Not cooler, simply more applicable at the moment. There wouldn’t be much left of Annex One if Cinderblock were the maintenance person. Say, wasn’t there a point at which there wasn’t much left of Annex One with Shelby as the maintenance person?
Just remember, she has the proportionate strength of a goose! (Which, really, isn’t that much smaller than her. Still freakishly terrifying and all, but not THAT strong.)
So she CAN fly! Good; it’d be frustrating as all hell to have to deal with moulting and preening (and I do NOT want to know how she does that, considering how actual waterfowl do it) without at least being capable of flight.
Which… might make sense if she was on the ground, but which makes zero sense while flying.
It gets even weirder when you consider that she’s supposed to have goose powers, and the only reason birds can fly is because they have hollow bones and are very lightweight, which means they EXTRA can’t lift heavy objects.
Well, “several times” your body weight isn’t the same as “many, many, *many* times” your body weight.
There’s also the problem of scale. An ant can lift many times its own weight because it is tiny. But if you scaled that same ant up to human size, it would collapse under its own weight.
It’s one thing for a large eagle to carry off a small goat across a very short distance. It’d be another thing entirely for an Andean Condor to carry off an adult human.
Goose Girl’s wings are smaller than a condor’s, and her humanoid body is surely much heavier, and she’s somehow lifting a person whom I can only assume is – at minimum – the weight of a horse (anywhere from to 1/2 to 1 tons), and probably actually even heavier than that.
Maybe if she’s flapping her wings at incredible speed, like a hummingbird or something (which introduces all sorts of other physics related problems), then she could pull it off…
I can’t agree with your ant analogy. While this is far from a perfect calculation (since I don’t know the actual volume of an ant), if a 20mm long carpenter ant weighs 100mg, then an ant that is 6 feet long would weigh roughly 150lbs. Since the ant’s exoskeleton and musculature would also be scaled up proportinately, I have no trouble believing that such an insect could easily lift a ton without being crushed, to say nothing of being crushed by just its own body weight. But that’s all really irrelevant, because you can’t compare ants with birds to begin with, and Goose Girl isn’t 90 times the size of a normal goose. Her body is actually pretty close to the same size as a large Canada Goose. So the question of scale doesn’t apply.
I agree that Goose Girl’s wings look slightly out of proportion for a goose, but only slightly. Her body (as birds are measured) appears to be roughly 3 feet long, so she should have approximately a 5 foot wingspan. Hers looks close to that in some of the images, but the fact that her legs and head are MUCH too big for a goose makes her wings look a lot smaller by comparison.
Of course, if you want to get really pedantic, a goose wouldn’t have arms either. And while an eagle can lift 5 times its body weight, a goose cannot. Then again, she is still human. But even if you figure that she weighs roughly 100 lbs, rather than only 15 or 20 lbs that a goose her size should weigh, she still shouldn’t be able to lift Cinder, unless you take into account the possibility that the radioactive goose bite also gave her super strength.
But the really important thing to consider here is that this is a combination of cartoon physics and mad science. So she can do anything the cartoonist says she can. And of course, as we all know, mad science is not limited by the possible.
The ant analogy is very much applicable because the strength of muscles and bones (or exoskeletal equivalents) are proportional to their cross-sectional area, while the weight of an ant is proportional to volume. So an ant a hundred times as long is a million times heavier, but only ten thousand times stronger. So an ant which could lift ten times its weight scaled up a hundred times would only be able to lift a tenth of its weight. This ant wouldn’t even be able to stand under its own power, let alone carry anything else.
She can probably also break a man’s arm with a blow of her wing. (Yes, traditionally that’s swans, but a swan’s just a goose that’s been bleached and is too superior to honk, right?)
So that is how Skin-Horse is gonna end? With Unity throwing Sweetheart into H.T.’s mouth to shut him up? You certainly plan far ahead, Shaenon and Jeff.
See, now if I were doing it, I would have hurled Red Knight at the sea monster. But I just really dislike Red Knight, so I wouldn’t mind doing that even if it weren’t warranted.
In fall of 2017 Nick’s skin was peeled away.
The HMS Habakkuk came around to save the day.
A landing field of ice that stretched a mile from end to end,
And commanded by Olympia their water cooler friend.
The ship of ice they landed on had made the best of saves.
But Shelby’s five-o’clock now threatened them atop the waves.
The Goose Girl and the Cinderblock were quickest to react.
And thrown into the tentacles, they went on the attack.
They gotta beat the monster that’s a causin’ Nick to cuss.
They gotta face the tentacles, that would be such a plus.
Hard-hit low-tech a gunnin’ when they threw their weight around.
They gotta beat the monster and they gotta bring it down.
Must be frustrating, when someone has cooler superpowers than you…
‘sokay, Shelby… we still love you.
Haven’t but seen that clip in ages
It’s a classic. Really captured the superhero condition.
Make that superhuman condition, scans better as the intended light pun.
Captures and exaggerates, but yes
Not cooler, simply more applicable at the moment. There wouldn’t be much left of Annex One if Cinderblock were the maintenance person. Say, wasn’t there a point at which there wasn’t much left of Annex One with Shelby as the maintenance person?
Well… yes. But not because Shelby was the maintenance person.
Now I’m feeling sorry for the sea monster.
This also reminds me that we haven’t seen Hitty and Moustachio for a while now.
Poor Goose Girl looks like she sprained a wing there in panel 2.
Yeah, that grimace speaks volumes. Of course, once she lands, her voice will also speak volumes.
Just remember, she has the proportionate strength of a goose! (Which, really, isn’t that much smaller than her. Still freakishly terrifying and all, but not THAT strong.)
