Okay. Aside from the fact that that final kick is physically impossible (this is a fantasy game) … what does she figure she’s gonna do about the fact that she is Very High Up and she just shut down the propulsion system?
Well, considering the footglowy, it seems she’s got a bit of paladin in her not unlike our dear Frigg. Maybe she’s got something to deal with heights, hopefully?
You’ve managed something more impossible than a spiral spin-kick started and finished in midair against an opponent that was similarly in midair the entire time?
Oh I get it. Mortal Kombat series or some other fighting game?
If you notice, the bird’s hat is in her hand during the final kick, implying that she was holding the thing’s head to give her a leverage point to place her kick with. So everything she did there is entirely feasible, just requires a high degree of flexibility needed to execute the move, and some pretty hefty core strength to make it effective enough to accomplish the type of damage she did.
But if she’s holding on to the bird for leverage that’s just insane; I know I can’t hold someone and spin kick them at the same time. It just doesn’t work because your arms aren’t long enough. I have my doubts Bruce Lee could’ve done it either y’know.
As a martial artist from an art specialising in kicks, I assure you that kick is not impossible.
I know that the arms seem too short. This is not actually a problem. The trick is having enough flexibility work on your sowars and sartoris (one of the quads, and one of the groin muscles). That will allow you to bring your leg up as is necessary. At that point, the shorter your arm, the closer the target is, and the closer the target the harder you hit.
Now, sometimes targets are little too close, which can potentially cause a kick to glance off. However, this problem is solved by performing a jumping kick and releasing the target just before impact. The jump, which is ordinarily a means of increasing power (not height, interestingly – flexibility should allow you to kick anywhere you want without jumping), in this case allows you to slightly increase the distance between you and the target, while maintaining impact strength.
However, a jump is not always necessary. If in water, the water will suspend your body and the body of your target. This means that they will not provide the resistance (resistance slows the kick and reduces power, even though strength is maintained) that a grounded target would provide, because they have reduced capacity for leverage to push against the kick. Both you and the target will be moved, but the target will feel the full impact of the kick. Free fall should, logically, allow a similar phenomenon because you and the target are effectively weightless and have no external objects to use to increase resistance and thereby retard the kick. Because there is no resistance, the kick will travel at full speed, and hit with its usual power, despite the overt proximity of the target.
As for spinning in freefall, it’s actually very easy. Sky-divers, before they deploy their parachute, manipulate the position of their bodies to alter patterns of vertical drag as they fall. This enables them to shift from various types of vertical to horizontal. It is also how sky-divers adjust their fall-speed. Spinning around, especially if you have a target to which you can cling, is not a difficult feat.
The relative difficulty of spins is not actuall important, though, because as far as I can see, she does not spin. If you look at panel four, the foot with the glow, which is the foot she then uses to kick with, is her left foot. Though it is difficult to be certain, Rachel’s feet appear to be roughly level in panel four. Therefore, the kick she executes in panel five would be a standard side kick, rather than a spinning variant (generall known as a back kick, despite the fact that it kicks the person infront of you). This is confirmed by the glowy contrail being a straight line. Were Rachel executing a back kick (and therefore needing to spin) the contrail would have been curved. Additionally, to perform a left leg back kick, her right leg would need to be pointed down, and she would find it very difficult to crunch forwards as she appears to be doing. Typically, a back kick will crunch backwards or sideways. A forwards crunch screws up the spin.
In short, she’s not spinning, but even if she were the kick would be fairly simple, especially in the effective weightlessness of freefall.
You, sir, have convinced me that you are either an expert opinion on this subject or a seventy-eighth degree black belt in bullshit. I’m thinking the former. I’ll have to contact my old buddy the former multi-time state karate champ (a self proclaimed expert at kicking people in the head) before coming to a final conclusion.
Less relevant side note: That final panel makes me think of Scott Pilgrim.
I definitely believe that the kick is possible, but in freefall the power would be significantly lower than on the ground. Birds are relatively fragile, though, so maybe it’s good enough.
Off the top of my head I can think of two characters who dealt with this situation. Batman in JLU very calmly requested a fellow justice leaguer swing by and help him out with the whole imminent death thing if they had a moment. Simon assimilated the enemy mech into his own and used it as a pair of makeshift wings (did the pilot ever get to leave?).
