For new readers, or those who may need a refresher, Selkie’s shoes are custom built for her unique feet. Her old shoes were generic tennis shoes built for human proportions.
This is mostly how I recall dodgeball games: a volley of cannon fire.
For new readers, or those who may need a refresher, Selkie’s shoes are custom built for her unique feet. Her old shoes were generic tennis shoes built for human proportions.
“Ten times cuter”
Yes! Hilarious!
I like where this is going. Also, nice use of camera angle and perspective.
I remember Dodgeball at my old junior high… there were three who were the most prominent, but none for throwing, but rather the one who, no matter where it came from, or how fast it was going, he could catch it; the second one was able to catch the ball while holding 4 others; and the last, was able to trip, dodge 8-10 dodgeballs, and then out the best player on the opposite team upon hitting the floor
Looks like the shoe is on the other foot!
Eh? EH?
More like, “the other shoe is on the foot”, eh? ^_^
High five!
http://instantrimshot.com/classic/?sound=rimshot
Run, Selkie! (Sniff) Run like the wind!
Selkie will suddenly discover how athletic she can truly be.
Why is there no swim program? Is it autumn?
How many 3rd graders brought their swimsuits to the first day of school? 😉
Swimming in chlorinated water is probably no fun at all for Selkie, at least not if the swallows/inhales any of it.
Must be a consequence of being from a small town. Until I went to college, I’d never heard of a school with a swim program. Always thought that was made up for films and what not.
And, yeah, it is. Earlier in the comic, Todd was griping to the sales clerk at the shoe store, when “encouraged” to purchase winter boots for her, that it was August. I’m not sure when school starts south of the 49th, but we’re either late August or early September.
Ten times cuter, indeed.
No, Selkie dear. You couldn’t run before!
Yeah, I love her realization of “Wait… I CAN do this stuff now!” 😀
Can’t wait to see Selkie be awesome~
Hitting the feet is a penalty.
Hitting the legs is okay, but hitting the feet used to make us sit in the corner. I think that’s how it works nation wide now.
Just, to, uh, let you know….
feet counted for us, but got more arguments out of the target, which usually resulted in that kid sitting out anyways.
but we also used very soft balls; those smaller squishy foam ones that wouldn’t hurt even if fired out of a cannon, which I think allowed for whole body targeting.
They started us out with those. They’re called “Playground balls”. Things got deadly when they started using volleyballs.
At my elementary school, dodge ball consisted of about 5 balls, no matter how big the class was. Half the class was dodging and the other half waited on one side or the other side to catch the ball. There was no catching the ball for the targets. Just the dodging. I don’t recall the point of the game. I only liked it when I was on the sides throwing. And they used the rubbery, air-filled, currogated red yard balls. No nerf balls or volley balls. Just those dang red balls. I assume that is what Dave is basing his off of, too.
All intresting tales. We’d start out with a free for all with the rubber soft ones, the volley balls where for teams. I used to do fairly well, but considering how tall I am I’d stick out and get hit alot faster then I’d get to hit others. One disadvantage of being tall. Play dodgeball.
Think volleyballs are bad? Try playing dodgeball with 50 lb. medicine balls.
Been there, done that, got the concussion and the doctor bill to prove it. 😛 …It also got someone suspended for a week.
Oh Snap! Selkie’s gonna strike back!
I foresee Selkie (with her faster than human reflexes) turning the, a-hem, tide *dodges tomatoes* on her former tormentors. But that’s just me being vendictive.
Dave, good job with the odd camera angle to Selkie’s feet.
Gentlemen, we can build them. We have the technology. They will be better…make her stronger…faster.
Check out the anatomy sketch… “synaptic network adapted for fast reaction times”… “muscle tissue favors snap response”… “dextrous nimble fingers for catching swift prey”… “Eyes (…) adapted for hunting agile, swift food source”.
*Somebody* is going to learn to hate dodgeball…
I was just thinking that. Ever seen a barracuda? Goes so fast you can barely photograph it at 1/1000 of a second.
Barracuda have a little gland that stores adrenaline. When they get into a “situation” they can dump that adrenaline directly into the blood stream. Biologists have termed this an “organic supercharger.”
Judging from the conversation in #68 (with the female C´Est La Feet clerk), Selkie is fast enough to pet a fish. And in both the penultimate strip of Chapter One and with the pink shoes and the trashcan at Wool Mart, her aim leaves nothing to be desired.
Now that she has the footwear for some fancy footwork, the game is, as they say, on. Boy, did they ever pick the wrong amphibious humanoid to bully today…
Just so. I think Selkie needs some comeuppance time here.
