Scar’s gonna need a bushier beard and a menagerie of weird animals if he wants to say that last line right.
Freakings TOLDS YOU I was a science-witch!!!
Scar’s gonna need a bushier beard and a menagerie of weird animals if he wants to say that last line right.
At least they figured this out before she phased through the ceiling….
Next to last panel, Scar almost looks sad that Selkie broke through. I wonder what he knows about being an echo that he doesn’t want Selkie to have to deal with.
Also, Todd’s “YOUR EYES ARE GLOWING” is totally reminding me of Flynn in Tangled after the mineshaft incident. 🙂
yeah, i noticed how *not* happy he is for her as well – perhaps because he knows/fears that gien and others like him will want her to stay underwater with them now, to teach her how to be a ‘proper’ sarnothi….and away from that weird human that has been taking care of her for now.
I’d like to once again posit that Plo Qar knew exactly what she was doing when she put that limiter on Selkie.. And I think Scar has a pretty good idea why as well.
(Selkie, of course, reacts entirely predictably to the knowledge that she has superpowers)
Dunno, I think Scar’s expression is because they still expect Selkie’s powers to be dimished.
I’m a little unclear as to why Scar looks sad now when he looked sadder that she might NOT be one.
Might be the whole “people will try to use her” thing.
One version is that, while Selkie does have Echo abilities, they’ve been ‘broken’ by the suppressor thingie and the headaches are about all she’s going to get. And Scar knows it. I don’t remember if he knows about the suppressor though…
If he doesn’t, the logical interpretation is just that being an Echo is a huge responsibility to pile on a kid who is also their species’ ambassador to humanity. There is a reason Selkie’s mom gave her the trinket.
THAT’s gonna be hard to explain at school…
…and I guess Pohl’s off the hook. Why does Gien get to boss around an Echo, btw?
“Why does Gien get to boss around an Echo, btw?”
Because Pohl doesn’t have a very forceful personality, and Gien isn’t one to be intimidated by a little thing like “can fire rocket jets from his hands if he wishes”
LOL. I love that. I would probably guess that Pohl would have a very strong Lawful alignment if he were a D&D character, and Gien is an authority figure – I’m guessing that Echos are not automatically given an authority position even though they have the power to do so? Scar was listening to Gien as well if I remember correctly
…wait, does she KNOW what an Echo is?
It was discussed briefly back at the apartment, enough for Selkie to know “Echo is a cool thing that Mom was.”
No, no, no! Not Echo! WITCH! 😀
Well, we’re not going to let Eric Idle build a bridge out of her, that’s for sure.
Would she “weigh” the same as a duck if she’s a kid and both cages were in water at the time? Although the whole drowning a witch thing would be just fine for Selkie as long as it wasn’t the ocean.
I would guess that Arthur, King of the Brittons, would ask her to chop down the largest kelp forest with …. (Dun, dun, dunnnn) a Squirrel!
(Gene hands Selkie a papier-mache squirrel.)
Is that a rough approximation?
Todd? Call your AA sponsor, or one of your sibs as soon as you get to the surface, but before you get home. Cos this kinda day is the kinda day where you find that you are back on the stuff without remembering buying it… Failing that – and hopefully failing that, as we have no evidence Todd has pernicious addictions – Todd is gonna be under the bed, never mind under the covers after he gets home. It was just going to be a little swim so Selkie could see some of her home culture again….
Have I mentioned that I like Scar? He notices a kid having a headache. Even if he might turn out to be a long game villain and been watching her closely for just such a symptom. I like him a lot. Even if he does look like a dill pickle that got forgotten out in the relish tray overnight.
Why would you even assume that Todd was a prior alcoholic when there has been absolutely ZERO mention of that throughout the entire series?! Also need you be reminded that two agents will be sure to inform Todd that he can’t tell anyone else about this; that includes his family members who were never given clearance.
“I like him a lot. Even if he does look like a dill pickle that got forgotten out in the relish tray overnight.”
To quote a friend of mine, I bark-laughed.
Hahahahah!!
Hahahahah!!
Yer a wizard, Selkie
*Plays Harry Potter Theme*
Poor storytelling imo.
“No, it’s unlikely she’ll ever be an echo because reasons XYZ.”
3 minutes later
“Nah jk, you’re a wizard because you’re the main character after all.”
I can’t see it that way. We knew that at some point Selkie was going to break through otherwise building up her mother as such a strong Echo would never have been mentioned. The stress of seeing her father come close to death and having Echo “powers” being used that close to her would have probably triggered this no matter what had been done to her to suppress it. The questions remain, how much of a block is she going to have to overcome and how strong will she eventually be? Something tells me that those headaches might not be normal, even for a budding Echo. She might end up with some minimal ability that leaves her with crippling headaches or she might end up being so strong she could blow the doors off the front gates of Sarnoth from where she’s standing right now. *shrug* We’ll see, eventually.
