Ploop
SANDRA! SHE’LL TELL US WHAT TO DO! I was very pleased with the Lottie in panel six, she looks like a big woodlouse.
Bad Machinery
New comics by John Allison
SANDRA! SHE’LL TELL US WHAT TO DO! I was very pleased with the Lottie in panel six, she looks like a big woodlouse.
Well, nobody guessed how Sandra would use her bow
(and hopefully nobody will look into the technicalities of firing a line heavy enough to lift someone’s weight)
Cahdammit! Now, we gotta get ANOTHER basket!
It could have been much lighter line and still manage. But it wouldn’t have been so visible.
It’s very easy to fire a heavy line (or heavy anything, really) when you are aiming almost straight down.
Even then, Sandra would have shot at a high angle to give it the most distance.
Yes, why did she need the bow at all?
Style points! Verr important to Lottie
A good question. She could have just tossed the line like they do from a ship, with a life-ring attached to the line, but Lottie may have drifted too far for that. Beside that, it gave Sandra something important to do!!
What I have doubts about is Sandra’s hauling her out. Granted, Lottie probably weighs 100 pounds soaking wet, but she *is* soaking wet. And Sandra doesn’t appear to be massive herself. I wouldn’t have put money on Sandra not going in, trying to get Lottie out.
She’s clearly established here as being Britane’s doughtiest retainer. And retainers, as documented by D&D, can lift and haul many times their own body weight in treasure, gear, and incapacitated party members.
Is she related to Hetty Mapplethorpe? Distant cousin, perhaps?
If so, I would expect her to have a bow with a draw weight of at least a few hundred pounds.
Is Hetty Mapplethorpe related to Hetty Wainthropp?
Ah. The Nodwick of the Bobbinsverse.
I dunno, those legs look pretty stout in panel 5.
To paraphrase Basil Exposition of Austin Powers fame, “just enjoy the ride. That goes for all of you too.”
Well my hopes were dashed almost immediately!
Nonsense. As Green Arrow and Hawkeye have conclusively proven time and time again, absolutely anything can be attached to an arrow without altering its trajectory or the distance it can cover.
In fact, at first glance I thought what Sandra (or Thandra, which is an extremely barbarian sounding name BTW) was firing was a boxing glove arrow, that old staple.
They come no doughtier than Sandra!
She couldn’t sink, she has a reputation to uphold!
Downward trajectory helps, plus I did some back-of-the envelope math. About 30 feet of the lightest climbing rope I could find is a bit less than four pounds, and the draw weight of an Olympic-caliber bow is about 40 pounds, so overestimating and assuming the bobber arrow is a half a pound, which would be chunky for an arrow, you’d likely be able to make Susan’s shot.
Sorry for all the Yank numbers, I’m terrible at metric measurements.
We stole ’em Yank numbers from the Brits in the first place, so it’s probably okay.
Of course, if we were being truly authentic, the weights would be measured in stone.
Yeah, but then it would sink
What’s heavier, a pound of stone or a pound of kilograms?
I think you mean “Sandra”. Susan, as indicated by the upcoming titles, is a savage swordswoman, not an archer.
Not to hamper your numbers, but they are off by 2x. The lightest double/twin rope is ~33g/m, so 30 feet would be 300g (2/3 of a pound). The lightest single rope is ~48g/m, so 440g (~1 pound). And solely for hauling Lottie, a 5mm dyneema static (15g/m) would be entirely sufficient (1200kg strength), though harder to get a grip on. I’ll get my coat.
Under no other comic strip do I find such exhaustive discussion of the tiniest of technical minutiae.
It really is a tribute to JA’s story-telling.
(Oh, then you’re not reading grrlpowercomic.)
Is that the legendary toilet float arrow?
P2 & P5 are fierce doughty indeed.
As for what Lottie accomplished going in the water, well, I’m sure that’s in next week’s installments.
Can’t be canceled if you’re drowned with your smartphone instead! What better way to gain the upper hand on Beate than by offing yourself before she can?
What do you mean? She was planning all along to have her nemesis be pushed into the water by her alternate personality.
Lottie is safe, HOORAY for Sandra! So athletic, strong, awesome! Now I wonder if Skelottie will disappear waiting in the shadow for the right time to hit Lottie or they will be able to capture her right now
That’s a very good question! Is she a goner, or what?
My guess would be that if she were thrown a lifeline she would refuse it, and ‘BLOOP’ into history
In her last act she was stopping herself so she may only be wanting to get away. She may be deeply ashamed of her previous acts.
