PaRARGdox 48
Force Magellan responds… or not!: Picking back up with Force Magellan… looks like they were just about to go into battle when the wind got knocked out of their sails (another Terran saying…!)
Anyway, Ranger Bill’s gazillion nano and pico bots do in fact comprise his costume when not in use. There’s a lot more going on with his telepathically controlled bots than you might realise… but suffice to say, without his telepathic link (and the fact they just got fried by the Rarg E.M.P.) they just crumble to grey metallic dust. Lucky for Ranger Bill he’s wearing a clean pair of boxers!
Patreon: By the way, should it be a thing that interests you, my Magellan patrons over at Patreon have been getting full previews three updates ahead of schedule. And you can too for as little as $1 a month… 😎
Families/Cемьи: Page 16 is now online. Page 17 will go up early July. Stay tuned! By voting you not only get a new page of this story but you help raise Magellan’s profile and help potential new readers find us.
Next update: Tuesday 14 July: Sista Superior… remember her?
Also very fitting saying given nanotech boy’s just got his undies on with the bots falling off.
Yeah, but, why have ‘RB’ printed on your undies? Not like anyone’s ever gonna see them… well, unless your nanobots stop working… or you get lucky…
Or he has to use all of the nanobots at once. Maybe you shouldn’t make your costume out of your powers.
Then again he’s completely unphased, so maybe he did that on purpose.
They’re printed that way for him.
Licensing deal, he was given a lifetime supply.
Many things to be gathered from this strip:
-The inherent danger of flight powers in a world where power neutralization tech exists.
-RB has both nano- and pico-bots at his disposal – difference, besides size? Maybe nanobots are better for forming clothing and generating energy blasts, while picobots work better for healing and metabolism boosts.
– Even Dane is surprised that the Rarg have adapted so thoroughly. Perhaps they’ve had help? There’s more to this invasion than we’re seeing…
-Seriously, what’s with the ‘RB’s? Is he THAT vain, or is it just an artist’s tool to make sure we don’t forget who he is?
“– Even Dane is surprised that the Rarg have adapted so thoroughly. Perhaps they’ve had help? There’s more to this invasion than we’re seeing…”
*nods* Sure looks like a hint of that.
Generally in scifi nanotech controls molecular structures, and so would assemble his suit, and picotech controls atomic structures, making necessary exotic elements and power reactions.
lol – I thought the RBs were a nice extra touch, I can only imagine Bruce Wayne wears boxers with bat symbols on them 😉
I like the RBs. I can imagine Ranger Bill wears them as part of a confidence thing. The real question is did he get them as a widely distributed product or have them made up custom.
I think if batman had bat symbol underwear it would probably be one big bat on either the front or the back.
I like to think he bought them from a fan-site
That’s sort of sweet.
“Bat-pole.” Sorry. Couldn’t resist. 🙂
I think this is the first time we’ve seen Hierophant or RangerBill without their helmets on. I might be forgetting something.
We’ve seen them both before, but only briefly in casual/semi-casual scenes. Once was the debrief from Maverick and Victory-Man II near the end of Bad Karma, the other was with Force Magellan having breakfast prior to heading out to Locke Island in Lock(e)down. 😁
Did Ranger Bill change his hair since then? I remember thinking he had terrible hair, but it looks decent enough this time. Maybe I was just in a judgey mood before.
He had a mohawk then, it’s grown out in the ensuing couple of years…
Hopefully Ranger Bill’s under shorts will stay intact….!
Do keep in mind that Xmung used to write and draw a web-comic set in a nudist resort. So there are no guarantees that he keeps even that much on.
Plus, she’s done that short story with Streaker and The Fast Club, so she’s clearly OK with drawing nudity. If the characters are wearing undershorts, it’s probably because she wants them to be.
Are you hoping that after the Earth explodes and is vaporized by the Rrrag that the last panel will be of those shorts floating away?
oh yesssssss….
Even Epoch’s hair has lost its invulnerability! However, his sang froid remains completely untouched.
‘sangfroid’ Hah! Thanks for reminding me… Such a cool word ☺️☺️
I always thought that in a superhero verse where armour existed, especially powered armour a la Iron Man, it would make sense for a lot more heroes to wear it than actually do. Not just because of power nullifiers, but also because it helps in keeping people guessing about what your full powerset actually is.
In Ranger Bill’s case his nano/picobot suit responds to him telepathically and can give him a significant rage of capabilities. But these, for reasons I know in my head but have never shown in a story, only respond to him. I’m going to have to do a short side story one day that explains what’s going on there!!
Count me in on that, Grace! As ever, I have . . . IDEAS!
Great! 🙂
I just love that even depowered Epoch’s pretty calm for someone with two broken legs. I’m not sure if it’s what was intended but the … makes it sound like he’s more surprised about broken legs than in pain. That’s pretty tough!
I just realized we missed someone in our musings of the anti-power pulse. What happened to Olaf? All of this abilities appear to magical in nature, even is very consciousness. Will he now be struggling to figure out how to walk instead of hover?
“The consensus is that we will need physical therapy to walk properly and remain upright. This seems likely unpleasant but necessary.”
Good question. The last time we saw him was p33, after Dane dismissed his ET Contact class, and from p9, we know he was with the survivors of the initial attack. He should be with the bulk of the second years, so maybe we’ll see how he’s getting on soon.
Really good question. Possiby his greatest problem is not how to walk, but how to keep that humongous head supported!
Ah yes, but they float rather than walk. We will see Olaf at some point.
Interesting. Though much older than Charisma and therefore much more frail when de powered than she would be, he’s still very conscious where she almost isn’t. Is it because she fell from higher, or is it that her being only half-super made the effects of the depowering more devastating for her?
(He being Epoch)
Maybe it’s experience. This may not be first case he had his powers nullified.
Experience probably has a lot to do with it. Being punched a lot, even when invulnerable, still toughens the body a bit. Same happens with muscle density when using it. Charisma seems to be relying heavily on the powered aspect of her strength, not thinking of how that would be magnified if she trained the muscles behind them.
I mean, look at their relative sizes. When she hit the ground, she was essentially just a pop star waif. He is functionally a body builder in size and structure.
That makes a difference too.