…Yeah. That happened.
Drawing stream where Pohl’s hand took me six tries: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1052373639
↓ Transcript
POHL: What was that? Selkie! Are you okay?
SELKIE: That wasn't me...
AMANDA: Make it stop!!!
SELKIE: That wasn't me...
AMANDA: Make it stop!!!
When I first conceived of this scene, Amanda still had pigtails.
I think at this point we kind of expected this. To see it confirmed though. Hooo, boy. This is incredibly cool and super panic inducing all at once.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH NOT ALL OF US
I expected her to have powers but not so strong, so fast, so similar to Sarnothi! I thought she would develop human powers as she gets exposed to Resonance, not get jump-started as an Echo!!!
Is only Dondonesque out of this loop?
…don’t answer that! RHETORICAL!
Gonna say it again, (assuming everything turns out okay) Selkie is going to be SO jealous that Amanda got fire eyes first.
Given the speech bubble design I’m guessing that the “echo voice” is cutting in and out while Amanda is screaming?
That was my impression as well, about the speech bubbles.
Poor Amanda. 🙁 Seriously. She wanted to learn how to do this and now she’s learning that it comes at a horrible price. I hope Pohl can help her.
Selkie is going to be super jealous, but also this might help Selkie develop her own powers. Especially if Pohl ends up teaching them both. Nothing inspires someone like Selkie faster than competition, especially if that competition is Amanda.
I’m really worried about Amanda right now, though. 🙁
And Todd. Just off screen is a HUGE pile of bricks he just $ha7. Selkie was a huge shock, but at least she’s Sarnothi. AMANDA? That’s some next-level stuff right there. And what about her mother? Andi’s buttons are all going to come unzipped when she finds out, I’d bet money on that.
I’d be concerned that because Selkie had her powers actively quenched, that she may never get to here she would have naturally, and Amanda will be easily more powerful. That would cause all sorts of dynamics….
Called it! 😮
Also, can’t wait till Monday, eeee!
Rise of the Laser Twins
I’m SUPER excited to see where this goes. If there’s a chance of humans developing this power naturally, if it’s something to do with close proximity to the hair clip, to Selkie in general, or what.
I recall some discussion of how the original storyline had Todd as the last human with powers — the Last Airbender kinda thing — so I’m curious if this is a holdover from that (that Todd’s offspring are the only ones capable of doing this) or if it’s something else entirely.
I think it was how humans forgot about their abilities and that they were starting to manifest again.
Can human physiology handle Echo stuff? I hope Amanda’s eyes aren’t about to be fried by this
I also wonder how strange the world looks through green fire? And can she like see energy waves or the funky background stuff that happens with Echo stuff?
Hooollllleeee shit.
Remember that this technology fired a visible-light laser into space. Shit just got real.
if it was close proximity to the hair clip what does that mean for all the children at the orphanage… they spent years with her there right?
Like, less supression, and more drawing out and dissipation of her powers? Infusing those around her?
Sorry, Todd, but no babysitters in the world outside grandma and grandpa are going to want to watch two super villains in the making in their teen years. Best start planning ahead.
On an additional note, I NEED to see the reactions of Sai Fen, Avery, and Then when they hear THIS story! I feel like everyone is going to be in need of some brown pants.
Holy heck yes – I can’t wait to see how others are going to react to this. Also Scar. And Gien. When he finds out humans can become Echoes, even if it’s only one or two, that is going flip his gills.
Yes, yes… this definitely has supervillain potential xD
Yeah, I’m getting “Jack-Jack Attack” vibes, and Jack-Jack wasn’t even villainous, just unable to control his powers.
It wasn’t that Jack-Jack -couldn’t- control himself, he just had no idea -why- he -should- control himself.
And in the case of grade-school kids… They’re going to know why. They just won’t care. Because ‘nothing bad ever happens’ of course. 😛
Whoa, WOW, I thought the last page was just going to be foreshadowing, not the kick-off of a whole new story arc!
