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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 7:31 pm 
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Depends if Kusari's "Identity" is a secret. Perhaps only Schlock and maybe Chen and Daedalus know "who" Kusari really is. Maybe even Frog doesn't have the clearance. What drives my thinking that she could be Sasha is this comic: http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20081204 or at least someone Schlock (and the audience) know. But it does seem messy to have Kusari be both Sasha and Kusari with different missions. I just can't think of who else Kusari could be.

the "I assume you're speaking of Torg, Zoe and Riff...? and of me?" plus the fact Schlock expects her to be ashamed makes me think it must be someone we know and I always thought Sasha because she CHOSE to work for Hereti Corp. But maybe she's not Kusari. Of course the other name missing would be Gwynn but I don't think that matches up at all- does it? :D

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 8:59 pm 
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Kusari being Gwynn wouldn't make any sense. Abilities Gwynn has never displayed, vs. abilities Kusari has never displayed. It would be the ultimate cover identity, but that would be the only reason it would work. I think the entire Mohkadun storyline kills that theory anyway.

And "I know what's under that mask" - I've always thought "what" instead of "who" was interesting.

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 9:08 am 
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Unstructured thought, dunno if this has been discussed but thought maybe there's some brainstorming here..

There's some connection between Oasis and Teresa as implied by this strip. Assuming it's not a red herring (and it doesn't look like it to me), might there be a similar connection between Kusari and Sasha?

Don't really have any further detail, just seems like an interesting abstract parallel (similar characters in similar ways with similar contradictory evidence).

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 3:28 pm 
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NovemberMists wrote:
Depends if Kusari's "Identity" is a secret. Perhaps only Schlock and maybe Chen and Daedalus know "who" Kusari really is. Maybe even Frog doesn't have the clearance. What drives my thinking that she could be Sasha is this comic: http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20081204 or at least someone Schlock (and the audience) know. But it does seem messy to have Kusari be both Sasha and Kusari with different missions. I just can't think of who else Kusari could be.

the "I assume you're speaking of Torg, Zoe and Riff...? and of me?" plus the fact Schlock expects her to be ashamed makes me think it must be someone we know and I always thought Sasha because she CHOSE to work for Hereti Corp. But maybe she's not Kusari. Of course the other name missing would be Gwynn but I don't think that matches up at all- does it? :D


Unlikely since both Sasha and Kusri are visable together in panel 1. That elimiminates the possibility that Sasha is the Kusari, but may be a Kusari as from what I can gather Kurari has been replaced with a seeminly idential version throughout the serise.

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 10:14 am 
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And through a combination of sleep-deprivation and the after-effects of last night's dinner, I suddenly had a brilliant light (or at least a single LED) pop on over my head, and I decided to stay up even longer to go ahead and type this out before it flees my brain with what is finally sleep.

Kusari is Slaughteresa.

Kusari is heavily implied to be one of the gang, or someone close to them. Notice she mentions Torg, Zoe, and Riff, but not Gwynn, Sasha (who was at the time still 'believed to be good') or Aylee. IIRC Teresa never met Sasha, and her interactions with Gwynn and Aylee have been minimal at best.

Kusari is family to Oasis. Teresa's mother is Sin'thea who looks extremely like an old Oasis.

(Previously the "family" comment has AFAIK been more or less assumed to be 'respawning assassin for/formerly for Hereti-Corp', but if it's literal it seriously narrows the Venn diagram between the two above points...pretty much to Teresa alone.)

Supporting: Teresa's hair looks remarkably similar to Kusari's headgear, and Teresa is good at throwing things on chains.

(Not supporting is the fact that Kusari's...figure...is actually closer to Monicruel's, but...)

This just leaves how Kusari has been around all this time while Teresa is still present and accounted for - and the current storyline holds the key. We're being demonstrated that 1. HC has a time-fluxer, 2. people time-fluxed can be chucked back into the timestream by Uncle Time well before they departed for Timeless Space, and 3. due to the imperfect nature of the time-fluxer the trip tends to make you a little cuckoo.