Dave never lets me predict where the story will go; when I think I know, he twists it and takes it in a different direction. I have faith in Dave’s story telling. Just IMAO.
He doesn’t? Because this comic is intensely predictable. I’ve yet to see a single subversive element.
Damn, then why are you still reading? Chill dude
I don’t think it’s bad storytelling, just overdone.
Just like Patamon taking 5 episodes to digivolve into Angemon after seeing all of his friends get beat up, or Moochi from Monster Rancher getting a new move to finally make him useful right before his teammates die, if you seen it once you know how situations like this are going to turn out.
But give credit where credit is due. Selkie DIDN’T DO ANYTHING to save the day with the powers she just unlocked unlike everyone else that gets an 11th Hour Superpower in a crisis. In fact, she only unlocked her powers after Scar saved the day for her. That’s the one thing that stands out here.
A story being predictable is not bad, imo. If anything it shows it’s been plotted out and makes internal sense. I’d much rather have predictable twists than authors throw stuff in at random just so that it’s a surprise.
Well, I don’t know. I feel like that scene wouldn’t have been brought up if it wasn’t going to be relevant at all. Selkie might be an Echo, but her abilities might still be incredibly stunted thanks to what her mother did. Glowy eyes look cool but does that actually mean she’s capable of much more than that? I think I’m gonna wait a bit before judging.
“Hey lets bring up a thing then not run with it at all in any way. That’s an idea.”
“Sure, Mr. Chekov, we’ll just hang this rifle right here on the wall and then never fire it.”
why not Wapsi square has a half dozen on the wall all of them loded.
Why not? I mean, Dave did just that.
I’m not a fan of Chekov’s gun. A story or setting is stronger for having things exist in the background just to make the world seem more alive.
Or just going with the literal example – the gun could be there to tell us something about the character (they were a hunter, served in the army, are a collector of ww1 memorabilia).
No, that’s a really dumb response, Dave. Look, it’s your story, tell it however you want to, but there’s no drama if you’re setting the expectation that all problems are resolved a few strips later.
For a second I thought, “Woah, this could be a big deal. What kind of emotional turmoil might our heroine go through that will change her as a person? What struggles will eventually unlock her powers?”
And then you killed all of that tension right off the bat. There was a chance to not make Selkie into a Mary-Sue, but that seems to have been dropped in favor of an easy resolution.
Yes, Chekhov’s rifle is a thing. No, you shouldn’t introduce a plot element without utilizing it in some way. But I also don’t believe that Chekhov’s rifle needs to be fired by the end of the page it’s introduced on.
Hey come on. This is a family with a race of magic fish-people. I give a lot of credit to Dave for putting a lot of heart and soul into a comic we don’t have to pay for that has updated pretty regularly since its inception. Constructive criticism is fine, and I don’t think it’s crossed the line here, but I hope everyone will just take that and not make it into a bash fest. I am for one very happy not to have a major cliff hanger left for another weekend. This wasn’t in the same page – probably if printed would have been introduced within the first few pages of the issue of the comic (remember issues are rather small) and finished by the end – that happens a lot in comics. The whole arc so far in the Sarnothi city would probably cover 2-3 issues as it is, and we get to see a page every 3 days instead of waiting a month or two to get from beginning to end of a mini-arc.
Yeah, I’m with Ashkalandi. I’ve really enjoyed this particular chapter of the story, but I am a bit disappointed with the direction this seems to be going
You lost 3 potential storylines (unless some other twist restores them): Selkie coming to terms with what her mother did to protect her, Pohl trying to treat Selkie in spite of all the pressures around her, and Selkie fighting to regain her powers, not to mention the potential ripple effects of the community finding out echo-abilities were potentially a casualty of war. It felt like the story was really picking up some weight, and I was looking forward to it. Instead, it looks like that’s all been tossed out the window.
Granted, it’s just glowing eyes and a headache here, so some of these plot points could still be relevant… but if not, then a lot of panels which felt important now seem like wasted time.
I suppose my take on that is that at the same time, I feel it’s a bit early to be chucking the upcoming portions of the storyline out of consideration altogether.
I really don’t think the problem is NOW SOLVED FOREVER. Selkie didn’t lose her abilities completely, sure, but for all we know the headache is the consequence of the suppressor, and the reason it was brought up was not to be brushed aside, but to be set up for future complications.
If anything, it would have been worse storytelling to first have Selkie’s huge Echo awakening event and then inform the audience that there’s going to be problems with it.
And yes, I am 100% assuming that the suppressor thing is going to be relevant yet. Dave is a better storyteller than that.
Am thinking that Selkie was given the hair ribbon to keep her powers at bay so she wouldn’t get them, not to delay them. But why? Why did her mother do this and then take her to the surface so she wouldn’t even know her own people? This is finally getting to the breaking point of having only a few panels a week. I want to know. But I suppose having to wait is the most fun of all. So glad I discovered Selkie.
How much air does Todd have in that force bubble? How many more minutes before he suffocates anyway?
