Ooooh, THIS one I know about. Flash bombs (usually not as damaging as magnesium flares, but they can be one and the same) are fun little devices often encountered in video games and only rarely issued to actual military forces who aren’t engaged in open operations, because they draw a ton of attention and require the user to LOOK AWAY from a target, something most military types are generally trained not to do. Not too useful in massive situations unless the using side has polarized goggles, and even then they can momentarily blind. Full on magnesium flares can result in permanent damage to the eyes (Jenn was exposed to one and lost most of her color vision in her left eye, I learned some months after it happened), permanent blindness, and skin tissue burns from several feet away. Flash bombs are often (not always) coupled with audio distraction devices to create ‘distraction grenades’ or ‘stun bombs’ (or if you play Dungeons and Dragons, Thunderstones). Stun grenades are capable of also causing terrible disorientation from overloaded eardrums, but draw even more obvious attention. Still, those are the kind most often encountered because they generally have a way more powerful and long lasting period of disorientation. To say the least these things hurt like hell….. this guy’s probably lucky he broke his neck here rather than having to try and claw out his incinerated retinas for a minute or two before Throgor rips his neck out.
Situations flash bombs ARE useful in tend to be: police and S.W.A.T. actions (they are usually not worried about being seen because they’re the cops, and their actions tend towards the carefully planned), small unit military actions (Less chance of blinding an ally), situations where you need to take prisoners (again, cops use this one a lot because an enemy is easier to tackle and pin when he can’t shoot you), and any firefight where a brief stop in the action to stun the foe is a better option than concealing the action for several seconds (Charging an enemy for example…. you would use smoke bombs to cover a methodical advance or a retreat). Also…. He’s DEAD, Jim!
Oh yeah. If you should be exposed to a flash bomb of any sort, seek immediate medical help and try to limit your eyes’ exposure to light as long as you can. Do not rub or touch your eyes. If you’ve also been exposed to the loud boom of a stun grenade, you should probably just lie down and try not to bang into anything if you can, and hope you get medical help or that the damage isn’t permanent. Recovery from non-permanent effects can take quite a while, try not to rush it. Most harm caused by flash-bombs tends to come from people in a panic slamming into things or tripping and falling, so slow your roll and chill as best you can.
Also, don’t try to impress the opposing team a level under you by detonating a whole flooring, with you coming down among the debris. It’s fun and impressing but the insurance does not pay for the loss of hearing and my hearing curve is still topside down after over 2 decades!
Clever girl Hypnausea, clever girl..
You’d be surprised how many Robert Muldoon quotes pop up in everyday life (“Quiet, all of you!…they’re approaching the tyrannosaur paddock.”).
It figures that Hypnausia would beat his opponent by “flashing” him into a coma.
Coma?
Son they just dropped 50 feet out of the sky onto their head, that ain’t no coma!
He dead!
Down, doobie doo down down…coma coma? No, dead-a dead-a!
And here I thought it was a Kinder egg being thrown his way. *Sigh*
So, why did these clowns get hired to do the job, again?
Because they looked scary…boooooo! A-BOOOooOOOOoooOOOoooOOO!
Ooooh, THIS one I know about. Flash bombs (usually not as damaging as magnesium flares, but they can be one and the same) are fun little devices often encountered in video games and only rarely issued to actual military forces who aren’t engaged in open operations, because they draw a ton of attention and require the user to LOOK AWAY from a target, something most military types are generally trained not to do. Not too useful in massive situations unless the using side has polarized goggles, and even then they can momentarily blind. Full on magnesium flares can result in permanent damage to the eyes (Jenn was exposed to one and lost most of her color vision in her left eye, I learned some months after it happened), permanent blindness, and skin tissue burns from several feet away. Flash bombs are often (not always) coupled with audio distraction devices to create ‘distraction grenades’ or ‘stun bombs’ (or if you play Dungeons and Dragons, Thunderstones). Stun grenades are capable of also causing terrible disorientation from overloaded eardrums, but draw even more obvious attention. Still, those are the kind most often encountered because they generally have a way more powerful and long lasting period of disorientation. To say the least these things hurt like hell….. this guy’s probably lucky he broke his neck here rather than having to try and claw out his incinerated retinas for a minute or two before Throgor rips his neck out.
Situations flash bombs ARE useful in tend to be: police and S.W.A.T. actions (they are usually not worried about being seen because they’re the cops, and their actions tend towards the carefully planned), small unit military actions (Less chance of blinding an ally), situations where you need to take prisoners (again, cops use this one a lot because an enemy is easier to tackle and pin when he can’t shoot you), and any firefight where a brief stop in the action to stun the foe is a better option than concealing the action for several seconds (Charging an enemy for example…. you would use smoke bombs to cover a methodical advance or a retreat). Also…. He’s DEAD, Jim!
Oh yeah. If you should be exposed to a flash bomb of any sort, seek immediate medical help and try to limit your eyes’ exposure to light as long as you can. Do not rub or touch your eyes. If you’ve also been exposed to the loud boom of a stun grenade, you should probably just lie down and try not to bang into anything if you can, and hope you get medical help or that the damage isn’t permanent. Recovery from non-permanent effects can take quite a while, try not to rush it. Most harm caused by flash-bombs tends to come from people in a panic slamming into things or tripping and falling, so slow your roll and chill as best you can.
Also, don’t try to impress the opposing team a level under you by detonating a whole flooring, with you coming down among the debris. It’s fun and impressing but the insurance does not pay for the loss of hearing and my hearing curve is still topside down after over 2 decades!
I am making a note about this, thank you.
More awesome insights, Trev…from someone who thankfully still has his sight left! Here’s hoping no one is taking any ‘milk of magnesium’ tonight.
*Polite clapping* I very much like panel one. Good show, sir. Some very understated b&w work for a showy flashy event.
Thankya, thankya!