My hypoethsis is that now that Teresa knows Crushestro is still alive, she'll join back up with him, the two going on an ill-advised roaring-rampage-of-revenge against HC, in the course of which she gets Oppaz'd. She gets chucked back into time considerably 'upstream' and as crazy as Tyler - but she gets 'fixed' by Syn'thea, the side-effects of which include homicidal tendencies/dependency-obedience to HC/respawning immortality.

(Further hypothesis: Sin'thea knows full well this is going to happen, and is nudging things to make sure it does: encouraging Teresa to pursue vengeance, indicating there's a connection between Teresa and Marcus Chen, and looking rather sly about informing Teresa that Crushy is (so far) unfluxed.)

EDIT: Also Chen knows who Teresa really is by her voice and movements (and birthmark, but we can't have everything), and worked with Sin'thea, and their connection is implied to be something very important to Hereti-corp.

To summarize: I'd bet, in Bun-Bun's casino, that Teresa is Kusari, and now I really need to sleep.

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 1:17 pm 
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And I think that you would lose that bet.

The best argument against Kusari = Teresa is comparing this with this.

The first is almost a good argument against Kusari = Sasha also. While Sasha is more "proportioned" than Teresa, she doesn't quite match Kusari...

Just sayin'...

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 5:22 pm 
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Well Bun-Bun does take everyone to the cleaners.

The build is the main Argument Against, 'tis truth. But the rest is enough to make you go "hmmm."

(If the truth is "clone fusion of Monicruel (who has a Sufficient Figure) and Slaughteresa" I will be amused...)

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2016 2:10 pm 
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The Bushranger wrote:
But the rest is enough to make you go "hmmm."

(If the truth is "clone fusion of Monicruel (who has a Sufficient Figure) and Slaughteresa" I will be amused...)


hmmm. Monicruel is the one that zappoed somewhere... or sometime?

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2016 8:45 pm 
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I doubt Monicruel got so lucky, considering the necessary technology for dimension-based time travel didn't exist yet.

Regardless of the specific identity - as literally or figuratively Oasis' sister - I think we're finally barking up the right tree with this. It feels very unlikely to me that "The Old Guy" subchapter could've been a red herring. We're being taught something important, and it's gotta pertain to another masked character. Kusari is the best bet. She's totally somebody from the (probably imminent) future.

Some thoughts: paradox free time travel is primarily about giving the character time. Nearly any feature of Kusari you can think of - her marital arts talent, her figure, her mental programming, her Oasislike ability to recover from injury and death - can either be learned or...uh, "augmented", or forced upon her (via techno-magic or 4U style nanites) in the due course of time. Just the same way Drake made bank with anime speculation, got a degree, grew a sweet goatee, and worked his way up the HC corporate ladder with a bag on his head. That means she could effectively be anyone still, treading water and being rebooted until that vital moment arrives where her past self gets Oppaz'd and she can finally take action.

It's that last part that I find the most interesting. Schlock has mentioned recently(ish) that Kusari has been acting strange, not pursuing her objectives as efficiently or effectively. To the point where he's threatened to terminate her program several times. Maybe she's doing that intentionally?

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2016 10:41 pm 
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Either intentionally-intentionally, or 'fighting from the inside' style intentionally, I'd say its likely.

Other things we know, mostly train-of-thought musing...

-Marcus Chen and Sin'thea have worked together in the past.

-Sin'thea was shocked by the fact Teresa had met Chen, and whatever she found in her frantic reading of their connections in the Web made her even more intense on the subject.

-Dr. Steve was in charge of the Oasis project.

-Oasis was absolutely loyal-to-and-controllable-by by Dr. Steve, at least until Bun-Bun happened to his control watch.

-Kusari was "created in her [Oasis'] image, but improved".

-Kusari is, by all appearances, absolutely loyal-to-and-controllable-by Hereti-Corp. The company, not any individual person, as Schlock and Chen doing the Musical-CEOs Show bloodily demonstrated.

