Grrl Power #516 – Between the Anvil and the… roof
I was going to call this page “Let’s get ready to rubble” but I already used that one. Still, feels appropriate here with the suplex and all.
Anvil hasn’t gotten nearly the screen time I had envisioned when I started the comic, so I haven’t shown her really doing a whole lot of cool stuff with her powers. Also she’s supposed to do a lot of fun looking, if probably a little impractical wrestling moves. I mean, grappling and Krav Maga type stuff as well, but also the odd high flying off the turnbuckle*… you know that move where someone jumps in the air and locks their knees around the other guys neck then spins around and flips them on to the ground? Stuff like that. I don’t know what it’s called, and in lieu of taking 5 seconds to google it, I will instead speculate that the name of that move is… the Whirlybird. Or the Merry-Go-Round. Oh! The Merry-Go-Down!
*In the field, a turnbuckle can be anything from the side of a building to the head of another bad guy.
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Alternate hover over caption “Hammered by an Anvil.”
I suspect that might be on a shelf labeled “Grrl Power After Dark ideas”.
That suplex needs a name. Seems to be her signature move after all.
Hammer down seems appropriate (she is “anvil” and all)
Acme Anvil is for when she drops down on the enemys head. This is the Blacksmith Belt or Forge Flip.
Hurricanrana
Bless you.
*hands over hurricane hankie*
Stand back!
There’s a hurricane coming!
That is one of my favourite flavours of snoball (like a slush-puppy, but nice, and can optionally be had with matching ice cream flavour). Going back to the US, to experience those again is on my list-of-things-to-do-before-I-die. I would aim for Lafayette (IL) though as they managed to make them better than other places (that I tried).
So if anyone, with a sweet tooth, has tried them and been underwhelmed, you have just not found a place with ‘the knack’ yet.
Have… no idea what either of those are
I get the impression that your continent can get pretty hot, albeit not as much as that big island the other side of the Great Barrier Reef. As such I bet you have something similar, but under a different brand name maybe?
Slush puppies are crushed ice suspended in a liquid that is saturated with a sweet liquid. Marketed to appeal to children it is sickly sweet. Because it needs to be kept refrigerated, whilst on display, it would all too easily freeze solid. So the sales units also incorporate a rotating arm, inside the tank, that keeps breaking up the ice by stirring it. Ensuring that you always.
Obviously they can be very refreshing, if too sickly sweet for most adult tastes. Plus they come in a basic selection of luminous colours. Green, red, blue and purple. But the worst aspect is that when you suck them through a straw, you gradually separate the favouring from the ice.
So you invariably get left with a quantity of flavourless ice at the bottom of your cup. Which as you are only likely to have bought it on a hot day, and are clearly in the mood for something flavoured, is a rather disappointing waste. Or a boring polishing off experience.
For reasons that I could not ascertain, sno cones suffered far less from the latter problem. But they are a much more premium product, so it is understandable, having the components stored separately and made into a drink on demand. With a higher price tag accordingly, of course.
Importantly though it means that they come in a huge range of flavours. With subtle and delicate options amongst them. Some designed to compliment traditional ice cream flavours, whilst others are for blends or unique types. They work perfectly well on their own, or you can opt for ice cream on top and the snocone below, or you can have a snoball, with the drink forming a liquid core in the middle of ice cream.
Which was my favourite. Especially as it completely eliminates any residue ice, as that simply gets merged with appropriately flavoured icecream.
The former brand you get anywhere in Europe (I can’t remember them from Africa, but they may have been introduced after I left). Obviously being sighted most often in seaside resorts. But pretty common in cinema chains and on high street shops, typically those with open street frontage, that are trying to pull in kids waling by. Whereas I have only seen the latter in America.
Ensuring that you always … have crushed ice evenly mixed throughout the drink.
“Your father was a Zune” LLOL (the first L is Literally, by which I actually mean “Literally.”)
Almost thought she was going to say “now go away or I shall taunt you another time!”
Master, I feel Anvil is not wholly wrong..
I too would like to suplex giant robot.
Did you learn nothing from the lesson of Ed Grueberman?
Yes master. I have learned two things. First: Anger is a weapon only to one’s opponent…
… and second: Not a single one of us can beat you, master.
