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"What Was That"
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What Was That

by Paul Taylor on September 26, 2011 at 12:00 am
Story: Wapsi-Archive
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Discussion (183) ¬

  1. Casey
    September 26, 2011, 12:01 am | # | Reply

    Wow, I guess someone called it. Also, I guess Brandi knew what those were. I wonder why, and I wonder why no one else did.

    • Dave
      September 26, 2011, 12:34 am | # | Reply

      Well, I missed, I think. I wondered about “happy smiles (and those smiles are not happy) and doubted that we’d see rage (wrong, wrong, wrong!)

      Whoever said that the quiet ones are the ones who blow up most violently was on target. WOW, Brandi is upset!

    • Paula
      September 26, 2011, 1:52 am | # | Reply

      Brandi does do a lot of reading.
      I know stuff others in my office do from reading web comics.
      Reading the stuff Brandi does would give you way more knowlege.
      Now if that knowlege came from a place few people have access to and contains all the writen works of a species..well…the girl could probebly beat Einstein

      • Paula
        September 26, 2011, 1:52 am | #

        Others in my office don’t

      • SonicThunder
        September 26, 2011, 11:51 pm | #

        That, and while you’ve only had years/decades tops, Brandi’s had centuries/millennia to study those books few others know ever existed, not to mention memories from past cycles of herself who had the same time and access (memories she may have uncovered from her book).

    • illiad
      September 26, 2011, 6:39 am | # | Reply

      hey, I got *something* right!! 😀 (throwing golf ball (s) )

      As for the ‘thoom’ she seems to have sent them straight into hyprspace…. :O

  2. ShadOBabe
    September 26, 2011, 12:03 am | # | Reply

    YEEK!! *dives for cover*

    • ShadOBabe
      September 26, 2011, 12:09 am | # | Reply

      I’m not sure but maybe this is one reason Bud didn’t tell her immediately. Or maybe not. Depends on whether Bud knows what a “Vimana Cell” is.

      I certainly wonder what is is. Is is the cross shaped artifact?
      And she said Vimana CELLS. If it the thing that helps turn these guys human, and there’s more than one, than maybe these guys have a shot at becoming human again too. But judging from the fit that Brandi is throwing, one might infer that they are exceedingly difficult to find.

      • Fairportfan
        September 26, 2011, 12:37 am | #

        Well, if Bud did know what a “vimana cell” is – she obviously didn’t know what one looked like.

      • ShadOBabe
        September 26, 2011, 12:43 am | #

        Yeah, I figure the cross-shaped thing was a vimana cell. But that hasn’t been explicitly stated.

      • Paula
        September 26, 2011, 1:55 am | #

        I just think she got over excited.
        Shelly had just come back.
        The artifact was obviously weird and dangerous.
        Bud ran it to May instantly so as to contain the danger.
        Then May and Bud both got over-excited in the thought of fixing Jin.

        Telling Brandi what was happening was probably the least of her thoughts.
        In fact – I think she only told Monica because Monica is the Golems ‘Boss’

      • StJason
        September 26, 2011, 2:29 am | #

        The question is: What are the side effects?

        Notice she did not say “Hooray! Vimana Cells! We can be human again!” So why is she so angry? We are going to find out a lot more about these cell thingies, I’m thinking.

      • SonicThunder
        September 26, 2011, 11:54 pm | #

        Considering the fact that, if it is the Cross, it has already killed 1 to 56 Shellys…

    • ShadOBabe
      September 26, 2011, 12:22 am | # | Reply

      Darn it… I should be studying for my two exams tomorrow. But this is SOOOO much more interesting. XD

      • Paula
        September 26, 2011, 1:50 am | #

        well I hope one of them is an exam for ‘ancient air ships’ else yer may not pass 🙂

      • illiad
        September 26, 2011, 7:36 am | #

        googled it.. it can mean *anything* from ‘temple’ to ‘airport’ in sanskrit.. A C Clarke never mentioned it (but then I guess he preferred UFO to get better publicity)..
        en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vimana

        I am a scifi fan – I have not heard about it , so guess its mainly Indian stuff…

      • W.
        September 26, 2011, 8:57 am | #

        ancient arcraft. Some of the texts talk about ancient wars between powerful beings using flying machines and death rays. It reads like science fiction.

      • ShadOBabe
        September 26, 2011, 11:05 am | #

        Heh, I paid attention in class. I think it’ll be all good.
        And actually it’s Cultural Anthropology. XD

  3. Atomic
    September 26, 2011, 12:06 am | # | Reply

    Oh dear — this is going from bad to worse…

  4. Zorlond
    September 26, 2011, 12:06 am | # | Reply

    … Rail Shotgun?

    • Maark30
      September 26, 2011, 2:06 am | # | Reply

      Oh yea that is a Rail Shotgun blast worth several million gigajoules.

      • Bucc-i
        September 26, 2011, 2:43 am | #

        Why that’s more than 1.21gigawatts… GREAT SCOTT!

      • Atomic
        September 26, 2011, 10:01 am | #

        At the very minimum…

        It’s Over 9000!

      • hswoolve
        September 26, 2011, 1:07 pm | #

        Yeah, but the dial goes to ’11’.

      • throopw
        September 29, 2011, 1:51 pm | #

        Actually, we don’t know if it’s more, onaccounta the incompatible units. You need a period of time to convert watts to joules. 1.21 gigawatts is * more* than a million gigajoules, if it’s left running for a megasecond.

      • throopw
        September 29, 2011, 1:53 pm | #

        I’m just saying.

        I guess the interesting thing is, Brandi could easily have *pedaled* the delorian back.

  5. Radio365
    September 26, 2011, 12:07 am | # | Reply

    I think that went well.

