# I don't quite get today's "Questionable Content" strip **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [April 13, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967 "2010-04-13T17:48:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 62
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1221 "2012-12-08T18:11:21Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > How does Pintsize hold things, anyway? He doesn’t have fingers – just those blobs on the ends of his stubby little arms. Are they sticky? (eewwww.) Something like [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d4f8fEysf8), perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1222 "2012-12-08T18:53:35Z")
> [@AndrewL](#): > > Something like [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d4f8fEysf8), perhaps? Oh my lord that is SO AWESOME! (it’s a video of a universal gripping appendage for a robot arm that looks just like Pintsize’s “hands” that is basically a balloon filled with particulates the consistency of coffee grounds – inflate it with air, and it will flow around an object of any shape; suck the air back out and the particulates jam together around the object, which can then be picked up.) Did you click onto the next video that shows it throwing darts? ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1223 "2012-12-09T00:09:21Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > Oh my lord that is SO AWESOME! > > (it’s a video of a universal gripping appendage for a robot arm that looks just like Pintsize’s “hands” that is basically a balloon filled with particulates the consistency of coffee grounds – inflate it with air, and it will flow around an object of any shape; suck the air back out and the particulates jam together around the object, which can then be picked up.) > > Did you click onto the next video that shows it throwing darts? Yep. Given the remarkable robotics technology demonstrated in the QC universe, I expect Pintsize’s limbs are using something a bit more sophisticated than a balloon full of plastic powder. Maybe some kind of electric-activated memory foam that can flow round an object then selectively harden to grip it, or something else to the same effect. I’m more wondering at how and why he’s eating at all. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1224 "2012-12-09T00:14:46Z")
> [@AndrewL](#): > > Yep. > > Given the remarkable robotics technology demonstrated in the QC universe, I expect Pintsize’s limbs are using something a bit more sophisticated than a balloon full of plastic powder. Maybe some kind of electric-activated memory foam that can flow round an object then selectively harden to grip it, or something else to the same effect. I’m more wondering at how and why he’s eating at all. He has a Mr. Fusion? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1225 "2012-12-11T06:15:04Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > I think Slim Jim. [You win!](http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2339) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1226 "2012-12-12T01:35:13Z")
Watching NCIS right now … and the strip in question was just repeated EXACTLY, frame by frame, by McGee and Gibbs’s/Tobias’s ex-wife. FREAK-Y!!! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1227 "2013-02-07T06:15:52Z")
Wait wait waitaminnit… Marten’s mom’s dialog in [this strip](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2379) was completely different this morning. Jeph has taken out all the stuff about children, rendering the strip title meaningless. Did he decide that he doesn’t want her to be unaware that Claire is trans? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1228 "2013-02-07T06:28:18Z")
[Here’s his explanation.](http://jephjacques.com/post/42417653403/on-rewriting-comics) In short, the joke was supposed to be about Marten’s mom being broody, but since it could have come off as a joke about Claire being trans, which he didn’t want, he changed it. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1229 "2013-02-07T06:44:38Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Wait wait waitaminnit… > > Marten’s mom’s dialog in [this strip](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2379) was completely different this morning. Jeph has taken out all the stuff about children, rendering the strip title meaningless. Did he decide that he doesn’t want her to be unaware that Claire is trans? The original doesn’t seem to be online; how did it read previously? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2013, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1230 "2013-02-07T07:04:40Z")
Mrs Reed was in full-on ‘gimme grandkids!’ mode, and talking about what beautiful babies Claire and Marten would make, then said the wedding was making her broody and went off to the bar. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1231 "2013-02-09T17:07:41Z")
You think Claire’s got a thing for Marten? She’s been hanging out with him quite a bit, she thinks Marten’s dad is attractive (bringing back memories of Dora going “Oh my God, you’re gonna be so hot when you go grey!”), and you could practically see an exclamation point over her head when Mrs. Reed did the hard-sale for Marten as prime boyfriend material. (Of course, she would also be embarrassed about that if she _didn’t_ have a thing for Marten). ---
**Author:** ![lyssla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@lyssla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lyssla)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1232 "2013-02-20T18:31:51Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > You think Claire’s got a thing for Marten? It certainly seems that way, doesn’t it? Unfortunately for the Claire/Marten shippers, I’m not getting the sense that it’s reciprocated. OTOH, Claire could just be enjoying spending time with one of the few people she’s out with aside from her family. It would be totally natural for her to develop a crush on Martin, who is non-threateningly cute (as opposed to the more overtly masculine and [blush-worthy](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2367) Steve) and who responded so ideally to her coming out, but I doubt that it goes any further than that. And even if Claire could overcome her terminal case of awkward, I doubt that she’d be willing to risk her friendship with Martin by making a romantic overture. Is it just me, or is the high percentage of recent strips ending with Marten making some exaggerated expression a little off-putting (e.g. [2380](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2380) and [2388](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2388) for particularly extreme examples)? I know Jeph’s used similar effects in the past, but I don’t recall him being quite so obvious about it. It’s getting to the point where it’s distracting me from the comic. Relatedly, I don’t get Claire’s expression in panels 3 and 4 of [2385](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2385). I mean, I get the “joke” (such as it is), but what the heck is going on with her eyes? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1233 "2013-02-20T18:55:49Z")
Rolling into the back of her head, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1234 "2013-02-20T19:00:11Z")
> [@lyssla](#): > > Relatedly, I don’t get Claire’s expression in panels 3 and 4 of [2385](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2385). I mean, I get the “joke” (such as it is), but what the heck is going on with her eyes? I think they’ve just rolled back into her head. Just see the whites. ETA. Oops. Beaten to it. I had this tab open a while. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1235 "2013-02-22T07:08:48Z")
You know, I’ve been wondering the same thing. In [2388](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2388), Claire goes all blushy at the thought of Marten in boxers. In [2390](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2390) again she’s blushing failing to tie his tie, but Marten also blushes a little in panel 5. I don’t know what that adds up to except “where’s Jeph going with all this blushing?” I think it isn’t going anywhere, and the blushing is all about social awkwardness, not sexual attraction. But, wow, so much blushing, and you wonder why and what’s up, right? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1236 "2013-02-22T13:54:21Z")
In regards to the tie, I saw it more as “Rage blushing” than awkwardness. Marten is embarrassed towards the end about her inability to tie it after she just chided him for not being able to do so. So it’s a lot of blushing but easily answerable blushing. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1237 "2013-02-22T14:15:54Z")
Yeah, I think that was rage. She just got done chiding him for not remembering how to tie his tie, only to fuck it up royally when attempting to tie it for him. ---
**Author:** ![prettydorky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@prettydorky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prettydorky)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1238 "2013-02-27T13:25:50Z")
Can anyone tell me who the people are (Marten’s dad’s friends) in today’s strip? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1239 "2013-02-27T13:38:15Z")
> [@prettydorky](#): > > Can anyone tell me who the people are (Marten’s dad’s friends) in today’s strip? Was wondering that myself. His signoff of “If there is an artistic equivalent of name-dropping, I am certainly guilty of it.” makes me think that most of them are comic artists. The QC forum has some suggestions ([page 3 link](http://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php/topic,28725.100.html)) - I don’t recognize any of the names. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967/1240 "2013-02-27T17:23:14Z")
If the guy with the ponytail is indeed Mall Santa from GWS (and I’ll admit the resemblance is hard to argue), I find that a really odd choice for a cameo. Unless Jeph has some inside information, there hasn’t been any indication in GWS itself that Mall Santa is anything more than a tertiary character introduced for a particular storyline. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967.md?page=61) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-quite-get-todays-questionable-content-strip/535967.md?page=63)