Wapsi Square Forum

Heh. I sure hope this quiz keeps going on... I just finished organizing my bookmarks related to this. I must have spent half the night, and half of today (well, most of today so far, but the day is only half done - yay for vacation time...) cataloguing the questions already asked, placing them in a separate subfolder, by going through this thread and following every answer link to bookmark the ones I didn't have, and to move from the potential questions folder to the asked questions folder the bookmarks of my own questions I've asked...


But lest this declaration instill fear in other posters, I am nowhere near an expert on all things Wapsi. These bookmarks are merely snapshots, with a quote of what question I can ask with any particular strip. They (mostly) don't contain details from visual clues from the strips, and given the whiplash inducing strips all over the place, the bookmarks I have are no indication of what strips are going to follow them, most of the time. So I'll still have to look for answers, unless it happens to be something I was already planning to ask later.

Yes, that's right: I have no life!

lake_wrangler wrote:[Very good! Your context info tells me you didn't just guess. Although, technically, she wasn't so much "winding down" from an adventure, as much as retelling Monica's adventure (fixing the calendar) to Oscar. Still, I am satisfied with your answer.


Your question, please?

I didn't know I had to come up with one if I made an answer. Okay, let's think...

What's another term for a vimana cell? (V-cell doesn't count because it's too similar.)

ActionKermit wrote:What's another term for a vimana cell? (V-cell doesn't count because it's too similar.)

Is "galaxy alternator" what you were looking for?

Dave wrote:Is "galaxy alternator" what you were looking for?

Yep! I like that one because I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop when the main cast realizes what it meant when May said she just "found" one. To my way of thinking, Bia's father should never have been able to punch through the grid hard enough to leave Bia on the island without doing it via the library. That is, unless May accidentally damaged the grid...

ActionKermit wrote:Yep! I like that one because I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop when the main cast realizes what it meant when May said she just "found" one. To my way of thinking, Bia's father should never have been able to punch through the grid hard enough to leave Bia on the island without doing it via the library. That is, unless May accidentally damaged the grid...

Indeed... that's another of Paul's little Chekhov's Guns lying around, where any god walking through the scene could just pick it up

Q: I am one scene, seen four times. I hold one once, one twice, and one four times who does not move. When am I?

ActionKermit wrote:

Dave wrote:Is "galaxy alternator" what you were looking for?

Yep! I like that one because I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop when the main cast realizes what it meant when May said she just "found" one. To my way of thinking, Bia's father should never have been able to punch through the grid hard enough to leave Bia on the island without doing it via the library. That is, unless May accidentally damaged the grid...

Personally, I'm not convinced: in the linked comic, May says it looks familiar, then changes the subject to the galaxy alternator. Had it been another name for it, she probably would have said something to the effect of "oh, you found a galaxy alternator too?" or some such... To me, it looks like the V-Cell and the galaxy alternator are two different devices.

Time will tell, I guess.

Dave wrote:Q: I am one scene, seen four times. I hold one once, one twice, and one four times who does not move. When am I?

What is your definition of a "scene"? Is a scene equal to one single comic strip, or to any given story arc, from the time the "scene" changes to the next?

lake_wrangler wrote:What is your definition of a "scene"? Is a scene equal to one single comic strip, or to any given story arc, from the time the "scene" changes to the next?

Clue: the correct answer will consist of a single precise date.

Personally, I'm not convinced: in the linked comic, May says it looks familiar, then changes the subject to the galaxy alternator. Had it been another name for it, she probably would have said something to the effect of "oh, you found a galaxy alternator too?" or some such... To me, it looks like the V-Cell and the galaxy alternator are two different devices.

Time will tell, I guess.

I could swear I remember a later discussion of Jin's new power source, with one of the characters commenting that it harnesses the power of the rotating galaxy, but without the time-loop side effects of the Calendar Machine. Can't find that reference at the moment, though.

I don't think it's ever been stated certainly whether the plutonium contained within a vimana cell (RIP, Shelly #1) is in fact its sole source of power, or whether it simply catalyzes or triggers access to a larger power source.