Turning some of her “weirdnesses” into “advantages” would do wonders for her self-confidence. Having it being facilitated by having a daddy who cares about her will be even better.
I used to love dodge ball in Middle school. It always felt like we were going to war. I would always last until the last 3 or 4, and felt like I was Rambo when I took out more than one person in quick succesion. I was also great and super-awkward dodges.
I loved Dodgeball. Especially prison ball where when you got out you could get out by nailing someone else. Lots of fun to be had by holding the ball as a guy came out and the second he went over the line to his territory, hitting him and sending him back. Selkie would probably not like me for that.
Ten times cuter! How much cooler does that make them? Go Selkie! (I’m imagining some suitably dramatic music cue building to a crescendo right at the end of this page.)
The only exception I take to today’s strip is that Selkie has show some great agility in past comic strips.. Even if she can’t run, can’t she catch a ball? And throw it back?
With the ability to move confidently, I’m guessing that her natural predator skills will come to play, and she’s going to be a volleyball tornado.
She could, yes. It’s hard to focus on that while trying to dodge and move in hurting feet, though.
But isn’t that the point of having the new shoes? As an engineer I understand the value of having the right tools for the job.
BTW, this is rapidly becoming one of my favorite comics, Dave.
Depends on the rules of dodge ball Dave has planned. I don’t recall the catching and becoming a thrower part. Just being tagged and having to get out. You stayed on one side of a team or the other. The outer side couldn’t move from where they were so if they got hit by a ball, they were out; not necessarily thrown by one of the targets. Eh. I dunno anymore. Just wasn’t my favorite game LOL.
Some games have rules of ‘If you catch the ball, you can throw it back’. When I was in Middle School, if you caught a ball from mid-air, it was an out. But if it bounced at least once, it wasn’t an out.
I was always last to get out, and I usually took most of the other team with me before getting hit. Hated Dodgeball.
We had three different versions of Dodge ball at my elementary school.
First version was just a big circle with half the kinds inside and half outside. The outside kids would throw the ball back and forth across the circle, trying to hit the kids inside. If a kid inside got hit, he was out for the game, but if he caught the ball and hit one of the outside kids, they’d switch places. Catching the ball in the air was favored, scooping it off the ground if it was rolling or bouncing would get you out.
Second version is I think what G above refers to as “prison ball” though we didn’t call it that. It was played on a tennis court like rectangle with two even teams who would throw the ball back and forth to try to hit members of the opposite team. Stepping over the centerline was an out, as was fumbling the ball after an attempted catch. Players who were out would line up on a strip behind the opposing team, and could catch & throw the ball if it made it all the way through “enemy territory” without being caught or picked up. If an “out” player managed to tag out a member of the other team this way, he’d get to rejoin his team as an “in” on the main court. Play would pause to allow returning players to get back and be ready, so spawn camping a returning player like Gallows described would have been a clear foul, and would probably get the thrower out. When the pause ends and play starts again though, anything goes, and so returning players learned to position themselves a little behind their comrades at first to prevent getting griefed like that.
Both of those were played with the red (sometimes blue) rubber balls with the crosshatched/corrugated texture. we had soccer balls and volleyballs, but no one liked to use them for dodgeball as they didn’t bounce, roll, or throw as nicely. In both cases the only illegal place to hit someone was the head. Throwing for the feet was perfectly legal, but throwing with intent to trip was frowned on.
Third variety was called “peg ’em”, and was played with tennis balls. Most of the kids would run back and forth along a strech of wall, and three or four kids would stand across from the wall and try to hit the running kids with tennis balls. There weren’t really any rules about outs: it wasn’t played to win or loose, but rather for the physical challenge, though IIRC there was some kind of protocol for the length of rounds and thrower vs runner rotation.
Yeesh, that didn’t seem nearly that long when I was typing it/looking at it in the wee narrow text box. Sorry ’bout that.
This peg ’em version sounds painful. I don’t think I like that one at all..it seems a bit more psychologically damaging too.
I don’t remember it being that way (painful or traumatizing). There were some kids who liked it less than others, and I know there were kids who enjoyed being the thrower in the wrong way, but IIRC it wasn’t actually painful to be hit, and being hard to hit as a runner made you more of a hero than having good aim as a thrower (good runners were badass, good throwers were just doing a job), so things were actually a lot more balanced then they might seem, psychologically. Also, since throwers and runners were rotated, the opportunity for mean spirited kids to use it as means of bullying was pretty limited in practice, and apt to backfire.
