Don’t worry, Ira: I’m sure that in an organization as large as Anasigma you probably have a bunch of troops that *won’t* instinctively and reflexively obey the person at the top of the org chart OH WAIT.
I suspect this is not the real Mr. Green. The real Green will appear in uniform watching it all from his throne room, in his swivel chair (stroking a white cat). Laughing evilly.
“Now that I’m in charge, there are going to be changes around here.” “Er… dress code changes?” “No. the suits are snazzy on you guys, they can stay” *sigh of relief*
Nor throttle the guards. I’ve become so inured to violence I expect it to be the solution to any conflict. Kudos to Jeff and Shaenon for showing us how to be better!
Except no one planned this, it just sort of happened to work out, and only thanks to cartoon logic.
Sometimes, the only answer is violence. They tried, over and over, to stop Ira and Anasigma peacefully – and it culminated in the literal depopulation of Pennsylvania.
When your opponents are orchestrating the murdering of innocent people en mass, you have zero moral obligation to remain peaceful – you in fact have a moral obligation to stop them as quickly as possible, to spare the greatest number of innocent lives.
When Nazis start the Holocaust, you defeat them with tanks and bullets and bombs, not with organizational charts.
Even Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. had limits, and were prepared to go to literal war if certain lines in the sand got crossed. They did everything they could to prevent those lines being crossed, and they would not have hated having to take up arms to achieve their goals, but once peace was no longer an option, both men were prepared to kill in order to serve justice and protect the innocent.
This argument (“Consequentialism”) gave us our victories by bombing the other people until they learn to like us (yay us!) but also what gave rise to Hitler in the first place (boo!).
If MLK went to war, he would have lost all the support (and moral high ground) he had built up and every measure would have been unwound. Sweetheart will be remembered forever; Ira’s statue will be toppled and covered in weeds within a generation.
@ Demosthenes,
And then Sweetheart’s statue will be toppled in it’s own turn within 5 years. There will always be fools who think that there is virtue in toppling statues and burning books and none of them were ever worth respecting. 🙂
~~~ This argument (“Consequentialism”) gave us our victories by bombing the other people until they learn to like us (yay us!) but also what gave rise to Hitler in the first place (boo!). ~~~
Fighting back against people who are actively trying to genocide you is not the same thing the insane US doctrine of bullying the world with bombs. You are erecting strawman arguments. Please stop.
~~~ If MLK went to war, he would have lost all the support (and moral high ground) he had built up and every measure would have been unwound. Sweetheart will be remembered forever; Ira’s statue will be toppled and covered in weeds within a generation. ~~~
If MLK “went to war”, it was never going to be “a war”, but rather a last resort armed revolt in direct response to his people being pushed beyond the breaking point – his people being enslaved or exterminated, and his oppressors having shown themselves to be beyond the power of reason or civility or the power of “turning the other cheek” to sway.
Mr. Green thought he was 10 steps ahead of everyone else, but Sweetheart was at least 3 steps ahead of him. He couldn’t see it, because he never took non-human sapients seriously.
I don’t really know if anybody’s ahead of anybody else so much as it is everyone tripping over every loose end lying around and Sweetheart managing to pratfall her way into finding the winning solution because of her instinctive desire to master every organization.
Which is to say well done on Sweetheart for making this work but I seriously doubt she planned this per se. Which in a way is the point – Ira represents an attempt to order the entire world and render it safe and predictable, while Skin Horse is and always has been a force of barely directed chaos. Turns out one of those tends to deal better with the kind of unexpected variables the world likes to throw up.
Or as Ira put it himself, he’s playing five dimensional chess against pigeons. It shouldn’t be a surprise when one of them snatches the king and flies off with it.
Sweetheart asked Tip to get her the org chart weeks ago. I don’t think that she planned that specific usage or that specific circumstance, but I have zero doubt that she’s been studying it, and updating it as Tip moved up through the ranks. She’s probably been updating it daily, and has kept it with her at all times, just in case she needed.