Dave wrote:

lake_wrangler wrote:What is your definition of a "scene"? Is a scene equal to one single comic strip, or to any given story arc, from the time the "scene" changes to the next?

Clue: the correct answer will consist of a single precise date.

Still not sure I follow you, but I definitely nominate you for the "Vaguest Question" award!

lake_wrangler wrote:Personally, I'm not convinced: in the linked comic, May says it looks familiar, then changes the subject to the galaxy alternator. Had it been another name for it, she probably would have said something to the effect of "oh, you found a galaxy alternator too?" or some such... To me, it looks like the V-Cell and the galaxy alternator are two different devices.

Time will tell, I guess.

I will add that on the very next day, May and Bud continue the conversation and definitely treat the two (Galaxy Alternator and V-Cell) as distinct, separate objects and possibly different object types, even. Though with, May hopes, the same desired result.

Dave wrote:I could swear I remember a later discussion of Jin's new power source, with one of the characters commenting that it harnesses the power of the rotating galaxy, but without the time-loop side effects of the Calendar Machine. Can't find that reference at the moment, though.

That would be here, which is definitely an earlier conversation to the scene with Bud and May about to fix Jin...

Dave wrote:I don't think it's ever been stated certainly whether the plutonium contained within a vimana cell (RIP, Shelly #1) is in fact its sole source of power, or whether it simply catalyzes or triggers access to a larger power source.

"The relic shields and harnesses the radiation, it's lined with Beryllium. It's a self-sustaining power source."

Dave wrote:Q: I am one scene, seen four times. I hold one once, one twice, and one four times who does not move. When am I?

Boy, I was going to guess Delayed Reaction by Monica, but I think I'm probably off.

lake_wrangler wrote:Still not sure I follow you, but I definitely nominate you for the "Vaguest Question" award!

Hey, what can I tell you... I admire British-style crossword puzzle clues.

What I meant was "it's all in a single day's strip."

lake_wrangler wrote:

Dave wrote:I could swear I remember a later discussion of Jin's new power source, with one of the characters commenting that it harnesses the power of the rotating galaxy, but without the time-loop side effects of the Calendar Machine. Can't find that reference at the moment, though.

That would be here, which is definitely an earlier conversation to the scene with Bud and May about to fix Jin...

That's the one I was thinking of... and earlier or later, it clearly defines the V-cell Shelly brought back from the Time Forest as being a galaxy-rotation-power harvester. Shelly's later conversation with Monica and Euryale confirms that what fixed Jin was a newly-created V-cell. And, the one shown in the strip you cite appears to be the one May was carrying to install in Jin.

So, my guess is that "Vimana cell" and "galaxy alternator" are two ways of describing the same thing (one a proper name and the other a functional term), that May "recovered" a second one (which I don't think we ever saw) and that May was just being a ditzy dingbat (as Bud said at the time).

jwhouk wrote:Boy, I was going to guess Delayed Reaction by Monica, but I think I'm probably off.

A good guess, but no... in the one I'm thinking of, the repetition of the scene is much more exact than that.

Dave wrote: Q: I am one scene, seen four times. I hold one once, one twice, and one four times who does not move. When am I?

lake_wrangler wrote:

Dave wrote:

lake_wrangler wrote:What is your definition of a "scene"? Is a scene equal to one single comic strip, or to any given story arc, from the time the "scene" changes to the next?

Clue: the correct answer will consist of a single precise date.

Still not sure I follow you, but I definitely nominate you for the "Vaguest Question" award!

*Thinking out loud*

It is so vague, I have already been down two bunny trails...

Premise: "one who does not move" = Monica, during the calendar machine fix
Hence, "I hold" => 'I' = Shelly
Misread "I am one scene, seen four times" as if there was a comma after I am, so as to imply "I am, in one scene, seen four times". So, looking for a scene where someone is seen four times, and that person is seen holding someone who does not move, and we get to see them holding said person once, then twice in the same comic, then four times in a different comic.
However, there is no single strip that fits: nowhere do we see Shelly holding her once, then twice in a different page, and four times in another one.

