Grrl Power #1001 – Arc-box achievement unlocked!
Yeah, I know, this is probably not correct procedure. We should all accept that I will get the military stuff… adjacent. And don’t worry about the ribbons too much. I cribbed Maxima’s from some Air Force Colonel’s photo I found online, then swapped a few things and might have even recolored one or two, so her salad bar is probably about 40% nonsense. When I was asking about Sydney’s ribbons, I was trying mostly trying to get an idea of how many she might have. That said, I gave her a National Defense Service, a Global War on Terror (Supervillain attacks are easy to categorize as terrorist actions), and a… um, I forgot what the third one is. Expeditionary I think. But I changed all the colors because each branch seems to have their own version. She didn’t get the Basic Military Training Honor, which is reserved for people who do exceptional during training. Sydney passed, but not exceptionally.
It’s been suggested that Sydney might have earned a purple heart for getting dinged by enemy shrapnel when she was off planet, but I think it falls below the threshold for minor wounds. Granted without Frix stitching her up, she might have had a little red scar on her cheek, but let’s be real, it would have been exactly 3.2 pages before I forgot to draw it. She also got punched in the cheek right when the super fight started at the restaurant, but I think bruises also fail to meet the severity threshold. Of course, Dabbler got like 40 little cuts when Heavenly Sword almost got her, but she probably used a “Heal Those Tiny Cuts that Barely Bleed but Mostly Just Itch” spell instead of having a “Physician with Officer Rank” treat her. Come to think of it, Harem would probably qualify when her arm got broken. Jiggawatt got deafened, Math got his nose broken. Heatwave.
Honestly, if the average superhero comic was about a military team, most team member would probably have like 9 Purple Hearts by issue 100. (Also that boxer concussion palsy.) It really feels like something I shouldn’t make light of, but even Arc-SWAT, with their somewhat relaxed schedule of the occasional action scene followed by slice of life antics interspersed with exposition, I can see the team collecting PH’s or oak leaf clusters from a bin after every debrief.
Tamer: Enhancer 2 – Progress Update:
Last scene is like half done. Should be this week for the beta proofers.
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Question re: ties. Is there some regulation in US military currently dictating that slacks go with ties and skirts go with… that other thing? Because I remember seeing a USAF officer about a decade ago who was wearing both slack and the not-a-tie thing…
each service has their uniform standards. the USAF’s is AFI 36-2903. google it. the pertinent pages are 33-39.
the uniform they are wearing is the Service Dress Uniform. your “not-a-tie” is called a Tie Tab, and is required.
That is a relaxed uniform.
I’ve seen female officers in my department wear either the tie tab or a regular tie, depending on preference, but always with trousers. The only thing I’m sure of is that it’s not supposed to be a male accessory.
What would qualify as Purple Heart-worthy injuries for supers? Cuts and scratches wouldn’t, I’m sure, or it would be like Dave says. Possibly ‘any injury that requires, at a minimum, overnight stay in a medical facility’ further detailed as incisions requiring stitches, broken bones, concussions… Poor Achilles, no Purple Hearts for you. Maybe the Silver Punching Bag with oak leaves?
He gets one if something actually makes him audibly go ‘oof’.
Sydney used Pepper Breath on the wrong bank robber?
Jiggawatt’s permenent hearing loss probably counts.
I would go with “anything that causes permenent, non-recoverable injury”.
On that note, Peggy should probably already have one for the helicopter incident?
Yeah, plus I think Jiggawatt got a special commendation along with Sydney in the aftermath of the restaurant fight for coming across the city or state or something.
I wonder if Mathias has one too – he doesnt have superhuman healing and has a LOT of scars.
Getting a call-out from your commander during the debriefing _is_ the reward. It definitely comes up during evaluations.
But as I keep mentioning, Purple Hearts are viewed as much as a “someone messed up” badge as anything by active members. “The purpose of war is to make the _other_ sonofabitch die for _his_ country.”
Here’s something I just realised:
Peggy should have a Purple Heart from pre-archon.
It’s almost an assurance that she does have a Purple Heart.
Hey… when she gets her leg back does she have to give the medal back? :)
Yeah, injury-medals become a weird concept for some supers. One of my RPG characters eventually accepted one just to make her commanding officer feel better. As a terminator-like cyborg, having her skin shredded by a explosion wasn’t a big deal to her – a cosmetic injury, and easily repaired given a little downtime – but the CO wasn’t really used to dealing with super-soldiers.
Medals are weird in many ways.
Napolean Bonaparte put it well- ‘It is amazing what a man will do for a piece of colored ribbon.’
Some people crave them and it is a good idea to stay FAR away from such people. They are dangerous and not in a good way. I have written about my grandfather and his medals here before. He never talked about them, never though they were important.
Sydney is a conundrum in many ways. She is sort-of military, sort-of civilian, not quite ‘sane’ and very nice as long as you don’t make her mad. I don’t see her as a leader type without some serious experience and a lot more training. (And maybe some better drugs for AD/HD? We can hope!)
She doesn’t crave glory or adulation like some. She eats it up, but she doesn’t NEED it to function.
I BET her medals will go in a drawer and stay there until the next ultra formal ceremony like my Granddad’s did.
As you can see, she’s FAR more concerned about not being a screwup in front of everyone than anything else. No, the medal doesn’t matter to her. She’s got easier ways of getting free drinks.
Speaking of free drinks and the military, I was fascinated to read An Unofficial Anecdotal History of Challenge Coins a few years back.
> Some people crave them and it is a good idea to stay FAR away from such people.
See, that was one of the things that unnerved her CO. Normal people don’t say things like “it’s only artillery, I’ll be fine” after calling for a strike on her own position.
If it required medical attention, it qualifies for a purple heart.
Achilles gets a purple heart when he accidentally eats Sydney’s food.
I think some of Sydney’s dishes could be used to end lives. probably a human rights violation though.
Grakz may count as a WMD.
Dabbler’s cleavage is a weapon of mass distraction.
I would’ve thought her cleavage was on the same scale as that of the Grand Canyon, so, it wouldn’t be distraction as much as turbation.
Whatever it is, Achilles won’t qualify.
Technically, I think he doesn’t even take mental damage. As in, bury him under a mountain for a year and he just gets mildly bored, doesn’t become claustrophobic. So, no Purple Hearts for him.
So, this makes Sydney the first decorated graduate – I wonder if other team members have already received medals, e.g. during her 2-month non-existence. And exactly which action is this medal for? If this medal is for the restaurant battle, those should’ve been handled already. If for the Times Square fight, she mostly just got held hostage…? I guess she did immediately go help rescue Concretia’s body afterward… Her solo action on Alar makes the most sense to me.
Also, I’m a little chafed at the ribbon color for the Archon commendation – you’ve got to pick some color, but gold & purple makes it look like Max’s personal “Teacher’s Pet Award” instead of recognition from an a entire service branch. I would’ve expected the yellow & blues from the Archon seal.
It’s probably for the whole ‘MIA for two months’ thing after she helped the squad get to the alien planet. She not only fought enemies, she managed to find allies and make peaceful first (second?) contact with an alien race.