Sweetheart really hates to be caught unprepared, and so she prepares for every potentiality she can imagine. Obviously sometimes someone catches her by surprise, because no one can imagine every potentiality. Even Mr. Green, who has appeared to be prepared for nearly everything, was surprised by Sweetheart. Clearly he expected someone to surprise him, since he (supposedly) set things up so that nothing could stop the attack, but he didn’t specifically predict Sweetheart’s move, and was clearly taken aback by it.
I think the principle reason that Mr. Green was caught off-guard by Sweetheart is that he has always considered “non-human” to mean “less than human”, and therefore incapable of the intelligence necessary to outsmart him.
Since Mr. Green’s hands look empty in that first panel, I am hoping he set that glass of wine down somewhere safe. No need to waste what one hopes is at least a decent vintage. I can’t imagine Green gloating while drinking substandard beverages….
I wonder how well: “Please extirpate him” would go down?
I suspect, there’s a LOT of Mr. Green’s underlings who would enjoy the opportunity to get in good with the new boss…
1. It’s not usually Sweetheart’s style to troll people, but I guess she had not choice.
2. Why would Ira even make it possible for anyone to outrank him?
Which makes me wonder, would it be beyond Sweetheart to fabricate a bogus org chart for the sole purpose of elevating Tip to the top? (Ooh, I like the way that sounds!) Remember, she is currently “under the influence” of Unity.
Considering all the problems, the mass removal, and the various surprise inspections were failure for the right shoe polish gets you tossed into a pit…
Sweetheart could have made up the chart and it still could be technically right.
Especially since Mr. Green is essentially the guy in the background pulling the strings sitting at a low ranking job, but pulling the strings of high ranking people.
It was just his fault for failing to pay attention to (redacted training video) like a good employee.
Considering Ira’s reactions, I’d say that he knew all along that he wasn’t technically in charge. But minions tend to follow someone who acts like they’re in charge, so all he had to do was fake it convincingly.
She’d probably be able to fabricate a bogus org chart like that if she wanted to, alanoodle, but I can’t picture her wanting to. In the past she’s proven remarkably good at organization and deferring to authority but remarkably bad at deception and scheming. So I’m thinking she waded far enough into the bureaucracy to figure out what the hierarchy actually looked like and came up with an accurate chart–which just so happens to have Tip at the top.
Now, it would not be beyond her at all to have known that Tip would be at the top of the hierarchy and to have just been sussing out the organization so she could display the proof. In a case like that, where she’s keeping quiet about the truth until she can prove it, she might be able to maintain her poker face a while. But there’s no plausible version of Sweetheart who could have faked that org chart convincingly.
Oh, well, I just noticed Tip also somehow got uncuffed between panels two and three, but no one was shown unlocking his cuffs, so he obviously uncuffed himself once he realized he could realistically take control of the situation.
Has no one heard of the furniture and appurtenances of the Tower?
PS: the proper pronounciation of ‘British’ is BR-OO-TISH. “And keep the memory ever-green of the boys who smashed the van…”(personal prejudice)
Well, the French invented etiquette, and for reasons. I think, as proper etiquette has gradually fallen by the wayside over the last couple of hundred years, and faster over the last fifty or so years, we’re beginning to see why proper etiquette was so important.
Rant: I keep trying to post messages and they never show up. I’ll try it again and it says I already posted—but the message is nowhere in sight. Yesterday it wouldn’t let me post my daily limerick, until I wrote another one and it let me post that. This morning it’s a reply to Towering Barbarian above, first post.
And it’s maddening that sometimes it’ll let me post and other times not.
It happens every so often. It was annoying about the limerick…but what puzzles me is why one limerick wouldn’t post and another one did. Did I make a choice in wording that automatically kicks out? Did I misspell something?
Also it says it’s been posted but I never see it.
I do have that same problem with the “save my name” not working. I put name and e-mail, but not website. A few years ago it wouldn’t post at all if I filled in my website—a connected problem?—so I stopped doing it.