So we’ll all have to gang up on you! Get him, guys!
I believe it goes “and second; Getting in the first shot. Boot to the head!”
WOOSH
“You missed. Now you too shall learn the lesson of Ed Grueberman.”
You’re right. And then at some point after that, it’s the “gang up on you” bit (and they ALL get a boot to the head).
And another one for Jennie and the wimp!
For the uninitiated… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8VD4JXUozM
I love you all so hard right now.
The further adventures of Ed Grueberman… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LXxW9Z1Y_o
Thank you. That was hilarious
‘Not available’ this side of the pond. ;’-(
Not that I know who Ed Grueberman is, so it would probably be wasted on me.
Try this… https://archive.org/details/TheSpringmouseArmyCareers
Heh. Odd though, I would have thought they ‘always got their man’. Mind you, it is wise to avoid getting into a fight, as such a polite nation.
“No, no, after you. I insist that you have the first shot!”
With all due respect, of course, to real fighters:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39546875
P.S. anyone else noticing Google chrome wanting to do an update, just say “NO”. Mine has just lost all the icons in the bookmarks bar, my entire browsing history and is not allowing cut and paste by any means. Of the problems discovered in the first two minutes!
Honestly, we don’t know for certain if other humans are sentient, it’s just a plausible assumption that has decent predictive power. No reason not to apply the same to robots.
+1
The move you seek the name of is the Frankensteiner
Didn’t he direct “Ronin”?
Well the way that Dave described the move it sounds like Anvil is pivoting along multiple axis points, the Frankensteiner is only one (vertical), so I’m figuring Hurricanrana.
Signature move of former pro wrestling tag team The Steiner Brothers, they also had the Steiner Recliner as memory serves.
Posted a link to Scott’s Top Ten Moves
Well if that “robot” is right, and it’s not a robot, Anvil wouldn’t be able to check that off her list. If she did have that very specific thing on her list to begin with that is.
Nier:Automata got me triggered for robots talking and claiming sentience then dying
Grappling with the legs like you’re talking about is pretty common in Vovinam. I’d suggest looking into that. You can see the move you’re talking about in a demonstration video here https://youtu.be/aDh2tD8t9FE?t=297
NOOO I CAUGHT UP IN THREE DAYS ;-;
It took you that long? ;)
Hey, it needs that long to appreciate the subtleties. Well, for the first read through. A fair bit more once folks realise that it takes multiple read-throughs to unpeel the many hidden layers!
Welcome to the community Skilletfan93. May you cook us up some interesting comments.
Probably read all of the comments too.
Don’t worry, you’ll reread a lot. As soon as someone in the comments throws out a link to an earlier comic you wont know what hit you and you will have read almost half the comic. Again. And it will be in the middle of the night when you realize that.
My theory on Sydney’s warning is: It might not be a good idea to slam a heavy object into the roof of a build that has been structurally compromised. We could end up with Dave having to draw lots and lots more rubble where that building used to be.
I need to dig out my copy of ‘Frankenstein’ because I see some similarity….
With the nice irony that it is the construct, brought back from the dead, and composed of sown together bits of various individuals, who is in the role of Dr Fankenstein, rather than that of ‘the monster’.
Although, then as now, the true monster is the one in charge, higher education notwithstanding.
Never ask an ethicist about ethics….
Dr. Frankenstein was the monster, not his creation…
Hence my placing quotation marks around ‘the monster’. Likewise my closing sentence spoke to that.
There is one other similarity though. Both of the underlings had no compunction against killing. This one made a very good attempt at doing so with Pixel, and that was before it was aware that she could regenerate. So, unless it was being controlled, against its will, or had some other coercion, forcing it to behave that way, then it is not an innocent itself.
Although, as others have pointed out, its mental capacity might not be sufficient for it to understand the morality involved. In which case it does have the defense of ‘diminished capacity’. Even if it does not consider itself to be dumb.
Dr Frankenstein not being the monster is debatable, afterall a mad scientific who performs experiments with body parts stolen by desecrating graves is a lot scarier than his tragic creation.
That’s right. The monster was named Adam.
Yea. Although, as this has come up before, I should point out that such is the nearest thing we have to a name, as he was not directly called that. It is an inference, from a way he was described, which has been adopted in some later adaptations. But despite QI asserting that it was his name, they turned out to have failed in their research!