And also some thorough, exceptionally vigorous contact with an alien race.
She boldly went where no man had gone before. Shepard and Kirk would be proud.
except she is no man.
So when does Kirk visit planet “boldlyGo?”
here:
https://boldlygophilanthropy.com/
“Ain’t never been to Boldygo” (the whole show is fantastic as well)
She is no man… But is she Gnome Ann?
https://xkcd.com/1704/
Which means she can slay dark lords.
Sorry guys, you’re stuck as plucky sidekicks and eyecandy.
Split infinitive.
It should have been ‘To go boldly’.
No it shouldn’t. It’s a quote. HMAS Endeavour, under the command of James Tiberius Cook, had a five year mission “To boldly go where no man has gone before.”
HMS, not HMAS. He hadn’t discovered Australia when he left.
the Archon Commendation medal looks like the USAF one except it has the Archon logo instead of the Air Force Seal. if so that would make the colors yellow & blue. i think the purple is due to the light reflected off Max.
Also, Sydney’s space adventure was a couple months.
She said the flashback was “let me back up a few months”.
“Few” is usually around 3. So, are we done with the flashback now?
Is she a corporal yet? Then no, we are not done with the flashback
> Also, I’m a little chafed at the ribbon color for the Archon commendation – you’ve got to pick some color, but gold & purple makes it look like Max’s personal “Teacher’s Pet Award” instead of recognition from an a entire service branch.
It even has an “M” on it.
What’s wrong with it acknowledging the commanding super at branch creation?
It does look like an ‘M’, although I assumed that was just the lower half of a diamond or other design. Although it could be both.
I don’t think any US military medals or awards reference any individual – no ‘Washington’ or ‘Eisenhower’ awards or styling. Archon is definitely atypical but I don’t think they’d start breaking with military formalities so quickly unless there was a good operational reason. Bosses come and go, but the branch and its awards are intended to be forever. Not to mention that even the most respected high-ranking officer may someday be disgraced, and the associated shame would significantly devalue the former endorsement.
Well, golly gee, I wonder whose profile is on the purple heart?
Actually didn’t know that, have never really looked at pictures closely or seen one in person – I definitely don’t know how to military.
Seems to be very much the exception though, and the current design with his profile was made ~150 years after his service, not under his personal active direction. There’s a world of difference between a nod to a historic figure and monograming your initials on all your subordinates’ achievements.
Upon further, close inspection, upon the ribbon itself that design may very well be the lower half of a diamond, rather then an M. As for the gold and purple coloring? It -may- have to do with the fact that Maxima is probably one of the reasons Arc Swat is a thing in the first place if….I am remembering the weird super lore history of this world. One of those ‘yeah its a reference but you can’t prove it but those in the know, know,’ kind of honor thing.
I can tell Dave put in a lot of work here to get the blings just a little bit blingier than Max’s skin.
Might have overdone it just a little with the glow that comes from the air *around* the blings, but doing anything else would have sort of required changing Max’s basic color.
The added glow is from the overhead lights, maybe. Plus we know Max applies anti-glare powder, which you wouldn’t do to uniform brass.
You mean the Sun? They are outside.
Sydney’s “I’m being very serious right now, look at the effort I’m putting into my super serial I mean my very serious face” face… I imagine she’s going to need to go just cut loose after this to let out the bottled up everything she just had to bottle up for the ceremony.
Blowing it up and talking a good look, it’s pretty clear that the qualification badge they’re wearing are NOT ‘jump wings’.
The only thing they have in common is that the center device is sort of rounded and the laurel wreath that a great number of, if not most, badges have. They don’t look much like aircrew ‘wings’ either, except again for the laurel wreath.
The center device seems to be a hemisphere and much brighter than the rest of the badge, although that might just be highlighting in the art, but perhaps it’s a rising sun ? or a nuke groundburst ;) ? or maybe a shield to refer to their shielding the rest of the populace from danger ?
I’m going with the shield.
Possibly a indicates a personal flight ability that’s been trained to a military standard. The only ones we see it on have all demonstrated some powered flight.
Jabberwolky is wearing that emblem as well but I do not recall her actually flying. She can jump like nobody’s business, but that is not true flight. I have yet to see her jump, Eagle-style to engage actual flight.
It could simply be the ARC Insignia, which is separate from the Branch Emblem (on the right shoulder).
As you see all the members of ARC (even Maxima) in the last two issues have it.
Parents. They drive you crazy, but you gotta love ‘em.
kids break your heart. which is worse? good question. at least the data collection has fun bits in it.
My dad put it well-
‘Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your kids!’
well he said it better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm8FwzHUGCs
several times.
Dave, something to remember when drawing Max’s ribbon rack is that since Archon is a new service, most of her awards were earned in the Air Force and they don’t convert to a different service’s version when you switch services. Air Force proper ribbons would be appropriate for most of her rack with a few Archon-specific new ones added in.
Technically it’s also not our Earth…so even if they are Air Force ribbons, they still don’t have to look like our world’s versions. I had my own headaches over how closely to follow real-world military medals, etc, when working on my futuristic military scifi stuff. I gave up, wrote up what would be appropriate, and that was that.
funny enough if this were a tv show or movie and being aided by military advisors, they’d actually insist at least some things be wrong, even if they are things someone today could look up to find the right way online; due to an old rule/law that the military can’t be represented 100% accurately for national security reasons. It was basically why you’d see stuff in some movies like helmets not strapped down, out of formation, wrong planes, wrong procedures, ect…even when the film had military cooperation.
I spent 20 minutes ranting last night after seeing the CDR on CSI Hawaii having a ribbon bar with only 3 ribbons so the timing of this is humorous. (I spent 6 years in the Navy and had 11 ribbons on my bar with several “multiple awards” so my standards may be skewed by “wartime” service) One note is that unless they have changed in the past 25 years the bars are generally 3 ribbons to a row with new rows added as a row fills and new rows centered over the previous rows. So the loner on the top of Maximas salad bar should be centered rather than right justified.
Not just military, cop and firefighter uniforms also have to have some inaccuracies for the same reason (probably more so because people are more likely to copy those than military)
OMG. Does this… Does this mean we’re gonna MEET SYDNEY’S PARENTS?? 8D
I’m still calling it, dad us just Sydney with a dad-stache.
and mom is just Sydney with a towel on her head
Only been 13 months since the last comic shop appearance. I guess the demand for daily spits of time went by the wayside somewhere behind the scenes.
Probably not significant enough to warrant documenting in-comic.
I don’t think it’s been all that long in-comic, however. Page 822 appears to take place just the day after page 784, which I believe was the last scene at the comic shop. It’s still the same day for Max’s dinner date with Deus, and the poker game back at the base begins with “meanwhile“, so it’s presumably the same night. So… It took about 68 pages to get from closing the comic shop to the end of the next day.
