I swear, in my head I always have a million clever things to say to you guys and then it comes time to putting up the page and I forget every last one of them.
HEY WOAH! I totally just remembered what I was supposed to tell you about this page. Now that you’ve seen it, go back and take a look at this one. :3
Comments
Garfalk
not what i expected, but pretty darn cool.
TalonofElysia
CALLED IT! HAH.
Anyway, Nice idea having aquatic Pterodactyls… wonder if they're going to talk now, or continue kicking ass.
Could it possibly be -they- built Excelsior and Daedelus?
Where are Cap'n and Robot?
Are Inman and Scherzer still alive?
Find out next time. Same Zap time. Same, Zap Place.
if the aquarians are psychics and were just stopped by a Zap barrier, maybe they aren't gonna be hostile under the assumption that zap is protecting reona and is therefore not an enemy?
max_hickson
I noticed a semblance between Reona and the humanoid figure in the carving linked at the bottom of this post, and take that coupled with the Aquarian's non-threatening stances to mean she's going to be considered as something of a messiah or ambassador?
Strike_Reyhi
It looks like Zap though, see the hairspike?
max_hickson
ahhhh yep my bad I guess. The inner bubble made it look like Reona's shag hairstyle to me
snowhummingbird
Ouu fun! xD I agree – nice idea on aquatic pterodactyls! ^_^
I love that there is a reference in page 457! xD Thanks for pointing it out too! XD I love foreshadowing. :3
Ghalail
The Fudge?!?! The aquarians are aquatic pterodactyls?!?! Cool!
It's my bad for not including a size reference. Next week they'll be compared to Reona.
Lenvoran
You know… It has been mentioned before that Zap is a totally awesome seer type dude. He could've seen that Reona would come to the location of the ship and made a special protective thing just for her. Great scott, that's heavy.
I love that trying to figure out things is part of the fun of this comic. It makes me so happy.
Keep 'em coming!
mirrim
Thanks to your clever theory I now have Savage Garden's “I knew I loved you before I met you…” stuck in my head as a Zap/Reona song! :D
LOL! It's not a height reference, it's a reference to just being welcomed to the really weirdness known as OZ. :3
snowhummingbird
YAY! xD I have noticed some! xD Thank you! xD I love!
marcus
Followed the link to the previous comic, all I could see was Reona's bum. It's the only visible thing on that page. So I guess your are trying to say the Aquarians are staring at it too? Fair enough, it is inter-species bootylicious.
SpringLoaded12
HOLY CRAP PTERODACTYLS WEEEEEE
In response to DigoDragon (Reply's broken for some reason), massive props to lepas and chris if the pterodactyls start singing “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” on the next page ;)
Shaitanpyrik
Aquaridactyls? Maybe they use the “wings” like a manta ray does, more like oversized pectoral fins. I DID notice them, and the other figure's resemblance to Zap on the Temple bas reliefs, so yay for me?
Pterodactyl isn’t the suborder.
Pterodactyloidia is the suborder.
The term Pterodactyl, as referring to the Pterodactylus Genus, is in a completely separate family from the Pteranodon.
So no. Only one of the names applies.
OctoDude
Yes, of course Pterodactyl isn’t the
name for the suborder, and you may notice that I did not say,
“Suborder Pterodactyl;” instead I used more common-usage
terminology (“the Pterodactyl suborder”). One must
consider the context when one is choosing the specific terminology
used. Are we in a forum discussing taxonomy or cladistics with
fellow biologists or paleontologists, or are we posting in a comment
section on a popular webcomic?
You are correct that the Genus
Pteranodon is in Family Pteranodontidae, and you are correct that
Genus Pterodactylus is in a completely separate family
(Pterodactylidae). Both families are in Suborder Pterodactyloidea
and Order Pterosauria. In common biology and paleontology parlance,
members of both sub-taxa can be referred to by the umbrella name of a
higher inclusive taxa, in this case, “Pterodactyls” or
“Pterosaurs”. Both terms would be acceptable, though of course,
each is less precise in discussing animals of specific genera. If in
a technical discussion one wants to use the most precise term for the
animals in this suborder, they would refer to them as
Pterodactyloids, but in the context of the comment section of a
popular webcomic, the term would be meaningless and confusing to most
of the readers, which would defeat the purpose, unless the purpose
was an attempt at intellectual snobbery.
On a separate note, as the Aquarians
are a fictitious race, they can be called by whatever name the
writers and artist choose to call them, just as if you create
something yourself, you can call it whatever you like. As they are
drawing an alien race and not illustrating a fossil species, they can
call them Pterodactyls, Aqua-dactyls, or whatever they choose.
All I have learnt from this little exchange is that you believe it is alright to be misleading, vague and otherwise obtuse if one is doing it in a medium of entertainment.
Your defense of the use of the term “pterodactyl” and derivatives thereof in reference to a clade general enough to do a disservice to the Pterodactylus genus in the process… is essentially just an excuse to cover the fact that the term “pterodactyl” has been used repeatedly in reference to a selection of phenotypic features that practically define the pteranodon.
And yes… as noted elsewhere, I’m aware the similarity is most likely, in-universe, 100% coincidental (even if it isn’t so in the meta). The Aquarians quite possibly don’t even use the same DNA-based genetic structure that life on Earth does. One wouldn’t technically include them in the Kingdom Animalia…
BUT… the fact remains that they have been designed with a very specific appearance in reference to entities that once roamed the skies of our little green/blue cesspool of a planet. And it just so happens that appearance reference is the pteranodon… AND is being continually called “pterodactyl”, which just so happens to be a term most accurately used to address a separate Genus in a separate Family.
And basically what it all comes down to is that:
IT.
BUGS.
ME.
The Aquarians didn’t evolve naturally. They were the result of a drunken bet between two lab techs at Jurassic Park. When they ended up in the water near the end of Jurassic Park 3 (or was it 2?), they realized, “Hey! We’ve got gills!”
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Comments