Smart!Unity’s not all that smart. Not when it comes to people. Maybe she should eat a more varied diet – one that’s more than just empty mad-engineer brains…
True. Smart Unity knows everything about people except how to get on with them, while Normal* Unity can charm the socks off you without even trying.
*I don’t like calling her “dumb”!
(TUNE: “I Won’t Last A Day Without You”, The Carpenters)
It’s been some time,
But the memory of being caught and torn to bits
Still gives us fits!
Now for its crime,
You declare this swamp thing must be held accountable …
That’s total bull!
[CHORUS:]
’Cause you don’t give a crap about justice!
No, you’re after revenge, I can see!
Girl, you just can’t deny,
And it ain’t no use to lie!
See, I know, ’cause I’m you and you’re me!
You say it’s bad,
That Louisiana swamp that left us there to rot …
But this one’s not!
So don’t be mad,
There’s no malice, only hunger in the swamp’s attack …
It wants a snack! [repeat CHORUS]
Well don’t forget she out smarted the robot that outsmarted a town full of mad scientist. Also you have to remember for a person to out smart you they have to know what your thinking. No one knows what normal UNITY thinks anyway.
She does have Mell’s brain, after all. Mell was really good at outmaneuvering the smartest people she knew, despite being, admittedly, significantly less smart.
Yeah, in Skin-Horse raw intelligence tends to balance itself out because the brilliant people trip themselves up constantly. Mell and Unity both get away with the direct approach because they’re not wasting energy on the overly elaborate pursuit of perfection.
“I’m sure you realize you made like fifty million stupid mistakes. But that ain’t your fault. You’re a mad genius. You’re so smart you brain keeps short-circuiting. Me, I’m not smart. I just figured out the way to beat people who can think circles around you is to push straight ahead, hard as you can.
I don’t think it’s ever been explicitly stated, but there are definite hints in both the filename story and the strip itself that Anasigma cloned the brain Unity keeps in her head from that Mell Kelly genetic material that Helen sold way back when.
The closest it ever came to being officially confirmed, that I can remember anyway, is in Narbonic when Mell was assumed into heaven. There’s one strip where Helen suggests cloning some new ones, then says, “Wait, no… I sold all her DNA samples to a government bioweapons program.” When the Director’s Cut got to that point, Shaenon said, “Yeah, so over in Skin Horse, Unity is a construct zombie with a cloned brain. Her brain apparently came from the DNA of a top assassin which was sold to the government by a mad scientist. And that’s all I have to say about that, except that it’s nice when everything falls together so neatly.” I think that’s close enough to explicit, but no, no one ever outright stated, “Unity has a copy of Mell’s brain.”
Shaenon, you’re double booked on Friday at ECCC! They have you scheduled from 1:20-2:10 with the Fogios and Jeff Wells for “Mad Science, Webcomics and You” and at 1:40-2:30 with Jennie Breeden and Danielle Corsetto for “Wit and Wisdom of Webcartoonists.”
Where will be able able to find you on Friday afternoon?
Unity doesn’t give a crap about Justice.
She gives a crap about Snacks!
Crap Snacks!!
Um…
Snacks crap.
Really? Mine do not.
I don’t think I want to know where you get your snacks, do I?
Pet shop.
Ah, the old “it’s a lot harder to lie to/deceive yourself when you are both in the same room” problem^
:-p
All ‘Smart’ Unity had to do is get Unity’s body to wake up and that should make the self deception thing goes a lot easier^.
^unless you’re cynical enough that even when it just you in the room your best attempts at lying to yourself don’t work 🙁
I don’t so much lie to myself as appeal to my baser nature. Smart!UNITY should be tempting Dumb!UNITY rather than trying to reason with her.
Smart!Unity’s not all that smart. Not when it comes to people. Maybe she should eat a more varied diet – one that’s more than just empty mad-engineer brains…
Deep down you know that you need stronger moisterizer.
Understanding people is not the same as being good with them.
True. Smart Unity knows everything about people except how to get on with them, while Normal* Unity can charm the socks off you without even trying.
