Star Power V: The Final Yawntier

[Welf]

With their titan/vanadium based blood it makes sense that their brains - the part of the body with the most blood vessels - are very sturdy. Plus space elves know magic.

[Spojaz]

That's no ordinary jam.

I'm pretty sure that is scalped skull, not thinking organ, just to continue the "humans but with strange colored blood and pointy ears, just like star trek get it?" thing they have going on.

I'm not a fan of the way the panels are framed just to keep me from seeing what is going on in the last two comics. I guess it is intentional to generate suspense, but I still don't like it.

[random11]

No idea what's going on, but it's a cool vehicle design

[guttering flame]

No idea what's going on, but it's a cool vehicle design

Evil Robots come to destroy sympathetic human analogs.

[Kareasint]

No idea what's going on, but it's a cool vehicle design

I want one.

[Kornaki]

This is classic sneak attack in malak (if I remember the name correctly).

[Traab]

I hereby dub these.... SCORP ANGELS!

[Kantaki]

I want one.

Dito. Who wouldn't want a scorpion-walker armed with jam guns?
I wonder what the other weapons fire.
My guess is candy and fireworks.

[Spojaz]

Danica! You have made one of the classic first contact blunders. Always get good intel before making first contact. You could have allied yourself to someone who builds awesome scorpion tanks, but you jumped the gun, and have ended up on the side with some boring nerds.

[guttering flame]

Danica! You have made one of the classic first contact blunders. Always get good intel before making first contact. You could have allied yourself to someone who builds awesome scorpion tanks, but you jumped the gun, and have ended up on the side with some boring nerds.

Mookie: Nerd-revenge!!!

[Kato]

Danica! You have made one of the classic first contact blunders. Always get good intel before making first contact. You could have allied yourself to someone who builds awesome scorpion tanks, but you jumped the gun, and have ended up on the side with some boring nerds.

I love the idea of Danica actually picking the wrong side in this conflict.. too bad it won't happen but... scorpion tanks. or robots? I'd side with them way.

In Mookie's defense.. If you encounter an alien culture you're most likely to meet the good ones first.. Or the bad ones start shooting right away.

[random11]

Update

Yep, it sure was a great idea to send Danica before her installation was complete, and without any way of knowing what her powers will be.

[Traab]

Update

Yep, it sure was a great idea to send Danica before her installation was complete, and without any way of knowing what her powers will be.

Yeah, much better to send noone and let the distress call go unanswered.

[Kantaki]

That went well.
The Federation's plan to open a beachhead into this part of the galaxy I mean.
I'm pretty sure they will invade those worlds "offer" them to "join" soon.
All according to plan.

[Celestia]

Yeah, much better to send noone and let the distress call go unanswered.

Well, so far, she's distracted the inhabitants, leading to their deaths, and opened the gate they were trying to protect. It might have actually been better if she hadn't shown up.

[random11]

Yeah, much better to send noone and let the distress call go unanswered.

There are MANY reasons why she shouldn't have answered that distress call.
She has no idea what is the situation there, it's not like a distress call from a far but known planet.
No one had any idea what would happen during her installation phase, for all they know she could have been paralyzed for a minute while flying in space, getting lost as a result.
Will her armor work if she needs it? Will her beam weapon work? No idea.

I'm not saying she shouldn't have answered the distress call. After all, that's what a hero sometimes needs to do - defy protocol and safety to help those in need.
It's just that everyone around her is fine with it, where every bit of their training should have yelled at them that this is the wrong action.

Someone in the army or whatever should have raised the risks of Danica - a new kind of living weapon, leaving alone when even she doesn't know what she can do in a given situation.
Someone in the science team should have at least be curious about what risks rise from the installation phase.
An entire ship of "first encounter protocol" people, and not one person warned her to at least check the situation before committing to help a specific side in the conflict.
Heck, not even "try to be undetected until you understand the situation".

[Traab]

Too be fair, up till now all the installation process has done is give her progress updates. She has been able to use her full set of abilities, even when she turns orange briefly, so that wasnt the risk. No, to me the real risk was going into a situation totally blind. She has no idea who the bad guys are. All she has is a message from the losing side saying they need backup. For all she knew these space elves could be genocidal killers about to lose control over the planet full of people they have been hunting for sport until the rebellion got started.

