Comic 1109 - "The Body Electric"

30th Nov 2014, 9:00 PM
"The Body Electric"
Average Rating: 5 (21 votes)
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Comments:

DizzasterJuice 30th Nov 2014, 9:17 PM edit delete reply

That's some cool looking HUD effects in that first panel.
Centcomm 30th Nov 2014, 9:31 PM edit delete reply

Thank you .. its a transparent panel with a opacity map - 3000 X 3000 :D did the hud elements in Photoshop and rendered them in place :D
Skweeee 30th Nov 2014, 9:45 PM edit delete reply

I'm one of those humans that are looking forward to intelligent robots.

I hate folding laundry.
Centcomm 30th Nov 2014, 9:57 PM edit delete reply

im sure Connie would enjoy it as much as anyone else would - she doesn't like doing her own laundry..
Pirtnac 30th Nov 2014, 11:26 PM edit delete reply
Right, but we're hoping androids invent self folding laundry, or at least the common sense to keep the controls off wifi.
Centcomm 30th Nov 2014, 11:39 PM edit delete reply

LOL good one :D
CptKerion 1st Dec 2014, 11:42 AM edit delete reply
I think its safe to assume that once we have intelligent robots we'll have not so intelligent robots that you can just dump your dirty laundry into, which will then wash, dry, fold and hang it and sort everything into the appropriate closets and drawers.
Sheela 1st Dec 2014, 12:19 PM edit delete reply

Not to mention, it will eat a few of your socks every now and then, just to make sure things aren't going perfectly all the time. :D
CptKerion 1st Dec 2014, 12:20 PM edit delete reply
Well, for removing the slobber from the socks I'd say it's a fair price to pay.
Sheela 2nd Dec 2014, 9:33 AM edit delete reply

Hrmm, androids and human underwear ?
With loyalty like a dog ?


Mr Black : "Connie, why are you eating my socks ?"
Connie : "Socks ? what socks ?"
Mr Black : "The half eaten ones on the floor?"
Connie : "Ohh, those socks!"
Connie : "They were already there when I came in here."
Mr Black : "Now Connie, I was in this room just before you went in here."
Connie : "I know that."
Mr Black : "There were no halfeaten socks when I left, Connie."
Connie : "Are you sure ?"
Mr Black : "Do you think I eat my own socks?"
Connie : "..."
Connie : ".. maybe?"
Mr Black : "Are .. are you sniffing my underwear now?"
Connie : ".. nooo."
Connie : "Why would I do that?"
Mr Black : "Could you put my boxershorts back in the clothes hamper then?"
Connie : "..."
Connie : "..."
Connie : "..."
Connie : ".. maybe ?"
Mr Black : *sigh*
Mr Black : "Get an android they said, it'll be fun, they said."
jamie59 30th Nov 2014, 9:47 PM edit delete reply

Who'd be afraid of a cute purple haired girl.
Centcomm 30th Nov 2014, 9:58 PM edit delete reply

some one that was a idiot. Connie is about as dangerous as a kitten ...
Stormwind13 1st Dec 2014, 3:57 AM edit delete reply

Some Kittens are more dangerous than others, CentComm. :-D
Dragonrider 30th Nov 2014, 10:15 PM edit delete reply

Seem to remember that there was a Nova Roma Pro Hooker at their last stop that had a big problem with her.
Centcomm 30th Nov 2014, 11:37 PM edit delete reply

