FULL SIZE IMAGE
Much to think about.
Talita is preforming a rolling hexapodal gallop here, where only one foot is contact with the ground at a time. It is the fastest gait a centaur can achieve, and if they're workout freaks like Talita, they can reach highway speeds for a minute or two. This kind of sprint is extremely strenuous and rest and recovery is required before pulling it off again.
Someday, god willing, I will have the time to finish animations again, but here's a rough concept of what the gallop looks like in motion and the foot contact sequence (though this depicts the sequence starting with the left forefoot, and the comic depicts it starting with the right... and takes some additional liberties with posing for dynamism.... whatever)
Transcript
The speed of the treadmill surpasses typ human limits, and Talita transitions to a hexapodal gallop, only one foot contacting the ground at a time. She breathes heavily, in through the nostrils on her face and out through the nostrils on her lower torso.
SFX: HUFF HUFF HUFF HUFF
50 km/hr
70 km/hr
The sprint rolls down her body, and her muscles work in time with her breathing like the pistons in an engine. Her hooves dig into the surface of the treadmill, the steely elastic tendons of her limbs taking on the weight of her entire body with each stride, wrists practically bending to touch the ground.
SFX: HUFF HUFF HUFF HUFF
90 km/hr
120 km/hr
The yard is gone. Talita is alone in her mind while her body works like a machine taken to its physical limit. Memories of the centaur script from the outside of the Runaway and its cluttered interior flash past, simultaneously meaning nothing and too much.
The sprint program begins to wind down.
100 km/hr
80 km/hr
40 km/hr
0 km/hr
She comes back to standstill, all six limbs touching the ground. Then she leans heavily on the tablet stand, panting with her forehead against her arms. The yard begins to fade back into existence. Talita puts her glasses back on and picks up her tablet to make a call.
Talita: Hey, Bip?
30 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 123 and 124”
TotallySomebody
The words from the ship…
Green Heron
*Insert workout montage music here*
Also I gotta say, you don’t really notice how much Talita’s downturned head is a part of her character mannerisms until she’s not doing it, like here.
chirp
Ooh the transcript for this page is particularly nice
Tumorhead
GIRL RUN
Tyrone the Miner
If that treadmill stops with a “BANG” as in a stuck bearing, it will end badly….inside the wall….Or through!
Phlosioneer
You know what’s missing from that treadmill? A safety cutoff line (a dongle attached to talita that shuts off the treadmill if she starts going too far backwards)
Storm
Also I LOVE the Centaur text from the ship behind her
Storm
Oh excellent addition to send my animal tracking group chat
Amanda/OwlBear
WOOSH she’s fast, and yeah sometimes it’s easier to think about tough things while doing the speedy speedy
Arcstone
Is that her hitting a sort of natural hunter animal meditative zen state once she reaches max speed?
Arcstone
I also love the animation. It’s like she’s basically flying and just occasionally pushing off from the ground.
audible_smiles
oh….the text from the centaur ship…girlfriend ;____;
Fallingfeather
God that animation is SO COOL!!!!
Apollo235
Holy shit, the sprint posing and animation is fucking sublime. Incredible work, Jay
Hanroz
Are those the centaur “words” behind her in the second page? I love it, it really shows the mental strain they are putting on her!
Toothed
I think this might be my favorite page so far, the ship’s interior looking large over Talita as she’s pushing her body to its limits really encapsulates how much this whole situation is weighing on her mind.
I can also relate very much to putting off hard decisions by doing chores, but in my case it’s cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry instead of running 100km an hour.
Joey
Wow that’s faster then the fastest cheetah we’ve recorded. (Of course we can only measure a small number of cheetah instances, so faster may have occured before.) Still insane to imagine, go Talita you giant nerd and jock all in one.
AnormalADN
whoahh mama
(also, really appreciating the extras and animation, thank you)
Rad Internet Stranger
How much distance could she cover with this kind of speed?? I love Talita sooo much. Big buff nerd
JoB
Two minutes max, and IIRC her top speed was given as a little less than 150 km/h in an older tumblr post, that’d make for (noticeably less than) 5 km (3.1 mi).
(Yes, I first made that kind of guesstimates back when Talita and her team, including mishap magnet Dom, were out in the slag field with only the – much slower – rigs for emergency returns, why do you ask … ? 😉 )
tannentine
I love the detail you’ve put into her musculature here, especially the ways it flexes/changes shape as she moves.
fishfacedterror
imagine being in a car chase down a highway and you look in your rearview mirror to see talita catching up with you.
JoB
[pulls into next rest stop to find out what the *bleep*’s wrong with the engine]
Gar G
Wow
K
In the middle panel with her neck all stretched out she looks very aerodynamic XD
Question: So the rolling gallop isn’t sustainable and is really only a quick sprint. Are there other gaits that a centaur can do that are easier to maintain for long periods of time?
Arcstone
I guess it’s kind of like with cheetas.
Kataratakaran
She’s faster than fast, why, she’s Greased Lightning~!
Viashino_wizard
VERY fast centaur running at incredible hihg speed
Famout
So last update, I was impressed, now I am scared. Cheetah style short burst or not, that is a LOT of ground covered in mere moments.
junkalopes
gotta go fast