So the question of the day is does she have any comrades capable of slowing her descent, or failing that is she in any way capable of stealing the bird-person’s wings and incorporating them into her own form?
As much as the former sounds like the more plausible option on account of E-merl and his wind medalion, like seriously, how cool would angel wings be on the crazy nun?
Considering the situation has already taken flight into territory beyond what she expected I think it’s perfectly understandable that she does not gracefully glide into a prepared plan that eliminates all the problems. Still, if she makes it out of this one in good condition under her own power it’s a real feather in her cap.
My grandmother had a chihuaha that did this exact same thing once with a buzzard. I’ve never seen such an airborne flurry of fur, claws and teeth. Survived the fall, too.
Concerning the question of falling, check the first panel. Seems the Avian is carrying Rachel out to the water and is pretty much there already. Her falling onto somethign hard is likely not going to be the problem.
Oh no no no, this “Gralor” which I can only assume translates to ‘effin’ huge Kraken’ is what that fall has as a hazard.
And- OUCH- this may be fantasy, but I’m betting one reason feather-brain’s race can fly is because, like the birds of our world, they’ve got HOLLOW BONES.
Rachel is one DPSer I’d love to see in any of my groups.
Randomly – Rachel’s little mantra that she’s saying reminds me of the Mentat poem or mnemonic or whatever it is, that Piter recites in the 80s version of the film.
Looking to the background of panel one…
“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…”
So they’re not fighting in the streets. Yet.
Besides which, this update is more Victory Through Air Power.
(Street Fighter IV was the first thing I thought of when I saw the brushstroke and the KO. I just didn’t bother commenting at the time, because like you, I thought the 100+ comments would be rife with them. In an effort to redeem myself and all the ones who missed the opportunity…)
Well, a kick like that in mid-air does take a lot of guile. It seems she’s a fist-fighter well beyond her ken. ….if she was a street fighter, I think in this situation the street (and gravity) would win, unless she somehow rose above it all.
Frighteningly deft, our favorite femme defender lets fly fisticuffs upon her feathered foe. Fearlessness and fortitude triumph! Unfortunately left far aloft from terra firma, awaiting a fatal fall, Phil finishes with a cliffhanger.
Flying Nun, Falling Ninja.
Who knew Sally Field was such a badass?
Guess she didn’t need the ruler after all.
Even without out, it she can deal out a fair measure of punishment.
*without it
Rachel certainly had the measure of that avian.
It was just a safety measure anyway.
Even though Rachel doesn’t have an inch to give, Gralor still takes a foot to the groin.
Okay. Aside from the fact that that final kick is physically impossible (this is a fantasy game) … what does she figure she’s gonna do about the fact that she is Very High Up and she just shut down the propulsion system?
Well, considering the footglowy, it seems she’s got a bit of paladin in her not unlike our dear Frigg. Maybe she’s got something to deal with heights, hopefully?
Bubble? I’d pop bubble for that kind of fall…
Oh, such a fitting avatar :D
Achievement Unlocked! Post the 26,000th comment!
I’d say monk over paladin, personally. Don’t monks get a slow-fall at a certain level?
Yeah, only next to walls though…
I’ve personally done kicks much more impossible than that.
You’ve managed something more impossible than a spiral spin-kick started and finished in midair against an opponent that was similarly in midair the entire time?
Oh I get it. Mortal Kombat series or some other fighting game?
If you notice, the bird’s hat is in her hand during the final kick, implying that she was holding the thing’s head to give her a leverage point to place her kick with. So everything she did there is entirely feasible, just requires a high degree of flexibility needed to execute the move, and some pretty hefty core strength to make it effective enough to accomplish the type of damage she did.
But if she’s holding on to the bird for leverage that’s just insane; I know I can’t hold someone and spin kick them at the same time. It just doesn’t work because your arms aren’t long enough. I have my doubts Bruce Lee could’ve done it either y’know.
As a martial artist from an art specialising in kicks, I assure you that kick is not impossible.
I know that the arms seem too short. This is not actually a problem. The trick is having enough flexibility work on your sowars and sartoris (one of the quads, and one of the groin muscles). That will allow you to bring your leg up as is necessary. At that point, the shorter your arm, the closer the target is, and the closer the target the harder you hit.
