The Protect Our Trout act has been referenced in the comic once before, although not by name. More details will come on Thursday, but if you feel like searching the archive I won’t stop you. :3
– – – – –
I received some more fan art over the weekend I wanna share! Courtesy of Ice Cheetah we have this drawing:
.png)
And Evilpizza sent me two drawings featuring Selkie and his character Heliotrope LeJean from the Harry Potter RPG Absit Omen:
1.png)
2.png)
Thank you both for the artworks!
These night time effects are surprisingly fun.
I love the nighttime shading effects–and the net-savvy grandpa trying to
learn more about his new grandchild. 🙂 Very nicely done!
Theo seems very intelligent…and not at all ‘set in his ways’.
Were he and Marigold not able to have biological children, I wonder, or
did they choose not to? *goes to look at cast list*
Also, you all just lost the Game.
‘Protect Our Trout’…? Hmmm. Trout have to travel from their freshwater birthing place to the sea to mature, then back from the sea to freshwater to spawn, so… Did people widen a channel from the ocean to a certain large lake area which somehow lead to the pollution of said lake and the decimation of a hidden city? Or did the protection part not go so well, depriving the lake-people (Selkie’s people) of the fish they needed to survive? … Or did someone have the ass-backwards idea that in order to protect the trout, the lake-people… had to go? o_o I gotta tell you, that last idea upsets me…
Depends on the species. Rainbow trout go to the sea, like salmon. Brook trout and lake trout live in freshwater all their life.
Or, perhaps, Selkie’s people are like rainbow trout – they come to fresh water to reproduce, and their young live in fresh water and come up for air, but when they’re old enough, they move to the sea. Maybe that’s why Selkie’s mom gave her up – she had to return to the sea.
Wouldn’t that mean cases like Selkie’s would be more common?
There would be records. And information on people like Selkie, even if they don’t realize/acknowledge that Selkie is of a different species.
Depending how remote these locations were. Heck, if horror movies are anything to go by, half the rural areas in the States are isolated to the point of outsiders getting lynched for daring to show their face in the town. 😛
Or because the locals don’t mind an addition to their normal diet…
Or need a sacrifice for some obscure local god that possibly turns out to be an alien of less friendly disposition.
The “Protect Our Trout Act”?
There’s no way I can convey how sinister that sounds to anyone who doesn’t read “Selkie”.
Wait, why am I talking to people who don’t read “Selkie”?
Or… dun dun dunnnn… is the Protect Our Trout Act the product of a government conspriacy to keep the selkies secret?
I love the twist, but, poor sweet Selkie, to be stuck in the middle of what seems to be a conspiracy…
Okay, so.. I’m going to nerd out:
https://selkiecomic.com/?p=501
This is the page where we see Selkie’s records. Country of Birth/Citizenship/Nationality are blacked out.
https://selkiecomic.com/?p=506
Theo’s quote: “Maybe the orphanage isn’t the one hiding it..”
He’s a smart dude! He’s probably slowly putting some pieces together that not even Todd has thought about. “Protect Our Trout Act” could be something that happen before Todd was even born; mayhaps when Theo was a child or even before that.
https://selkiecomic.com/?p=874
The prettyful lake and the even more prettyful mommy/daughter bond.. and a human caretaker?
https://selkiecomic.com/?p=877
Mom talked about a city, Lillian taught her English…
https://selkiecomic.com/?p=826
And let’s not forget the “male Selkie” at the hospital, and nonchalant coworker. 😉
WHY IS THIS WEBCOMIC SO GOOD. <3
I don´t remember where, but Todd once said his dad took him fishing in… Lake Superior, I think… until “they made that illegal”. That must be the “Protect our Trout Act”.
That sounds about right, and the Great Lakes would indeed be big enough for freshwater underwater cities. Here’s to hoping Selkie’s people aren’t dying out due to pollution.
It may be big enough but you have to remember Selkie has problems if her body temperature drops, and nothing takes away body heat like cold water. If the city’s in a lake it would have to be a tropical lake and big tropical lakes are rare.
