We help everyone- that includes ourselves: Build-a to Drive in "Grey Thinking"
We will help her... help everyone- Range
Hue Are You is a comic about after the end of the world. It is hosted on Webcomics App, Webtoons
, and Tapas; written and drawn by the husband and wife team Joan and Thomas Rice. Humans have all died out due to a war that has been ongoing for centuries. The robots made to carrying on everyday tasks, including the war, have continued on. The super computers ordered all factories stop the production of construction types in order to have there be some sort of winner to the war.
100 years after the humans being wiped out, in factory 005, Build-a the Build-bot is constructed and has no orders or supervisors. The only other functioning brain case type bot she can find is a Query unit. It does not take long for Solider Bots Red and Blue to come by on their normal patrols and discover her existence. While she simply wants to be left to build everything she imagines, the warring sides want to know whose side is she on, and who is in charge of her and the other Grey side bots.
This show provides examples of:
- Arc Words: "We help everyone" is the primary phrase repeated and shown in the first and second chapters. To the extent of it being the last line of programing that Build-a the build bot receives. She shows this in the first chapter by repairing the two vendor types that assist her at the start, and by building a body for Query so she can escape after Blue came and scared Build-a.
- And I Must Scream: The surviving humans brain-uploaded themselves into the cloud to become gods... only to become viruses instead, infesting the machines while corrupting each other. It's hell for both the infected machines and the human viruses, and they beg Build-a to kill them all.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: There are three factions: Red, Blue, and Grey. These are the only colors you can see at first within the comic, plus brown, as it is done from the view point of what the robots can see. These are revealed to have meaning in the dreams Build-a has.
- Red Meaning appears to represent hard work and self reliance based on the red dream door
- Blue Meaning appears to represent creativity and beauty based on the blue dream door
- Brown Meaning appears to represent danger and self preservation based on the brown dream door
- Grey Meaning appears to represent safety and neutrality based on the grey dream door
- Yellow Meaning appears to represent morning a loved one. Clue given in a QR code in the comic
- Cute Machines: Many of the Grey Side bots look cute, although Jump Bot with its small face and happy, bouncy nature is seen as cute and harmless.
- Do Androids Dream?: The answer appears to be no, however Build-a and Build-b have dreams about doors, a static man and strange memories not their own. The viewpoints on these dreams differs between those that know about them.
- Fem Bot: A several of the bots are technically female such as all Build Bots, Build-a, and Query.
- Forever War: Red side and Blue side have been in a war for hundreds of years with no real end in sight. The only thing that could start to wind it down was removing the ability of either side being able to repair themselves.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: The robots in this series can think for themselves but for some more specific examples:
- Pretty much every robot that was in the wall was put there for thinking too much as shown by Drive's memory of when he went against orders and was forcibly removed from his frame.
- Paint Bot wants to paint all kinds of crazy murals.
- Build-a wants to build things for fun like jump bot and can make creative leaps in logic like determining how she was really the leader for the entire Grey side when in danger from red and blue.
- Build-a also has dreams
- Red and Blue both showing they can think outside their base orders by noticing the oddness of the situation and taking a moment to talk things out instead of just shooting like they should.
- Build-B starts off normal but develops a personality, and demonstrates interesting logical leaps and creativity as she spends more time with Build-a.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat: The robot soldiers Red and Blue are not allowed to fight on grey territory, so instead trying to show off over each other such as by attempting to be better at removing rubble- to the point of melting a rock and win over Build-a and the others.
- Hopeless War: Red side and Blue side have lost all humans and many bots as a result of this war. Ironically, human orders were the one thing that could have stopped this war but they were killed by the soldier bots.
- Hopping Machine: Jump bot is a spring based robot Build-a made for fun. She and Build-b later made a Flip bot to go with it.
- Humanity's Wake: Within the first few panels, the last human on the planet dies. The second episode shows the world 100 years later and starts the plot.
- Nature-Loving Robot: Build-a shows a lover for animals and nature.
- She insists on building outside when she can.
- She is the one who insists on visiting the campsite and stay overnight. During the set up she attempted to keep some new furry friends.
- Unlike Query, she doesn't care she woke up with bugs on her and happily chased the grasshopper.
- She and Bee both tried to keep a stray cat they found.
- Is happy to test her flip bot outside.
- Robot Soldier: Blue and Red both qualify as this with weapons of mass destruction and their general classification is called "Soldier Bot".
- Sapient Tank: Red is able to transform into a tank at will. Normally does so when traveling long distances.
- Show Within a Show: The webcomic Blue Life was apparently a rather popular film and television series within this comic's universe. As shown with the titular character of that comic, Blue, cameoing on a calendar in one of the comics.
- Title Drop: The title is frequently asked towards Build-a at the start of the story to determine whose side she is on.
