Skip to content
Currently On Hiatus: Please Enjoy A New Reader Question Every Weekday!

Kill them with Kindness 2: It’s a Horse or Something

Kill them with Kindness 2: It’s a Horse or Something published on 68 Comments on Kill them with Kindness 2: It’s a Horse or Something

Look it’s a baby horse…fish…monster….thing???

Don’t forget about the BIG WINTER SALE at the store! Golly. BOROGOVE for 15 bucks! BOOKS for 15 bucks! TOTE BAGS for only FIVE DOLLARS. Get IN on this ACTION.

68 Comments

I take it Cy is still too young to know buggane shape-changing magic.

As cute as Cy is, sharp teeth in a horse face is all kinds of creepy.

Aaaaaand- reprieve! Now Ike can head up the {park/recreation ground/somewhere kid-oriented that isn’t the shoe shop) with his little buddy, leaving Rhonda to shoe-shop in peace. Because Ike believes in making time for children and giving them the attention they need and don’t you believe in that, Rhonda? Sure you do! To do otherwise would be selfish and uncaring, not to mention unmaternal. So let’s wave bye-bye to auntie Rhonda, kiddo, and pray that she doesn’t just decide to put the shoe-shopping on hold and tag along…

>:=)>

damnit, okay, Tuesday needs to roll around, like, tomorrow! Can we just skip the entire next seven days and get right to Ike pulling something JUST like that.

[Sees alt text]

Oh, is *that* why Cy wants Ike to carry him? So that he can go feline-ly SneakSneakSneak up on whatever his teeth are meant for for a change? ;-D

‘Scuse me JoB. You wouldn’t by any chance be the same JoB as aRTD or SSSS, would you? If you’re not, then happily ignore my comment. ;)

Well, considering that I *did* repeatedly refer back to Skin Deep in the aRTD comments, it’ld be a tad futile to try and deny it … :-}

(Granted, a screen name of “JoB” is more likely to be randomly duplicated than, say, “Greenwood Goat” …)

Okay, here’s a question, not to complain or anything, but I’m looking at Cy, and I’m assuming he is an example of a full buggane. and I look at Ike who is half Buggane and half Manticore and I’m thinking, “Where did Ike’s hooves come from?” I mean, Manticore don’t have them, and it looks like Buggane have fin things, and the rer view of Cy shows their not hidden behind the fins, so how exactly did Ike get them if neither species has them? I mean Buggane are a kind of water horse, but if they don’t have hooves, how did that get thrown into the mix?

Manticores can be made up of different animals. Its also possible that by mixing buggane DNA with manticore DNA you get hooves, who knows? If all else fails, blame magic.

DNA doesn’t exactly work like that, you can’t mix one with another and inherit a trait that does not exist in either strain unless it’s some majorly random mutation. Magic works as an all else fails, though it does seem like an overlooked detail if one needs to fall back to it too often.

I’m going to err on the side of guessing that bugganes have various forms, whichever is best for the biome they’re in, and Cy is just a wee tadpole who hasn’t got the hang of it yet. Perhaps his family is the kind of buggane that defaults to ‘horsefish’ and learns other shapes later? ISTR that bugganes were more like big ogres, normally…? whatever, this ain’t my universe to set the rules for. :) I’m sure Kory has a reason.

Bugganes are shape shifters. Like could just prefer hooves over the floppy fin things or manticore paws.

Ike. Stupid autocorrect.

I understand he’s a shapeshifter, but his full form artwork shows hooves, which would account for a set form which is what his real form is shapeshifter or not. Kinda like those with madalions ‘real form’ is a griffon, or nixie, etc, regardless of being able to be human or mid form.

Well, the next page is up, and Ike’s mom has hooves, as does Cyan’s dad. It could just be that once they manage their shapeshifting abilities, they prefer hooves on land? I’ve seen his full form artwork as well.