Scrap that.


Premise 2: "I am one scene" = we are looking for a scene, not an individual
"seen four times" = we see the same thing happening four times
"I hold ... one who does not move" = in that scene, someone who does not move is being held
"one once, once twice, one four times" = said holding happens once in a comic, then twice in a different comic, and four times in another comic
"When am I" = again, reinforces the fact that we are looking for a moment, a type of event, not a person

Hypothesis: the scene is the repeated freezings of Monica by Euryale

Test:
First time Euryale freezes Monica, she holds her once. Check.
Second time Euryale freezes Monica, she holds her twice. Check.
Third time Euryale freezes Monica, we only see her hold her once. DARN!

Not only that, but Euryale only froze Monica three times, not four. So that cannot be the repeated scene.

Revise premise:

Dave wrote: Clue: the correct answer will consist of a single precise date.

It all happens on the same day???

Hypothesis to be tested: a scene at a bar, where the non-moving object is a drink, and four panels which repeat themselves?

The non-moving object is something else, and we could be looking all over the place for it.


Shoot! This is a hard one!

lake_wrangler wrote:

Dave wrote: Q: I am one scene, seen four times. I hold one once, one twice, and one four times who does not move. When am I?

Shoot! This is a hard one!

Yeah, I guess you'll have to shoot me. Don't do it 'til you get the answer

Hint: "and one four times who does not move." Not "which".

Dave wrote:

lake_wrangler wrote:

Dave wrote: Q: I am one scene, seen four times. I hold one once, one twice, and one four times who does not move. When am I?

Shoot! This is a hard one!

Yeah, I guess you'll have to shoot me. Don't do it 'til you get the answer

Hint: "and one four times who does not move." Not "which".

So that which does not move is a person. For a certain definition of person... Check.

Dave wrote: Q: I am one scene, seen four times. I hold one once, one twice, and one four times who does not move. When am I?

Hmmmmm... One scene, four times. Same background, same location.

One "character" is there once.
One "character" is there twice.
One "character" is there all four times - and doesn't move.

EDIT: I HAVE A SOCIAL LIFE, DAMMIT!

jwhouk wrote:

Dave wrote: Q: I am one scene, seen four times. I hold one once, one twice, and one four times who does not move. When am I?

Hmmmmm... One scene, four times. Same background, same location.

One "character" is there once.
One "character" is there twice.
One "character" is there all four times - and doesn't move.

EDIT: I HAVE A SOCIAL LIFE, DAMMIT!

Again, a good guess, and very close ... but in that one, the "character" which doesn't move is a "which" rather than a "who", I think. I believe Monica is the only person portrayed, and he's moving.

You're on the right track, though, thinking-wise. I'll say that all three of the "ones" in the strip I was thinking of, are persons (using a reasonable Wapsi Square definition of personhood). None is insensate.

Hmmm. He's close, and on the right track...

ZUT!* This one repeats itself 5 times, not four!


So let's think about the wording...

The scene repeats itself, and the scene is the one holding someone not moving. Once, twice, and four times...

Not easy...


*That's French for DARN...

Dave wrote:Again, a good guess, and very close ... but in that one, the "character" which doesn't move is a "which" rather than a "who", I think. I believe Monica is the only person portrayed, and he's moving.

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure Monica's a "she"...

lake_wrangler wrote:UT!* This one repeats itself 5 times, not four!

Actually, come to think of it, it does only repeat itself only four times. The fifth panel is different.

But we still have only one book, being held once in each panel. And we're supposed to look for someone being held, unmoving, by the scene... It still doesn't work.

He's close, concept-wise. Not chronologically... the one I was thinking of is years later.

Re Monica... yah, yah... I'm "typing" on an iPad's soft keyboard... dreadfully easy to make typos and miss one while proofreading.