965 I Always Keep One In The Chamber.

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For the record, even though the Vigilion, or whatever the gun is called that the red ones in the comic are loosely based on, can hold up to 7 shots if you know what you’re doing, for the purpose of cinematic clarity I had them both load 6. Six shots is the movie standard for shots in a gunfight. Of course 9 should probably be the new standard, but most people default to six in their heads. The gun in question only comes with 5 discs, so I assumed that 5 ws the maximum number of shots it could hold. The refil packs also come in sets of 5. I didn’t realize it could hold more until much later on when I was just screwing around trying to see if adding more discs would jam it. In the context of the comic Nina and Reggie both probably loaded 6 on accident since they got their guns preloaded by either Thomas, or Mike. Making 6 the default standard in their minds rather than 5. It is also possible that Reggie realized that they could hold 6, but didn’t think to load one into the chamber. Although it’s possible that if he had realized this he might have done it to gain an unfair advantage. Of course he’s also shown a certain nobility when it comes to some things, so he might just as well have realized he could have 7 shots, but not loaded that many because he knew it would be unfair. While he might do something like that to Ed, or even any other member of the cast really, he’s unlikely to cheat against Nina because he has feelings for her. This is all speculation, of course.

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Shot through the Heart!

And you’re to blame
You give love a bad name
I play my part, and you play your game
You give love a bad name!

xD

wow, looks like i’m finally not the oldest one on a webcomic, haha. Great song though, that one and blaze of glory (that one just doesn’t fit this scene.)

Well, he said ‘6 shots’ so they presumably both had 6 shots, and both obviously knew there were six. Too bad Reggie does indeed fail at counting. Then again, it isn’t easy to count like that while aiming and dodging and etc.

Unless you’re talking the old Westerns, in which case, six-shooters were somehow capable of firing off twenty or thirty shots each without reloading…

One of the first revolvers made held 9 shots. There were several 7 shot revolvers out there. Not sure why 6 shots became revolver standard, excepting maybe because of the pepperbox, which was sort of like a manual revolver with six shots and you had to turn the barrel by hand after each shot, so it tended to get a bit warm….

One of my favorite governator movies is The Villain, where-in he plays the character named ‘Handsome Stranger’, who carries a seven shot six shooter.

Most revolvers settled on six rounds because it gave the best compromise between size and safety. I’ve seen modern .357 revolvers that hold eight or even nine rounds. Because modern steel is much stronger, spacing between chambers can be made tighter, even with more powerful cartridges.

Can’t wait until they realize that Thomas and Carol are still both unhit.:p

Thomas is the one giving the prize out, so he’s actually not in the competition, and I think Carol turned her gun on herself when she learned the prize was Flex Hours and a Box of Coupons. So Nina’s pretty much won!

The Hollywood standard has always been “plot sized magazines/cylinders”. The six shot standard comes from Westerns since that’s what the SAA or Navy colts used to hold.

Now with single stack, double stack or custom extended magazines there’s no standard, which is one of the reasons why counting shots is a terrible idea IRL.

And even that wasn’t historically accurate. Nineteenth century revolvers were almost always carried with an empty chamber under the hammer, effectively making them five-shooters. Otherwise, merely bumping the hammer could have caused an accidental discharge. Newer revolvers typically have some sort of safety built in to prevent that, so they can be safely carried with a live round under the hammer.
But yeah, it’s amazing how many shots actors could squeeze off. Especially in earlier settings, where they most likely would have been carrying cap-and-ball revolvers. Those things take a little while to reload.

@Crave,
I have a question about Nina’s character design. I might be wrong, but do i sense a bit or rakin/bass influence behind her design? It seems really evident here, but i might be chasing clues that aren’t there.

I know I’ve said as much somewhere but I can’t ever remember what I said where. It might be on the Facebook page. It’s more evident in the drawn shows, but the main character that inspired her teeth is in theJack Frost special. The person who did character designs for them gave out those teeth pretty freely.