Yes there was :D
anonymous coward 1st Dec 2014, 1:16 AM edit delete reply
I'll tell you who's afraid of a cute purple-haired gynoid girl, the ignorant and disaffected. An awful lot of 'trailer park trash' white people in America blame 'Mexican illegals' and other refugees for their lack of a job when the real problem is employers who get away with third-world outsourcing and hiring under the table for below a living wage instead of paying a fair living wage. I expect there's something similar at work in New Rome, and in New Troy, with the prejudices towards androids and gynoids.
Centcomm 1st Dec 2014, 1:35 AM edit delete reply

very good observation :D
Tokyo Rose 1st Dec 2014, 7:16 AM edit delete reply

Given that all androids in New Rome are property, this isn't applicable there. Other cities may have such a situation, however.
anonymous coward 2nd Dec 2014, 4:31 AM edit delete reply
One of the reasons for the 'panem et circenses' system of Imperial Rome, the historical version, was because of the patricians all having so many slaves to run the economy that there was no honest work left for normal citizens since they couldn't afford the land to start their own estates or the slaves to run their own, competitive, workshops.
Mister Black 1st Dec 2014, 7:24 AM edit delete reply

I'll tell you who's afraid of a cute (sic) gynoid girl. Anyone who's ever seen a Cassian, or one of Centcomm's "Angels".

Check your politics at the door...there are *plenty* of reasons to be afraid of androids / gynoids / deathbots in the DC universe, and very few of them have to do with innate bigotry. Thank you for playing.
Stormwind13 1st Dec 2014, 9:47 AM edit delete reply

Well yes, Mr. Black; however, those aren't PURPLE haired. The Cassians have different colored hair (so far, Black, White and Grey). As for CentComm's Angels (Devils!!!) those are Pink Haired MONSTERS, Mr. Black!!! Everyone knows that they are (conceived in) EVIL! :-D

So none of them are 'typical' gynoids. Not really a valid sample of the gynoids in the world, I think. :-) Still, they probably have an impact on perceptions far in excess of their true numbers.
CptKerion 1st Dec 2014, 11:52 AM edit delete reply
I had a round of alternity which everyone had completely randomly generated characters.
One of the guys rolled such that he got a pretty harmless looking female android of the extremely attractive persuasion... who also had the strength score to literally rip your arm off, a high enough dex to dodge bullets, enough unarmed combat to outdo a Shade operative, and a sniping ability literally unachievable by man.
That little sucker took apart an entire squad of alliance marines without getting hit once (of course, in Alternity, getting hit once by anything those Marines were carrying is a death sentence for a light tank)

Moral of that little tabletop excerpt? Never assume anything cute and female is harmless. Hell, never consider anything cute to be harmless. Cuteness and harmlessness have a direct negative correlation.
Stormwind13 1st Dec 2014, 1:30 PM edit delete reply

Never judge a book by its cover, eh Cpt? :-) Always a good idea, especially around gamers who have... quirky senses of humor. :-D
CptKerion 1st Dec 2014, 3:35 PM edit delete reply
Or lucky as hell rolls.
He wanted to get roughly the heavy duty marine I usually built when we weren't randomly generating. He got it in a smaller, cuter package with no power armor.
anonymous coward 2nd Dec 2014, 4:33 AM edit delete reply
Those would still be people-shaped-things being used by the elite to further their aims, without the consent of the underclasses, either way.
Haegan2005 30th Nov 2014, 10:32 PM edit delete reply

Interesting feed on what is going on elsewhere.

Connie is absolutely correct of course about what that is a symbol of. But it goes a little further then that. Its also a symbol of control over what we fear. Once it is controlled we do not need to fear it, though the very act of placing it underneath that form of control may create the conditions that will cause us to fear it.

In short, repression breeds rebellion.
Centcomm 30th Nov 2014, 11:37 PM edit delete reply

totally correct
Sheela 1st Dec 2014, 4:35 AM edit delete reply

It's also a symbol of bicycle locks on the necks of people.
Mark_L_A 15th May 2015, 11:28 AM edit delete reply

Not really control. That IS part of it, but "POWER" Like Mr. Sicko and what happened with Kelly and Minx. To some people the inhibitor gives them a sense of God Like Power, over someone. Some would abuse it in order to get their kicks like that creature did to Kelly, Minx and Kelly's "daughter", some would use it just so they could have power over another.

Like the kind person who would kick a Dog (Sorry Sheela) just because they can and feel like it.

Granted there are some good reasons for the use of an inhibitor, but this is just my opinion, they should be restricted and only allowed to be used under the main AIS's supervision.

