Shaping Up – Chapter 8, Act 2, Strip 25

Well, the team might be beaten and buried… and under a metric megaslothton of enemies, no less… but all isn’t lost yet!

Naturally, since that would be a pretty sudden and anticlimactic ending. >_>

Hope arrives in the shape of Latho…which is an unusual shape for hope to arrive in, since Latho’s shape is pretty idiosyncratic to begin with. And that’s even leaving aside the fact that I’ve never been all that great on drawing said shape consistently. And even that still leaves aside the fact that Latho isn’t really in the shape of its life…between the long periods of space-travel under cramped conditions and the massive abuse of coffee, its odd shape is in relatively poor shape at the moment.

But then that all changes! Or “shifts”, rather, since Latho engages in an impressive bit of shape-shifting in an attempt to adapt to the tactical situation. In the process, Latho demonstrates one of the hidden advantages of its unique plush-based body structure. A being with bones, internal organs or similar impediments would have found it very difficult to alter its appearance in that way, but with a plush-based anatomy you just have to move the filling from one bag to the next. It’s simple, but when the plush-based being in question has to do it without assistance, it’s still a highly disturbing sight, which is why I left it mercifully off-screen. Also, I couldn’t even really imagine what it would look like, aside from feeling sure it’d be disturbing.

The last panel confirms the complete success of the operation, and shows off Latho’s perfect resemblance to the sloths it intends to mix with to great effect. It also demonstrates, however, the limits of the plush-based approach. Since the amount of filling is limited, Latho’s new shape isn’t any larger than its old one…and since there’s no supporting structure, the shape of its shape still looks rather shape-less and out of shape.

It should be enough, though, sloth don’t have great eyesight. ._.

More on Monday.