    • bmonk
      September 26, 2011, 4:48 pm | # | Reply

      (We were lucky they had that bucket of golf balls handy.)

      ;^)

  6. Boxilar
    September 26, 2011, 12:09 am | # | Reply

    “One of the…” There are more plutonium powercells floating around out there? Also, whoever called Brandi being kept completely out of the loop, good job.

    Wonder what she’ll think of what Shelly had to go through to get the damned thing.

    • Bob!
      September 26, 2011, 12:12 am | # | Reply

      Brandi hasn’t been reading the comic? 8)

      • Boxilar
        September 26, 2011, 12:17 am | #

        Well, I’ve never seen her on a laptop. I assume she’s a paper and ink kinda girl. Heck, Gutenberg would be new tech to her.

      • Paula
        September 26, 2011, 1:56 am | #

        Hmm
        Would web comics make it to Phix library you reckon?
        It is kinda written.

      • Bucc-i
        September 26, 2011, 2:54 am | #

        Haven’t you heard, every library has a WiFi and T1 connection!
        What would really be impressive is if Phix library has a Starbucks. Those things are EVERYWHERE!

      • Knighttrap
        September 26, 2011, 7:05 am | #

        Well we know there is no audio/Visual section in the library.

      • illiad
        September 26, 2011, 7:40 am | #

        er, no, it not as awfully S L O W as that!!! 🙂 🙂

        you just need to think about it, reach out, and the book is in your hand… 🙂
        I guess they will have giant holo-screens too???

      • illiad
        September 26, 2011, 7:50 am | #

        Knighttrap: as we have only seen a tiny part of the library, we cannot be sure..
        I guess it would be ‘total immersion’ as in harry potter, where he sees previous events.. Unless you say ‘2D only’ 🙂

      • eschmenk
        September 26, 2011, 5:53 pm | #

        @illiad: Monica specifically said there wasn’t an A/V section after a visit with Phix. That explained why her grandfather’s audio tapes weren’t available there.

      • Wyvern
        September 26, 2011, 6:02 pm | #

        Under the rules as Phix has mentioned them in passing, I don’t think the Bibliotiki has an internet connection; it seems highly biased toward the written word. So there won’t be a website archive there – on the other hand, when someone prints out a hardcopy of a strip, that should appear in the stacks.

      • Boxilar
        September 26, 2011, 11:28 pm | #

        Well, there are printed editions of Wapsi. I don’t know if they get into the search for Jin’s solution tho. They’d be in the library, if it has books from alternate realities, you know, the one where we wait with baited breath for 12:30am to roll around every weekday morning…

      • Bucc-i
        September 26, 2011, 2:47 am | #

        Don’t you mean she’s a papyrus and quill type of girl?

      • CPUGuy1
        September 27, 2011, 2:24 pm | #

        Maybe not a laptop … but both knows how to use a computer.
        It’s been a while ago …
        http://wapsisquare.com/comic/learningtobegirls/
        But Brandi and Bud know how to use a computer.
        For one to send another an E-Mail, both would need an E-Mail account.

  7. Jay-Em
    September 26, 2011, 12:11 am | # | Reply

    Heh.. Brandi is not one for half measures…..

    “Vimana cells???” wait..Brandi dabbled in ancient aeronautics, or has some knowledge of them? Interesting..

    • DJ
      September 26, 2011, 12:22 am | # | Reply

      By the looks of that cluster-bomb going off in the sky in the sky, I’d say Brandi does things by fore to the power of ~52.

    • Paula
      September 26, 2011, 1:57 am | # | Reply

      I state for the record that I am impressed with anyone on this forum who knew that word and the meaning without having to google it 😀

      • Maark30
        September 26, 2011, 2:08 am | #

        Paula, you seem to forget that this is one of the more informed forums.

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 2:29 am | #

        Of course I knew.. Conspiracy-nut here. (I like the weirdness of UFO’s, Ooparts, Cryptozoölogy, strange stuff about the babylonians, ancient mega-architecture, You name it, I’ve probably read about it 😛 )

        Do I believe in stuff like that? Nah.. not really… But the more elaborate conspiracy theories read like good sci-fi.

      • Bucc-i
        September 26, 2011, 3:07 am | #

        You mean like the conspiracy were Robert Kennedy was assasinated because he let Marilyn Monroe see the Roswell aliens in Area 51? Those kind of conspiracies?

      • illiad
        September 26, 2011, 7:52 am | #

        yaeh well its guys like you who turns a simple word into something over the top… :/

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 8:04 am | #

        ‘s cuse me? oO
        Since when is ” over the top ” a bad thing in the Wapsi-verse?
        Indestructible, sun-crushin’ Golem is ” demure” then?

      • illiad
        September 26, 2011, 9:15 am | #

        Jay-Em: hey don’t take it that badly, man! 🙂

        Wapsi is *fiction* based on myth and conjecture..
        My best mate is a conspiracy-nut, so I am a bit tired of it.. 🙁

        In RL, It bugs me when someone says ‘hey its where god lives, so it must fly with super-energy’..

        Cropcircles are made by aliens! – even when many programs has shown they are made by bored farm workers, even showing them making one!!!

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 1:09 pm | #

        As stated. i do not believe most, if not all of it. ‘s just good fun on a boring day.
        And cropcircles?? Oh my..there ‘s a villagers’ joke that started it’s own life but good.

        And No, the piramids are just good old human ingenuity, not something built with the summerian variation of a chinook sky-crane.

        Maybe I am not a ” real” conspiracy nut, but more of a visitor to the zoo that’s filled with people that see a UFO, whenever they forget to clean their lense.

