Welcome all, to another session of Kel's Madcap theories, where we make theories with all the precision of a white ant crafting magnificent swords. Today, we're talking...
Picket's flying machine!
To start off, let's lay down some assumptions. These rabbits, I have always assumed, are not average-sized rabbits. I'd say they, when standing on their back legs, are about three feet tall. According to yahoo.answers, "It depends on the rabbit. A Netherland Dwarf might not be more than about 14" standing on their tippy toes. A Flemish Giant could be 3ft if they stand up all the way... For an average 4-6 pound rabbit, 2ft tall should be good, but you can go higher if you need to. If you are in doubt about the height, go a bit taller to be safe."
This article wasn't talking about the actual standing height of a rabbit, but rather how high a rabbit hutch needed to be. So we still haven't found our answer. So we'll have to find it ourselves.
Now, there are some differences (cough) between a real rabbit and a Green Ember rabbit. For one, when Green Ember rabbits stand up, they look more human because of the way they stand on their footpads, on their "toes," so to speak.
Now, a real rabbit wouldn't stand like this. This is what it would look like if a real rabbit stood like this.
Perhaps what we need are larger rabbits to compare to... what looks like a rabbit but is larger than a rabbit?
Let's compare to a jackrabbit, which is actually a type of hare.
But don't they look more like TGE rabbits than real rabbits? Look at this chart.
As you can see, the hare's back legs look more like our TGE rabbits back legs, and the ears, face, and size are closer to a TGE's, too.
So, for this post, we're going to assume that a TGE rabbit is the size of a real-life jackrabbit. Specifically, a white-tailed jackrabbit.
(Yes, I used Wikipedia for this. Sorry, Speech Teacher!)
Here's what Wikipedia says about the weight and height of a jackrabbit. "This jackrabbit has an adult length of 56 to 65 cm (22 to 26 in), including a tail measuring 6.6 to 10.2 cm (2.6 to 4.0 in), and a weight between 2.5 and 4.3 kg (5.5 and 9.5 lb)".
Picket is still young, so we'll assume that he's 6 pounds, about 24 inches long crouching, and 3 feet tall standing.
This is where things get tricky.
After some searching on Zoo's websites, I found the bird closest to Picket's height and weight is the BLACK VULTURE- Height : 23-27 inches; Wingspan: 50-60 inches; Weight: 2.2-4.4 pounds
So it's a pound or two lighter than Pick, but it's pretty close. Close enough for our purposes.
Now, let's look at what this glider-thing can do, according to the books.
First, it can glide. Duh. It can arrest Picket's fall enough to safely make landings and to lengthen his time in the air to- what? Five minutes? Longer than five minutes?
All this is well and good. But that's not all it can do.
This glider can go upwards. It can somehow catch wind channels and go higher than itself. And it can do this seemingly without end. Picket can jump off a balcony, and somehow glide- upwards- to a wall top.
It can be steered and moved through the air at will. Picket can, somehow, choose which direction he wants this thing to go, up, down, left, right, anywhere.
Back to the black vulture.
This thing has a wingspan over twice its height. Its wings are huge, proportionally. In order for Picket to even try to glide, his wings have to be huge.
For reference, here's how big of wings humans would need to even glide.
Can Picket's glider actually work?
Here it the only picture that we have of it, so far. Let's see here.
I understand creative license, and the fact that we can suspend our disbelief, but this is so beyond logical that it's very jarring. I am sorry to break it to you, Mr. Smith, but Picket does not actually "fly." He falls and the glider snaps into three hundred pieces, and that's the end of that. Also, there is no way for him to steer that thing. Just leaning to and fro won't do. He needs a rudder of some sort, like tail feathers on a bird or the tail fin on an airplane.
In order for this flying machine to even glide, it would have to be more like this:
Even here, the rabbit is oversized!
Forget swooping around, and going up in the air, and jumping off a balcony, or walking around, and moving through any tight space. Also? The fabric gets ripped by a bird, and you're dead. Boom.
In other words, Picket's glider is not physically possible. It could maybe work if it was a lot bigger, but it is in no way the "savior" that it is constantly pictured as in The Green Ember Saga. You cannot just hop into your glider, and suddenly all is saved. No, S. D., great author that he is, has done something here. What has he done?
(I'm sure some of you understand.)
This concludes this session of Kel's Madcap Theories. Tune in next time as we address the question...
What could be in the "magic healing ointment", made by Aunt Jone? And what are the ramifications of this!
Till next time, be free and happy, like a pickle in a pepper pot!
awesome theory! i love theories
@Kel I like your bio. I LOVE Redwall. My favorite book is "Mossflower.
Hey, I'm impressed! I LOVE IT I LOVE IT. I myself was considering making a theory of whether it was possible for Picket to "fly". I am also an avid theorist that uses SCIENCE (gasp, faint) to prove things right or wrong. I was also looking at the healing properties of Aunt Jone's tonic. Would you like me to help with that theory, or are you more comfortable doing it yourself?
Just in general @Blademaster Zach
@Dikko_The_Squolf_ , actually, when he's fighting that bird in TBoRV, he twists his arms in to disengage, seeing that the bird is below him, then draws his sword and kills it. I assume you're talking about that scene?
But my question would be, in HTTYD hiccup would disengage his glider thingy by putting his arms down and, falling, but again, that's not the case with pic, he can put his arms down and NOT disengage it? Then, how does he disengage it???
One thing I've thought of that may improve the plausibility of Picket's flight is this: Since his glider relies on sections of wing spar straightening into place from a collapsed position, and since the glider seems to have a lot of loose fabric, it could be that the glider unfolds to be larger than Picket's armspan, maybe twice as much so (I don't take the illustrations very literally). This at least would give him a more plausible amount of lift.
With this in mind, some of his flight scenes would be more reasonable. For instance, the Battle of Rockback valley: The catapult would give Pick a very high, fast, start. From that point he could fly for a while. Since he's in a steep valley with a slope and vertical rock face behind him, he would also have the benefit of updrafts (see image).
This would allow him also to gain airspeed and altitude, enabling him to (eventually) come back to the plateau after he falls from the edge with Bleston (a fall which would give him plenty of airspeed).
There's really no explanation for how he could fly like he did during the battle of First Warren, but at least the other scenes are good enough for me.
I would love to read your story some day!
The aviation/physics buff in me cringed every time Picket flew, particularly when he could fly to a position higher than his own with nearly no airspeed to begin with. There's an aviation term, "altitude for airspeed," meaning that if Picket had enough speed to begin with, he could have flown anywhere above the square in first warren, if if it was higher than his position. With just a boost/jump, though, he'd probably stall, even if his wings were hang-glider sized.
It's an aspect of the books I generally try to not think about. Sometimes you must cut out the worm for the apple, or something.
yea @Kel, I always imagined them to be like furries/fursonas which are basically just animals with human characteristics.
And it is fiction, the fictional story I am writing is about hybrid animals that are made in a lab, they are injected with this shot that has, let's say, a Wolf and Blue bird DNA that's makes them this crazy new animal.
So basically, there is no limit on the imagination of the human brain.
but your theory is scientifically correct *Salutes Kel*