Bea was able to stop her, but with a surprise attack and using all her strength while Skelottie still was in control of their body. I don’t exclude a future where Skelottie is still trying to kill Lottie having a harder time repressing Bea.
But she drowned in the cold water! (Unlike Lottie who dressed warmly and had sufficient floating ability!)
A great woodlouse indeed. Perhaps that could be another wrestling character if she needs one?
I don’t know if puffers are allowed in the ring!
I thought I recalled something about woodlousen on this page, but maybe it was in the comments that used to be there. Regardless, today was saved, thanks to Claire dismissing Lottie’s momentary purple puffer ennui.
Purple puffer ennui would make a great band name.
There was some talk about woodlice (and the phrase “thodden roly polies”) in the comments on this page: https://badmachinery.com/comic/a-holiday-harlequinade-part-2/#comment-4442 Could that be what you were thinking of?
Pillbugs leapt up the league table of favorite earthly life-forms on my honeymoon, spent at a friend’s ramshackle beach cabin in Myrtle Beach, which had an attached concrete-floored outdoor shower.
We brought our cat (we only had one cat back then! What a ludicrous notion that was!) with us rather than leave her all alone back home, and while she didn’t like the beach itself nearly as much as we thought she would (specifically: she hated and feared it), she discovered that the shower was home to numerous roly-polies who would helpfully curl up into tiny balls for her, allowing her hours of fun batting them from one side of the shower to the other. A good time was had by all, given that she confined herself to isopod football activities instead of, like, eating them, to the relief of all involved.
Given how little Tip had enjoyed the drive there, the woodlouse efforts at keeping her entertained during her stay were appreciated by us more than we can ever express.
So the answer to the question “What did you do on your honeymoon?” is “Watched a cat play marbles with woodlice, in the shower”. Sending the impertinent questioner off to do some very puzzled research in the weirder recesses of the Internet.
YES! That was where I recalled seeing it!
Sandra gifts us with another proof that the dowager and her coterie deserve a series of their own. Possibly a prequel.
Plunger? I hardly knew ‘er.
The puffer is the key to all of this
Would Sandra’s last name happen to be Queen, or Barton?
Bring back Dick Barton!
Brb, gotta look up “doughtiest”.
Superlative of “doughty”: competent, good, strong, valiant. From Old English [i]dohtig[/i]. Not to be confused with “doughiest”.
Bah, I need to stop switching windows between BBCode forums and HTML comments sections.
one MUST find a chance to use this unique English word at any place possible. It’s so great.
I have respect for anyone who can use the word “doughtiest” properly in a sentence and in context.
Cheers.
Sandra and Lottie’s puffer are this story’s ultimate heroes.
Great detectives have a tendency to survive falling into water.
A truly excellent word.
Thief Gaiden: The Lifeguard Years
I’m guessing the Hallooooo is Lottie, but it does look like ghosty type writing – and the German spelling – so is it Beate calling out somehow? But yes, doughty indeed!
My initial read of it was Claire calling out to be rescued, but I think you are right about it being Beate metaphysically howdying fromm wherever she is at the moment
It could also be Sandra’s war-cry!
Claire is clearly yelling, so I think it’s supposed to be her.
Was also wondering this and agree that Claire is yelling, probably from the sheer relief that there is someone with full free use of their extremities and is not trying to push them off into a dam.
GROTE: afloat.
BEATE: defeat.
Unfortunately, pronunciation dictates another rhyme for the German girl’s name.
Maybe “BEATE: went after”?
There’s a very niche spinoff in that – ‘Charlotte Grote, Isopod Impersonation Services’
The bouyancy of the human body plus a puffer coat and a wetsuit. Sounds iike something they’d do on Mythbusters.
Chekov’s bow, fired in the final act!
Sandra is the doughtiest, Lottie is the dottiest!
A wetsuit. That explains Lottie’s footwear, I was wondering about it a few pages ago, suddenly blue and black instead of the white shoes she wore before.
Indeed. I did think the colour choice was out of place given Lottie’s usual attire.
No need for zee Zodiac, we can see zee Puffy is perfectly adapted to multiple environments. With zee assistance of zee doughty Sandra, is capable of extraction from zee dam waters with only an arrow and a strong fishing line.
I am hoping that Sandra makes an appearance in Savage Sword of Susan.
Are we SURE that this is Lotte?