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[1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:06 pm
by GreyWolfe
Fred has posted the new comic to his Patreon. He'll post it to the main site later today or tomorrow.

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:44 pm
by paarfi
Poor Ping. :(

I wonder who is calling Junko? Maybe Combover-san from before [760]? Maybe Largo (we know he has her number [1164])? Maybe Mr Ibara? Hmm. It wouldn't be Tsubasa, since it's way to early for him to step out of the shadows and reveal his sinister plan. :ninja:

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:59 pm
by GreyWolfe
I think Junko, whilst probably not intending it, is being incredibly harsh to Ping in a flippant way here. I know it's the standard 'schoolgirl' thing to criticise weight, but she is far from being 'fat'.

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:48 pm
by Invisigoth
Since I laughed at this while reading it in a doctors office waiting room but I've also been criticized for having a "gritty grunchy" view I'll just say that this strip goes very very deep with layered meanings and leave it at that. :P

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:03 pm
by eomdal
Tone and text are ambiguous here, but I think Junko realizes that Ping in kind of right. Users are users and playthings are playthings.

Though, this may not be a user on the phone. Junko is blushing. That's not a face that says "oh, that client."

Or, if it is a user, then maybe she and Ping can help each other out. Junko is unready and Ping needs a user, so....

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:06 am
by kendermouse
Poor Ping... she looks so dismayed.

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:14 am
by cidjen
Ping's face also seems to be changing, looking more 'real', more like 'other girls', not just body size. Adjusting to real life examples, probably?

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:32 am
by Teddy-Werebear
Took me a little while in the first panel to realize that was Ping's reflection in the burrow mirror, not a new girl or one of Junko's gang.
"Users" joke was funny, but some might take it as too pat.
If only women who got "fat" did it in Ping's proportions... sigh. I doubt it would help much with over all body issues angst ladies have or make things better for women, but I sure would enjoy walks in public places more. (I know that makes me sound like a cad... but I am not nearly that bad.)

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:58 am
by Initial B
So from the dialogue, I guess we are to assume that Junko is still doing the Enjo Kosai thing? Though this contact looks to be someone that she may have feelings for (or usually wants to do something that embarasses her).

Since Ping can change her appearance based on the user, I wonder what happens if she sets the user setting to herself. Perhaps all she has to do is will herself to look a certain way and she'll change. That would be a useful life hack.

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:28 am
by cidjen
Or it could be her dad.

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:44 am
by Ningen
I doubt that. I think this is someone she wants to see, just not right now.

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:24 am
by Mamma Peach
Ping is having experiences that her makers never intended her to have... maybe she is becoming real. It seems that in a not so funny way she and Junko are having a lot in common here. I wonder if a closer relationship between the two might help them both see things more clearly in regards to their own choices and possibilities in life.

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:48 am
by darrin
Hee hee, Ping's hair is fighting back. :lol: I wanna see it yank the brush out of Junko's hand and thwack her with it. :twisted:
Initial B wrote:
Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:58 am
Since Ping can change her appearance based on the user, I wonder what happens if she sets the user setting to herself.
Positive feedback loop. :o Learned from Doctor Who just how nasty those can be (not so much the newer ones, but in a bunch of 3rd + 4th Doctor episodes, usually due to the Master trying to blow up a lot of stuff at once. ;))

EDIT:
Of course Junko is having trouble with Ping's hair. The "messed up" hair drivers Ping mentioned in 1487 have by now dropped down to failsafe mode; every time Junko tries to run the brush through, she just triggers another few tens of thousands of cycles of:

Code: Select all

eds_hcs (v1.2.1): attempt to displace hair 0x03fa6 detected
eds_hcs (v1.2.1): resetting hair 0x03fa6 to previous position
@Tiger, below: Yeah, she's no Crushinator, but she's cute in her own way. :D

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:13 pm
by cidjen
Saaa... positive feedback loop can seriously destabilize the entire system ... from small oscillations, to huge unpredictable sways.

sry, learned-profession-induced OCD kicked in

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:41 pm
by iffy
It's not clear if Ping "cares" about her dimensions and accessory styles and colors, short of how a user would expect it. Also not clear if she was programmed initially at all for such reactions. She looks kind of blank when we first see her in 106, maybe just basic look/act human and non-H privacy but the rest was mostly just Princess Maker whatever. Although after all the shocks and emotional purges and whatever happened to her with Miho and whatever happened to her with Junko, and the entire Miho and The Horde situation, who knows what state Ping is in. Seemingly she doesn't, and who else around might. She's advanced tech prototype some such, another case of those in charge not being around to provide authoritative definitive answers. Although according to the manual, there is no reset for her, so what she is now what she is now.