        Although the coulacanth, a true Lazarus Taxon made me reverse my stance on cryptozoology…

      • bmonk
        September 26, 2011, 4:51 pm | #

        Illiad, I agree–and on the sort of logic chain that runs:

        “we don’t know what it is”

        therefore nobody knows what it is

        therefore it’s an unidentified flying object

        therefore it’s alien in origin, and some sort of spaceship.

      • Boxilar
        September 26, 2011, 11:32 pm | #

        Have you noticed the drop in UFO, Bigfoot and Elvis sightings since camera phones became common?

    • Bucc-i
      September 26, 2011, 3:04 am | # | Reply

      @Jay
      With Paul being a DC Comics fan, I’m sure he meant the Xenobrood Vimana. Not the chariot of the gods Vimana.

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 3:23 am | #

        There still be aliens.. 😛

        I think these Vimana-Cells are a universal power-storage. Driving a flying thingymabob with it isn’t too far-fetched imho. Heck, what’s space-travel compared to ultimate controlover life and inanimate matter.

        The B7 Liberator was just something that the Lanthians cobbled-up between lunch&creating golems (who would be the perfect astronauts. Invulnerability and super-strength are handy on high-gravity planets..)

  8. Faceless Minion
    September 26, 2011, 12:14 am | # | Reply

    Oh my she’s so wonderfully terrifying in panel 2. A smiling face, but just that tiny bit of…

    • Fairportfan
      September 26, 2011, 12:40 am | # | Reply

      Panel 1 is kinda spooky, too…

      • Dave
        September 26, 2011, 12:49 am | #

        Yeah, whenever someone takes on that oh-so-sweet “I must not have heard you correctly” aspect, you can usually figure that serious unpleasantness is about to wreak havoc…

    • Paula
      September 26, 2011, 1:58 am | # | Reply

      How lovely and calm she is.

      I keep thinking of the fly…

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 3:26 am | #

        “Thinking”?? Uuh, all I was “thinking” was a whimpering “Oh, poopy..” 😀

    • Yarner42
      September 26, 2011, 3:06 am | # | Reply

      My thoughts exactly. I can’t really decide whether panel 2 or 5 is more terrifying…
      Good thing they had those golf balls handy 🙂

  9. NOTDilbert
    September 26, 2011, 12:14 am | # | Reply

    Yes, just the well-reasoned and insightful response we were hoping for….

    • Paula
      September 26, 2011, 12:21 am | # | Reply

      Yea
      I was hoping for hugs
      Brandi is scaring me slightly now.
      The fact she is scaring BUD as well is another thing entirely.

      • ShadOBabe
        September 26, 2011, 12:24 am | #

        I know right?
        Bud, must actually be thanking her lucky stars that she IS indestructible and not a human at this moment.

      • Yamara
        September 26, 2011, 6:05 am | #

        It’s not so much Brandi’s anger that Bud dreads, but the legitimacy of that anger.

        Always something little strawberries need to keep in mind, and not think they can deflect attention away from.

    • Jay-Em
      September 26, 2011, 2:32 am | # | Reply

      Well. at least we are seeing now why Bud is scared shitless of Brandi.
      Brains and a predatory physique.. Sexy..

      ..and utterly terrifying

  10. NOTDilbert
    September 26, 2011, 12:17 am | # | Reply

    Oooh, and the departure vector for that bucket of plasma is over downtown….

    • Boxilar
      September 26, 2011, 12:19 am | # | Reply

      Nice little fireworks display. That’s how it’ll get played off, I’ll bet.

      • Fairportfan
        September 26, 2011, 12:38 am | #

        Dunno – the radiation emitted might be a tad noticeable.

      • Boxilar
        September 26, 2011, 12:52 am | #

        Did’t think of that. Wonder how high up all those golf balls turned to plasma? Did they clear the stratosphere?

      • Hanineal
        September 26, 2011, 1:14 am | #

        No radiation, just heat and light. Friction not nuclear. No ionizing radiation at all..

        It does make an outstanding display…

      • Fairportfan
        September 26, 2011, 1:26 am | #

        The plasma gives off x-rays.

        A large enough meteor (getting up toward the kilometer range) would create a plasma track that could be fatal to anything in line of sight of the track, even if the actual impact is a ways over the horizon.

      • Hanineal
        September 26, 2011, 2:00 am | #

        We’re talking a bucket of golf balls, not a one kilometer meteor.

      • Bucc-i
        September 26, 2011, 3:13 am | #

        But if there is radiation, I’m sure they will probably just blame it on the Japanese Fukushima Reactors or something.

      • My2Cents
        September 26, 2011, 3:29 am | #

        The peak of the radiation spectrum is a function of the temperature of the plasma. The temperature is proportional to the kinetic energy of the atoms, which is a function of the velocity. So, if those golf balls are doing 1% of c, there will be some hard gamma’s being put out.

        But this is all electromagnet radiation. There will be no measurable residual radiation.

      • Fairportfan
        September 26, 2011, 4:53 am | #

        I just mentioned the 1km meteor as sort of an upper bound.

        Anything that produces that bright a plasma flash in the atmosphere is gonna put out noticeable radiation.

      • bmonk
        September 26, 2011, 4:55 pm | #

        “An unexpected meteor shower?”

        “Huh? Going up from the ground? You must be mistaken.

        [flash]

        “The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.”

    • zacharaiaha
      September 26, 2011, 7:12 am | # | Reply

      No one will notice or care. After all tehy are swede’s and Vikings. Probably swear By Odin’s Beard or some such. As long as someone don’t shout ‘NIGHTFURY’ things will be fine.

  11. Paula
    September 26, 2011, 12:19 am | # | Reply

    Vimana
    Okay
    None the wiser.
    I am sure Brandi will let me know why a ancient aircraft/deity holder thingy has her so het up.

