When I was working at Kinkos long ago the other computer person made a flier for a Highland Games festival. Ran the spell checker which changed “Caber Toss” to “Caper Toss.” They skimmed the proof read and had us run off a lot of them. Wasn’t until they posted the fliers everywhere that they noticed the mistake. In true Scottish spirit they held a warm-up competition before the caber toss where they hurled small jars of capers and were judged for distance and accuracy.
Oh, man! I would have so loved to see that! My wife is a first-generation American, her parents came over from Scotland in the ’50s – she’s going to love hearing about this!
Shouldn’t the Scots dialect line be “Awa’ wi’ ye”?
I’ve been disappointed that at no point during the contest did it look like Nick was going to get a flying armored suit, especially with Monstro turning out to be basically a red blue (flag of Scotland) herring.
Maybe now, with this high-energy weapons attack, Nick will finally get his flight on? Or will it be another fizzle?
Also, it looks like “dobbler” is a misspelling of “dobber”, given that Wiktionary has no entry for “dobbler”. I cannot be certain of this, of course, given that “dobber” has so many disparate meanings, and I can’t tell if Monstro is supposed to be addressing the caber or Nick with the term.
Well, a Scottish windup toy went to Oregon, you see,
With his curling iron, heating pad, and rabbit-eared TV.
His spring was wound to maximum, his union card unfurled,
While looking for a way into a VR Whimsey World.
Ring-ding-diddle-liddle-lah-de-oh, ring-da-diddly-ay-oh!
While looking for a way into a VR Whimsey world.
He entered in the tourney and was trying to keep warm,
Until he ran into this tubby little unicorn.
The unicorn recruited him but left him in the dark,
To wait inside a packing crate that bore a question mark.
Ring-ding-diddle-liddle-lah-de-oh, ring-da-diddly-ay-oh!
To wait inside a packing crate that bore a question mark.
He wondered for a moment, but he settled in so right,
To watch a game of football, but the game itself was shite.
The packing was opened and Zerhakker wandered in.
For final tourney fighting, let the violence begin!
Ring-ding-diddle-liddle-lah-de-oh, ring-da-diddly-ay-oh!
For final tourney fighting, let the violence begin!
The unicorn had promised him an easy final match,
But Nick the human union man was far too much to catch.
He found himself too puggled after just a couple tries.
The caber toss and leg gnaw weren’t for windup toys his size.
Ring-ding-diddle-liddle-lah-de-oh, ring-da-diddly-ay-oh!
The caber toss and leg gnaw weren’t for windup toys his size.
—from “The Scotsman,” writer: Mike Cross, sung by Bryan Bowers.
Another thought that occurred to me is that maybe Monstro is operating on the dregs of his power. He’ll complain about being knackered; Nick will wind that silly-looking key one turn out of sheer pity — and Monstro will then have enough energy to toss the caber so high and fast that it catches fire and burns up on reentry.
The goal of the caber toss is not height or speed, it is flipping the caber over to land as close to 12:00 as possible. This is helped by being strong and fast, but in the end its your aim that counts.
The main advantage of strength is that you can actually get the caber to go all the way over, which at the moment, Monstro seems to be struggling with. Even a 9:00 toss would be better than not going over at all.
I will cheerfully acknowledge that I did not know that until now.
On the other hand consider the following, now that I’ve double-checked Wikipedia: (1) The caber should not be sharpened at one tip, as in the image (2) the heavier end should be towards the top (3) the caber should be a lot taller than the tosser, so at least 2.5 – 3 feet, for Monstro (4) if height or speed don’t matter, then Nick should really have something closer to a regulation-size caber, say about 15-16 feet or so (since he’s so short).
I don’t know what the heck they’re doing in the last panel, but it sure doesn’t look like anything close to regulation caber-tossing.
And regardless of the rules, I think an overpowered Monstro could still launch a caber at speeds that would kindle and consume it, because funny.
While it is true about the size of the caber and it not being pointed on the end, IIRC all competitors use the same size caber in any given competition (all the competitions I’ve been to, they all used the same caber, and they had a couple extras in case they broke, but they were all the same size and weight).
I guess Nick wins by default, because Monstro just got run over in Brazil. (This is true.) They’re calling it hit and run, but maybe the driver just didn’t notice. I imagine it’s like running over a squirrel.
Okay, this is starting to edge away from funny and into embarrassing. I know we have to root for Nick to get everyone where they need to go, but I’m starting to feel a little bad for Monstro.
The Madblood Robots are down to two.
Well, potentially, those are just the ones that showed up.
Or are just visible atm
Or lost one in a tournament round.
The only survivors of the hamster massacre…
There were 50,000 at one point and they can kinda pass for human. They’re likely okay.
Not to pick nits, but it was only 15,000.
So bad, it’s funny. Hahahahahahaha….ha.
You know, I think monstro is related to the Annex 1 silverfish
If only he spoke Italian…
When I was working at Kinkos long ago the other computer person made a flier for a Highland Games festival. Ran the spell checker which changed “Caber Toss” to “Caper Toss.” They skimmed the proof read and had us run off a lot of them. Wasn’t until they posted the fliers everywhere that they noticed the mistake. In true Scottish spirit they held a warm-up competition before the caber toss where they hurled small jars of capers and were judged for distance and accuracy.