Now, sometimes targets are little too close, which can potentially cause a kick to glance off. However, this problem is solved by performing a jumping kick and releasing the target just before impact. The jump, which is ordinarily a means of increasing power (not height, interestingly – flexibility should allow you to kick anywhere you want without jumping), in this case allows you to slightly increase the distance between you and the target, while maintaining impact strength.
However, a jump is not always necessary. If in water, the water will suspend your body and the body of your target. This means that they will not provide the resistance (resistance slows the kick and reduces power, even though strength is maintained) that a grounded target would provide, because they have reduced capacity for leverage to push against the kick. Both you and the target will be moved, but the target will feel the full impact of the kick. Free fall should, logically, allow a similar phenomenon because you and the target are effectively weightless and have no external objects to use to increase resistance and thereby retard the kick. Because there is no resistance, the kick will travel at full speed, and hit with its usual power, despite the overt proximity of the target.
As for spinning in freefall, it’s actually very easy. Sky-divers, before they deploy their parachute, manipulate the position of their bodies to alter patterns of vertical drag as they fall. This enables them to shift from various types of vertical to horizontal. It is also how sky-divers adjust their fall-speed. Spinning around, especially if you have a target to which you can cling, is not a difficult feat.
The relative difficulty of spins is not actuall important, though, because as far as I can see, she does not spin. If you look at panel four, the foot with the glow, which is the foot she then uses to kick with, is her left foot. Though it is difficult to be certain, Rachel’s feet appear to be roughly level in panel four. Therefore, the kick she executes in panel five would be a standard side kick, rather than a spinning variant (generall known as a back kick, despite the fact that it kicks the person infront of you). This is confirmed by the glowy contrail being a straight line. Were Rachel executing a back kick (and therefore needing to spin) the contrail would have been curved. Additionally, to perform a left leg back kick, her right leg would need to be pointed down, and she would find it very difficult to crunch forwards as she appears to be doing. Typically, a back kick will crunch backwards or sideways. A forwards crunch screws up the spin.
In short, she’s not spinning, but even if she were the kick would be fairly simple, especially in the effective weightlessness of freefall.
so, in short, she’s a Monk instead of a mook.
Also, I think she looks better without her nuncap :)
You, sir, have convinced me that you are either an expert opinion on this subject or a seventy-eighth degree black belt in bullshit. I’m thinking the former. I’ll have to contact my old buddy the former multi-time state karate champ (a self proclaimed expert at kicking people in the head) before coming to a final conclusion.
Less relevant side note: That final panel makes me think of Scott Pilgrim.
I have nothing to say about impossibility of kicks.
But – they’re over the water by the time this happens.
Or so it looks to me, in the first panel…
So, since Arkerra is (at least in part) a game: is it like WoW?
Falling into water = no damage?
(Yes, I know, falling into water in REAL LIFE doesn’t mean no damage.)
THAT was it… I had the “K.O.” as heard in the movie in my ear reading this… but couldn’t remember where i heard it.
You have my thanks.
(and my axe)
Thankyou. As much as possible, I try for both, but in this instance I actually knew what I was typing about, which makes a nice change.
Dude, I bet your DM hates you. This was the most entertaining thing I read today.
Thankyou. My DM does indeed hate me.
I definitely believe that the kick is possible, but in freefall the power would be significantly lower than on the ground. Birds are relatively fragile, though, so maybe it’s good enough.
Alright, but what’s the physics of kicking a person so hard your foot glows?
Luminescent paint.
Q: What leverage is needed to do spinning kicks on an avian in flight who is carrying it’s attacker in a magic-friendly fantasy based comic strip?
A: Nun.
In my opinion, this is the winning comment.
I bow. This was an excellently appropriate pun.
None as it’s NOT A SPIN KICK.
Her dress beings her a PARACHUTE!
Simple. She’s gonna do a perfect swan dive into the water below.
A swan DIIIIIIIIVE! Brian Blessed would be proud.
For that Reply, good Sir
You WIN this fine and tasty HAM.
Perhaps you can make a sandwich. Then diiiiiiiive in :)=)
Well, Instrument FLight Rules were dropped when she was grabbed.
Where’s the US Airways’ Hudson River pilot when you need him?
Bird was gonna drop her anyway. Might as well take him down with her.
Only I have the brains to rule Lylat.
I think this is a perfect example of “not thinking this cunning plan all the way through.”
Oh, pshaw. All she has to do is hold the bird-man’s wings out and ride him down like a glider. Or bird-woman. Whichever.