If I click back the text shows up in the box, as well as my name and e-mail, but the latter looks as if it had been typed over the “name (required” and “Email (required)” already there.
Frustrating…mystifying…I sure hope this goes through ’cause I won’t be trying to repost.
Yes, I have the same problem. It’s been happening to me for a couple years now, with no solution in sight. It’s rare that my comment on a current strip disappears (although it did happen just a few days ago), but it happens EVERY time if I try to comment on anything more than a few months old. I have even gone back later in case it was a lag-time or needing-approval issue for some bizarre reason, but they never show up. And even if I wait a month and then try to post the same comment again, it tells me that I’ve already posted it. And yet, it’s not there. Very frustrating.
As for the “save my name” not working, I used to have that problem, but discovered that I had to have cookies enabled for both this website and for wordpress.com. Once I enabled cookies, it keeps my name just fine.
I’ve been having that problem intermittently since… I think the first time was when they were in Vermont. I have not been able to figure out why it works some times and not others. There seems no rhyme or reason to it. It’s not a matter of which browser I’m using or where I’m posting from. I don’t comment nearly as much as I used to, because it’s really frustrating to write out a long comment and have it just disappear into the ether.
Hey, when the Absolute head honcho of the very major company you work for says “please” to you personally then yeah that’s pretty obviously really important and needs to be handled right the hell now.
I love the idea of everybody back at his/her old job just as though nothing had happened.
There will be some changes though, like the appearance of the receptionist.
Well, except that our lovable Ira wasn’t real. Ira was always Mr. Green, just playing a role in order to spy on and deceive people. He was never really that person. I supposed if most of his memories were wiped, he could become that person in truth.
Jokes on Tip. Sweetheart is going to go mad trying to find out how Ira got roof access if he’s that far down in the hierarchy. He’s gonna reveal he doesn’t use the roof access door and all heck will break loose.
Yeah, Moe, I was wondering about THAT. Well, we always knew he had good hands.
And I suppose (sigh) that mere reactive jimminy-jitsu doesn’t SOLVE anything.
Tip certainly deserves a raise in RANK. Generals are usually quite adept with the ladies.
I’ve always heard Tip with a nice, smooth – but really deep – voice… like Thurl Ravenscroft or Michael Clarke Duncan. So the dress doesn’t fool anyone.
I thought somewhere between tenor and baritone—speaking voice, that is. Ira I figured a little deeper with some gravel. Nick I figured for a high-pitched voice (and a Philly accent.)
I hadn’t thought of that, awgiedawgie, but it is pretty obvious that nearly everyone who interacts with Tip recognizes that he is a man dressed like a lady. When “Ira” was working as a security guard for Skin Horse, he appeared to get confused, and think Tip was a lady, but I think we know now that was all a sham, and Mr. Green knew good and well that Tip was (is) a man.)
So Ira, after spending plenty of time gloating that his creation couldn’t possibly turn against him, lost when the thing he created turned against him. Are we sure he’s not a mad scientist?
The org chart gave Tip a great perk. He’s the top-of-the-heap civil clerk. “Guards, please seize that man!” was his ultimate plan, but in no way expected to work.
That seems plausible. Mr. Green tried to “save” Nick by seeing if he could turn Nick, because Mr. Green still mistakenly thought of Nick as human. When it became apparent to Mr. Green that Nick would not turn, he had Nick’s brain removed from his body and disposed of. (Presumably, if Nick had turned, Mr. Green would have had a new body cloned for Nick, or something to that effect.)
Tip is (mostly) human, so Mr. Green was probably trying to “save” the poor, misguided human who is, unfortunately, working with and for nonhuman sapients. His next act would likely to have been to try to get Tip to go back to dressing in more traditional mens’ clothing, and we see how that went last time.
Sunglasses can spot when a new boss would be an improvement over the old one. 🙂
They *are* rookies.
Hey! That’s the comment that didn’t show up this morning! (See rant below.)
Don’t forget “Thank You.”
