From your mouth to Gods’ (Jeff’s and Shaenon’s) ears! I’d give anything to see Nick trying to imitate Violet’s girly first incarnation. On the kther hand, Salty may be right. Tip’s the only one of them who could really rock the pink, puffy princess dress and really mean it, but Nick would be funnier.
Tip could pull off the dress, but remember, Nick is the one who watched hundreds of gigs of their shows and movies, and was the only one of the group, apart from Unity who was actually thrilled to be there.
Tip could do the dress, but he’s not the one with the inner tween.
This. When I saw ‘Princess, with a soul pure and true,’ I immediately thought of Nick’s gigabytes of torrented Whimsy films and his futile attempts to explain away his encyclopedic knowledge of the characters.
5 bucks on Tip to win; 2 each on Nick to show and U.N.I.T.Y. to place.
I agree with whoever said that U.N.I.T.Y. might have part of Collodi’s daughter in her, but it might be indistiguishable as part of the collective. Tip and Nick will have to disguise themselves to get past the scanners.
hmmmm ….. I was re-reading some of the wearwo … wherewoo … wharewhoo …. #$%!!
*uses google search as a dictionary*
I was looking back through some of the werewolf storyline earlier today and noticed that as a puppy Sweetheart was (apparently) her creator’s chosen leader of his genetically enhanced battle dogs.
Does that make Sweetheart a princess?
Although, to be honest, this is going to lead to Tip giving Nick(drone) a Disney princess makeover, isn’t it?
ps: if “pure and true” are code words for what I think they mean
(1) it’s definitely *NOT* Tip
(2) it’s a old stereotype/trope, but ‘computer geek’ is more likely to qualify as “pure and true” than the rest of the group.
pps: or could they …….. no, it couldn’t be?
Unity? She is the most childlike in her outlook on life/world view? Does Unity get to dress up pretty?
Nick is hardly religious, going by what his diet was when he was human. I’m tons more religious then him. Having a mezuzah is is common for even very reformed jews.
According to him, he kept kosher as a human and I didn’t see any pork, shellfish, or other well-known treyf in his apartment. He also hyphenates God in his blog, which the Progressive Movement generally doesn’t teach. For what it’s worth, he also uses a lot of Yiddish and knows enough that his censoring software picks up on the swear words.
The chance of it actually requiring the stereotype of a princess seems unlikely, the cutesy trappings of the entities guarding it aside, I suspect one reason they’ve not found someone capable of getting the information is that they assume princess=frilly pink dress and everything that goes with it.
…When instead it just requires a girl deluded enough and told by her daddy enough that she’s a princess. 🙂
Okay, that clinches it: the ENTIRE MAIN CAST qualifies as being able to open the Star Chamber. With the possible exception of Moustachio…
Hey, why has no one mentioned Gavotte yet? You know there’s a bee quietly spying on them somewhere around here, and every bee that’s not a drone (male) is technically a princess.
(Apologies to Shaennon if that is the solution and I spoiled it.)
If that object resembling a large cheese with an opening in it is the Star Chamber, either the perspective is rather wonky or its not accessible to any princesses larger than Barbie.
this is going to lead to the helicopter/boy/fem-bot, Tip, Unity, and Sweetheart will all get a Disney princess makeover!
AND it will all be in vain! 🙂
Here in a derelict theme park,
Here to make ev’rything right …
Rest of the village may seem dark,
Radiation makes us bright!
Gotta be Princess Collodi,
Gotta be sweet and demure,
Gotta resemble somebody
With a soul so pure and true …
Who could it be, to act deviously,
Tip or Sweetheart, Nick, or U-ni-tee-ee-ee-ee-ee …
To be a Whimsy Princess in a pink dress
That that ol’ Star Chamber can’t dispute!
In a silk or satin or mink dress,
Yeah, that Whimsy Princess, lookin’ cute … Fluffy cute!
I have to leave for work so I can’t go look it up, but Isn’t either A) Sweethearts name something princessy, or B) isn’t she theoretically technically noble since she’s one of the early models from her project?
I’m surprised nobody has yet brought up the possibility that one of the members of Skin Horse will turn out to actually be Dr. Collodi’s daughter, but not know it.
Tip’s not a daughter. Nick likewise, though his current interface looks superficially like it might be one. Sweetheart’s parents were Captain Bram and a wire monkey. Maybe U.N.I.T.Y.’s left knee was Dr. Collodi’s daughter?
I’ve been trying to figure out who the most hilarious member of the team to get dolled up like a stereotypical princess in an attempt to fool the Star Chamber would be, and can’t decide. All I’ve been able to settle on is that Tip would be the least hilarious.