    • ShadOBabe
      September 26, 2011, 12:21 am | # | Reply

      Well that’s certainly a helpful link.

      • Paula
        September 26, 2011, 12:29 am | #

        yea doesn’t help does it.
        the other links (which mention atlantis) mention UFOs…

      • ShadOBabe
        September 26, 2011, 12:30 am | #

        LOL!! No, I was serious. At least I know the background of the term “vimana” now.

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 1:40 am | #

        Yup. Hence my reference to “ancient aeronautics”

        Sooo.. from Golems, to Sphinxes to UFO’s…. 😯 LOVE IT! 😀

        I’ve always been a sucker for weird conspiracies, ancient civilizations ,ufo’s and the odd balls that investigate stuff like that.

      • Paula
        September 26, 2011, 2:00 am | #

        In my experience every aircraft on the planet could be classed as a UFO
        Depending on where you live and what knowlege you have.

        A boewing 747 would possibly be a UFO when seen via the eyes of an amazonian tribe.

        Now the question is – is it a exterterestrial UFO or is it a terestrial UFO. Are we about to find out what the force behind sending the Sphinx and the Library is?

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 2:55 am | #

        (..)Are we about to find out what the force behind sending the Sphinx and the Library is?(..)

        “Vimana” being the magic word here.
        There is a lot of speculation about the sudden rise of cities and kingdoms, and the spurt in technology after the stone-age.
        Most of it is baloney, but an intrigueing thought has surfaced: We were colonized by a space-faring people, and all strange artifacts, and holes in history are explained by that premisse.

        Nuts, I know, but Paul seems to go the way in which the Lanthians weren’t originally from earth, and the sects, priests etc of later time had access to advanced technology, without really understanding it’s dangers. Chimera’s and strange hybrids (Nudge!) aren’t too far fetched in that case.

        Only thing left explaining is the morphing from Human to Sphinx/horned cutey and v.v…. 😛

        May, being a “Magician” or , rather “Technomage” could be of a lineage from the earlier interterrestrial-colonists, or, she could even be one of them, making Jin a direct descendant from the space-farers and their..yup.. Vimana’s
        (Oh, and “immortality” through a calendar-machine would be very convenient for a space-faring race, because “space is big, You have no idea how mindboggingly big space really is..” SO, travelling takes quite some time, even if a race conquered ways to travel faster than light)

        First situational comic, then mystical comic, and now Paul is apparently going to tackle sci-fi/space-opera fare.. GREAT!! :thumbs: I love the evolution over the years.

      • bmonk
        September 26, 2011, 5:00 pm | #

        Paula–case in point on aircraft ufos:

        Many years ago, the US Air Force was training its B-52 crews in low-level flying over flat land, much like the Russian or Siberian steppes. Not coincidentally, they choose the Great Plains for some of this training. Some of the BUFFs flew low enough so that the wings were nearly invisible–and the resulting “flying cigar” shape got a lot of calls and gossip about UFOs.

        And this in the same technological society that produced the UFOs, and should have been able to recognize them.

      • illiad
        September 26, 2011, 12:54 pm | #

        Paula: they are not ‘official’ sources, every ufo-nut has their own…
        I do not believe anything, unless it is repeated in three *reputable* places…
        Mobile phones are the same – someone makes a photoshop or even plasticine model of a phone, the desperate will start believing… 🙁

      • Paula
        September 26, 2011, 3:00 pm | #

        illiad

        official sources?
        okies you lost me 🙂 i was talking bout boewing 747. you can see those at the airport 🙂

      • illiad
        September 26, 2011, 1:23 pm | #

        you need to revise your startek/ babylon 5 lore…
        “any technology sufficiently advanced looks like magic to a simple race..”
        “see this ant on that flower? – if I move it to anther place, how will it explain what happened?? – there are creatures in this universe so advanced, that they will think it stupid to think that an organism as small as us has any intelligence at all…”

    • Boxilar
      September 26, 2011, 12:25 am | # | Reply

      Just a guess, but I’d say she hates being left completly out of the loop. I know, Captain Obvious. The more pertinent question is, I think, why did Shellinix think it was nessesary to keep Brandi mushroomed, Since Shelly, Phix, and May were all ochestrating this from the begining

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 2:02 am | #

        Simple prioritizing: Immediate danger: Calendar-Machine. Brandi=needed to fix that blasted thing.

        Next point on agenda: Fix Jin, followed by fixing left golems.
        *shrugs* seems logic that way. If Shellinx and Phix had the outside-time-age-overview they would choose this order. Remember that Shelly isn’t exactly stupid, not to mention Phix’all-knowingness.

    • Aleister Crow
      September 26, 2011, 2:38 am | # | Reply

      “Sanskrit vi-māna literally means ‘measuring out, traversing’ or ‘having been measured out’.”

      “Having been measured out” as in being given a lifespan?

    • Bucc-i
      September 26, 2011, 3:17 am | # | Reply

      Yet again, I don’t think Paul meant chariots of the gods. Think more Dc Metahumans Vimana (see my comment above on Jay’s thread).

      • W.
        September 26, 2011, 9:10 am | #

        Paul seems well informed. I wouldn’t put it past him knowing both and giving us something to jaw about.

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 1:19 pm | #

        Not only that, but I fully expect him to use all ways Vimana translates, and throw us, the poor unsuspecting readers, for a loop… 😀

  12. Casey
    September 26, 2011, 12:23 am | # | Reply

    Now that I am putting all the information together, things are making a bit less sense. Brandi must have seen the artifact when Bud first found it. Not only did Bud bring it back to their house, but the two of them made a bet over whether or not Monica would insist on touching it. I guess the Vimana cell could be the plutonium thingy that Shelly found, rather than the artifact itself. I guess I’ll assume that is the case. It makes some sense.

