Sep06
IT’S THE OLYMPUCKS!!! NEW VOTING INCENTIVES!!!
The Patreon bunch voted on the best sports, so join the competition!
As for this comic…
You don’t go into Spooky Valley unless the story intends for you to get stuck in Spooky Valley. Just saying.
Puck
A comic about everyone's fave redhead
I’d LOVE to know how he did that.
Manual transmissions don’t -normally- allow you to shift from going ahead to going in reverse.
Notice I emphasized “normally” (we are talking about Colin, here).
Before anyone tries to say I don’t know what I’m talking about… I drove OTR, coast-to-coast, interstate (whatever term you prefer to use) trucks 19 years. EVERY SINGLE VEHICLE I drove was a manual (as many as 18+3 speeds, in fact (18 forward and 3 reverse)).
I imagine that you are an exponent of double-clutching, an art I learned as a youth aboard industrial tractors, none of which had anything resembling Synchromesh.
I learned to double-clutch in training, yes.
But in less than a year was ‘floating’ up and down.
Floating is shifting without touching the clutch at all and requires pretty dang good timing.
It is virtually impossible if your transmission has Synchromesh.
I drove for 15 years.
Can confirm.
Well, he might not have actually thrown it in reverse. That might be a little hyperbole going on.
You know. For funny.
I do have one idiot friend who actually did something close a long while back. He needed us to pushstart his toyota 4 banger, and when we got it up to speed where he could pop the clutch, he had it in reverse
car went from 15 to 0 in no time flat
*sighs* I’ll get my Tow Truck and the Ambulance, I got a feeling Colin’s gonna need the latter, while the van gets the former.
Too bad the phones don’t work.
I can see Colin pulling out one of those Motorola “bricks” because it still works, and he has no need for a smart-phone…
If there’s no cell tower in the area, even those old Motorola bricks are rendered useless…. Unless they’re special NASA phones…
Sounds like my kind of chap. Sadly.
Unexpected yet inevitable plot tweest!
Yes. Inevitably unexpected.
Chekhov’s transmission.
We saw it on the wall in act one. It had to go off some time.
TOAST
They should have rented a Tesla.
You’re not wrong.
I drive a Nisan Leaf EV.
300 miles for $10 of electricity.
Smooth, quiet, wonderful.
Get one.
And no gearbox to speak of!
If you attempt to throw it in reverse while driving forward it simply makes an ingracious sound to politely let you know you are a fool.
That poor, poor transmission. Honestly I can’t parse throwing something from reverse to forward unless a half-spin is thrown in.. but that might be from all the Bond films.
Coincidentally, to throw my car into reverse you have to push down on the shifter, then work to the left and up (further left than 1st). Whereas on my friend’s truck it’s where 6th would be.
Throwing it into reverse might be physically impossible. But it’s the craziest thing to do, so I had to go with that.
You did.
Well, we ARE talking about Colin…
There is also a chance that Colin doesn’t even know what he’s talking about. That’s a real possibility here too.
Which is part of why you had to do it.
[Check.]
The sound effects of somehow throwing the van into reverse while going forward would have been a lot more than “Screeeee”. There would have been a noticeable grinding of metal, ratcheting and possibly a few “clunkety-thunking” sounds. This page sounds like he may have misapplied the brakes and clutch, stalling the van out, while restarting sounds like a flooded engine with a weak battery.
The sound effects are likely highly inaccurate. Like, crazy inaccurate. They’re more auditory symbolism for “something is wrong”.
Should’a gone to the Star Trek con. “Always going forward, ’cause we can’t find reverse.”
Smart. Very smart.
There is no reverse on rocket engine. Or ion drive.
1. Is it bad that my brain inserted the word “on” between “panic shift” and “your face”?
2. Excellent vote incentive. While I am not one of your Patrons, may I suggest a follow-up incentive with Comic Store Guy (I forget his name, but I am assuming he won’t exactly be enthused with Colin if he ever gets his van back) doing something incredible for the Paralympics?
Yeah, I didn’t go into the Paralympics, but maybe in the future? Maybe? Might be fun. We actually have Cy (the comic store guy) and Hannah, so that’s something.
Tyler’s very experienced with this family.
If they have to stay in the valley, do they need to learn Quebec French?
To talk to the Quebecois squirrels? No one lives there.
No one anyone talks to. Not everyone’s gregarious.
But they might have to learn French for other reasons.
Maybe the Funky Phantom will show up, or perhaps Speed Buggy.
I’m not surprised the van won’t start. That would have ruined the plot!
Exactly. Gotta have a plot.