Grrl Power #438 – Umbrageous rendezvous
Just a quick meal and on to the meeting that Max mentioned. Well, muppet Max. I guess it was Gwen who actually said it. Obviously a secret meeting, which is harder to do once you’re world famous, so steps have to be taken.
Shakira floating down the street spraying everyone with that neon goo in glo-sticks would be less conspicuous than the pair of them. Well, no, that’s about on par I guess. Sydney’s light trails make covert flight slightly challenging. I’m not sure how long they are… Actually it depends on how fast she’s flying. The trails linger about 3 seconds, which only makes sense if the orbs glow a lot brighter when she’s flying, cause otherwise they’d leave trails all over the place when she’s just walking around, or heck, even just orbiting her head. I never really thought about how long they take to orbit her head when they’re in standby mode. I usually advance them one position per panel, so ignoring the fact that their speed would be variable depending on how many panels on each page, they’re supposed to have a fairly lazy orbital period. I dunno, 15-20 seconds.
Those guys were supposed to be playing chess but I forgot to draw the pieces so I guess it’s checkers now.
Edit: Updated “where as” to “whereas” because that’s just how it goes and my spell checker doesn’t do grammar.
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This is the night scene you were looking for advice on shading?
Wow, you get your work done well ahead of time!
If I don’t have at least 2 in the chamber I start getting stressed. Really I like to have 2 ready and 2 more at least half done. They take so long to draw I couldn’t handle not having a buffer.
That’s understandable. After all the Buffer keeps away the ravenous fans! XD Also lets you iron out any details and kinks you might see afterwards.
One observation on Sydney in flight. Her flight orb creates a minor ‘deflector shield’ around her when active and the forcefield orb is airtight. So how is it that her bangs appear to be blowing back in the wind in panels one and two?
Inertia
She tied her hair back again. Remember back here and here when she gets the hair out of the way for eating spicy* food? It looks the same, and explains why she’s pulling the hairband out for the last panel.
*Just the spicy stuff, she shows here that the re-tying doesn’t happen for all food.
Oh right yes, forgot about that
so *thaaat’s* the yellow thing in her hand in the last panel, her hair band.
What inertia? Her flight orb creates a localised gravity well for her, or did you forget when she first demonstrated it? To paraphrase Maxi (because can’t remember the actual quote): “She can fly, but in an aggravating manner”
Blergh, tired. Trying to work out how the air in the forcefield would move her hair around due to said inertia.
Any body at rest will resist moving. So it will try to stay in the same place, as Halo’s body moves forwards. Being tethered to her scalp though, means that it will flap flag-like.*
This of course requires that the effect which is making Halo’s body move is not equally affecting her hair. Given the flexibility of the orb’s powers, and their ability to respond to Sydney’s whims, this is actually credible. The subconscious thought “the best part about flying, is your hair streaming out behind you, in the wind” could result in the manipulated gravity affecting her body, but not her hair.
But if it went limp, once she stopped accelerating, and achieved a constant speed, this would disappoint Sydney. The Fly Ball could avert this however, by gently applying a gravitational force away from her, to allow her hair to continuously ‘fly in the wind’ behind her.
* No actual breeze is necessary for such an effect, as demonstrated by the US flag flapping on the Moon, thanks to residual vibrations.
Rule of Cool.
Also was pleasantly surprised by Sydney’s blatant disregard for the tradition of wife taking husband’s name. I decided some time ago that, should I ever get married, I’d take my wife’s last name to make things more interesting so it’s good to see some support for the idea. I’m not self-shipping I swear.
Argh, accidental comment attachment to a string, curses.
“…not self-shipping…”
*sees username*
Riiiiiight.
Thought I’d get a response like that. I like Sydney and would hypothetically enjoy being around her, mostly for her personality, slightly for the role reversal in me having the lesser heat tolerance. Without experiencing what it’s like to be around her in person though, I cannot judge my interest in being with her in any non-friendship sense.
And her moments of shallowness would complicate that if I were.
So, I read the latest post in your blog.
When you write something like this, you need to go the extra step and explain what it is that makes them scared. That it’s poison? That it’s too hot? That it will cause battlefield diarrhea attacks? All of these are potentially legitimate fears, but your post just makes that one throwaway statement and then moves on to the bottle and sauce.
