The Politically InQueerect remastering project proceeds apace! Longtime readers will note that I changed a tiny bit of dialogue in this one: the Hip-Top is now an iDrone.

I have decided it’s a mistake to mention any kind of specific, real-life technology in your story if your goal is to convey the state-of-the-artness of said tech. Unless you’re trying to recreate a bygone era, e.g., “Whoa, check out the awesome graphics on this Amiga!” to emphasize that a story is set in the mid-1980s. Of course, in due time even the iDrone will seem dated, as the tech it references is replaced by newer and shinier. It’s possible that for the eventual book collection I’ll revert to the original Hip-Top; the main reason I changed the name of the device at all is because many people are discovering this comic for the first time via the Tapastic postings, and there are probably readers who were born after the Hip-Top became obsolete. But I think most people will get what an “iDrone” is supposed to be even after its referents fade into oblivion, whereas the Hip-Top/Sidekick never really had that level of name recognition, so its mention in the story will just draw a befuddled, “Huh?”

Even so, the fact that Todd does not already have an iDrone 5 (to replace his 12 previous iterations of iDrone and his brief fling with the Windoze phone) is out of character for him, and thus far I have not managed to fabricate a decent explanation for the inconsistency. Maybe if I just don’t tell anyone, no one will notice!