Yeah, I had completely forgotten that Phil had been the one to suggest the bear as the “F” in the Fightopian flag, and that he had a backstory in mind for it. That’s a great composition in panel 1, putting the bear and therefore Mama Bear/Brunhilde right in the center of it, making her the only stable point in all the frantic action.

If the unspattered, punctuationless cape wasn’t enough clue that this is a flashback, here’s binocular Sundar in panel 2.

A confession: I don’t really follow Metal Gear. Phil tried to get me into it a couple of times, so I know the bare minimum, but TBH, I’m not much of a gamer in general. When it came to Sundar’s story, I knew that Phil was laying in the Metal Gear influence pretty, um, solidly. But I also felt that my outsider’s perspective would be helpful in making sure this story was still gettable to non-MG fans.

When it came to this sequence, I needn’t have worried. Brunhilde is pretty great no matter where her roots of inspiration lie.