I always enjoyed getting the Tabasco in my MREs. They are highly salty and my tolerance is much lower, and the hot sauce helped mask that flavor. And also for the ones that just tasted like wet cardboard. But for the most part they were not too bad, for what they were. I probably still have some in my camping gear…
Maybe a utility belt add-on using velcro that keeps her unused orbs hidden for stealth purposes would help.
*hugs Tubey*
Don’t worry, some of us still love you!
Hopefully, he is Tubey rather than not.
Of course Tubey is a “he.” An elongated shape like that & you’d expect Tubey to respond to female pronouns?
O.o
That is the question… whether tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outraged fanhood, ot to take arms against a sea of tube-haters and by so opposin, end them.
Tubey is for her every day life. Tubey has a special place in all our hearts. Tubey might need some upgrades to fit into her new look for stealth missions.
*Gets the can of black spray paint*
Fibreglass Tubey gets upgraded to Kevlar. Mind you, it had a building fall on it without any visible effect. Maybe it already is Kevlar. Upgrade to carbon fibre (which is already black).
Halo needs a ninja outfit!
Also known as Approved Uniform Alteration, code-named Tubey!
Assembling the final draft of the uniform almost has to include the line “Tubey or not Tubey, that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of Sydney’s lunch, or to join Archon against a sea of troubles. And by opposing, end them.”
Maxima: “With extreme prejudice.”
Would that be “extreme prejudice,” or would that be “Maxima(m) prejudice?”
;)
Nope. Sydney would use magnets. They’re cooler and don’t make an annoying noise. She wouldn’t actually think about it but her position in combat is very much back lines so far so the ability to withdraw orbs using her connection and not give away her position immediately would be quite handy.
Now I am wondering how forcefully the orbs can move. (They did make quite an impression on Shadow Boxer…) If she puts them all in a container (perhaps something more ergonomic that Tubey) could the lightweight Sydney actually use her mental control and have them lift her, and thus fly without touching one. If 5 of them could lift her, she could hold 2 and still fly…
let’s try an experiment, reach down and grab the top of your shoes. Now lift. if you can get yourself off the ground then you won’t need a flight orb either.
In all likelihood, the orbs fly by pushing off of her. Which makes them lifting her impossible.
Wait… you mean picking yourself up into the air by your shoes ISN’T a normal thing?
Most people lack the balance necessary so they pretend it is physically impossible instead.
I tried, but I wound up upside down with my knee stuck in a branch-fork
That sounds like an awkward position to be typing your results into this comments board…
Sounds like you are telling Adamas to get the fork off?
Sure it’s normal…At least if you’re wearing boots instead of shoes. Ever hear of the phrase, “lift yourself up by the bootstraps?”
That only works if you have straps on your boots.
The alternative is just to lift yourself up by the soles of your feet.
The flight orb works by making sure that Sid always misses the ground, because that is the true key to flying.
I’m not sure that they’re pushing off her as opposed to some form of mystic link. Remember that Maxima with her obscene strength couldn’t move them. The orbs are just orbiting around here.
Unless some innate property of the orbs means that using any one of them actually requires having all of them free to move…
Must be a full moon out if they’re that lit up… Oooorrr there are some park lamps and there aren’t any in shot. I prefer the moon idea because, werewolves right?
I live in werewolf country. Transylvania is just over yonder.
*points paw at horizon*
This afternoon, there was a late thunderstorm, which meant we had to postpone walkies, until after dark. Stepping outside, I asked Buffy if she wanted to go for a walk?
[cue two packs of wolves howling]
*Buffy: turns around, back to the house, and presses her nose against the door*
“Let me back inside, right now. Walkies is off!”
Yorp needs silver teeth?
I have no fear of wolfies! But Buffy is a Jack Russel Terrier, a size of animal which puts her firmly on their menu. Wolf deaths are actually vanishingly rare. However one of the most common causes, when they do occur, is with people trying to prevent their small dogs from being eaten, when on walkies!
It is why I carry Wolf Whacker, my quarterstaff. If I could afford it, I would love to have it shod with silver, mainly because it would look cool! But as it is Wolf Whacker has only been used against out-of-control dogs.
Sadly folks here fairly often fail to keep their guard dogs under control. And you do get a fair number of strays. Although the latter do not tend to remain a problem for long. They are on the menu, from some of the two-legged inhabitants here.