I miss the fellow who pointed that out.
*sniffle*
I believe he is still a lurker though, out there, somewhere.
*points nose in the direction of Big Ben (where ‘the internet’ is kept)*
*waves paw*
I wanted to say, thank you for drawing Anvil as naturally muscular and powerful, and not having the weird little extra muscles that 90’s comic artists drew to make their characters look strong. I swear I did not understand how characters in the 90’s moved.
Low level telekinesis and cartilage instead of bone.
I’m sure that comes from Dave’s many hours of looking at scantily clad females online for..um..research purposes.
Hum feel you lose a LOT of the force she absorbed when you suplex into a building’s roof… not exactly terra firma.
and what sydney? I mean.. don’t destroy it if its sentient and all. but you still need to take it out of commision same as any other criminal.
I mean he might not be one, and is lied to but
seems a bit unlikely there
not terra firma, closer to terra cotta
I think that is what happened to Sciona’s army before. They got stoned.
Why isn’t Anvil in uniform? I mean, Max seemed pretty stern about that earlier (IE – Harem) and since she came with Peggy from HQ on the Osprey, and Peggy had time to get into her flight-suit, why didn’t Anvil also have that time? I mean, it takes five minutes to change into uniform. Even if she was off duty, she should have changed when she went on duty, just like everyone else on call.
I suspect the answer is: “But how would we see those sweet, sweet muscles?!” ;)
Because Peggy keeps her flight suit in the osprey, but Anvil had to scramble from whatever random spot she happened to be in, to get here. Wearing whatever clothing she had on at the time. And Anvil’s starting location need not necessarily have been in Archon HQ.
Anvil many have had to use the reverse of this trick (using up previously stored energy) to get into the osprey, as it flew past!
SU PAH LEX /irongiant
Assuming the Super Husk is being honest, the fact that it isn’t a robot has no bearing on whether or not it should be suplexed. It did attack people with deadly force, even if they were trespassing, so those people have to defend themselves. It just means it isn’t a slave (“robot” means “slave”), so maybe it can be reasoned with; there is an additional option.
The fact that it is not dumb is kind of a wash. It might be clever enough to be deceptive, but at least it’s probably not so dumb discourse is useless.
The bad thing is that while it is able to regenerate, removing it’s limbs (literally disarming it) long enough for parley is not an option.
There are a few key differences though. For instance it is necessary to try and preserve the lives of people, even if they do pose a threat. Provided that such can be done without endangering others unduly in the process.
Wheres when it was just a machine there was a much lesser burden. If it posed any threat, there would be good justification to destroy it. There would only be life on one side of the equation.
True, BUT!
It is important to know that Halo and others are duly designated officers of the law. They are even pseudo-military. If you attack a cop or soldier with a deadly weapon, they are authorized to end you. This is a subtle but important difference from the Standard Superhero Team.
Although now that I am thinking of it this way, it does make me wonder what effect a taser or pepper spray would have.
Pepper spray: Zero effect, no mucus membranes to irritate and go into overload producing mucus (snot/tears) that prevents normal operation of ones nose, throat, and eyes etc… as for the Taser… hmmm, Possibly the same effect it has on a Human? i figure that the mechanical portions of its “nervous system” (stuff like pressure sensors for grip strength, thermocouples for temperature sensing, various motors and angle/position sensors) could be overloaded with the electrical pulse from the taser for a few seconds, etc. but after the initial zap wears off, then little effect after that, until you hit it again…
Most tasers have darts that are designed to stick in flesh or clothing. Fire it at a machine, it most likely would bounce off. A contact stun gun would be your option then, and hope whatever it’s covered in is conductive.
I’d say paramilitary instead of pseudo military. They can even be classified as a special unit of USSOCOM.
Yes, it is very likely that Archon would fall under USSOCOM command, although on an equal basis with the other services (army, marines and air force) rather than as a special unit. It has been created by an act of government just the same as the USSOCOM itself.
Although we should not presume that, as it may well stand separately to the above structure. With USSOCOM handling the conventional forces and Archon the super ones. To support that we have seen Maxima reporting directly to the President and other world-leaders. Although the various arms do act independently of USSOCOM, unless there is need of a joint operation, so the former is still the more likely option, despite that.
