Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

[Willie the Duck]

He's somewhere where he can hack the simulation to create flying castles and dragons, why would he want to leave? Imagine he's in the equivalent of the Matrix, only he can reprogram it on the fly to do what he wants.

I'm unconvinced. The Toughs didn't retire from the mercenary business back when they were basically richer than god, why would wait until he was coming back from the dead to decide he wanted to spend his time in a virtual sandbox/wish-fulfillment engine?

[factotum]

I'm unconvinced. The Toughs didn't retire from the mercenary business back when they were basically richer than god, why would wait until he was coming back from the dead to decide he wanted to spend his time in a virtual sandbox/wish-fulfillment engine?

Because he didn't know the virtual sandbox/wish-fulfilment engine existed back then. (Mainly because it didn't).

[DeTess]

Because he didn't know the virtual sandbox/wish-fulfilment engine existed back then. (Mainly because it didn't).

It might also be that he doesn't want to properly retire, so him angling for his current job would allow him to both be useful, and get to stay in the matrix.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

It might also be that he doesn't want to properly retire, so him angling for his current job would allow him to both be useful, and get to stay in the matrix.

This. In a world were there is no death, there is also no retirement. The sooner you find a job you'll be happy to do for extended periods of time, the better. Thurl has found a job he is perfectly willing to do, and thus is applying for it.

Grey Wolf

[factotum]

Why is it that Howard so often produces strips where you stop and think, "Hold on, did I miss one?". You would have thought that Chinook destroying one of her corrupted selves would be important to show on-panel, but apparently Mr. Tayler disagrees.

[Max_Killjoy]

Why is it that Howard so often produces strips where you stop and think, "Hold on, did I miss one?". You would have thought that Chinook destroying one of her corrupted selves would be important to show on-panel, but apparently Mr. Tayler disagrees.

At least we see immediate aftermath of it on-screen, with the characters involved telling us about what they did, as opposed to third person, so it's not the worst. Still, it's often been his habit to skip over showing the AI-vs-AI stuff directly -- see when Enesby and Tagii had their negotiation with the broken AI in the can of sky.

I really love Howard's work, but I get the feeling that he has set a deadline for himself to move on to the next iteration of things, and there's stuff he wants to skip over.

[keybounce]

Let's see:

* He's learned how about how many pages a book can reasonably have.
* He's learned about how many comics will fit into those many pages, including his annotations.
* He's learned about how many comics needs to give as a buffer for things that he forgot about (such as needing to insert a week to fix an error while keeping the weekend pacing's correct).
* He's learned to plot out the pacings and beats of his story.
* He scripts his dialogue at least a week in advance, sometimes more.
* He knows approximately how many comics he has to tell what part of the story, and he knows about how much dialogue he can get in in that many comics.
* Therefore, he knows about how much, and where, he needs to skip.
* The only question left, is what does he decide to cut out.

It would appear that he has decided to leave in as much of the dialogue between the existing characters as possible, and cut out the unimportant new characters.

[Thomas Cardew]

Hey someone finally willing to challenge the oofans on their 'I want all my stuff back and you had no right to take it in the first place' shtick. I'm not holding my breath that it be given a reasonable handling but this is the best we've gotten in basically 2-3 months of strips?

[factotum]

So Putzho has the power to assign the UNS ambassador now? What the heck is going on?

[HandofShadows]

Putzho is just informing Sorlie of her new job. I think a number of different people "suggested" her for the job.

[Onyavar]

So Putzho has the power to assign the UNS ambassador now? What the heck is going on?

Putzho is just the messenger here, because he got there faster than the paperwork.

Either, the embassy inside the UNS battletetraeder was destroyed (in which case I either missed an update; or Howard chose to tell not show), and Sorlie is the highest-ranking survivor with knowledge of recent procedures with the Oafans.
Or, Bala-Amin has risen to a higher position, maybe to work directly under Breya.

[HandofShadows]

It seems most likely that Bala-Amin got moved to a different position. I wonder if a certain very large resurrected Ofan might have had a few good words to say about Sorlie that helped her get the position. Now the real question is why is Sorlie and co on the Breath Weapon to start with. There is more going on than we know yet.

[Lizard Lord]

It seems most likely that Bala-Amin got moved to a different position. I wonder if a certain very large resurrected Ofan might have had a few good words to say about Sorlie that helped her get the position. Now the real question is why is Sorlie and co on the Breath Weapon to start with. There is more going on than we know yet.

"And Co" is on Breath Weapon because Sorlie is, so the real question is why is Sorlie on Breath Weapon.

[Onyavar]

"And Co" is on Breath Weapon because Sorlie is, so the real question is why is Sorlie on Breath Weapon.