So you’re saying Yorp is a anthrodog (walks upright, uses tools, not a weredog)?
Certainly not!
*looks at keyboard*
Well the tool bit is right, I guess.
I thought it was common knowledge that Yorp is a Vargr.
Four-legged or two-legged strays? o_O
Stray dogs. Although some families raise dogs just for eating, that is not very common. Both are just sad necessities in a country where many people are too poor, to afford any other kind of meat in their diet. Fortunately they do not go around eating humans!
For that matter I only know of one homeless person in the area. One of the perks of being in a former soviet country is that everyone was granted the right to buy their own property, at a token price, when the country turned capitalist.
So the vast majority of people here are owner-occupiers. Those born into capitalism though have the usual rat-race options of mortgage or renting.
But you are in the EU right? Because in that case you should exploit us richer members, we can afford it.
Sadly it does not work like that. The EU has grants to offer Bulgaria, but the bulk of them are being withheld due to the rampant corruption here. If it were to be handed over, at the present time, it would all be spent on shiny new BMWs and yachts.
Until Bulgaria finds a way to get its corruption under control, the crushing poverty will remain. But that is an issue for them to decide at their own pace, it cannot be forced upon them from outside. Currently there are far too many vested interests, seeking to maintain the status quo.
#Bulgexit?
Nah, that looks more like Bulge than Bulgaria.
…I’ll get back to you.
My version of Wolf-Wacker is a Irish Blackthorn Shillelagh.
*drools* Blaaaackthoooorrrrrrrnnnnnn. Always wanted a staff of that
Try this place
https://www.lollysmith.com/wlstac.html
Either Buffy seems to be able to hold it indefinitely…Or suddenly lost the need altogether. Fear can do that…
The second panel shows the light from at least two bulbs (although not the bulbs themselves) just above the warehouse entrances, as well as possibly a third on the far left from what looks like it might be a street lamp.
1) Well, the guy on the left does seem extra slim…. (Although it would be extra weird if that was Dabbler glamoured).
2) I hope that’s not the table they’re planning to play poker on.
This is the kind of old man I want to be, the kind who has poker games with their friends in the middle of the night in the middle of the woods. Now that’s class.
a “poker game” is a clandestine meeting between people that aren’t supposed to have a reason to be in the same room together. On the show “The West Wing” their “poker game” was an AA meeting for politicians who weren’t publicly recovering alcoholics.
They definitely are gonna want a bigger table there!
I do wonder if she HAS to have the orbs out to function? I mean, suppose she was wearing a black hoodie, with Flight and Shield in the pocket, and the rest tucked into Tubey? Granted, the shield glows, but for casual flying, it isn’t needed (though at night, really gotta watch out for utility lines).
I see no reason to think that Halo cannot do as you suggest. Provided her hands are also in her pockets, holding those orbs. I would not be to concerned about the shield glowing mind. It is more of a sheen, such as a soap bubble has. There is no actual illumination coming from it, just low-key reflections.
Having the other orbs tucked in Tubey would delay any response, she might need to make. Think of how swiftly she had to react, when defending against the back-stab by Shadow Boxer, as an example. But the very act of a stealthy approach might negate the need for such responses, in the first place.
And yea, for low-speed flying Halo can dispense with the shield. Probably not advisable in an unfamiliar area though. “Low speed” could indeed be all too easily fatal, especially with the power lines you mention.
Solid idea, all in all.
she could have them in the tube, but not close it. Then they’d be instantly accessible and only visible from one direction if the lid popped open.
I don’t think it would matter in the long run. Celebrities get photographed in public all the time, even when trying to be low key. Sydney is actually a celebrity now.
Oh geeze… Imagine a supervillain whose day job is a paparazzi… It’d be so easy for them to surreptitiously gather intel on the daily routines of the heroes and plan around that.
You mean like Eddie Brock aka Venom?
IIRC Once Brock and the Symbiote became Venom, they no longer were a photographic journalist, and just bounced between being evil for the lulz and being an anti-hero. But I was never big on our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, I was always more of an Iron Man fan as a kid
Guess what: the next, official Iron Suit (personally selected by Stark) will be a fifteen year old girl
A fifteen year old black girl. One of the production crew must be a reader and have taken notice of my complaints, about the franchise’s racist behaviour (over whitewashing the Ancient One in the Dr Strange movie), and have, thankfully, decided to amend their ways!
