Endtown by Aaron Neathery for February 03, 2016

“It can’t happen here…”

Was there ever an explanation of the origins of the dittos?

A robot! I wonder if it has a human brain?

“Neitherland?”

On Dose of reality coming up, neat no ice.

“If we return the money and refuse the Apex job, then the terrorists win. Oh, there you are, Muttley. Get ready, we’ll have your dinner out soon.”

Oh, you’ll see it.

those robots look like M.U.T.T.S, I wonder if they’re already using mutant brains as processors.

Those ominous moments before reality catches up with Lyn & Holly. You know what’s going to happen down the line, but you’re seeing what transpires before the boom gets lowered on Lyn & Holly.

Prepare To Believe!Holly, my fine rodent, your denial will be your undoing!Mwahahaha cough hahahahah!

The tech we’ve seen in the strip so far is only about 6 years after what we are watching in the flashback. Organic-brained mechs probably under development. They’re almost certainly being watched on Apex TV.

Holly is hopping to conclusions…

Since when was Holly a rabbit?

This is the fan art “photograph” of Kirbee that I was talking about. Her being a “cowgirl” is just fan speculation.

I can’t help wonder what happened to Lyn

I’m sorry, but I was certain that it had been canonically established that Holly was a mouse. Besides, Rabbits have short fluffy tails called Scuts, Holly (in mutant form) has a long pink tail that is not covered in fur. I could understand her being mistaken for a rat but a rabbit???

I think it’s clear from the car’s mutt legs and the timing of the third panel that the smart machines are only part machines. Repurposed human brains are already being used in consumer products, but probably not known publicly, unless it’s being rationalized. In this society, with financial institutions like debt communities, I wouldn’t be surprised if people sell their brains to be harvested after death. Or if death is secretly expedited to meet consumer demand. Smart machines may be this society’s version of Soylent Green.

“Neitherland”, a variant on “Neatheryland”?

There are those who don’t care who they sell their guns to. It’s money over ethics. Apex is Lockheed Martin and Grumman corporations with psychopaths as CEO’s.

Holly is a mouse. If Holly wasn’t a mouse she would have corrected Wally here. And Holly says so here.

When Holly waas introduced she looked more mouse, a cute little flirty, happy being. She had mouse ears. Somewhere alng the way her ears have gotten so small and tucked back in a way no mouse would ever do, and he hair is either longer or fluffier that they look like the big ears of a lop-eared rabbit.Personally I liked the big ears, it’s part of what makes mice so cute.Rats have relatively smaller ears, but still sizable, but I had come to think of Holly as a rabbit too since that it what she looks like.I had a cute lop-ear rabbit and it was adorable but I never knew the tail was called anything other than tail.I hope Aaron will return her to her rightful looking ears, she isn’t as cute as she used to be, but that may have been the problem, she was too cute to have a troubled past and a psychotic episode.

I have to go to work in a few minutes, so I don’t have time to go back and look this up.But, does anyone remember who first started using the word “ditto”? Was that Sparkplug? Or Marx? Because both Marx and the lizards used the same name. Mallard would know the name because he’d get it from Al from Sparkplug after the mission debriefing. But, there’s no way the lizards would have known about that solely from contacts with the Endtown colony. So, if Sparkplug came up with the name, how would Marx learn about it? And further, how would the lizards have learned how to train them?

Been meaning to bring up something that occurred to me a couple days ago…You know, the survivors of the apocalypse here didn’t just witness death on a scale difficult to comprehend—-they also often saw their nearest and dearest turn into horrible monsters who might very well have tried to kill them. Remember that they had to be asleep when the transformation happened. If they weren’t, well…So what did happen to Lyn? And Holly’s baby?

One thing I noticed is that there has been something of a change in the way mutants ears are drawn. I’ve noticed it far more in Aaron’s feline characters, like Wally and Flask. In the beginning, their ears seemed more catlike, and occasionally moved from their usual aft pointing direction. I’m assuming that the aft default was due to the characters attitude and personality, but we have seen Wallys ears at the side when talking with Holly and Flasks ears once actually pointed forward. Somewhere along the line, the ear design evolved to a sort of default mutant ear. It is a rounded flap that can open up and relax against the top of the head when the character is relaxed or curl around when the character is excited — think of how Holly’s ears looked like rocket nozzles when she decked Flask. I’m guessing the characters’ design will continue to evolve over time.

It seems that Topsiders either are Apex or has all Apex technology. If Apex had dittos, then the Topsiders would. If the Topsiders knew of dittos, but didn’t have them, they’d employ countermeasures, or at least watch for dittos. A Topsider PT doesn’t recognise them, but just does a general extermination. Topsiders don’t know what they are either. And Professor Mallard doesn’t understand dittos. It seems unlikely they existed before the End. But I’ve guessed wrong before. :-)

All the technologies used in the war interacted in strange and unexpected ways, so the dittos may be have been created somehow in those forces. The Oracle also. Maybe the Oracle is a pool of dittos, or related to them.

Will we meet Clive in human form? or did he come much later?

Oh dear Holly, be careful what you wish for! You just might get it….