There is a certain Anasigma employee who might as well be seconded to SH given the amount of time she spends with the gang who isn’t currently present (AFAIK)…
OK, I’ve more or less read the Know Your Meme page, which is written in a language closely resembling English but doesn’t make a lick of sense, and I have no idea what sentiment the “Free Vivian James” shirt is meant to convey.
Assuming—based on the data available to us and the general feminist geek tendencies of Shaenon—that our friend is not a raging GamerGater, I am going with the assumption that he is referring to freeing the iconography of Vivian James from its oppressive creators (4chan’s /v/ and the GG movement in general) and making it exactly the sort of feminist icon that its creators were pretending to support (while actually attacking).
Basically, she started as a PR stunt advertising the opposite of its creators true intentions, so some people want to take the stunt and make it real. This would require giving her an agency beyond the intent of her evil creators.
I think it could be simpler than that: in the Skin Horse world, Vivian James is a real woman who’s been imprisoned by some evil group based on their corresponding group to 4chan/GG, as well as her likeness being used.
A truly horrific thought just struck me. Can you imagine how horrible Internet troll groups could be in a mad-science world?
Clifton, that is the most awesome explanation and therefore true.
IRL it looks like there was some discussion of #FreeVivianJames at We Hunted the Mammoth; here’s a cartoon about it, they mentioned starting a #FreeVivianJames hashtag a few posts up, and they go on to talk about it below.
Man, I hope Skin Horse doesn’t start throwing real-world pseudo-political commentary around, and instead keeps the real world debates out of the comic world. I’ve already stopped reading one of my favorite webcomics because they got all preachy with their siding on these sorts of issues. I just want to read a good comic with a clever story and nice art; I come here to avoid the machinations of the rest of the internet. 😀
Yeah, it really would be a shame if a webcomic that’s entirely about themes of personhood, dignity, independence, and acceptance were to tackle serious social issues.
We toast marshmallows
With these fine fellows
They feel like a family to me
We toast marshmallows
We toast marshmallows
And now Shelby knows
He brings all the other folk to see
We toast marshmallows
Hey! Cobras! Neat!
The group’s complete
Hot hot cook it up
We’re never gonna stop
Marcy and Chris
Join us in this
Yum yum gee it’s fun
Building fire in M’s old drum
We toast marshmallows
M. won’t lie fallow
He looks like a firepit to me
We toast marshmallows
We toast marshmallows
Please free Vivian so’s
She can join our rockin’ S’mores party
We toast marshmallows
Sweetheart’s not ’round
She’s underground
Driving Bubbles’ bod
With Nick’s help. Yeah, that’s odd
The mission’s rough
But Sweetheart’s tough
Will she find the Cure?
We’re not losing sleep, that’s sure
We toast marshmallows
Have some chips with those
Then we’ll have a book club meet. Yippee!
We toast marshmallows
Nice! I started a new job last November and in addition to a private office, my wife gave me a Blutooth speaker system, so I get to binge listen! Right now I’m binging David Byrne, within the last month I did my Talking Heads assortment.
Well, I wasn’t happy with that last one, so I put together another. From “C’mon Everybody,” Eddie Cochran.
Well, c’mon everybody and let’s get it going tonight.
We’ve got some marshmallow sticks and a fire that is just so right.
The party started out with just three or four.
Now there’s Shelby and the others, and maybe more.
Ooo, c’mon everybody!
Nobody has a life, so we’ll hang together good and long.
The building will be shaking top to bottom from the throng.
Well we’re on a secret mission that’s not crystal clear,
But this Annex place is empty and the prudes aren’t here.
Ooo, c’mon everybody!
Well, we’ll really have a party, but we’re here to find some help for the Cure.
If the shadow bosses find us, well, they’ll really take us down for sure.
There’ll be no more helping out the mutant crew,
Just reality-stuck people who just don’t have a clue.
So what?
C’mon everybody!
