Then give three cheers and one cheer more
For the hardy Captain and his pinafore!
Then give three cheers and one cheer more
Fooor the Captain and his pinafore!
But Tip was injected with extract of Unity, which counteracted the werewolf virus. It’s unknown how much, if any, of the virus survived, but I think it’s safe to say that Tip is no longer capable of transforming.
“Symbiote” doesn’t seem like it’s being used properly here. A symbiote is an organism that is part of a symbiotic relationship.
All evidence shown to the audience thus far suggests that Duplicate Tip is a single organism – a single plant, albeit one with an unexplained ability to take on the form and appearance of a human. It is not a collection of multiple individually discrete symbiotic plants – or if it is, we’ve had zero indication of that before this moment.
—
We’ve seen parasitic plants that infest the local fauna, and by some definitions parasitism is a form of symbiosis, but that’s not what’s going on here. Tip himself hasn’t been infested with a parasite – a plant has simply disguised itself as Tip.
The Cypress (like Gavotte) is a gestalt consciousness – a collection of many organisms acting as a single unified consciousness. But that’s not symbiosis, that’s sociality. Bees aren’t symbiotic with their fellow bees, and the plants that make up the Cypress aren’t symbiotic with each other – they just form a collective mind.
Now, in contrast, H.T. actually is a symbiote, because he’s a distinct organism (a tiger) that has been colonized by plants (and unlike the bears, he’s not dead). Likewise, Dr. Taintor and Lt. Eris are also symbiotes, because of their quote “suprisingly cute brain parasites”.
—
But Duplicate Tip isn’t a person in a symbiotic relationship with plants. He’s a single organism that simply takes the shape of a different organism.
Or, to be fair, perhaps we can’t say that for sure. The comic hasn’t made it explicit. Maybe he’s actually a colony of multiple plants. It’s not entirely clear.
But while those plants would be part of the greater collective, that alone wouldn’t make them symbiotes – just like a colony of bees acting as a collective doesn’t mean they exist in a state of symbiosis with each other.
If Gavotte’s hive got dispersed by a strong wind, it wouldn’t make any sense at all for her to cry out in dismay, “Argh! Insectoid… symbiotes… blowing apart!”
It’s super weird that Duplicate Tip refers to itself as “Botanical” as if it weren’t a plant (or a colony of plants.) And it’s super weird that he refers to “Symbiotes” when there’s clearly no symbiosis occuring at all, even if it’s a colony of plants.
This is nitpicking, but as a bayou, I guarantee there’s some epiphytes and other creeping plants, like Spanish moss, that are symbiotes in the biomass, but otherwise you’re right that no organism that isn’t naturally symbiotic with the others is a symbiote, anymore than individual bees in a hive or cells in our bodies are. I’d go further and say the incorporated animals are also not symbiotes, but merely other individual organisms within the gestalt of the Biomass.
Given what has been stated within the comic (Pod Tip said his beret is a begonia, which are epiphytes in the wild, and implied in this strip that his outer appearance in general is a shell of symbiotes), the most likely explanation is that each pod person consists of a single large main plant covered in symbiotes that mimic the subject’s appearance.
Also this isn’t the Cypress. The Cypress is currently a large seed that Skin Horse is attempting to evacuate. This is closer to the malevolent Unity Biomass from the Mirror Universe that considered itself a separate entity, especially since it ejected the Cypress at some point in the past. I’ve been calling it the Biomass or the HT Biomass until it gets a proper name.
I’m with Nick on this one.
Tip would *never* splort.
Well … hardly ever!
And even if he did, he wouldn’t rarrgh.
If Tip did “splort” we know he would do it tastefully.
How does one splort tastefully?
Didn’t Dave and Helen splort a couple of times?
Then give three cheers and one cheer more
For the hardy Captain and his pinafore!
Then give three cheers and one cheer more
Fooor the Captain and his pinafore!
(Sorry.)
What’s the werewolf transformation sound again?
I tried – twice – posting the link to the comic where he transformed. The sound is indeed “splort”.
Was it this one?
True enough, that’s the one.
Except for the minor detail that by the time he said it, the distinction was already clear.
aww, he does care!
Nick’s getting very good at multi-tasking. He can troll, and effect a rescue at the same time!
He’s probably simultaneously having sex with Virginia with his human body.
You know we could see them if they’re inside the invisible helicopter.
He can remote control his copter body from anywhere, so they might not be in there at this time. I’m sure that they would prefer this option.
Obviously, Nick’s sensors had already determined which was which.
