I have three theories right now:
1) He was actually being attracted to metal in the earth earlier.
2) All that energy released Scrapdragon and no one saw because everything down there is black.
3) I don’t remember the whole science behind it, but I remember if you hit a magnet against something or heat it up it scrambles something that gives it its magnet abilities, so maybe the bag cause that? I don’t really like this idea, though, since it could mean Scrapdragon lost his powers as well.

Or he's just inexperience at using it and this is a stressful situation. Not an exact science using a supernatural bat.

:p

It seems like he panicked and aimed straight forward when he went out the window, and ended up attracting his bag instead of the train.

Von, new page, Max tries again with the bag out of the way, and looks supervised when nothing happened.

skflsdfsdm

I didn't realize there was a new page. My bad.

I checked my physics textbook, physical laws relevant would be Fleming's left hand rule, Lenz's law and eddy currents.

Basically the triangle of magnetic field, electricity, and kinetic energy, whenever you have two, you generate the third, magnets moving in a coil generate forces that opposes its motion, and when there's a magnetic field you generate electric currents that will produce heat


While it's worthy to take note if Zack will use them in the future (it just feels wacky when physics are applied half realistically like in the Avatar series, like how propulsion and momentum looks correct, but firebenders aren't using any fuel to make fires), I don't think that's the case here. But it definitely would be awesome to see Max making electricity by waving his bat around, it would solve the global energy crisis.


My guess is that Scrap dragon is withholding from letting Max use its magnet powers on purpose (to take him somewhere?), though I'm not sure if tools actually have the autonomy to do that. I had a look at the archives to see the three times Max used his magnet powers (lamppost, chasing the bus, collecting the scrap remains of the scooter) and it doesn't seem that the black spectral aura was present at all, though this could be an artistic thing, so I can't tell if like the aura has to be present that the tool's power are being used.

It flummoxes me that the ghost train is referred to being metal by forge, but it very ostensibly has a skeleton and meaty innards which is already strange enough seeing that it's a SPIRIT and isn't suppose... to be organic. I think perhaps Forge is mistaken and at best there are some metal objects IN the train that allowed Max to direct magnetism correctly only ONCE (after he said "hold on it aims weird" and bends in a U shape). and all the other times he's only been attracting his bag of metal objects and caused himself trouble


Also I would like to know where this dark empty space where Max is falling into is. Although everyone keeps saying that the ghost train went underground after a certain page, the ghost train did do a U turn and started heading skywards, that was the whole deal with Isabel's "dynamic tactics". and the falling book and bag.  

This means that eightfold's book doesn't necessarily have to be underground because we don't know how far the ghost train travelled upwards, just that it's outside the Mayview barrier.

Also the only reason the ghost train is able to head underground is because it BENDS the earth around it. if max is flying away perpendicular from the train it could only either mean he's falling into a big deep underground cavern OR the ghost train already reached the surface and he's falling in the night sky.


EDIT: on second thoughts Max seems to be staring into pretty solid ground... at least that's what the curved lines aesthetically imply. That means that the cavern thing is more likely cause if the ghost train zips pass and reality stops bending then Max is definitely going to be SQUISHED INTO SOIL and we can't have the protagonist dying 4 chapters in can we.

Well, I like to point out a little something that Max's power isn't exactly 'magnetism'. Zack did make it clear a while back his power isn't using magnetic forces because it can draw any metal, regardless if the metal is affected by magnetic fields, so Max isn't limited to iron, steel, and etc.

So it kinda puts a damper in the scientific aspect of his power:P

Plot twist, all science as we know it only works the way we think it does because that's what the spirits want us to think.

Anyway, my money's on Scrapdragon shenanigans, or Scrapdragonanigans for short. S/He probably just wants to talk.

Looks like the ghost train is no longer bending anything and is just going through a tunnel of sorts (the lack of warping of max as he fell out should have tipped me off :/ Spender was distorted when the ghost train sniffed him after all)

Nope, its still distorting, the tunnel itself is the distortion. Max is inside the field so he doesn't get distorted (Big Zipper Bug prevented him from falling out.)

That bug almost certainly has no relation to Max, and it clearly deliberately helped him. Perhaps a cohort of the scrapdragon?

Also, why isn't it distorted? It looks like it's big enough that part of it would be outside the field. With that in mind, Nihtay may be right.

It probably is distorted, its so huge id doesn't matter. Or its immune to the effects. Anyway, the tunnel itself is proof of the distortion, its going where ever the train goes. And its not like there's a convenient shaped tunnel for it to be traveling in erratically.

BLEEEH WRONG ON ALL ACCOUNTS I'm really not cut out for this theorizing biz

nihtay wrote:

My guess is that Scrap dragon is withholding from letting Max use its magnet powers on purpose (to take him somewhere?)

Not wrong on all accounts. This seems to be the most likely explanation at this point, considering he's just been taken into a spirit conference.

It would seem Max is indeed terrible at controlling the bat right now. Knowing this, it may have been a bad idea to carry a BAG FULL OF METAL. The bag may have also weighed him down when he leaned out the door.

But I had another theory about the giant bug, which is that the person who "tamed" the train, who we met earlier, Doctor Zarei, is a medium (I mean she had weird yellow eyes come on) and that was HER spirit that saved Max. She may have followed them when the train left unexpectedly.

I'm inclined to agree with the bug monster spirit theory. It makes a lot of sense.

That being said I think the fact that Scrapdragon is a grudge would probably contribute to it's erratic behavior so far.
That, and Max smacked the poor thing on the nose.

Or maybe because the outer area of Ghost Train is actually hardened skin and not metal lol.

Maybe its hardened skin thats as strong as train metal but not actual metal?

I think Forge knows enough about metal to tell the difference.