Striking Sparks” — Page Fifty-Seven
As we see Max pulling a “Riddick on Crematoria” with the slimy mop bucket water, Madison is putting in his own heroic effort to keep the Strike Gate anchored to the extraction point. Because nothing in the tech world is ever as easy as the end user seems to think it should be. Plus he’s rightfully concerned about the contents of those tanks — he’d probably put up more argument if lives weren’t at stake and he didn’t have his hands full already!
And there’s a new Vote Incentive! Just a cute sketch of Kaitlyn, but it’s worth a click!
More below!
Bobservations
Getting Sloshed At Work
There’s actually a product we use in effects work called “Stunt Gel” which is basically slime you smear on actors to keep them from getting burned when doing scenes with brief fire effects. From what I can tell, it’s mostly water thickened with CMC gum and given a dash of witch hazel or tea tree oil for a cooling sensation. It may or may not also contain a topical anesthetic. It’s not a miracle save, but it does help against quick flashes of fire, because it holds a thicker layer of coolant than just wet skin. It is, however, notably slimy in sensation. So Max may have gotten lucky here with the mop bucket water.
Naturally, when it came to implementing the sloshing water of our hero drenching himself with the bucket, I insisted on trying to do that for realsies. I believe we can all take for granted that Max-the-artist could easily have done a water-slosh illustration all by himself, but I was intrigued by the challenge. God knows if it will ever be of any use in the future, but hey, if anyone ever needs an effect of someone drenching themselves with a bucket, I have one now. Did two takes, even.
First step was to dress head to toe in black. Now, it must be admitted that I actually have one of those professional black “Invisible Man” suits, a full-body head-to-toe suit of black spandex. I’ve never used it. I’m always afraid I’ll ruin it in the process, and then I won’t have it when I really need it, whenever that might be. So every time I need to do something like this I end up using black workout clothes, black disposable gloves, and a cheap black balaclava turned backward so it covers my face. Not as slick-looking, but I’m less worried about the components getting damaged.
Max-the-artist had given me the rough of the page to work from, so I set up the camera and attempted to match the shot as closely as possible. Another effects trick: in order to make water a little more visible on camera, add a splash of milk. Helps slime it up a bit, too, although I have CMC gum for that as well.
So camera on, black hood over face, and dump the bucket. With the hood, it is not unlike waterboarding yourself.
Throw it into After Effects and key the hell out of it to remove everything but the slosh.
And then send it off to Max-the-artist, who jokingly refers to it as a “money shot.” I have to admit that being drenched with vast amounts of milky slime all over my upturned face did make me feel a little like the demure target participant of a certain type of Asian adult video.
I knew I should have worn my Japanese schoolgirl uniform
Yes. Yes, that mental image your brain is trying frantically to avoid forming? Here’s the cure!
— Bob out
Sweet lungs of Primus…..Is that a obscure reference to a TV series I recall (& as being rather dull) from the 70’s about a eco warrior\scuba diver.
Lugs of Primus. Legendary god of the Transformers. We used to have fun in “Beast Wars” by using “lugs” or “bearings” instead of “nuts” or “balls” in creative robot-swearing. Got it past the censors. There is no geek reference too obscure for Madison.
Oh, they’re bringing along the O2 cylinder? That will make a nice cloud of rapidly expanding gas. It’ll be even better if it turns liquid and soaks into something flammible before it catches fire. BIG boom. Very big.
Oh gosh! These lines are so well written! The tension is real! Even if I give myself pause I still feel immersed!
I REALLY wanna see this become a TV show!
Wait, hes going with? screw the flame, what about the pressure?
Bob, thanks for taking one for the team. It’s a great effect, and sounds like it was fun.
Oh, I see so many problems with Max’s plan. First, I agree with Leaking Pen, above. The water may insulate him from the initial flash, but if he’s in the middle of that blast, the pressure wave will disrupt his internal organs. Now, it’s a good thing that he’s taking a tank of oxygen with him, so the acetylene can react with it and they can come back still reacted. But any acetylene that reacts with oxygen from the target site will be ripped loose by the return teleport, and will come into the lab un-reacted.
Even with that, two tanks full of gas are going to port back into the chamber no longer contained under pressure. I can see the chamber – if not the whole lab – being blown apart upon his return just by the pressure. Oops!
…as the guy who can stop his heartbeat and see ghosts when he does prepares to teleport into a sealed room and the cop with a spirit guide drives over to intercept him somehow.
Don’t get me wrong: you have raised an excellent point. Unfortunately, the laws of physics and chemistry cannot hear you, because they are currently whimpering in a corner, in anticipation of the next beating. 🙂
Moe Lane, I raise my glass to you. You have address my concerns perfectly!
Hm, I didn’t think of the acetylebe & oxygen becoming unreacted on backport. Not sure that will happen as long as the same atoms come back. Also not sure if either case would be better or worse.
And indeed, just being dead isn’t likely to help much if your body is in the middle of an explosion, even a “slow” one and even if the body can stand the heat for a few seconds. Somehow I like Kyle McCullough’s plan better: Port the gas in, explosion blows out the security windows, Max ports in to help get out. Several advantages.
Hey you know it would be much easier if Max could have an extra shot of oxygen with him. Like in plastic syringe or something. Then he wouldn’t have to come back every three minutes, but I guess that’s the point. Three Minute Max. I really like this comic though.
His heart needs to be stopped while he is there so the oxygen shot won’t get where it’s needed. If the plan was to not return then that would be fine.
Faust, your comment made me realize that we haven’t explored what would happen if Max tried to restart his heart while ported out, with his soul bottled up back in the lab. Would it simply refuse to start? How about with an implanted pacemaker? It could allow him to be out on a mission indefinitely – as long as it didn’t for some reason cause him to lose the connection to his soul. I don’t see why that would happen, but since no one has ever done this before, I wouldn’t blame Max if he doesn’t want to try it!
The problem then becomes getting the pacemaker to port. Last I checked, those things used a fair amount of unportable circutry. Maybe some kind of geneticly engeneered biological pacemaker? But that is a whole different can of worms.
Wait. Would this plan still work if they ‘ported the tanks without sending Max as well?
A better plan I’m thinking is to port the gas, release the lock, then port the hero separately. No hero in the middle of the explosion, and no hydrocarbon gas to rip back from destination oxygen.
Wouldn’t it be safer – by far – to send the tanks ahead? It worked for the ropes. And shouldn’t someone object when Max wants to do something suicidal?
I think they’ve learned to trust Max’s judgment after that ‘teleport into a moving vehicle’ bit.