*world continues rotating around Yorp*
Let us hope they make a good job of it. Fortunately they have a pretty good track record, so I have high hopes!
I need something to make up for my disappointment at the Ghost Busters movie trailer though. I had been looking forward to seeing an all-girl cast. But if the trailer I saw was anything to go by, the project would be better being dumped in the skip! However, out of kindness, I won’t link y’all to it. We would run out of Brain Bleach® fast, if I did!
Please don’t bring ethnicity into this (there is a hu-yuge debate over in the DCUO forums about that) whereas the real issue should be: Stark handing over possibly the single greatest weapon of destruction to some random person he met on the street (who more than likely doesn’t even have their full drivers licence!) instead of someone with history, both to Stark and to the Suit-tech (apparently Rhodey has been injured so badly a life-supporting suit of armour can’t help him, and no idea why Peppersteak is not an option)
This is like handing the keys to a Stealth Bomber (if they have keys) to a fifteen year old street kid (or the keys to the Batmobile to the punk who was trying to steal the hubcaps)
Heh, I agree about the in-setting story. But what else do you expect? Tony Stark is a product of his society. He is a capitalist with enough wealth to do as he wishes. And a capricious enough nature that he regularly acts upon his own whims. So it is wholly within his character and capabilities.
Mind you, to give due concessions to the hero within him, I am sure he has a script reason for trusting the girl.
Underlying it all, of course is an even more capitalist reason. If you have a young protagonist then young audiences will identify with them much more readily. This in turn will increase the box office revenue.
Doubtless capitalism will triumph over evil, so all will be well in the world.
Guesticus, actually you may be soothed to know Tony didn’t”give” a teenager that access: she herself is a Teen Genius who goes to MIT and built it in her dorm room! Of her own accord, I assume.
with that in perspective I would actually think Tony is OBLIGATED to get involved because someone who can do that is both a powerful ally and frighteningly dangerous if not given proper guidance (I mean, Tony kinda is, and he’s not a teenager anymore).
also with that in perspective it IS worth noting that the Teen Genius is a black female, because it is a gloriously unusual thing for such a character to be both of those things as opposed to white and male – yes, marvel has been getting more diverse, but look at characters like Peter Parker and Tony Stark for historical perspective, the genre has only a SHORT track record of bothering to break that mold. And considering that both girls (this I know from personal and others’ experience AND quite a few studies which unfortunately back it up) and black people (not from my experience since I am white, but others’ I know + research that confirms the trend) are subtly and not so subtly discouraged from going into science and engineering fields? No, actually, both her race AND her gender are extremely important here.
tbh I had a Curses, Foiled! Moment because now that I am finally getting back to buying comics, that Civil War II nonsense with Rhodey and the Hydra Cap nonsense made me want to stay away from marvel for a few months on principle but this book has me wanting to pick it up. Oh well, I suppose the better message is sent when the books that try something NOT offensively shameless or shamelessly offensive, sell better than the other stuff anyway.
While I appreciate the fact that Max doesn’t like having to answer seemingly inane questions, I do not appreciate the attitude she’s taking. Sydney is right, she needs to learn. This is clearly a strategic maneuver. A good soldier is one who can strategize in the field when disconnected from the chain of command. It’s not enough to just say “ok follow me, and do so unquestioningly”.
Causing the plan to be held up by asking questions is one thing, but asking a single question, not an endless series of questions, while enroute is harmless. The question, which is “why this route” seems to be a tactical thing. So the question should be answered. Otherwise Sydney may have to travel on her own and not have learned “oh yeah, it’s probably not a good idea to give super villains the opportunity to surreptitiously tail me to a location”.
TL;DR I’m glad Max answered the question, but I she ought to not hold back on valuable tactical lessons.
That’s not how the military works. They might explain it… eventually, if you catch someone at the right time.. or they might just tell you shut the fuck up, and do as your told. No one has a problem with learning, but you have to ask at the right time… and find the right person to ask.
Pretty much
When an officer or experienced NCO is talking with a private who’s probably going to be out of the service in four years or less, “shut up and do it” is halfway reasonable.