    • ShadOBabe
      September 26, 2011, 12:25 am | # | Reply

      Oh, YEAH!! I forgot about that.
      That does make things a little more confusing.

      HELP PAUL!!

      • Boxilar
        September 26, 2011, 12:30 am | #

        And the ancient Lanthians powered thier flying cars with plutonium. I don’t know wether to make a Doc Brown 1. 21 Jiggawatt joke, or refrence Avery Brooks saying “Where are my flying cars, I was promised flying cars” from that insurance commercial back in 2000.

      • W.
        September 26, 2011, 9:12 am | #

        I was promised flying cars since the Jetsons.

      • Leak
        September 26, 2011, 2:29 pm | #

        Like Mike Ladd says:

        “I’m 5000 miles west of my future,
        so where’s my floating car?
        My utopia?
        My mars colonies?
        Like it’s supposed to be…
        Space: 1999”

        np: Nightmares On Wax – Thoughts (Mind Elevation)

    • Fairportfan
      September 26, 2011, 12:44 am | # | Reply

      We still don’t know that Brandi saw it – just that she knew Bud had found something spooky.

      Interesting question – if there are two more of these – who’s been incubating them for 80K-plus years?

      • ShadOBabe
        September 26, 2011, 12:54 am | #

        Yeah, I went and looked back at the part were Bud came back after the island blew up. Brandi isn’t in the same panels the thing is.

        But you’d think Bud would have showed it to her is Brandi was willing to make a bet over whether Monica would touch it out not.

    • Hanineal
      September 26, 2011, 1:27 am | # | Reply

      This all makes sense if the cylinder, not the artifact, is the Vimana cell. It’s not the mechanism, it’s the power source.

      To change the structure of one of the Chimera, it would take something of immense power.

      Brandi probably knew this and may have looked for one for years to help Jin. If she became obsessed enough with finding one, Shelly, Phix, and May might not have wanted her to know they were building one and become distracted from dealing with the Calender.

      It’s just a theory.

      • ShadOBabe
        September 26, 2011, 1:31 am | #

        That’s a good theory.

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 2:09 am | #

        The name says it all “cell” as in “power-cell” in flashlight.
        The Oopart is a device of, probably, many applications&devices that can be powered by a “Vimana-Cell”
        A “Vimana-Cell” is apparently the Lanthian’s variation of a Li-Po pack.. be it a teensy, weensy bit more powerfull. Fits perfectly with their bad habit of creating stuff that’s waaaaaaay too powerful (galaxy-crushing golems? Civilization-burning chimera’s? anyone?) 😛

      • Yamara
        September 26, 2011, 4:47 am | #

        That is a good theory that’s in keeping with Bud being impetuous, but not a liar. She took the completed artifact to May first, and then Jin was in crisis and there was no more time. (In fact as soon as Shelly returned with the powered Artifact, Jin may have lost control; we don’t know.) Brandi didn’t show up for the beach trip because she already knew it was off.

        This does return to the issue of the Shellys, though. Shelly 57 did not find the plutonium cell. At least one of the other 56 did— but their timeline is no more.

        That means there is still one (1) vimana cell still out there in Earth 57. Undiscovered, unless it’s in May’s galaxy adjuster.

        Note: only one is certain, a second would have to turn up by luck.

        Oh, and if it is just the cell? It’s been shown to kill people it’s next to. This could get tragic real fast.

      • eschmenk
        September 26, 2011, 9:17 am | #

        Brandi was on the beach trip where they talked about getting the artifact, so she knew about it. Brandi acted like she didn’t give a damn about helping Jin, though. If she had shown more interest, she would have known the details.

      • Yamara
        September 26, 2011, 10:15 pm | #

        I have to agree with others that I don’t see Brandi as disinterested (nor uninterested). She seems to be delegating the work to Bud, both in the vote on the sandbar, and in sending her alone to explain to Monica about the (unpowered) Relic. (And the destroyed sandbar.) The scene at the mall seemed to be Bud and Jin taking an extra effort to tease Brandi; hardly indicative of Brandi somehow not wanting to hang out.

        Also, being the first to be told of finding the unpowered Relic, Brandi is assuming she would be on the short list of being informed if its state had changed. She hasn’t even been let in on Shelly’s time travel adventure yet, since her logic train is including the discovery of the power source, which Bud has honestly not laid eyes on.

        Still. There was a time when these two learned to email together. I mean, Evernote? Facebook? Lotus? Telephony? Teleportation of written notes? Clearly Bud has deliberately kept Brandi out of this part of the story, and Brandi’s anger is therefore legitimate.

    • Yamara
      September 26, 2011, 4:12 am | # | Reply

      Bud, may I speak to you for a moment?

      Of course.

      Sit down, won’t you?

      Thank you.

      Oh no, up here.

      Thank you.

      Now, that artifact that you showed me. Was it Karl-Heinz Rasch’s?

      …No.

      Ah! Good. Would you mind telling me… who’s artifact you did put in?

      And you won’t be angry?

      I will NOT be angry.

      Vicky Someone.

      Vicki Someone. Vicki Who?

      Vicki… Mana.

      Vicki. Mana.

      I’m almost sure that was the name.

      Ha ha ha.

      Ah ha he heh.

      Are you saying that you put a vimana cell into schizophrenically suicidal… hundred-thousand-year old… CHIMERA

      yerp

      IS THAT. WHAT. YOU’RE. TELLING. ME

      –Mel Brooks’ Young Adeobie

      • Dave
        September 26, 2011, 11:13 am | #

        So, what kind of sedagive works on a maddened scary golem?

