Few Questions (spoilers)

[KitaeK27]

Kay, I've gotten to the part where Dr. Manace drugs Rachel while Nuklear Man fights Superior Man(tm).

I've found myself noticing very many lines that reminded me of movies (obviously because they are all FROM the other movies) but there are some that I cannot identify. Does anyone know? It is totally stuck in my head.

1. The part where everyone is wearing a Superior Shirt and Atomik Lad runs out of MMMM's house screaming, and Dr. Genious saying "probably to get his Superior shirt"
- I know I saw something like this somewhere.
2. The part where they talk about fucjk sticks and fucsk holes and how Atomik Lad spits out the Juice. And then Rachel going to drink and THEN spitting it out.
- I TOTALLY know this one... but can't seem to say what.

Also, I have a question. If the radiation is supposed to kill everyone that comes to Nuklear Man's Silo of Solitude, then why does KatKat, Rachel, and Dr. Mance have no problem surviving it for so long?

[Kurosen]

1) It's just a joke. Not from anything.

2) Same as above. Maybe someone else thought of it too and you've seen it elsewhere, but it's a Brian Clevinger original as far as I know.

The radiation: It just stops people from getting out to the Silo. The Silo itself has protection. If it didn't, then Sparky would have to keep his Field on 24/7 and would have died of thirst many years ago.

[Artman317]

Then why was there a giant spider?
I always figured it grew from radiation.

(If the answer is obvious, forgive me, I havnt read it in a long while. My English teacher borrowed it to read it)

[Kurosen]

The spider crawled into the Silo's reactor room.

[Elminster_Amaur]

I am sorry, but, to resolve a dispute between myself and Hunter_Shu, I have to ask...how does Atomik Lad breathe when his Atomik Field is up? I told him I thought it was because the Field can "breathe" for him.

[Kurosen]

The Field itself isn't "solid" in a way that would block air. It is basically raw kinetic energy and is therefore without mass.

[Thought]

So Atomik Lad, when he "folds" his field around other people, such as Angus or Rachel, is essentially manipulating raw energy? Yet, curiously, he can only manipulate the energy of his own field, not random energy (or, at least, from what has been shown thus far).

Wait... so why does his field block the feel of the wind on his face when he is swooshing through the sky?

[betabread]

About that, Atomic Lad mentions that he cannot feel the wind. But earlier he talked about the wind moving through his hair.

[Kurosen]

So Atomik Lad, when he "folds" his field around other people, such as Angus or Rachel, is essentially manipulating raw energy?
A very specific form of energy from a very specific source, yeah.

Atomic Lad mentions that he cannot feel the wind. But earlier he talked about the wind moving through his hair.
I know he mentions the wind going through his hair when he's driving with Norman to the Mall. If he mentions it while flying, well, the darn book was written over a four year period. Looks like I might've goofed :)

No wait, even better. It's not a goof. It's a, uh, continuity error. Yeah. To emulate how superhero comics do that kind of stuff all the time. Yeah, that's it.

[Kairamek]

If you go with that "explination" than you are adding Retcon, and heaven knows that alot of that in comics.

[Jarlax]

No wait, even better. It's not a goof. It's a, uh, continuity error. Yeah. To emulate how superhero comics do that kind of stuff all the time. Yeah, that's it.
Damn, I was guessing that a wizard did it.

[Primalmoon]

I am sorry, but, to resolve a dispute between myself and Hunter_Shu, I have to ask...how does Atomik Lad breathe when his Atomik Field is up? I told him I thought it was because the Field can "breathe" for him.
Wait... so why does his field block the feel of the wind on his face when he is swooshing through the sky?
I always thought as the field as the standard forcefield, or bubble, or whatever. He separates himself apart from the world by setting up a barrier, but it isn't exactly against his body (or at least in my mind), so there is room for air in there. And the reason he feels no wind is for the same reason you feel no wind when you are driving along in a car with all the windows rolled up.

Other idea: Imagine Atomik Lad as a Dragonball Z character. They all have 'flaming' auras that give off a wind of their own, thus blocking outside wind, though he should still feel the wind of his aura if he was a DBZ character.


Hmm... I really like the mental image of Atomik Lad as a DBZ character. It makes perfect sense. He turns it on when he needs it, off when he doesn't, and it goes beserk whenever he goes berserk. Maybe we get to meet Super Atomik Lad in Atomik Age, just like we got to meet the equivalent of a Super Nuklear Man in Nuklear Age (you, know, in the battle with the Chrushstacean in which his cape gets messed up for the first time). Ok... enough DBZ references. :p

[Thought]

I always thought as the field as the standard forcefield, or bubble, or whatever. He separates himself apart from the world by setting up a barrier, but it isn't exactly against his body (or at least in my mind), so there is room for air in there. And the reason he feels no wind is for the same reason you feel no wind when you are driving along in a car with all the windows rolled up.


But then he would use up the air inside his bubble (and probably fairly quickly, all things considered) so he would then suffocate. But, regardless, I appeal to your basic suspension of disbelief!

[Kairamek]

A car is not air-tight, it just blocks the wind. If you leave the windows up and the vents off you will not sufficate because air can get though. Same thing with the field, air can get in but not fast enough to generate wind.

[Gary Thunder]

That seems fishy. If his Field wasn't perfectly airtight, then the radiation would seep in through the cracks and kill him before he ever made it to the Silo.

[Kurosen]

The Field seems to have a certain amount of awareness to it. Perhaps it can selectively keep out "harm". It always acts in a defense way -- utterly destroying anything that gets near you is a great way to keep from being injured. Perhaps it's a semipermeable membrane of force.

