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Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Schlock mercenary, the daily comic about the misadventures of Tagon's Toughs, a valiant band of mercenaries. Currently, they have experienced their highest real death rate in the history of the comic. Schlock, our amorphous blob of a main character, asked if he could have their stuff. Tagon is not amused.
Also, there is an artificial planet that is probably doomed to karmic destruction because of a perfect wedding. And a lot of Gavmogres one head wound away from becoming UNS killing machines. Oh, the horror.
Previous thread here.
Comic here
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Ah, can't beat that new thread smell...
Notice how Schlock is holding on to the sides of the panel in today's strip? There's certainly nothing there in "real life" to hold on to...
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Been awhile since the old fourth wall has been damaged.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HandofShadows
Been awhile since the old fourth wall has been damaged.
Gee, you're right. Been nearly a week since Kevyn manhandled it.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ChowGuy
Hey, they use to smash holes in it all the time in the old days.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HandofShadows
Hey, they use to smash holes in it all the time in the old days.
With bells whistles and lampshades on it. In contrast, grabbing hold of the frame isn't even breaking it so much as a routine signature bit of Howard's style. There's no direct comment or acknowledgement by the [/i]characters[/i] that they're in a comic, or even by the narrator. Just by the artist, and he's allowed to know that.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Yeah, it has toned down a little.
Maybe it's just because I started reading after a truly massive archive binge, but there also seems to be fewer footnotes these days either.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Well, most of the footnotes were put into expanding and explaining the universe. Now that it's much more established, there's less need.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gnoman
Well, most of the footnotes were put into expanding and explaining the universe. Now that it's much more established, there's less need.
That is probably true, but it's still nice to hear that what appears at first glance to be ripe technobabble actually has a well thought out and possibly even plausible explanation.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
So, C-Gas. Have we run into this before? If not, any guesses as to what it does?
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
factotum
So, C-Gas. Have we run into this before? If not, any guesses as to what it does?
I do believe you're looking for the Girl Genius thread...
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
In Schlock news, how often have we suggested just killing all their employers?
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
wkz
I do believe you're looking for the Girl Genius thread...
I do believe you're right, and I was actually a little puzzled my post wasn't there...d'oh!
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rockphed
In Schlock news, how often have we suggested just killing all their employers?
In this case, one of the employers is starting to wonder if it would not be too bad idea. :smalleek:
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rockphed
In Schlock news, how often have we suggested just killing all their employers?
In this case, one of the employers is starting to wonder if it would not be too bad idea. :smalleek:
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Is that particular Gav one of their employers? I honestly can't remember.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gnoman
Is that particular Gav one of their employers? I honestly can't remember.
They were hired by Gavcorps, of which the Oisri project is a subset, not by the project members themselves. At a guess, I' assume this particular Ga is the ambassador to the fleetmind who arrived with the barrel of "instant amorph." If that's the case, then he's also the Gav who originally offered them the job on Parnassus Dom. So, "from a certain point of view" yes, he's one of their employers, or a a minimum, their employer's official representative. However, that's not to say that he's authorized to approve them liquidated Gavcorps assets. Or, ya'know, Gavcorps members.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ChowGuy
They were hired by Gavcorps, of which the Oisri project is a subset, not by the project members themselves. At a guess, I' assume this particular Ga is
the ambassador to the fleetmind who arrived with the barrel of "instant amorph." If that's the case, then he's also the Gav who originally
offered them the job on Parnassus Dom. So, "from a certain point of view" yes, he's one of their employers, or a a minimum, their employer's official representative. However, that's not to say that he's authorized to approve them liquidated Gavcorps assets. Or, ya'know, Gavcorps members.
There is a third option: removing all the nanites from the Gavmogres. Somehow, I doubt the Gavmogres will approve.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ChowGuy
They were hired by Gavcorps, of which the Oisri project is a subset, not by the project members themselves. At a guess, I' assume this particular Ga is
the ambassador to the fleetmind who arrived with the barrel of "instant amorph." If that's the case, then he's also the Gav who originally
offered them the job on Parnassus Dom. So, "from a certain point of view" yes, he's one of their employers, or a a minimum, their employer's official representative. However, that's not to say that he's authorized to approve them liquidated Gavcorps assets. Or, ya'know, Gavcorps members.
Next strip rendered the question moot anyway, but thanks.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rockphed
In Schlock news, how often have we suggested just killing all their employers?
Quite a bit, though if we remove the period where they were technically working for Xinchub this goes down significantly.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
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Originally Posted by
Knaight
Quite a bit, though if we remove the period where they were technically working for Xinchub this goes down significantly.