Obviously they all need to get dressed up to see who the chamber accepts. Any fictional universe that makes you choose between seeing Nick and Sweetheart in a princess dress and tiara is an evil one.
‘While still an infant, Ozma, the daughter of the former King Pastoria of Oz, was given to the witch Mombi by the Wizard of Oz. Mombi transformed Ozma into a boy and called him “Tip” (short for Tippetarius) in order to prevent the rightful ruler of Oz from ascending to the throne. Thus, Ozma spent her childhood with Mombi in the form of the boy Tip, and had no memory of ever having been a girl.’
We know mad science can do genderswaps pretty easily, so this scenario is actually pretty plausible. I’d presumed Tip’s nickname was a reference to his crossdressing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up being more relevant than that.
Tip’s not a daughter, but his name is a reference to Ozma’s male alter-ego, Tip, whom she was tranformed into by black magic when she was kidnapped. Her memories were also sealed. So we’ve got a lost princess hidden/transformed by black magic (mad science?) into a member of the alternate gender who goes by Tip… it would actually fit pretty well.
That is very clever, and very plausible! My only problem with it is, it’s sort of condescending to actual crossdressers to have a cross-dressing character and then be all, oh, underneath he was actually a girl all along. I feel like the authors perhaps wouldn’t want to do that.
If anyone we’ve seen is a secret daughter, my money would be on Tiger Lily. She has a knack for robots, her race could explain why Collodi wouldn’t acknowledge her, and she shares a name with the princess that Disney likes to pretend doesn’t exist.
Yes – but on the other hand, I can’t think of any point in the strip’s run where a comparable reveal has been foreshadowed, aside from the name. It’s possible, but it would come pretty much out of nowhere…
My money’s on Dr. Lee. If anyone in this strip is an unwitting scion of mad science, it’s her.
Another possibility is that all the characters dress up and try to pass themselves off as the Collodi’s daughter, fail miserably, and then have Unity demolish the chamber and just take the files. Kind of the standard M.O. isn’t it?
Given Shaenon’s previous references to classic children’s lit, Tip/Ozma is actually a pretty good bet. If so, I hope she’s not too disappointed that the Katrika was let out of the bag.
People, you’re conflating two things — “Collodi’s daughter” and “the princess needed to open the door.” We have no reason to believe that these two have to be the same person.
That’s true, but if the princess is needed to access the files Collodi left to his daughter, it’s a fair bet that his daughter would qualify to open the door. The question is if he put measures in place preventing anyone but his daughter from getting the files. On one hand, it would be the reasonable course of action, but on the other hand… it would be the reasonable course of action.
To clarify, I agree with you. It’s fairly easy to intuit that they /can/ be the same person, but that’s entirely different from /having/ to be the same person. Unity is my best bet for the door-opener, but Tip is my bet for Collodi’s daughter, because that would be awesome.
At the beginning of the St. Charlie story – The zombie queen was said to have traded arms with Unity – could that qualify her as a princess by adoption?
The fun part of this particular point in the story arc is, you could make an argument for any of the four Skin Horse agents being a Princess with a soul Pure and True.
Why am I suddenly having a flashback to an old image of Tip dressed as Ozma?
How many bets Nick ends up being the one who has to impersonate the daughter.
From your mouth to Gods’ (Jeff’s and Shaenon’s) ears! I’d give anything to see Nick trying to imitate Violet’s girly first incarnation. On the kther hand, Salty may be right. Tip’s the only one of them who could really rock the pink, puffy princess dress and really mean it, but Nick would be funnier.
Tip could pull off the dress, but remember, Nick is the one who watched hundreds of gigs of their shows and movies, and was the only one of the group, apart from Unity who was actually thrilled to be there.
Tip could do the dress, but he’s not the one with the inner tween.
This. When I saw ‘Princess, with a soul pure and true,’ I immediately thought of Nick’s gigabytes of torrented Whimsy films and his futile attempts to explain away his encyclopedic knowledge of the characters.
I was thinking exactly that, Voyager. Tip will obviously have to lend Nick a dress.
MAKEOVER!
5 bucks on Tip to win; 2 each on Nick to show and U.N.I.T.Y. to place.
I agree with whoever said that U.N.I.T.Y. might have part of Collodi’s daughter in her, but it might be indistiguishable as part of the collective. Tip and Nick will have to disguise themselves to get past the scanners.
John Campbell, to give credit where it’s due.
Both mage_cat and Voyager bring up very good theories, both of which seem possible. Who wants to start a betting pool over what the solution will be?
suddenly I see what the Disney version of Star Wars reboot will be like. Princess Tip, Obi-wan Heart-Squirrel…. oh the pain
Hmm, this is almost sort of topical. But I assume these are written (at least in some form) far enough in advance for that to be coincidental.
