Interesting. It's hard to tell with all the football gear on, but Lain seems more mouse-like than her sister.
Her ability to vault over the line backer is quite amazing. Not so much because she managed to jump and step on his helmet - a good dancer or acrobat can do that - but she did it without breaking the guy's neck!
What's her secret? Is Lain unusually light despite her large build, or is she wearing anti-gravity underwear?
Go Sis!
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The_Fox
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Re: Go Sis!
And if so, can we see?Sylvain wrote:Is Lain unusually light despite her large build, or is she wearing anti-gravity underwear?
- Jarylan...you knew it was coming as soon as someone mentioned Dr. Seuss's invention.
"What the?! Where did you get THAT?!"
"Creative aquisition."
"Creative aquisition."
Re: Go Sis!
O.o Where did you get that factoid? Considering that the average high school line backer is over 6' tall, I don't think any dancer or acrobat can pull off a feat like what you describe and especially not as depicted in the comic. That kind of clearance, to still have one's feet under one's body, requires a jump at least equivalent to the record high jump if not greater.Sylvain wrote:...Her ability to vault over the line backer is quite amazing. Not so much because she managed to jump and step on his helmet - a good dancer or acrobat can do that...
Lain is all the more impressive to have been able to do such a thing, weighed down by all of that padding, with less than 20' of a starting run, and on a torn up football field (200 lbs. boys trying to force each other out of the way with only their cleats for traction are going to tear up the turf). Just so I'm clear, Allan, cybernetics and performance-enhancing devices are illegal, right?
"I don't know why, but watching 12-year old Japanese girls flinging their school uniforms at each other was wildly entertaining." - Azrael, Japanese Exchange Teacher.
Well, the guy appears to be crouching a little, which should shave a few inches off the jump... Also, as you mention, Andrick, this IS a comic!
Still, whatever the reason behind Lain's performance, the reaction of both the line backer and Pierce indicates that it was totally unexpected, and therefore most likely highly unusual even in the lax context of that universe.
It also occurs to me that Calvin is quite small. Perhaps Lain is really a tiny - but very strong - thing under all that padding. This would, at least partially, help to explain both the jump and the lack of injury.
Yet another possibility might be that future football helmets will be equiped with gravitic/inertial compensators for safety...
Still, whatever the reason behind Lain's performance, the reaction of both the line backer and Pierce indicates that it was totally unexpected, and therefore most likely highly unusual even in the lax context of that universe.
It also occurs to me that Calvin is quite small. Perhaps Lain is really a tiny - but very strong - thing under all that padding. This would, at least partially, help to explain both the jump and the lack of injury.
Yet another possibility might be that future football helmets will be equiped with gravitic/inertial compensators for safety...
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Allan_ecker
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EDIT: Almost this entire post has been removed as I have decided it's incorrect information.
Lain is not a tiny little thing. She's an icebox, allright.
She's also pretty much on level with olympic athletes, and aided by more resiliant astroturf than you might expect.
Lain is not a tiny little thing. She's an icebox, allright.
She's also pretty much on level with olympic athletes, and aided by more resiliant astroturf than you might expect.
Last edited by Allan_ecker on Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
<A HREF="http://umlauthouse.comicgenesis.com" TARGET=_blank>UH2: The Mayhem of a New Generation</A>
"Death and taxes are unsolved engineering problems."
--Romano Machado
"Death and taxes are unsolved engineering problems."
--Romano Machado
EDIT: my previous reply contained comments based on Allan's original mention of the fact that Laine was cyber-augmented. It looks like she no longer is. (Wasn't it established that it's impossible to change the past?...)
No matter. If Pierce can sink fourteen snooker balls in one shot, then I can believe that Laine owes her athletic abilities entirely to good genetic engineering.
Assuming that the player over whom Laine vaulted is still Alex, the fact that you took the trouble to specify that he is not sexist seems to indicate that he is a quite decent fellow, and not just a dumb jock. I like him already!
Poor Pierce is going to have a hard time with so many fine specimens of both sexes around...
No matter. If Pierce can sink fourteen snooker balls in one shot, then I can believe that Laine owes her athletic abilities entirely to good genetic engineering.
Assuming that the player over whom Laine vaulted is still Alex, the fact that you took the trouble to specify that he is not sexist seems to indicate that he is a quite decent fellow, and not just a dumb jock. I like him already!
Poor Pierce is going to have a hard time with so many fine specimens of both sexes around...
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Micro_Fur
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*Looks at the comic in a mix of confusion and disbelief.*
Wait a minute, I recognize that face. . . CUTE KITTY GUY!
