Ike’s starting to think that maybe these two have had kind of a rough turn at life.
43 Comments
“Why are they hiding the radioactive material behind lead casings?! What are they hiding?! I’m going in!”
Ike has many much to learn it seems
I feel like there should be a better solution, like maybe some sort of protective gear, but this was probably a long time ago.
They don’t have thumbs to put the gear on :(
No, but Nemean Lions do, and the only thing that can pierce their skin is Nemean claws, so why nobody thought of that solution in-universe I don’t know
Do these two look rich enough to hire manservants? The real question is, why didn’t they just target the poison glands? This hackjob looks like the doctor(s) weren’t called in until AFTER the chop. That said, exposed ribs or no, they probably weigh more now than they did with all their limbs.
They probably couldn’t afford the doctor to do such a thing. Even if it was state sponsored, sponsored by someone else, or volunteered by a doctor, it might be too dangerous to perform.
If the poison is lethal and there’s no antivenom, all precautions would need to be done. If adequate measure are done, would the doctor still have the dexterity to perform the operation? Can a manticore be adequately anesthetized for the doctor to not worry about movement, reaction and not get hurt? Although the humane thing would be a deglanding, I’m not sure it can safely be done surgically.
Next best thing might be a chemical deglanding, but I’m not sure if enough studying or science on manticores has been done to accomplish this. Until then, amputation might’ve been the quickest, easiest, safest thing to do, though obviously not the most humane solution, barring their safety.
[suddenly imagines a “safe remote amputation” by coil of detonating cord] 8-C
The Avalon’s surgeon is a Nemean lion. He wouldn’t have to worry about accidental stabstab because his skin is impenetrable.
This isn’t a hack job? Surgical svars are a thing and leave behind puckered skin of a different texture (you know, scar tissue). I’m looking at one of my surgical scars right now and my surgeon was assuredly not doing a hack job. Something as invasive as having to remove vertebrae (presumably after they were adults, too) is going to leave scars no matter how careful the surgeon.
That would be because the parts of you that were cut open were sewn back together with more or less the same parts of you they were separated from. This is more or less what amputation scars look like.
Right? Surely there’s doctor’s or social workers that could assist manticores to make their tails safe. Amputation should be an option, not a mandate.
We know that Ike has tail spines/quills, but being only half manticore, are they poisonous or as poisonous as full-blooded manticores? And, is manticore poison lethal to them as well, or are they naturally immune?
If I’m not wrong, Kory described Ike’s spikes/quill poison to be weaker than a full-blood manticore’s so he’s allowed to keep his tail but he bandages it so the spikes won’t stand out
There’s also the part where he meets his family when they’re moving into the Avalon, and he introduces Rhonda to his mother. The one where his mother asks if he’s still shedding whole body parts, so that likely means the tail too.
He sheds teeth and claws when he shifts….though, that doesn’t dissuade the potentiality of shedding quills…and tails.
Yeesh
Shark teeth. o.o
What do all those teeth do to his voice I wonder
Yeah. Ike only has the one row.
They just did the cold hard calculus that it would be thing to do. No doubt it was _traumatic_ in so many ways, but they saw ot a worthy trade. They could brush up against you one day and medicine at the time was… well, you were dead.
People fled to the Avalons for a _reason_. It’s bittersweet and I love it.
Ike confronts the shocking reality that others have suffered far worse things than his racist and domineering Mum.
I mean, yeah. Seems reasonable. If I had a flamethrower on my hand that went off at random intervals, it would be reasonable to ask me to amputate that shit if I wanted a house.
wait, wouldn’t Ike know this due to his own tail also being amputated? And him technically being another manticore living in the Avalon?
It’s not amputated, it’s wrapped.
His reaction is a little… extra, though. He has to bind his quills because of the manticore poison, was he really not aware that full-blooded manticores aren’t given that option?
Probably not. It seems to be the first time he is really talking to them and they are the only ones in the Avalon.
Wait, I seem to recall bandages around Ike’s tail. Didn’t he have his tail docked, or have the spikes removed?
I think another commenter mentioned that due to his shapeshifting, he’d probably regrow the spikes as he changed forms. Not sure if that’s true but it seems reasonable.
He keeps his tail bandaged to prevent accidental quill jabs, otherwise hes without a tail in his human form. Ike is younger than Statler and Waldorf by quite a bit, so statutes have likely changed since, or, were shifted when a shape changing half-manticore-half-buggane moved into the Avalon.
Since he’s a crossbreed I wonder if Ike actually developed venom.
I don’t have the link, but he does have venom. It is weaker than that of a full blooded Manticore though.
