Huh. So Lucas can make huge arrows, but it’s harder. Neat.
Gonfrask
15 hours ago
Seems like our runner is a bit out of shape, isn’t he? He wad able to do 3 graffiti and keep a conversation, and almost unnoticed. Now they can see where is he going and shepherd him
You can’t over think speedsters, it’s pretty much impossible to write them because of reasons like this. The only really viable counter to a speedster is another speedster or somebody who can manipulate time and thus effectively can act like a speedster.
So yeah, got to suspend your disbelief. Pretty much a problem all authors have when dealing with this power.
I think the problem is that they aren’t written well instead. Speedsters generally have no real weaknesses to their speed. You can still easily write a bunch to keep them in check. It can start with something simple. Many are ‘always’ in super speed. How they can have a conversation with someone that takes an hour over one word is ludicrous to me. Not only that. People will go out of their minds if barely anything happens and every day feels like a week/month/year. So it must be actively started to speed. Another weakness you can consider is physical. Why… Read more »
Is he getting tired? But the arrow power seems to be instant, and in this case seemingly at quite a distance. It’s not necessarily as hard to predict where Elijah will be if he’s running away in the middle of the street and you can put up a blockade a block away instantaneously.
The problem is that with how fast speedsters can go, reacting like this should be impossible.
At the ‘3 graffiti simultaneously while holding a conversation’ speeds, Elijah could’ve already been inside before Lucas even noticed him running off. Or ran around the first arrow before Lucas could start on the second. Or turned around to punch out Lucas while he’s focused on on the first arrow.
In general, super speed is ludicrously overpowered. The only thing keeping it in check is the author regularly toning it down from reality-breaking to just ‘faster than regular people’.
At least one of those graffiti was only a few metres from where they were talking, so short back and forth movements may be more subtle than a full charge in one direction.
While there are a number of issues with the way this is being depicted in my opinion, I one don’t think they are all that major(it isn’t like this is a ‘hard’ magic/science super hero story, this comic is pretty ‘soft’) and two either I have forgotten and can’t find the scene or you are a bit off on his speed. The two conversations I recall our heroes having with him only have him doing 1 graffiti while keeping up a conversation with his unobservable speed. This one here – https://cad-comic.com/comic/tagged-p14/ Though moving fast enough to ‘vanish’ is definitely in… Read more »
The way I see it, back then he was going to a set number of locations, presumably in sequence. He was in control and had a rhythm going. This isn’t that. He’s navigating the streets at high speed but he’s also dealing with two supers who can keep him on his toes (whether he admits it or not). He doesn’t know where the next arrow will be, how big, or how long it will last. He has no idea how many gadgets are on the table. At Elijah’s speeds, I expect he has to keep the variables to a minimum… Read more »
I’m a big fan of what my favorite teacher called “WSOD”, Willing Suspension of Disbelief.
But I also like to ponder things like this! maybe he can only process O2 at a certain speed, so speaking would slow him down? He can move as fast as he likes, but oxygen needs time to bond do hemoglobin?
Little_Dragon
15 hours ago
Ethan appears to be throwing the Wii controller thingy at the ground, rather than directly at his foe. Assuming that was intentional and he doesn’t simply have a weak throwing arm, I’ll guess it deploys either a glue trap or oil slick, which are two classic schemes to deal with speedsters.
In the interests of full disclosure, I’ll admit that neither approach worked out well for Wile E Coyote.
Because it could randomly disappear and then he would need to airwalk. Or walk on sunshine and it is night.
Granted all of this is under the assumption Lucas could react fast enough. But apparently he can direct Elijah’s movement, so his reaction time seems up to par.
To be fair, if the physics was more realistic, airwalk wouldn’t be out of the question. At that speed moving through air is more like struggling through thick matter. Water or jelly can be a comparison, though with caveats.
Oyee
14 hours ago
Live action snake game!!
Last edited 14 hours ago by Oyee
JozMk.II
13 hours ago
Might be a glue bomb like someone predicted he was holding a few pages ago.
I hope Elijah avoids it and kills Ethan. For plot reasons, Ethan most likely would respawn or auto-revive to some extent, and then we’d finally have our answer.
I’m sure multiple people did. It is one of the few ways I can imagine beating a speedster that they have at their disposal. They probably can’t grab him or imprison him easily in amy other way. Either a gluebomb, or someone suggested Gameboy to arrive on the scene. I don’t known exactly how he can pause and unpause, but he might activate it so that if Elijah touches him he gets paused. Those seem most plausible to me at least.