[Skyshot]

You mean "selectively permeable?" And that could explain why it blocks the wind -- flying at twice the speed of sound like he does at the end of the book is bound to cause a lot of heat. If it blocks cold wind, say, at high altitudes, but lets in winds at lower altitudes and lower speeds, there's no error -- it fits in perfectly.

[Gary Thunder]

Maybe the Field is sentient. You hinted at that at the end of the book, with Atomik Lad's survival in Antarctica. It lets in air and such but keeps out what it chooses. Which also explains why it activates sometimes without Atomik Lad's consent, or indeed, knowledge. That might be why he nearly kills Rachel all those times.

[Kurosen]

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe.

[Kairamek]

The field has one purpose: Protect Atomic. Their won't be an Atomic to protect if he sufficates within the field. But like Wolverine's healing factor sometimes that protection is the best thing for him. Getting close to someone opens up the possibility of emotional pain later on. To prevent that the field kicks in to keep Rachel away. Similarly Wolverine's healing factor blocks tramatic memories, hence his amnesia (see Logan's origin story).

I have to admit, I am curious if the field is a full 12 dimentional KI field manifested in 3D, who is it? Not what, who?

[Jhonka]

Personally, I've adopted the theory that Atomik Lad's field is Rachel's KI field. IIRC, Doc Genius mentions that their two KI fields share an identical string, or something similar.

The question is, if I'm right, shouldn't the field have disappeared when Rachel died? Or do KI fields persist, even when the thing they belong to (the thing that belongs to them?) is destroyed?

Eh, I'm probably wrong.

[Kurosen]

Genius only mentions that Atomik Lad and his Field share similar KI data. Rachel has never been directly scanned/studied by Genius as she has no powers.

[Kairamek]

I suspect that the field is Atomik from another Dimention, or some such nerdly goodness.

[Jhonka]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up Brian. I figured I had something mixed up.

I still hold to my theory, though.

[Kairamek]

You're giving way too much credit to character of Rachel. She was a vehicle for the "joke" that is Nuklear Age. She was created to be an expendible character we would sympathize with and feel remorse for when she died. That's it. I'm sorry if that offends, I was less than thrilled with her death myself, but she was a plot device. Hell, they only dated a month! She was just a college student paying her way with tips. No super powers, no metaphysical connection to the "other side," just a waitress who happened to catch the eye of a main character. Do you guys think Brian writes for Marvel or something? He's not neck deep in asinine "plot twists" that connect two completely unrelated events or characters so they can sell a "special crossover edition action figure." Maybe I've been misunderstanding Mr. Clevinger, but it seems to me that's the kind of bullshit that has him so pissed with "Tradition" comics (ei Marvel and DC). But maybe I'm wrong.

[Codemonkey85]

Well, after reading that rant, I'm almost ashamed to admit that was (and still is) my theory as well, with the Rachel and everything. I wonder who else it could be? Maybe Nuke? His field started doin' stuff before he ever even met Nuke, but maybe it's connected to him somehow anyway. Hm.

I like the comparison to Wolverine's healing factor. Sounds good to me, like the field is an extension of every human's fight-or-flight instincts, just manifested in the real world in the form of crimson invulnerability and violence. I can't wait to see what he's like when he's under complete control of it....

[wolfboy1988]

Wait a sec, I just thought of something. Nihel said that Arel only exists to destroy the galaxy, that he is unfate, but wouldn't being created to destroy be fate?

[RedScar]

So the field works to protect him? I thought it also worked with his emotions. I mean during the book when Radar attcaked Rachel Atomic Lad wasn't in trouble. Well not more that he already was.


And Some one said that Rachel was a compleltly expenidble. She died for the joke and was only in the book because of the book. I think she was in the book to also help set up how Atomic Lad was. If we learned nothing about him then why would we buy his(Atomic Lad's) book? Rachel was there for charter development.

Hope you can read this even with some spelling errors. Sorry.

[Kairamek]

In response to wolfboy's spoiler post: Arel was created with a purpose to defeat Fate (capital F) as a vaguly defined Ubergod type omnitient entity. Fate (capital F) is the... thing is best word I can think of... Fate is the thing that outlines what the "gods" do for the entirety of their existance. Arel was created by a Fated indivual without Fate's knowledge (NOT POSSIBLE) so that he would be unFated, defy Fate, defeat Fate, and free all the "gods." Or at least those who want out.

[Green_Fantastic]

2. The part where they talk about fucjk sticks and fucsk holes and how Atomik Lad spits out the Juice. And then Rachel going to drink and THEN spitting it out.
- I TOTALLY know this one... but can't seem to say what.
yo this part is right from Fairly Odd Parents from Nickelodeon. It's the episode where Timmy stops all sounds, then there's like this running joke in the episode where whenever people hear bout a meteor the spit out coffee. Cosmo does the whole gets a coffee then spits it out

[Chrismith]

yo this part is right from Fairly Odd Parents from Nickelodeon. It's the episode where Timmy stops all sounds, then there's like this running joke in the episode where whenever people hear bout a meteor the spit out coffee. Cosmo does the whole gets a coffee then spits it out
...Somehow I doubt Brian watches Fairly Odd Parents. Likely this is an example of parallel evolution; the whole spitting-out-water/coffee/whatever gag is an old one, and having someone run to get a drink just so they can spit it out is an obvious next step.

[Kurosen]

Yeah, it's an old, old gag.

[gaffit]

Anyone think that maybe Atomik Lad's shield is controlled by his subconscious. Because I remember reading in a book that your subconcious is eight times faster than your concious. So that would explain how his sheild appears to turns itself on. It could also explain why it tried to kill Racheal, because Atomic Lad subconciously didn't want to make attachments so he couldn't be hurt.