After that, it’s not clear how much time has passed. There’s a day that ends with climbing and Cora’s ship landing, and perhaps Sydney’s attempts at the live fire course, which is said to be occurring around 9:30PM in the author’s notes. The following page leads with “Good morning”, then there’s a reference to a week passing, then there’s the Aliens in NYC, which takes a lot of pages to wrap up. Page 933 is presumably the day after. The birthday party might be the same day.
Training with Vehemence is presumably the day after that, but could be later. And graduation could be the next day, or an indeterminable amount of time later, which brings us up to the present. So it’s been a week or so, maybe more. Yeah, maybe we’re due for some non-ARCSWAT shenanigans, and presumably the introduction of Sydney’s parents will segue into other stuff. I imagine it’s just a matter of the author having material in mind that relates to the comic shop.
I think you missed the fact that page 784 posted on October 31, 2019 at 5:00 am and page 1001 posted on November 29, 2021 at 5:00 am. I made no reference to in comic time passing. I was being a smart ass saying just 13 months when it has been nearly 25 full months of real life time and 216 posts, over one fifth of the entire span of posts, with no mention even in a text or comment about where approximately half of Sydney’s waking time is supposedly spent. 14 employees, and the mighty Halo in a public setting with no super powered caretaker… Something happens even if it is not core story line.
Things happen, sure. But they’re competing with other things for the author’s attention and production capability. Lots of things happen that he doesn’t have time to write or draw.
Had a guy in my unit in iraq get a small nick on the neck from shrapnel during a mortar attack. I think it needed a stich or two. Still considered injury inflicted as a direct result of enemy attack and got him a purple heart. Documentation is key.
Notably: Depending on the type of shrapnel, and where it grazed his neck, a bit of bad luck putting the metal a half inch in the wrong direction might have been enough to sever an artery. So he might genuinely have a good reason to get a purple heart…if only in recognition of “If you were a slightly unluckier SOB this medal would be a LOT blingier…and given to your family.”
(Obviously I don’t know the specifics, but just a thought.)
Yes, and there was no documentationing for Sydney except her word (and not even a 6 star General’s word means shit if there is no witness)
Not going to claim I know anything about military regulations, but if she got the medal for the Alari homeworld incident, she had witnesses for her actions in ensuring the team got to safety at the expense of her own life. It might also be considered she was MIA for the two month as, while they technically knew where she was, they had no guarantees regarding if she was alive minutes after they had left. Surely the witness statement of “Using her powers, she protected the lives of her comrades in arms against a hostile foe and sacrificed her life to ensure the rest of the team reached safety” would be enough for a Purple Heart, right?
Yeah, but they have to be seen getting the injury
And that can probably be traced back to the First World War when soldiers in trenches would shoot themselves in the foot to get sent home, or at least away from the front lines
Note: Sydney is not receiving a purple heart, she is receiving the “Archon Commendation Medal” which could very well be for her ensuring the team got away on Alari, along with her other field actions from the parkinglot brawl onward. Especially considering her low level of training through those points making it extra extraordinary.
Yeah, mentioned that as well somewhere else
She had barely been in Archon for a day, hadn’t even started training, when the Restaurant Rumble happened, and it was her knowledge and tactics that helped them win
This is where I should have done more research before posting. My reasoning was based on the UK Victoria Cross, which has a different set of requirements than the USA Purple Heart. In relation to the Purple Heart, there is no witness for any injury that Sydney has obtained. She wasn’t hurt much in most fights due to the shield, and the 3 times she had been subdued [killed against Sciona, paralyzed by the demon hunter, incapacitated by Concreta] was when she was alone.
Damn that (dad/uncle/granddad?) is pretty embarrassing.
I’m pretty sure that’s Sydney Trouble Scoville Senior.
*Max meets Sydney’s Dad*
This explains… so much
Note how Maxi is still looking at Sydney Junior while Junior is side-eyeing Senior :D
this has been covered. it is part of parental duties to embarrass their children. its payback for the sleepless nights, public fits, and many other transgressions.
So, who was it yelling in the crowd?
. . . And it just occurred to me, had any mention of Sidney ‘s family ever been made? Did they die before the story like a Disney movie? :p
Not unless the phone at that restaurant had ectoplasmic communications capabilities.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-190-newhart-phonecall/
And just about every single manga/anime.
I KNEW HER FATHER WAS GONNA BE HERE!! Ya, so excited. I hope we get a full introduction after the ceremony is complete
Just as expected, he accidently embarrasses her. My father almost did the same when I graduated US Army Basic training back in 05′, but he managed to restrain himself.
This is a good day.
This is a good day.
In my experience, most folks in the military view medals as something that will help them get promoted, but a pain in the arse, because now you have to update your rack. (Note, my experience was 20+ years in the ChairForce ;) )
Interesting fact about the Purple Heart. All the Purple Heart medals and ribbons that are awarded from WW2 until today were made in preparation for the invasion of Japan. The battle was expected to be that intense. I am not saying it was right to nuke Japan (twice), but it probably did save more lives than were lost by forcing surrender much sooner. Imperial Japan had a “fight to the death” mentality during this period, they were not kind in victory and did not expect kindness from their enemies.
Recently, they are actually starting to run out of the old stock. So they have started order some new medals/ribbons, but they are identical to the original ones.
Source
http://hnn.us/article/176762
That’s actually not true.
Japan was offering a conditional surrender (if I remember right their only condition was “we get to keep the Imperial Family”), America was wanting both an unconditional surrender and somewhere visible to show off their new bombs to the world.
As a WWII in the Pacific historian I say this-
Check your facts.
That is not true. I spoke often with someone who was there in the decision making process. Not for dropping the bomb, but for everything else. He was in the OLYMPIC compartment and was briefed on everything BUT the bomb. He was involved in the planning stages. No one ever said ANYTHING about Japan surrendering until AFTER the bombs. Maybe someone in the US tried? If so, there is no documentation.
Maybe a faction within the Japanese government offered something in the days leading up the bombs being dropped, but if so, it was never documented anywhere I can find. if it was? Show me facts, not propaganda.
And yes, they DID want to show the world the new bombs. They needed to test a new weapon in combat conditions. They did. Funny thing, how many times have nukes been used in war since?
Addendum-
There WERE a number of back and forth proposals AFTER the bombs were dropped, but that is diplomacy.
Before? The Japanese offered several conditional during options during the war that were spurned by the US.
Now, today, we all know that US DESERVED to get attacked and have so many people killed 90 minutes BEFORE the declaration of war was issued. Because fools who cannot read history say so.
Check your facts.
Without a time machine, what facts can we check? All we have are the claims of other people, most long dead.
I don’t know what you mean when you call yourself a historian, but I hope that isn’t your best writing. I can’t even determine what it is you’re claiming to be true or false. I think you contradicted yourself, but I don’t see how you addressed Illy’s claims.
There’s a fair amount of professional research that has been done on the Project and the politics surrounding it, including many declassified documents. This article from a professional nuclear researcher does a good job of exploring the timing and reasoning of both the bombing and the surrender, written by someone who has read basically all the original material available from both nations.
http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2015/08/03/were-there-alternatives-to-the-atomic-bombings/
An excellent article, written from a scholarly perspective. Thank you for sharing that.