Perchance was this the one pierce was actually oggling before his sister interruped his imagination.
Oooohh, I almost feel sorry for Pierce again, torn between such 'fine specimines' as Sylvain put it, and his mostly hidden fear of social rejection.
Micro_fur - Just another non-conformist social reject, and darn proud of it too.
Wait a minute, I recognize that face. . . CUTE KITTY GUY!
Perchance was this the one pierce was actually oggling before his sister interruped his imagination.
Oooohh, I almost feel sorry for Pierce again, torn between such 'fine specimines' as Sylvain put it, and his mostly hidden fear of social rejection.
Micro_fur - Just another non-conformist social reject, and darn proud of it too.
If the quest for answers only leads to more questions, did you ask the right question to begin with?
Although he has since erased it, Allan did confirm in his 6:21 AM post that the cute kitty guy is indeed Alex, the bobcat who first lured Pierce over the bi-sexuality treshold.
Interestingly, we are still left to ponder as to this hunk's sexual orientation. I bet we are going to see a lot more of him in the weeks (months? years?) to come.
Interestingly, we are still left to ponder as to this hunk's sexual orientation. I bet we are going to see a lot more of him in the weeks (months? years?) to come.
Um... that was not what I was taking issue with. I took issue with the comment about above mediocre acrobats and dancers being able to vertically propel their bodies 6'. This was not a hurdling jump where the legs are scissored to make an additional 2-3' clearance. This was not, as we have been schooled by Allan, a Fosberry Flop where one twists and bends one's body at the apex of a leap to successfully pull all of one's parts over the bar before crashing to the ground on one's back. The comic is quite clear; Lain's body, in an upright posture, managed to clear all of Alex.Sylvain wrote:Well, the guy appears to be crouching a little, which should shave a few inches off the jump... Also, as you mention, Andrick, this IS a comic!..
If I was to fault anything in the comic it would be in Allan's depiction of a competent football player. Football athletes require composite abilities: running speed, running stamina (to repeatedly sprint from a full stop), upper body strength (to make tackles), lower body strength (to block/break tackles), endurance (to prolong exertions of strength in full gear), quick reflexes (to react), hand-eye coordination (to catch/deflect/recover), and physical stature (to absorb punishment). Every football player must exhibit all of these talents aside from any special gifts of throwing, kicking, focusing, and/or dodging. If high school linemen can routinely smackdown or deflect passes or kicks that are near enough for them to touch then Alex's ability to stick up one arm to at least touch a much slower and bigger Lain should not be a problem.
"I don't know why, but watching 12-year old Japanese girls flinging their school uniforms at each other was wildly entertaining." - Azrael, Japanese Exchange Teacher.
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Alfador
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Also, <i>vaulting</i> a linebacker would be quite different from simply <i>jumping</i> to that height. If one uses ones hands for support, I'd imagine it'd go something like this:
1) Lain places hands on Alex's helmet.
2) Lain jumps into the air, legs apart, shifting her weight so her hands are directly underneath her.
3) Lain bends her legs underneath her to touch Alex's helmet right near her hands.
4) Lain straightens her legs to propel herself upward, ending in the position seen in the panel.
See? No strictly superhuman abilities required.
1) Lain places hands on Alex's helmet.
2) Lain jumps into the air, legs apart, shifting her weight so her hands are directly underneath her.
3) Lain bends her legs underneath her to touch Alex's helmet right near her hands.
4) Lain straightens her legs to propel herself upward, ending in the position seen in the panel.
See? No strictly superhuman abilities required.
*sigh* You guys are focusing on the wrong thing again... and making a bad argument of it to boot. "If I was to fault anything in the comic," is what I had said to make the distinction for what promopted my posting, which is an outrageous statement by Sylvain regarding acrobats/dancers and why he is frakly unimpressed with her vertical leap.
The bad argument goes back to the fact that there are two football players charging at each other, one of whom with the intent to grab/block/hinder the other. Lain does not have the time to interact with Alex as you depict, Alfy; she'd only have time enough to leap-frog and even that contact with him might cause her to spin ass-over-teacups because of the force applied on her hands by Alex's directional force (sue me, I forget the term) compared to airborne-Lain's. If she can lay hands on him, then he's definitely going to lay hands on her because that is his sole mission for the play if not the game. In order for the 4-step overrun to work it would require both participants to be fairly still and it would also require Alex to be really bad at playing football (we're talking "not make the team" bad).
I assumed Lain got herself 6' off the ground prior to being within arms' reach of Alex. Thus the tap and they are past each other. It is an amazing feat, but that's the way Allan drew it.
