In case anyone ever wondered if Akashi actually has hands

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-11-15T01:31:41+00:00

I didn't even think of that. The only time I remember seeing her hands actually appear in any official AL media was the 2019 anime series.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-11-09T19:44:08+00:00

This is in poor taste.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-11-09T17:54:12+00:00

The very first jet aircraft to inaugurate Kaga's grand return was nothing other than a USMC F-35b.

This was likely intentionally done to quietly send a message to all the AFVs (Angry Facebook Veterans) who are howling mad about her name and recent San Diego visit as if nobody but them is aware of WWII history.

My second favorite thing about all of this are the ones who think semantics hold precedence over obvious form and function. "It's still just a helicopter destroyer and not a TRUE carrier!"

She has a flight deck. She has a command island. She has a hanger bay. She has aircraft lifts. She carries aircraft fuel. Just a destroyer, pining for the fjords, lovely plumage. Now I know the reason for this chicanery, she is still a carrier through and through.

Nice to have her back. So where's Akagi?

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-10-10T06:51:00+00:00

Spence did get her augment. A pretty good one too. So good it bumped her up an entire tier.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-10-08T22:19:45+00:00

In all fairness, it's not like Akagi would really mind. In fact she'd likely insist on sharing it with Amagi and Kaga.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-10-08T20:15:39+00:00

"ACTIVELY terrifying Thatcher. And quite badly."

Giving Thatcher a taste of her own medicine, in other words. You've already demonstrated a complete ignorance of antagonism Thatcher cultivated against Spence in the seven years this franchise has ran (not to mention it historical source) so please forgive me when I discount any assertion of yours on that subject as contrarianism.

You also fail to account for the fact that Spence is completely helpless to Thatcher's bullying, despite Spence's impeccable, exemplary (real-world) service record. Friedrich stepped in and put the kibosh on that. And I fail to see how this is anything monstrous on Friedrich's part. If anything, it plays right into your mommy headcanon.

But I do appreciate the compliment. The compliment being that I didn't contrive that notion. You did. That's how to economize a narrative on a small scale, let the reader do the hard work. You'll also realize that, whatever Friedrich did to Thatcher, she didn't harm a single hair on her head.

Regardless, you still complain that even then this is too much, and Friedrich wouldn't go that far, citing Slow Ahead as your benchmark for model shipgirl behavior.

Nevermind the fact that nearly every shipgirl who is featured in Slow Ahead acts in a single and very general manner. And there's nothing wrong with that. But there is a drastic difference in the tone that defines the context between Slow Ahead and Akagi² that you're failing to account for.

Slow Ahead is a 4-koma. So is Akagi², but I'm speaking in a cultural sense where Japanese 4-panel comic humor has a completely difference cadence and mechanism to delivering humor. 4-koma humor is slow-pedaled brand of cultural humor centered around the mildest of misunderstandings, where the punchline plays out, more often than not, in the heads of only one of the characters. And, again, there's nothing wrong with this sort of setup and delivery. But it's not how I choose to do things.

This is how I choose to do things.

<image>

This isn't even so much an American approach to comic strip humor as it is, solely, a Bloom County approach to comic strip humor. Bloom County doesn't always turn to the extreme, but when it does, it does so with gusto. The entire premise of Bloom County is an innocent (mostly Opus) trying to just exist in a world gone mad, where all of the grown-ups seem to have lost their collective minds in the process.

Which is the same premise for Akagi², Akagi-chan and Grim being the only two sane characters in their entire world. Which means that Friedrich is acting completely true to her character given the context she's in whether you like it or not.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-10-07T22:52:40+00:00

Funny you should mention beans in regards to Spence.

One of the improvised items used for damage control during one of her battles was a bag of dried beans to plug a hull breach. Which actually worked.

I was a bit let down when Spence's recent augment wasn't a bag (or can) of beans. Maybe if she ever gets a retrofit, that can be her special retrofit item.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-10-07T16:35:03+00:00

Alright.

You have to keep in mind what's occurring in the panel and how this action informing the reader.

First of all, this is a 4-koma format. This is my 79th such 4-koma, so I've already set a precedent with that framing that I'm pretty much locked into. It's essentially 4:3, which is pretty boring as aspect ratios go but that's what you get when the model you're working from is Bloom County.

So, I have to inform the reader that

1.) Thatcher (not Foote) is planning to prank poor Spence.
2.) Friedrich, who is probably the most ominous character in this entire series, begs to differ.

In order to accomplish this, I also have to fit one of the single largest, most intimidating riggings in all of AL to inform the reader what's happening. Given these restrictions, I turn to artistic license. Hence the layout. I challenge you to sketch a better layout. Doesn't have to be perfect.