I thought a caper was something you pulled.
I can only assume that they were these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caper
Nope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caper_(disambiguation)#Other_uses
4th on the list.
I meant the ones they put in the little jars. I knew what you were talking about.
Oh, man! I would have so loved to see that! My wife is a first-generation American, her parents came over from Scotland in the ’50s – she’s going to love hearing about this!
Shouldn’t the Scots dialect line be “Awa’ wi’ ye”?
I’ve been disappointed that at no point during the contest did it look like Nick was going to get a flying armored suit, especially with Monstro turning out to be basically a
redblue (flag of Scotland) herring.Maybe now, with this high-energy weapons attack, Nick will finally get his flight on? Or will it be another fizzle?
His dialect belies the fact that he’s not really Scottish. So he could be a red herring instead of blue (although he really looks more grey).
Also, it looks like “dobbler” is a misspelling of “dobber”, given that Wiktionary has no entry for “dobbler”. I cannot be certain of this, of course, given that “dobber” has so many disparate meanings, and I can’t tell if Monstro is supposed to be addressing the caber or Nick with the term.
Try “dibbly-dobbler,” a slow bowler in cricket.
Thought that that was an Aussie bowler 😛
I’m thinking that Monstro is somehow related to McPedro, the talking Scots-Irish cactus in the webcomic Girls with Slingshots.
He is Mexican Scirish 😀
Who are the white-coated men in the audience in Panel 4? Are they holding clipboards?
The aforementioned Madblood Robots—another crossover from “Narbonic.”
It’s also worth noting that they started the Machine Union, so they may in fact be officials for the tournament.
Well, a Scottish windup toy went to Oregon, you see,
With his curling iron, heating pad, and rabbit-eared TV.
His spring was wound to maximum, his union card unfurled,
While looking for a way into a VR Whimsey World.
Ring-ding-diddle-liddle-lah-de-oh, ring-da-diddly-ay-oh!
While looking for a way into a VR Whimsey world.
He entered in the tourney and was trying to keep warm,
Until he ran into this tubby little unicorn.
The unicorn recruited him but left him in the dark,
To wait inside a packing crate that bore a question mark.
Ring-ding-diddle-liddle-lah-de-oh, ring-da-diddly-ay-oh!
To wait inside a packing crate that bore a question mark.
He wondered for a moment, but he settled in so right,
To watch a game of football, but the game itself was shite.
The packing was opened and Zerhakker wandered in.
For final tourney fighting, let the violence begin!
Ring-ding-diddle-liddle-lah-de-oh, ring-da-diddly-ay-oh!
For final tourney fighting, let the violence begin!
The unicorn had promised him an easy final match,
But Nick the human union man was far too much to catch.
He found himself too puggled after just a couple tries.
The caber toss and leg gnaw weren’t for windup toys his size.
Ring-ding-diddle-liddle-lah-de-oh, ring-da-diddly-ay-oh!
The caber toss and leg gnaw weren’t for windup toys his size.
—from “The Scotsman,” writer: Mike Cross, sung by Bryan Bowers.
Very nicely done, sir.
High power consumption generating a lot of heat is dangerous. High power consumption generating very little heat is worse.
Another thought that occurred to me is that maybe Monstro is operating on the dregs of his power. He’ll complain about being knackered; Nick will wind that silly-looking key one turn out of sheer pity — and Monstro will then have enough energy to toss the caber so high and fast that it catches fire and burns up on reentry.
Nick: ohshit
Yes, we’ve seen the dangers of over-winding someone.
The goal of the caber toss is not height or speed, it is flipping the caber over to land as close to 12:00 as possible. This is helped by being strong and fast, but in the end its your aim that counts.
The main advantage of strength is that you can actually get the caber to go all the way over, which at the moment, Monstro seems to be struggling with. Even a 9:00 toss would be better than not going over at all.
I will cheerfully acknowledge that I did not know that until now.
On the other hand consider the following, now that I’ve double-checked Wikipedia: (1) The caber should not be sharpened at one tip, as in the image (2) the heavier end should be towards the top (3) the caber should be a lot taller than the tosser, so at least 2.5 – 3 feet, for Monstro (4) if height or speed don’t matter, then Nick should really have something closer to a regulation-size caber, say about 15-16 feet or so (since he’s so short).
I don’t know what the heck they’re doing in the last panel, but it sure doesn’t look like anything close to regulation caber-tossing.
And regardless of the rules, I think an overpowered Monstro could still launch a caber at speeds that would kindle and consume it, because funny.
While it is true about the size of the caber and it not being pointed on the end, IIRC all competitors use the same size caber in any given competition (all the competitions I’ve been to, they all used the same caber, and they had a couple extras in case they broke, but they were all the same size and weight).
I guess Nick wins by default, because Monstro just got run over in Brazil. (This is true.) They’re calling it hit and run, but maybe the driver just didn’t notice. I imagine it’s like running over a squirrel.
Okay, this is starting to edge away from funny and into embarrassing. I know we have to root for Nick to get everyone where they need to go, but I’m starting to feel a little bad for Monstro.
Hey, he entered the contest. He had to be prepared for any potential embarrassment.