-Dr. Steve left Hereti-Corp, took Oasis with him, and burned his bridges so thoroughly he gave Oasis default programming to murderkilldestroy anything HC on sight.

...reading between the lines here, it seems to be inferable that the Kusari project is likely the reason Dr. Steve left Hereti-Corp. My tentative intrepreation is that Teresa gets oppaz'd, winds up upstream in time and babbling, and Sin'thea allowed Chen to turn her into Kusari to save her. Dr. Steve saw this as a perversion of his work with Oasis (and possibly frowned at the Absolute Loyalty Forever programming that was the "improved" part), pulled up stakes and left.

And now, here we are.

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2016 12:38 am 
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Could be. But I always had the impression that Kusari was the reaction to Dr. Steve leaving with Oasis rather than the cause. I think, given the Sin'thea reveal, Dr. Steve left with Oasis to protect her in some twisted way, possibly with the help of Sin'thea herself.

I imagine it will turn out that Oasis's resurrection ability is a result of a joint effort between Dr. Steve and Sin'thea, possibly with Marcus Chen acting as a lab assistant. Kusari is a result of Chen trying to reproduce the results, without the necessary experience that Sin'thea provided.

I find it interesting that in all the Six Months Later stuff, I don't think there was any mention of Kusari. Not a peep since the vampires killed her. I don't know what that means or if it's even significant but it could be.

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2016 4:15 am 
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There was Tyler's "elect Kusari's butt" campaign, but otherwise no, not a peep. Which suggests she's been gone for six months or so. At the very least, she wasn't available at the base to deal with a corporate spy situation. That said, we don't know for sure how long it takes to resurrect her. I don't think a minimum time has ever been nailed down, so it's possible it could take six months.

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 12:45 am 
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Don't know. Daedalus seemed to order her up like a pizza. "Get me a replacement Kusari" way back when.

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 11:57 am 
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IMO, the best evidence for who Kusari is is the Oasis reveal in the Dimension of Rain. Take a look at that image and imagine Kusari's clothing instead.

My crackpot theory is that Kusari is one of Oasis' dead bodies that was revived by hC and enhanced.

Imagine an event in Oasis' past, with hC trying to capture her back from Dr Steve or something. Oasis "dies" enough to "respawn" but the original body gets revived by hC - scars and all, hence the full-body suit. This created a separate line of Oasii (right? lol), each getting "respawned" with Kusari's disfigurements and enhancements intact. The Harbinger in the DoR representing the full Oasis had hC recovered her without "splitting" her off the main line.

This could also work in reverse.

Edit: If played well, it could be a pretty cool reveal, too. Cold-start an oasis basckstory from her perspective, only to find out we're looking at the Kusari origin story instead.

Note: I'm still at 2011 in my re-read through, so I may have missed some kind of evidence.

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 Post subject: Re: And Kusari is...
 Post Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:39 pm 
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Hmm. Interesting theory - but I was thinking of another just before I checked into this thread...

We now know that Sin'thea is Teresa's "mom" and Monicruel is her sister. There is a definite family resemblance between Sin'thea and Oasis, and Torg has noticed the family resemblance between Teresa and Oasis as well (even before the discussion with Squishydodo). We also know that Oasis was dumped in an orphanage before being picked up by Steven Hereti. What if the reason that Oasis was dumped into an orphanage is because she set her sister on fire in a typical sibling altercation that got out of hand... And yes, Kusari is masked to hide the disfigurement from the fire, and subsequent reincarnations 'copy' that disfigurement. Perhaps after creating Oasis, Sin'thea realized that she'd made her too powerful for even her to control, and subsequent creations were given lesser powers - but powerful nonetheless. Sasha has to be in that family as well - but not as Kusari, just another sibling.

Edited to include the links (and the links for Sasha are because I don't buy that it was "just" a graze...)


Last edited by swmartian on Sun Apr 09, 2017 4:32 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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