Gunnerkrigg Court

It's hardly a proper tech faction if it doesn't have a mecha or two.

That is a very good point.

Whatever the Omega device is, it's probably why they have those facilities extracting ether from the Earth.

Theory: The Omega device is the time machine that they are going to use to send Jones to the distant past and wiping her memory thus creating a Stable Time Loop

edited 28th Jun '16 1:54:51 PM by GutstheBerserker

I'm guessing that it's some sort of last resort doomsday device for dealing with Coyote.

edited 29th Jun '16 7:31:37 AM by tricksterson

1690

A three hour tour.

Was Parley always that tall?

IIRC she was about a head taller than Smitty to start with...the perspective's wonky, though.

The clearest picture of post-training Parley and Smith for height comparison purposes seems to be the third panel here. Compared to, say, this comparison of the two standing side-by-side pre-training, it does seem that Parley's height has grown faster than Smith's. That said, I don't think we have a really good post-training shot to compare the two with yet.

Pre-Training, I would say that this picture shows their height difference pretty clearly.

Incidentally, it's also a clever way for the author to have The Big Damn Kiss without having to show anyone bending over.

It seems clear though that Parley has grown a bit since then while Smitty is pretty much the same height.

edited 29th Jun '16 11:18:14 AM by GutstheBerserker

Actually, I would argue that it doesn't. More people are better able to gauge height difference when the two being compared are on level ground with each other. Also, it doesn't help that Parley is actually tiptoeing in that pic, and it's not totally clear just by how much.

I mean, it's a great scene, but I just don't think it illustrates height difference all that well.

Fair enough. Personally, I used the fact that Smitty was standing one step higher to mean that Parley is approximately 7-8 inches taller than him.

Smitty has a slight slouch in a lot of his other scenes, so I never could get a good idea of the height difference when they are at ground level.

edited 29th Jun '16 11:25:10 AM by GutstheBerserker

You're probably about right, although given the way she's bending forward at the knees and neck it's hard to tell.

Think of it as being like Mulder and Scully, but gender-flipped. The exact height difference doesn't need to be consistent if it interferes with the framing of the shot.

Well, between movement and, as pointed out, precise consistency in heights isn't always the key, it's kind of difficult to say precisely how much taller Parley is, just that she is distinctly taller than Smith. My impression was that she was approximately 3 to 4 inches taller prior to her training, and I would guess around 8 to 9 inches taller now.

That said, I guess precision doesn't matter that much on this one. She was always taller than Andrew; she's moreso now.

She's also older and female. When his growth spurt does kick into gear, things are likely to look a bit different, since she must be at the tail end of hers. Magical shenanigans or not.

edited 29th Jun '16 12:47:31 PM by Euodiachloris

They're only a year apart, and isn't Parley like 18 now? While it's possible Smit could catch up, I think the idea here is just that she's always going to be taller and she's cool with that. And from what we know of Smitty, I'd imagine he's *definitely* okay with this.

edited 30th Jun '16 8:32:04 AM by Unsung

I thought there was about a year and a half between them? Most boys only really start shooting up between 15 and 21 with a wide degree of variance. Girls usually finish by 16 or 18 at the latest, depending on when they started their menstrual cycles (it generally goes: start period, wait a few months while the endocrine system gets the memo, start rocketing for two or three years, stop)... Take me: I stopped at 13 (my spurt was between the ages of 10 to 13... possibly with a little millimetre or two in 14, but nothing to write home about).

edited 29th Jun '16 1:04:57 PM by Euodiachloris

Girls do start and finish puberty around two years earlier than boys, but most big growth spurts for boys do still tend to happen before 15 or so, and most boys will stop growing (in height, though not muscle) between 16-18. There are definitely still outliers, but if Smitty did gain any height (and unless there's an in-story reason to do so I think the contrast between him and Parley is intentional and likely to stick), it's more likely to only be a few inches over a few years.

I could be wrong, of course. I just like the idea of her just being so much taller and more muscular than him.

edited 29th Jun '16 1:21:20 PM by Unsung

Well, boys do typically get their last growth spurt later than girls, but that last one is generally minor - I think I grew half an inch in my last growth spurt. Mind you, nobody will feel bad for me on how paltry that spurt was given that I was basically at 6 feet tall due to prior spurts. But still once a guy is around 17-18, more likely than not he's at his adult height.

And given that he's always found her "hotter than hell," I agree, Smitty Is Totally Fine With This Situation.

When I was 16 I was 5' 7".

Ten years later and I'm now 5' 8 1/2".

I'm honestly not very sold on Parley's new look. Not in concept, but in execution. The art is kinda wonky.

I agree, though I can't put my finger on just what is bothering me. I think things will smooth out after a few more appearances though.

In some panels she looks like she has a tiny head.

Yeah, she didn't just put on some muscle, she went Hulk.

Go team go!

I think Parley's body almost looks like they just slightly scaled down Eglamore's body and put Parley's head on it. Also, it looks like Parley's face is being drawn with more details, kind of like how Tony's is.

I kind of really wanna see Smitty and Parley in Back-to-Back Badasses though... I really do.