If comic books have taught us anything, it will be a giant head in a floating chair. Given it’s function, one of it’s tiny little arms will be under its chin, in the classic Rodan pose.
I wonder if Skin-Horse will have to wait around for him for awhile?
Not a jar. It’s a brain in a tank. We’ve seen a brain in a tank before in this universe.
Just to save someone from having to look them up elsewhere:
SigInt – Signals Intelligence.
DoD – Department of Defense
AI – Artificial Intelligence
DLIS – Defense Logistics Information Service
TARFU – Totaly And Royally Fucked Up
I figured “jar” would be a better word, since “tank” could also refer to a large vehicle with cannons and treads, rather than a useful pot to put things in. Of course, I suppose it’s only a matter of time until we run into a brain in a tank (the military kind). Could be Nick’s new girlfriend.
OK, first, EmuSam, thanks for explaining the acronyms. TARFU had me especially curious.
But second, your line about the various places we’ve seen brains sent me immediately and irreversibly here:
I could not, would not in a jar, Or with a stranger in a bar.
I could not, would not in a tank,
Not even in an organ bank.
I could not, would not on a train,
Or in a ‘copter–not again.
How ’bout a big transformer-bot?
No, even there, I still would not.
I never will eat brans, you see–
No, that’s a job for UNITY!
Oh, come on, isn’t it obvious? They’re going to spend the entire story arc waiting for this A.I. … and it will never show up. And they’ll keep waiting.
(TUNE: “Why Don’t We Get Drunk …”, Jimmy Buffet)
Now dear Gavotte, please tell us
All the things we need to know,
‘Cause we’re planning our next mission
And we’re waiting for GODOT!
It’s a SIGINT from the DoD,
But now its job is through …
Tell ya, this situation’s TARFU!
[CHORUS:]
This situation’s TARFU!
All these gosh-darn acronyms,
An alphabetic stew!
You know GODOT invents ’em,
That’s all that it can do …
This situation’s TARFU!
An entire brigade of transmen who coincidentally came out/had a personal revelation sometime between when each of them slept with Tip and the present? A squad of shapeshifters who have no set gender or sex but chose to be female when Tip was around because /come ON, it’s TIP/? An unfortunate cross-contamination between the military’s first successful gay bomb and the military’s thir- seco- first successful memory erasure system?
No, but I had a guess at it. Unified Necrotic Intelligent Technological Ylem. The I could also be Infiltrator. IIRC, All we got was the first two words, but I CBA to make sure it was those two.
Dr. Lee was explaining, but she only got as far as “Upgradeable Necrotic Independent” before Unity stopped her. I’ve never been able to come up with a workable guess at what “T.Y.” stands for.
From the comments above, no, I suspect you’re not. Moreover, I noticed it myself.
(I’ve been playing in an old-school Marvel Superheroes game, which has required me, on more than one occasion, to rant at AIM personnel about how an outfit run by someone who claims to be “Designed Only for Killing” is highly unlikely to be benign.)
I also note that MODOK was originally “Designed Only for Computation”, which leads me to wonder what a rogue (they always go rogue) GODOT might decide he was designed for. Treachery? Termination? Torture? Terrible fashion sense?
WTF? An AI acronym factory? WAFWOT. This is gonna be a huge CF, IMHO. This op is going FUBAR, but that’s what comes from working for a SASOB. FIGMO. I’m heading to San Diego.
GODOT has a couple of colleagues: the Very Large Acronym-Decyphering Independently Mobile Intelligent Robot; and the Experimental System for the Translation of Ropey Acronyms into Great Original Names. (The precise designation of their dread master, SAMUEL BECKETT, is classified Over-the-top Secret.)
The Tip Jar is working oddly. Just tried to make a donation and it added posting and packaging for some reason , which since I live outside the US is $15. Can’t see an option not to add postage.
Is it strange that in the brief period of time it took me to read the comments, I’ve already figured out which Skin Horse character would play the role of each character in Waiting for Godot were this storyline to take that route?
Genetic organism designed only for thought… It’s a brain in a jar right?
If comic books have taught us anything, it will be a giant head in a floating chair. Given it’s function, one of it’s tiny little arms will be under its chin, in the classic Rodan pose.
I wonder if Skin-Horse will have to wait around for him for awhile?
Rodin. RODIN. The classic RODAN pose is flying over Tokyo at supersonic speeds.
This is the Narboniverse. The Rodin and Rodan poses are basically the same here.
Whoops, I sent my reply below before I fully registered yours.
As a Marvel fan, the “Designed Only For” bit leads me to expect a giant head in a floating chair.
Oh dear. Genetic Organisms tend to fall into the category of Things You Do Not Want To Be Involved With.
Not a jar. It’s a brain in a tank. We’ve seen a brain in a tank before in this universe.
Just to save someone from having to look them up elsewhere:
SigInt – Signals Intelligence.
DoD – Department of Defense
AI – Artificial Intelligence
DLIS – Defense Logistics Information Service
TARFU – Totaly And Royally Fucked Up
Also in a robot, in a helicopter, and very probably in a jar.
I figured “jar” would be a better word, since “tank” could also refer to a large vehicle with cannons and treads, rather than a useful pot to put things in. Of course, I suppose it’s only a matter of time until we run into a brain in a tank (the military kind). Could be Nick’s new girlfriend.
Then we’d call it a BOLO!
Please. BOLOs are AIs. Not sure where you see brains running military hardware prior to McCaffrey.
OK, first, EmuSam, thanks for explaining the acronyms. TARFU had me especially curious.
But second, your line about the various places we’ve seen brains sent me immediately and irreversibly here:
I could not, would not in a jar,
Or with a stranger in a bar.
I could not, would not in a tank,
Not even in an organ bank.
