page 703 – UNFORESEEN TWIST
ASTRID IS MORE THAN SHE SEEMS! WHAT A TOTALLY UNEXPECTED TWIST THAT HASN’T BEEN FORESHADOWED IN ANY WAY AND MOST CERTAINLY WASN’T ALREADY SPECULATED ABOUT MANY WEEKS AGO!
So, this is another page I mostly bashed out before MAGFest, but THIS time I really like it. Just kinda awesome, ya know? Awesomeness is fun.
Alas, I was not able to get a new Voting Incentive ready to go along with this page. Those Conventional Wisdom MAGFest comics are taking even longer than the Ichibancon ones, and this time there’s more of them. HOPEFULLY I’ll have enough done for everything to go back to normal around here next Tuesday… just in time to start scrambling to get ready for Katsucon. Man, I do the worst things to myself…
(Historical Notes: I really wish I could re-size those side panels to make better use of the space of the page as a whole, but the only way to really do that would be to re-draw those panels from the ground up, and as I’ve said multiple times, that ain’t happening. Still super proud of this reveal, though, even if it wasn’t a surprise in the least.)
On the previous page, I gave a “Spoilers Included” possible explanation for why the gun looks the way it does. Look, a square panel on the bottom of the gun that supports my “Mount This Gun” suggestion! Anyway, what I didn’t bring up there was why the thing is “illegal pretty much everywhere”, as it wasn’t mentioned in the previous page. As it’s mentioned here, I shall do so here.
I can think of a few reasons why this weapon is illegal. There’s the obvious “High Powered Hand-Held Weapon = Illegal”, sure, and the whole “Dangerous Effects on the Environment” possibility, but that’s far too sane for it to be illegal “pretty much everywhere” in the FOT Universe, there’s likely worse things for the environment in common consumer products here, as well as common household goods that are just as, if not more, dangerous when properly combined. No, the real reason why it’s illegal is that it’s a complete nightmare to aim. I’m talking trained marksmen having difficulties hitting a large target painted onto the broad side of a barn from 250 paces bad. This is not a weapon for precise aim, this is a weapon to try to demolish a city from the outside with. Particularly if you use the sustained fire option for more than 10 seconds, though that runs the risk of the thing exploding. Which is also, strangely enough, the ONLY way this highly volatile weapon is known to explode.
As always, I lack the words to properly express my gratitude for readers who are willing to figure out this stuff better than I ever could myself 🙂
I’m making an excuse for you to do something you obviously don’t want to do, and reintroduce these horrifically designed weapons in the hands of some criminal organisation, or something.