Grrl Power #1053 – Enter the easifat ramlia
Possibly related to today’s page. BTW, the 4th panel says “Dead am I? So much the better.” Or at least that’s what Google translate told me. People can actually read it have said… “Eh… pretty close, actually.”
Please ignore all the art on that page.
Looks like Max is getting a rematch, not that we saw her first go around, but at least now we know what sort of power set this guy might be working with.
The May Vote Incentive is up! This month it’s Warsyl, from Tamer: Enhancer 2! I’d say “spoilers,” but the book has been available for 5 months now. Anyway, this pic doesn’t have a zillion outfit variations, partially because her armor took longer to draw than I thought it would, but mostly because she just has an armored form, and an unarmored form. The latter being available over at Patreon.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
So, it seems we’re about to get some details regarding that ‘Mosque Incident’ of Max’s from waaaaaay back when.
Sydney’s probably thinking “Should I ask for Arnold Vosloo’s autograph?”
I’m wondering what Sydney is going to do to this guy.
Heat beam him alongside Max? Use the green orb to continuously make water and turn him into mud? Probably cant really do much with the hentai orb. Supersonic shielded flight through his eye like the kaiju on Alar? Something from one of the two unknown orbs? Take chunks out of him with aetherium gateways?
Whatever it is, Sydney will probably figure out some key flaw in this guy, surprising Deus and making him think ‘Sydney will either be a huge liability or asset to my plans, must suborn her or those orbs to my side’
Sydney has seen the mummy.
specifically this bit that spawned a meme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ersxqFwDkWA
Instead of pointlessly pounding sand with bullets or fists (even if it IS shaped like a very punchable face) until the antagonist gets to tired to make his projection any more …
She is gonna shield up and look for the source of the sand storm with telepresence. and hopefully finding that the sandstorm effect is being projected by a normal sized dude doing some weird poses 3 miles away manipulating the whole storm like its a shadow play on a wall.
ANd maybe then aether gate him into the suns corona.
BUt will not be able to help herself and insist on conversation with the villain. To get him monologueing if nothing else.
and finds herself actively fighting a dust devil INSIDE Mr Bubble. Because sand gets Everywhere.
Hopefully this a geo/aero combinerkinetic standing somewhere and not an elemental morph able to take the form of a giant sand storm (the glowing eyes make me think the later).
For all we know, that’s exactly why the guy put the glowing bits in there. (Extra points if he’s doing so by using drones or other things unrelated to his power?)
Misleading people about the scope and/or the levels of your actual powers is a superhero trope that needs to be explored sooner or later.
You mean, like Mysterio did?
Mysterio had no power at all though. Having someone with powers use something that doesn’t actually augment their power but give the impression it does or misdirect *so you think they have a different power* is actually fairly rare, I only of very few examples…none of good though, of characters doing something like this *you thought my power was this…but really it was this* and none I can think off the top of my head using tech to disguise their power as a different power…well other than one but its a poor example too.
Ha! I am not left handed!
WHAT? Noooo! Curses, foiled again.
You mean your name, Sinister Dexter, does not imply you are a left-handed Dexter; but actually refers to you being a right-handed blaggard?
Oh, the humanity! Wont somebody think of the children? What a world, what a world.
I would have got away with it too, except for you right-handed kids.
Friend of mine made a character for a Champions game. The name was “Psycho Man” and he had a little tiny body and a massive head. He’s a mentalist, right? Always gank the mentalist first and they’re weak to physical attacks. Supervillain Tactics 101. Clearly, bad guys are going to rush up and punch Psycho Man.
Oops. He’s a brick, and his primary attack is the headbutt.
that’s the type of thing I would definitely do. My Champion was fuzzy and green, and could teleport like Nightcrawler, but only while running… so, it sort of ended up with a strobe effect if they used their power constantly.
I gave them a cap like a bowler hat.
Can you guess their Super name?
Mr Myxispitleicks? (or whatever that freak from the 5th dimension calls himself)
Hypnobubbles?
Super Bowler Cap Man obviously.
Waldo the Wizard?
But only during 1975,
and only in New England.
Bob. His super name was Bob. Right?
silly people, it was Pine Derby, of course!
This guy is the reason she did time in the hospital right?