I find it interesting that while this is something we the reader have known and taken for grantedfor some time it comes as a surprise to Ike. Though I assume it’s not quite common knowledge since you’d think Ike would have learned about this in his preliminary research or had the subject brought up when he moved to the Avalon.
At the very least it seems to be one of the Avalon’s dirty little secrets.
Seems like Ike is beginning to realize just how privileged he is that he’s a halfbreed able to take on an anthro form.
Oh, wow, Ike didn’t even KNOW about the purposefully docked tails. I would’ve thought there would’ve been a huge debate about docking his once it was discovered he was a manticore hybrid, but I guess if there was, it was debated and settled without his input or knowledge.
That tape’s going to need some ‘editing’, I bet.
Or, the transcript may end up being a little bit less than complete.
I thought this had been mentioned in-story, but I couldn’t find it when I looked back in ch 3 of Exchanges. Ike told Tony that the teeth and the poisonous tail barbs were part of why manticores were mistrusted, but that’s as far as it went.
Maybe the tail-docking was mentioned in a comment (that didn’t survive a site crash)?
I think it was a Reader Question post actually.
At the very least, RQs have consistently shown them – Statler specifically – to be amputated, like: https://www.skindeepcomic.com/reader-questions/2024-reader-question-164/
and …/february-reader-questions-24/
(Sorry, IIRC I can’t put two links into a comment without making it go to the moderation queue.)
Years ago, I heard an old story of a foul-mouthed mule-skinner who was well-known for screaming obscenities at his team of mules to get them to do what he wanted. When he got religion, people wondered how he would handle the team. He surprised them by using the same tone of voice, calling the mules angels and darlings and such.
It’s been established that the manticores’ native language sounds like musical instruments, and they use it to busk. I just now thought of them turning that old story on its head, and I have to ask: What are they /saying/ when they busk?
Your comment has caused a random childhood memory to pop up in my mind:
“Mom, why CAN’T I buy this shirt! It has cool Chinese characters on it and a dragon!”
“You can’t buy it, because I can’t read it. It could be saying, ‘All Americans can kiss my a….rm.'”
I mean yeah, OBVIOUSLY…
yknow im wondering why theyre so emaciated when as manticores they can eat almost anything. are they picky?
43 Comments
“Why are they hiding the radioactive material behind lead casings?! What are they hiding?! I’m going in!”
Ike has many much to learn it seems
I feel like there should be a better solution, like maybe some sort of protective gear, but this was probably a long time ago.
They don’t have thumbs to put the gear on :(
No, but Nemean Lions do, and the only thing that can pierce their skin is Nemean claws, so why nobody thought of that solution in-universe I don’t know
Do these two look rich enough to hire manservants? The real question is, why didn’t they just target the poison glands? This hackjob looks like the doctor(s) weren’t called in until AFTER the chop. That said, exposed ribs or no, they probably weigh more now than they did with all their limbs.
They probably couldn’t afford the doctor to do such a thing. Even if it was state sponsored, sponsored by someone else, or volunteered by a doctor, it might be too dangerous to perform.
If the poison is lethal and there’s no antivenom, all precautions would need to be done. If adequate measure are done, would the doctor still have the dexterity to perform the operation? Can a manticore be adequately anesthetized for the doctor to not worry about movement, reaction and not get hurt? Although the humane thing would be a deglanding, I’m not sure it can safely be done surgically.
Next best thing might be a chemical deglanding, but I’m not sure if enough studying or science on manticores has been done to accomplish this. Until then, amputation might’ve been the quickest, easiest, safest thing to do, though obviously not the most humane solution, barring their safety.
[suddenly imagines a “safe remote amputation” by coil of detonating cord] 8-C
The Avalon’s surgeon is a Nemean lion. He wouldn’t have to worry about accidental stabstab because his skin is impenetrable.
This isn’t a hack job? Surgical svars are a thing and leave behind puckered skin of a different texture (you know, scar tissue). I’m looking at one of my surgical scars right now and my surgeon was assuredly not doing a hack job. Something as invasive as having to remove vertebrae (presumably after they were adults, too) is going to leave scars no matter how careful the surgeon.
That would be because the parts of you that were cut open were sewn back together with more or less the same parts of you they were separated from. This is more or less what amputation scars look like.
Right? Surely there’s doctor’s or social workers that could assist manticores to make their tails safe. Amputation should be an option, not a mandate.
We know that Ike has tail spines/quills, but being only half manticore, are they poisonous or as poisonous as full-blooded manticores? And, is manticore poison lethal to them as well, or are they naturally immune?