(If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s this: http://theweek.com/article/index/244284/girls-on-film-the-real-problem-with-the-disney-princess-brand )
It’s going to be Tip. I know it.
hmmmm ….. I was re-reading some of the wearwo … wherewoo … wharewhoo …. #$%!!
*uses google search as a dictionary*
I was looking back through some of the werewolf storyline earlier today and noticed that as a puppy Sweetheart was (apparently) her creator’s chosen leader of his genetically enhanced battle dogs.
Does that make Sweetheart a princess?
Although, to be honest, this is going to lead to Tip giving Nick(drone) a Disney princess makeover, isn’t it?
ps: if “pure and true” are code words for what I think they mean
(1) it’s definitely *NOT* Tip
(2) it’s a old stereotype/trope, but ‘computer geek’ is more likely to qualify as “pure and true” than the rest of the group.
pps: or could they …….. no, it couldn’t be?
Unity? She is the most childlike in her outlook on life/world view? Does Unity get to dress up pretty?
As to #2, if Nick is as religious as he’s shown himself to be, he may actually be saving himself for marriage.
Nick is hardly religious, going by what his diet was when he was human. I’m tons more religious then him. Having a mezuzah is is common for even very reformed jews.
According to him, he kept kosher as a human and I didn’t see any pork, shellfish, or other well-known treyf in his apartment. He also hyphenates God in his blog, which the Progressive Movement generally doesn’t teach. For what it’s worth, he also uses a lot of Yiddish and knows enough that his censoring software picks up on the swear words.
The chance of it actually requiring the stereotype of a princess seems unlikely, the cutesy trappings of the entities guarding it aside, I suspect one reason they’ve not found someone capable of getting the information is that they assume princess=frilly pink dress and everything that goes with it.
…When instead it just requires a girl deluded enough and told by her daddy enough that she’s a princess. 🙂
Okay, that clinches it: the ENTIRE MAIN CAST qualifies as being able to open the Star Chamber. With the possible exception of Moustachio…
Hey, why has no one mentioned Gavotte yet? You know there’s a bee quietly spying on them somewhere around here, and every bee that’s not a drone (male) is technically a princess.
(Apologies to Shaennon if that is the solution and I spoiled it.)
Gavotte Is A gestalt entity composed of a bee colony,She’s obviously a queen not a Princess.
One of them is a Queen. The rest are daughters of the queen, and therefore princesses.
Gavotte is one individual, no matter how many bodies she may have.
Is anyone else interpreting the “Um…you ARE the childlike and innocent one, right?” comment as meaning that Unity is going to be the princess?
Interesting theory,If I’m not misremembering Wasn’t Doctor Collodi one of my Kandy Kuge’s co-designers? She’s certainly a Princess to me.
If that object resembling a large cheese with an opening in it is the Star Chamber, either the perspective is rather wonky or its not accessible to any princesses larger than Barbie.
Just invoke the Vegeta Clause. “Pure and true” could mean pure and true *anything*, from “purely virtuous” to “pure evil” to “pure alcohol.”
Hmmm…
– princess: check
– girl with a soul pure and true: check
– giant poofy pink dress: check
– speaks in song: check
… paging Twilight Sparkle! Twilight Sparkle please report to The Little House!
😛
this is going to lead to the helicopter/boy/fem-bot, Tip, Unity, and Sweetheart will all get a Disney princess makeover!
AND it will all be in vain! 🙂
Let the hunt for Doctor Collodi’s daughter begin!
I’m putting my betting money on Unity. Definitely purer of mind than Nick or Tip :p
If it’s Nick, he is so not escaping this without Marcie making him keep the dress for cosplay.
In fact, if she had her way, it’d probably get welded on.
(TUNE: “Long Cool Woman”, The Hollies)
Here in a derelict theme park,
Here to make ev’rything right …
Rest of the village may seem dark,
Radiation makes us bright!
Gotta be Princess Collodi,
Gotta be sweet and demure,
Gotta resemble somebody
With a soul so pure and true …
Who could it be, to act deviously,
Tip or Sweetheart, Nick, or U-ni-tee-ee-ee-ee-ee …
To be a Whimsy Princess in a pink dress
That that ol’ Star Chamber can’t dispute!
In a silk or satin or mink dress,
Yeah, that Whimsy Princess, lookin’ cute …
Fluffy cute!
I have to leave for work so I can’t go look it up, but Isn’t either A) Sweethearts name something princessy, or B) isn’t she theoretically technically noble since she’s one of the early models from her project?