Every time I remember it, Gameboy has touched with his hands. But he’d still have to absorb Elijah’s kinetic energy, even with a pause (see Demolition where he stops a hurled rock but is still quite sore in his hands).
This is actually kind of weird to me. Like if he pauses the object but all the kinetic energy just gets dumped into him anyway, shouldn’t the outcome be the same as getting hit by the rock (or possibly worse since it’s functionally an elastic collision where 100% of the kinetic energy is transferred to him.)
Yeah it isn’t clear, probably to keep the plot loose enough to have options.
The rock should have killed him. As it stops instantly, it is worse than normally catching it. With a normal catch you at least have some ‘crumple zones’ and time to slow it down.
Maybe his powers do not pause everything at once? That the back of the rock first piles on into the paused front, dissipating some energy before it gets into him?
I found it best not to think too hard about it.
foducool
6 hours ago
that reminded me of Tron
Del Cox
3 hours ago
Nothing against Tim, but that’s super-speed for you. Its only vulnerability is the plot making it weaker for the situation. When we met Elijah, he was moving so quickly that Lucas and Ethan didn’t even realize at first that he was tagging multiple locations while holding a conversation with them. Now he’s just “really quick”.
If he was moving as fast as he originally did, Elijah would be destroying the stockpile while fighting our heroes at the same time.
wysskers4
2 hours ago
WIIMOTE, I CHOOSE U!
also, Lucas, you gotta spend some time practicing doing stuff with those arrows. can you carry your lunch on one? float a bottle of soda pop to Ethan? how long can you pop up and hold a, say, door-sized one? Can Ethan try cracking walnuts on one? time to do some experiments (which I hope we see at least a few panels of).
24
Huh. So Lucas can make huge arrows, but it’s harder. Neat.
Seems like our runner is a bit out of shape, isn’t he? He wad able to do 3 graffiti and keep a conversation, and almost unnoticed. Now they can see where is he going and shepherd him
When you are doing supers, there is always a level of suspension of disbelief involved. Depending on the author, this level can be high or low.
I suggest articles about “soft” and “hard” magic system like “Sanderson’s first law of magic” ^^
You can’t over think speedsters, it’s pretty much impossible to write them because of reasons like this. The only really viable counter to a speedster is another speedster or somebody who can manipulate time and thus effectively can act like a speedster.
So yeah, got to suspend your disbelief. Pretty much a problem all authors have when dealing with this power.
I think the problem is that they aren’t written well instead. Speedsters generally have no real weaknesses to their speed. You can still easily write a bunch to keep them in check. It can start with something simple. Many are ‘always’ in super speed. How they can have a conversation with someone that takes an hour over one word is ludicrous to me. Not only that. People will go out of their minds if barely anything happens and every day feels like a week/month/year. So it must be actively started to speed. Another weakness you can consider is physical. Why… Read more »
Is he getting tired? But the arrow power seems to be instant, and in this case seemingly at quite a distance. It’s not necessarily as hard to predict where Elijah will be if he’s running away in the middle of the street and you can put up a blockade a block away instantaneously.
The problem is that with how fast speedsters can go, reacting like this should be impossible.
At the ‘3 graffiti simultaneously while holding a conversation’ speeds, Elijah could’ve already been inside before Lucas even noticed him running off. Or ran around the first arrow before Lucas could start on the second. Or turned around to punch out Lucas while he’s focused on on the first arrow.
In general, super speed is ludicrously overpowered. The only thing keeping it in check is the author regularly toning it down from reality-breaking to just ‘faster than regular people’.
At least one of those graffiti was only a few metres from where they were talking, so short back and forth movements may be more subtle than a full charge in one direction.
While there are a number of issues with the way this is being depicted in my opinion, I one don’t think they are all that major(it isn’t like this is a ‘hard’ magic/science super hero story, this comic is pretty ‘soft’) and two either I have forgotten and can’t find the scene or you are a bit off on his speed. The two conversations I recall our heroes having with him only have him doing 1 graffiti while keeping up a conversation with his unobservable speed. This one here – https://cad-comic.com/comic/tagged-p14/ Though moving fast enough to ‘vanish’ is definitely in… Read more »
According to Elijah himself on the page you linked, he’s doing more than 1 at a time there.
