OK good news.. We are going to be getting back to a 3 X a week schedule hopefully back in 2 weeks! I am working hard on a buffer we currently have 9 pages ahead and im working on expanding that quickly!
Thank you readers one and all for your Good wishes and help!
Remember way back around here, when Cent's heart problems completely overshadowed my comparatively minor face-hole issue?
I go back in for a second bout of surgery this Friday. There's a very weak-walled, mis-grown blood vessel that utterly refuses to heal over and stop leaking red stuff every time the clot/scab is knocked loose. The doctor basically intends to strip-mine the area practically down to cartilage and let it heal up again, hopefully without any silliness this time.
OK Roses surgery went well! She is at home resting hopefully comfortably in the arms of percocent and other happy chems Her Husband Mister Black is keeping a eye on her. SO lets all say YAY!
I am not bouncing back from the surgery anywhere near as well as I did the last time. I've thrown up three separate times and can't seem to keep anything down but very small sips of water; I haven't actually eaten anything solid for more than 24 hours now. I know that post-operative nausea and vomiting is a known thing, but this is the first time it's ever happened to me. I don't know where the line is from "that just sucks" to "okay call the doctor".
OK everyone! there will be 2 updates this week! Monday and Friday! thank you for taking us to number 5 on top web comics! ( ill be putting a new incentive up today too! )
Those evil bright red eyes soooo suit Nox. Dob't knoww if you intended it or not but this page serves as a comic relief after the drama of the past pages.
Lovely stuff, @Centcomm (as always) and kudos to the entire artistic team. However, in this case there are a couple of art details I'm not understanding, so please forgive me if I inquire about them.
* - I think I get the background radiant lines in the upper part of the page to link the three sub panels, indicating they are joined in time but separated in space. What I am not getting is the intended purpose of the red map in the lower left corner of the page and the way it is obscuring (I assume) some of the details of Nox's upper torso. What am I missing about what that is supposed to convey? If it's intended to be an internal display (like we saw for CeCi), to whom does it belong?
* - Nox's face is ... veined ... like we might expect if she were carved from marble. It is a nice effect, and might be intended to evoke zombie-hood, but she didn't (as I recall) have that when alive. It would seem unlikely to have developed it as a product of decay -- and certainly not in the few hours that have passed since her termination. Nor would it seem likely to be a side-effect of Tokyo Rose's remote telepresence. So what does it signify or portend? Is there an actual reason for it, or is it just to make the speaking severed head just that much more 'spooky'?
I think the veined effect you refer is her "blood" from Dolly applying sufficient force from her gun to remove that from the body. Remember Kali's "blood" was of the same color when she remarked to Dolly Good Fight it has been years since I saw my own blood. The red "map" is, I think, merely a representation of TR's connection to the inactive head. What I find both humorous and a bit scary is the "nickname" of "Rowdy Racoon" applied to the rebel leader. It reveals how deep into Nova Roma system Rose is to have that current description at hand.
EDIT NOTE: Also to know TeeDees stature, Teedee must be shocked to not wise off but comply with Roses demand.
BTW who is "Lovelace" and why invoke her tits?
The veining does not appear liquid to me, but that may be what was intended. It also doesn't look like a spatter pattern from the neck, and there are no facial wounds to explain its presence. Certainly it would be plausible that Nox's circulatory fluid was that color to provide her skin with its unusual pigmentation.
I suspect the Lovelace referred to is Countess Ada Lovelace, regarded by many as the first computer programmer, who might reasonably be presumed to be regarded as a mythic figure by human-developed machine intelligences.
Lady Ada Lovelace.
Lord Byron's daughter and the first programmer. Worked with Babbage on his, never finished, Difference Engine.
The programming language ADA is named for her.
(Disclaimer: What follows is possibly the single most useless piece of trivia known to man. You have been warned. ^_^)
@SeanR -
"The programming language ADA is named for her."
