[757] Blink!

Wow, Tom really nailed it in the last two frames. I didn't realize until I saw them that this is exactly what happens to me when a paradigm-shifting idea hits me.

Very briefly, my eyes open quite wide, time slows down, and the edges of everything become razor sharp. It only lasts a second, but it is breath-taking, and awesome.

"Allistair"


And yes, that last panel is Made Of Win.

Self Reminder Number 26 - Pick up some more milk from Vons
Self Reminder Number 27 - When rich and famous, buy Tom and make him illustrate all future moments of inspiration

Heh, just came across this again: [259] :-)

Where exactly have we seen it before, anyway? I could only find it on two of the treatise pages (and yes, it indeed has been clearly associated with Kat before).

Possibly. I couldn't find it either anywhere outside the comic. If I wanted to be mean, I'd say it looks a bit like a toilet seat! ;D

edit: Ah, thanks foresterr, that clears it up.

In any case, does anyone else think the penultimate panel would make an excellent wallpaper? Or even T-shirt design?

Well, he's originally an "S" model, which stands for Seraph, after all. And any proper angel needs a pair of wings.

The etheric light bulb in the last panel was a nice touch.

"I can rebuild him. I have the technology. I have the capability to make the world's first bionic pigeon. Better than he was before. Stronger. Faster."

Dun dun duuuuun!

I just realized something;

Kat's not turning the bird into a cyborg; she's using it's bone structure and is going to apply it to Robot to make him less bulky!

Reactivated this account just to post this:

Guys, remember this ending page from Book 1?

www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=295

I think that Kat's innate power just woke up.

Heh...how much do you want to bet that her anti-gravity engine, unbeknownst to her, actually employs etheric science, and that is the reason that the court dismantled it after her rescue?

Even Kat admitted to an ability of sorts - I wish I could remember the exact page...ah found it: www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=507

It's a sense of knowing what one can do with the resources present. It's almost savant-like in the sense that she's able to see what can be done with what she has available, and then where to take it (in the sense of robotics, impossible machines, etc). Definitely not a "normal" ability per se, and would explain why she's being trained at the Court. We've got people like this now, who can do the same thing with mechanical stuff - they see what's there, what could be done with it, how it can be tweaked to do what it is they want it to do.

I don't think it would have an etheric component per se, although I think it could work with the etherium if need be. If there is one to Kat's ability it's the "seeing," an almost oracle-like ability to visibly what could be done with the materials at hand. It might explain how she figured out Sky Watcher's abilities so quickly - she sees what he has on him, and can extrapolate what those things do.

I think at this point, an ability like that can go from simple reasoning on how to make a robotic limb work to more impossible stuff as long as the knowledge base behind it fills out the "What does she see?" aspect. In other words, teach Kat all the advanced robotics, she's going to do crazy stuff with it. Teach her computer stuff, she's going to do crazy stuff with it. Teach her how Diego's etherium-to-robotics stuff works, she'll probably figure that out and go the extra mile with it. I think, at this point, her ability works as long as there's enough information in her mind on the nuts and bolts of *how* to get from point A (what she sees) to point B (how it all comes together).

She's also good at working things out herself as far as figuring out how to make X do Y. Whether or not that's connected to her special ability's pretty much up for speculation. However, it adds to her knowledge base. If she say, figures out that Anja's computer works on a level she can appreciate, she's going to figure out how to make other stuff jive with the etherium as well.

Okay... why the hell didn't I see that before. Guys, he's right. It looks like a sigil. Which, in Kat's case, makes sense. Her affinity leans towards technology, so a symbol that represents her would be more likely to be a created thing than something that is more primal.

Also, her ability for creation? I called that a long time ago when I suggested she was like the Marvel Comic character Forge. Then again, her ability may just be above-average intellect when it comes to technology. Not every ability is so blatantly extra-normal.