Also: SUPER COMBO FINISH!
Off the top of my head I can think of two characters who dealt with this situation. Batman in JLU very calmly requested a fellow justice leaguer swing by and help him out with the whole imminent death thing if they had a moment. Simon assimilated the enemy mech into his own and used it as a pair of makeshift wings (did the pilot ever get to leave?).
So the question of the day is does she have any comrades capable of slowing her descent, or failing that is she in any way capable of stealing the bird-person’s wings and incorporating them into her own form?
As much as the former sounds like the more plausible option on account of E-merl and his wind medalion, like seriously, how cool would angel wings be on the crazy nun?
Simon who? I’m sure I fail, and all.
From Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. He basically grabbed a flying mecha and nailed it to his mecha’s back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuQ3fg9knGo&feature=related
The relevant scene from one of the TTGL movies, in case you were curious (starting at ~00:25).
Congratulations are in order, then! She is truly living up to her role model.
She’s not considering the full weight of her actions, still, the scene has gravitas.
Considering the situation has already taken flight into territory beyond what she expected I think it’s perfectly understandable that she does not gracefully glide into a prepared plan that eliminates all the problems. Still, if she makes it out of this one in good condition under her own power it’s a real feather in her cap.
Winner.
And if not, she has a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield to pick a soft target on which to land.
Gilda gets what was coming to her.
Huh. Looks like the goggles did nothing.
Of course. Goggles are for stopping space-air.
My grandmother had a chihuaha that did this exact same thing once with a buzzard. I’ve never seen such an airborne flurry of fur, claws and teeth. Survived the fall, too.
Domestic cat is about the largest that animals can survive terminal velocity falls. Anything smaller than that has a good survival chance.
Rip the wings off and glide down LIKE A BOSS
if by Boss you mean like a Kratos.
I love the way the avian talks. Sounds like he could be distracted by a shiny object at any moment.
That is one cold turkey…
HADOUKEN!!!
Look at the second panel where she kicks him! Methinks that she be following the teachings of Frigg.
Well the church of the unyielding open heart *does* consider Frigg a saint or focus.
And one can’t fight an avian without breaking a few eggs. Ouch!
Who says a nun can’t fight! Also I think we might end up actually seeing a flying nun.
FALCON KICK!
+1
Gold Star.
YES. DEAR GOD YES.
She’s a priest. Levitate. Duh. She’s got the feather reagents RIGHT THERE.
Rawk Hawk. That is all.
The Spiney Bros were a pain.
Concerning the question of falling, check the first panel. Seems the Avian is carrying Rachel out to the water and is pretty much there already. Her falling onto somethign hard is likely not going to be the problem.
Oh no no no, this “Gralor” which I can only assume translates to ‘effin’ huge Kraken’ is what that fall has as a hazard.
Surface tension of liquids is a funny thing. At that height, she’d be much safer falling on sand or mud than on water.
Not in video games. In video games your fine in water! And you can usually hold yoru breath a long time.
As long as you avoid bottomless pits.
Well except for the ones where you instantly die if your feet so much as get wet.
All fear the deadly flying nun.
Hmmm……bird holds me up…..knock out bird……fall like stone?
ULTRA COMBO FINISH!!!
Rachel, I am liking you more and more.
And- OUCH- this may be fantasy, but I’m betting one reason feather-brain’s race can fly is because, like the birds of our world, they’ve got HOLLOW BONES.
Rachel is one DPSer I’d love to see in any of my groups.
nah, that’s a flying hat she just grabbed. Or a feather fall one.
She’s getting more and more like Frigg, imho.
why is that birdman wearing goggles?
Because he is a Junior Birdman!
*Makes Finger Goggles.* Up in the air junior birdman
Up in the air upside down
Up in the air junior birdman
Keep your noses off the ground
When you hear the grand announcement
that your wings are made of tin.
Then you know that Junior Birdman,
has turned his box tops in.*
For it takes: 5 box tops,
4 bottle bottoms,
3 coupons,
2 wrappers,
and one thin dime!
B-i-r-d, B-i-r-d, B-i-r-d-m-a-n
Birdman, Birdman, Birdman
Buzzzzzzzz!
Actually, she’s a birdgirl, but anyway…
all I hear is the Marvel vs. Capcom announcer yelling KAY OHHH!!!! beautifully done.