<PEDANT>
Not quite. The names of many of the most common computer programming languages (BASIC, COBOL, LISP, FORTRAN, etc.) are written with all capitals because they are originally acronyms or abbreviations. There are a few programming languages (Pascal, Modula-2, Ada) which are proper nouns in their own right (often named after someone), and those should be written in title case, as with any proper noun. The computer language Ada, but not the American Dental Association or the Americans with Disabilities Act, is named after Countess Lovelace.
</PEDANT>
My apologies to all those rightfully offended by the preceding. ^_^
By the way, what is your favorite three-letter acronym (such as FBI, CIA, ADA, Ph.D)? Mine is TLA.
I think the map is showing Tokyo Rose bouncing her signal around to obfuscate anyone that got to curious about where she is working from (looking at you Dr. Silver). :-)
The "vein" lines of Nox's face are actually shadows cast by the prop which provides the lightning effect. Cent forgot to turn off the "cast shadows" option for that prop, so it's technically an error, but we kinda liked the creepy result.
Ah. Thank you. One of Bob Ross' "Happy accidents"? ^_^
By the way, much encouragement and good wishes to you in your upcoming procedure. I have no basis for this wild speculation on my part, but I nevertheless suspect that @Mr. Black prefers you with a working nose. And, since he has a love of puns approaching my own, he deserves all the good things in life that he desires. ^_^
She is yelling at Marcus because he was the one who kicked off the entire scenario that lead to Douchimus' demise, mjkj. Marcus didn't personally kill him, but his actions lead to Douchimus' death.
To voice my own speculation, the red cross hatching represents the intrusion of cyberdimensional transmissions into Nox's body to reactivate certain systems, the lightening like effects are energy bolts transferring data and power from her body to her severed head to activate her VOX unit, and the blue vein like structures are just that, vein like structures carrying blue fluid that have become high lighted by the energy flow.
Don't forget that Nox unlike humans, doesn't need the extra fiddly bits to talk. So all you have to do is give her energy and activate her box and then feed it whatever you want. So this is the representation of TR pushing energy from the body into the head so that she could activate its box and say whatever short message she wanted to I'm sure that whatever message she wanted to say could be sent equally to multiple places at once judging by the experience and capabilities of Tokyo Rose. I'm sure she'll tell us all later that Nox vox box Rocks.
Nox' Vox Box on Fox News Channel, now with actual real news!
Later tonight, on the "Nox' Show" Tokyo Rose will troll people and yell at them through Nox' head, while we pay her for doing it.
She is what every troll wants to be, a successful troll, with her own officially sanctioned live stream ! Don't miss out tonight, on "The Nox Show" !! :D
So, was she lying here, or did she mean something different by "mental control"?
[Note: By 'lying', I include allowing erroneous folklore about cyberpaths to be attributed to her. And, of course, Tokyo Rose does probably make a significant effort to keep the true extent and limitations of her abilities obscured, if not concealed, just on general principles. But, if she says she can mind control, and she can't, isn't that a lie? And if a cyberpath can't mind control an android, who can they mind control?]
Android brains are very complex, and much closer to being human think-goo than circuitry. Tokyo Rose can mentally interface with ordinary computers with ease and puppeteer robots without breaking a sweat, but directly fucking with a synth-brain is very tricky. It's generally easier to interfere with their perceptions or motor systems--the stuff that's more machine-like. She can impose her will on artificial intelligences--but the more complex they are and the more "processing power" they have, the harder it is for her to do. Most A.I.s have "firewalls" and other defenses in place to stop their operating code from being rewritten without their approval and consent. They don't like catching viruses any more than people do. :)
That said, I suspect she could possibly .. if not "persuade", then at least "recommend" or "suggest" to an android brain what would be a "fabulous idea" that it should be doing .. right about now.
What I mean by that, is that Tokyo Rose could use an androids communications hardware to plant suggestions in the subconciousness of an android, which might work if the android believes that it's it's own idea. ie. it would have to be something they might have come up with on their own, but wouldn't work if it's something they'd be very opposed to.