When an experienced career person is talking to a less-experienced career person, there’s something of a duty to look for opportunities to teach. This duty doesn’t, of course, supersede the immediate needs of the situation, or completion of the mission, but nonetheless it’s there.
Syd, from all known evidence, is going to be a super for the the next five decades or so. That’s career.
On the other hand, Syd ALSO needs to learn that there are times when you obey orders immediately and defer questions for a while… sometimes, forever.
So… basically… they are both right, for different reasons.
Yes and no.
When a non-commissioned new recruit does have time alone with an officer, which is rare, that time is mostly to shut up and listen/do as you are told. Unless the officer offers to entertain questions even asking is considered insubordinate.
Almost all of the recruit’s actual training is done by NCOs and in classes usually run by Specialists. If you’re in a class which requires a higher education they will probably be taught by an officer. Or by a NCO, since many of them have good educations also. But a college degree is required to be an officer, and it is not required to be an NCO, so those NCOs are fewer and farther between.
ARC is proving to be quite a unique force structure, some for story reasons and some for justifiable reasons that treating a new recruit who commands great power like a fresh private might be a fairly stupid thing to do. But the amount of time we see Sydney with Maxima and just talking like they are old buds (even if Maxima reminds Sydney of her rank on occasion) would never happen in the regular armed forces.
At first I thought it was an error when Max says “Not make sense on face value” I’ve only ever heard “at” face value, but I could be wrong… Am I wrong?
I suspect both are technically correct but at is more common in most areas.
What, no Nyan-Cat comments? I mean, she’s flying and leaving a rainbow behind her… ;)
I was thinking more “Reading Rainbow” myself.
Syd humming to her self:
Butterfly in the sky, i can go twice as high!
Take a look, in a comic book,
Super Rainbow!
Given the general’s imagine spot, Rainbow Dash is known to be a thing in the Grrlverse. We have no evidence that Nyan Cat is. It’s is my headcanon that the existence of supers causes a slight change in popular culture so that the Nyan Cat meme never happened.
Would personally rather have Nyan Cat than MiF >:{
DOUBLE RAINBOW
, , , *ahem*
Is there some reason Max doesn’t use a Dabbler-esque masquerafield? Interference from the goldanium?
Dabbler does not share her technology, so that option is not on the cards. Plus, if you read the author’s blog under the Muppet scenes, you will see that Dabbler is not an adept illusionist. Ergo she only uses racial abilities to create her personal illusions. Which, in turn, means she would be unable to offer to conceal others that way.
As for the “esque” option, that is on the cards actually. Stalwart and Achilles were disguised, by Archon, in the bank robbery. Ergo others can be concealed by the same means.
I think a good reason why this was not done, is that the disguise seemed to have its limitations. Whilst Maxima could figure they were fake robbers by deductive reasoning, she managed to spot who was who. Some tell-tale similarities remained. As such I would guess that Maxima’s sheer size would be a problematic factor. Even without shiny golden skin, she remains an imposingly large and noticeable woman.
Plus, much more importantly, it would be a reckless use of a strategically useful resource. Casually using such technomagic, for everyday meetings, would risk exposing its existence needlessly.
Actually, it was Mr. Amorphous, not Stalwart, under cover in the bank robbery with Achilles. Too bad Max is “only” 6-foot-1; she does not qualify to appear on My Giant Life. You have be something like 6’6″ or taller to be on that shoe.
Thanks for the correction. You are right, of course, as he made his comment about having to remember that his tongue was not meant to be stretchy.
My commiserations on the shootings in Dallas. I hope that DaveB, any readers in the region, and all their respective loved ones, have escaped being caught up in the violence, both there and elsewhere.
Now here’s an interesting questions (at least I think so); just how stealthy can Halo get?
Her orbs don’t have to orbit her head–that’s just the default but she’s moved them around individually and as a group before. So could she load all of them into a tube except for the ones she’s currently using? That wouldn’t completely eliminate the glow, but would help. Also could she “wrap” them individually, perhaps with only part of one hemisphere bare so she can touch it? That would help more. Most helpful (and weird looking) would be a jacket with extra-long and belled sleeves so she could grab orbs and keep them completely out of sight…
Of course she wouldn’t use any of these measures normally; it would simply be a good idea to develop protocols for “stealth-mode.” Archon could sell it to Sydney by making it all a Ninja Mode Costume.