It truly was a difficult decision, and unless we were present and fully informed about the full extent of the known intelligence and thought process, we will never know with certainty whether it was the right decision.
The very definition of a morally grey subject.
Correct me if I’m wrong (I have a lot of education in American history as well, although mainly where it relates to laws and the Constitution), but wasn’t one of the primary reasons for using the nuclear bomb on Japan that they had decided the alternative was a war of attrition since most of the Japanese would fight to the last person for the Emperor, and the use of the nukes was a way to:
1) allow Japan to surrender and maintain the emperor’s honor (“Look at what these barbarians will do – I will surrender in order to protect my people from this sort of dishonorable death.”)
2) cut down a LOT of deaths on both sides from a protracted war of attrition after how the Japanese had dug in the closer you got to the main islands of Japan.
Plus if I recall, they were not even sure if the bombs would work – hence why they used both remaining bombs at the same time.
“Now, today, we all know that US DESERVED to get attacked and have so many people killed 90 minutes BEFORE the declaration of war was issued. Because fools who cannot read history say so.”
It’s stuff like this that makes me question the idea that you’re ‘a historian of WW2 in the Pacific.’ Unless you’re saying this sarcastically? It’s hard to tell – text is a difficult medium to read nuance.
In any case, the US did not ‘deserve’ to be attacked. And the Japanese acted VERY duplicitously. Japanese ambassadors were issuing peace declarations and assurances that the US would be able to stay OUT of the war on the same day that they were sending the planes to Pearl Harbor to bomb it. The US was effectively isolationist before then (and it was an extremely unpopular position among the US population to want to enter the war), so why would they need to accept a ‘surrender’ to the Japanese. If anything, the bombing of Pearl Harbor made the US want to enter a war that they would have otherwise ignored.
Like it says in Day of Infamy by Walter Lord (good historical account, you should read it), and according to Japanese Naval Marshal General Isoroku Yamamoto, the bombing of Pearl Harbor was a COLOSSAL mistake for the Japanese to do. Yamamoto did believe that Japan could not win a protracted war with the United States. Moreover, he seemed later to have believed that the Pearl Harbor attack had been a blunder strategically, morally, and politically… even though he was the person who originated the idea of a surprise attack in the first place, on the off chance that IF the US was to enter the war, it would be bad for Japan.
Even though he never actually said the “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” made popular in the movie ‘Tora! Tora! Tora!” – it WAS in line with Yamamoto’s view of how Japan had doomed themselves to losing the war once by forcing the US to enter it (plus making it VERY popular among the American public to enter the war in general, a complete 180 from the public’s previous opinion about foreign relations. At least, before the war had been won in Europe, against a country that was technically still at peace with Japan.
In a word, ‘Yes’, Pander.
The original estimate for American and allied casualties after the first year of the proposed invasion was conservative estimated at 1 million. This is fact backed up by documentation and first hand recollections of someone who was there in the planning.
That utterly ignores the cost to Japan. No one had any idea at all what would have actually happened in a boots on the ground contested invasion, except that the the USSR would have invaded from the north as soon as they could get enough troops and supplies in place. This is also fact. Soviet troops WERE preparing for that exact mission.
It would have been a godsawful mess. Likely millions of Japanese dead, Japan utterly wrecked for decades and for what? Vengeance?
Yamamoto never went against his superiors in public and yes, that quote is not documented as his, but the feeling was his. He knew his country, its strengths and weaknesses. He knew the US, its strengths and weaknesses. He was vocal that bringing the US into the war was a bad idea until he was ordered to do it, then like a good soldier, he obeyed orders. (Funny thing? You could hear the screams from one end of Berlin to the other when ol’ Adolph heard the news!)
So many people see the history of the twentieth century as an excuse to say that the US deserved things like Pearl Harbor and 911. I don’t think ‘anyone’ deserves such. I don’t think Japan deserved the bombs dropped on them. It ‘did’ end the war with far less casualties Allied and Japanese than planned, so there is that. A horrific way to end the war, but it did. The very first rule I learned about history is easy to understand: Actual history is never clean or simple.
I am not working as a professional historian. I see so much history ignored or blatantly whitewashed with propaganda that I could never teach history in the US in general schools and my credentials are not good enough for higher learning. It started as a hobby, but it grew into a vocation.
I get hot and bothered far more than I should, true. But people spouting FAKE history to justify their own sense of righteousness never ceases to get me going. Yes, I know it is what people do, but still. I don’t have to like it.
For the record, dropping the atomic bombs ended open conflict in WWII. A very bad thing to end a very bad thing.
“Likely millions of Japanese dead, Japan utterly wrecked for decades and for what? Vengeance?”
Well also remember they were literally in league with the nazis. So a bit more than just vengeance. Unless you’re talking about what Russia would have done. That would definitely be vengeance for what Japan had been doing to them. :)
“I don’t think Japan deserved the bombs dropped on them.”
Again just a little reminder that they were allied with Adolf Hitler at the time. It tends to be glossed over very often (although to be fair, we were allied with Stalin at the time, but still….). And they had been sent the Heavy Water experiments from the nazis. And they did strike first against a nation which was at peace with them at the time.
Also the US had no idea of what the actual result of the bombs would be.
“A horrific way to end the war, but it did.”
True. But again, a lot less horrific than a protracted war with a lot more deaths.
To quote General Sherman, “War is hell.” It’s also often unavoidable once diplomacy fails because, to quote Ron Perlman, “War…. war never changes.” :)
“I see so much history ignored or blatantly whitewashed with propaganda”
Fair enough.
“But people spouting FAKE history to justify their own sense of righteousness never ceases to get me going. Yes, I know it is what people do, but still. I don’t have to like it.”
Also fair enough.
Not only were they Nazi allies, Japan was doing some fairly horrible things of their own design to minorities and POWs before and during the war as well.
Then again, the US had concentration camps for Japanese-descent civilians as well (as well as for German and Italian), so there’s definitely some “pot calling the kettle black” in any discussion of countries doing terrible things.
“Then again, the US had concentration camps for Japanese-descent civilians as well (as well as for German and Italian),”
It has a different connotation for the Japanese camps in the US from the German camps for Jews. The former was more of an internment camp – it wasn’t to systematically terminate them. The latter WAS meant to process the prisoners for eventual extermination after they were no longer useful for the German war effort as forced labor. Both were wrong but lets be honest – the Concentration camps in Germany were monstrous, based on genocidal hatred, while the Japanese Internment camps were just wrongheaded based on paranoia. It’s not exactly fair to make a false equivalence between the two.
Japan was definitely doing some monstrous stuff to the POWs though as well. They did have a history of that though, long before WW2 – especially against the mainland chinese, koreans, and russians (there, you can make a closer comparison to some of the darker elements of American history though – especially against certain native american tribes and forced migration).
“Deserve” is a word people use to pass judgment on an outcome, but it’s irrelevant to why something occurred. Events like Pearl Harbor or 911 happened at least in part as a consequence for American policies abroad, just like Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened as a consequence of Japan’s actions.