Captain, Captain
Moustachio can’t be roasting
Wilkins, Wilkins, Wilkins
There’s far too many of you toasting
I should report this right away
For your incessant fire play, eheh
Shelby, Shelby
You don’t need to inform on us
You see, snitching’s not the answer
For reasons I will quickly suss
You know I’ve got to find a way
To bring some puppets here today, oh oh oh
Skin Horse closed and Skin Horse blowzed
Don’t punish me, there’s no crime you see
You’ve been fired, no squeal required
That’s what’s going on
What’s going on
Yeah, what’s going on
Ah, what’s going on
Doctor, Doctor, everybody come on in
Even Bubbles has her own stick
So grab one too and begin
We’ll roast marshmallows as Tip does appraise,
Debate if the book club goes or stays
Oh oh oh
Skin Horse grows and Skin Horse knows
That stepped right out did Tigerlily
Yet nobody
Said “Did you see?”
Oh, where did she go
Yeah, where did she go
Tell me where did she go
I’ll tell you where did she go, ooh ooo ooo ooo
Mr. Eldritch: Try this one. Of course the whole point of GamerGate is that the MCP contingent of gamerdom, and most of 4chan, don’t consider “treating women like human beings” to be a serious issue.
Only one that’s missing is Ira,then the gang is all here!
Ooh, I wouldn’t want to be the one to fire Ira.
(And fire Ira. And fire Ira. And explain why his keys don’t work anymore. And…)
Ira’s there, he’s just outside at the guard station.
There is a certain Anasigma employee who might as well be seconded to SH given the amount of time she spends with the gang who isn’t currently present (AFAIK)…
There are just so many spoilers appropriate to this thread…
Even Bubbles gets a marshmallow to roast. (No, cute cobra, they’ll gum up your fangs.)
OK, I’ve more or less read the Know Your Meme page, which is written in a language closely resembling English but doesn’t make a lick of sense, and I have no idea what sentiment the “Free Vivian James” shirt is meant to convey.
Assuming—based on the data available to us and the general feminist geek tendencies of Shaenon—that our friend is not a raging GamerGater, I am going with the assumption that he is referring to freeing the iconography of Vivian James from its oppressive creators (4chan’s /v/ and the GG movement in general) and making it exactly the sort of feminist icon that its creators were pretending to support (while actually attacking).
Basically, she started as a PR stunt advertising the opposite of its creators true intentions, so some people want to take the stunt and make it real. This would require giving her an agency beyond the intent of her evil creators.
. . . Er. Did I just describe Skin Horse?
I think it could be simpler than that: in the Skin Horse world, Vivian James is a real woman who’s been imprisoned by some evil group based on their corresponding group to 4chan/GG, as well as her likeness being used.
A truly horrific thought just struck me. Can you imagine how horrible Internet troll groups could be in a mad-science world?
Clifton, that is the most awesome explanation and therefore true.
IRL it looks like there was some discussion of #FreeVivianJames at We Hunted the Mammoth; here’s a cartoon about it, they mentioned starting a #FreeVivianJames hashtag a few posts up, and they go on to talk about it below.
Man, I hope Skin Horse doesn’t start throwing real-world pseudo-political commentary around, and instead keeps the real world debates out of the comic world. I’ve already stopped reading one of my favorite webcomics because they got all preachy with their siding on these sorts of issues. I just want to read a good comic with a clever story and nice art; I come here to avoid the machinations of the rest of the internet. 😀
Yeah, it really would be a shame if a webcomic that’s entirely about themes of personhood, dignity, independence, and acceptance were to tackle serious social issues.
I’m having a hard time imagining in what universe Gamergate and 4chan falls under “serious social issues”
I mean, it might in the Skin Horse universe, but that seems even more out-there than mad science.
tune: “I Eat Cannibals Part 1,” Toto Coelo, 1982 (for you young’uns, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqCTGoWMZcQ)
We toast marshmallows
With these fine fellows
They feel like a family to me
We toast marshmallows
We toast marshmallows
And now Shelby knows
He brings all the other folk to see
We toast marshmallows
Hey! Cobras! Neat!