As regards “paramilitary” and “pseudo military” they are both wrong. In the context of the kinds of missions that they would conduct with USSOCOM involvement, Arc-SWAT is a special forces unit. Albeit of an irregular nature.
Lawrence of Arabia was an example of an irregular special forces unit, that teamed with (and was influential in shaping) the first generation of ‘formal’ special forces units.
Archon covers more than just military operations though. The term that is correctly used to describe military forces operating as police* is a ‘gendarmerie’. France for example has both regular police and gendarmes in two separate organisations. The latter using military ranks and rules of conduct, just as with our heroines.
* This is distinct from, and should not be confused with, military police. Who’s job is focused on policing military personnel and only extends to others if they have some connection with that role (such as having entered a military base or committed a crime involving military equipment).
The ‘other world leaders’ bit being in a ‘giving a report to’ sense. Maxima and Archon would only be answerable to the POTUS, needless to say. Whether that is directly or through USSOCOM (when conducting joint operations).
Somewhere a Figaro is nodding approval at the suplex. Not a train, but close enough.
But would Fenix Down kill it?
for mecha, the DB would be on lightning materia, it doesnt look undead to me…
I just realized that DaveB is going to have to rethink Sydney’s body style a little bit, because regular PT is gonna give the girl shapelier arms, shoulders, buttocks, and legs. Girl’s gonna be whipcord sexy.
After about 2 months of regular PT, that is.
Given her rate of battles per day, which would be the better use of her daily exercise time? PT or practicing using her orb powers?
Methinks her exercise will be similar to the ones aircrew use. I used to do the Canadian Air Force exercises, when my schedule was too busy to allow anything more intensive. That keeps you fit, when in a sedentary lifestyle, but does not end up changing body shape (other than loosing flab, which is not an issue for Sydney).
Got a link to those exercises, Yorp?
Here is the original. Which has stood the test of time.
Good lord, 1965!???
Yes. I understand they used paper to make the books back then.
Using real trees, back before they were all put in tree-museums.
My copy had been handed down, from generation to generation.
Thanks!
*wags tail athletically*
why-not-both.gif
Check out the Olympics. Most of those sportspeople only practice the one skill. Simply because once every four years they get to compete against the best in the world. Halo has to do that potentially every day. Except the ones she is competing against will be trying to kill her!
Being unfit would be detrimental to Sydney’s health, so a basic exercise routine will keep her on the active duty roster. But being able to lap any of the natural born supers, or even Peggy, will not make Sydney survive a battle any better. Likewise if she works out on the weights until she can bench press more than her.
Any situation where running fast is important, Halo can simply fly, and a heck of a lot faster than any human can. And she can bench press 16 tons just by grasping an orb.
However, just like those Olympic athletes, Sydney needs to spend a considerable amount of time, each day, in practicing her skills. Unlike them though, she does not just have the one skill. She has an entire skill-tree’s worth of them! Any one of which provides abilities that no human could achieve no matter how many months or years they tried.
It would be an incredible waste of resources to have Sydney waste a significant amount of time, each day, on getting physically fitter, when she will have more mental skills, that need honing, than any one person has hours in the day to practice.
It’s a comic, and we’ve seen what she looks like in the future… exactly the same. Characters in comics don’t really change much, if ever, from exercise.
She may get fitter, but she won’t suddenly develop pythons for arms, maybe garter snakes :P
no no no, the garter snakes are for the legs!
She could start eating Vipers though.
Or not, given that this story takes place in AU March 2010. Infinity Chillies maybe?
So, you had envisioned her fighting like Zangief?
Damn it, i’m caught up.
Welcome lovely canine-like beastie.
Don’t worry, there is more every Monday and Thursday, without fail. Plus you might want to check out the writer’s blog, underneath each comic, and the comments too. If not you might not realise many of the subtleties that can be spotted hiding in the comic. Both in the art and the dialogue.
• Did you see any aliens (other than Dabbler) before Sydney spotted them, in the club?
• Have you noticed that someone, other than Sydney, may have been accepted by the orbs?
• What is the Evil Squirrel Overlord’s master plan?