There are people who never want to consider their own actions, never want to accept fault, and want the rest of the world to comply with their demands while offering no understanding or cooperation on their part. Other people respond to them by saying they deserve the consequences of their actions, in hopes of getting them to look at the bigger picture and to consider how their actions affect other people.
With history being written by the victors, most history is skewed, if not outright propaganda. We can verify very little of it against real facts — all we can do is compare accounts and look for discrepancies. But it ultimately requires us to trust the perceptions and motivations of real, complex people, few of which are so utterly devoted to facts that they would not bend the narrative to their own ends.
I don’t think the US was wanting an excuse to use the bombs. Mainly because they had no idea if the bombs would even work.
Also they had very little understanding of how to even deploy them. The method they used to drop the bombs involved a VERY convoluted method of flying in order to not be caught in the blast. That they also had no idea if it would work.
If anything, the US did NOT want to be involved in World War 2 until Japan stupidly forced the issue by killing 2500 people and a lot of the pacific fleet by attacking Pearl Harbor while, at the same time, Japanese Diplomats in Washington DC were ensuring that America would be left out of the war.
The only only reason the US wound up using the bombs at all were because the Japanese were VERY determined to have a war of total attrition after it was clear that they could not beat the US in manpower or technology (plus having a two front war in a worse scenario than the US, since their left flank was a LOT closer than the left and right flanks were to the US). Yamamoto himself said it was probably one of the worst blunders that Japan ever made to attack a United States which was, until that point, very unwilling to get officially involved in the war.
Another argument for your case those bombs were developed during the war. They literally couldn’t have known whether the things would work at all when they started participating.
The were actual documented reports on worst case scenarios from that time that may now be unclassified and available.
The one I saw before I was supposed to (Don’t ask! I was allowed to read it, but not anything else! Not even quote!) was titled ‘What if the atomic test ignites the Earths atmosphere?’ It was not pleasant reading, but it was better than ‘What if the atomic test breaks the Earth’s mantle in two?’
Science fiction is so much easier to read than that because you know it is not real.
NO ONE knew what would happen when they were tested and no one knew how atomic weapons would work in combat conditions.
“was titled ‘What if the atomic test ignites the Earths atmosphere?’ It was not pleasant reading, but it was better than ‘What if the atomic test breaks the Earth’s mantle in two?’”
I’ve actually heard about this. :) Well, the ‘igniting Earth’s atmosphere’ concern, at least.
Yeah, there is a reason I MUCH prefer science fiction, thank you very much!
I sleep so much better.
FDR was Stalins bumboy. Truman dropped the bombs to stop the russians just as much as to stop the japanese.
Meant to link a document
https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/122332
Geez, I should have linked this one too
https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/2003-817-10-Hasegawa.pdf
If you say so? I wouldn’t be surprised about what you said about FDR being true. It does match up with other things he did during his presidency that tends to be overshadowed. But could you possibly point out what you’re referring to in those documents, because I skimmed it and I don’t know what you’re referencing in either link.
In any case…. Japan was pretty consistently kicking Russia’s butt in the war, prior to the entry of the US. The US was not particularly concerned about Russia – or any other country at the time. At least, the majority of the American Public was not – it was a very isolationist mentality pre-Pearl Harbor. There are surprisingly plausible arguments that the government might have ignored early warnings of the Japanese attack (in order to gain support for going to war). Given that Pearl Harbor did give FDR exactly what he wanted (a reason to get into the war with the approval of the American Public), it’s a reasonable guess, even if it’s mostly speculative (and could have just been due to incompetence of the US government at the time – one hand not knowing what the other was doing, etc).
But when it comes to the nukes in particular, it was a VERY untested technology. There were three in existence – they tested one in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and that was the sum total of actual testing prior to its use as a weapon to try to end the war on the Pacific front against an enemy that 1) started the war with us (while simultaneously claiming they would not be attacking), 2) refused to surrender even when it was obvious they were going to lose (even according to their own admirals and generals), and 3) were believed to be willing to fight to the last man, woman, and child in a complete war of attrition (or at least the government was willing to make that happen) based on cultural observations at the time. I think there were projections that, had the US not used the bomb, the war would have lasted several more years of incredibly bloody fighting with massive casualties on both sides.
Conspiracy theories aside, you are right, Pander. FDR got exactly what he wanted with Pearl Harbor.
Japanese High Command had no illusions about their ability to WIN in a protracted engagement against the US. They never planned on that because they knew they couldn’t. One quote that is documented-
“For a while we’ll have everything our own way, stretching out in every direction like an octopus spreading its tentacles. But it’ll last for a year and a half at the most.” SEPTEMBER 1941 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
I remember reading that EXACT quote in ‘Day of Infamy.’ :)
Hopefully we’ll see SOME of the Archon members in the uniforms of their respective branches of military service,but Sydney will notice some deviation from their Archon ranks…
Sydney:Why is Hiro an Archon major and yet he’s wearing a U.S.Army corporal’s uniform???
Hiro:I never rose beyond the rank of corporal in the army…!
(Anvil appears wearing Marine dress blues…)
Sydney:Look at Anvil,she’s supposed to be a lieutenant and she’s wearing the dress blues of a Marine sergeant…
Anvil:When Max recruited me for Archon,I was just promoted to Gunnery Sergeant.
(Sydney sees Max and Peggy in Air Force class A uniforms)
Sydney:Max and Peggy are wearing airmen’s uniforms…!!!
Peggy confesses that she REALLY lost her leg when a stray mortar shell came into the mess tent and exploded the stove! Max replies that in reality,she and Peggy were assigned to kitchen duty for those tours of iraq and Afghanistan.
When you change service branches, you wear your old decorations on your new uniform.
For example, when I left the US Navy and joined the Army National Guard, I was probably one of only a few tank commanders with Dolphins (Submarine Service qualification badge).
How about those who were in the French Foreign Legion?
That’s… an interesting question.
Anvil is a Sergeant, not a Lieutenant (that would be Peggy)
And Sydney already knew Maxi and Peggy were in the air force together (although they didn’t actually meet until they were both in the hospital at the same time)
lol. I guess we are seeing combat ribbons for the Alar homeworld and Fracture station.
No
Now Maxima understands where she gets it from…
The passing along of Syd’s orbs could be a HUGE deal (nauthral causes, action, etc.)
It would be the first(?) case of directly inheritable super powers..
well besides green lanterns(etc).
re. anybody could get em not just “those of pure heart” efc.
Vegeta became a super Saiyan because he was pure of heart…just, pure evil
You know, Sheogorath could become Super Saiyan by that measure, because his heart is pure nonsense.
Panel 7: She’s trying not to give a “proud mama bear” smile, but I see that small curve in her lips!
not with valor? she WAS in “combat” plus she deserves a Purple heart at least for her off-world adventure, she was wounded and did see a doctor of sorts… even if he did end up being her boyfriend later
No documentationing or proof of anything that happened on Alar Prima or after the portal closed
Regardless of the BMT Honor ribbon, every member of the Air Force gets a graduation ribbon. It’s also possible to get a marksman ribbon, I got mine in Basic.