Another downside of trainee minions! I doubt that Ira will prove so easily caged, but this saves Tip’s hide, at the very least
Don’t worry, Ira: I’m sure that in an organization as large as Anasigma you probably have a bunch of troops that *won’t* instinctively and reflexively obey the person at the top of the org chart OH WAIT.
I suspect this is not the real Mr. Green. The real Green will appear in uniform watching it all from his throne room, in his swivel chair (stroking a white cat). Laughing evilly.
swivel chair and cat always equals this music for me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPskYVBqdNw&ab_channel=Lollipop
This is not how I expected any of this to go, but the team can do great things when they actually work as a team.
“Now that I’m in charge, there are going to be changes around here.” “Er… dress code changes?” “No. the suits are snazzy on you guys, they can stay” *sigh of relief*
This was an amusing and ironic villian defeat and I love it. Never before had a threat like this been neutralized by internal Org charts.
And Tip didn’t even have to shoot Mr. Green, or throw him off the roof.
Nor throttle the guards. I’ve become so inured to violence I expect it to be the solution to any conflict. Kudos to Jeff and Shaenon for showing us how to be better!
That one snickerdoodle-hating guard totally deserved to be slapped off the roof, though.
Except no one planned this, it just sort of happened to work out, and only thanks to cartoon logic.
Sometimes, the only answer is violence. They tried, over and over, to stop Ira and Anasigma peacefully – and it culminated in the literal depopulation of Pennsylvania.
When your opponents are orchestrating the murdering of innocent people en mass, you have zero moral obligation to remain peaceful – you in fact have a moral obligation to stop them as quickly as possible, to spare the greatest number of innocent lives.
When Nazis start the Holocaust, you defeat them with tanks and bullets and bombs, not with organizational charts.
Even Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. had limits, and were prepared to go to literal war if certain lines in the sand got crossed. They did everything they could to prevent those lines being crossed, and they would not have hated having to take up arms to achieve their goals, but once peace was no longer an option, both men were prepared to kill in order to serve justice and protect the innocent.
typo – “wood have hated having to”
Oh for Pete’s sake… typo correction typo – “would have hated having to”
…dang autocorrect…
This argument (“Consequentialism”) gave us our victories by bombing the other people until they learn to like us (yay us!) but also what gave rise to Hitler in the first place (boo!).
If MLK went to war, he would have lost all the support (and moral high ground) he had built up and every measure would have been unwound. Sweetheart will be remembered forever; Ira’s statue will be toppled and covered in weeds within a generation.
@ Demosthenes,
And then Sweetheart’s statue will be toppled in it’s own turn within 5 years. There will always be fools who think that there is virtue in toppling statues and burning books and none of them were ever worth respecting. 🙂
~~~ This argument (“Consequentialism”) gave us our victories by bombing the other people until they learn to like us (yay us!) but also what gave rise to Hitler in the first place (boo!). ~~~
Fighting back against people who are actively trying to genocide you is not the same thing the insane US doctrine of bullying the world with bombs. You are erecting strawman arguments. Please stop.
~~~ If MLK went to war, he would have lost all the support (and moral high ground) he had built up and every measure would have been unwound. Sweetheart will be remembered forever; Ira’s statue will be toppled and covered in weeds within a generation. ~~~
If MLK “went to war”, it was never going to be “a war”, but rather a last resort armed revolt in direct response to his people being pushed beyond the breaking point – his people being enslaved or exterminated, and his oppressors having shown themselves to be beyond the power of reason or civility or the power of “turning the other cheek” to sway.
You know, it’s only Thursday, and major denouements happen on Saturdays.
Oh I am *loving* this!
Same!
Ditto!
Yep
Amen.
Mr. Green thought he was 10 steps ahead of everyone else, but Sweetheart was at least 3 steps ahead of him. He couldn’t see it, because he never took non-human sapients seriously.
