Skin Horse

By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
Color by Pancha Diaz
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2019-08-28
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2019-08-28

by shaenon on August 28, 2019 at 12:01 am
Chapter: Swiftly I Glide
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Discussion (73) ¬

  1. dornbeast
    August 28, 2019, 12:02 am | # | Reply

    Be right back, playing Airwolf theme…

  2. David B Huber
    August 28, 2019, 12:10 am | # | Reply

    Wow! Precision targeting during bilocation! Nick is beside himself with glee!

    I’m not sure even Unity could handle being in two places at once…

    • awgiedawgie
      August 28, 2019, 12:31 am | # | Reply

      Unity has handled being in two places at once. That’s why she has the collar-bone eye.

      • David B Huber
        August 28, 2019, 7:45 am | # | Reply

        I think Unity has a distributed intelligence where detached members are autonomous until reintegrated (when she would absorb the memories of the sub-unit).

        • Daibhid C
          August 28, 2019, 7:59 am | # | Reply

          In “The Hundred Dresses”, her detached head described what her collarbone eye was seeing in real time. So distributed intelligence with autonomous members, but also wi-fi.

          • David B Huber
            August 28, 2019, 8:05 pm | #

            I stand corrected. Thank you both. 🙂

      • Robert Nowall
        August 28, 2019, 5:51 pm | # | Reply

        In the words of the Firesign Theater…

        • M. Alan Thomas II
          August 29, 2019, 4:03 am | # | Reply

          Don’t crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers?

    • SVGeezer
      August 28, 2019, 6:58 am | # | Reply

      Of COURSE Nick is besides himself.

      Didn’t you see him wave?

    • Trivena
      August 28, 2019, 8:19 am | # | Reply

      He’s a gamer, he’ll be fine.

    • Robert Nowall
      August 28, 2019, 11:00 am | # | Reply

      He’s grounded and way up in the middle of the air.

  3. chh01
    August 28, 2019, 12:13 am | # | Reply

    Maybe time to bring out the melon scooper and rehouse Nick’s brain where it belongs.

    • Hannibal’s Lectern
      August 28, 2019, 9:01 am | # | Reply

      Why? Right now he’s got the best of both worlds: integration with the Osprey AND he can bang Ginny, if he ever gets up the nerve to ask (and if not, there’s still Cheetos).

      • warpzone32
        August 28, 2019, 9:28 am | # | Reply

        Plus, he can always log out of the osprey if he feels the need to swear.

        • awgiedawgie
          August 28, 2019, 10:45 am | # | Reply

          Look at the font. It’s not the swear filter. It’s just him not swearing.

          • Seph
            August 28, 2019, 2:33 pm | #

            I’d argue that if he’s using ‘melonfarmer’ like a swearword, he actually is swearing.

          • awgiedawgie
            August 28, 2019, 4:07 pm | #

            The distinction is whether he’s using it like a swear word, or using it instead of a swear word.

          • Andy4Hire
            August 28, 2019, 8:23 pm | #

            There’s also precedent for Nick using a non-swear word like a swear word before the software catches on to what he’s doing and intervenes.

          • Seph
            August 29, 2019, 9:44 am | #

            Remember the pork-porking mukluks?

          • awgiedawgie
            August 29, 2019, 10:08 am | #

            He used “pork-porking mukluks” specifically because the Whimsy characters took offense to it when the swear filter used it.

            I get the idea that he uses “melonfarmer” just because he likes the sound of it, and he tries to not swear in front of Virginia.

          • awgiedawgie
            August 29, 2019, 10:10 am | #

            Oh, wait… it was Sweetheart who said “pork-porking mukluks”. Nick just said “pork” until the filter figured it out and replaced it with “mukluk”.

    • Dhraakellian
      August 29, 2019, 1:26 am | # | Reply

      So his bipedal body would just be a meat avatar?

      • BRGR
        August 31, 2019, 6:14 am | # | Reply

        That also houses his brain, yes.

  4. Towering Barbarian
    August 28, 2019, 12:17 am | # | Reply

    So this is Nick’s chance to become a Mad Computer Scientist? ^_^

    • Shadowmehr
      August 28, 2019, 9:05 pm | # | Reply

      “Howling Mad” Zerhakker, ace pilot and programmer, team wild card.

      • Candace
        August 29, 2019, 12:15 am | # | Reply

        This.^

  5. awgiedawgie
    August 28, 2019, 12:29 am | # | Reply

    Oh, he’s more than okay. He’s starting to feel like himself again. It’s more or less just like when his brain was in the chopper and he was running the Violet drone.

    • Rimwolf
      August 28, 2019, 9:01 am | # | Reply

      But now his consciousness is in two places simultaneously, which I don’t recall being the case earlier.