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 1:23 pm | #

        Lots of booze worked in the past. Time to call Tepoz, and sit Brandi down in M’s wine-cellar…

      • Dave
        September 26, 2011, 6:51 pm | #

        “Lots” is probably correct. Considering the fact that a full bottle of mezcal didn’t make Bud more than mildly wobbly (as far as we can see) I have a feeling that large quantities, of something rather stronger than wine, are going to be called for.

        Anybody have a few 55-gallon drums of kaoliang handy? Served over ice, and mixed with some of McCoy’s fabled theragin derivative for flavor, it might take some of the edge off of Brandi’s mad.

        Then again, it might not.

      • NOTDilbert
        September 27, 2011, 1:47 am | #

        LOL Awesome!

    • Paul Taylor
      September 26, 2011, 9:46 am | # | Reply

      The relic isn’t the cell, the cell is the power source for the relic to make it stable. =)

      • Hanineal
        September 27, 2011, 12:19 am | #

        Yes, I called it! WooHoo!

  13. DJ
    September 26, 2011, 12:26 am | # | Reply

    Well played Paul. A *perfect* segway from the “Jin is crazy” storyline into a new quest to find the Vimana Cells.

  14. TlalocW
    September 26, 2011, 12:27 am | # | Reply

    The same two cops that investigated when Bud threw the squashed Calendar Machine into the sun should investigate, and Brandi should have to deal with them this time.

  15. Fairportfan
    September 26, 2011, 12:35 am | # | Reply

    So they should have consulted Brandi first?
    .
    I find the plural “cells” interesting…

    • Boxilar
      September 26, 2011, 12:44 am | # | Reply

      I think she was kept out of the loop intentionaly. It goes back to Shelly gathering info in reverse time and feeding it to Jin, May and Phix, among others. Brandi was kept out of the know for a reason. Her reaction here may be something to do with that, methinks.

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 2:18 am | #

        Oh..wait! Now You mention it. It was of utmost importance to keep stuff from Brandi, to fix the calendar machine but good. Brandi set herself up that way specifically. (remember the ripped-out pages of the diary??)

        Ooohkay..what more surprises are floating around Brandi? She has done something stupid with the Vimana-Cells in a former cycle(like obliterating a galaxy), and set all up to keep herself out of the loop? Remember that Brandi is sortof Phix’protegee.

        It’s not too far fetched that Brandi, in a former loop, told Phix to keep her away from the Vimana-Cells for the time being, until after the calendar was fixed.
        Just, Yopu know? to prevent her from blowing-up a galaxy before having a chance to fix the calendar-machine?

        Brr..in my mind it made sense..now I am only more confused (and intrigued)

        Phix obliged ,and set all up this way with Shellinx, and some help from my favourite semi-deity Nudge.

    • eschmenk
      September 26, 2011, 9:19 am | # | Reply

      The did involve her. She just wasn’t interested.

      • bmonk
        September 26, 2011, 5:05 pm | #

        And now she’s mad that they didn’t get her interested?

      • eschmenk
        September 26, 2011, 6:10 pm | #

        I think it was more that Brandi thought that Bud should have somehow known that there was a Vimana cell around and she should have dropped what she was doing and told her about it as soon as she knew. I don’t know if Brandi knows that it was in the artifact, but if she had been working with the others more she would have had as good of a chance of figuring it out as Bud would have had. (Better, actually, if she had studied that stuff at some point.)

  16. The Old Wolf
    September 26, 2011, 12:42 am | # | Reply

    Yôäth! O_o

  17. RSinAustin
    September 26, 2011, 12:42 am | # | Reply

    Brandi scary!

    Hides.

  18. NOTDilbert
    September 26, 2011, 12:54 am | # | Reply

    Brandi is enough cat that I am reminded of the Czinti – “That rictus is not a smile. It frees the ripping canines for combat.”

    • Hanineal
      September 26, 2011, 1:31 am | # | Reply

      Never ever trust a smiling Kzinti.

      • W.
        September 26, 2011, 9:17 am | #

        That ‘rings’ a bell.

      • bmonk
        September 26, 2011, 5:09 pm | #

        The proper response, of course, is to show your own fangs. When various humans did this (after the Kzin Wars), the response was some variation on “Those are not good to eat.”

  19. nerf-dweller
    September 26, 2011, 12:56 am | # | Reply

    I told you all. I told you and you wouldn’t believe me. Well, :p.

    • Dave
      September 26, 2011, 1:06 am | # | Reply

      Yeah, we just got our heads bitten off by that >bleeping< rabbit, didn't we 🙂

      • Paula
        September 26, 2011, 8:38 am | #

        no one expects the killer rabbit of caerbannog.

        wait – that quote is wrong…

      • Yamara
        September 26, 2011, 9:44 am | #

        Just a harmless li’l bunny, innit?

        I’ll come in again.

      • joel6113
        September 26, 2011, 1:15 pm | #

        Bring out the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!

      • bmonk
        September 26, 2011, 5:10 pm | #

        Our main weapon is fear, fear and surprise. . . . Our two main weapons are fear and surprise, and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope. . . .”

  20. Dave
    September 26, 2011, 1:05 am | # | Reply

    Hmmm.

    Clearly, Brandi has long known that there was something (specifically, the vimana cells) which could restore a golem to (near)human condition.

    But, Bud’s reaction of surprise (when May used the artifact to restore Jin) pretty strongly suggested that Bud did not know this at that time. If true, that would imply that Brandi was “in the loop” (or at least “in the know”) about something which Bud wasn’t.

    On the other hand, Bud’s certainly acting more than a bit guilty in the first couple of frames today… and the fact that Brandi is referring directly to “the vimana cells” suggests that she expects Bud to know just what they are.

