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NEANDERTHAL FINGERPRINT! NEANDERTHAL FINGERPRINT! NEANDERTHAL FINGERPRINT! NEANDERTHAL FINGERPRINT! NEANDERTHAL FINGERPRINT! NEANDERTHAL FINGERPRINT! NEANDERTHAL FINGERPRINT! NEANDERTHAL FINGERPRINT! NEANDERTHAL FINGERPRINT! NEANDERTHAL FINGERPRINT! 🤯
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Patrick Willems @patrickhwillems.bsky.social ⋅ 1m
The Verge @theverge.com ⋅ 2d
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️𝓝𝓪𝓷𝓲 
Oh whoops I wasn’t wearing my street clothes under the costume
It was chilly, so she dressed in layers.
To make her mother proud.
*cue mike drop*
… no really where is he??
The hospital allegedly…
still 10 days left to find out before the storyline ends
…I just realized that Mike’s fall in the strip was probably this pun.
Good one, Willis.
He got dropped.
Well he posted something on his twitter account the morning after he fell off the fire escape, so I’m guessing he’s not too bad off.
He’s the indistinct figure running up to the scene in panel 5.
Not likely, considering his condition when Amazi-Girl saw him last.
And the lack of tag. I don’t think Willis would have missed the opportunity to screw with us like that.
Ah but the tags only appear when the person has been identified. So they may only come in afterwards
Well…
… He was clearly dazed from the fall, which could be the result of a concussion. That isn’t GOOD, but is easily survivable and could be walked off in a matter of hours. And there’s a dark patch under his head which might be a shadow. Or it might be blood. If it is blood, it might have come from a relatively superficial gash, given that head wounds bleed a lot worse than similar injuries elsewhere on the body.
Nor would AG necessarily know if he survived, which means that Amber might subconsciously believe he’s dead even if he wasn’t.
Or, yes, he might actually be dead. But I don’t think it’s clinched, yet.
I doubt anyone can just shake off a 30-foot fall onto pavement like that.
If anything, we might see Brain Mike the Force ghost again.
Huh. Okay, looking into this far more than it deserves…
Assuming 10ft per story and a 3 foot railing, Mike fell 23 feet. We probably shouldn’t count the railing, because Mike was oriented horizontally when he went over and so his center of gravity wasn’t much higher than when he’d just been standing on the fire escape platform, but let’s go with 23. That’s pretty much right around the threshold distance for the survivability of a fall onto a hard surface (thanks, Google). Add to that how Mike was tangled up with Blaine for a bit of the fall and might have been decelerated some when Blaine grabbed the rope, and survival with few injuries is plausible. Not super-likely, but plausible.
But yeah, probably not walking up as the untagged silhouette. Mostly I’m going by the fact that he tweeted the morning after the fall and it didn’t reference any injuries at all.
He finally found a nickel to give to Blaine for a mom joke.
Mike descends from the heavens and elbow drops on Blaine
*Diving at Blaine* Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine!
Yeah! Suck it Blane, you mean NOTHING >V
Rumor has it Blaine died right then and there.
Hell fucking yeah, I hope Blaine shit himself.
“I made this” – XFiles closing ad
*plays KISS’ “I” from The Elder on a nearby loudspeaker*
Is it live? You Better Believe It!
Self-control. That’s a win.
Well… not ENTIRELY true, Amber.
Blaine clearly taught you how to drop the mike.
Holy SHIT.
We need an upvote button just for that comment.
Whoa…
I hope Sal’s keeping an eye on him. Bad idea to turn your back on an enemy who can still move.
He might be able to, he was already pretty fucked up even before Amber punted him.
It’s still a power move on Amber’s part. She just told him without words that she considers him so trifling that she can safely turn her back on him.
Amber has not watched enough horror movies.
Nah. I’m sure she expects him to try something and I’m equally sure she’s ready for it. She just doesn’t care because she knows she can take him.
As long as it doesn’t involve kicking…
*Blaine gets up, throws himself at Amber with a desperate roar*
*Amber turns to kick him in the face, forgets about jumpsuit, falls into Joyce, who catches her*
*Sal kicks Blaine in the face, he goes down for good*
Or, yanno, It’d work just as well if Sal caught Amber and Joyce punched Blaine in the face. I’m not picky, as long as Blaine takes it in the face.
Look Blaine has pulled off some bullshit he probably shouldn’t have gotten away with during this whole escapade but if he manages to somehow get another advantage after getting kicked out of a moving car I will give up and admit that god is literally on his side.
Well, he can get up… to get kicked again. And maybe Sal would join the fun this time.
I would give “injured Blaine vs. injured Amber” slightly to Amber.
“Injured Blaine vs. injured Amber and completely fresh-to-fight Sal” is not odds I’d take.