Interesting fact: Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
Maybe the city has an underwater heating thing or maybe houses have indoor heating?
Maybe it’s the drop that’s dangerous, not the actual cold. I believe goldfish can’t be put straight into cold water, but must have their body temperature lowered first. Perhaps Selkie can withstand much lower temperatures (and higher pressures) than we can, as long as she acclimatises first.
According to Wikipedia, Canada has an estimated 63504 lakes. Finland has 187888 lakes. If you count in ponds, then both have a lot more, of course. 😛
I see what you did there, Dave. 😉 Thank you. 🙂
As someone from Michigan, I like the idea of Selkie being from here. The idea of her being a Yooper (someone from the Upper Peninsula aka U.P.) makes me giggle a little. It’s actually fitting.
@Rock, you’re thinking salmon; trout are strictly freshwater.
Depends on the species. Some trout migrate like salmon, some stick to freshwater all their lives.
Apparently the correct term for the type of migrating that salmon do is “anadromous”, and there are some trout that do just that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_trout
I stand corrected! 🙂
Actually, I checked the translations on rainbow trout and the animal is classed as a salmon over here (then again, all trout are salmon-type fish, so it comes down to personal preference to class them as one or the other). In Europe there’s also the “sea trout”, if you want to check this: http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Salmo-trutta+trutta.html
Dr. M. Winklehofer, of Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich has published a fascinating study of trout. Seems they use magnetic chemicals in their noses to navigate.
Trout (the migrating varieties at least) and salmon use the magnetic fields to travel longer distrances, but are able to tell the exact spawning stream from the others by the imprinted smell/taste of the water from when they were fry. That said, if something’s happened to their spawning stream (like it being dammed by humans), they’re more easily able to adapt and find an alternative place for spawning than was previously believed.
…this information comes from year 2001 from my biology studies notes in the university. If newer studies have found something different, I might not know about it. Yet.
Apparently they’ve located and explained the mechanism. Check it out, s’interesting.
Cool. I’ll be sure to check it out. 🙂
Eeee, PLOT THICKENS!
I’m wondering if Selkie is a combination of the Selkie seal-people myth and a cuckoo bird.
In that at some point the adult leave the children to be raised by humans till they reach an age where they instinctively return to the water. Or something.
Just noticed… does the inscription on the mug in panel 1 say “Abuela No 1”?
Yep!
I’m loving Grandma Marigold’s bunny slippers.
Clever reasoning. Will it pan out?
I’ve always wanted to build a replica of Rapture on the bottom of Lake Michigan.
Batten down the hatches and get me some stronger tea! It’s time for Serious Research. Dun, dun, dun….
You know, I’ve never got only one google result on a search before. Yet, the search query only gets one result. Not exactly a googlewhack, I know, but kinda neat. At least, neat for a summer vacationer whose brains are rotting out of her head. 🙂
Oops! Sorry, and that was
lake superior “protect our trout” selkie
I put it in less than/greater than signs and I didn’t even think that HTML code would hide it.
Was I the only one expecting (or hoping for) a “because I’ve lost control of my life” joke?
I love how Theo’s into the mysterious and Mari’s the realistic one who isn’t afraid to thump him if he goes overboard.
Also, love the computer screen-backlight shading!
That said… shit’s gettin’ crazy. Everyone commenting earlier than me has already mentioned all of my own theories, so…
NICE lighting!
Oh lord, going back and re-reading the coming to refresh on some details… I just realized, I have pajamas almost exactly like hers! They’re red button-up flannel PJs with white dice all over them.
My friend got them for me for christmas as a gag gift, making a jab ad how fuddy-duddy I am… I dont think she expected me to think they were AWESOME! That had to have been 8 years ago, I still wear them, EVERY winter. They’re good and warm!
coming? COMIC. there is no excuse for that.
Nice job showing them realistically putting the puzzle pieces together.
whelp that did seem kinda obvious with that random specific line about not being able to fish in the lake suddenly for no specified reason