I don’t really know if anybody’s ahead of anybody else so much as it is everyone tripping over every loose end lying around and Sweetheart managing to pratfall her way into finding the winning solution because of her instinctive desire to master every organization.
Which is to say well done on Sweetheart for making this work but I seriously doubt she planned this per se. Which in a way is the point – Ira represents an attempt to order the entire world and render it safe and predictable, while Skin Horse is and always has been a force of barely directed chaos. Turns out one of those tends to deal better with the kind of unexpected variables the world likes to throw up.
Or as Ira put it himself, he’s playing five dimensional chess against pigeons. It shouldn’t be a surprise when one of them snatches the king and flies off with it.
Gavotte. Gavotte quite probably planned this. She planned the Annex One Giant Robot from, I think, year one?
I’m still not convinced that this isn’t Mr Green’s goal. He’s own-goaled himself a lot.
Sweetheart asked Tip to get her the org chart weeks ago. I don’t think that she planned that specific usage or that specific circumstance, but I have zero doubt that she’s been studying it, and updating it as Tip moved up through the ranks. She’s probably been updating it daily, and has kept it with her at all times, just in case she needed.
Sweetheart really hates to be caught unprepared, and so she prepares for every potentiality she can imagine. Obviously sometimes someone catches her by surprise, because no one can imagine every potentiality. Even Mr. Green, who has appeared to be prepared for nearly everything, was surprised by Sweetheart. Clearly he expected someone to surprise him, since he (supposedly) set things up so that nothing could stop the attack, but he didn’t specifically predict Sweetheart’s move, and was clearly taken aback by it.
I think the principle reason that Mr. Green was caught off-guard by Sweetheart is that he has always considered “non-human” to mean “less than human”, and therefore incapable of the intelligence necessary to outsmart him.
Hoist upon his own org chart!
Since Mr. Green’s hands look empty in that first panel, I am hoping he set that glass of wine down somewhere safe. No need to waste what one hopes is at least a decent vintage. I can’t imagine Green gloating while drinking substandard beverages….
I wonder how well: “Please extirpate him” would go down?
I suspect, there’s a LOT of Mr. Green’s underlings who would enjoy the opportunity to get in good with the new boss…
Even more so, would enjoy extirpating the Old Boss.
“I am in charge! Pay no attention to The Man behind the curtain!”
1. It’s not usually Sweetheart’s style to troll people, but I guess she had not choice.
2. Why would Ira even make it possible for anyone to outrank him?
Becuse apart from Sweetheart, noone has been able to figure out the whole chart, not even the people in charge
Which makes me wonder, would it be beyond Sweetheart to fabricate a bogus org chart for the sole purpose of elevating Tip to the top? (Ooh, I like the way that sounds!) Remember, she is currently “under the influence” of Unity.
Considering all the problems, the mass removal, and the various surprise inspections were failure for the right shoe polish gets you tossed into a pit…
Sweetheart could have made up the chart and it still could be technically right.
Especially since Mr. Green is essentially the guy in the background pulling the strings sitting at a low ranking job, but pulling the strings of high ranking people.
It was just his fault for failing to pay attention to (redacted training video) like a good employee.
Considering Ira’s reactions, I’d say that he knew all along that he wasn’t technically in charge. But minions tend to follow someone who acts like they’re in charge, so all he had to do was fake it convincingly.
Until now, that is.
She’d probably be able to fabricate a bogus org chart like that if she wanted to, alanoodle, but I can’t picture her wanting to. In the past she’s proven remarkably good at organization and deferring to authority but remarkably bad at deception and scheming. So I’m thinking she waded far enough into the bureaucracy to figure out what the hierarchy actually looked like and came up with an accurate chart–which just so happens to have Tip at the top.
Now, it would not be beyond her at all to have known that Tip would be at the top of the hierarchy and to have just been sussing out the organization so she could display the proof. In a case like that, where she’s keeping quiet about the truth until she can prove it, she might be able to maintain her poker face a while. But there’s no plausible version of Sweetheart who could have faked that org chart convincingly.
Oh, huh.