I was under the impression that the “force bubble” was a replacement helmet, and the suit’s air supply is still functioning. So, under that assumption, he has as much air as he had before the helmet malfunction (less air lost in the incident and air used since then).
On the other hand, since Dave hasn’t drawn what I presume to be the air hose, maybe there is a limited amount of air…
I was figuring it was working like an artificial gill, and he’s got an air exchange going quietly.
That’s my guess too – is that the helmet is filtering the water from H2O into OH2 so that Todd wouldn’t have to go to the surface?
@anne : you DO realize what you said right?… “the helmet is filtering the water from water into water so that”…
it’s almost as weird as saying that it gets rid of the DHMO to let him breathe by removing the water from the H2O…
OK, I did make a mistake there I should not post when I have 1 minute before leaving for class :). I meant to ask if it seems like the magic helmet is filtering the H20 int breathable HeO2?
I know there’s not a great chemical compound for air, but I believe that is the Heliox mix that can be used in very deep or long dives? I’m not actually sure on this one.
😀 No prob, i’m just messin’ with ya’
And so begins Dr. Terrorhammer.
Nothing cures a crippling headache like finding out that you’re a god amoungst insects.
Nothing is more terrifying for the insects when they realize their god suffers crippling headaches . . .
you win an internet
Notice the expression on his face – something tells me this isnt a good thing.
Yesss, I has superpowers. Amanda bewares!
Blub buhbub bub blub glub glub…
No, that’s the fourth Doctor, explaining why he never cared for the word; “impregnable.”
I’m voting for the ‘stunted powers’ angle. Maybe they’re attempting to manifest due to being in close proximity to Scar and Pohl while they use their own powers but due to the damage done by the ribbon the best that’s going to happen is faint glowy eyes and a nasty headache.
I’d actually kinda like that, if only because it would then allow Selkie to showcase her most dangerous attribute- her imagination! Creative use of weak superpowers is always more interesting than uncreative use of strong ones.
^^^ this
Just for completion’s sake: How would you feel about immense power being used creatively in small amounts? e.g. “Well, i could Fireball her and the environs, but i could also just light up my eyes and laugh until she runs away… decisions, decisions.”
I like how this story keeps turning out to be yet another kind of story. It gives the comic a lot of depth. orphanage, regular elementary school drama, family drama, family support and life lessons, bullying, secret co-sapient species, neat sci-fi technology, learning about different cultures, superhero type powers. New surprises just around the corner. 🙂 Thanks Dave!
I agree – this is one that I haven’t gotten bored of ever. It helps that Dave is so awesome at updating as well 😀
I’m inclined to agree the whole, “Her powers have been stripped.” to “GO GO ECHO RANGERS” thing is kinda cliched and lame.
I don’t think a headache and glowy eyes = GO GO ECHO RANGERS yet… Based on the bulidup, it’s NOT going to be as easy as that.
(Either that, or the buildup was to the revelation that Selkie’s power level was over 9000 and what was assumed to be a mistake in calibration by her mom was just right)
(Either way it’s NOT going to just fizz out like that)
Looks like as I suspected – Scar’s eyes aren’t glowing due to an ongoing effect (Todd’s bubble), but they seem to glow in response to another Echo’s powers. Much like Selkie’s are.
I theorize that it might take Selkie quite a while to reach her full potential, but even this much, a small bit of energy, is a VERY good sign whatever damage that was done to her is reversible (meaning Dr. Pohl can treat her condition/Scar can train her?)
Although Selkie’s hair bow/power suppressor was feared to make her lose her special abilities forever, it seems like they are still there! Awesome!
Love the commenters whining about how lame the storyline is without seeing the entire plot yet. We don’t know if the glow is all she’s got if using the powers could make that headache crippling, if the powers are going to cause Gien to demand her back, or further alienation from human kids, or accidentally hurt a friend, or any one of a zillion other ways this could go.
Go write your own story then. What I’m seeing isn’t constructive criticism – it’s a bunch of assumptions and griping.
People like to complain, and unfortunately very few know how to actually give constructive criticism. The human nature is more inclined to just flail and hiss uselessly without really adding anything.
Considering the creator and that this is a free, online web comic I’m more than willing to wait for it to play out, and enjoy it as it is.
Aaaand, now that I’m thinking about this, I think the only primary “issue” here is with the pacing. If the scene with Scar, Gien, Then, and Pohl talking to each other hadn’t occurred where it did the story would read a bit differently. It’s a good bit of character and world development, but the timing in relation to this makes it a bit off.
But at the same time, Pohl and Then have known for a while – and haven’t taken any action by themselves – but have only recently told Gien and Scar because they were out of contact with them. So it’s entirely possible that Selkie’s had the bow off for quite a while, and this is the first time since that she’s been exposed to the energy fluctuations due to Echo activities.
Sooo, room for improvement, but while Dave isn’t a “professional” he’s doing pretty well, and I’m looking forward to seeing where he takes it.