Like, it would be easy to persuade TeeDee to shoot at something, because she probably already wants to do that, but very hard to make Ada do the same thing. On the other hand, it might be fairly easy to convince Ada to hug someone. Heck, a regular human whispering in her ear could possibly do that, the difference being that Tokyo Rose's "whispers" could be more difficult to "detect and reject", ie. you're more likely to think it's your own idea because it comes from your own hardware. Like a little shoulder demon, Tokyo Rose style - A foul mouthed beast indeed! :)
Ultimately, it would still be the android's own decision to do something, no matter how hard one might suggest that it's a "fabulous idea" to be doing just that.
But .. Tokyo Rose has 900 years of experience at manipulating people ... she might come up with a REALLY "good" idea!
Like, I'm sure she could convince Kyle to jump off of a cliff, maybe even add in a "just trust me, ok?" for the lulz. :D
Some say, that *I* might enjoy watching Kyle jump off of a cliff. ;)
So cyberpaths are unable to control a synthbrain, but able to control an inhibitor ... What about a black angel's combat computer? Which side of the line does that fall on? Is it more like metal, or more like goo?
For most of the story up to this point, Most of us believed that TR was some kind of Super-AI. It wasn't until she revealed the truth about herself to Aeneas that we found out she's a Cyberpath (which is still a Shinedo State secret).
As far as I can tell, there's no reason for anyone in the story other than Aeneas to think otherwise about Tokyo Rose.
Lynn knows shes called " Tokyo Rose " and has used the code name " The specialist " but Lynn still has no idea what she is. The only ones that do know are the treasures and Aeneas and Ceci.. who.. well the dead protect there own secrets.
Well, @Centcomm would know, of course. But, to use an analogous situation, if I (non-medical person that I am) were awakening from a coma with Dr. Akaibara standing over me, I'd probably have an excellent idea who had done it, but little to no idea how it had been done. It could have been drugs, electroshock, supportive care until I spontaneously awakened, clerical spells, the healing power of prayer, etc., etc.
It has been implied that, scare stories notwithstanding, a cyberpath can't do anything that a skilled hacker can't do with a hardline interface and a set of root passwords, they just use their own personal 'wi-fi' instead and bypass any ICE. So having CeCi jump to the conclusion that Tokyo Rose is a cyberpath seems a little ... unfounded to me.
Not that she can't jump to that conclusion anyway ... but I'd love to be the attorney attacking that case if she tried to prove it in a court. (Disclaimer: I am not an attorney of any kind. ^_^) And, since she isn't going to be telling anyone, anyway, the point is moot because the droid is mute (as told by Smoot ^_^).
Well it is good to hear that more pages are coming. Please don't overdo it though. Want you out of the hospital for MORE than a month, even more than I want new pages! ::HUGS::
Nice incentive, when you feel better still wanna see TeeDee and Ceci in string Bikinis.
NOW THEN Top Web was 8 this AM is 11 now.VOTE EARLY AND VOTE OFTEN.(For this comic only. For President VOTE but only vote once. Don't try to make the lies about rigged election come true.)
Not only at #6, but STAYED there most of the day! Then fell to #7 before regaining #6 overnight. Great job all. And welcome to any new readers that aren't yet commenters. :-)
Don't stick your nose into something you're ... oh wait, it's the other way around, isn't it?
Something stuck itself into your nose! Yeah, we need that to go away!
Hmm, as I've only been reading the comic for a few months, I'm not sure if I started reading the comic before or after the reboot started. I guess I'll just have to binge read the whole thing again and see if anything looks changed? Aside from that, I remember reading the first few hundred pages on an old host that I can't remember now.
Welcome Tahg. Watch out for Sheela,she nibbles on toes and chews up slippers. :-D
Currently pages before 124 (7 June 2007) have been redone. CentComm has plans to redo up to 424 (29 January 2008) which are all the single panel comics using CentComm's older art style. Usually she is able to replace 4 older pages with one new page, but she has also been adding in items that she and Rose realized they wanted in the comic so sometimes she is winding up with more pages than she removed. :-D
Also a lot of our readers like to .. offer theroys on things.