      • Barbara K
        August 28, 2019, 9:44 am | # | Reply

        Tip or Ginnie would say that his “consciousness” (probably the result of the thalamus bouncing signals off of the cerebral cortex) is, as always, still housed in his human brain; he’s just gained additional sensory and motor connections to a second (Osprey) body.

        • BRGR
          August 31, 2019, 6:16 am | # | Reply

          I think Rimwolf means the “seat of consciousness”. That’s where he perceives himself as being.

  6. Ysabet
    August 28, 2019, 12:39 am | # | Reply

    Looks like the Cuss Filter reactivates when Nick plugs in. ‘Melonfarmer’ now sounds in my head to be WAY more of a pejorative than the original profanity! Nice!

    • codebracker
      August 28, 2019, 3:08 am | # | Reply

      Naah, he just started using it ironically

      • warpzone32
        August 28, 2019, 9:29 am | # | Reply

        Tough to say, at this point. Both readings work.

    • Robert Nowall
      August 28, 2019, 11:01 am | # | Reply

      He used it a couple of months back when he was preaching to the robots.

    • Robert Loughrey
      August 28, 2019, 11:08 am | # | Reply

      Its interesting that its not in the font. I wonder if that’s because the words are coming out of his mouth instead of a speaker? Ginny seems a bit concerned though.

    • Rimwolf
      August 28, 2019, 12:52 pm | # | Reply

      In 2019-06-17 (http://skin-horse.com/comic/within-moustachios/), Ginny says that she took out the language filter when she retrieved his brain, along with other modifications.

      (PS: The WordPress markup language seems to be a closely held secret — how do I embed a link, or even do italics?)

      • Manifesta
        August 28, 2019, 1:02 pm | # | Reply

        Use html markup. For example, to italicize, put immediately before the italic text, and immediately after, with no spaces between those elements, when you actually use them. See http://www.simplehtmlguide.com/examplesheet.php.

        • Manifesta
          August 28, 2019, 1:03 pm | # | Reply

          sorry, I couldn’t put the symbols in without actually causing italics. just look at the linked page.

          • greenknight32
            August 28, 2019, 3:05 pm | #

            Maybe put it in code tags? this will be italic

          • greenknight32
            August 28, 2019, 3:09 pm | #

            Nope, code tags around it didn’t work. I’m sure there’s a way to do it, but can’t figure it out.

          • Rimwolf
            August 28, 2019, 3:20 pm | #

            Thanks!, I know HTML markup

          • Rimwolf
            August 28, 2019, 3:37 pm | #

            To show the tags literally, you need to replace the opening less-than symbol with the four characters (ampersand, “l”, “t”, “;”) and the closing greater-than symbol with (ampersand, “g”, “t”, “;”).

          • awgiedawgie
            August 28, 2019, 3:39 pm | #

            Trying to use entity names such as < and > but keep getting an error when I try to post, so it’s possible that Shaenon has disabled them somehow for comments.

          • awgiedawgie
            August 28, 2019, 3:42 pm | #

            Weird… when I put the entity name in caps (which should also display the relevant symbol), it just shows the entity name as I typed it. If I type it in lowercase, I get an error when I try to post.

          • M. Alan Thomas II
            August 29, 2019, 4:07 am | #

            Input might be sanitized against double-unescaping. You run across the occasional bug when dealing with things like “& amp; lt;” (minus the spaces).

  7. dexitroboper
    August 28, 2019, 12:39 am | # | Reply

    It’s lucky those guns are so accurate.

    • awgiedawgie
      August 28, 2019, 12:52 am | # | Reply

      It’s not luck. He’s just that good. He would never have done it if there was any risk of hurting Virginia.

      • Jay
        August 28, 2019, 2:35 am | # | Reply

        “Good” doesn’t begin to cover being that accurate with a gun you’ve never fired before.

        And given Nick’s body has never had guns on it before, it’s like he’s shooting with a *limb* he’s never had before either!

        • greenknight32
          August 28, 2019, 3:49 am | # | Reply

          Nah – computerized aiming system, works just like a video game. He has hundreds of hours of experience.

        • sweetuncleLESLIE
          August 28, 2019, 7:36 am | # | Reply

          Jay, Jay! Don’t you remember, he shot the Shat out of foofoo faux
          Ben Franklin? Chopped him into salad per .50s, right? Besides, you haven’t
          considered the parameters of the rather strict space requirements for
          him to fire down-range….I mean, ONE panel! Now, that’s some shootin’!

          • awgiedawgie
            August 28, 2019, 10:41 am | #

            That wasn’t Nick. That was Mirror-universe!Nick.