Not that I’m saying Blaine wouldn’t be DUMB enough to do it, but any further asskicking would be narratively redundant. (Although it would be delightful to get both the ‘Amber walks away with the last word’ and ‘Blaine gets beat to paste’ endings at once.)
Sal looks legitimately disappointed that she didn’t get to see Amber beat the living shit out of her dad.
Infinite hugs for Amber!
This is probably harder than all those physical skills in which Amber trained herself.
hot damn that’s powerful
Amber has levelled up
So proud of her!
You’re a better woman than I am, Amber.
Oh wait. I’m not a woman.
Still, good on ya for not crushing his skull.
(Pull up your pants!)
*Amber trips over the suit mid-walk away*
And, from the looks of it, crashes into Joyce headfirst, knocking the two of them over.
Anime hijinks ensue.
I feel he is still going do something.
^ This.
Yeah I’m kinda worried that Blaine will get away or something.
Wicked burn. Any bets on whether Blaine wet himself?
Next Panel: Ambulance appears and runs over Blaine’s head.
And the twist: they’re on Reimi Sugimoto’s street and his spirit gets pulled into the afterlife.
*waddles away badassily*
she then trips over her uniform, ruining the gravitas of her dramatic moment
Sal is going to wake up in two days and be like “oh fuck…Faz!”
The Great Faz is well-equipped for survival in the urban wilderness. He will follow the sexy ladies of the city until they fall in love with him and take him home. Or have him arrested. Whatever. It is all part of the Great Faz’s plan.
I just want Faz to start living with Leslie. That way we can focus the comic entirely on the only two characters who really matter.
“No weapons. No friends. No hope. Take all that away, and what’s left?”
“Me.”
Fuck yeah, Amber.
I was about to comment on Blaine’s face, and then I realized it’s not just fear, it’s literally an alternate universe follow up to my favorite Amber moment. Though she (and the strip) are looking away in the last panel, which is probably where he actually realizes she is everything, without him. Close enough for my tastes. THANK YOU, WILLIS!
https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/last-respects
Thank you for linking the callback because damn that’s satisfying.
Thank you for reminding me of the magnificence that is the Wen/Faz comic. I had forgotten.
Thank you for that! It’s been so long since I read Shortpacked! that I’d forgotten about that moment.
Annnnnnd Amber rises to the occasion.
Because she has Amizi weapons, friends and hope.
Who’s that (pokemon) silhouette running in the background?
At a random guess, if it’s actually anyone? Danny.
It has that look, so maybe.
I hope it’s Mike.
Does Faz at least have the thumb drive, so he can finish readIng her fan-fic of Rainbow Dash / Bumblebee?
As someone with a toxic relationship with my mother its very refreshing to see this, and on my birthday of all days. Thank you Willis!
Happy Birthday!
Papyrus: YOU DID IT! You didn’t commit a violence!
Blaine: “I will kill you!”
Sans: “GET DUNKED ON.”
I am so goddamn proud of Amber right now, you don’t even know.
You know what? I’m gonna link it again and quote it all, just for good measure.
“I figured out why I was crying earlier. It’s not ‘cuz you died. And it’s not ‘cuz you hit me. I dealt with that.
It’s because I will never get to stand up to you. I will never get to show you I was no longer afraid of you. You told me I was nothing, and I’ll never see the look on your face when you realize I am everything, without you.
So, fuck you, Dad, for taking one final thing from me. Burn in hell.”
Seriously, this is getting me She-Ra finale levels of Wibbly Over Fiction And Parallels, and that wrecked me for like a week.
https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/last-respects
Can all characters still spit over Blaine?
That’s one of my favorite Mike moments, mostly because if I ever go to my father’s funeral I hope my partner celebrates on my behalf.
There’s a solid contender a few strips before with that ‘Amber tells Some Dude how Blaine was an abusive douchebag, Mike shows up in the last panel with a party blower.’ The whole funeral really is Mike at Peak Useful Asshole.
This quote is the reason I completely re-read Shortpacked! a few weeks ago.
This conversation is why I might go do the same right now.
… Fuck. That was satisfying.
Joyce’s face: That’s kind of impressive and all, but I was sort of really hoping to see him get curb-stomped, and now I’m conflicted because despite my occasionally violent temper I do still have that whole Christian “non-violence” thing in my official principles, so I know I should be glad about this, but…
It’s okay pumpkin, you’re allowed complex emotions.
This is the only way it could go. Anything else would be wrong
That face of fear Blaine expresses shows that his bravado is made up. Amber is true to herself. and she doesn’t need to stood at Blaine’s level.
Prediction: Blaine gets up and rushes Amber out of rage that she called him on his bullcrap; Sal saves Amber by beating Blaine into a pulp; Amber and Sal because super-besties, or at least super-acquaintancies.
Or: Joyce will KO him with one punch.