Currently the only " word of god " statements to belive is Me , Rose, Mister black and occasionally Marcus. :D welcome to the comments and
yeah originally it was to help revamp the art but we are also closing plot holes and removing some really dumb stuff we did back 9 years ago that readers have mentioned make no sense. :D
Only problem with commenting on remastered pages. Both our comments and your answers tend to give spoilers to new readers. Just went back and deleted portions of a comment that would have made a later scene anti climatic.
A box without hinges, key, or lid.
Yet inside ... is hid a tiny Tokyo Rose howling with anger at a cruel, uncaring world filled with egg-fixated furies focused on tormenting her in accordance with the unjust decree of a whimsical and irresponsible divinity until the stars grow cold and every last trace of a forgotten story shall be expunged from the InterNet.
We who know are sworn to forget, those who do not know are condemned to remember.
I'm sorry that you are having that difficulty, Krissy. Call the doctor and let them know, if nothing else it will probably make you feel better. They might be able to give you something to help control the nausea. ::Gentle hugs::
Hay Krissy? If you're unable to eat food for over 24h, you're already on the far side of that "okay call the doctor" line.
Food - specially protein - is your body's non-negotiable requirement for healing.
If they can't fix it with a prescription to make your tummy work something-like-normally they'll set you up with liquid supplements you can sip through a straw. And if that's not good enough you get to check in and take nutrition intravenously.
I had a friend who thought not being able to eat (while healing) wasn't a good enough reason to call the doctor. In two days Jin-Ming damn near starved to death.
I talked to Mister Black and he has things well in hand so far. She did manage to eat a small amount of soup. Im hoping she feels better soon.. I offered to go over and help but they have it under control.
I feel like I need to go ahead and give credit where it's due; because of what you said, which freaked me out, I started seriously trying to eat. Just a little bit of soup and an immediate lie-down to begin with, moved up to a little more soup and some crackers later, spaced out and taken slowly. I've just finished eating a bowl of soup and a couple pieces of bread. No queasiness so far. :)
Get some white chicken breast meat and boil it, then cut it into small pieces and chew it lots. Masticating it adds some enzymes, which lets the stomach digest it easier. It's pretty boring to eat. but doesn't upset the stomach very much.
Clean water is important btw, because your intestines use it to carry the nutrients around, so being dehydrated can seriously impair your ability to digest food.
this page is also a homage to the one Rufi did that i liked a LOT!
* - I think I get the background radiant lines in the upper part of the page to link the three sub panels, indicating they are joined in time but separated in space. What I am not getting is the intended purpose of the red map in the lower left corner of the page and the way it is obscuring (I assume) some of the details of Nox's upper torso. What am I missing about what that is supposed to convey? If it's intended to be an internal display (like we saw for CeCi), to whom does it belong?
* - Nox's face is ... veined ... like we might expect if she were carved from marble. It is a nice effect, and might be intended to evoke zombie-hood, but she didn't (as I recall) have that when alive. It would seem unlikely to have developed it as a product of decay -- and certainly not in the few hours that have passed since her termination. Nor would it seem likely to be a side-effect of Tokyo Rose's remote telepresence. So what does it signify or portend? Is there an actual reason for it, or is it just to make the speaking severed head just that much more 'spooky'?
EDIT NOTE: Also to know TeeDees stature, Teedee must be shocked to not wise off but comply with Roses demand.
BTW who is "Lovelace" and why invoke her tits?
I suspect the Lovelace referred to is Countess Ada Lovelace, regarded by many as the first computer programmer, who might reasonably be presumed to be regarded as a mythic figure by human-developed machine intelligences.
She worked with Babbage - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace
Lord Byron's daughter and the first programmer. Worked with Babbage on his, never finished, Difference Engine.
The programming language ADA is named for her.
@SeanR -
<PEDANT>
Not quite. The names of many of the most common computer programming languages (BASIC, COBOL, LISP, FORTRAN, etc.) are written with all capitals because they are originally acronyms or abbreviations. There are a few programming languages (Pascal, Modula-2, Ada) which are proper nouns in their own right (often named after someone), and those should be written in title case, as with any proper noun. The computer language Ada, but not the American Dental Association or the Americans with Disabilities Act, is named after Countess Lovelace.