And gravity brings you 10d6 falling damage….
It’s not the Fall that Kills you…
…it’s the sudden stop at the end.
Normally it’s the heart attack half way down.
Don’t bring me down! Nun, nun, nun don’t bring me down, oweeeeeoooo!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it once more…
Don’t bring me down!
Win :D
FALCON KICK!!
Well, Bird-person kick. Anyone beat me to it?
Holy frig!
And true to fighting game standards, Rachel is wearing sexy lingerie (albeit under her habit).
is that a Lady Hawke?
One of my favorite films. :)
Nice page; she’s learned well from Frigg’s ass-kicking lessons.
On another note, when are the books shipping?
The books have already been shipped. If you don’t have yours yet in like a week, e-mail us and we’ll get to the bottom of it!Nevermind! T checked and said it shipped out this morning!
Randomly – Rachel’s little mantra that she’s saying reminds me of the Mentat poem or mnemonic or whatever it is, that Piter recites in the 80s version of the film.
I swear it your post wasn’t here when I started writing mine below. Yes, it reminds of the same mentat from Dune.
Is it a mentat poem, or a Bene Gesserit poem? I could’ve sworn that, in the book at least, Jessica uses it as well.
Both actually. Or rather that there are two mantras, one for the Mentat, (shown in the film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentat#Mantra And then there is the Bene Gesserit litany against fear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bene_Gesserit#Litany_against_fear
Which reminds me, I should go back and read Dune again. SO good.
Cheers,
Cote
I know it’s not cool but Rachel and her silly “I’m awesome” mantra annoy me. I kinda hope she hits the ground and doesn’t get up again.
“VICTORY, and your HAT.”
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20031017
“… Und any plan vere you lose you hat is?”
“A bad plan?”
“Right again!”
And victory gives me the sudden recognition of the laws of physics.
Wyle E. Coyote’s first law of physics: an object travelling at speed while airborne remains airborne until gravity is noticed.
AIR COMBO!!!
And whaddya know ;) Guile’s theme DOES go with this.
So does Taskmaster’s.
Oh my, she just reminded me or Amelia, of Slayers. Punch them in the nuts, for JUSTICE!!
Pacifist kick!
I got my book today! Woo!
Little does anyone know, she plans on calling the fall a flying kick, dealing 2d6 worth of damage to the planet and negating all damage to herself.
To answer the earlier question, it looks like they are suspenders.
Wait someone didn’t know this? But on the plus side this means she’s got a garter belt somewhere under there.
Then she did things to the budgie, that a cat would never do…
>Check comments
>Ctrl+F
>”Street Fighter”
>0 results
Guildies, I am disappoint.
Looking to the background of panel one…
“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…”
So they’re not fighting in the streets. Yet.
Besides which, this update is more Victory Through Air Power.
Which is infinitely less impressive without a Darlek in camoflage paint.
Ace Combat: Skies of Arkerra?
(Street Fighter IV was the first thing I thought of when I saw the brushstroke and the KO. I just didn’t bother commenting at the time, because like you, I thought the 100+ comments would be rife with them. In an effort to redeem myself and all the ones who missed the opportunity…)
Well, a kick like that in mid-air does take a lot of guile. It seems she’s a fist-fighter well beyond her ken. ….if she was a street fighter, I think in this situation the street (and gravity) would win, unless she somehow rose above it all.
I never touch the stuff personally.
But we got a Street Fighter reference and a Marvel vs Capcom 3 reference! What more do you want?
I want shit talking and challenges and hype, son.
I think somebody mentioned Marvel vs. Capcom, above…but I gotta say, it’s the first thing *I* thought of!
WAAAAAAAAAGH!
Frighteningly deft, our favorite femme defender lets fly fisticuffs upon her feathered foe. Fearlessness and fortitude triumph! Unfortunately left far aloft from terra firma, awaiting a fatal fall, Phil finishes with a cliffhanger.
This is the Best haiku ever.
Abcus applauds an asston (of) awesome alliteration.
Cheers,
Cote
I just wonder how is she going to safely land on the ground?!
She just needs a tiny glass of water in the right place, right?
She’s gonna get caught by a nice soft tentacle partway down.
I just wanted to say that I just love that her holy golden nut smite has sparkles.
My voice gives me super strength!
No one made the connection between her mantra and the Sith code from Star Wars? Epic fail.
My reaction too.