The orbs I caught the first time around, the aliens ill have to go back and look now. And didn’t they already fire the overlord across the bow?
The Overlord escaped without his fur so much as being singed. Despite the point-blank salvo that otherwise ripped the battlefield apart!
Curse his squirrabies-infected hide, he is still at large and up to some further diabolical scheme!
Don’t worry, you’ll reread a lot. As soon as someone in the comments throws out a link to an earlier comic you wont know what hit you and you will have read almost half the comic. Again. And it will be in the middle of the night when you realize that.
*sigh* I really need to watch out that it actually replies and not makes new comments..
For those wondering about the moves: Hurricanrana/Frankensteiner Compilation, but, seeing how they don’t mention which is what…Hurricanrana has a side twist (ie the one doing the take down spins before flipping the victim) and the Frankensteiner is a straight overhead takedown
Maybe Anvil should study the moves of Big Poppa Pump :D
A … visually entertaining… move. Curious tactic though. Starting out by placing your genitals in front of your enemy’s face. I would love someonetry that with me!
what is this? a road runner cartoon, you dropped an anvil on it? lol
Here are some more moves she can study: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgujMT1DDqg
More like this one
Loved that bit about the referee not wanting any ‘rough ungentlemanly fighting’ :D
The commentating is so much better than Jim Dross: “Bah Gawd!”, but at least Dross ain’t no Lawler!
Some classic stuff there! Now I an reminded of the old Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling tv show.
Remeber Brick(etes): You are only as strong as the thing you are standing on!
Anvil is a special case. Since she can absorb kinetic energy, she can ALSO absorb the energy she is directing into the roof. She could hold up the Osprey without her relatively small feet punching through.
. . . It just occured to me – if Anvil is wearing the right clothes, she can walk completely silently.
And those clothes would be …
*eyes Bobcat avatar*
… a cat girl outfit, I guess?
Might as well be comfortable when opening a can of whup-ass…
Well, what I meant was something that wouldn’t swish or rub against itself noisily. Cute flannel PJs, perhaps.
Gotcha.
… I think I know what the next incentive doodle needs to be.
If Anvil can absorb impact/kinetic energy and can choose when to release it, does that mean going for a run, jumping rope or even clapping could build up whomping potential? Also sharp objects deliver contact fairly hevily but in concentrated areas; can impacts with blades/needles/spikes be absorbed as well?
Yes, the author has specifically mentioned that even walking can gradually charge up Anvil’s kinetic battery.
Yes, pointy objects are not dangerous to Anvil.
I am a bit worried about laser spikes, though…
*nods, nervously*
Here’s hoping there’s a pacifist route, now that absorbatron has displayed a degree of sentience.
I have been holding in far too many undertale jokes since the literal save-scumming happened.
I’m picturing Halo whipping her with the tentacles to power her up. We’ve already seen she can pick up great weights and we have seen it can move at least as fast as a jump rope (or whip recently). Repeated hits could be a quick source of kinetic energy turned to potential for Anvil.
I’m picturing Math and Dabbler watching this scene and making lewd comments.
Anvil rates three-star super strength. Four star (Stalwart) can kick a tank through the air, so Anvil has considerable raw strength, even without her kinetic powers.
Sydney’s three-star telekinesis can lift sixteen tons, so we have that as a ball-park figure for Anvil’s strength (although there is a lot of scope for variability, even within the same star category).
This reminds me way too much of “Iron Giant” in terms of suddenly breaking my heart. If his last words are “Su-per-man”, I’m out.
Since the missile didn’t make any substantial damage (even to the roof), I doubt the supplex will do anything since it is limited by the resistance of the concrete. Using her strenght to crush him would probably have been more effective.
If you look at panels one and four, you can see damage to it’s back and right arm
We have here a notable discrepancy in Anvil’s power set. During the fight with ItMakesMeStronger Anvil got slung into him from a height and it hurt him. Here she imitates the same effect via jumping out of a plane, but upon landing on the roof her impact is not harmful to the roof, it is instead absorbed.
So does Anvil need to choose to absorb kinetic impacts? Because if so that would be far less powerful, since any sucker punch would be taken as a hit just like it would on anyone without kinetic absorption powers. But there really must be some kind of conscious choice involved, or any punch Anvil throws would just see the potential impact absorbed instead of harming the target of the punch.