Otherwise you have nothing but slavery, and everyone knows slaves are just fodder for someone's sick fantasies.

As an aside, it's storming real bad now here by my house and I have all 8 dogs and 3 cats trying to all snuggle up to me at the same time.
Thor 30th Nov 2014, 11:08 PM edit delete reply
I'm surprised that no one has hooked Connie up with a language pack yet. It would seem to be a no-brainer for this type of mission, especially for people whose brains can learn a language in less than a second.
Centcomm 30th Nov 2014, 11:39 PM edit delete reply

Language packs like what Ada and Teedee have to be integrated into them during a reload or at creation. Connie is still on her first body. and really has no need for that kind of invasive change. She can learn the language it will just take her a bit of time.
Stormwind13 1st Dec 2014, 4:10 AM edit delete reply

Well, Connie was NOT figured into the original rescue plan. Mr. Black just did some rescuing of his own, before the mission really started. And time has been limited since then.
Sheela 1st Dec 2014, 4:47 AM edit delete reply

You could "reload" her into her old body, right ?
Then the re-integration would be a snap, right ?
And there would be no capability issues either.

That said, I tried stuffing it into Google translate and got .. mumbo jumbo out of it.
I hope Connie has a better translator at hand than I do. :D
Tokyo Rose 1st Dec 2014, 7:18 AM edit delete reply

There are risks inherent in doing that, however. Reloads aren't quite as simple as putting a backed-up disk image into a new hard drive.
Stormwind13 1st Dec 2014, 9:50 AM edit delete reply

And as CentComm will attest, sometimes something goes WRONG with said backups. Then you windup with garbage (see her hard drive problems of 2013). :-P
CptKerion 1st Dec 2014, 12:08 PM edit delete reply
Okay Sheela, so I did a bit of translating, calling on my past latin experience (3 years of it in highschool) and a bit of help from Whitaker's Words ( http://archives.nd.edu/words.html )
"Take this to the door! Open it, because of the money."
the atque etiam seems to have been mutated for Nova Latina. My guess is roughly "But of Course" or "But... of course" or something along those lines.
"Nova Ilium" literally translates to New Troy, and the subject and adjective agree since I'm pretty sure
Ilium was third declension. IF not, lingual mutation.
Tincidunt does not appear to be latin. Pretium is value or worth, sometimes money but pecunia is usually what is used for money.
Ipsum is himself, herself, itself, themselves or in person. I could not find a meaning for phasellus. Due to structure, I can only guess that tincidunt is the verb and is some action that old Rome was not familiar with, and my guess is that phasellus is the same case except a noun.
The other possibility is that one or the other is fourth or fifth declension, the former I only ever scratched the surface of and the latter I never encountered.
Sheela 1st Dec 2014, 12:24 PM edit delete reply

played around with the google translator a bit more, and if you changed "tincidunt" to "incidunt" it pretty much changed the entire sentence.
CptKerion 1st Dec 2014, 12:28 PM edit delete reply
given that revelation I'm guessing Phasellus is a name now, and the meaning is roughly something along the lines of "Give the money to Phasellus himself"
Normally I'd expect pecunia there, but languages do evolve and Pretium can mean money.

And stumbled across a miss reading of mine. Read dominari as denarii.
Thus I believe it should read "to the master" not "because of the money."
Thanks for the revelation there Sheela
Sheela 1st Dec 2014, 12:44 PM edit delete reply

Ah, google keep changing the translations a lot, even with minor changes.
Here's the google translate results :


Accipe hoc ostium!			=	Take this door!
Apertum, quod dominari!			=	Opened, which dominate!
Atque, etiam!				=	And, even!
Tincidunt pretium phasellus ipsum. 	=	Android itself.

And if you change Tincidunt to incidunt, it becomes "the price of the boat incident" instead of "android itself".
However, if you change it to "Incidunt" with a capital "I", then it translate it to "They cut the price of the boat."
Tokyo Rose 2nd Dec 2014, 4:45 AM edit delete reply

The first speaker is basically yelling "get that door! Open it, now!" and the second is answering "yes, sir".