Physically it was balanced in favor of the runners. Throwers actually stood a good distance from the wall, so being a successful thrower was at least 1/3 luck, and even if you weren’t a good runner, luck alone would make sure you made it through enough to keep things lighthearted. Bullies don’t like games they can’t reliably dominate.
lol, We still played dodgeball in high school and I always loved it. We usually played in the small auxilary gym since it was more confined and we didnt need to chase after the balls as much. Our gym teacehr also had his own rules but most were the basics.
1. If you get hit your out.
2. If you catch the ball the thrower is out.
3. If the ball bouces it nulifies the first two rules.
4. No double hits.
5. If the ball hits someone then is caught the thrower is out.
6. No head shots.
He added in another rule if the game started lasting to long and that was the boundries started to cross. If the game went on long enough you had a full court to run around.
I thought it was hilarious that I was always one of the last two since I always wore steel toed boots and was the largest kid in the class and the other was one of the smallest. The only reason I can see I survived was because I didnt care about getting hurt and would do crazy leaps and twist to avoid getting hit while rocketing the ball like a missle. Longest one on one match I remember was about 10 minutes and we were both sweating like mad. The worst part was tha it ended in a draw since class ended.
You missed “20% cooler,” but I’ll let it slide this once.
XD Looks like in the fifth panel that her feet (or just her shoes) are looking up at her and saying, “Yeah you can!!”
Man, what a weird thought…
Why do I get the feeling the next scene is going to involve the entire opposing team getting gunned down by dodge balls followed by an imaginative scene where selkie is firing a machine gun out of the back of a WWI aircraft while “Ride of the Valkyries” plays in the background.
Ride of the Valkyries.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92OBNsQgxU
Haha:) Awesome:)
That would rule. >D
That’s quite mean of Tony there,to always be aiming for Selkie,knowing she can’t run,completely taking advantage of her weaknesses.It’s no wonder Selkie never liked P.E. before,considering that she has to put up with a jerk like him and her feet were always bunched up and hurting.Not easy or fun playing sports when you’re in pain anywhere.
Pray, O’ wretched ones! Thine tyranny is at an end! The tormenting of the trodden shall be as the fleeting summer gales, fiercely blowing back at thine face! And with it shall come thy doom… the wrath of the Finned One! O’ how you marveled at thine prowess, giddy with thine mad power! But hark, I say unto thee; the Finned One hath power thy petty mind couldst nay hold a candle to! Nary a more powerful slumbering giant hath thee awakened! Lo, and behold her, for she is mighty, and terrible to behold. She is woman; and she has been scorned.
I love these Shakespeare meets Lovecraft pieces of yours, Ogre. 😀
Sounds like someone watched enjoyed Nightmare Night in Ponyville.
You are the bestest.
I’m just glad the internet exist other wise I’d think I was the only Brony out there, lol.
You are amazing. Amazingfully amazing.
When we played dodgeball in junior high, most of the balls were the red four-square balls. Some were half-inflated; these could be used as shields to block thrown balls.
If you caught a thrown ball that hadn’t touched the ground, the thrower was out – same as a fly ball in baseball.
There was one ball that was 3/4 smaller than the others, gray, and HARD. For obvious reasons, that was dubbed “The Bullet”. Nobody tried to catch that one – you just tried to avoid it.
Last team standing won.
We could usually get in a couple games during PE. I actually enjoyed it, even though I wasn’t that good. There were the occasional spectacular catches, but I was usually out by the half-way point.
I can’t help thinking of an “Obi-Wan” type voice saying these things in her head and ending with: “Use the shoes, Selkie!”
There’s actually adult dodgeball tournaments in Utah. If I lived in a closer area to the actual tournament arena, I’d probably form a team.
Dodgeball, as long as you don’t have issues like Selkie has is classic.
Oh I love where this is going. :3 Yes lil Selkie, you have a good pair of very expensive, super duper comfy shoes now. Show them just how athletic you can be. 😀
i sense a butt woopen comeing
I recall dodgeball. One particular game. I was the last person out there, and I was a spiteful bugger. So, I just kept bloody dodging. Lasted 8-10 minutes with just about 12 people against me. Couldn’t hit a barn with my throws, though, so the game ended with me just really, really tired, and no real progress made.
This may be the greatest scene ever. One of them.
I think this is currently my favourite comic so far; at the very least a top contender. That dawning realization and the last panel are priceless.
I really don’t like the concept of dodgeball. In Belgium, where I live, we know a couple of similar games, but none as agressive as dodgeball.
I have been bullied as a child, an gym class was already hell for being picked latest and, well, just sucking at it. A game like dodgeball would have made all that even worse.
I don’t get why they would let children play it in gym class.