Well, as far as Junko, if she's like "That's today?" and the phone was giving her a calendar notification, it's an appointment she forgot about, and it's on an odd day apparently. "He" maybe means not a "stupid lover" but otherwise. Which seems like not enough information to determine who it might be, why, and if they have or will have any bearing upon any of the stories currently in play.

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 2:23 pm
by Tiger
They keep saying she's Fat but I think she has the most voluptuous body now. Go figure. :ph34r:

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 4:00 pm
by Roborat
GreyWolfe wrote:
Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:59 pm
I think Junko, whilst probably not intending it, is being incredibly harsh to Ping in a flippant way here. I know it's the standard 'schoolgirl' thing to criticise weight, but she is far from being 'fat'.
If I have learned anything from my Manga obsession, it is that, by Japanese school girl standards, she is fat. Of course, they tend to border on anorexic, so it wouldn't take much weight gain to get to that level.

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:24 pm
by BetaCygnus
iffy wrote:
Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:41 pm
She looks kind of blank when we first see her in 106, maybe just basic look/act human and non-H privacy but the rest was mostly just Princess Maker whatever. Although after all the shocks and emotional purges and whatever happened to her …
…like, maybe, the experience of Freds drawing skills advancing nearly seventeen years and 1401 comic posts?

; )

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:49 pm
by Rapierman
So, nobody remembered to program Ping to take care of herself when she doesn't have a user or a game to play. Bit of an oversight there. :P

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:32 pm
by eomdal
cidjen wrote:
Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:14 am
Ping's face also seems to be changing, looking more 'real', more like 'other girls', not just body size. Adjusting to real life examples, probably?
Yes! Ping is becoming less of a otaku fantasy and more real because of her interactions with the real world (real as far as Megatokyo goes, of course). Ping is a prototype, after all: the Sony engineers either made this function incomplete or never even created it themselves, not fully understanding her experimental -and incredibly complex - AI and how it would react. Unless this condition is permanent or gets worse, then the natural outcome will be uniquely Ping, not a fantasy as determined by Sony marketing. Ping has the ability to evolve as an individual beyond her programming. The case could then be made for Ping's person-hood.

Junko, meanwhile, may be having her own reaction to having to be a user's fantasy. I hope that it doesn't somehow influence Ping and undo her progress.

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:41 pm
by Teddy-Werebear
Nobody called or texted Junko, that was a calendar reminder I will wager.

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:02 am
by Peter
I'm thinking it may be with "L33t D00d"

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:25 am
by darrin
Teddy-Werebear wrote:
Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:41 pm
Nobody called or texted Junko, that was a calendar reminder I will wager.
<darrin likes this>

EDIT:
whoops, sorry iffy, must've missed you saying that earlier. :(

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:27 pm
by iffy
BetaCygnus wrote:
Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:24 pm
…like, maybe, the experience of Freds drawing skills advancing nearly seventeen years and 1401 comic posts?; )
Yep there is that, good point. But ignoring the tech-time shift. Forgetting the style itself or how it has changed. Compare like things, her around the 100s to others around the 100s. They've got plenty of emotive looks in 98 99 100 101. In 106 she looks like she's purposely drawn blank and emotionless and such. Almost like she's in sleep state or something. Ahha, yeah lol. Zombie Ping -- she is in standby mode.

You never know what you'll find just a comic or few away, such as a bit more of internal Piro in what's with the knee brace?.

Anyway, the next time we see Ping after the store is in no b33r h3r3, and after she starts interacting, she's not so much like that any longer, powered up and what have you.

iffy wrote:
Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:41 pm
Well, as far as Junko, if she's like "That's today?" and the phone was giving her a calendar notification, it's an appointment she forgot about, and it's on an odd day apparently.
Teddy-Werebear wrote:
Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:41 pm
Nobody called or texted Junko, that was a calendar reminder I will wager.
darrin wrote:
Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:25 am
<darrin likes this>

lol
great minds think alike

Re: [1507] "Being Yourself"

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:01 pm
by cidjen
If Ping was not just PS2 accessory, I would have said she had built in Bluetooth and has peeked into Junko's address book already (you have lots of users, lol)