Even with her power to do meetings at 100X speed, Panopticon can’t dialogue constructively without team member buy-in. She should have brought doughnuts of the mind.
They really should have bothered to check why he left the military before assigning him to a military like job. It’s like making someone allergic to dogs walk their dog.
I think it’s more likely they didn’t think ‘superhero’ was the same as ‘military’. In other words they thought he quit over authority issues, not over being a conscientious objector.
True. Of course, of the Skin Horse crew, Unity is the only one whose first resort is punching. It’s possible that Nick finds that situation less objectionable than one in which, as he says here, “everybody’s first resort is punching” (emphasis added).
Actually, if you consider the whole strip, Unity’s first response is usually friendly. Her first response to (perceived?) threats, however, is indeed violence.
I rather like the idea that the theme song may actually have been the result of arbitration rather than Nick’s swear filter. Yeah, I know the typeface says it’s the filter’s choice of words, but can you imagine a room full of lawyers arguing over the choice of songs in front of an impartial arbitrator… the result, of course, being a song nobody likes but everybody hates about equally…
nick’s swear filter turns out to be topical enough often enough that we could make the argument it’s a learning machine just trying to substitute something logical to let the swears go unnoticed (and it’s not quite there yet).
Man, arbitrated theme songs are the worst. I mean, when everyone submits different theme songs and the arbitrator just finds something in the middle of all of them that he thinks best fits, no one walks away happy. Plus it’s binding, so no one can change it unless everyone can agree on a new one.
I actually *like* Nick more after this revelation. Resorting to punching first was why I stopped reading many of the classic comics: There are many more devious ways to get what you want (e.g. “House of Cards” manipulations).
Yeah. He mostly resorts to violence against people who can get back up afterwards – werewolves, swamp zombies (who turned out not to be individuals after all, but part of a larger collective). Nick will protect his team, but he’s definitely not very hack-and-slash when not playing video games.
AG should /definitely/ have checked on why he left the military. Not saying they’re evil – all we’ve got so far is Panoptica being a jerk, which might be a Panoptica problem – but they’re certainly not a good fit for Nick. Nick would work best with a search and rescue team, I think.
Agreed. Instead of superheroing he can do actual heroing. Between his ease of access to different locations due to being an osprey and the fact that he has incredible sensors, he’d be a tremendous boon in any kind of disaster relief situation.
His main flaw there is the fact that he’s large and bulky. But it’s not like he can’t take people in him and act as their amazing sensor buddy when they go into places he can’t reach.
Exactly why I never really got IN to mainstream superhero comics. “He wins by punching ’em really hard” never felt like a satisfactory end to the story somehow.
The fact Nick is a fan of Tim Thomerson’s less critically acclaimed character, “Dollman,” makes him so very much more endearing and loveable. Can his human character be marketed as a plushy? Please?
So…is it a plot point that Nick’s auto-censor is actually being surprisingly apropos lately? Act for As* makes sense in context, as does Beat for S*it…arbitrated I’m not sure WHAT it means though.
The swear filter is capable of learning. Dr. Lee does good work. (In the “proficient” sense, not necessarily the “morally and ethically correct” sense.)
I’m waiting for the plot arc down the road where the emergent intelligence of Nick’s swear filter becomes a full-fledged non-human sapient in its own right, and he’s no longer legally allowed to have it removed, and in fact is obligated to provide it with government assistance.
I was wondering that, too. Since he started having this conference in his head, his swearing has been reduced and his swear filter substituted appropriate words.
Do you think the hot superhero chick is a better influence on him?
I think either Shaenon or Jeff once said that Shaenon tended to write swear substitutes where it was obvious what the original swear was, while Jeff tended to pick ones that were funny but had no obvious connection to the word being censored. So maybe this is just a particular Jeff-heavy section of writing. (Or my memory is faulty, which is completely possible.)
Lets see, Nick’s faster than the average chopper, can go anywhere (VTOL has advantages), and has greater cargo capacity, so can rescue more people than the average superhero. He also swears like a sailor on shore leave, hates the costumes and culture of superheroing, and is enough of a pacifist that he wouldn’t fight even if he had fists.
Is there a trope about Wrong Guy In The Right Job?
Heh. That particular substitution kinda works as a curse word on its own.
Oh man, a Theme Song! Picture it as an old national anthem with jolly fist swinging and 1980’s kids cartoon audio!
AG! AG! (Chorus)
The most wonderful that can be!
AG! AG! (Chorus)
We be all that we can be!
AG! AG! (Chorus)
XD
I think it’s the one from this page: http://skin-horse.com/comic/01042009/
OK, if that’s the theme song I wrote … well, I can’t blame him.
Ed, you can’t just say that and leave us hanging!
Even with her power to do meetings at 100X speed, Panopticon can’t dialogue constructively without team member buy-in. She should have brought doughnuts of the mind.
Unless “doughnuts” is to Nick what “blueberry waffles” is to Unity. Then there’d be … problems.
When the *military transport* thinks you’re resorting to too much violence, you should probably re-think things.
Although he identifies as an Osprey, he is also a pacifist, that’s why he and the military (as well as A-Sig) had to part ways.
