we pick up where we left off?
Bubbles: I wish we could, but I am now in a relationship.
SD: Someone moved in and replaced me? That makes me sad.
B: They’re the only one for me.
SD: What’s his name?
B: She’s called Unity.
SD: I find the fact that you are in a lesbian relationship arousing.
B: Behave yourself.
“Behave yourself” is EXACTLY the translation I was looking for, thank you.
You dirty, dirty-minded guy, Sweetdaddy.
Yes, Bubbles. Fan-service.
And what did you expect Sweetdaddy? Your pedipalps are welded onto your faceplate.
Now I’m wondering which words would be added first if the gang tried to expand Bubbles’ vocabulary. Probably everything that gets overwritten when Nick speaks.
I would love to know how much work Shaenon and Jeff put in to taking Service Is My Only Joy and developing so many expressive permutations. I’ll bet it was a lot, accompanied by a lot of cursing and whining that they couldn’t have made the base phrase just one or two words longer.
Based on some of Jeff’s other writings, I think he has some sort of compulsion that makes him include characters with sharply limited vocabularies.
Okay… Assuming Sweetdaddy understands Bubbles just fine (which seems to be the case), and that Bubbles is referring to Unity (who is afaik the main person she’s been seeing)… is Sweetdaddy’s comment in the last panel a comment about him picturing the… for lack of a better term… “girl”-on-“girl” action? :-\
That seems to be the opinion of the folks, yes. And hence her reprimand of “Service!”
… I swear half these comments weren’t here when I started this post.
Yeah, I had the same bug earlier today.
Man I’m glad I’m not new to reading this strip, otherwise the exchange between Bubbles and Sweetdaddy would have been cinfusing enough, let alone the waterfall of comments and insight that followed.
What could possibly go wrong with jumping in at the point where an android who was formerly a water cooler and has a five-word vocabulary converses with a funky robot about relationships?
These days, that’s only marginally unusual in a comic. I’m currently reading one with a duck that had an encyclopedia downloaded into his brain, one where the characters hid the planet Earth from an alien invasion and then misplaced it, and one where a character just invented the concept of color, in a black-and-white strip.
Water cooler/zombie/robot love triangles just don’t stand out in that environment. 🙂
Bubbles truly is happy when speaking about Unity in panel three (unless she is actually talking about a new girl, she met in her temporary job, called Joy)
I now want to see Bubbles interacting with Groot, and see how long I can maintain my ability to follow the conversation.
That could be interesting, although Groot only has 3 words, and Bubbles has eight (although she appears to reserve “not” for special circumstances.)
if those two ever converse, they’d have a introduction panel, a brief comment in the middle and then “19 hours later” they’re finishing an in depth conversation that everyone else found to be profoundly moving.
…I find it funny that people have an entire chain of comments about characters with limited vocabularies and yet are able to use those very limited vocabularies to convey a wide variety of ideas through context and not mention the Unseen University’s Librarian from Discworld. Guy can only communicate through Ook and Eek and yet is able to rule the library of a college of wizards with an iron fist.