If I’m not wrong, Kory described Ike’s spikes/quill poison to be weaker than a full-blood manticore’s so he’s allowed to keep his tail but he bandages it so the spikes won’t stand out
There’s also the part where he meets his family when they’re moving into the Avalon, and he introduces Rhonda to his mother. The one where his mother asks if he’s still shedding whole body parts, so that likely means the tail too.
He sheds teeth and claws when he shifts….though, that doesn’t dissuade the potentiality of shedding quills…and tails.
Yeesh
Shark teeth. o.o
What do all those teeth do to his voice I wonder
Yeah. Ike only has the one row.
They just did the cold hard calculus that it would be thing to do. No doubt it was _traumatic_ in so many ways, but they saw ot a worthy trade. They could brush up against you one day and medicine at the time was… well, you were dead.
People fled to the Avalons for a _reason_. It’s bittersweet and I love it.
Ike confronts the shocking reality that others have suffered far worse things than his racist and domineering Mum.
I mean, yeah. Seems reasonable. If I had a flamethrower on my hand that went off at random intervals, it would be reasonable to ask me to amputate that shit if I wanted a house.
wait, wouldn’t Ike know this due to his own tail also being amputated? And him technically being another manticore living in the Avalon?
It’s not amputated, it’s wrapped.
His reaction is a little… extra, though. He has to bind his quills because of the manticore poison, was he really not aware that full-blooded manticores aren’t given that option?
Probably not. It seems to be the first time he is really talking to them and they are the only ones in the Avalon.
Wait, I seem to recall bandages around Ike’s tail. Didn’t he have his tail docked, or have the spikes removed?
I think another commenter mentioned that due to his shapeshifting, he’d probably regrow the spikes as he changed forms. Not sure if that’s true but it seems reasonable.
He keeps his tail bandaged to prevent accidental quill jabs, otherwise hes without a tail in his human form. Ike is younger than Statler and Waldorf by quite a bit, so statutes have likely changed since, or, were shifted when a shape changing half-manticore-half-buggane moved into the Avalon.
Since he’s a crossbreed I wonder if Ike actually developed venom.
I don’t have the link, but he does have venom. It is weaker than that of a full blooded Manticore though.
I find it interesting that while this is something we the reader have known and taken for grantedfor some time it comes as a surprise to Ike. Though I assume it’s not quite common knowledge since you’d think Ike would have learned about this in his preliminary research or had the subject brought up when he moved to the Avalon.
At the very least it seems to be one of the Avalon’s dirty little secrets.
Seems like Ike is beginning to realize just how privileged he is that he’s a halfbreed able to take on an anthro form.
Have we ever seen Ike’s quills?
> Have we ever seen Ike’s quills?
Probably not in the comic proper, but:
https://www.skindeepcomic.com/reader-questions/2024-reader-question-194-2/
Oh, wow, Ike didn’t even KNOW about the purposefully docked tails. I would’ve thought there would’ve been a huge debate about docking his once it was discovered he was a manticore hybrid, but I guess if there was, it was debated and settled without his input or knowledge.
That tape’s going to need some ‘editing’, I bet.
Or, the transcript may end up being a little bit less than complete.
I thought this had been mentioned in-story, but I couldn’t find it when I looked back in ch 3 of Exchanges. Ike told Tony that the teeth and the poisonous tail barbs were part of why manticores were mistrusted, but that’s as far as it went.
Maybe the tail-docking was mentioned in a comment (that didn’t survive a site crash)?
I think it was a Reader Question post actually.
At the very least, RQs have consistently shown them – Statler specifically – to be amputated, like:
https://www.skindeepcomic.com/reader-questions/2024-reader-question-164/
and …/february-reader-questions-24/
(Sorry, IIRC I can’t put two links into a comment without making it go to the moderation queue.)
Years ago, I heard an old story of a foul-mouthed mule-skinner who was well-known for screaming obscenities at his team of mules to get them to do what he wanted. When he got religion, people wondered how he would handle the team. He surprised them by using the same tone of voice, calling the mules angels and darlings and such.
It’s been established that the manticores’ native language sounds like musical instruments, and they use it to busk. I just now thought of them turning that old story on its head, and I have to ask: What are they /saying/ when they busk?
Your comment has caused a random childhood memory to pop up in my mind:
“Mom, why CAN’T I buy this shirt! It has cool Chinese characters on it and a dragon!”
“You can’t buy it, because I can’t read it. It could be saying, ‘All Americans can kiss my a….rm.'”
I mean yeah, OBVIOUSLY…
yknow im wondering why theyre so emaciated when as manticores they can eat almost anything. are they picky?