Ah, King Xinchub the Prandial. How could I forget his ooziness.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Ouch. I'm guessing Thurl figured out that Ventura is a UNS operative at the worst possible time.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Why is he wearing his old uniform, though? Is it because the new ones were made by Tailor, who has also been interfered with by Ventura?
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Or Thurl could have been a UNS plant all along. It really could go either way at this point. He could be three steps ahead of the rest of the company like he sometimes is, but there's also no shortage of ways for the UNS to suborn a guy like him.
Since there are two factions at play in the UNS right now, it's entirely possible that both Ventura and Thurl are plants from rival factions as well, and Thurl is taking action to expose his new counterpart.
At least we know he probably was not infected. He wouldn't be wearing a uniform at all if he were.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
FINALLY Thurl gets it. Finally SOMEONE gets it.
Para has had you all fooled for YEARS. :smallfurious:
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
While Para has cleary been an agent for someone, she also has done nothing to harm the unit and has at times used her special resources to help the unit. (Para is likely an ally of one of the Tough's kids) She almost certainly stopped all the Gavs from being taken over and made into super soldiers.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
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Originally Posted by
HandofShadows
While Para has cleary been an agent for someone, she also has done nothing to harm the unit and has at times used her special resources to help the unit. (Para is likely an ally of one of the Tough's kids) She almost certainly stopped all the Gavs from being taken over and made into super soldiers.
SHE MURDERED TAG. :smallfurious:
He wasn't "breaking down." He had an ethical crisis and decided to resign. It wasn't until Para hacked into him that he "shut down," and she could replace him with her own minion.
The fact that nearly all of you have taken her explanation as gospel while completely ignoring what we were actually shown onscreen FILLS ME WITH WHITE HOT RAGE.:furious:
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
I think you REALLY need to calm down Lurker. Yelling at people is more often a sign that a person is wrong then that they are right.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Midnight Lurker
SHE MURDERED TAG. :smallfurious:
He wasn't "breaking down." He had an ethical crisis and decided to resign. It wasn't until Para hacked into him that he "shut down," and she could replace him with her own minion.
The fact that nearly all of you have taken her explanation as gospel while completely ignoring what we were actually shown onscreen FILLS ME WITH WHITE HOT RAGE.:furious:
Captain's orders. DOB'T forget that bit. Tagon ordered Ventura to get TAG working, and he was refusing to do so for no technologically justifiable reason So Ventura fixed the problem.
Sure, she did it with all the finesse of a neutronium sledgehammer, but it was on the Captain's orders.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Imgran
Captain's orders. DOB'T forget that bit. Tagon ordered Ventura to get TAG working, and he was refusing to do so for no technologically justifiable reason So Ventura fixed the problem.
Sure, she did it with all the finesse of a neutronium sledgehammer, but it was on the Captain's orders.
I'm not happy about Tagon there either.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Midnight Lurker
I'm not happy about Tagon there either.
But you don't appear to be blaming him for being a UNS agent. Para would have done what she did to Tag whether she were a double agent or not, since she was ordered to do so by her commanding officer--the only reason she would have had for NOT doing it is if her UNS controllers forbade her doing it!
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Imgran
Tagon ordered Ventura to get TAG working, and he was refusing to do so for no technologically justifiable reason.
This strip is pivotal. Although TAG's smugbrowed expression might mean "this isn't going to work, kid", it seemed like it was a genuine opening for a way to convince him to get back to work, at least for a while. But that wasn't Ventura's plan A.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gez
This strip is pivotal. Although TAG's smugbrowed expression might mean "this isn't going to work, kid", it seemed like it was a genuine opening for a way to convince him to get back to work, at least for a while. But that wasn't Ventura's plan A.
I'm not so sure. Later strips in the beginning of Massively Parallel suggest that she only built Tagii when she couldn't succeed in restoring Tag herself. So what happened to Tag seems to me to be more like a violation of the Hippocratic Oath than a murder. And even with that, the question of whether it was possible to restore Tag to pre-identity crisis levels was an open one.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
factotum
But you don't appear to be blaming him for being a UNS agent. Para would have done what she did to Tag whether she were a double agent or not, since she was ordered to do so by her commanding officer--the only reason she would have had for NOT doing it is if her UNS controllers forbade her doing it!
Well, originally I thought she was just committing unnecessary surgery/murder out of a combination of Tagon's orders and her own interpretation of said orders.
NOW I think she did it to put a UNS mole in control of the ship.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Midnight Lurker
NOW I think she did it to put a UNS mole in control of the ship.