As for "tincidunt pretium phasellus ipsum", I took it verbatim from Cent's rough script and forgot to ask for the intended meaning. Something along the lines of "we're looking for an android", I think.
Draginbeard 30th Nov 2014, 11:24 PM edit delete reply

Beautiful set, as usual.
Centcomm 30th Nov 2014, 11:39 PM edit delete reply

Thank you ! I do my best!
Sheela 1st Dec 2014, 4:48 AM edit delete reply

It does look real nice. :)
Stormwind13 1st Dec 2014, 9:51 AM edit delete reply

Agreed Draginbeard. It really, really looks great. Thank you for your hard work, CentComm.
CptKerion 1st Dec 2014, 12:32 PM edit delete reply
It's really awesome to be able to come on several times a week to see a story progress with awesome visuals.
Centcomm 1st Dec 2014, 4:31 PM edit delete reply

Im really pleased you guys like it .. Ill gladly take credit for all the visuals :D
plymayer 30th Nov 2014, 11:43 PM edit delete reply

Fear produces powerful symbols. All the easier to manipulate people with.
Centcomm 1st Dec 2014, 1:35 AM edit delete reply

yep so very true :D
CptKerion 1st Dec 2014, 11:39 AM edit delete reply
I've played wargames and government simulators as a tyrannical dictator before. Fastest way to keep people in line is to give them a symbol of fear and a clear cut enemy.
New Rome, ahurm, Nova Roma has done just that.

The problem arises when people no longer fear the 'enemy' and tie themselves to the symbols more than they loath you. Then the component involving their fear of you becomes really important, but is only a delaying tactic, it only works so long before you have an attempted revolution on your hands (you can up the fear level and lower the dissidence level by nipping said revolution in the bud without making martyrs).

I'll bet that everything above stated either is, or will be in play in Nova Roma.
Centcomm 1st Dec 2014, 4:34 PM edit delete reply

the Cassians are pretty much everything that Nova Romans are taught to fear about Androids.. they are terrifyingly graceful and powerful.. they are utterly inhuman in a lot of ways. and most Romans think ALL androids are like that or able to be like that. even someone like Connie. They don't "know" how shes put together and New Troy is the birth place of High tech.
mjkj 1st Dec 2014, 2:21 AM edit delete reply

Awwww...

Poor Connie *hugs her*

I hope she is a fast learner and get lamod quickly...

Sheela 1st Dec 2014, 4:39 AM edit delete reply

Well, android can learn base skills with a software patch upgrade I think ?

Probably wouldn't make her completely fluent instantly, but close enough that she could communicate.

That said, she could simply record what they say, and have a computer transcript it later, programs like that already exists, though they are not very good yet ... but by the time Connie is knocking around, they should be.
Centcomm 1st Dec 2014, 4:35 PM edit delete reply

Currently Connie is running maintenance on the ship
and she could get it translated .. but its not a high priority at the moment ..
mjkj 1st Dec 2014, 4:46 PM edit delete reply

Which I am sure she will regret later...
Sheela 1st Dec 2014, 5:36 PM edit delete reply

YEah, knowledge is power, and all that.
Stormwind13 1st Dec 2014, 5:49 PM edit delete reply

No surer words have been spoken, mjkj. Whatever doesn't SEEM like it should be a priority will probably be the things you need to stay alive (EVIL CentComm).
Stormwind13 1st Dec 2014, 4:06 AM edit delete reply

Connie looks really good here. ::HUGS her::

Somehow though, I don't things are going as planned. Mr. Black was supposed to be on hand to cover for Connie. Doesn't sound like that is going to happen if he is dealing with a couple squads of heavily armed soldiers.