And the crew of the ship DID bring it up. The captain established both why they were answering the distress call, and why she felt danica would handle this first contact under crisis scenario well enough. And honestly, for a snap decision, its not a bad one. Lets say we time skip a year and the ship arrives at this planet. Danica has been in the area and can both act as a translator until their gear starts working properly, and also be a sort of ambassador for the federation because she will likely be a hero to them for saving the day. Obviously thats under ideal conditions but its a reasonable goal to shoot for.

Oh, and as for her making it worse, the elves were already lost. Hence the distress call. Had she never showed up the scorp angels would have killed them and had plenty of time to do whatever they came to do. A case can be made for her having not made things any better yet, but its been like 30 seconds since she made contact, maybe give her some time to actually DO something?

[Kato]

Really, my main issue is with the ridiculous convenient timing for the upgrade... This is beyond ludicrous, unless this world is literally powered by narrativum.

[Traab]

Really, my main issue is with the ridiculous convenient timing for the upgrade... This is beyond ludicrous, unless this world is literally powered by narrativum.

Yeah I cant argue there. "Upgrade at 35%, communications online." "Omg we need help!" Then of course the portal thing.

[Kornaki]

Tht update had been going ludicrously slowly, I'm sure we will find out it was downloading from a mirror site located on this planet, hence why everything unlocked as she got closer.

[Zaq]

Wait, why are we suddenly in filler mode? Have we already reached the end of the issue? It took so long getting up to speed that I genuinely thought that we still had at least half the issue to go.

Looking back, it does look like the last page was "page 24." I guess Mookie has decided to keep to his strict page limit but he's decided to blow off trying to make the plot fit into that page limit? More than usual, I mean?

[Traab]

Eh, I suppose this counts as a decent "too be continued" cliffhanger moment. Danica is by herself, protecting a gate, with no idea whats going on. If the scorp angels get through they will be in federation territory, which is probably a bad thing. But yeah, i was caught off guard as well.

[random11]

Eh, I suppose this counts as a decent "too be continued" cliffhanger moment. Danica is by herself, protecting a gate, with no idea whats going on. If the scorp angels get through they will be in federation territory, which is probably a bad thing. But yeah, i was caught off guard as well.

It's a cliffhanger allright, but decent?
To create a good cliffhanger you need to actually ESTABLISH the threat.

Right now it's more confusion than tension.
It wasn't even established if the scorpions are the bad guys, the only reason we know they are is that we are used to this kind of writing.

[Celestia]

It's a cliffhanger allright, but decent?
To create a good cliffhanger you need to actually ESTABLISH the threat.

Right now it's more confusion than tension.
It wasn't even established if the scorpions are the bad guys, the only reason we know they are is that we are used to this kind of writing.

To be fair, he is using the established trope of the good guys having faces and relatable forms while the bad guys are faceless and inhuman. Of course, relying solely on that is lazy, and the actual stakes were never established. Why do these thing want to open the gate? Who/What are they, and what is their motivation? Do they pose a threat to the Millennium Federation? Or Danica? What is their power level, and are they even capable of hurting Mary Sue Danica? These are all serious questions that need to be answered before an effective cliffhanger can be performed.

[Celestia]

"Danica has inspired me to explore the unknown!"

"I am uncertain if I want to explore the unknown."

"Danica has inspired me to explore the unknown!"

[Traab]

"Danica has inspired me to explore the unknown!"

"I am uncertain if I want to explore the unknown."

"Danica has inspired me to explore the unknown!"

Praise Danica!

[Welf]

"Danica has inspired me to explore the unknown!"

"I am uncertain if I want to explore the unknown."

"Danica has inspired me to explore the unknown!"

i wonder how that ends. Will she explore the unknown, and meet Danica again?

[random11]

She accidentally discovered the secret of the universe: As long as you worship Danica, good things will happen to you.

Just think about it, she applied to one of the most unique and desirable jobs in the known universe, and since she admired Danica she got it in just a matter of weeks.

She now practices this as a religion, believing (not without a reason) that if she writes this journal, her chances of her discovering new and amazing things increases.

[Kantaki]

New comic

These clowns replace the figurehead every time there's a new captain on their glorified rustbucket?
Why? It's not as if you could tell at that level of stylizisation. Not to mention that it won't mean much to the first contact species.

[Welf]

I guess it's a political statement to the public inside the Federation. And maybe a message to new civilizations that one day they could be the figurehead.
With the ship making new contact only every few decades they probably have the time to refit it.