I could not, would not on a train,
Or in a ‘copter–not again.
How ’bout a big transformer-bot?
No, even there, I still would not.
I never will eat brans, you see–
No, that’s a job for UNITY!
Having read the rest of this storyline… that is incredibly prescient right there.
More often I’ve heard TARFU as “Things Are /Really/ Fucked Up”, but that might be an older form.
I’d always heard it as Totally And Righteously F***ed Up — but that may just be a regional variation.
@Nemryn – you mean TYRDNWTBIW?
The Auld Grump
Oh, come on, isn’t it obvious? They’re going to spend the entire story arc waiting for this A.I. … and it will never show up. And they’ll keep waiting.
(TUNE: “Why Don’t We Get Drunk …”, Jimmy Buffet)
Now dear Gavotte, please tell us
All the things we need to know,
‘Cause we’re planning our next mission
And we’re waiting for GODOT!
It’s a SIGINT from the DoD,
But now its job is through …
Tell ya, this situation’s TARFU!
[CHORUS:]
This situation’s TARFU!
All these gosh-darn acronyms,
An alphabetic stew!
You know GODOT invents ’em,
That’s all that it can do …
This situation’s TARFU!
Either that or he’s posing as a heavyworlder mercenary.
Ed, your filks are always great, but I really laughed out loud over this one.
Ex-military… @_@ Sure hope it’s not somebody Tip used to know/sleep with.
It’s extremely disturbing that his sleeping with them doesn’t need him to know them. Amusing though
There’s a good chance that it’s almost everybody Tip used to know/sleep with.
Statistically unlikely. Far more men than women in service, and until Artie, Tip was exclusively into women.
Where there’s a Tip will, there’s a way. And it IS Tip we’re talking about.
An entire brigade of transmen who coincidentally came out/had a personal revelation sometime between when each of them slept with Tip and the present? A squad of shapeshifters who have no set gender or sex but chose to be female when Tip was around because /come ON, it’s TIP/? An unfortunate cross-contamination between the military’s first successful gay bomb and the military’s thir- seco- first successful memory erasure system?
Will we find Vladimir and Estragon while we are waiting for Godot?
I wondered who would make that joke.
I think it’s more likely that Didi and Gogo are Tip and Unity.
In an inversion, Sweetheart should be Pozzo, which I guess makes Nick Lucky – should be fun to see his version of Lucky’s monologue.
And now, I grow more and more certain it IS the city itself… LOL
mnem
Who would deny the lover’s lovely love?
Did anyone ever find out what U.N.I.T.Y. stands for?
No, but I had a guess at it. Unified Necrotic Intelligent Technological Ylem. The I could also be Infiltrator. IIRC, All we got was the first two words, but I CBA to make sure it was those two.
Yes, check the archives from the start, I think it’s in comments.
Dr. Lee was explaining, but she only got as far as “Upgradeable Necrotic Independent” before Unity stopped her. I’ve never been able to come up with a workable guess at what “T.Y.” stands for.
If they run into anything called WINSLOW they might want to rethink their plans, they’re not likely to get very far past it/him/her/thing
Waitamoment. SIGINT /and/ thinking up acronyms? Just what did it do — snoop on cell phone calls and think up acronyms based on what it heard?
Unrelated, I fully expect that the technicians who had to wait for its answers to be named Vladimir and Estragon.
hey, The RSS still isn’t working. Some comics I barely even notice till months later, but I miss my daily skin-horse.
Thank you Shaenon (or whoever gets the credit) – I knew there was an intermediate between SNAFU and FUBAR, but I haven’t been able to remember it.
So we’re talking Threat Level Plaid, right?
Could be going up to “Moving Pictures” soon.
please tell me i’m not the first to notice the MODOK reference. I think he must get paid really well by the KND.
From the comments above, no, I suspect you’re not. Moreover, I noticed it myself.
(I’ve been playing in an old-school Marvel Superheroes game, which has required me, on more than one occasion, to rant at AIM personnel about how an outfit run by someone who claims to be “Designed Only for Killing” is highly unlikely to be benign.)
I also note that MODOK was originally “Designed Only for Computation”, which leads me to wonder what a rogue (they always go rogue) GODOT might decide he was designed for. Treachery? Termination? Torture? Terrible fashion sense?
So the client’s name is suspiciously close to both MODOK and GLaDOS with overtones of SHODAN and possibly others I’ve forgotten.
Yeah, this is going to go well.
WTF? An AI acronym factory? WAFWOT. This is gonna be a huge CF, IMHO. This op is going FUBAR, but that’s what comes from working for a SASOB. FIGMO. I’m heading to San Diego.
GODOT has a couple of colleagues: the Very Large Acronym-Decyphering Independently Mobile Intelligent Robot; and the Experimental System for the Translation of Ropey Acronyms into Great Original Names. (The precise designation of their dread master, SAMUEL BECKETT, is classified Over-the-top Secret.)
(* slow clap *)
I humbly bow to your mastery of both acronyms and puns. Well, more like I fall over laughing at your mastery, but you get the idea.
In re. that last panel: You said it!.
Okay, since my fake HTML codes were deleted, I just want to clarify that I was emulating Spanky of Our Gang, there.
The Tip Jar is working oddly. Just tried to make a donation and it added posting and packaging for some reason , which since I live outside the US is $15. Can’t see an option not to add postage.
Sorry about that. It should be working correctly now.
Is it strange that in the brief period of time it took me to read the comments, I’ve already figured out which Skin Horse character would play the role of each character in Waiting for Godot were this storyline to take that route?
And suddenly the comments section is like a menagerie of the very noisiest and most uncoordinated animals.
I think I’m gonna avoid scrolling down in future.