Looks like Princess Ozma replaced The Wizard as head honcho.
When Ira’s been seized, what then?
Then it gets ugly. “NO TIP, NOT THE PUPPETS! AAAAIIIEEEEE!!!”
Well, the Wizard’s power was always a lie in the end wasn’t it?
I love Ira’s expressions, especially in panel 2!
I loved Tip’s stance in the same panel.
He went from the earlier “I am a captive.” to “I am in control.” without moving a muscle.
Oh, well, I just noticed Tip also somehow got uncuffed between panels two and three, but no one was shown unlocking his cuffs, so he obviously uncuffed himself once he realized he could realistically take control of the situation.
Yeah, I’ve been looking forward to the smug to get wiped off his face.
A general reminder from Skin Horse that it never hurts to be polite!
I’ve always suspected the English reputation for politeness was a direct outgrowth of their long tradition of dueling.
Has no one heard of the furniture and appurtenances of the Tower?
PS: the proper pronounciation of ‘British’ is BR-OO-TISH. “And keep the memory ever-green of the boys who smashed the van…”(personal prejudice)
Well, the French invented etiquette, and for reasons. I think, as proper etiquette has gradually fallen by the wayside over the last couple of hundred years, and faster over the last fifty or so years, we’re beginning to see why proper etiquette was so important.
Rant: I keep trying to post messages and they never show up. I’ll try it again and it says I already posted—but the message is nowhere in sight. Yesterday it wouldn’t let me post my daily limerick, until I wrote another one and it let me post that. This morning it’s a reply to Towering Barbarian above, first post.
And it’s maddening that sometimes it’ll let me post and other times not.
Anybody else having this problem?
Good morning, Robert!
I sympathize. I too had that problem briefly but it stopped as mysteriously as it began.
I don’t know if it’s related, but the “Save my name” checkbox no longer works. I have to fill in my email address for every post.
It happens every so often. It was annoying about the limerick…but what puzzles me is why one limerick wouldn’t post and another one did. Did I make a choice in wording that automatically kicks out? Did I misspell something?
Also it says it’s been posted but I never see it.
I do have that same problem with the “save my name” not working. I put name and e-mail, but not website. A few years ago it wouldn’t post at all if I filled in my website—a connected problem?—so I stopped doing it.
If I click back the text shows up in the box, as well as my name and e-mail, but the latter looks as if it had been typed over the “name (required” and “Email (required)” already there.
Frustrating…mystifying…I sure hope this goes through ’cause I won’t be trying to repost.
Yes, I have the same problem. It’s been happening to me for a couple years now, with no solution in sight. It’s rare that my comment on a current strip disappears (although it did happen just a few days ago), but it happens EVERY time if I try to comment on anything more than a few months old. I have even gone back later in case it was a lag-time or needing-approval issue for some bizarre reason, but they never show up. And even if I wait a month and then try to post the same comment again, it tells me that I’ve already posted it. And yet, it’s not there. Very frustrating.
As for the “save my name” not working, I used to have that problem, but discovered that I had to have cookies enabled for both this website and for wordpress.com. Once I enabled cookies, it keeps my name just fine.
I’ve been having that problem intermittently since… I think the first time was when they were in Vermont. I have not been able to figure out why it works some times and not others. There seems no rhyme or reason to it. It’s not a matter of which browser I’m using or where I’m posting from. I don’t comment nearly as much as I used to, because it’s really frustrating to write out a long comment and have it just disappear into the ether.
The post I made this morning, and yesterday’s failed limerick, turned up just now.
Well WordPress IS sentient AND has a morbid sense of humour. Gotta expect these things now and again when IT gets bored
A little courtesy goes a long way.
–
Hey, when the Absolute head honcho of the very major company you work for says “please” to you personally then yeah that’s pretty obviously really important and needs to be handled right the hell now.
Tip should have them check Mr. Green’s shoes to make sure they are up to Anasigma’s standards if not…
This should include a desperate escape and comedic chase scene until Mr. Green somehow gets brainwiped so we get out lovable Ira back.
our, dammit.