        • warpzone32
          August 28, 2019, 9:35 am | # | Reply

          I mean, look at the purple lines. He basically distributed the shots in a grid covering the entire surface area of the gun and nowhere else. Then continued to track with the gun while it spiraled out of the guy’s hands.

          Though if he was going for maximum accuracy, he probably should have used the laser.

          Wait. They’re -purple- lines. He -did- use the laser.

          The “budda budda budda” machine gun noise is from a soundboard or something, isn’t it.

        • Robert Loughrey
          August 28, 2019, 11:12 am | # | Reply

          Computers don’t need practice. He isn’t gripping the gun. Stance, form, etc dont matter. Wither the reticule is over the target or not is all that matters when you arent relying on muscle strength, hand -eye coordination, or timing your breathing etc. Depending on the features of the osprey he may even be able to do the calculations for crosswind, bullet drop, and the rotation of the earth at longer distances automaticly. Of course at this distance none of that matters. He’s basically an aim-bot.

          • warpzone32
            August 30, 2019, 7:19 pm | #

            There’d probably still be some variance caused by inconsistencies in how the powder burns when the bullets are firing, etc. Not to mention, the wind over there may not be the same as the wind over here, and it’s invisible, so you can only really measure the wind over here where you are.

            But the biggest source of error I can think of is the breathing, stance, form, sway, involuntary reflex actions, and deliberate choices of the guy holding the gun he was aiming at.

    • Barking Monkey
      August 28, 2019, 6:23 am | # | Reply

      I think I’m going to assume Nick’s rig has a “1950’s Lone Ranger/Cisco Kid targeting mode” for shooting guns out of hands. Cuz, yeah – hitting a guys rifle while his arms are wrapped around it with a mini-gun from a hovering aircraft and not injuring the person – that’s some real Saturday Morning Grade shooting.

      • Forrest M Davis
        April 25, 2020, 4:46 pm | # | Reply

        Try the western parody movie “Rustler’s Rhapsody” for a nice take on that trope of shooting guns out of the hands of villians, not to mention clever takes on most of the other western movie tropes. Plus, it’s just generally fun to watch!

    • D. Walker
      August 28, 2019, 11:41 pm | # | Reply

      His cannons must be a LOT smaller than normal aircraft cannons. The bullet holes are practically pistol sized.

      • awgiedawgie
        August 29, 2019, 12:03 am | # | Reply

        The gun on the nose of an Osprey is a .50 cal. Attack helicopters typically have 30mm cannons. So yes, it’s a lot smaller.

  8. Nomi
    August 28, 2019, 12:39 am | # | Reply

    The swear filter is back!

    • awgiedawgie
      August 28, 2019, 12:48 am | # | Reply

      Nope. Look at the font. That’s just him being a monkey-farting gentleman in front of Virginia.

      • fluffy
        August 28, 2019, 2:35 am | # | Reply

        Yep. I was looking forward to seeing him self-censor willingly, and so now I have been fully satisfied by this arc.

      • waynezombie
        August 28, 2019, 10:21 am | # | Reply

        The funny thing about that is my wife swears tons more than I do.

    • Barbara K
      August 28, 2019, 9:55 am | # | Reply

      The swear-filter may be gone, but he still has the engrained habit of speaking that way when in his Osprey body. His pseudo-cussing is telling Virginia, “Honey, I’m home!”

  9. Frank
    August 28, 2019, 12:48 am | # | Reply

    He’s being a melonfarming gentleman!

  10. Candace
    August 28, 2019, 1:29 am | # | Reply

    I love this so much!

  11. Robert Nowall
    August 28, 2019, 11:02 am | # | Reply

    “And it’s goodbye to me, and it’s goodbye to him.”

    • Andy4Hire
      August 28, 2019, 8:27 pm | # | Reply

      Heh. Nice use of the Two Ronnies signoff there!

  12. BMunro
    August 28, 2019, 11:49 pm | # | Reply

    Sanity is overrated. A little practice, and he can be a whole airfleet.

    • Candace
      August 29, 2019, 12:22 am | # | Reply

      OK, now I want to see this happen!

    • Pygar
      August 29, 2019, 12:57 am | # | Reply

      “We aren’t contractually tied down to rationality! There is no sanity clause! “

  13. M. Alan Thomas II
    August 29, 2019, 4:09 am | # | Reply

    C.f. the Marx Brothers

    • M. Alan Thomas II
      August 29, 2019, 4:10 am | # | Reply

      Oh, heck. Supposed to be a reply to an earlier comment.

  14. Knuckles
    February 9, 2022, 4:06 pm | # | Reply

    Seeing Nick this happy brings a tear to my eyes.

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