I received Expert badges, for the M16 and Grenade!
I had three misfires. Still kept 48 on paper though. (Yeah, 35 years later, and I guess I’m still upset about that…)
As I understand it (extended family in the military, stories at the dinner table) you are typically only allowed one purple heart and it can come with a medical discharge. Getting shot usually gets you out of Military Service. If not discharged then you have the “I got wounded in battle bad enough to get a medal” achievement but scoring it again doesn’t get you any extra points.
no, you are awarded a purple heart every time you are injured due to combat action. I’ve known people with 6 (indicated by a silver and bronze oakleaf cluster on their ribbon).
Your first purple heart does immediately qualify you for full and complete medical coverage at the VA for the rest of your life though
SUPER HERO PURPLE HEART:
When you’re talking about a Military of Super Heroes the level of Damage required to get a Purple Heart should NEVER be at the same level of a NORMAL Soldier. They’re tougher, stronger, and frequently heal more quickly.
I ALSO imagine that they probably have some sort of Super Healer who can fix a lot of that damage.
So my Rule of Thumb would thus:
CAN this be fixed in 1hr? There should be an Objective Threshold that is MUCH higher. Doubly so since in US Modern Military you’re FAR less likely to die in Combat than previous wars, and just be injured instead.
OR maybe you could have a rule like “Unless damage is Sustained for over 24hrs OR results in Permanet Maiming/Injury. Like some Magical Wound that won’t heal, so all you can do is cauterize the wound instead of regrowing the part/whole limb.
So, only Jigs and Heatwave qualify for a Purple Heart? Seeing how Heatwave actually lost a toe, and Jigs lost her hearing for a time (and going by what NCIS told me, loss of hearing is grounds for a discharge)
Something tells me, this isn’t the first instance during this ceremony where Mama Scoville has told Senior to sit down :D
O my goodness. We get to meet Sr.
And… we get a smash-cut to someone else plotting something stupid (so probably SmugD), just to ruin everyone’s hopes of meeting Senior :P
Peggy worked hard, but could not completely get rid of Sydney’s “serious” face.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-325-four-out-of-ten-hut/
At least she got rid of the constipated look and reduced the duck-lips
Wonder how long it took before Sydney stopped doing the Benny Hill Salute :P
A Gold Border around the Expeditionary Medal would signify Combat Duty (and match mine).
One thing I remember from my military service is that if you’re going to do something heroic, you should make sure someone who can recommend you for the commendation is watching. I’m not sure Purple Hearts fall in that category, since the medical follow-up is on record, but I think it true even there. Do you wonder if Peggy got a write-up from Colonel “Walk-it-off” Leander?
While the injury treatment may be on record, how they got the injury has to be beyond doubt
Mentioned somewhere about WWI front-line trench soldiers shooting themselves in the foot to get taken off of the front lines
D’aww. I’m glad her dad is there. It is nice when a protagonist still has living family and they are supportive.
Superman did, Supergirl, his cousin!!! The comic I read in 1956?, introduced her!
My father, an U.S. Air Force 1st Sergent, has not just one, but FOUR Distinguished Service medals, each one one or two steps from a Medal of Honor. I had the experience of sitting through the presentation of the last one two him and this comic did an excellent job of showing how that happens. Just for the record there was no formal approach to this; my dad just walked onto the stage normally, saluted, listened politely to the presenter describe his accomplishment, had the medal pinned to his full-dress uniform, and received the ribbon that stood for the medal when he was in was in his regular uniform. I hope this first-hand narrative was helpful.
Uhm, didn’t Sydney literally get killed on duty while working with the Twilight Council? If anything qualifies for a Purple that’d do it.
That was never proven, and if it was, then so too was Pixelicious (or does she not count seeing how she’s with the Twilight Brigade?)
The fact the time got re-wound negates it if she did
Supers return from the dead all the time so maybe there is a medal for that.
The Bloated Corpse Ribbon: awarded only to those whose returns to life have been either hackneyed or ridiculous
I don’t really understand why they recruited Sydney. She isn’t a super. She’s just a regular human that found a extremely powerful weapon.
If you find a nuclear bomb you can’t take it home and suddenly become the 10th nuclear power. The government will simply confiscate it.
She should be in a top secret underground lab with scientists trying to find a way to remove the orbs and lots of generals with hard-ons imagining the prospect of turning any soldier into a super soldier.
Math isn’t a super either, nor is Peggy or not-Duke
Or at the very least, it’s a toss-up as to whether Mathias is or is not a Super. He PROBABLY isn’t, but his skill is ridiculously on the superhuman level, sort of like how Cassandra Cain in DC Comics is NOT a metahuman, but her skill is so extreme that it is practically superhuman skill, despite not being superhuman.
As Maxima described him, Mathias is a martial artist whos skill is so absurdly good that it’s:
“Good enough that trying to differentiate between his abilities and someone with actual superpowers is a futile exercise.”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-97-this-is-the-martial-artists-version-of-pulling-on-her-pigtails/
Even looking at his Cast page, his power level is a 7, which is above most of the characters that have actual superpowers, like Mr Amorphous, Achilles, Stalwart, Jiggawatt, Heatwave, Harem, Anvil, and SYDNEY.
His power level is on par with Hiro and Dabbler. The only one who has a higher power level than Math is Maxima, and compared to the only other ARC-SWAT member on the cast page, Peggy, he’s a LOT higher power level (Peggy is a 3, compared to Math’s 7).
Also there are apparently only two people who have ever beaten Mathias in a fight – Maxima and Dabbler, and Dabbler apparently had to use magic in order to do so (something called ‘sticky air’). And… I guess technically Sydney also beat Math once, but it seems likely, based on things DaveB has said, that he was probably letting her in order to get a pity kiss. Once he was properly challenged by Sydney, he beat her ridiculously easily with minimal effort.
Duke must also be ridiculously good at hand-to-hand fighting and his reflexes must be amazing for him to have traded knife strikes with a speedster like Mac the Knife, instead of losing immediately.
None of them have mysterious or supernatural source of their skill, just good old training and dedication. Sydney’s “powers” obviously are not hers.
Take away Sydney’s balls, and she has nothing!
Sydney isn’t a super, her balls are
“Not-Duke” is Goose.
Head-canon: so nick-named because people meeting him kept muttering “I think it’s Duke… Duke?” and he felt compelled to offer the proper response.
By that logic, Maxima should ALSO be in some secret underground lab, being poked and prodded to determine the source of her abilities. Remember, the gold skin, purple hair, and superpowers were a result of some “water” she accidentally drank out of some kind of container that was either disguised as, or sat around long enough to accumulate the surface crud to be mistaken for, a geode.
Well, you just explained yourself why they don’t need to study Maxima. And you can bet they are studying the hell out of that geode.
Deus has it.
Half of it at least.
I think it more likely that if Deus doesn’t know where the other half is, then the government doesn’t have it.
She didn’t drink it, it got splashed on her.
Some of it went in her mouth, the rest soaked into her skin.