And what is it that Connie's shirt says? :-D Connie is plenty cute without needing a bigger rack. :-)
Sheela 1st Dec 2014, 4:36 AM edit delete reply

Well, she *is* triyng to get Mr Blacks attention. :)
highlander55 1st Dec 2014, 4:57 AM edit delete reply

Everyone knows cleavage is a better attention getter too!
Tokyo Rose 1st Dec 2014, 7:19 AM edit delete reply

I actually created that T-shirt texture a while back. The front says "Who needs big tits..." and the back says "when you've got an ASS like this?" with an arrow pointing down :)
Dragonrider 1st Dec 2014, 9:49 AM edit delete reply

Anything larger would be too big on her.
Stormwind13 1st Dec 2014, 9:59 AM edit delete reply

And Connie has a really nice ass. The entire package works really well together, in my opinion.

I agree with Dragonrider. If she had tits much bigger, it wouldn't look right. They might grab attention, but the overall effect might actually detract from the attraction level.

I have a feeling that Connie already has some of Mr. Black's attention, Sheela. I think he is interested in the package as a whole, not just the exterior. And the longer Mr. Black is around her the more he will come to realize the quality of the entire package Connie has. :-)
Sheela 1st Dec 2014, 12:26 PM edit delete reply

Yes, well, that doesn't help Connie .. NOW.

And she wants some lovings .. NOW. XD
mjkj 2nd Dec 2014, 1:54 AM edit delete reply

The T-shirt was actually displayed in detail at the patreon page...
Centcomm 1st Dec 2014, 4:38 PM edit delete reply

Connie is in what should be the safest place on the ship. normally the customs people dont harass the pilots.. Just the Captain.
Stormwind13 1st Dec 2014, 10:23 AM edit delete reply

I noticed the title there, CentComm/Rose. Did you do that intentionally, The Body Electric? :-D
Centcomm 1st Dec 2014, 4:36 PM edit delete reply

yep.. that I did.. totally.
DLKmusic 1st Dec 2014, 6:35 PM edit delete reply

This is our first "real" look at the prejudices against androids in Nova Roma, but there's another problem in Nova Roma that I'm hoping you'll address as well, which is the Genetically altered.

Think about it for a second... Katya, Decimus's "pet", probably has the single most horrific life of anyone in the Castle, and this is, under most circumstances, as good as it would ever get for someone like her.

Sorry, it's not germaine to this strip, which is, as usual, top notch, but it's been something that's been kinda bothering me for a while.
Centcomm 2nd Dec 2014, 1:05 AM edit delete reply

it is a interesting point you bring up .. one that bears watching .. remember Kali holds a very important position in Roma as does Maxus. Gene enhanced or Slaves ( except androids ) Can change there "station" in Nova Roma .. Poor Katya has no formal education and her entire life has been centered on just being a pet. not a good way to improve your life.
KarToon12 1st Dec 2014, 7:41 PM edit delete reply

Gotta' love her hair and nail polish matching....and that shirt. XDXD
Centcomm 2nd Dec 2014, 1:03 AM edit delete reply

Yes Connie is a purple lover :D
Hana 1st Dec 2014, 8:05 PM edit delete reply
"The Body Electric"?
I'm not quite sure of the meaning of the title (what it refers to) but is it a reference to the comic Rice Boy and "The One Electric" or T.O.E.??
DLKmusic 1st Dec 2014, 8:20 PM edit delete reply

It's referencing an old Ray Bradbury Story (I sing the body electric).

They made a movie about it with Robin Williams as the Robot. (Yes, I said "robot" and not "Android"... I'm a terrible terrible person and should be ashamed).
Centcomm 2nd Dec 2014, 1:02 AM edit delete reply

the refrence is here.. Rush - The Body Electric
GhostRider 16th Nov 2015, 11:50 AM edit delete reply
Laughing at Connie's shirt here. (However there is the irony that wearing a shirt that says, "Who needs big tits?" brings more attention to hers. Or maybe that's just me...)
antrik 11th Oct 2016, 5:43 PM edit delete reply
Uh... CON-IE-4-4E ? Shouldn't that be ...-4C?
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