Page 290 – Kidd Commander!

Wereael

I was wondering about that.
Also, what’s the picture on Jo’s magic compass thingy? It looks like sunflowers, or Phin’s face.

Aria

It’s a hollowed out clock! People carry around their radios like we do cell phones, so most folks like to customize them. Jocasta’s has the stone settled in the middle, an old photo of Phineas on one side, and some dried flowers on the other. A little bunch of heather, probably meant for safe travel for Phin, and a few dried begonias Jo likely put in there for herself. Flower magic is definitely a thing in KC, haha.

There’s a better view of it on page 277! http://kiddcommander.com/?comic=page-277
- Wereael
  
  😮 wait so it’s a radio? How does that work? Is it powered by starstone or something? What’s the range limitation on that?
  - Aria
    
    The short explanation is, for all intents and purposes, they function mostly like regular phones do.
    
    Radios are made from specially cut starstone. The only actually /functional/ part is the stone itself, the case it’s in doesn’t matter at all but since the stone can get pretty expensive people like to keep them in something protective and easy to carry. They’re not exactly uncommon but they CAN get expensive depending on who crafted them or if you spring for something like a visual connection feature, and tend to cost more the further away from a large deposit you are. The signal from the device is transmitted through the ground by bouncing off the stones in the earth, and since starstone is present to some extent in all the soil that covers the planet, you can call pretty much anyone from anywhere. You can glean a little bit off the conversation we had like eight thousand years ago between Ellie and Phin http://kiddcommander.com/?comic=page-64
    
    I know that leaves a lot of stuff open still, we’ll get an in-depth starstone lesson eventually! I know I introduce a lot of concepts like this without giving too much detail, but if something’s vital to the story it’ll always get a due explanation in the comic itself at some point.
    - caribouchat
      
      So how do you call someone? There’s no visible feature to enter a name or something… And, more important, does Jocasta know he is calling with Phineas’ radio? I supposed as much, but now I wonder…
    - Aria
      
      Haaaa actually the technical explanation for how calling works is a little involved because it relies on another more complicated concept. We’ll get there, try not to worry about it too much for now! Basically, if you know who you’re wanting to talk to and you both have a functioning device you’re good to go.
      
      I was gonna mention this a while ago, a few people between here and twitter mentioned liking how Jocasta’s little ringtone was shaped like Phineas, assuming it was a personalized thing. Once you keep a radio on you for a while it sort of adopts your motif, so the sound is just “Jocasta’s Radio Sound,” not “Phineas’ Radio Calling Jocasta’s.” It wasn’t super necessary to clarify at that point because of the ensuing conversation so I left it vague.
      
      I thought it was really cute that folks said that though, because the observation that the sound “looks like Phineas” is still accurate. It’s the other way around is all; it looks like /Jo/, Phineas just takes after her so much that, in abstract, they share a lot of similarities. I’m glad it’s coming across~
      
      (And as for why Jo assumed it was Phineas when she answered, Phineas is about the only person who has ever called her on her personal connection, and Gideon isn’t really the type to call. Not too many options left after that, hah)

Oscar Crooks

It just goddamn hit me that all the members of Gideon’s crew are linked to/named after birds. I mean, Hazards real name is Raven, Jocasta is definitely has some semblance to a Rooster, and i don’t really need to explain Crow Gideon.

Amaaré

The thing that’s got me wondering now is how old everyone is.
We know these 2 and presumably Crow (he’s just this guy, you know?) Gideon are OLD, but I haven’t been too sure about Phin and Ulrich or a few of the others this whole time.

Aria

At the beginning of this arc, Phineas is 22 and Ulrich is 23! Might be considered a little old for The Average Shounen Protagonists, but tbh the common anime thing of having an 18-year-old go out and suddenly be better than literally everyone around them drives me kinda nuts. I and everyone I know was a fucking idiot at 18 haha. I think the early 20’s thing makes more sense for a bunch of reasons, but the actual number ages of a character really aren’t that important most of the time.

Hazard mentioned a while back that it takes an average of 15 years to get anywhere close to proficient with commanding, and we can guess that the process is ugly and life-changing enough that most folks who can perform it won’t do it to someone unless they’re a Mature Adult™ making the decision. Most commanders you see running around doing things like Phineas does are in their late thirties or early forties. Phin clearly isn’t, so even without knowing the real number Hazard can tell something about the situation is fucked.
- caribouchat
  
  Ah! I can pretty well imagine Phineas as a Very Mature Young Child pestering the poor adults till they agree to make her a commander.
  - Aria
    
    haha, maybe something like that