I love the idea of everybody back at his/her old job just as though nothing had happened.
There will be some changes though, like the appearance of the receptionist.
Well, except that our lovable Ira wasn’t real. Ira was always Mr. Green, just playing a role in order to spy on and deceive people. He was never really that person. I supposed if most of his memories were wiped, he could become that person in truth.
“Call him washed-up Ira Green, can’t give orders any more…” Apologies to Johnny Cash!
And to Ira Hayes.
Eep! Of course!
“The Ballad of Ira Hayes” was written by folk singer Peter La Farge, actually, and has been covered by many artists.
Jokes on Tip. Sweetheart is going to go mad trying to find out how Ira got roof access if he’s that far down in the hierarchy. He’s gonna reveal he doesn’t use the roof access door and all heck will break loose.
Let us also note for the record that Tip had those handcuffs off without even trying hard.
I didn’t even notice that! Very observant, Moe.
Stands to reason, of course.
Thanks for the ref – I’d forgotten about that one!
The guarfd behind Tip might have removed them.
This isn’t the first time Tip has been handcuffed and escaped; remember that werewolf in Alaska story. It has to do with his sexual experiences.
Yeah, Moe, I was wondering about THAT. Well, we always knew he had good hands.
And I suppose (sigh) that mere reactive jimminy-jitsu doesn’t SOLVE anything.
Tip certainly deserves a raise in RANK. Generals are usually quite adept with the ladies.
So, the running gag of Sweetheart’s org chart obsession turns the tide. I hope Mr. Green enjoys the Loyalty Dungeon. Excuse me. Loyalty PIT.
The Wizard is gone! All hail Princess Ozma!
I’m loving that Ira was undone by his own desire for complexity and unquestioning minions.
The minions called Tip “sir,” so, I guess they’re not fooled by the outfit.
I’ve always heard Tip with a nice, smooth – but really deep – voice… like Thurl Ravenscroft or Michael Clarke Duncan. So the dress doesn’t fool anyone.
I thought somewhere between tenor and baritone—speaking voice, that is. Ira I figured a little deeper with some gravel. Nick I figured for a high-pitched voice (and a Philly accent.)
I hadn’t thought of that, awgiedawgie, but it is pretty obvious that nearly everyone who interacts with Tip recognizes that he is a man dressed like a lady. When “Ira” was working as a security guard for Skin Horse, he appeared to get confused, and think Tip was a lady, but I think we know now that was all a sham, and Mr. Green knew good and well that Tip was (is) a man.)
So Ira, after spending plenty of time gloating that his creation couldn’t possibly turn against him, lost when the thing he created turned against him. Are we sure he’s not a mad scientist?
Insane, yes. Mad, I think not.
I guess he never actually said “I am your creator! You must obey me!” did he?
The org chart gave Tip a great perk. He’s the top-of-the-heap civil clerk. “Guards, please seize that man!” was his ultimate plan, but in no way expected to work.
This is one of the most satisfying strips I’ve ever read. 🙂
I got such a chuckle out of this one.
I’m going to have to re-read a lot because in my head Ira was a drone like Violet Bee being piloted by the real Mr Green. Or did I make that up?
Hm, so Green wanted to retire and needed a worthy successor? (?)
XD
That seems plausible. Mr. Green tried to “save” Nick by seeing if he could turn Nick, because Mr. Green still mistakenly thought of Nick as human. When it became apparent to Mr. Green that Nick would not turn, he had Nick’s brain removed from his body and disposed of. (Presumably, if Nick had turned, Mr. Green would have had a new body cloned for Nick, or something to that effect.)
Tip is (mostly) human, so Mr. Green was probably trying to “save” the poor, misguided human who is, unfortunately, working with and for nonhuman sapients. His next act would likely to have been to try to get Tip to go back to dressing in more traditional mens’ clothing, and we see how that went last time.
It always helps to say please.