Although, real horses are born with extra skin flappies on their hooves to prevent them from rupturing the amniotic sac while they’re still gestating. The skin flappies dry out and fall off after the foal is born. Perhaps this is the buggane equivalent and hooves develop with age? If you google “newborn horse hooves”, I do realize they look nothing alike, but perhaps the growth is similar? I don’t know. I’m still just speculating in the dark while waiting to see if it’s answered. :)

One, Magic, Two, shapeshifter. one would assume Ike prefers hooves over slippery fin-things, as they’d be easier to walk around in, while Cy appears to be too young to have gotten the hang of a midform yet,
or prefers his natural form

Pictures of Ike’s full form show hooves, it would be strange to include an unnatural addition to what is supposed to be his true form. The fact that Cy is too young to properly shapeshift would only support the idea that a Bugganes true form does not have hooves.

Is Cy Ike’s baby half brother?

Yes, at some point not very long after Ike’s Turning, his mother married a buganne man and they had two sons. Cyan here is the younger of the two.

I’ll admit he’s cute, but is everyone sure he’s actually a buggane. For all we know he could actually be a kelpie, and depending on which version of the kelpie we’re talking about that could mean different things. The Scottish kelpie can only alternate between a horse and human and is restricted to being close to the sea (allegedly). The Irish kelpie can alternate between a black horse, big black dog and human dressed in black (usually appearing elderly) and resides in deep streams, deep rivers, and the occasional lake. My point is that there’s more than one type of aquatic horse in European lore.

Some fans have spent time digging into the various spaces of the net where development stuff has been posted over the years and IDed the character. While there are kelpies in the Skin Deep universe, this kid isn’t one of them.

The last panel is pretty similar to a sketch in one of Kory’s sketchbooks you can buy, it’s actually kinda weird seeing it in the comic finally, lol. But yeah, Kory (and Sfe as well) have removed/locked a lot of the older Skin Deep things on DeviantArt, but if you happened to follow the comic a few years ago, you could dig up all sorts of fun things about (at the time) future characters/plots. Case in point, I found out what Anthony was supposed to be well before it was ever revealed in the second part of Exchanges. The sketchbooks are still available in PDF form (I think), and have a lot of lovely tidbits as well, though most have been revealed at this point. Lots of amazingly random sketches though, one of my personal favorites being what Anthony and Blanche look like when affected by Nixie Spit :P

Yep, you can buy the sketchbooks as PDFs. I loved the sketch you’re talking about. “I am made of legs!”

I’ve been following the comic for about two years now, so a lot of what you’re talking about was locked up before I started looking around, but there’s still some neat hints at possible future developments of you dig enough.

I like Ike, he’s pink and Furry (I’m gay).
But Cy, he looks creepy, like a kelpie.

For those who do not know what a kelpie, I’ll explain.
A kelpie is a mythological horse that lives in deep rivers and streams.
If you want to cross that river than the kelpie invited you to his back to go across.
When you’re in the river deep enough drags the kelpie you underwater and you’re trying to eat you.

Lift with your legs, Ike, not with your back.

This! Haha. I worked as a janitor for two years, and before that, I spent a good chunk of my life helping out my parents at the church. I learned how to do that very early on, and it’s natural by now. The first thing I wondered was, “HOW on earth did Ike manage to do that without throwing out his back?”

Lock ness horse?

No, I really think a Kelpie.

Buggane, actually. Celtic/Manx myth. Possibly fae. Though the Buggane in Skin Deep are nothing like the actual Isle of Man version.

In the original myth, the Buggane was more ogre-like; and while its hair was described as “a black mane”, that was the only horse-like feature. It was also *unable* to cross water or stand on holy ground.

I think Kory has appropriated the Cabyll-ushtey, the Manx water horse, and assigned its abilities to the Buggane. If that’s the case, I don’t blame her… for one thing, “Buggane” is easier to pronounce, and the Cabyll-ushtey is said to be more benign than the Kelpie, which seems to hold true in Skin Deep (according to the Skin Deep wiki, “most bugganes would rather not associate themselves with other horselike creatures such as kelpies, who have a reputation for trying to drown anyone who tries to ride them.”)

Leave a Reply to TaliCancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *