2013-04-03
Explanation
This comic is a four-panel strip featuring a robot breaking up with a human woman named Cheryl. The robot announces: "I am sorry. We can no longer be together. I am incapable of love." Cheryl, rather than being heartbroken, immediately calls out the robot's bluff: "Why don't you just put your love module back in?" The robot awkwardly looks away, and Cheryl adds, "I saw you take it out this morn--" The robot cuts her off: "Don't ruin this breakup, Cheryl."
The joke plays with the sci-fi trope of robots being emotionless by making the robot's lack of emotion a deliberate, removable choice rather than an inherent limitation. The robot isn't actually incapable of love -- it chose to remove its love module specifically to manufacture an excuse for the breakup. Cheryl's matter-of-fact reaction reveals that in this world, a robot removing its love module is about as transparent an excuse as a human claiming "it's not you, it's me." The comedy comes from the robot trying to maintain dramatic gravitas while being caught red-handed in a very human act of relationship cowardice.
The votey extends the joke with the robot saying "Ejecting awkwardness module" -- suggesting that when the robot gets caught in a socially uncomfortable situation, its solution is to simply eject whatever emotional module is causing the discomfort, rather than dealing with it. It's a funny commentary on the desire to just shut off inconvenient feelings.