    So, the interesting question arises: just what did Bud know, and when did she know it?

    • ShadOBabe
      September 26, 2011, 1:30 am | # | Reply

      I don’t know if that’s guilt, or if Bud just know’s Brandi’s about to get really scary.

      Perhaps Bud did know what the Vimana cells are and what they do, but didn’t know what one looked like. So when she found the artifact, she just thought it would fix Jin’s crazy. But when it turned her human, the realization might have hit her with something like, “She’s human!? Holy $#!%, was that one of the Vimana Cells!?”

  21. Stigmartyr762
    September 26, 2011, 1:22 am | # | Reply

    And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air…

    Brandi’s mad. This is bad. REAL bad! 🙁

  22. Fairportfan
    September 26, 2011, 1:28 am | # | Reply

    Remember Bud getting Brandi to do the “scary face”?

    I think she’s just set a new personal best.

    • Hanineal
      September 26, 2011, 1:39 am | # | Reply

      Think that’s scary? If Brandi wants one and Jin is now human & vulnerable, what’s to stop her from taking it? Not saying she would, but she does seem to have a bee in her bonnet and Bud intimidated.

      • Fairportfan
        September 26, 2011, 1:50 am | #

        May and Monica.

      • Hanineal
        September 26, 2011, 2:25 am | #

        Though May is a golem, does she have the same destructive power that was built into the Chimera or just the indestructibility?

        She or Monica will have to hope they can get in a glyph control word to stop Brandi.

      • W.
        September 26, 2011, 9:19 am | #

        Of course! The prototypes always have more cool stuff than the production models.

      • Wyvern
        September 26, 2011, 6:18 pm | #

        Engineers’ prototypes also tend to have odd quirks and much more complicated controls. (It took an advanced degree in engineering to build it and it may take a degree in engineering to use it.) Production models are usually much more user friendly.

    • Paula
      September 26, 2011, 8:45 am | # | Reply

      I wonder if it is so bad and scarey because brandi is usually so placid and calm.

      You can see why the ‘guardians’ were terrified of them really.
      Wonder how Monica would feel comming face to face with ..battle Brandi.

      • Hanineal
        September 27, 2011, 12:24 am | #

        Monica better hope she can yell, “Heel, Kitty!” very quickly.

  23. harukohoshiko
    September 26, 2011, 1:29 am | # | Reply

    Well… shit.

  24. LoLDrood
    September 26, 2011, 1:36 am | # | Reply

    I think Brandi’s upset.
    See, I’ve been wondering for years what Brandi does while all the other characters are off having whacky madcap adventures.
    Turns out she may be the Ford Prefect to the rest of the cast’s B-Arkers.

  25. Jay-Em
    September 26, 2011, 1:53 am | # | Reply

    Still wondering: Is Brandi pissed because she was left out of the loop, or because she wanted a chance to become human (not likely imho), or, because she was left out of the loop, she couldn’t help Jin earlier.

    Orrrr.. is there something more to the “vimana cells”than a Golem-restoring-thingemajigg, and Brandi, being the studious, booky-kind, found something much more interesting about the “vimana-cells”

    Remember: Brandi has full access to Phix’ library, so, in the thousands of years of her existence, she must have run into a lot of intrigueing stuff. And, who knows what brandi had written in her “reset-resistant” diary, besides part of the recipe to fix the calendar-machine.

    Suffice to say, they will be on a quest to find the rest of the “vimana-Cells”

    Maybe Brandi goes sortof evil, to get herself a “vimana-cell” to become human again. She is the most repressed apparently…

    • eschmenk
      September 26, 2011, 9:34 am | # | Reply

      I’m repeating my other comments, but no one meant to keep Brandi out of the loop. Bud talked about the project in front of her, but all she cared about was going shopping. When they made plans to retrieve the artifact she shucked everything off to Bud (links in my other comments). She never seemed try to get involved.

      I’ve thought Brandi’s lack of interest in helping Jin really made her look bad. She has no right to be angry now, IMO. If she had wanted to know what was going on, she would have known.

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 1:32 pm | #

        Back to “evil Brandi” then….

        WHAT in the name of Sasquatch’ bum-hairs, would Brandi want with a Vimana-cell, other than becoming human again herself? * scratching chin* nope, nothing! No idea, je ne sais quoi, Ich hab ‘ kein’ ahnung.. No se… Geen flauw idee.

  26. Bucc-i
    September 26, 2011, 3:23 am | # | Reply

    Wait a minute, wasn’t it Brandi’s diary they were reading to find out how to fix the calender and Jin? If so, why didn’t she know about this? Why is she so pissed?
    Me am confuse-ed¿

    • Jay-Em
      September 26, 2011, 3:36 am | # | Reply

      Brandi was out of the loop from the moment Bud made the sub go “boom!”

      Bud told her about an odd artifact, but nothingpointed at there being a power-cell/vimana-cell inside. Only after Shellinx ordeal was over, the power source was in there. Time converged at the moment Shelly came back, after seemingly being only gone for an instant.

      The Oopart, at first, held only a gatekeeper-program, and a trigger to start Shelly’s regression in time, so the vimana-cell could be gestated and put inside.

      That’s as far as I want to go, time-travel, let alone parrallel reverse running time, makes my head hurt…..

    • eschmenk
      September 26, 2011, 9:43 am | # | Reply

      The diary was just about the calendar machine. Jin thought that fixing or destroying it would make her human because she mistranslated something. Since Jin got worse, not better, they started looking for something else. Brandi didn’t seem to care about that.

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 2:07 pm | #

        I cannot, for the world, read disinterest from Brandi in that Island arc. She said she froze when thrown a curve-ball, so, she was concerned she’d muck-up when under pressure, or got confronted with something unexpected.