The bad argument goes back to the fact that there are two football players charging at each other, one of whom with the intent to grab/block/hinder the other. Lain does not have the time to interact with Alex as you depict, Alfy; she'd only have time enough to leap-frog and even that contact with him might cause her to spin ass-over-teacups because of the force applied on her hands by Alex's directional force (sue me, I forget the term) compared to airborne-Lain's. If she can lay hands on him, then he's definitely going to lay hands on her because that is his sole mission for the play if not the game. In order for the 4-step overrun to work it would require both participants to be fairly still and it would also require Alex to be really bad at playing football (we're talking "not make the team" bad).
I assumed Lain got herself 6' off the ground prior to being within arms' reach of Alex. Thus the tap and they are past each other. It is an amazing feat, but that's the way Allan drew it.
"I don't know why, but watching 12-year old Japanese girls flinging their school uniforms at each other was wildly entertaining." - Azrael, Japanese Exchange Teacher.
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Micro_Fur
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There, there Andrick, let's not get in a scuffle in this forum over a difference in view over a nice piece of FICTION that Allan has bestowed us. If we start having a flame war over the physics of an IMPROBABILITY I will be very upset that we could not handle ourselves in a civil manner as SAPIENT beings. Now let's all take a deep breath and try this again. We know from Andrick that the physics of the setup just don't add up based on Newtonian principles, and Sylvain is just plain ol' confused as to how the heck Lain managed to pull the whole thing off in the first place.
Micro_fur - *Pop* goes the world.
Micro_fur - *Pop* goes the world.
If the quest for answers only leads to more questions, did you ask the right question to begin with?
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Allan_ecker
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Uh... YEAH.
Andrick is right about Lain not being able to do any sort of grappling manuvers in this case; even if Alex is completely jaw-in-the-floorboards astonished, (he is) he can still grab ahold of someone who is essentually CRAWLING UP HIM. (It's worth noting that he actually does have the reflexes to reach up and grab Lain, bringing her down hard, even if she doesn't grapple, if he weren't so flabbergasted at her leap.)
Lain's center of gravity has translated almost six feet vertically, and that's really impressive, especially considering she isn't "flopping". This is mitigated somewhat by Alex's crouching stance (the top of his helmet is only about 5' off the ground here) and the fact that Lain's legs are tucked in fairly tight, but it's still basically a superhuman or near-superhuman feat.
Whether it's really possible for anyone Lain's size to jump 6' vertical from a near-standing start without the benefit of cybernetics is debatable, and (I hope) not a sticking point for the progression of this comic. Physics are mutable in fiction, even if they are limited by the extent to which disbelief is bieng suspended.
I think I can get away with this one, since Lain's athleticism is going to be a major deal for her character; she'll "pay" for such abilities with hard work and a near-pathological social life. What may in the end be important is not that physics allow Lain to do what she does, but that the laws of narration show that she "deserves" such capabilities.
*shrug*
Andrick is right about Lain not being able to do any sort of grappling manuvers in this case; even if Alex is completely jaw-in-the-floorboards astonished, (he is) he can still grab ahold of someone who is essentually CRAWLING UP HIM. (It's worth noting that he actually does have the reflexes to reach up and grab Lain, bringing her down hard, even if she doesn't grapple, if he weren't so flabbergasted at her leap.)
Lain's center of gravity has translated almost six feet vertically, and that's really impressive, especially considering she isn't "flopping". This is mitigated somewhat by Alex's crouching stance (the top of his helmet is only about 5' off the ground here) and the fact that Lain's legs are tucked in fairly tight, but it's still basically a superhuman or near-superhuman feat.
Whether it's really possible for anyone Lain's size to jump 6' vertical from a near-standing start without the benefit of cybernetics is debatable, and (I hope) not a sticking point for the progression of this comic. Physics are mutable in fiction, even if they are limited by the extent to which disbelief is bieng suspended.
I think I can get away with this one, since Lain's athleticism is going to be a major deal for her character; she'll "pay" for such abilities with hard work and a near-pathological social life. What may in the end be important is not that physics allow Lain to do what she does, but that the laws of narration show that she "deserves" such capabilities.
*shrug*
<A HREF="http://umlauthouse.comicgenesis.com" TARGET=_blank>UH2: The Mayhem of a New Generation</A>
"Death and taxes are unsolved engineering problems."
--Romano Machado
"Death and taxes are unsolved engineering problems."
--Romano Machado
Sylvain, can you PM me that information about the acrobats and dancers? Thanks.
"I don't know why, but watching 12-year old Japanese girls flinging their school uniforms at each other was wildly entertaining." - Azrael, Japanese Exchange Teacher.