Runaway to the Stars: Page 163
Posted on May 6, 2025 by Jay Eaton

Here's the main utility vehicles that Bip has been possessing. They have arms so that they can perform more tasks autonomously, but those can be useful for sassy gestures too if the operator is so inclined.

Tod also is six foot six/198 cm, by the way. Most humans look much shorter next to Talita.

Reminder number two to get your character questions in for the upcoming AMA.

Transcript

LOG 5.1: The Modular Frontloader

The main workhorse of the junkyard is the modular frontloader, a semi-autonomous electric utility vehicle that can be remotely or manually controlled.

Image: A mid-sized orange, grey, and black utility vehicle with manipulator arms, a front attachment hitch, an oversized cab, and folding radiators is parked in resting position. It is slightly over 3 meters in height and 4 and half meters long. Next to it stands Tod, a human slightly under 2 meters tall, and Talita, who is 3 meters tall.

Modular frontloaders can be programmed to follow autonomous cycles, and have a basic algorithmic AI that can assess environmental conditions and make decisions about how to best complete assigned tasks. This AI isn't nearly as complex (or energy intensive) as sapient AI, and when it encounters problems it can't resolve, like the vehicle getting stuck or damaged, it alerts the junkyard staff of the issue to come help it. The vast majority of the work done by the staff is responding to these distress calls, field repairs, and completing tasks that the basic AI can't handle. Manual operation of the vehicles can also provide training data for the vehicle AI, which helps it handle similar tasks on its own later. A sapient AI operator like Calcery can actively monitor and remote control an entire fleet of vehicles to a
much higher degree of efficiency than the onboard AI, but still needs time off work and field assistant staff.

  • The large cockpit is fitted for a human wearing an exosuit.

  • Folding radiators keep the vehicle cool even in Dirtball's scant CO² atmosphere.

  • Manipulator arms allow the vehicle to perform more delicate tasks on its own.

Talita

  • The other workhorse of the junkyard.

Tod

ATTACHMENTS

Front attachments can be mounted to the nose rig for specialized tasks. Counterweights in the rear of the vehicle can be swapped to balance the load capacity of the attachment.

Airless tires require less maintenance and cannot pop from the wear of driving over abrasive regolith grit.

  • Cutter: An arm attachment with a disc shaped grinder blade on the end.

  • Scoop: A wide, low to the ground frontloader shovel attachment.

  • Excavator: An arm attachment with a bucket shovel on the end.

  • Crane: An arm attachment with a grasping claw on the end.

New Year, New News

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Jay Eaton

So sadly I missed the holidays but I’m pleased to announce that there’s two new merch items in my online store, baby Talita keychains and Bip pins! Two very different flavors of troublemaker, now both wearable.

Additionally, while I was busy grinding out chapter 6 for Patreon I sold out of, like, most of the books in my shop? So because I can’t really afford to eat all of those reprinting costs at the same time, I’m doing reprint preorders. Order any of these books right now and they will be shipped to you in February 2025:

Also coming up in the new year, conventions. Unfortunately I can’t guarantee I’ll be at any of these other than Further Confusion because they’ll have to accept my dealership applications first, but I’m currently hoping to be at:

I’m also currently streaming art work on my Twitch channel every Tuesday and Friday in the PST afternoon. My goal for streaming has always been to force myself to focus on the task at hand for several hours and not to gain as many subscribers as possible, so while I have tried and failed to keep a consistent schedule I remain chronically unpunctual. Usually, I start between 2pm to 6pm and stream for around 6 to 8 hours. I enjoy having company while I work. 🙂

I think that’s all for now. Wish me luck in staying on track this year and finishing Runaway to the Stars book 1 by February 2026. I think I can, I think I can…

Minor Store Update and 3D Talita

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Jay Eaton
Three postcard sized prints. The top has a centaur posing with silk dairy livestock, the middle has bug ferrets arguing over dinner table arrangements, and the bottom has polar avians hunting on a globe moss ice field.
A photo of assorted Runaway to the Stars themed stickers.

Some miniprints and assorted stickers are now available in the shop. I am sold out of the Shyam and Talita character sticker, sadly, but lots of new ones are available as one-offs.

I have also gotten down to last handful of my Talita pins, some of which have some enamel fill errors and resin dents that prevent me from selling them at full price. If you’re looking for a discount and don’t mind some superficial defects, check out the B and C-grade pins. They’re charmingly flawed, just like the lady herself.

In other news, as birthday present for myself this year I commissioned a low-poly Talita 3d model from incredibly talented artist Lazer-T (Tumblr, Twitter, Bluesky), who really went above and beyond with rigging her silly over-complicated design. Look at these turnarounds he did, they’re great:

There is also a Barbie doll nude version of her, since I wanted one for generic posing reference (and also, she looks cool with the stripes out).

This model has among other things: 8 total eyelids, adjustable pupil sizes, an antler slider with velvet stages, nostrils that open and close, and mane and face feathers that can puff out. Here’s an example of expressive animation, also done by Lazer-T!

[Silent animation of Talita looking away, then jolting in shock, blushing in embarrassment, and waving bashfully at the viewer.]

I’m not very experienced with manipulating armature in Blender myself (I’ve barely got a handle on hardscape modelling) but I’ve been having fun moving the model around and learning how to pose different parts and use shape keys. Below: me messing around with the file.

Ok, that’s all. I hope the turnaround gifs don’t make my homepage run like ass, if they do I’ll replace them with the still renders.

Shiny New Webcomic Site

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Jay Eaton

Hello everyone. If you got here from social media, you probably know about this comic already. I’ve been posting it to Patreon for quite a while, but it has always been my dream to contribute to the ecosystem of free-to-read webcomics that I spent the majority of my childhood voraciously reading while hunched over the computer past my bedtime. I had initially started working on the Official Book after signing it to publisher, though, and originally was only allowed to post a third of it online. But a couple years into working on it, I got permission to fling it out onto the internet in its entirety. So voila! Runaway to the Stars: Book 1, out in public, updating 3 times a week!

If you hadn’t heard about this comic, welcome! Runaway to the Stars is a worldbuilding project that I’ve been working on for over a decade. It started as an excuse to design some aliens and throw all my science fiction thoughts in the same vat, and eventually a book started to grow out of it like a fungus. If this comic intrigues you, there’s tons of additional artwork, writing, and short comics that can be found on my perpetual work-in-progress Neocities website and my ancient tumblr blog. There is quite a rabbit hole to go down, if you don’t mind some bespoke coding jank.

I’ve decided to not run sponsored banner ads because in recent years, internet advertising has become so aggressive and hostile to adblockers that frankly I’d rather not contribute. The random banner in the sidebar is a selection of projects I like and stuff I want to promote. If you hate looking at it, download uBlock origin and use the element zapper on it. It is your right.

That being said, to be pragmatic, the only reason the comic gets made as fast as it does is because I currently make enough income through my Patreon and store to not need a second job. If you like what you see and you’ve got money burning a hole in your pocket, consider tossing me a buck. Patreon supporters get the perk of reading the pages before they go public. As of posting there is a massive backlog of over one hundred twenty finished pages uploaded there, so if you want some instant gratification it’s a great time for it.

But regardless of anything, thank you so much for reading! I’m excited to share this comic with you, and I hope you’ll stick around for the ride. See you on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays!