MY GOD THE POWER! IT BLINDS!



Kusari Sasha aught to be like Oasis: a single mind with many bodies. Two big differences though. 1) There's only the OASIS Rebirth facility as far as we know, which implies there are no additional Sashas beyond what Dade grew before falling out with Dr. Steve (actually it's more complicated than that since the OASIS Rebirth facility's location wouldn't be known to Dade). and 2) unlike Oasis, Kusari is self-aware.

That's the big one. Whoever's mind controls Oasis, she may have been captured against her will. But whoever's mind controls the Sashas knows full well what she's doing.

But Kusari - and by extrapolation, Sasha(s) - is/are innocent. At least according to Chaz.

In http://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?cha ... 2016-03-08, Schlock seems pretty upset about a Kusari dying and calls her a "finite" (not "limited") resource. I know it's hard to tell from just one strip, but this gives me more of a 'we can run out of Kusaris' vibe than a 'she has her limitations, like not being able to be in more than x places at once' vibe. Although there probably is a limit to that as well.

Well, I'm kinda bummed that it wasn't Crabtree.

But now I'm positive both Kusari/"the Sashas" and Oasis were made in some way by Dunuloa.

I don't understand why everyone is so set on trying to interpret the three pins as all being Sasha. Didn't Pete already pretty much confirm that Izzy was one of them?

Their bodies are innocent. Their minds are not their own. It's a loophole. Similar to the spec people had that Oasis was being reborn as unsuspecting people (and shapeshifing I guess?), and that's why she powered Chaz, but with cloning and a hivemind instead.

If Chaz used blood from the Sashas' host, it would not be powered.

That seems to go along with http://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?cha ... 2013-06-17 pretty well, when Chaz was powered up by the blood of those hounds.

While Kusashi seems to be under such strict control by Hereti-Corp that I could believe she counts as innocent, Oasis seems to have taken enough initiative that I have a hard time believing she would be except by some loophole, yet she powered Chaz. Although after what we've seen it's harder to support the 'body-snatching' theory in particular (which I never particularly liked anyway, so I guess I'm biased).

Chaz' definition of innocent has always been a bit muddied, but I'd say regardless of any independent actions, an artificial body designed to simulate life imprinted with a controlled thought pattern is probably enough to consider innocent, along the same lines as the "hounds".

Although it does make me wonder if any other substance aside from blood can power Chaz, because simulated life or not, whatever Oasis is bleeding isn't really blood. Same might go for Kusari/the Sashas.

I had forgotten the intensity of Torg in that sequence!



I'm tempted to write some literary analysis of innocence in Sluggy as I might have done in university. I think that would be fun! Alas, I have to work instead, which means other kinds of writing. Who knows, I might attempt it in off moments.

Huzzuhwhah? (Translation: I don't think so, but if I missed that somehow can you point me to it?)

There are six Kusari. Each letter stands for the first name of the individual Kusari, i.e. S, the third letter, stands for Sasha. There's some sort of overmind or program that controls them, but each member also has their own personality and has the potential to grow. Hc wouldn't want their Kusaris to be anything more than slaves, though, so they're likely highly regulated and kept as blank slates. This explains why Sasha is different personality-wise to any of the Kusari we've seen so far. She started evolving and developing her own feelings, but she's been unable to break from the control of the overmind, even though there's evidence that she wants to. I still don't think we've seen the last of that particular clone, though.

Hmmm... I might buy it.
From the Oasis thread:

I was listing the times when Oasis died. I suppose it's appropriate to list when Kusari or Sasha has died as well, the better to see just how limited of a resource she might be. I can only think of a few times:

1. When Oasis took off her head (as Kusari) during Fire and Rain
2. When Menelaus (minor character; Vrykolak vampire who is now dead) decapitated her (as Kusari) after her fight with Urja. This is when Schlock made his "finite resource" comment.
3. When Oasis stabbed her as Sasha during her post-betrayal meeting with Riff

Then she might have died (as Sasha) when clone-Aylee stabbed her and Oasis. She was dropped off at the hospital and came back later, but maybe she died and Hereti-Corp replaced her.
I suppose she might have died (as Kusari) after breaking Feng's fall when he infiltrated Hereti-Corp. That is when her leg was supposedly broken and she was seen walking again later that day or something like that.
And I guess she might have died when Oasis pinned her to a wall (as Kusari) in Fire and Rain.
And some people have guessed that Sasha died and came back to life when she and Torg were raiding Nofun (she was shot), but that doesn't seem to be how this all works based on what we've seen (and I see no reason to think her wound wasn't survivable).

So that leaves us with three confirmed deaths plus two bodies we just saw now. And another three possible deaths of varying degrees of plausibility. Unless I'm forgetting anything?

1) I think that Kusashi has developed a liking for the gang. It has no effect on her following orders, but she does seem to try to be nice to them even when it's not required (eg when she came back to see Torg after taking back the HC data).
2) The kill order on Riff is only a general kill order that applies to all HC staff. Kusashi wasn't specifically charged with killing him. When she had a clear, open shot she took it, but she didn't put any effort into follow up.
3) Kusashi got a personal override to NOT kill Riff for the nanobot tagging operation.

I think she is using what little wiggle room she has to continue to treat Riff as no longer on the instakill list.

Also, now we know why there are no Kusari-mask smilies

Of course :schlock: is still missing?

So, she didn't kill Riff because of a loophole. She obeys the letter of the order but not the intent. This explains a lot about her/them.

I read today's comic a bit different: Having a choice seems to be a rare and terrifying thing for them - just as if they were used to having someone higher up to give orders or answer questions.

Regards,

TCC