Yeah, that was the best thing Amber could say and do. What she is, good and bad, are her choices. She’s no-one’s victim, no longer the helpless girl riding an avalanche down a hill. She chooses who and what she is.
Now, I think she’s got to get over to Joyce and Sal so she can collapse into their arms and start crying and screaming.
damn this was satisfying
First his controlling and narcissistic abuse gives her personality disorders, then he kidnaps and murders his way through her friends to get out of paying for her college, and then he wants “credit” for raising someone able to physically overpower him? I’m starting to think Blaine doesn’t care what happens since he’ll always be able to convince himself everything everyone does is both about him and to his benefit
thats a 100% good assessment of the bastard
Kind of sums up another male authority figure in this country at the moment, don’t ya know…
Well said, Amber.
Well done, amber.
Fudge you, Blaine.
Holy hell he’s terrified
Good
Proud of you, Amberi-girl.
Reminds me of this mic-drop scene.
(The big red person has just won free of ten years of enslavement and mind-damage by the pink person, and gets to decide what vengeance to extract.)
Just one teensy soccer kick to the head? Pwease?
“Mom made me. She just needed a little bit of your sperm.”
Not even a little bit, just one.
Apparently it takes a few sperm to break down the egg’s outer layer in order to pave the way for the one that actually fertilizes.
Still, it’s not a large number.
Hell yes you did.
‘You’re beneath me’
“Ten spears go to battle, and nine shatter. Did the war forge the one that remained? No. All the war did was identify the spear that would not break.”
That’s a great quote! Where is it from?
A 10-second Google search shows it’s a line from The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson.
While superficially deep, this quote suggests that the nine who died weren’t good enough. I call victim blaming.
~applauds Amber~ Good show Amber. You took the strongest possible route and showed Blaine he’s not worth what little effort it would take.
The only thing worse than a guy with a Svengali complex is a guy with an “absolutely no reason to have one” Svengali complex.
Sod off, Blaine.
Nooo, don’t turn your back to the cowardly possible murderer!
Thats a mistake!
Not a possible murderer. He already killed Ross, after all.
Maybe. I won’t cross him out just yet.
Sal is still looking in the appropriate direction.
I love how epic this has been,
without having any cliché epic happenings,
like the van going 360 upside down.
Also, panel 5: *shuffle shuffle*
rofl
Amber is so Cool!
Wait… so, you mean Amber created Amazi-Girl? Or Amazi-Girl created Amber? Or you created Amazi-Girl AND Amber? Or Amazi-Girl and Amber together created you?
“I made Me” is a much more confusing statement on the DID spectrum…
It’s less confusing if you take in context with the earlier scene atop the van in which Amber and Amazi-Girl (represented by a visual metaphor/Force Ghost/whatever shells your peanut) not so much fuse as come to terms with each other.
I think it means, all of Amber’s identities are taking credit for all of her identities. Blaine doesn’t get to claim any of Amber’s badassery or Amazi-Girl’s badassery.
Hell, that was a good response.
Now to restrain Blaine so he doesn’t take off like a rocket.
“You made me? …I made me first.”
I’ve been wondering for a while… maybe this will end with Blaine getting shanked in prison? He’s been made a huge mess and he does seem like the kind of guy who’d sing to the police to save his own skin. I doubt his “buddies” will like either of those things.
Amazi-girl no more?
They’re friends, there’s a need for Amazi-girl, Amber’s violent urges didn’t just go away and still need to be productively channeled. So I’m guessing not.
I understand but she is going to have a tough time explaining to the cops who made this mess.
Amber: Hey, Amazi-Girl, I believe it’s time we keep some social distancing. Why don’t you quarantine yourself for a couple of weeks?
(At DoA’s pace this means no more Amazi-Girl until 2022)
Damn, she really did hurt him.
Wow. Genuine fear in Blaine’s face.
I love Amber so much.
Also, I can’t believe it took me so long to notice, but well done, Amber! “I made me”: not Sal. Not Asher (https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/04-vote-for-robin/ponderin/). About fuckin’ time you figured that out.
Ooh, another solidcallback!
Good job, Amber. Solid growth.
Blaine’s public shame will be a better punishment.
But also, Sal: Aw shit, so we’re not smashing his face in?
hot damn, Amber \o\
I love Amber shuffling away, boiler suit around her ankles, while maintaining an icy dignity
*panicked voice* Quick get the Amazigirl suit into Sal’s saddle bags (if she has them)…
Actually bad ass. This strip is really something else.
That line hit me right in the feels
“One thing you should know
What I really want to get off of my chest
Nobody made me who I am
I made me by myself
Father, don’t talk of peace, yeah, when there’s nothing left
I’m far gone
So far gone, I’m free”
~Thank You Scientist “Concrete Swan Dive”
This is pretty much perfect. She just destroyed him. Too bad the badass effect is sabotaged by her getting the supersuit tangled around her feet.
LEMONGRAB