They’ll have something else to be competitive about
Woah! o_O I didn’t expect it to be quite this dramatic. Hope that Pohl can either clamp down a budding Echo or that she might have to borrow the hairclip for awhile until she can learn some of the basics.
Nah the bow was taken out of service. Selkie still has the ribbon but the actual echo hardware is long since gone
*Reads comic*
*Checks date*
Yep. On a Friday.
Every time xD
man those kids from the orphanage are going to be some of the most powerful echos.
guessing if selkie ever gets her powers back to what her mother had, that amanda should be about equal in power.
There it is.
And now we can ask the question; how many OTHER human echoes (or maybe just Resonances, but it seems unlikely) have their been over time, that we just didn’t know about because the two species have never interacted?
Also; poor Selkie’s going to have that hit her hard. Being an Echo is the thing that’s made her special and unique for a while, especially with the other Sarthoni around. Amanda’s the first HUMAN Echo possibly… ever. That’s going to steal her thunder rather thoroughly.
Not surprised Amana is an Echo, but gods I was not prepared for this page. Not sure if it is because Amanda is in pain/scared or if because her face is 100% human but this is upsetting compared to when the Sarnothi start Echoing.
Also, I don’t think it is because of exposure to the superssion bow. The clue is in the name. Echos don’t generate power; they reflect/redirect the resonance that is around us at all times. It’s just that until now, no one was sending the starting signal to kickstart human Echos.
If it was the bow; then Sarnoth could have forced more of their citizens to become Echos. I dunno. SUPER excited to see where this all goes!
I don’t think they could have.
Bear in mind that the ‘suppression bow’ was a kludged-together makeshift adaptedt by an Echo (in a cave with a box of scraps) from a badly damaged suppression collar that she’d torn in two while ripping it from her throat, which in and of itself was a pretty experimental design by /another/ Echo who never shared his work with anyone afterwards.
Another possibility: There have always been humans sensitive/susceptible to the Resonance, but they never spent enough time near an active Echo to ‘awaken’ themselves. Which has… implications.
Ok. I think I actually know why this happened. Feel free to shoot me down if I’m wrong. No one ever created a device like what Poo Quar did before. But you can’t get rid of energy. Only move it around. So a lot of Selkie’s potential inadvertently went to Amanda since she has lived near her the longest. The bow transferred the powers of Echo to Amanda. This will not be repeated.
Trying to pinpoint what’s been bothering me and I think I have it. It feels like Selkie is becoming a secondary character in her own comic. I was excited to see this resonance thing with her and Pohl – nope, look Amanda is special again. Clearly the story isn’t mine to tell just…I wanted to know Selkie’s story and see her grow and it feels like she’s becoming the catalyst for everyone else while she remains the broken outsider. Can this kid ever get a break?
As a writer myself, there’s really no feeling like pulling the trigger on a major event that’s been percolating for a long time. Who needs drugs?
Personally, I’m glad Amanda had something that makes her special. This kid was abandoned and abused. She was told she wasn’t special and had no real way to channel her hurt and anger into something positive. She only recently started getting the help and guidance she so desperately needed. Amanda played the part of Queen Bee for a long time, but the reality of the situation was that Amanda has been a very lonely, broken child who alienated herself from everyone around her for a very long time.
Idk this responded to you. I apologize. This wasn’t intended to go here lol
Holy !@$#!$!!!! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN.
To me, the Holy F**k moment is Amanda’s distress. This is not a pleasant moment.
OK sure, this is not going to be a problem at all…
Move along, nothing to see here, move along people, keep moving.
YOU THERE… No pictures!
Everyone: COOL!
Me: AMANDA OH MY GOD!!! HELP!