Sydney probably has a sketch, of something like that, in the List, somewhere after the page with her wedding plans. No selling required.
Getting the orbs from Tubey, to her hand, without any light spill could be the tricky part. For instance if the sleeve slides down Sydney’s arm, when she brings her hand up to Tubey. Light would be coming out of the exposed hemisphere.
I bet Sydney’s sketch includes a modified variant. One with cute little ninja-hood covers, that would slip over each orb individually. Plus a pouch on her utility belt, for the cover to be popped into, when the orb is in use.
Meanwhile gloves, with nice stretchy palms (and less stretchy wrists) would allow her to pop the orb, up the wrist of the glove, and into her palm. Thus being out of sight, yet firmly pressed against her flesh. Granting both concealment and guaranteed protection against fumbling!
The long sleeves, you mention, would be a very good compliment to that though. Allowing the orb-cosies to be slipped off, within a concealing sleeve, before the orb is tucked out of sight in the glove’s palm.
Strictly for ninja missions (or very cold weather) mind. Given that the process described would unduly delay normal use.
How about extra large sleeves with enough room to contain all the orbs? I think she have enough controll over them to manage that.
Or perhaps a mantle though that probably doesn’t look that intimidating on a small person like Halo. But that would work well with Tubey and give her a golden age style.
Pouches are of course what Nineties Halo uses for storing her orbs.
Halo seems very comfortable with the orbs flying around her head. Perhaps there is some unknown advantage to this? But it’s not hery stealthy unless she can have them under a hood, wich would work well with a cape.
He he. It is times like this that I wish I had artistic ability. Your hood idea sounds like it would be akin to a bag full of kittens. Combine that with sneaking around, wearing the cape, and you get a terrifying image. Some kind of monster, with its head far too tall, to be correctly proportioned for a human. Complete with unsightly bulges, and ripples, strobing across its face.
Keeping the orbs up her sleeves is a brilliant idea mind. But what about poor Tubey?
Okay, the hood wasn’t one of my smarter ideas… It would also illuminate Halos face in a creepy way. Now I also wish you had artistic ability, that sound both silly and scary.
Of course we do want to use dear Tubey. Well, what if she have a jacket with big sleeves and a hole in the back connected to Tubey?
Ooh, even easier, just slide Tubey up her sleeve.
:-D
Tubey in both sleeves. Dual wielding Tubeys.
Rocket punches galore!
Here’s an idea, how about a nine pocket bra and a sweatshirt? No? ok a seven pocket “utility belt ” that can hold the orbs at her waist if she doesn’t want them flying around her head.
Maybe just make tubey into a purse, how hard could that be?
See, what I find myself imagining is someone creating a hoop version of tubey, so that the specific orb she needs can reach an exit by rotating the whole set of orbs.
Putting the orbs in her sleeves would likely be a bad idea–each hand would only have access to half of ’em, and she wouldn’t know ahead of time which orb she would need in which hand (and switching hands not only takes that extra half-second, but allows an additional chance for a critical fumble)–I just geekily played out a couple of scenarios with balls in kimono sleeve pockets.
Beside which–can she tell the orbs apart by feel, does she identify them by sight, or can she just tell which orb is which in her head? And does she have to grab ’em or does the right one come to her hand by mental command?
It is the latter, as we have seen Halo doing that repeatedly, but I cannot recall her reaching up to grab one (Sydney may well have, but, if so, it is infrequent enough to be a minority occurrence).
Your point about splitting up orbs, in each sleeve, as being a bad idea is well made. I think the point of Tubey is that all the orbs live in there, to be summoned out en masse when needed. With the key one(s) going to Sydney’s hand(s), rather than heading into the halo. Which means individual covers would be necessary, if Tubey is used on a ninja mission.
The proposed sleeves then just provide a handy place to take the covers off, as opposed to being somewhere to keep the orbs.
Plus the orbs clearly default to orbiting Halo. If any are disturbed from wherever Sydney previously told them to go (be that Tubey, sleeves or elsewhere), they are likely to revert to normal behaviour. And Sydney should not be wasting time trying to get them to do otherwise, when more important matters are afoot.
First step: have her wear tubey upside-down for easy, stealthy access. Maybe add a secure quick release closure. For really stealthy missions, consider using a backpack instead of tubey.
