Annotated 35-17
Missed Flo’s King of the Hill reference here. I initially took it as Frigg just being her obscene self, since “purse” can be slang for… Well, a little of Column A, a little of Column B.
We didn’t view this “mecha Frigg” as anything more than a necessary adaptation of her powers for the situation, but the Waltrips’ experience with mecha (eight years on Robotech, ICYMI) clearly served us well.
Some read the third panel as Frigg’s energy-armor beginning to get corrupted under the pressure and persistent contact. Actually, the Beast is just corrupting the wall behind her. Which is not to say her current experience is pleasant or safe. If her will falters, for more than an instant…
I took Frigg’s line the same way you did: hilariously vulgar.
She didn’t even kick him in the corruptornuts. That’s why she lost the fight.
I didn’t notice Frigg’s reflection in the beast’s eye the first time around! That’s some attention to detail!
Oh dang! Me neither.
I do wonder if all the attacks by the Champions and Peacemakers (and WAV) are in any way weakening the monster or just annoying it. It would seem WAV’s attacks are removing some of that dark-green stuff of which it consists, and the sled explosion seems to have done that too, but otherwise it’s hard to get a sense of how much they’re actually weakening it, or just poking holes which it has to then close again, T-1000 style.
But Frigg totally rules. She’s not the type of character that would usually appeal to me, but over the whole thing, the story has done really good work of showing her human side which means that I don’t just tolerate but actually accept her machoism as the source of her strength rather than a character fault (which it also is, but we’ll deal with that later).
I think enabling this kind of empathy for completely divergent characters is the biggest achievement of this whole project, something which very rarely find in other stories, comics or otherwise.
Did you already know this fight sequence was going to happen when, a few chapters ago, you had Rachel training Frigg in the use of her powers?
No, back when we were writing Chapter 16, we still had a 36-chapter outline for the series. We knew that both Frigg and the Frigg-Rachel relationship needed to grow, and that at some point she’d need to use the power without relying solely on her weapons. But the Corruptor Beast was not part of the plan at that point.