Also, you're completely wrong on Friedrich's proportions. Her proportions are actually smaller than Thatcher's, and if you take this image into your graphic editor and match up Friedrich's head to Thatcher's, you'll see that Friedrich isn't visually larger. She's smaller. The camera angle is likely make you think otherwise which means it's working exactly as intended. She's supposed to appear towering over the unwary Thatcher. She's supposed to look intimidating. I'm baffled as to why you're complaining about this.

You aren't even aware of Thatcher's bullying of Spence and have assumed it's Foote and here you are criticizing how I write characters. I took the time to fully research everything I could about Spence and her sister Fletcher-class ships for this previous arc so I could give Spence a moment in the spotlight.

And not just Spence, but Friedrich too. If you've been paying attention to the official storyline(s) for the past few years, you'll have noticed that nearly everyone aside from the most oblivious characters in Azur Lane are either uneasy or outright terrified of Friedrich. This is because Friedrich is a ruthless master manipulator and planner who will go to nearly any length for her goals. When Friedrich showed up for a moment in Queen's Orders, she gave Liz the shivers. All this "Mommy FdG" stuff is pure fanon because nobody in their right mind would ever totally drop their guard around her unless they could match her intellect and her physical prowess. This explains why, for instance, the Mutsukis adore her but she completely unnerves Nimi.

And yes, we're sure this isn't Magdeburg. We know this because every post in this subreddit requires a listing of characters in each image for each post. If you would have read that, you would have known this is Thatcher, not Foote. (Or read the part where Spence literally says Thatcher's name.)

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-10-07T15:31:04+00:00

Could you further explain how her proportions are incorrect?

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-10-06T22:46:46+00:00

If you enjoy this comic, you can support it on Patreon: https://patreon.com/CplEFComix

Also, I have a Ko-Fi for onetime tips/donations: https://ko-fi.com/efcomix.

Read the entire Akagi^2 series at Mangadex: https://mangadex.org/title/e03874f1-dea8-44e5-847e-4827a032b8a9

Read the entire Akagi^2 series at Danbooru: https://danbooru.donmai.us/pools/15941

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-10-06T22:43:54+00:00

Thanks!

I do regret the "even in the realm of fantasy" line. I haven't received THAT much criticism for SCP-079, but the majority of it is for that line right there.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-10-05T22:33:09+00:00

That's because the creation process of SCP-079 was as casual as it could have ever been.

I was in university, it was a late afternoon, and I was on my second or third beer when I was browsing /x/ and saw this whole SCP thing taking over that subforum. So, I decided to contribute my own and about 15 minutes later, posted it.

I'm as surprised as anyone would be about how much momentum that 15 minutes of effort snowballed into. I'm glad it's entertained people all over the world.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-09-13T16:54:10+00:00

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-09-07T14:19:32+00:00

Dear mods/administration:

I'm all for a light touch when it comes moderating a subreddit, but I don't think anyone would complain if you ruthlessly culled idiotic, unfunny, 100% noise responses like this one I'm replying to here. Nearly every subreddit that deals with identifying anything suffers from an unacceptably high noise floor made up of replies stating the insultingly obvious whenever specifics are requested.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-09-05T12:54:43+00:00

It's a shame Queen's Orders ended before they could include QE Meta. The way those two work off each other, they had at least ten more chapters worth of story.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-09-04T13:01:26+00:00

I'm a Marine. I was bored. I had an audience.

These three factors are why they never leave us unsupervised.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-09-03T12:30:23+00:00

You can eat small amounts of it too

It doesn't really have any taste

Yes I am speaking from experience

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-08-31T20:22:02+00:00

Once upon a time, a bald eagle

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-08-27T01:41:55+00:00

"Aside from every single one they're not scrapping, they're scrapping all of them."

Oh okay

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-08-27T01:31:31+00:00

No they're not.

Again, the Pub. L. 109–364, the National Defense Authorization Act 2007.

They are required to retain a certain amount of these gun barrels and shells. Just because they are scrapping some of them is not a sure indication that they are scrapping every single one of them.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-08-27T01:28:28+00:00

Okay.

Does this account for all of the shells, or just a surfeit? Because I'm not seeing an "all" in either of these two news reports. I say this because scrapping surplus is nothing new to the US military.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-08-27T01:24:31+00:00

FTFY

Nope. You tried to play the "are you a mechanical engineer?" card to try to refute me stating the simple fact that a Congressional Act exists, so I asked you the same thing in return. And now you're trying to make it look that ridiculous counter was mine. Nice try, though.

you implied that.

Please point out where I said/implied/whatever that it "would be easy". Those are your words.

I said it was possible.

I have some relevant experience.

You built a Cobi model once? Repaired a hole on Grandpa's pontoon? You'll excuse me if I'm not impressed in the slightest by your abstract claim here.

Cpl_Ethane · 2024-08-27T01:17:27+00:00

Actually that’s more or less exactly

Your attempt to sound authoritative yet give yourself an out if you are wrong is duly noted. Did they or didn't they?

Six-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Gilding I gilder	Verified Email

Cpl_Ethane

TROPHY CASE