        So, I respectfully disagree with Your interpretation of Brandi as being ” just not interested” in fixing Jin.

      • eschmenk
        September 26, 2011, 3:04 pm | #

        Tending to freeze up was a reason for Brandi to not go on the mission, but it’s not a reason to not ask any questions nor is it a reason to not discuss Monica’s ideas with anyone. Previously throughout this arc, Brandi has acted like a vapid airhead whenever we saw her with anyone. She did help a fly and showed concern for Bud, while acting stupid, but that’s been it as far as I can remember in this arc. Maybe she’s acting that way because of some weird conspiracy that we haven’t been shown, but I doubt it.

        Bud’s not been looking so hot recently, either. She apparently knew the news was going to upset Brandi, so she went out of her way to annoy Brandi before telling her. 🙄

  27. Jade
    September 26, 2011, 5:37 am | # | Reply

    Okay, Brandi is pissed because of being kept out of the loop… so now what ? Is she going to go postal on the rest of the world now ?
    I think Brandi & Bud should both grab a cold one from the fridge and calm the feck down.

    • Ari
      September 26, 2011, 6:50 am | # | Reply

      Ehn. I think they should lose their tempers and vent. Nothing worse than when a being with the ability to pretty much destroy the world bottles everything up to the point of exploding.

    • illiad
      September 26, 2011, 9:52 am | # | Reply

      hm well I wonder about the relative ‘qualifications’ of Brandi and May…
      May did not seem to recognize the artifact at once..

      I guess it is like me – I managed to get last bit of education about electronic valves at my college, where students these days don’t know what they are, something granpa talked about… 🙂

      • Opus the Poet
        September 26, 2011, 3:41 pm | #

        OK for the young-uns out there,”valves” is what the English call “tubes” like what Monica made her high-end amp from. The name comes from the hydraulic analogy for electricity, tubes turn the current up or down like the valves in a pipe…

      • Dave
        September 26, 2011, 3:50 pm | #

        People introduced recently to electronics might be more likely to recognize tubes/valves via a technical term such as “vacuum-state glassFETs”.

        Or “firebottles”.

  28. Bud Fanboi
    September 26, 2011, 6:29 am | # | Reply

    Oh poor Bud. I hate that feeling from “I wanna fight the world” into… “wait… crap I think I royally screwed up”

    • W.
      September 26, 2011, 9:24 am | # | Reply

      Yeah. I think it was kinda the difference between wanting to go a few rounds full contact in the ring to work some aggravation out and fighting for your life in a dark alley somewhere.

  29. Ari
    September 26, 2011, 6:52 am | # | Reply

    I don’t know why everyone is seeing bad here. Brandi finally lost it! I’m excited! 😀 😀 😀

    • illiad
      September 26, 2011, 9:53 am | # | Reply

      😀 😀 😀 yeah, but as long as you are nowhere near them!!! 🙂

      • Fairportfan
        September 26, 2011, 10:18 am | #

        …as long as it’s not your universe.

      • Jay-Em
        September 26, 2011, 1:36 pm | #

        It isn’t our universe. I am still here, reading…
        ..
        ..
        ..
        ..
        Oh crap… Did I just see a black cat glitching???

      • Yamara
        September 26, 2011, 2:42 pm | #

        Technically, and precisely, yes.

      • Ari
        September 27, 2011, 5:42 am | #

        Right. Exactly! 😀

  30. Halex
    September 26, 2011, 11:19 am | # | Reply

    Angry Brandi is angry.
    And epic! :p

  31. Oldwolf
    September 26, 2011, 4:54 pm | # | Reply

    *ahem* DUCK!!!

  32. Geek_on_call
    September 26, 2011, 6:53 pm | # | Reply

    Oh! Look, a Super Nova!
    Gee. Uh.. Looks a little too close.

  33. Kehn
    September 26, 2011, 7:08 pm | # | Reply

    How rude!
    …she didn’t yell, “FORE!”

    • kingklash
      September 27, 2011, 12:08 pm | # | Reply

      More like “FORE-SCORE!” and then some.

  34. Kessog
    September 26, 2011, 7:24 pm | # | Reply

    Jumpin’ grapeshot!

  35. Kessog
    September 26, 2011, 7:30 pm | # | Reply

    “One of the Vamana cells”…could be a generic power source for the flyers. Wouldn’t dilithium crystals be safer and more stable?

    • Boxilar
      September 26, 2011, 11:49 pm | # | Reply

      We are talking about a civilization that used world destroying devices as automated apple peelers.

      • Jay-Em
        September 27, 2011, 1:16 pm | #

        Exactly! They would have looooved the early idea by nasa of powering a spaceship by detonating an a-bomb at the rear. (yes, an actual study was done on the feasability of a nuclear-powered space-ram-jet. 😯 )

  36. Kramegame
    September 27, 2011, 4:00 am | # | Reply

    Oh she mad… *troll face*

  37. Kramegame
    September 27, 2011, 4:03 am | # | Reply

    I feel like her line in the 5th panel, despite how loud making golf balls into plasma can imaginably be, is infinitely louder.

  38. Oldwolf
    September 27, 2011, 1:26 pm | # | Reply

    And in the news tonight areas of Central Europe from the Mediterranean to England were peppered with golf balls.

  39. Yamara
    September 27, 2011, 11:14 pm | # | Reply

    If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with!

    Is that right?

  40. witunderpressure
    July 4, 2012, 11:14 pm | # | Reply

    i find i particularly nice to be reading this on the 4th of july. happy 4th everyone. “celebrate the birth of your nation by blowing up a small part of it.” not as a terrorist. seriously, that was a quote from the apu look-alike in simpsons

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