Possibly? She was in the hospital when she first met Peggy if I recall. Not sure if she was at the hospital because she was injured though but if she was, it would make sense that it happened against this guy – one of only two people at the time of the press conference that ever fought Maxima to a standstill (Vehemence would be on that list as well, if not a new list of people who beat her outright, if not for Sydney).
Reminder that this is a guy that Max conceded was strong enough to go toe-to-toe with her.
Specifically to “fight [her] to a standstill”
Which could just mean that he can turn into a cloud of dust and thus she cannot punch or blast him. Not unlike a Logia devil fruit user.
Which would in turn mean that he’s fucked if Max has learned armaments Haki since then.
Link to intended page: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-150-not-sure-where-max-stencils-her-kill-marks/
And with him finally appearing we only have Clean Guy and Anime Mask left unknown from 186 fingers to maximum steepleage.
Maxima is notably not alone right now.
Neither is Storm Dude – note the helicopters. I suspect he leads a force of allied supers and Spec Ops teams from a hastily formed coalition of Muslim nations.
I suspect where this is going is that Max will need to form an alliance with Dues and all of his available resources to prevail here. Or, maybe it’s the other way around. Point being, This Guy might just be able to fight Max plus an entire demon army to a standstill and it will require even more to tip the scales.
Hopefully, Anvil still gets a rockin’ date out of this before she has to return stateside.
Maybe it’s Deus who need to ally with Max and give some consessions. After all it’s his country under attack, not US.
The timing of this attack might have something to do with when Maxima was invited to Galytn. Its not lile Deus has not predicted stuff happening before. :). How fortunate for Deus and Galytn that Maxima happens to be here on the same day of an attack by this particular super.
It is however still Deus’s country that is primarily at risk here. Maxima would be doing Deus a favour by helping in this fight, not the other way around.
Um… yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.
How fortunate for Deus and Galytn that Maxima JUST HAPPENS to be invited here on the same day as an attack by that particular super.
Simpler solution: This guy attacked because he heard that Maxima was in town.
Possibly. But why not just hit her in the US? Also why bother having a fleet of helicopters as well? Not like they’d do much good against Maxima.
He’s kinda obvious I don’t think he would get through border control and there’s no indication he can cross the atlantic ocean.
Go through Mexico?
Pretty sure he could charter a plane to Mexico is if he has access to 8 military helicopters.
What’s more likely is someone hired him as a merc to attack Galytn, and Maxima being there as a rematch is a bonus that made him more happy to take the job.
But point being, Deus probbly planned on making sure Maxima was in Galytn when the attack happened on the chance that he was going to be hired anyway.
pretty sure he is a super and a several hundred feet wide sandstorm with glowing eyes isn’t his default state but either a transformation or a manifestation of his powers (dependent on if he is a -morph or a -kinetic).
he is most likely the guy with the turban in the old page of villains.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-186-fingers-to-maximum-steepleage/
If they’re evenly matched on his turf, I doubt he’d want to give her the home field advantage.
Even if Deus predicted that this would be the day and thus made sure it was also the day Max was in town, he probably still needs to grant Archon jurisdiction to act in order for this to not be an international incident.
True. So either:
1) He will allow Maxima the option of helping to protect Galytn, in the name of our burgeoning international business alliance, as Galytn and the US may soon be allies.; or
2) He’s actually prepared for this person and he has a strategy to be able to stop him extremely quickly using aerokinetics and geokinetics as well as other Galytn military forces, so that Maxima can report back to the US that the one person who ever fought her to a standstill was defeated by Deus’s forces.
Deus seems like the kind of guy who’d have more than one layer of contingency plans ready.
Yeah. Plans A through Z, then AA through ZZ, then 1-100, then he might start to improvise.
Maxima is certainly entitled to fight in defense of herself or other Americans if they are attacked. She just can’t go ‘seeking’ the fight, as I understand such things.
So if the guy attacks her, welp, she’s free to react. There’s also nothing that says she can’t help/aid random civilians, IIRC, in a charitable manner.
There’s actually an argument for Max & company to just bail, even if it’s against their personal inclinations. They appear to be on a personal visit, not an official one, so them getting involved could drag the US into a war, or at the very least signal official approval of Galytn’s wars by engaging with anyone fighting back.