Well I started quite the conversation there! Perhaps Dave will grace us with a ninja-mode costume design…
The real question on everyones’ minds I’m sure, is can she Rainboom? ‘,:D
Your question has already been answered: Yes, Sydney can indeed “rainboom,” as shown in the last panel here:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1852
;)
That’s not quite a rainboom (you will have to {can’t believe actually suggestion someone watch that drivel} watch MLP:FiM to understand, there is probably a clip of it on YouToob)
As we do have a few new faces making regular comments here, it is worth mentioning that, if you have not already done so, it is well worth making use of the comments highlighter. You can find all the links to install it at the bottom of the author’s blog above (and on each page for that matter).
We have been using it for ages, with no reported problems. Having taken the plunge, it works just as well under Windows 10 as it did in Windows 7.
Finally please do not forget to vote, using the vote incentive box (to the right or below the comments, depending on how your screen is arranged). Maintaining a high profile in the web-comic community attracts more readers. The more we have the richer our community is, and the greater the pool, from which we may attract patrons, to support the comic.
I have no idea what the highlighter does. I assume it helps reduce duplicate comments?
Whatever it does, why would I want to install something? Let’s put it this way: If it rains and I’m wearing sandals, I don’t want to put plastic bags over my sandals. I want to put on a different pair of shoes that’s better suited for the situation.
And if I’m a shoe salesman, it would be a bad move to only sell sandals and then tell people where to get plastic bags and rubber bands. That also applies if selling shoes is only a side-business of my “Cane Candy Shop for all your walking stick needs.”
So, @DaveB: how can we help you integrate whatever the highlighter does into your site? Possibly while straightening out some of the javascript issues.
Sounds like a kind offer. I should have described what the highlighter does mind, so allow me to redress that omission. First off once it is installed you do not have to do anything again, so it creates no hassle beyond that.
As to what it does is it highlights any new comments, which have been made since your last visit. Such text appears in a pale beige background, rather than the usual pale blue. It also notes, at the top and bottom of the page, how many new comments there are, on the page you are viewing. Plus, if it is less than ten, providing a hot link, to each one.
The combined effect of these features is to make it much easier to follow any ongoing threads. Saving much time in having to search for comments by date, or having to re-read to do the same.
That does sound good, although: how does it know which ones you have read after coming back? And what if you don’t leave? Still here after nearly ten hours
“Still here after nearly ten hours”
I know that feeling…The comments rack up soooo fast, even right after DaveB posts a new update (Mondays & Thursdays, approx. 5am CST :D ). If I’m even merely a few hours late, there’s likely to be multiple pages of comments waiting…
It does not matter if you stay in the comic, as it tracks each page separately. Once you have gone through all the comments on a page, you just click the button that says “Mark Comments Read” and it knows you are done with them.
If you do not mark them as read, and either close the comic, or go to another page, it will retain those as ‘not read’. Any new comments, that get made, will be added to the total, the next time you visit that page.
The comments highlighter uses cookies to keep track of which comments have been read. Therefore if you use a utility to clear cookies, that will reset the data to ‘everything being unread’. But you can avoid that inconvenience, by adding grrlpowercomic.com to your list of exceptions.
Cool, sounds mildly more convenient that checking the post count before refreshing or changing page, and if the number goes up, trying to browse and spot a post that doesn’t seem familiar :D
Thanks for that, Your Yorpness!
My pleasure.
*wags tail regally*
Hit refresh?
The new comments aren’t going to show up until you do that anyway, and that should activate the highlighter. I’m not using it an I’m not inclined to use it, but it sounds helpful.
I have looked at the highlighter now. The functionality does seem interesting. However it uses only javascript and cookies – two technologies that every website can use on its own. I see no need to package the highlighter into something separate. (As long as the server doesn’t mess with the cookies too much that is.) So why the separation? Licensing? Inflexible server software? It can’t be missing javascript skills, looking at the highlighter. It’s just such a… strange solution.
The reason why that was used is because Dave has a (very reasonable) fear of tampering with the basic website and ending up loosing all the comments (or messing them up, if they display differently).
I presume that adding a simple plug-in was considered less likely to do that. Plus. the way this one worked, would only affect the computer it was installed on, so could be tested in isolation, without risking the core website.