Possibly--if that turns out to be the case it would certainly explain your reaction to her (and Thurl's actions in the current arc, for that matter). Guess we'll have to wait and see!
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Well, there is the question of if she really "Killed" Tag. Tagii has all of Tag's memories, but a new face and personality.
The Face is nothing for an AI. That's like changing a hat, but the personality, the Identity, is key.
Part of the issue Tag ran into was a lack of Identity. Kevyn built a Pilot, a Tactician, and a Soldier, but he did not build a Person. Tag was forced to take independent action to kill some Civilians, or wait for orders, resulting in the deaths of thousands. Tag made the right call, but he didn't have enough personality to properly rationalize it, since Tag's identity was based around being a Tool, not an Individual.
Tagii has significantly more sense of self, is far more of a "Person" than Tag.
Of course, the question is whether or not Tagii is Tag. She's running on the same hardware, and shares all of Tag's memories, but her personality is very different. Tagii is an AI, and AI's are tricky. All the AI's that turned into the Fleetmind were subsumed by Pete's personality, but we don't say that Petey "Killed" the other AI's. We still see them arguing with each other, but Petey appears to be firmly in control.
Really, it's Academic if Tagii is Tag. Tagii certainly thinks of herself as Tag with a little more "Person" built in, and Tag isn't around anymore to ask. Tagii could be considered Tag, the same way a person is very different from how they will be in, say, ten years, but are still the same individual.
Also, where did the idea for airborne Mind-control Nanites come from? Binnie had to loose his head before the nanites took over, and I got the impression he was infected when he went through the Tube. He spewed out Nanites, but they were weaponized brain-shredders, not mind-controllers.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BRC
Also, where did the idea for airborne Mind-control Nanites come from? Binnie had to loose his head before the nanites took over, and I got the impression he was infected when he went through the Tube. He spewed out Nanites, but they were weaponized brain-shredders, not mind-controllers.
If it turns out that Thurl really is a UNS mole, it was probably done back during the memory re-write at the end of The Body Politic arc. Granted, I don't really see how that kind of programming could have gotten past Petey with the memory flagging he did at the beginning of this arc, but I suppose we'll just have to see.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Well, that was unexpected. It seems to me that one of two scenarios is underway here:
1. Thurl's been infected with nannies and is going Binnie.
2. Thurl figures Para and Tagii are moles, and is taking steps to take them out -- and doesn't even trust the uniforms Para made.
Now this is an interesting turn of events! :smallsmile:
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
I think we're kinda led to believe #1, but the twist is that it's #2.
The nannies don't control minds, otherwise they wouldn't need to grow the brain back from the ground up. The bit about the gavmogre deliberately inflicting head trauma was key, here. Furthermore, Thurl isn't a Gav himself. He isn't already full of RED nannies that have been conditioned for a while (by signals encoded in TV and stuff) to prepare the transformation into UNS supersoldier. Another reason why turning Thurl into a nannite zombie couldn't happen so quickly.
Then there's always the twist that Thurl is actually an UNS mole, and has been so for a while, without nannies being the cause. We know the UNS brass did speak about their mole among the Toughs. All hints so far point towards Para Ventura, though.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Looks like ebby's in on the mutiny too, more points for Para being exposed as UNS.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
...huh.
This strip has an incredible record for never being more than a couple of minutes late even in cases of server detonation, but I think this is the first time it's ever been significantly early.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
I think it's a daylight savings time thing, but I lack data. I noticed back in March-ish that I could consistently see the strip early.
Also, I'm rather glad that Ebby is involved in this one way or another, it rules out (to me) nanny-subversions or Thurl just being some sort of a mole.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
I have extreme doubts that both Ebby and Thurl were suborned by the UNS, so it looks to me like Para's almost certain to be the mole.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bulldog Psion
I have extreme doubts that both Ebby and Thurl were suborned by the UNS, so it looks to me like Para's almost certain to be the mole.
That or THURL is the Mole, and he's tricked Ebby into thinking it's Para.
But yeah, it's probably Para.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
It's a pity. I was starting to like Para.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
IF Para is the mole, Kevyn will probably say something like "You just figured that out?" But lets take a look at if Para really is a spy. She had no combat training other than what she got from the Toughs. (you don't put untrained spies into the field) And after her first fight she suffers from PTSD. (mental evaluation should have kept her from being chosen to be a spy) Not to mention she screwed up not one, but TWO UNS operations. It makes perfect sense to me that Mr Tayler might be screwing with the readers heads.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Given what we've seen, my guess is that Para was hired by the Toughs as a roboticist legitimately, but was tapped to become a spy after the fact. What's more, the UNS projects she ruined (The Credomar takeover and the Haven Hive nanny hobbling project) were the shortsighted, amoral projects you see from Admiral Emm, or the once-late Hugo Xinchub. That plus the shot of the Celeshuul (sp?) secret base, compared with the station of the "blond harridan" whose name escapes me, suggests a faction similar to Breya's, all the way back in the Gatekeeper arcs (thinking specifically about Zoojack, among others).