</PEDANT>
My apologies to all those rightfully offended by the preceding. ^_^
By the way, what is your favorite three-letter acronym (such as FBI, CIA, ADA, Ph.D)? Mine is TLA.
Probably the same as TeeDee's
KFB = Ker Fucking BOOM ;)
And yes this also serves as our halloween strip so there!
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Interrogative)
Although, to be a bit pedantic myself "acronym" properly refers to abbreviations that make pronounceable word, like U.N.C.L.E. or T.H.U.N.D.E.R.
Cent already chimed in on the red map thingy.
The "vein" lines of Nox's face are actually shadows cast by the prop which provides the lightning effect. Cent forgot to turn off the "cast shadows" option for that prop, so it's technically an error, but we kinda liked the creepy result.
By the way, much encouragement and good wishes to you in your upcoming procedure. I have no basis for this wild speculation on my part, but I nevertheless suspect that @Mr. Black prefers you with a working nose. And, since he has a love of puns approaching my own, he deserves all the good things in life that he desires. ^_^
(...or say, a lovel-ace-y page *ducks and hides from flying shoes*) ;)
It even has a helloween-ey feel...
So, she just blames Marcus even though she just heard it was Kali killing douchie...???
Edit: oops, did you delete your comment, Gil?
(...this was a response to Gil's now deleted comment)
.... speaking of which, now I need to go and play that game.
It's gonna end up as a local radio station, isn't it ?
Nox vox box lox Sox blox on fox.
Later tonight, on the "Nox' Show" Tokyo Rose will troll people and yell at them through Nox' head, while we pay her for doing it.
She is what every troll wants to be, a successful troll, with her own officially sanctioned live stream ! Don't miss out tonight, on "The Nox Show" !! :D
One thing I don't get though, what is Noctis doing?
Can Rose just up and suborn a "live", active Cassian, or override an inhibitor?
[Note: By 'lying', I include allowing erroneous folklore about cyberpaths to be attributed to her. And, of course, Tokyo Rose does probably make a significant effort to keep the true extent and limitations of her abilities obscured, if not concealed, just on general principles. But, if she says she can mind control, and she can't, isn't that a lie? And if a cyberpath can't mind control an android, who can they mind control?]
(And yes, Rose can override inhibitors.)
Hmmmm....
What I mean by that, is that Tokyo Rose could use an androids communications hardware to plant suggestions in the subconciousness of an android, which might work if the android believes that it's it's own idea. ie. it would have to be something they might have come up with on their own, but wouldn't work if it's something they'd be very opposed to.
Like, it would be easy to persuade TeeDee to shoot at something, because she probably already wants to do that, but very hard to make Ada do the same thing. On the other hand, it might be fairly easy to convince Ada to hug someone. Heck, a regular human whispering in her ear could possibly do that, the difference being that Tokyo Rose's "whispers" could be more difficult to "detect and reject", ie. you're more likely to think it's your own idea because it comes from your own hardware. Like a little shoulder demon, Tokyo Rose style - A foul mouthed beast indeed! :)
Ultimately, it would still be the android's own decision to do something, no matter how hard one might suggest that it's a "fabulous idea" to be doing just that.
But .. Tokyo Rose has 900 years of experience at manipulating people ... she might come up with a REALLY "good" idea!
Like, I'm sure she could convince Kyle to jump off of a cliff, maybe even add in a "just trust me, ok?" for the lulz. :D
Some say, that *I* might enjoy watching Kyle jump off of a cliff. ;)
As far as I can tell, there's no reason for anyone in the story other than Aeneas to think otherwise about Tokyo Rose.
The operative word here though is "knew"
It has been implied that, scare stories notwithstanding, a cyberpath can't do anything that a skilled hacker can't do with a hardline interface and a set of root passwords, they just use their own personal 'wi-fi' instead and bypass any ICE. So having CeCi jump to the conclusion that Tokyo Rose is a cyberpath seems a little ... unfounded to me.