“Dude… are you painting a tag while we’re talking?!” “I’m painting three, actually.”
The way I see it, back then he was going to a set number of locations, presumably in sequence. He was in control and had a rhythm going. This isn’t that. He’s navigating the streets at high speed but he’s also dealing with two supers who can keep him on his toes (whether he admits it or not). He doesn’t know where the next arrow will be, how big, or how long it will last. He has no idea how many gadgets are on the table. At Elijah’s speeds, I expect he has to keep the variables to a minimum… Read more »
Lucas just needs to hit the frame-perfect ⭣⭢
I’m a big fan of what my favorite teacher called “WSOD”, Willing Suspension of Disbelief.
But I also like to ponder things like this! maybe he can only process O2 at a certain speed, so speaking would slow him down? He can move as fast as he likes, but oxygen needs time to bond do hemoglobin?
Ethan appears to be throwing the Wii controller thingy at the ground, rather than directly at his foe. Assuming that was intentional and he doesn’t simply have a weak throwing arm, I’ll guess it deploys either a glue trap or oil slick, which are two classic schemes to deal with speedsters.
In the interests of full disclosure, I’ll admit that neither approach worked out well for Wile E Coyote.
Or simply a quick reaction by trying to confuse Elijah and/or make him trip/sprain his ankle.
Or it could make a net pop out to try and catch him.
This could go in many directions, depending on how crazy or simple you want to go to counter a speedster.
If it’s a glue bomb, would Elijah’s leg get entirely ripped off due to the speed he’s traveling at?
If Elijah can run up the wall of a building, why not run up the arrow.
Because it could randomly disappear and then he would need to airwalk. Or walk on sunshine and it is night.
Granted all of this is under the assumption Lucas could react fast enough. But apparently he can direct Elijah’s movement, so his reaction time seems up to par.
To be fair, if the physics was more realistic, airwalk wouldn’t be out of the question. At that speed moving through air is more like struggling through thick matter. Water or jelly can be a comparison, though with caveats.
Live action snake game!!
Might be a glue bomb like someone predicted he was holding a few pages ago.
I hope Elijah avoids it and kills Ethan. For plot reasons, Ethan most likely would respawn or auto-revive to some extent, and then we’d finally have our answer.
I’m sure multiple people did. It is one of the few ways I can imagine beating a speedster that they have at their disposal. They probably can’t grab him or imprison him easily in amy other way. Either a gluebomb, or someone suggested Gameboy to arrive on the scene. I don’t known exactly how he can pause and unpause, but he might activate it so that if Elijah touches him he gets paused. Those seem most plausible to me at least.
Gameboy requires contact to pause, can’t recall if he has to initiate the contact or any incidental contact can enable his ability though.
Every time I remember it, Gameboy has touched with his hands. But he’d still have to absorb Elijah’s kinetic energy, even with a pause (see Demolition where he stops a hurled rock but is still quite sore in his hands).
This is actually kind of weird to me. Like if he pauses the object but all the kinetic energy just gets dumped into him anyway, shouldn’t the outcome be the same as getting hit by the rock (or possibly worse since it’s functionally an elastic collision where 100% of the kinetic energy is transferred to him.)
Yeah it isn’t clear, probably to keep the plot loose enough to have options.
The rock should have killed him. As it stops instantly, it is worse than normally catching it. With a normal catch you at least have some ‘crumple zones’ and time to slow it down.
Maybe his powers do not pause everything at once? That the back of the rock first piles on into the paused front, dissipating some energy before it gets into him?
I found it best not to think too hard about it.
that reminded me of Tron
Nothing against Tim, but that’s super-speed for you. Its only vulnerability is the plot making it weaker for the situation. When we met Elijah, he was moving so quickly that Lucas and Ethan didn’t even realize at first that he was tagging multiple locations while holding a conversation with them. Now he’s just “really quick”.
If he was moving as fast as he originally did, Elijah would be destroying the stockpile while fighting our heroes at the same time.
WIIMOTE, I CHOOSE U!
also, Lucas, you gotta spend some time practicing doing stuff with those arrows. can you carry your lunch on one? float a bottle of soda pop to Ethan? how long can you pop up and hold a, say, door-sized one? Can Ethan try cracking walnuts on one? time to do some experiments (which I hope we see at least a few panels of).