Breath Weapon carried the embassy out of the can of sky. I think they will have to bring it back now.
If Breya was involved this directly, I think that Bala-amin may have taken command of Chu's flagplate following a complaint we haven't been shown either.

[factotum]

OK, this is weird--how did the Putzho hologram hand a real porta-tablet thing to Sorlie?

[HandofShadows]

He just uploaded the file/orders to the one she had.

[factotum]

He just uploaded the file/orders to the one she had.

She isn't holding one in yesterday's strip, though.

[halfeye]

This is kinda off topic, but the definition of Flanderisation in the movie review below this comic is mistaken or a second meaning for a previously existing word, and I don't know where else to mention that.

The word Flanderisation originally came from the works of Flanders and Swann:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flanders_and_Swann

Ned Flanders was almost certainly named after Michael Flanders and Donald Swann.

[keybounce]

OK, this is weird--how did the Putzho hologram hand a real porta-tablet thing to Sorlie?

Funny you should ask that.
Here's the discussion on the main Schlock forum
http://zoo.nightstar.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=21263

[Willie the Duck]

This is kinda off topic, but the definition of Flanderisation in the movie review below this comic is mistaken or a second meaning for a previously existing word, and I don't know where else to mention that.

The word Flanderisation originally came from the works of Flanders and Swann:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flanders_and_Swann

Ned Flanders was almost certainly named after Michael Flanders and Donald Swann.

While the Flanders and Swann is a likely name-inspiration for the Simpsons character Flanders, the term Flanderisation has a clear derivation from the Simpsons character. I don't see any reference in this Wikipedia article to Flanderisation is reference to Flanders and Swann. What does the term mean in this context?

[TaRix]

While the Flanders and Swann is a likely name-inspiration for the Simpsons character Flanders, the term Flanderisation has a clear derivation from the Simpsons character. I don't see any reference in this Wikipedia article to Flanderisation is reference to Flanders and Swann. What does the term mean in this context?

Just to spare you a TVTropes dive (from which no one emerges unscathed), Tayler's defined it as an established character being increasingly identified only by his or her quirks: In Flanders' case, he slowly changed from the better-off neighbor and object of Homer's jealousy to almost exclusively an ultra-religious straw man. It's kind of the inverse of character development.

(edit - Duh, I'm an idiot. I misread the intent of this quote and have no satisfactory answer to it.)

[halfeye]

While the Flanders and Swann is a likely name-inspiration for the Simpsons character Flanders, the term Flanderisation has a clear derivation from the Simpsons character. I don't see any reference in this Wikipedia article to Flanderisation is reference to Flanders and Swann. What does the term mean in this context?

That would be taking some thing fairly sane, and making something silly of it. Maybe it got so swamped in the Simpsons, it's lost now. My memory is vague at the moment, but I'm pretty sure there was Flanderisation before the Simpsons. I do hate the way history keeps on changing.

[Max_Killjoy]

That would be taking some thing fairly sane, and making something silly of it. Maybe it got so swamped in the Simpsons, it's lost now. My memory is vague at the moment, but I'm pretty sure there was Flanderisation before the Simpsons. I do hate the way history keeps on changing.

Flanderization certainly occurred before the Simpsons.

Assigning that name to the phenomenon almost certainly arises from the Simpsons character -- I'm not finding anything in pages about the songwriting/comedy duo that indicates they had characters who become more 1-dimentionsional and exaggerated over time.

[Knaight]

My memory is vague at the moment, but I'm pretty sure there was Flanderisation before the Simpsons. I do hate the way history keeps on changing.

Of course there was. There was also bowdlerization before Bowlder, quislings before Quisling, and quixotic behavior before the writing of Don Quixote. There's no history changing involved; there's just somewhat amorphous concepts that formerly got described at length getting names after people have either embodied or depicted them extremely well.

[Ibrinar]

I think Halfeye means there was the word flanderisation and it meant something different not that the current definition happened before.

[PraetorDragoon]

I think Halfeye means there was the word flanderisation and it meant something different not that the current definition happened before.

You mean flanderisation has been flanderized?

[halfeye]

I think Halfeye means there was the word flanderisation and it meant something different not that the current definition happened before.

Quite so. I could be mistaken, that's also possible.

[Ibrinar]

Though really if there was such a word from that duo it would have been less than 100 years old so it would have just been a case of a word without enough staying power to become permanent that happened to be the same word as a later more successful term.

[Max_Killjoy]

The old Oafans are proving remarkably adept at not quite getting it...

[Rockphed]

The old Oafans are proving remarkably adept at not quite getting it...

In this case, I think they have a fairly good grasp on just how crazy Chinook is. She is, after all, so crazy that she has come back from the other side twice.