Because this is a super hero setting not a Warehouse 12 or SCP setting.
-also if the Twilight Council had found her first instead of Maxima, they probably would have killed her and put her orbs in their vault. (good chance a lot of things in there were taken by lethal force from whomever had them).
Warehouse 13,
Now let’s examine the possibilities from an in-universe perspective.
(and utilizing various fan theories seen in the comments over the years),
let’s say the orbs are Nth tech, even if the government6 nerve weasel types don’t know that. So they kill Sydney and…they fly off like a Green Lantern ring to find the next worthy person, (or), they no clip out of reality back to their native dimension because when Sidney found them they were turned off and lost, but now turned on and the tether broken activates the return home function, (or), they remain tethered to her corpse, (or) they absorb her body freaking out the lab techs and higher ups who lock them away.
-in any of those scenarios they’ve lost a potential recruit and lost the orbs.
now the further out fan theories, what if a Nth level being sat those in front of Sidney intentionally and is watching “the fun”, so they kill her and suddenly a Q like being pops up saying, “I gave those to her to observe a quirky comic nerd becoming an actual superhero, and you’ve only proven how unworthy humanity really is” so brings her back and unmakes them.
(or) Sidney is a “baby Nth” and the orbs are training wheels and killing her forces a premature ascension resulting in a mad goddess of destruction…or just blows up/consumes the Earth like how in Darkstalkers Belial foresaw Morrigan ascending prematurely from her power like Pyron and destroying the demon world.
(or) her soul/baby Nth is just too weak to do all that but the death calls in big mama Nth so now the government basically has Galactus/Washu/Black Hole-chan on their doorstep and peeved off.
I mean sure some pessimist government agents were thinking it all over, *still eyeballing Zephan on the risk assessment stuff*, and with newer information going over dozens of scenarios that end with (utilize her as a resource/military personnel being trained by the military minded S-class super already on the payroll and conditioned into military lifestyle whom the new girl is clearly looking up to.
Or Sydneys death trigger the orbs secret dead mans switch and raise her as a vengefull zombie who gets more powerfull and nerdy from eating brains.
Hmmm there is an idea, upon her death the orbs fuse into her body like some freaky zombie nerd version of Omega Shenron and declare that humanity has failed their test and to prepare for extinction
Got to admit I would like to see Dave drawing Sydney going Tetsuo on the Earth.
Another alternative: The Orbs don’t exist (which is a decent suspicion since Dabbler already discovered they don’t exist).
It actually is Sydney who is the source of the power. But her subconscious has a sense of humor, and is a gamer, so wouldn’t unlock her powers until she found a treasure chest. The chest she found while diving was actually empty, and her power was just projecting them in there. Also explains why the gamer has a skill tree.
I remember that theory floating around in the comments a ways back, heh, wouldn’t that just bite, another case of the person’s beliefs/perception affecting their powers creating artificial limitations as a result; that had her subconscious not made her powers manifest like this then the whole situation in the construction site with Concretia and the hooded guys could have been avoided. People also discussed this with Henchwench who is probably just a normal power copier with a copy any power of anyone she sees (or the bond of comrads typical limitation), but has convinced herself she has to work for them and believe they are villains.
I don’t think they would go at such extremes as murdering her, because they still have to follow some ethics codes and specially because maxima is watching.
But the government would never allow such power be on the hands of a civilian. They would try exhaustively to remove them and then, if they realize that “yep, we can’t remove this thing” then they would “how do make the best of this situation?” and then they would recruit her.
I just found weird that recruiting her was the first option when it was obvious that the powers were coming from the orbs.
in the scene it didn’t seem like it was their first option, but between Sidney’s concern about them taking them meaning imprisoning her and Maxima’s objections; remember Faulk and Zephan were talking about not allowing someone with these powers loose and unleashing her into the public, and Maxima was the one stating that the training is the leashing and would take responsibility.
if Maxima wasn’t there and they had found her, it seems other options would have been explored first. Sidney had good reason to have hidden her powers up to that point, heck once again the implications with the Twilight Council are had they found her first they’d have tried to *forcefully* remove them kill her, or turn her, or imprison her ect… heck I still suspect the cult like group that went after Concretia has ties to something supernatural that wants to take advantage of supers and regards humans as beneath them regardless of powers to be used as a resource.
I guess Sydney was lucky then. Maxima has a lot of power on archon’s decisions, because training an untrained civilian instead of giving to someone more competent seems the hardest way to put the orbs to good use.
The alternative is essentially trying to steal unknown objects whose method and reason for being tethered to her are unknown and their own experts at the time magically scanning them couldn’t figure them out. So risk vs gain assessment as mentioned before in hyperbole granted but still too many unknowns to not observe first
And Archon has a strict no-whisking policy, although they did end up doing some prodding later on.
exactly, and I do believe the conversation between Maxima, Faulk, and Zephan amounted to training being also a way to observe Sidney, and if she came across as genuinely unhinged and a danger to the public who couldn’t be trained THEN take action. There really is no benefit in alienating and upsetting a potential ally/recruit on the off chance their power/bonded artifact can actually be taken away and given to someone else. *you fail and congrats the person now hates you*
The central conceit of the comic is the idea of civilians with powers that exceed military hardware, and how a society might continue to function under those circumstances.
“Archon is a federal military police force […] Archon is comprised primarily of, and is for the defense against individuals with super powers”: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-144-pr-hopscotch/
(1) They never said it would only be super-powered persons.
(2)The criterium for recruitment is that you can help in the defense against individuals with super-powers.
Having super-powers yourself makes you more likely to be recruited yes, but not having super-powers yourself but other means of helping can get you recruited.
“I don’t really understand why they recruited Sydney. She isn’t a super. She’s just a regular human that found a extremely powerful weapon.”
Neither is Peggy. Neither is Sean. Neither is Duke. Neither is Math (probably). Neither is Zephon. But Sydney does have superpowers which are tied to her via the orbs.
As Maxima said to her:
“People with powers, exceptional abilities, or uh… unusual items I guess, are considered a valuable national resource.”
And they used as examples of each:
Hiro – powers
Peggy – exceptional abilities
Zephon – unusual items.
“If you find a nuclear bomb you can’t take it home and suddenly become the 10th nuclear power. The government will simply confiscate it.”
Nuclear bombs do not generally bond with the person who finds it and works based entirely on the mental control of that person. They can’t confiscate the orbs without unconstitutionally imprisoning Sydney.
“She should be in a top secret underground lab with scientists trying to find a way to remove the orbs and lots of generals with hard-ons imagining the prospect of turning any soldier into a super soldier.”
Technically speaking, the US would not be allowed to do this either. Extraterrestrial objects only belong to the government if they are found on federally public land. If a meteorite falls on your own land, for example, or on land that does not belong to the federal or state government, they have no right to it at all – it winds up belonging to the person who finds it. Generally, salvage law is based on the original owner of the salvage, and the salvor gets a reward commensurate with the value of the property salvaged. However, if there IS no original owner, it belongs to the salvor.