*I don’t like calling her “dumb”!
Crap snacks
(TUNE: “I Won’t Last A Day Without You”, The Carpenters)
It’s been some time,
But the memory of being caught and torn to bits
Still gives us fits!
Now for its crime,
You declare this swamp thing must be held accountable …
That’s total bull!
[CHORUS:]
’Cause you don’t give a crap about justice!
No, you’re after revenge, I can see!
Girl, you just can’t deny,
And it ain’t no use to lie!
See, I know, ’cause I’m you and you’re me!
You say it’s bad,
That Louisiana swamp that left us there to rot …
But this one’s not!
So don’t be mad,
There’s no malice, only hunger in the swamp’s attack …
It wants a snack!
[repeat CHORUS]
normal UNITY outsmarted her smart Self?
Well don’t forget she out smarted the robot that outsmarted a town full of mad scientist. Also you have to remember for a person to out smart you they have to know what your thinking. No one knows what normal UNITY thinks anyway.
Normal Unity understands that smarts aren’t everything. “Smart” Unity may have turbocharged intellect, but at the cost of human understanding.
(Note that “smarts aren’t everything” is literally the most important lesson I learned at Harvard.)
She does have Mell’s brain, after all. Mell was really good at outmaneuvering the smartest people she knew, despite being, admittedly, significantly less smart.
Yeah, in Skin-Horse raw intelligence tends to balance itself out because the brilliant people trip themselves up constantly. Mell and Unity both get away with the direct approach because they’re not wasting energy on the overly elaborate pursuit of perfection.
“I’m sure you realize you made like fifty million stupid mistakes. But that ain’t your fault. You’re a mad genius. You’re so smart you brain keeps short-circuiting. Me, I’m not smart. I just figured out the way to beat people who can think circles around you is to push straight ahead, hard as you can.
“And shoot them. You dig, right?”
— Generalissma Melody Wildflower Kelly
Does unity actually have mell’s brain, or are we speaking metaphorically here?
I don’t think it’s ever been explicitly stated, but there are definite hints in both the filename story and the strip itself that Anasigma cloned the brain Unity keeps in her head from that Mell Kelly genetic material that Helen sold way back when.
Yeah, it has never been explicitly said one way or another, but Helen did sell some of Mell’s samples to a government super soldier project.
The closest it ever came to being officially confirmed, that I can remember anyway, is in Narbonic when Mell was assumed into heaven. There’s one strip where Helen suggests cloning some new ones, then says, “Wait, no… I sold all her DNA samples to a government bioweapons program.” When the Director’s Cut got to that point, Shaenon said, “Yeah, so over in Skin Horse, Unity is a construct zombie with a cloned brain. Her brain apparently came from the DNA of a top assassin which was sold to the government by a mad scientist. And that’s all I have to say about that, except that it’s nice when everything falls together so neatly.” I think that’s close enough to explicit, but no, no one ever outright stated, “Unity has a copy of Mell’s brain.”
Just look at Sheldon Cooper
I like how Shaenon and Jeff have switched the normal trope of good/white, bad/black on Unity’s wife-beater shirt.
That reminds me, where are the personality sprites in all this?
Right now, U.N.I.T.Y. is her own personality sprite(s).
I approve of your use of Acronym. U.N.I.T.Y. and her self defined acronym vs Unity. Shame it’s too much of a pain to type.
Reminds me of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3qXjdOPC6I
Thanks to The Goon Show, I heard “Well played, Moriarty.” in Hercules Grytpype-Thynne’s voice…
Shaenon, you’re double booked on Friday at ECCC! They have you scheduled from 1:20-2:10 with the Fogios and Jeff Wells for “Mad Science, Webcomics and You” and at 1:40-2:30 with Jennie Breeden and Danielle Corsetto for “Wit and Wisdom of Webcartoonists.”
Where will be able able to find you on Friday afternoon?
I know. I’m going to have to bow out of the mad science panel and let Jeff cover for me.
*slow clap*
You might know i don’t give a crap,
But that’s not going to help because I know that *you* don’t give a crap!
Strange, isn’t it?!