Annotated 48-35
FB: In Taro’s defense, most characters would get a little irritable after their multi-story ark was declared non-cannon.
I don’t have a lot of new observations to make about Taro at this point, but one aspect of this page does strike me as interesting. Flo and I ended up putting his biggest breakdown here, not right before his final defeat as you might expect.
I don’t know whether Mich is trying to set up his escape by having Taro get him to leave the cockpit or if he’s just telling the truth about everything and responding on instinct. Either could be plausible, really.
“Compromised”… Yeah, that’s one way of categorize that…
And it’s obvious that Taro doesn’t smell a ra-rat…
“I don’t know whether Mich is trying to set up his escape by having Taro get him to leave the cockpit or if he’s just telling the truth about everything and responding on instinct. Either could be plausible, really.”
Third option – he knows who’s out there, and isn’t exactly comfortable that he’d get a warm welcome.
The fact that neither of them had snapped Taro’s neck from behind or whacked him with a wrench or something when he was driving (as he does it with both hands, even) was surprising. But him telling him “yo how about you get and ‘repair’ it” and he’s “Nah shit man, I must insist I stay cozy here instead of running the fuck off” is extra weird to me considering at this point, specifically, they are under no visible threat. Neither army is here and the berserkers haven’t arrived.
If you go a few pages back, you can see that Franzington and Micholuszek have spotted Bandit, Sundar and Rendar, but decided not to say anything to Taro.
So they do know who’s out there, and what kind of treatment to expect. Micholuszek seems mentally sufficiently present in the 4th panel to remember how to talk to Taro to get his point across, but only barely. So I’m not sure if he has a plan (maybe stay inside and hope that Taro is attacked first hen they break through the door, then plead for his life?) or is just doing what his fear tells him, but I’m sure he does not want to run straight into Bandit’s knives either way.
But if Mich had volunteered to go out, Taro would have become suspicious.
If Mich knows that, he could just be doing reverse psychology. We all know that’s Super Effective against kiddoes.
Keep in mind that he’s saying “we should return to —“ before being threatened by the gun. It looks like he’s trying to end the rampage without facing whatever dangers might lurk outside.
I don’t understand why the gnome engineers would treat themselves as KOS targets at this point. And pleading for their lives after they break in as opposed to getting out, hoping to GTFO or pleading for their life if they get caught doesn’t seem like much “better” or higher chance.
Bandit has some history with both of them, and it’s plausible to assume that there are several people of the sneaky/stabby variety climbing on around on the tank. If I was either of them and afraid for my life, I think I’d not be too eager to find out how that encounter goes, independent on whether that might maximize my odds of survival.
The option he tries to suggest, going back to the hangar, sounds safer than either leaving now or staying with Taro. We can presume there are also some more people from their own side at the hangar, so it would permit a chance of leaving the cockpit without encountering a bunch of hostiles at close range.
Baring that, getting caught with Taro in the cockpit still seems safer to me — but feel free to disagree. It doesn’t really matter because if we can’t agree which of those options is better, then the chances of our two professors to come to the “correct” conclusion with any certainty, while trying to deal with Taro, the Engine and the fact that they are a lot more likely to both be dead in a few minutes than anyone can be comfortable with, is pretty low. They see something that might look like a straw, they grab it.
To be fair, any young man showing off his big cannon would react like that if his impressive piece suddenly starts malfunctioning in the most crucial moment…
They won’t follow his instructions to the letter. “Get out and fix it” isn’t that different from “Get out and run away”