They really should have bothered to check why he left the military before assigning him to a military like job. It’s like making someone allergic to dogs walk their dog.
Only funnier and with more potentially tragic consequences.
I think it’s more likely they didn’t think ‘superhero’ was the same as ‘military’. In other words they thought he quit over authority issues, not over being a conscientious objector.
When someone who has worked closely with Unity thinks that your resorting to too much violence, you absolutely need to rethink things!
True. Of course, of the Skin Horse crew, Unity is the only one whose first resort is punching. It’s possible that Nick finds that situation less objectionable than one in which, as he says here, “everybody’s first resort is punching” (emphasis added).
Actually, if you consider the whole strip, Unity’s first response is usually friendly. Her first response to (perceived?) threats, however, is indeed violence.
funny thing is, i checked the comments section specifically to see what you were going to say!
…that was meant to be a reply to Eddurd
I want to hear the arbitrated theme song, too!
I rather like the idea that the theme song may actually have been the result of arbitration rather than Nick’s swear filter. Yeah, I know the typeface says it’s the filter’s choice of words, but can you imagine a room full of lawyers arguing over the choice of songs in front of an impartial arbitrator… the result, of course, being a song nobody likes but everybody hates about equally…
nick’s swear filter turns out to be topical enough often enough that we could make the argument it’s a learning machine just trying to substitute something logical to let the swears go unnoticed (and it’s not quite there yet).
Maybe Nick doesn’t like being jerked out of his “heroic” work to do a sensitivity training HR session…
Man, arbitrated theme songs are the worst. I mean, when everyone submits different theme songs and the arbitrator just finds something in the middle of all of them that he thinks best fits, no one walks away happy. Plus it’s binding, so no one can change it unless everyone can agree on a new one.
Sorry… the theme song is classified top secret
hmm… is this a hint that Nick is going to be de-copertized? Perhaps returned to a body? Or… simply killed, so he can go to hell and team up with seth?
I actually *like* Nick more after this revelation. Resorting to punching first was why I stopped reading many of the classic comics: There are many more devious ways to get what you want (e.g. “House of Cards” manipulations).
Yeah. He mostly resorts to violence against people who can get back up afterwards – werewolves, swamp zombies (who turned out not to be individuals after all, but part of a larger collective). Nick will protect his team, but he’s definitely not very hack-and-slash when not playing video games.
AG should /definitely/ have checked on why he left the military. Not saying they’re evil – all we’ve got so far is Panoptica being a jerk, which might be a Panoptica problem – but they’re certainly not a good fit for Nick. Nick would work best with a search and rescue team, I think.
Agreed. Instead of superheroing he can do actual heroing. Between his ease of access to different locations due to being an osprey and the fact that he has incredible sensors, he’d be a tremendous boon in any kind of disaster relief situation.
His main flaw there is the fact that he’s large and bulky. But it’s not like he can’t take people in him and act as their amazing sensor buddy when they go into places he can’t reach.
Exactly why I never really got IN to mainstream superhero comics. “He wins by punching ’em really hard” never felt like a satisfactory end to the story somehow.
This isn’t really a revelation. When he was first introduced, Nick was prepared to die before having to hurt anyone else.
The fact Nick is a fan of Tim Thomerson’s less critically acclaimed character, “Dollman,” makes him so very much more endearing and loveable. Can his human character be marketed as a plushy? Please?
So…is it a plot point that Nick’s auto-censor is actually being surprisingly apropos lately? Act for As* makes sense in context, as does Beat for S*it…arbitrated I’m not sure WHAT it means though.
The swear filter is capable of learning. Dr. Lee does good work. (In the “proficient” sense, not necessarily the “morally and ethically correct” sense.)
I’m waiting for the plot arc down the road where the emergent intelligence of Nick’s swear filter becomes a full-fledged non-human sapient in its own right, and he’s no longer legally allowed to have it removed, and in fact is obligated to provide it with government assistance.
Imagine being required to swear so that the newly sapient swear filter has something to do. It would take all the fun out of swearing. Poor Nick!
That would be the absolute worst sort of SO ever.
I was wondering that, too. Since he started having this conference in his head, his swearing has been reduced and his swear filter substituted appropriate words.
Do you think the hot superhero chick is a better influence on him?
I think either Shaenon or Jeff once said that Shaenon tended to write swear substitutes where it was obvious what the original swear was, while Jeff tended to pick ones that were funny but had no obvious connection to the word being censored. So maybe this is just a particular Jeff-heavy section of writing. (Or my memory is faulty, which is completely possible.)
For whatever it’s worth, Jacob, I remember reading that, too. No idea what day’s comic it was posted under, but it was in there somewhere.
Lets see, Nick’s faster than the average chopper, can go anywhere (VTOL has advantages), and has greater cargo capacity, so can rescue more people than the average superhero. He also swears like a sailor on shore leave, hates the costumes and culture of superheroing, and is enough of a pacifist that he wouldn’t fight even if he had fists.
Is there a trope about Wrong Guy In The Right Job?
Could also be a supervisor that is ignoring his body identity against his will. That tends to reduce job enthusiasm.