So she CAN fly! Good; it’d be frustrating as all hell to have to deal with moulting and preening (and I do NOT want to know how she does that, considering how actual waterfowl do it) without at least being capable of flight.
And lift things that are many, many, *many* times her body weight…
Which… might make sense if she was on the ground, but which makes zero sense while flying.
It gets even weirder when you consider that she’s supposed to have goose powers, and the only reason birds can fly is because they have hollow bones and are very lightweight, which means they EXTRA can’t lift heavy objects.
But many birds — for example owls, hawks, eagles — quite regularly lift animals weighing several times their own body weight.
Well, “several times” your body weight isn’t the same as “many, many, *many* times” your body weight.
There’s also the problem of scale. An ant can lift many times its own weight because it is tiny. But if you scaled that same ant up to human size, it would collapse under its own weight.
It’s one thing for a large eagle to carry off a small goat across a very short distance. It’d be another thing entirely for an Andean Condor to carry off an adult human.
Goose Girl’s wings are smaller than a condor’s, and her humanoid body is surely much heavier, and she’s somehow lifting a person whom I can only assume is – at minimum – the weight of a horse (anywhere from to 1/2 to 1 tons), and probably actually even heavier than that.
Maybe if she’s flapping her wings at incredible speed, like a hummingbird or something (which introduces all sorts of other physics related problems), then she could pull it off…
I can’t agree with your ant analogy. While this is far from a perfect calculation (since I don’t know the actual volume of an ant), if a 20mm long carpenter ant weighs 100mg, then an ant that is 6 feet long would weigh roughly 150lbs. Since the ant’s exoskeleton and musculature would also be scaled up proportinately, I have no trouble believing that such an insect could easily lift a ton without being crushed, to say nothing of being crushed by just its own body weight. But that’s all really irrelevant, because you can’t compare ants with birds to begin with, and Goose Girl isn’t 90 times the size of a normal goose. Her body is actually pretty close to the same size as a large Canada Goose. So the question of scale doesn’t apply.
I agree that Goose Girl’s wings look slightly out of proportion for a goose, but only slightly. Her body (as birds are measured) appears to be roughly 3 feet long, so she should have approximately a 5 foot wingspan. Hers looks close to that in some of the images, but the fact that her legs and head are MUCH too big for a goose makes her wings look a lot smaller by comparison.
Of course, if you want to get really pedantic, a goose wouldn’t have arms either. And while an eagle can lift 5 times its body weight, a goose cannot. Then again, she is still human. But even if you figure that she weighs roughly 100 lbs, rather than only 15 or 20 lbs that a goose her size should weigh, she still shouldn’t be able to lift Cinder, unless you take into account the possibility that the radioactive goose bite also gave her super strength.
But the really important thing to consider here is that this is a combination of cartoon physics and mad science. So she can do anything the cartoonist says she can. And of course, as we all know, mad science is not limited by the possible.
The ant analogy is very much applicable because the strength of muscles and bones (or exoskeletal equivalents) are proportional to their cross-sectional area, while the weight of an ant is proportional to volume. So an ant a hundred times as long is a million times heavier, but only ten thousand times stronger. So an ant which could lift ten times its weight scaled up a hundred times would only be able to lift a tenth of its weight. This ant wouldn’t even be able to stand under its own power, let alone carry anything else.
She can probably also break a man’s arm with a blow of her wing. (Yes, traditionally that’s swans, but a swan’s just a goose that’s been bleached and is too superior to honk, right?)
GOOSE GIRL IS STRONG!
Oh. And a terrible thought just occurred to me… I dearly hope Cinder can swim.
Well, if she’s sufficiently cinder block like, she won’t be able to, but she also won’t need to breathe. It will be a long walk back to shore, though.
There’s probably a crane on board just for that purpose, and any salvage Cinder might recover.
Captain Waters comforts Shelby by quoting Milton. So sweet.
Remember Shelby, “He also surfs who only stands on waves.”
Ah yes, the patented Skin Horse “Skreeeeeeeeeee”…
Liking the reverse Fastball Special, there.
Until Jeff wrote this, I never realized this entire comic was just one long buildup to doing a Fastball Special.
So that is how Skin-Horse is gonna end? With Unity throwing Sweetheart into H.T.’s mouth to shut him up? You certainly plan far ahead, Shaenon and Jeff.
See, now if I were doing it, I would have hurled Red Knight at the sea monster. But I just really dislike Red Knight, so I wouldn’t mind doing that even if it weren’t warranted.
In fall of 2017 Nick’s skin was peeled away.
The HMS Habakkuk came around to save the day.
A landing field of ice that stretched a mile from end to end,
And commanded by Olympia their water cooler friend.
The ship of ice they landed on had made the best of saves.
But Shelby’s five-o’clock now threatened them atop the waves.
The Goose Girl and the Cinderblock were quickest to react.
And thrown into the tentacles, they went on the attack.
They gotta beat the monster that’s a causin’ Nick to cuss.
They gotta face the tentacles, that would be such a plus.
Hard-hit low-tech a gunnin’ when they threw their weight around.
They gotta beat the monster and they gotta bring it down.
—from “Sink the Bismarck,” Johnny Horton.
Damn, that is a thing of beauty. Thanks Robert.
That was amazing. Thank you.
Is it just me, or does anyone else hear Kate Micucci’s voice for Goose Girl?
Well I do NOW.
Hmm. It occurs to me that ” Not ONLY service” would be a pretty good reassurance in this situation, and entirely within Captain Waters’ vocabulary.