My guess would be that there is a default reaction where anything above a certain amount gets absorbed and anything below doesn’t, but that she can selective enable or disable the absorption.
We also know that she has been on the team for a while now, and so we can expect that she and the strategists have had time to plan, test and train on a variety of tactics and applications of her abilities.
For myself, I’m just glad we’re getting to see her strut her stuff a bit.
Clearly, as you say, it is something under Anvil’s conscious control. We do have the fact that Math chose to send Sydney Anivil’s way though, when he nudged her into the whirling orbs’s path, during their bout. Given his advance planning (‘think three steps ahead’) and the fact that Sydney was very safely cushioned, I would say that her default state is to absorb impacts.
This would be a very sensible option to choose (assuming that there is no factor that takes it out of her control), to protect Anvil from potential surprise attacks, such as a sniper shot.
With the clear implication that she would need to consciously change this setting, when intending to impact someone with a regular (non-boop enhanced) punch, body-slam or the like.
She can choose to absorb or release KE at will
When she was whiplashed into Kevin, she had already built up a charge and just needed a release, here she would not have had much just from sitting in the back of the Osprey, that’s why she aimed for the roof and not NoBot
RE: Vote Incentive….
HAH! I shop there! :D Santa Monica, right near the Nuart Theatre. >.>!
Heh, I love how easily we can have a look, even for those of us on the other side of the pond.
Pretty sure I’ve shopped there… in GTA5.
That oddly shaped shop across the road with the 7 Eleven and the Subway looks very familiar.
It does seem to be pretty true to life. Even down to the pillars under the jetty and the Ferris wheel.
I am just glad they stopped the comparison where they did, at the end.
Is there a reason they blurred “ORC” from the next door shops’ name, but not “CIA”? o_O
He he. Interesting observation. Very likely just down to their numberplate recognition software keying on that. I don’t know the format of California number plates, but if we assume they might have a number in them then it could be recognising the “o” as a “0” (zero). Whereas the font might not make the “i” in “CIA” appear to be a “1” (one).
If you look at the sighs, to the left, the lower one has been similarly blurred. Presumably its format was similar enough to a licence plate that it got the pixelization treatment.
Alternatively I have noticed that sometimes the 360 degree shots have a blurring along one vertical line. Possibly where there is a flaw in joining together the two ends? Or maybe there is a rotating camera (or a digital one simulating that effect) which might be affected by hitting a bump, so can blur at that point.
The nondescript textures above and below it though make that hard to determine. But I cannot spot any seam-like blurring, so would think the initial explanation is the most likely.
Or, at an outside chance, there could be a list of keywords that do get blurred, of which CIA, FBI, “Secret Service” and the like would be high on the list. Whilst we co see the latter examples (on high-vis jackets for example) at crime scenes, and therefore a plausible desire to blur them (to avoid throwing the neighbourhood into disrepute) I think it less likely that “CIA” would feature.
Doh. Scratch the last paragraph. It is irrelevant as “CIA” did appear. I should have re-read the query, before posting, rather than after.
Playing around with it a bit, by moving the camera position slightly unblurs that sign (plus the “Sleepless” sign across the intersection {although now it blurs his face o_O}, the woman on the bench’s face and her newspaper {no idea why the newspaper would have gotten blurred}, the locksmith’s phone number) oddly, now the models in the hair-salon down the street are blurred :P
Regarding the last point. Ninjas. Always suspect ninjas.
This makes a nice backdrop when reading Symbiote.
Totally venom.
Question: Back at the resturant brawl, when Sydney used lighthook to yoink Anvil down, Anvil made a mental comment about her boobs hurting. What’s the difference between that, and jumping out of an Osprey that’s probably much higher? Shouldn’t her boobs still hurt, or do you think her ‘jiggleypuffs’ have better support ‘today’?
The difference is 15-16 tonnes of highly-flexible acceleration – which her landing absorbs, but her ‘hit nothing’ in-air whipping had no impact to absorb from.