It would be cool to make the comment highlighter built in to the page. I suppose that could be done by converting its functionality into a wordpress plugin, (which would have to check for the existence of the browser version of the plugin to make sure they don’t conflict with each other) but I of course have nowhere near the programming chops to do it.
Ok, I get what Max is saying about not needing to explain her orders: A soldier needs to follow orders without question. But OTOH shouldn’t a soldier need to understand the reasons behind an order so he/she can act when there is nobody around to give orders?
Big discussion about that (concerning Admiral Lord Nelson in particular) on the first page
A soldier needs to be able to do both. The trick is being able to discern when. The time delay in querying an order, at the wrong moment, could cause people to die. More often than not a good commander will know what they are doing, so acting promptly, as ordered, is something that Sydney needs to learn to do as her default response.
As you say though sometimes they may have made a faulty call, or be misinformed, or simply have not spotted something (be it visually or mentally). In which case it is important to speak up.
However here Maxima is pointing out a third state. Where it appears to be one of the latter cases, but is actually the former. Delay in these situations is unacceptable. The soldier must be able to pick up when this is the case, as the commander having to explain this will itself cause the critical delay. And there may be a very good reason why such an explanation cannot be forthcoming (secret orders, suspected bugging, someone present who does not have clearance, etc).
Most typically this is resolved by the commander saying “that is an order”, clarifying that quibbling is not an option. However Halo is going to be working very closely with Maxima, so being able to pick up such differences just by tone of voice, pace of delivery, body language and the like is something she can learn. Maxima is starting her down the path of doing just that.
In an emergency situation, such as combat, the officer in charge (or NCO) needs to know that the personnel under him will act without question to his orders. Only if they appear to be illegal orders (“Kill all the prisoners and then we’ll get out of here,” as a clear example of that) may they be questioned.
There’s a quote I like:
A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
– George S. Patton
Indeed. I do though recall reading an ex-SAS NCO writing about this topic. He indicated that the SAS are trained to act on their own initiative far more than regular soldiers. Including being encouraged to disregard orders, if the present circumstances dictate that they would compromise the mission.
If the officer in question is not present, or otherwise is not fully up-to speed, for whatever reason, the man on the ground’s judgement takes precedence. For highly trained special forces units, anyhow.
In fact he even went on to mention that high-ranking officers, from other regiments, would often be attached to the SAS, to gain some combat experience (the SAS being more likely to deploy, in times of relative peace, than regular units).
Should such an officer give an incompetent order, whilst on a mission, he will be told to piss off (possibly politely, possibly literally). The squad NCO is better trained and experienced than him, and he is there to get experience, not to command. According to that account, the NCO would be backed up, to the hilt, by the SAS higher-ups. Assuming the NCO made the right call, of course.
I keep this in mind when reading the comic, as Arc-SWAT are special forces on super-steroids. In particular Sydney’s ability to turn comic nerd-knowledge into practical combat tactics. This makes her a specialist with greater knowledge, in her speciality, than the commander. Which significantly changes the dynamics.
Finally do not forget that Halo has absolutely unique capabilities. Maxima indicated she would have employed Sydney, even if the only power she had was her True Sight. And for good reason. It is an invaluable intelligence resource. But that is not the end of it, she also has a shield which protects her from mind-control (amongst other things).
Halo was actually the only person in a fit state to command in the battle against Vehemence! Everybody else was of diminished mental capacity, due to the aggro aura. And something like that could well happen again.
Maxima is very wise to try and make the most of this unique resource. Despite all her quirks and weird behaviour. And the need to modify the normal officer to recruit relationship, to try and keep her under control.
I think we aught to intervene and get help for DaveB. He is clearly suffering a pattern of abuse from backgrounds assaulting him, with the intent of demanding rich and detailed depiction!
We could just steal his glasses.
Hmm…
Last-panel-Sydney has a certain Chas Addams feel. Extra-shady, indeed.
Good job, DaveB!
Will Archon be plagued by gamers trying to get to a Polkestop? Like the police station mentioned at the end of that article.
Bexit!
“That’s no moon… It’s an enormously conspicuous space station!”
Thank you, I have been wondering for long time about how fast the orbs… orbit. They are clearly not static, but they also don’t leave a whirling trail so they aren’t spinning furiously around her head.
15-20 seconds makes a lot of sense.