Not that she can't jump to that conclusion anyway ... but I'd love to be the attorney attacking that case if she tried to prove it in a court. (Disclaimer: I am not an attorney of any kind. ^_^) And, since she isn't going to be telling anyone, anyway, the point is moot because the droid is mute (as told by Smoot ^_^).
(Don't over do it, though.)
NOW THEN Top Web was 8 this AM is 11 now.VOTE EARLY AND VOTE OFTEN.(For this comic only. For President VOTE but only vote once. Don't try to make the lies about rigged election come true.)
TeeDee and Malati at a gladiator fight.
Malati wants to watch the Gladiators, and TeeDee wants to see the fighting. :)
Oh! You mean explain the averted apocalypse? Oops, sorry!
Hmmmmmm ? . . . . ? thinking of power and drama.
I still congratulate you both, but Krissy, I hope to hell your problem is short lived and fixed this time.
(if you say YouTube, I swear I'll hide all your chewtoys!)
That said, I may, or may not, have seen it back in the 90's before YouTube even existed. So, a quick google search, and YouTube had me covered. :)
I have had less success with finding the one about one footed alien "birds" that jump around on a planet and eats gas balloon seeds.
... it's ... oddly specific.
And, it's also hard to find.
Don't stick your nose into something you're ... oh wait, it's the other way around, isn't it?
Something stuck itself into your nose! Yeah, we need that to go away!
May your surgery succeed, @TokyoRose.
Currently pages before 124 (7 June 2007) have been redone. CentComm has plans to redo up to 424 (29 January 2008) which are all the single panel comics using CentComm's older art style. Usually she is able to replace 4 older pages with one new page, but she has also been adding in items that she and Rose realized they wanted in the comic so sometimes she is winding up with more pages than she removed. :-D
Currently the only " word of god " statements to belive is Me , Rose, Mister black and occasionally Marcus. :D welcome to the comments and
yeah originally it was to help revamp the art but we are also closing plot holes and removing some really dumb stuff we did back 9 years ago that readers have mentioned make no sense. :D
Ah well, we'll just have to come up with new ideas. :)
Also, Centcomm's words have been turned into Gospels.
There's a link at the bottom of the page.
.............. So help me, I will vomit on everything you love.
Yet inside ... is hid a tiny Tokyo Rose howling with anger at a cruel, uncaring world filled with egg-fixated furies focused on tormenting her in accordance with the unjust decree of a whimsical and irresponsible divinity until the stars grow cold and every last trace of a forgotten story shall be expunged from the InterNet.
We who know are sworn to forget, those who do not know are condemned to remember.
These pages are gorgeous!
(After considerable debate I had to share that one. Sorry"
I'm sorry that you are having that difficulty, Krissy. Call the doctor and let them know, if nothing else it will probably make you feel better. They might be able to give you something to help control the nausea. ::Gentle hugs::
Food - specially protein - is your body's non-negotiable requirement for healing.
If they can't fix it with a prescription to make your tummy work something-like-normally they'll set you up with liquid supplements you can sip through a straw. And if that's not good enough you get to check in and take nutrition intravenously.
I had a friend who thought not being able to eat (while healing) wasn't a good enough reason to call the doctor. In two days Jin-Ming damn near starved to death.
Remember: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. ^_^
I approve of how nerdy this was!
I seriously just need to sic Mister Black on you...
But, for right now, you need to keep him to yourself. After all, ...
... I'm not the one who's been sick lately. ^_^
I feel like I need to go ahead and give credit where it's due; because of what you said, which freaked me out, I started seriously trying to eat. Just a little bit of soup and an immediate lie-down to begin with, moved up to a little more soup and some crackers later, spaced out and taken slowly. I've just finished eating a bowl of soup and a couple pieces of bread. No queasiness so far. :)
Clean water is important btw, because your intestines use it to carry the nutrients around, so being dehydrated can seriously impair your ability to digest food.
Obviously, don't bloat yourself either. >_<
Try not to kick them!
Congratulations on a World Series Title that was long overdue... (by about, oh, 108 years or so)