Interestingly enough, I myself was recently re-reading, from the Maxima-v-V portion of the fight forward to the start of the Sooper-Seekrit Society meeting, and tonight suddenly combined ‘Portlandia realized that Sydney’s lighthook is the weaponization of Achilles. If the main weakness of ‘hit them with something’ is that the ‘something’ that you hit them with has a break-point which limits how much damage you can do to them …
… imagine hitting them with something that has no known breaking point. Suddenly Achilles’ fists are one of the most dangerous weapons the team has, as Sydney’s lighthook uses him as a high-accel missile- and bludgeoning-weapon.
… sorry about that ‘combined ‘Portlandia realized’ bit – I have the Portlandia level hipster dipshit thing running through my head, and it’s the lighthook-smack there that sort of made me realize the above. Aaaanyhow.
Anvil clearly has to set how much force she wants to absorb (or inflict). By example she could have taken the brawler’s heat off, completely, if she nose-booped him too hard! Likewise if Anvil absorbed all incoming kinetic energy all the time, then weird effects would start to build up fast.
For instance, atmospheric pressure (on our bodies) occurs due to air molecules bumping into us. However if Anvil interfered with the process, too much, then the pressure and temperature would change in her immediate vicinity. So clearly she must be able to do more than just have it set to ‘absorb’ or ‘don’t absorb’. Plus looking at the author’s blog, above, Anvil must have fine control, in order to do the kinds of moves he is talking about.
Therefore, in the example you cite, Anvil probably just set the threshold too low so a certain amount of the force got through and thereby caused the pain.
The more worrying possibility is that she had reached the limit of her kinetic battery, and the excess simply could not be absorbed. As her battery can remain topped up, indefinably, just by walking around (i.e. it does not gradually flatten, provided Anvil is active).
We should not though draw any conclusions about the limits on Anvil’s kinetic battery capacity, as (in that earlier battle) she may have had a lot of energy stored earlier. Perhaps from demonstrations at the press conference – we only saw snippets of those, so others unseen may have included her soaking up impressive attacks, like tanks being thrown at her. Not that such is necessary, Anvil might just keep it topped up pretty high so she always has offensive capability.
I think the former to be the more likely though. Anvil has decent super strength, but does not have any other defence. So is more likely to keep her battery with a minimal amount of energy in it, to ensure that she has plenty of absorption capability, without having to burn it off, to free up more.
I wish to say thanks DaveB for having such thought-provoking scenes, in addition to them being very entertaining, for their action. Not to mention the soulful art in panel 3. Emotive and compelling.
You know, Dabbler totally woulda overshadowed everyone else in the new Voting incentive if she was still her original design. four of a kind always beats a pair ;)
You should just ask Pixel to change into her jaguar form. You will have six of a kind then, for your titillation.
Jaguars have but four, if they follow the traits of their closest relatives.
Apparently it varies depending on their horsepower.
Do we have a were-horse yet? o_O
Not that we have seen, or been mentioned, no. But they do feature in legends, from some parts of the world, if I recall correctly (under generic descriptions of transforming people, rather than under that name, needless to say). So it would be appropriate to have such, and Grrl Power weres can be any mammal, as you know. Therefore I would expect them to rear their heads here, someday.
And given her known fondness for a pony television show, Sydney might seek them out!
Was meaning specifically and actually in the GrrlVerse: it’s one thing to have the possibility of having a were-horse, but it’s another to actually have one
Wasn’t thinking of that trashy abomination (POO, huh-juge fan of the original series), but what about that horse Sydney was thinking of buying when she became the Queen of Salt? Maybe there is more than meets the eye about that ‘horse’ than we were led to believe? Sometimes a horse is not just a horse of course >_>
SIGMUND FREUD’S DAUGHTER: Last night I dreamt that you offered me a sausage. A really big one. And I gobbled it all down! The hot juices all dipping down my face. What do you think that means, father?
SIGMUND FREUD: Sometimes, daughter, a sausage is just a sausage.
Mmm, actually, that DJ, at the night club probably was one. I do not recall Sydney looking in that direction with her true sight. But that was an homage, rather than the introduction of a character, so does not really count. Just like Jonathan Creek we are unlikely to see either again (for avoiding grumbles about copyright, if nothing else).
Anvil suplexes a robot, but I’m not impressed… I’ve seen Sabin suplex Doomtrain… an actual undead steam locomotive…
to be honest, you have to dig deep to even know what a zune is…