The only argument I could possibly see the government having would be the Abandoned Shipwrecked Act of 1987, in which case all shipwrecks within U.S. waters (ie, within 3 miles of the coastline) belong to the United States, not the discoverer of the shipwreck. That assumes that:
1) The orbs were found within 3 miles of the coastline
2) They are considered a shipwreck.
3) The orbs are found on ‘public federal land.’
4) Attorneys are able to argue a specific value FOR the orbs which they would need to recompense Sydney for, which seems a pretty impossible task.
(I’m not a maritime salvage attorney, but I know the basics of maritime salvage law.)
There is the public safety concern loop hole in salvage laws, you don’t get to keep a landmine or sea mine when you find it and have to report it.
However those are unexploded ordinance and wartime artifacts.
the orbs would be a unique case relatable only to if a flying saucer drone *no pilot* crashed into your yard.
However again though as you said the orbs are tethered to her and the specific conditions in which she was “discovered” and the organization here dictated this outcome as opposed to some shadow police SCP, Warehouse 13, Hellboy, MIB, ect…response.
The bomb comparison was mostly about its power and because you are not allowed to walk around with them, but in the end it doesn’t matter if she found, built or bought the orbs. The fact is that she was walking around with potentially dangerous artifacts and something had to be done about them and they didn’t even try to remove them.
Also, very interesting about the salvage laws.
“The bomb comparison was mostly about its power and because you are not allowed to walk around with them,”
Part of the problem of using this comparison is it would fall under the national Firearms Act of 1934 (whichw as amended by the 1968 Crime Control Act (26 USC 5801) which involve a ban on active ‘destructive devices.’
The problem is, when they write laws, it’s rarely written vaguely if they want it to remain constitutional and not stricken for vagueness or ambiguity.
So… under the 1968 amendment to the 1934 National Firearms Act, there is a very specific definition for ‘destructive devices.’
Under the NFA, the term “destructive device” includes three types of explosives or weapons:
1. Bombs, grenades, rockets, missiles, and mines (and similar devices). Military grenades fit into this category. How a defendant intends to use the device is irrelevant—mere possession is enough for a conviction.
2. Any type of weapon, no matter its name, that will (or may be readily converted to) expel a projectile using an explosive or other propellant (with a barrel bore of more than one-half inch; certain shotguns may be excepted). As in category 1, the intended use is not relevant, because possession alone is all that’s required for a conviction.
3. Any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into a destructive device as defined in (1) and (2) and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled. The term ‘destructive device’ does not include any device that is neither designed nor redesigned for use as a weapon (such as a stick of commercial dynamite); or any device, although originally designed for use as a weapon, that is redesigned for use as a signaling, pyrotechnic, line throwing, safety, or similar device.
The problem being the orbs literally don’t fall under any of these definitions, even though the definitions are pretty broadly described as is, to the point that the third definition has been problematic in the courts, because while it’s clear that a person’s state of mind is not relevant when dealing with devices that fall into one of the first two categories, that’s not the case with the third. Courts have come to inconsistent conclusions when considering whether the state of mind of the person charged matters, when caught with a combination of components, or an assembled device, that could be used either innocently or for destructive purposes.
And with the orbs, even the THIRD definition does not apply to them. So if a legal definition for objects which are already suspect doesn’t apply, then a legal definition for the orbs almost certainly would not apply to the NFA.
And that doesnt even get into the question of when an object comes under the antique weapon exception (we don’t know how old the orbs are and have no way of determining if they were made before 1898 or not, given how impossible they are to scan).
“Also, very interesting about the salvage laws.”
I know, isnt it?! :)
I believe in a world where supers are a relatively common occurrence, laws would have to be changed to encompass supers, or entire new laws for them, because supers are basically an armed person that cannot be disarmed, so our laws as they are in our world would have lots of loopholes for supers.
Fair enough. Although those laws (assuming the laws were allowed despite the probable Constitutional problem of No Bills of Attainder – Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 – which was the main legal problem in both X-Men’s Mutant Registration Act and in Marvel’s first Civil War storyline’s Superhero Registration Act, from a RL legal perspective). would likely not be applicable to Sydney, as Sydney is not a super, and her objects are rare even by the Grrlpower universe’s standards.
When you say “should be”, is that a reflection of your own understanding of how reality is, or of the kind of world you would prefer to live in?
It’s a lighthearted comic with an idealistic setting, in which people hold to their stated ideals and really horrible things are glossed over. The specific question of the government attempting to confiscate the orbs was addressed very early, but additional factors are Maxima’s own principles combined with her power, and the realization that countries that treated their supers well would have more of them choosing to use their powers for the benefit of society, whereas countries that attempted to control or abuse their supers wouldn’t like the consequences, whether that be those supers fighting back, or simply leaving.
precisely, it is a habit of governments and media of said governments in real life to make themselves look very untrustworthy, it is why the (we must hide the *ET, inter-dimensional being, magic friend, ect…* 1980s trope is so popular to the point even modern shows still use it; because people are convinced any display of the abnormal will result in the government black siting them and performing torturous experiments on them. This comic glossed over this fear, but if this fear were to become validated in a setting with genuine aliens, super humans, ect…then you risk alienating and worst case scenarios turning against your own nation individuals of exceptional abilities that could have aided the people and nation. Basically disillusioning them.
Like, there could be an S-class super being sitting on their couch watching TV but after seeing bickering politicians, tv shows talking about declassified government psychic programs that effectively kidnapped and isolated people to perform experiments on, as well as other experiments on people, and add real super humans but the government’s first action is to try to depower or label as a national threat anyone that doesn’t sign allegiance to the current administration or something…well that S-class is going to just sit back and not help with the forest fire, land slide, alien invasion because (screw this country, I can afford to sit back and see if things change or go someplace else if need be). And anyone not that powerful could just be afraid to out themselves because of public backlash or being watched or imprisoned if they don’t sign up, and if they do being required to risk their lives with the inhumane treatment of being treated as a weapon everywhere they go.
-yeah the “deconstructionist darker side of comic writing can get both depressing and annoying after a while, treating the power fantasy as a curse without the metaphor, just as is with the worst outlook *even if realistic* on public and government reactions to such people suddenly really existing, while it may have an audience, honestly has its limits (even if I am speaking personally about it). Like life is depressing enough we need more escapism with just a tiny drop of realism to relate and have drama but enough loads of optimism to make it desirable. if that makes sense.
Sydney would probably rebel against the extinction order and become queen of the nerdy undead.
How did my reply end up here? This forum acts funny sometimes.
I’m wondering if there’s an issue with the comments as I’ve posted three or four times in the last week and my posts have simply vanished.
I’ve had some not post till a few minutes later, and one not till an hour later. Not counting posts with too many links that have to be reviewed by DaveB first.
As for posts that were there suddenly vanishing and not coming back, I have not experienced that here.
One of the posts that vanished was about Sydney’s name and how DaveB has modified the rule of the usage of Junior for the Grrl Power Universe. It was a fairly wordy post, but had no links
Good to see General Faulk again. He needs to show up more often.
Hahaha, I see where she gets it now. xD