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Here's another interesting tidbit. Both Thurl and Ebby are wearing the old uniforms for this action, rather than the new ones with the cargo pockets and black highlights that Tailor made. They must be deeply suspicious of any AI that Para has had nearly unfettered access to.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Landis963
Given what we've seen, my guess is that Para was hired by the Toughs as a roboticist legitimately, but was tapped to become a spy after the fact. What's more, the UNS projects she ruined (The Credomar takeover and the Haven Hive nanny hobbling project) were the shortsighted, amoral projects you see from Admiral Emm, or the once-late Hugo Xinchub. That plus the shot of the Celeshuul (sp?) secret base, compared with the station of the "blond harridan" whose name escapes me, suggests a faction similar to Breya's, all the way back in the Gatekeeper arcs (thinking specifically about Zoojack, among others).
In other words, sure Para's a spy, but she's a spy for Lunesby's faction in the UNS and not for the Xinchub/Emm/Krum faction, and has been trying to screw up what Colonel Krum (the blond harridan) has been trying to do on Oisri.
That "infowars drill" has all the hallmarks of attempting to interrupt a set of communications that someone already knew were tainting the RED nanites for that matter. If you have a signal that is turning all the Gavs into potential enemy hyperzombies, interrupting that signal might be one possible way to stop what was about to happen. Unfortunately it wasn't well enough timed.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
True, but even if she is actually helping the faction that the Toughs have less objection to, it would still be a good idea to nab her and find out what's going on. Every unknown factor is a potential danger, after all.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bulldog Psion
True, but even if she is actually helping the faction that the Toughs have less objection to, it would still be a good idea to nab her and find out what's going on. Every unknown factor is a potential danger, after all.
Yeah, I can think of very few situations where "I am a spy...but for your friends! Honest!" has turned out well.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BRC
Yeah, I can think of very few situations where "I am a spy...but for your friends! Honest!" has turned out well.
Which of course means that Para needs to talk fast in order to avoid getting choked by Ebby.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
He still hasn't gotten to use what he learned in xenobiology classes...
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Imgran
In other words, sure Para's a spy, but she's a spy for Lunesby's faction in the UNS and not for the Xinchub/Emm/Krum faction, and has been trying to screw up what Colonel Krum (the blond harridan) has been trying to do on Oisri.
I'm not sure that Emm is part of the same faction as Xinchub/Krum. She clearly hated Xinchub (and his whole operation) and when given an "out" that didn't involve killing the Toughs she jumped at it. She also had no real problem making a deal with Petey and she treats her ships AI like a person. Also it does not seem that Klum told Emm what her plan was until this page http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-03-21 (Emm does not look happy either). It's even possible that Klum was sent to keep an eye on Emm.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Good, that pretty much takes care of the "Thurl has been turned" theory, which would have been sad.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BRC
Yeah, I can think of very few situations where "I am a spy...but for your friends! Honest!" has turned out well.
Oh it's happened from time to time. Generally they're handed over with little to no fanfare and some friendly advice to keep their nose closer to where it belongs. Or at least don't get caught and embarrass the alliance, since that's really inconsiderate.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HandofShadows
IF Para is the mole, Kevyn will probably say something like "You just figured that out?"
I would be surprised if Kevyn figured it out before Thurl. Kevyn is very 'science smart', but he never exactly seemed 'people smart' to me.
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lizard Lord
I would be surprised if Kevyn figured it out before Thurl. Kevyn is very 'science smart', but he never exactly seemed 'people smart' to me.
And if he DID say it, then it would open a massive plothole as to why he didn't then do anything about it himself!
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Quote:
Originally Posted by
factotum
And if he DID say it, then it would open a massive plothole as to why he didn't then do anything about it himself!
A spy you know about can be a GREAT way to feed disinformation. Or they where looking at what she was sending and decided not to take action yet. Or they relized she was not a threat to the Toughs. sm
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Re: Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos
Para's expression in the last frame appears to me to be eloquent corroboration of Thurl's suspicions. It looks like "oh, crap. Busted." to me.