And between Max and Halo they definitely have the proven ability to ferry the entire Archon crew out of there safely, even if the headquarters is attacked, so self defense is not a believable excuse.
Which is what SmugD is banking on: he staged this whole shit-storm to get official backing of the US while making it seem like their idea
There is also the fact that not doing so would be a war crime, since they’re US supers outside of US borders
Unless Deus asks Max, the top-ranking field commander from a partner nation, to engage in resisting an invasion… but even then she has a couple minutes to phone home, make her superiors aware of the situation, and ask for a snap decision from the Commander in Chief.
Everything is coming full circle!
When the sand storm has a face (or glowing eyes) you’re definitely not fighting a filler episode jobber. Eight choppers times maybe a minimum of eight people in each, assuming none of the pilots are supers and all of the passengers are is still gonna be a big fight.
Sorry, what was that about only 2 people being able to fight Max to a standstill and one being on the team and the other being dead (as far as we know) from the press conference way back when Archon went public? Hmm.
Read the last panel again (in case you missed it)
And there is a difference between ‘fighting someone to a standstill’ and being able to beat them (and remember, Maxi thought she had killed him, which means Maxi managed to beat him off)
Also, Maxi won’t be alone this time, no matter how many meat-shields he brought with him
Phrasing… beat him off? Indeed just like grandma and the Indians.
I figured her “… fight me to a standstill. one is dead …” comment indicated she just managed to fight him to a standstill, but while she had him distracted, someone else found out how to incapacitate him in a way she thought was terminal.
Hmm, remember the press conference? Only 2 people can go toe to toe with Max. One is one the team… The other is dead (as far as we know). Things are about to get real.
and willing to be on the villain splash page this is the guy in the face concealing wrapping we kept arguing/discussing for the last few years if they were Cthillia or someone else.
Are we in for a fight between penultimates and a bunch of other super thrown in the lot? That got to be bad for the landscape and the inhabitants…
Sand me a punderstorm.
Don’t you dare….
Dare doing what? Trying to start a thread of sand and storm related puns? Oops! Too late!
Mr. Sandman….make me a dream.. stir up the desert until it’s icecream…
grit your teeth, you son of a beach,
while i rain a grain of truth and teach
about some silly con who’s going to desert his crew.
he’s just dune the things he was born to do.
Archon is going to have to send out all of their Flyers if they want to deal with Gritty.
His super villain origin is finding a genie, thinking she was lying jokingly said, make me a sandwich…sand witch
Granite, the grist has already hit the FAAN.
Dangit.
Dag, nab it and pun.
Careful, Pander, they’re trying to goad you into a dust-up.
I am the grit beneath your collar, the pebble in your boot, the stumbling block placed upon the path of enlightenment as you travel through the desert of half-baked puns, fractured logic, misbegotten alliterations, and idiotic axioms. All sanity flees before my egregious word play. I AM THE EVERLIVING DAD JOKE! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAack… swallowed a bug.
True poetry.
They’re succeeding!!!
Also double dangit!
Max is a visiting american military expert/observer or maybe guest. Why wold she fight anyone attaining Galytn?
Because this time… it’s personal!
Presumably, there’s a list of people the US military would like very very dead pretty please that Max is aware of, and a target of opportunity like this is a major opportunity to fulfill that request.
Especially since this particular target of opportunity was on the “presumed killed” list, so them still being alive may be kind of a black mark on her record.
Plus… Double Jeopardy: can’t be convicted of the same crime twice (note, same crime, not criminal activity: you can be arrested, and convicted, of multiple DUI’s, but they have to be separate instances)
Just… watch that crappy movie with Judd
that’s really a factor here. He’s a battlefield combatant (foreign enemy), not some guy who robbed a bank and two different courts trying to convict him for robbing the same bank *same incident*.
Not really a factor, the word vanisher strikes again
I’m confused about the talk about double jeopardy.
There was no first conviction or trial in any court, so how would there be any jeopardy to attach in the first place? Wasnt the first time they fought during a war? Also he’s not an American citizen. And even if that wasn’t a factor, and this is not considered another war, and for some reason the US government was to try to convict him in an American court despite this taking place in Galytn, and assuming Deus would allow it after she won, if she won, it would just be a single trial for all of his crimes, assuming they are crimes that can be used in a trial instead of just saying it was during war.
that is why I made that second post saying its not a factor, autocorrect erased a word apparently in my first post, changing the meaning of the sentence, but I had hoped even without explanation the context of the rest of what I said was clear.