Captain’s Fancy Valentine Sweetheart. She wasn’t an early model, but she was the Captain’s favourite of her generation and chosen to succeed Muffin.
Well from what I’ve gathered of Shaenon, this is going to end with Nick in a dress. : D
So it’s official. Walt Disney as a mad scientist. Awesome.
I’m surprised nobody has yet brought up the possibility that one of the members of Skin Horse will turn out to actually be Dr. Collodi’s daughter, but not know it.
Tip’s not a daughter. Nick likewise, though his current interface looks superficially like it might be one. Sweetheart’s parents were Captain Bram and a wire monkey. Maybe U.N.I.T.Y.’s left knee was Dr. Collodi’s daughter?
I’ve been trying to figure out who the most hilarious member of the team to get dolled up like a stereotypical princess in an attempt to fool the Star Chamber would be, and can’t decide. All I’ve been able to settle on is that Tip would be the least hilarious.
Obviously they all need to get dressed up to see who the chamber accepts. Any fictional universe that makes you choose between seeing Nick and Sweetheart in a princess dress and tiara is an evil one.
Wikipedia says:
‘While still an infant, Ozma, the daughter of the former King Pastoria of Oz, was given to the witch Mombi by the Wizard of Oz. Mombi transformed Ozma into a boy and called him “Tip” (short for Tippetarius) in order to prevent the rightful ruler of Oz from ascending to the throne. Thus, Ozma spent her childhood with Mombi in the form of the boy Tip, and had no memory of ever having been a girl.’
We know mad science can do genderswaps pretty easily, so this scenario is actually pretty plausible. I’d presumed Tip’s nickname was a reference to his crossdressing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up being more relevant than that.
Tip’s not a daughter, but his name is a reference to Ozma’s male alter-ego, Tip, whom she was tranformed into by black magic when she was kidnapped. Her memories were also sealed. So we’ve got a lost princess hidden/transformed by black magic (mad science?) into a member of the alternate gender who goes by Tip… it would actually fit pretty well.
That is very clever, and very plausible! My only problem with it is, it’s sort of condescending to actual crossdressers to have a cross-dressing character and then be all, oh, underneath he was actually a girl all along. I feel like the authors perhaps wouldn’t want to do that.
Pfffff, if anything, I think Tip would still be a transman. He identifies as a male, after all!
WTF? Are- are you honestly suggesting that you shouldn’t have a transexual character because it’s offensive to transvestites?
If anyone we’ve seen is a secret daughter, my money would be on Tiger Lily. She has a knack for robots, her race could explain why Collodi wouldn’t acknowledge her, and she shares a name with the princess that Disney likes to pretend doesn’t exist.
OK, we are all remembering which character in the Oz books turned out to be a disguised princess without knowing it?
Yes – but on the other hand, I can’t think of any point in the strip’s run where a comparable reveal has been foreshadowed, aside from the name. It’s possible, but it would come pretty much out of nowhere…
My money’s on Dr. Lee. If anyone in this strip is an unwitting scion of mad science, it’s her.
Time to call the party princess whose SomethingAwful thread Mental Mouse posted here last week.
There can be no question that Nick will get dolled up. There’s a reason Shaenon and Jeff made him want to join the field team as Violet.
Notice that Nick is *incapable of swearing*, which seems like it should be worth a few ‘pure and true’ points.
Another possibility is that all the characters dress up and try to pass themselves off as the Collodi’s daughter, fail miserably, and then have Unity demolish the chamber and just take the files. Kind of the standard M.O. isn’t it?
Given Shaenon’s previous references to classic children’s lit, Tip/Ozma is actually a pretty good bet. If so, I hope she’s not too disappointed that the Katrika was let out of the bag.
People, you’re conflating two things — “Collodi’s daughter” and “the princess needed to open the door.” We have no reason to believe that these two have to be the same person.
That’s true, but if the princess is needed to access the files Collodi left to his daughter, it’s a fair bet that his daughter would qualify to open the door. The question is if he put measures in place preventing anyone but his daughter from getting the files. On one hand, it would be the reasonable course of action, but on the other hand… it would be the reasonable course of action.
To clarify, I agree with you. It’s fairly easy to intuit that they /can/ be the same person, but that’s entirely different from /having/ to be the same person. Unity is my best bet for the door-opener, but Tip is my bet for Collodi’s daughter, because that would be awesome.
At the beginning of the St. Charlie story – The zombie queen was said to have traded arms with Unity – could that qualify her as a princess by adoption?
The fun part of this particular point in the story arc is, you could make an argument for any of the four Skin Horse agents being a Princess with a soul Pure and True.