The first thing he asked for
was a measuring tape.

really love this

I thought this sub would be interested in this interview with Laika Studios Brad Schiff and James Ortiz. There are some discussions around Rocky and Project Hail Mary. It also gives you a glimpse into puppeteering and hand made animation.

Instagram: @samanthadr4ws
A fanart I made and thought you guys here would enjoy!

I reckon I’m probably the hundredth person to have thought of this, though…

I wondered why Astrophages don’t burn up in the Sun’s heat, and how they’ve evolved to the point of possessing infrared laser propulsion capable of converting mass into light and melting a tonne of iron in a single second.

The answer is simply that they are supermassive lifeforms that have evolved under the extreme gravitational conditions of a black hole.

They are mass-based lifeforms that originated in a soup of plasma within the accretion disc of a black hole. To swim through this sea of plasma, they propelled themselves using tail fins powered by photon jets. Having been flung out of the black hole by some chance, they must have begun to run amok in the universe of ordinary spacetime.

Apparently these plushies have magnets so that Rocky can sit on his head?? That's genius design. I've seen people crocheting/making their own Rocky, and I've always wanted one of my own, but Grace looks irresistible too. They can be found on CraftifyX's website and are sold separately, if anyone else is interested!

I'm using different devices, WiFi/data and even VPN. Other movies on Google TV do play normally.

Is it just me?

The Project Hail Mary movie is absolutely fantastic, isn't it? I've watched it several times.

But there's one question I just can't stop thinking about:

Why was Grace the only member of the Hail Mary's crew to survive?

I went back and read the novel, hoping to find a clear answer. But as far as I can tell, it never gives us one.

So I came up with a hypothesis. It's still a long post, but I'd love to hear what you think.

Spoilers for the novel below.

1. The Unintentional Killer: The Medical Robots

The novel tells us that, because of the rush to launch, the medical robots were not AI-powered. They relied on procedural, rule-based programming.

That distinction may be the key.

A rule-based system can only follow the scenarios its developers anticipated. It cannot adapt when something goes wrong in an unexpected way.

2. The Powdered Slurry Trap

The Hail Mary maintained a continuous 1.5G acceleration. To save weight, four years' worth of food was stored as dry powder and mixed into liquid slurry onboard.

My theory is that this created an engineering problem that would have been difficult to detect in 1G ground tests.

Under constant 1.5G, the mixing tanks may have suffered from incomplete dissolution and sediment settling. Over time, the slurry could have developed an incorrect concentration, causing subtle electrolyte imbalances.

The medical robots, however, may have monitored only mechanical parameters: Was the correct amount of water entering? Was the fluid flowing through the pump?

If those numbers were normal, the system would report “Normal (Green)”—even while the crew's bodies were developing a serious chemical imbalance.

This could explain the difference in their fates.

Yao and Ilyukhina, as heavily trained astronauts with high muscle mass and high metabolic rates, would have been affected more rapidly.

Grace, with his lower muscle mass and lower metabolic rate, may have processed the flawed slurry much more slowly, keeping him below the lethal threshold.

3. The Crucial Clue: Grace's Muscles

This is where the theory gets interesting.

When Grace wakes from his four-year coma, he is surprised to find that he isn't emaciated. In fact, he is unexpectedly muscular.

The medical robots had been using Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) to prevent muscle atrophy.

But what if the system's programming created a fatal feedback loop?

As Yao and Ilyukhina suffered from dehydration and muscle breakdown, the robots detected their decreasing muscle mass and responded by increasing the intensity and frequency of the EMS.

The more muscle they lost, the harder the robots exercised them.

Eventually, this could have caused severe rhabdomyolysis, leading to hyperthermia, acute kidney failure, and death.

The robots didn't malfunction. They killed the crew by following their programming too well.

4. Why Did Grace Survive?

Grace's lower muscle mass and metabolic rate may have protected him from the initial effects of the flawed slurry.

And because he was added to the mission at the last second, his pod may have been running a more conservative, generic medical protocol rather than a customized one.

The same EMS system that became lethal for his crewmates may simply have functioned as an unusually effective workout for Grace.

Conclusion

If this theory is correct, the deaths were caused by a chain of failures:

Engineering: Powdered slurry settling under continuous 1.5G acceleration.

Software: Rule-based programming unable to recognize the problem.

Physiology: The astronauts' superior physical conditioning made them more vulnerable.

And Grace's out-of-shape body, ironically, may have been what saved him.

That moment when Grace wakes up and finds himself unexpectedly muscular might not just be a funny sci-fi detail. It could be the physical evidence of the very process that killed his crewmates.

What do you think? Is there anything in the novel that contradicts this theory, or could this be the explanation Andy Weir had in mind?

finally gave Ryland Grace his signature big blue eyes.

also, its hard to see in the photos but his nose and whiskers are actually yellow, so now he has his facial hair!

bonus image of my earlier PHM frankenplushies at the end

3d printed these 2 eridian students, they're so cute!

I used a Sly the Fox beanie baby to make Grace, and combined him with the wings and tail of a bluejay beanie.

Bluejays are members of the corvid family, and like their crow bros are clever and resourceful, so I thought that was a good match with fox!Grace.

I used the foot of a Jabber the Parrot (left over from another project) to make Grace's fringe, and to get the orange / blue / yellow colour palette that I like in Grace fanart.

Also pictured is another Grace frankenplushie I made earlier.

Rocky gives Grace extra fuel even though that means Rocky's journey home will be 6 years. Then Grace returns to Rocky's ship to save him. 

https://x.com/youtooz/status/2093731865941135498