Presumably the doppel-Tip realized there was no way to carry on with Plan A and decided to power-up and destroy the original while it still could…
I thought this was a design problem – specifically, they forgot to design Tip’s doppelganger to withstand the force of air from a helicopter blade.
Ooh! I missed the significance of “blowing apart”. Thank you!
That was easier than I thought it would be.
At least he’s trying to be polite
The symbiote?
I shouldn’t have forgotten our esteemed authors’ fondness for the humorous anticlimax.
“Can’t hold together in a strong wind” seems a fairly serious design flaw.
Some trees nearby suffered it last night. So much for “intelligent design”…
Wanna maximize your solar-power gathering surface area, gotta make some design compromises.
Well do you have the hotline number? I want to complain.
Isn’t the obvious answer that the Tip with the bomb collar and the earpiece was the real one?
Just because something is obvious doesn’t mean that it isn’t also easily (and intentionally) ignored.
I assumed they would figure out it wasn’t him when they tried to remove the earpiece.
Woo! Caught up! Also, this is the best version of avoiding the doppelganger dilemma I’ve ever seen.
So-did the Botanical Symbiotes ever assimilate a Shapeshifter before? Tip IS still a werewolf after all…
But Tip was injected with extract of Unity, which counteracted the werewolf virus. It’s unknown how much, if any, of the virus survived, but I think it’s safe to say that Tip is no longer capable of transforming.
The line in the second panel is… off.
“Symbiote” doesn’t seem like it’s being used properly here. A symbiote is an organism that is part of a symbiotic relationship.
All evidence shown to the audience thus far suggests that Duplicate Tip is a single organism – a single plant, albeit one with an unexplained ability to take on the form and appearance of a human. It is not a collection of multiple individually discrete symbiotic plants – or if it is, we’ve had zero indication of that before this moment.
—
We’ve seen parasitic plants that infest the local fauna, and by some definitions parasitism is a form of symbiosis, but that’s not what’s going on here. Tip himself hasn’t been infested with a parasite – a plant has simply disguised itself as Tip.
The Cypress (like Gavotte) is a gestalt consciousness – a collection of many organisms acting as a single unified consciousness. But that’s not symbiosis, that’s sociality. Bees aren’t symbiotic with their fellow bees, and the plants that make up the Cypress aren’t symbiotic with each other – they just form a collective mind.
Now, in contrast, H.T. actually is a symbiote, because he’s a distinct organism (a tiger) that has been colonized by plants (and unlike the bears, he’s not dead). Likewise, Dr. Taintor and Lt. Eris are also symbiotes, because of their quote “suprisingly cute brain parasites”.
—
But Duplicate Tip isn’t a person in a symbiotic relationship with plants. He’s a single organism that simply takes the shape of a different organism.
Or, to be fair, perhaps we can’t say that for sure. The comic hasn’t made it explicit. Maybe he’s actually a colony of multiple plants. It’s not entirely clear.
But while those plants would be part of the greater collective, that alone wouldn’t make them symbiotes – just like a colony of bees acting as a collective doesn’t mean they exist in a state of symbiosis with each other.
If Gavotte’s hive got dispersed by a strong wind, it wouldn’t make any sense at all for her to cry out in dismay, “Argh! Insectoid… symbiotes… blowing apart!”
It’s super weird that Duplicate Tip refers to itself as “Botanical” as if it weren’t a plant (or a colony of plants.) And it’s super weird that he refers to “Symbiotes” when there’s clearly no symbiosis occuring at all, even if it’s a colony of plants.
This is nitpicking, but as a bayou, I guarantee there’s some epiphytes and other creeping plants, like Spanish moss, that are symbiotes in the biomass, but otherwise you’re right that no organism that isn’t naturally symbiotic with the others is a symbiote, anymore than individual bees in a hive or cells in our bodies are. I’d go further and say the incorporated animals are also not symbiotes, but merely other individual organisms within the gestalt of the Biomass.
Given what has been stated within the comic (Pod Tip said his beret is a begonia, which are epiphytes in the wild, and implied in this strip that his outer appearance in general is a shell of symbiotes), the most likely explanation is that each pod person consists of a single large main plant covered in symbiotes that mimic the subject’s appearance.
Also this isn’t the Cypress. The Cypress is currently a large seed that Skin Horse is attempting to evacuate. This is closer to the malevolent Unity Biomass from the Mirror Universe that considered itself a separate entity, especially since it ejected the Cypress at some point in the past. I’ve been calling it the Biomass or the HT Biomass until it gets a proper name.
*Applause* “Apparent inconsistencies are often the best clues.”