Page Commentary No. 293

Gunwild: I am also a person who likes to talk about kids they know and their antics. I have been ever since I was a kid!

Psu: Kids say the darndest things. Like, should we get dad a big picture of himself for father's day? Or can I join the space navy so I can escape the unpleasant circumstances of my life.

Gunwild: Well, luckily she did escape the unpleasant circumstances. And she didn't have to join the navy to do it! Although I mean, run by a military junta or not, they do have neat uniforms. And you get a sword!

Psu: I think if we were a darker comic, we'd go a LOT more into how military recruiting often focuses on disadvantaged young people. But as it is, I think this page is as heavy as it gets in our story. It's also one of my favorites. I know we spent a long time discussing what Cassiopeia's reaction was gonna be.

Gunwild: Yeah, it's not like I have very deep thoughts on school admissions issues and stuff. But it's enough to say that we agreed Cassiopeia probably didn't think that she'd be reminded of a very difficult missed opportunity from her past when she threw this shindig.

Psu: We don't have to go into details about it but I'm sure we've both been in positions where we felt like we put a lot of hope into a long shot admissions thing only to be rejected. It sucks a lot. We put a lot of that into the Beebot storyline. But when we did that, I knew I wanted to have Maddy somehow bring up that Cassiopeia should've been accepted. If all things were fair.

Gunwild: Now I'm wondering what the Regency Flight Academy is actually like and if Cassiopeia would have been a good fit. She's kinda wild! Then again, I haven't actually read up on a lot of military schools to draw ideas from except for the brawling, drunken, disorderly old days at West Point. So maybe it'd have suited her fine.

Psu: I think what's more important to Cassiopeia was not what the Flight Academy was, but what she THOUGHT it was. Like for me, when I saw that you could win a trip to Space Camp in Florida if you got on a Nickelodeon game show that meant you were gonna be an astronaut!

Gunwild: Well, Space Camp (1986) with Lea Thompson probably did nothing to disabuse you of that notion, since they went to space camp and all became astronauts.

Psu: THERE WAS A MOVIE ABOUT SPACE CAMP!?! Anyway like... I don't think we do a lot of silent acting in Cassiopeia. For one, Cassiopeia herself is usually a very open and talkative character. But I like how this page shows her trying to deflect away from an emotional subject. But being forced to confront it well... it was something Maddy didn't expect to see either.

Gunwild: Yeah, appearing but not talking in three panels is a lot for Cassiopeia, so you know it's serious! I wonder whether or not Maddy figured this would remain a sore subject. Not that it would stop her from being curious, either way.

Psu: I thought of it like... Maddy in some ways expected this was a Cassiopeia setup right? Like we knew she wasn't gonna be very surprised at the big reveal. I don't even think our readers were surprised by that. But that sorta meant, even if Maddy got the upper hand in the sword fight, this whole thing was engineered by Cassiopeia. I felt like part of what it means to have Maddy bring this up, was to give her some agency over the scene for herself. It wasn't really a way to "hit" Cassiopeia with something. But it was a way of steering the conversation towards something she knew and Cassiopeia didn't.

Gunwild: Well, she probably knows a lot of things Cassiopeia doesn't... maybe next time she'll quiz her on planetary capitals.

Psu: I don't even know the Capitals on this planet. Hey here's something I didn't notice but was a total accident. The color scheme of this entire chapter has been blue and purple right? Those are the same colors as Maddy and Cassiopeia's eyes! I didn't put that together till just looking at the last two panels right now.

Gunwild: They're also good spacey colors... so I think that's whatcha call subtext and then pretend you totally planned. Don't worry, the Patrons won't tattle.

Psu: Actually tell all your friends and frenemies about all the wonderful secrets they too can get at Cassiopeia Quinn's Patreon!

Gunwild: Cool kids call it the Cassiopatreon!