The group’s complete
Hot hot cook it up
We’re never gonna stop
Marcy and Chris
Join us in this
Yum yum gee it’s fun
Building fire in M’s old drum
We toast marshmallows
M. won’t lie fallow
He looks like a firepit to me
We toast marshmallows
We toast marshmallows
Please free Vivian so’s
She can join our rockin’ S’mores party
We toast marshmallows
Sweetheart’s not ’round
She’s underground
Driving Bubbles’ bod
With Nick’s help. Yeah, that’s odd
The mission’s rough
But Sweetheart’s tough
Will she find the Cure?
We’re not losing sleep, that’s sure
We toast marshmallows
Have some chips with those
Then we’ll have a book club meet. Yippee!
We toast marshmallows
OMG we used to quad skate to that at Northridge Skateland! Mad props Manifesta!
Thanks. I’ve lived in LA for 25 years, but I had to look up Northridge Skateland. I loved roller rinks as a kid, but I had no idea they still existed.
Well, at least someone’s stepping up. Alll I could come up with is what’s below.
I just can’t seem to keep to the song pattern and keep dropping into “Nemesis” by Shriekback instead.
In edduard’s absence…from “Burning Down the House,” Talking Heads.
Watch out, there’s gonna be a party.
Old building, condemned but not condemny,
We’re just civil servant guys,
Burning down the Annex.
Hold on, we came in for a free ride,
Hold on, we have no lives outside.
We just want to have some fun,
Burning down the annex.
Nice! I started a new job last November and in addition to a private office, my wife gave me a Blutooth speaker system, so I get to binge listen! Right now I’m binging David Byrne, within the last month I did my Talking Heads assortment.
Well, I wasn’t happy with that last one, so I put together another. From “C’mon Everybody,” Eddie Cochran.
Well, c’mon everybody and let’s get it going tonight.
We’ve got some marshmallow sticks and a fire that is just so right.
The party started out with just three or four.
Now there’s Shelby and the others, and maybe more.
Ooo, c’mon everybody!
Nobody has a life, so we’ll hang together good and long.
The building will be shaking top to bottom from the throng.
Well we’re on a secret mission that’s not crystal clear,
But this Annex place is empty and the prudes aren’t here.
Ooo, c’mon everybody!
Well, we’ll really have a party, but we’re here to find some help for the Cure.
If the shadow bosses find us, well, they’ll really take us down for sure.
There’ll be no more helping out the mutant crew,
Just reality-stuck people who just don’t have a clue.
So what?
C’mon everybody!
First attempt at this fine art, please be gentle.
Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-kA3UtBj4M )
Captain, Captain
Moustachio can’t be roasting
Wilkins, Wilkins, Wilkins
There’s far too many of you toasting
I should report this right away
For your incessant fire play, eheh
Shelby, Shelby
You don’t need to inform on us
You see, snitching’s not the answer
For reasons I will quickly suss
You know I’ve got to find a way
To bring some puppets here today, oh oh oh
Skin Horse closed and Skin Horse blowzed
Don’t punish me, there’s no crime you see
You’ve been fired, no squeal required
That’s what’s going on
What’s going on
Yeah, what’s going on
Ah, what’s going on
Doctor, Doctor, everybody come on in
Even Bubbles has her own stick
So grab one too and begin
We’ll roast marshmallows as Tip does appraise,
Debate if the book club goes or stays
Oh oh oh
Skin Horse grows and Skin Horse knows
That stepped right out did Tigerlily
Yet nobody
Said “Did you see?”
Oh, where did she go
Yeah, where did she go
Tell me where did she go
I’ll tell you where did she go, ooh ooo ooo ooo
look at the tiny cobra it wants a marsh mellow omgzo cute wtf
You probably can see more of that snake if you read the first complete story arc of this comic.
Mr. Eldritch: Try this one. Of course the whole point of GamerGate is that the MCP contingent of gamerdom, and most of 4chan, don’t consider “treating women like human beings” to be a serious issue.
BTW, who’s the mechanical voice from the bottom right of panel 4?
That’s Nick; he’s checking in with them, remember?
–Dave, can’t tell the playas without a