Oh okay. I saw ‘that’s really a factor here’ and I was trying to figure out if i had missed something in the comic. :)
How is double jeopardy involved? I’m confused about that.
The first time they fought was during war. No jeopardy could attach. The second time is again on foreign soil, during what seems to be another attempt of an act of war with a different country. Again, no jeopardy can attach. Also he’s not an American citizen. Also there was no trial, so no jeopardy could attach.
he’s in the deck of cards for kill on sight probably.
He was already declared (presumed) dead, this is just Clean-up Duty
Because when you’re standing right next to the Galytn defacto leader and he is attacked, you’re also attacked. It’s not like a sandstorm a few hundred yards across is a precision weapon, after all. So it’s self defense. Maybe. Also, as soon as the guy sees Maxima he’ll probably attack her because of their prior fight to his supposed death.
Because the US would prefer to engage in an enemy with a high possibility of collateral damage to people and buildings and equipment on foreign soil of Galytn, rather than when he decides to attack the U.S. directly?
Is it actually plausible that Maxima would simply stand around and let a whole lot of civilians die? Maybe if she had explicit orders to retreat from a lawful superior, but I don’t see it happening any other way.
…What did Maxima do that she thought she’d killed this guy? Just looking at him I find it hard to believe her power set would be effective.
I’d guess she turned large parts of him to glass through the heat of her energy blasts
Glassed him?
Max’s powers aren’t only physical (flight, speed, strength) but she can also shoot energy beams and do whatever she did too that poor tank during the demonstration.
The latter would work no matter if this guy covered a physical body with a sandstorm, or if he is the sandstorm.
He’s a pretty darn huge sandstorm though. How wide angle can she spread the beam?
depends on what you need to hit, if its a guy inside the storm calling it up, or if they turned into it.
that said Sidney is there and she can help, her strafe shot with explosions she used on the “drone” fleet in space could tear this up pretty quick.
that said, last time who knows. If he is one guy any number of ways she thought he was dead, if he turns into the storm we can point at villains like Sandman, Clayface, and Hydroman for the number of times and ways they were thought to be dead or to revive.
If she hit the ground under him hard enough the explosion might tear him apart.
Let’s hear it for our next contestant.
Appears there’ll be an army backing her up IF Max gets into it.
Remember, she’s ARCHON, not “defender of a country the US isn’t even sure is friendly”.
Max getting mixed into it would at least require permission from the Pentagon. And they’d ask the sitting POTUS. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, but she would not get permission quickly.
OTOH, she could order passive action – IOW something like “Halo, shield everything you can from this idiot until we get orders” which would go under the “we protected ourselves while awaiting orders” blanket.
And, OFC, this character is attacking a demon army with dozens of supers, and Vail leading the charge. Plus alien technology. Presuming the Alari have weapons that can project heat past 1700°C (3090°F), this guy is gonna be a glass statue in about ten seconds.
I’m going to guess the challenge/problem is getting 1700C in large enough areas to matter. That storm probably is quite the heat sink.
Getting straight lines punched through your guts turned to glass has got to be some kind of damage.
It takes 1.534 megajoules to melt one KG of sand into glass. We know that Max is capable of (at least) output of “a few hundred petajoules” in seconds ( https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-769-incoming-eventually/ ). The numbers are too big to care too much about exactness, so let’s say that the total output against the Fel ship was 400 petajoules over 10 seconds. 40 petajoules per second. Our formula:
( 40 * 1,000,000,000 ) / 1.534 = 26,075,619,295.95 kg of sand turned to glass per second. Roughly 28,700,000 tons of sand melted. Per second.
She’s in a foreign country without orders or authorization to engage. Which is just as well, because the collateral damage from her aiming her particle stream at the ground would be … intense. https://youtu.be/VXmOOXMg8Wc?t=279
The problem with heat based attacks here is that instead of fighting a sandstorm, you’re now fighting a molten glass storm. That is probably not an improvement.
