And with the arrival of Snuka, the main cast’s re-introduction is complete.
Unfortunately, he’s in a bit of a downcast mood. He has gotten used to the rest of the team leaving him behind at the end of every chapter*, but getting left behind when they’re just starting out is new, and has left a grievous wound on Snuka’s fragile self-esteem…well, actually it’s more like it’s left an nigh-undetectable scratch on his ironclad self-esteem, but he’s playing that up for all that it’s worth.
And, yeah, that’s also the explanation. If you were wondering how the rest of the team can treat him so callously even in full frontal view of those olympian-level puppy-dog eyes, the reason is simple: they know him. Statistically speaking, nothing else is as strong a predictor of having a poor opinion of Snuka than knowing him.
In that vein, the incident that got Snuka banned from all fairs worldwide for eternity…just don’t ask. It was a while ago, everyone learned their lesson and moved on. To keep on talking about it won’t change anything – talk can’t undestroy irreplaceable masterworks of art, re-attach severed appendages or untraumatize several busloads of pre-schoolers**. Even Snuka feels it wasn’t his most stellar of days.
But he’s right, his ban is mostly symbolic, anyway…there’s just no way that every fair the world over checks every visitor for being Snuka, especially since his talent for disguises would make that require quite thorough checking.
The Professor, in the meantime, seems to be in an uncharacterstically light mood. He’s willing to overlook Biff’s glaring academic shortcomings and even seems to be looking forward to something that mostly promises just fun, with only a marginal potential for conducting physics education. There’s only one explanation for this serious scientist’s sudden faible for fun days at a fair…plot requirements. >_> Really, it might seem uncharacteristic for him, but whom else could I have had proposing this plot-relevant trip to the fair? Mopey would rather gouge out her eyes with a rusty spoon than have fun, let alone help anyone else have fun. Biff would never have been able to convince the Professor, if the idea had originated with him. And both Snuka as well as Gregory would have been suspected of some hidden agenda if they had shown up with the tickets. As strange as it sounds, Professor Dr. was really the most plausible proponent of a fun day at the fair. The mind boggles. ._.
As for Biff, of course he only misspoke in panel one. He didn’t mean “academoniac udderachievement”, naturally. He meant “arch-demonic udder achievement”, referring to that one time when he manages to milk an arc…oh, let’s not even go there. >_>
More on Thurs…uh, Monday.
* He always makes it back eventually, of course, and did so this time, as I predicted. I’m a remarkably accurate prophet when things in my own webcomic are concerned…
** Well, I mean talk by qualified psychiatrists might help with that last one, but it’s not going to help if we keep talking about just how badly Snuka screwed up that day. >_>