I’ve noticed two styles of teeth that seem to have come from that style. The guy who draws Penny Arcade draws them in the style I don’t like. I gave Nina the style I do like, which is more square looking. You might have noticed Reggie has the rounded style teeth. Obviously that wasn’t an accident.

yes, you did say it on Facebook, I was there. :) I always find it fascinating to find out what influences a style choice. You don’t see too many characters with overbites but on Nina it looks cute and even charming.

This. Nina’s overbite is IMO actually an important part of her visual appeal. Without it she’d physically just be another cookie-cutter “blonde hottie” template. It gives her just the right bit of idiosyncrasy to make her feel “real”, boosting her relatability and thus attractiveness.

I have this theory that there’s a second Uncanny Valley on the other side of the “human” peak. A point of diminishing returns, if you will, where what would be considered a flaw further down the curve becomes an asset instead. If a character/image becomes *too* polished and/or idealized, it starts to feel “blank”, and begins sliding away from the peak again. The result isn’t creepy, but instead there’s just a sort of overall lack of traction for instinctive empathy to work off.

This is why some people find, say, airbrushed pin-up photos “plasticy”, as well as why certain actresses will elicit different types of attractiveness-related fandom (imagine the arguments you’ve probably seen over whether or not Megan Fox is “hot”).

Because Nina’s a cartoon drawing, her “live action” appearance is subject to interpretation and bias on the part of the viewer. And because the style is simplified from reality, there’s enormous amount of play in the potential interpretations. A detail like her teeth can actually completely change the bias people read into their interpretation. It can be the difference between say, Jessica Simpson hot and Jamie lee Curtis hot (not that either of those resemble Nina to my own imagination: I’m just using them to illustrate hotness paradigms).

@Crave–

Military and Police personnel refer to loading one round in the chamber of a semi-automatic pistol or rifle as ‘Administrative Loading’. Traditionally, one inserts the magazine and cycles the action, loading the chamber. The magazine is topped off again with a fresh round and reinserted in the firearm.

While it is possible to load the chamber manually with most weapons, it can cause accuracy issues with the first round — I haven’t figured out the exact physics.

@strider–

Far from the oldest here. I’m 55, with a long, white beard…

–Perfesser

Oh i noticed i’m not the oldest here and that’s a good thing. Most webcomics i frequent i have to be careful when i make a reference as most people i deal with are too young to understand the reference and i end up getting the text version of a “huh” face. The worst was when i used a Egon Spengler quote and ended up with at least 10 replies of “what movie is that from?”.

If you tried to insert a cartridge into the firing chamber manually, it might not seat properly. Even a very slight difference in alignment could potentially affect accuracy. OTOH, if you pull the slide all the way back and then release it, the recoil spring will pull it forward and chamber a round. Since this is how the gun normally operates, the cartridge should seat the same way as usual, and your first shot should still shoot to the same point of aim.

And I just turned 59. I wonder who else will chime in on age?

In re, Nina’s design influence, especially her teeth: The illustrator you’re thinking of is Paul Coker Jr. He also did the Frosty the Snowman cartoon and was production designer for many of the Rankin-Bass specials. He’s also done work for Mad magazine for many years.

I just found this comic BTW and am enjoying it immensely.

Just noticed this, don’t know if was intentional, but in the second panel Reggie looks like Kai Shiden from Mobile Suit Gundam
Pic Link:
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/_img/chars/char_2493.jpg

Not specifically intentional, but Reggie is designed to look like a certain type of character you see in many things. I suspect the one you cited plays a similar role, though I am unfamiliar with whatever gundam story he’s part of.

Man, I hope she and Reggie don’t get together. Go for Ed, woman – he’s already comfortable having some moral fiber.

This whole arc was pretty fun, by the way.

Hee hee hee!

“Did he fire six shots or only five?”

Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?”

-Possibly from the Clint Eastwood film, “Dirty Harry”.

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