OMG! Poor kids. Neither one is prepared for this. Amanda is going to freak out, after they get her settled down and to stop screaming. On the one hand very cool can’t wait to see where the story goes…on the other I just want to hug these girls and let them know it’ll all be okay, and story be dammed. They are kids…
Amanda and Selkie already understand each other in ways that no one else really can. This reluctant affinity stems not just from shared experiences in the orphanage, but Amanda was treated like an alien in the family that abused and then relinquished her. Selkie has always felt like an alien. They both hide their empathy under fierce aggression. They both kind of got their dream come true by finding parents, but also have to share their dream come true with their greatest rival. Now they resonate with each other even more. This new development will draw them closer together.
Whoa. Sensitive I expected. Full blown Fire Eyes I did not.
Oh the paperwork that Agent Brown is going to be faced with…
“There has been a leak regarding echo powers.”
[angry noises from the phone he’s talking]
“Yes, I’m aware it’s classified but…”
[more angry noices]
“No, I mean the powers have literally leaked onto a human. We have a human echo now.”
[silence]
Yyyyep. This will be interesting.
Especially when things calm down enough to notice Amanda’s glowie is bigger than Selkie’s glowie.
Hmm, I am interested to see how this is explained, because while it’s an interesting concept, it’s like why? Why would she be able to tap into resonance? Selkie has done stuff with Amanda in the area before without exploding in to flames.
Amanda hasn’t been around adult Sarnothi actively using their Eco powers, and Pohl was actively trying to broadcast his resonance manipulations to boost Selkies.
yeah, first thing check all the staff and children that were around selkie any time she was at the orphanage. that bow might have been more of a dirty jury rigged supressor that just disappated energy but it had to go somewhere. im a little worried how the energy will react with human physiology.
Huh….Now I wonder what would happen if Lillian or Mary gets fire eyes. That would be one well disciplined orphanage…
Okay then.
I’ve assumed that Dave had fully abandoned the originally “humans have a lost power” idea, and I have a minor problem with “various effects can make ordinary humans gain the same powers as Superman even though his own are supposed to be due to his Kryptonian physiology, not magic”. But if I can accept that this society accepted a green-skinned toothy minority population with the “it’s a skin condition” line until the Emporer outed them all on TV, then I can apply suspension of disbelief on this point, too.
On another note, I wonder if this event is showing up on the FBI’s monitors. (Remember “We think the Jin’Sorai may have awakened”?)
Would it though? They already know Pohl is over there teaching Selkie, so it might not register enough that the extra power isn’t Selkie herself.
This makes them REAL sisters.
Similar to blood brothers, except less likely to pass disease, and less messy.
Well… This is a whole new world of problems.
given that this is going to happen to probably all the children that went to that orphanage, and/or elementary school
they just solved their future echo problem, they can be supplemented with human children, trained and then put to work when teenagers or adults.
even more important is that it takes only a few years of exposure to have an effect, put one of those echo supressors in every human baby monitor, and you’ll have an army in 18 years.
the echo problem is solved, and Sarnoth as an enemy state just lost the war.
Was this foreshadowing? https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie1523/
My only question is… how and why though? How is this a Sarnothi only ability? How is Amanda suddenly and painfully manifesting it? WHY is Amanda, a HUMAN child, manifesting magical powers of telepathy?
Is it exposure being around the training between Mr. Pohl and Selkie morphing her genetics, is it a latent “E.S.P.” related thing that some people believe humans have (pseudo-science stuff is always the most fun for sci-fi. 😛 ), or is it something else entirely?
Are Humans and Sarnothi diiiiistant genetic relatives in this universe?
I think Then established that they were VERY distant genetic relatives. At that “town hall” meeting? It may not have been Then, I honestly can’t remember but pretty sure it’s been said in-comic.
Okay, I really did NOT expect this.
Not meant as a criticism at all, but was there any foreshadowing that I completely missed? Because judging from the comment section many people actually anticipated this turn of event. Again, not saying that this is bad, because it could make for a whole lot of interesting ramifications and storylines.
Whatever terrifying ramifications Todd possibly imagined the potential to, I’m gonna bet this was not one of them.