Wow! So Boss Baron’ really was self-aware! To the point where he took his creator’s place!
That explains how he knew about Nick’s swear filter.
Having spawned the “Baron Mob” as congenial NPCs (which unfortunately proved to be “monsters from the ID”), it must’ve been quite a shock to learn they found him to be a killjoy! This proves Baron’s inner nature is reflected in the self-image he projects here in VR.
But he shouldn’t have returned to his private sandbox before reporting in to Aimee!
…it’s entirely possible he hasn’t LEFT his private sandbox to return to it. He may have been imprisoned for a while, with a duplicate controlling his physical form.
This is a very cool idea, but I think the fact that Baron created “a perfect world to escape to” and that the rest of the world is a Los Vegas pastiche, feels to me like he’s the one that left in a huff earlier in this story.
I figured the noble knight-with-honor character that appeared when he went full-horse and who interacted with Aimee was imprisoned by the foulmouthed gameplaying weirdo from Real World Whimsey World. Not the, er, sub-Barons?
Wait, when I said “Rimmerworld! Red Dwarf!” earlier (link: http://skin-horse.com/comic/off-a-thousand/#comment-294985), I was mostly joking. Did I accidentally predict this plot point/reference? … well I’mm gonna go be very happy over here…
(In case it isnt clear I’m. very enjoying this stuff. even if i never comment. I wrote an entire bloody paper on how good skin horse is, mmm)
I agree onanan. IF I was still in college, I would make sure I found ‘a reason’ to write a paper on this strip. I stumbled upon it years ago in Yahoo comics (I do beleive) and was AMAZED at level the story, the sub nerd cookies, and innuendos that get snuck in all the time. It is one of my all time favorites!
… and the cyborg helicopter says, “Why the long face, Baron?”
Pun intended.
Baron should have realized that clones of himself would be an irascible lot. He made them too much like himself.
I guess he never saw the “Rimmerworld” episode of Red Dwarf, or he didn’t recognize himself in Arnold J. Rimmer.
Oh yeah. I hadn’t thought of that connection, but I agree. Rimmerworld is a great comparison.
“People, people, people,” he grumbled in an episode of The Twilight Zone.
Clearly the system works – a virtual Vegas without the original Baron is an improvement on one which does have him.
Wow! So Boss Baron’ really was self-aware! To the point where he took his creator’s place!
That explains how he knew about Nick’s swear filter.
Having spawned the “Baron Mob” as congenial NPCs (which unfortunately proved to be “monsters from the ID”), it must’ve been quite a shock to learn they found him to be a killjoy! This proves Baron’s inner nature is reflected in the self-image he projects here in VR.
But he shouldn’t have returned to his private sandbox before reporting in to Aimee!
…it’s entirely possible he hasn’t LEFT his private sandbox to return to it. He may have been imprisoned for a while, with a duplicate controlling his physical form.
Ooh! Fantastic point, D. Walker!
That would certainly explain that Baron’s enthusiasm for and disappointment in the trip to Vegas!
Hopefully, friend Baron can retrieve any automatic recordings made by the shell.
This is a very cool idea, but I think the fact that Baron created “a perfect world to escape to” and that the rest of the world is a Los Vegas pastiche, feels to me like he’s the one that left in a huff earlier in this story.
And kudos to Robert Nowall and darkshallfall for calling it!
I did?
Yesterday you wrote “This is where the Baron we first met at Whimsey World keeps the Baron we met in the VR Whimsey World imprisoned.”
I took that to mean Baron’s baser, jaded self imprisoned his nobler nature. I misinterpreted?
I figured the noble knight-with-honor character that appeared when he went full-horse and who interacted with Aimee was imprisoned by the foulmouthed gameplaying weirdo from Real World Whimsey World. Not the, er, sub-Barons?
Wait, when I said “Rimmerworld! Red Dwarf!” earlier (link: http://skin-horse.com/comic/off-a-thousand/#comment-294985), I was mostly joking. Did I accidentally predict this plot point/reference? … well I’mm gonna go be very happy over here…
(In case it isnt clear I’m. very enjoying this stuff. even if i never comment. I wrote an entire bloody paper on how good skin horse is, mmm)
I agree onanan. IF I was still in college, I would make sure I found ‘a reason’ to write a paper on this strip. I stumbled upon it years ago in Yahoo comics (I do beleive) and was AMAZED at level the story, the sub nerd cookies, and innuendos that get snuck in all the time. It is one of my all time favorites!
And if D. Walker’s right, the charismatic, heroic version has even been replaced by the unpleasant version that nobody gets along with. Augh!
“Flynn! Am I still to create the perfect System?”
“… yeah?”
The Revolt of the Under-Barons?
I hope he tried “I am your creator, you must obey me!” at least once.
That actually might have started the revolution, really.
So, the Barons rebelled… Does this mean the original Baron is now called “King John”?
In 1215 at Runnymeade,
Doo-dah, doo-dah.
The nobles and the king agreed,
Oh, the doo-dah day . . .
Please tell me that as they were ganging up on him he reminded them that he is their creator and they’re supposed to obey him.
Didn’t work for Beta, so why would it work for him?
I’m just sitting here in awe of the ability to draw a realistic-ish horse face in the Skin Horse style and make it look good. Horses are HARD.
AND he’s still recognizably Baron!
Baron let his imagination run wild. So it did.