Don’t you mean a fiberglass storm? Or maybe a mineral wool storm. That’s what happens when you combine wind and molten glass on Hawaii, only they call it “Pele’s hair”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pele%27s_hair
and the big problem hits if their power includes those like a silicakinetic who manipulates sand AND glass, so all you did was sharpen their weapon for them.
Commenting about a lady’s grooming habits is impolite.
Man, remember that thing about only 2 people being able to go toe to toe with Max? One on the team, the other is dead (as far as we know)… Clearly not. It’s about to get real.
Possibly the longest Chekhov’s gun in the comic so far…
https://dygtyjqp7pi0m.cloudfront.net/i/13959/14159080_2.jpg?v=8CF752FCC07B860
Pinnocchiechov’s gun
Yep, this probably is not going to be a one-on-one. Maxima is not alone and she might decide to secure the target for pure self-defence. How well does a living Sandstrom fare in space?
If it was that easy to deal with this guy, she would have done it the last time.
I am more worried it might be #2 from 150:
“There are only two beings that ever fought me to a standstill.
one is dead (as far as we know), the other one is on the team (dabbler).”
That is the same guy… The guy from panel four on the linked page even refers back to the line you quote.
#150: “one of them is dead (as far as we know)”
#186 panel 4: [translated] “Dead am I? So much the better.”
This page: I had really hoped he was dead.”
though the on the team person was syd shrugs
Sydney wasn’t even on the team yet. Just a highly probable recruit. Or if she was on the team her paperwork hadn’t even been folded or spindled yet, much less bent or stamped or lost and then found or signed in quadruplicate in blood with one copy being duly destroyed.
The most important question, though, is: Is Vale still with us?
(I cannot see her lift a finger to stop a coworker from doing something terminally stupid, but I can see said coworker use that dagger on her)
Vale may very well be the reason Cthillia is only very slowly topping off the “100 murders wish knife.” Or whatever it is called.
Honestly, I like the art from back then more.
Same, to be honest, some of the art has ‘slipped’ since then, in particular, SmugD’s ugly face keeps getting uglier and uglier
It’s an issue of it getting more and more rendered. I personally prefer a flatter cell-shaded ‘cartoon’ look to stuff. And it’d take less time and effort on Dave’s part too.
But if he enjoys torturing himself by spending twice as long on high detail renders of each individual page instead of using more stylized panels, that’s his option.
I’m forced to agree. Directly comparing Deus’ face on this page to that older one really doesn’t do his current look any favors.
I can easily see that the overall level of the art has gone up since then, but in some cases (like this one) it feels like certain things have suffered as a result.
I also preferred the flat cartoony stuff.
I’m not liking any of this newfangled three d art much. The creator/artist seems to really like it though.
holy fuck HYPEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
I dunno, this seems like a set up or a false flag or something. Deus would have known Cthilla was almost back to full power from the magic dagger, and I don’t see anyone pulling a long con on him. Plus Deus’s precious infrastructure is about to get rick-rickity-Wrecked!
I think I agree with PD, this is a set up for Deus to flex his muscles in front of Maxima… which now that I think about it he literally did at the start of this story line! Did I finally unlock the “Foreshadowing Achievement”?
not sure what Cthillia has to do with this, and Cthillia was never trying to regain full power, the epimorph is magical plastic surgary, altering their apperance how they desire not a power up.
this is a different character, the other person in a turban from the villain splash page
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-186-fingers-to-maximum-steepleage/
That’s the only thing we’ve seen the Epimorph do – it’s probably got lots of other settings.
Guess this is categorical proof he is not Chthillia, just share fashion tips
Time to glass his arse, and Maxi won’t have to keep things quiet now that supers have been outed to the public
If this guy can keep himself alive so long as there’s one grain of sand of himself left intact, this is gonna be rough.
Still have two unknowns left to be revealed…
yeah this guy looks like he is going to settle the who is the face concealed turban guy in the splash page we kept discussing if they were Cthillia or not for a few years.
this leaves then the religious nut (who I suspect was behind the cowl guys who went after Concretia to tie him in), and the masked woman with the colorful stickers giving off a “let’s play” powerhouse vibe (like as a more current reference the Collector from Owl House), only she seemed for what little we saw more mature at least.
I thought the head ‘cowl guy’ bore at least a passing resemblance to Cleansing Man, but the peanut gallery didn’t seem to like that theory. I wasn’t too invested in it, just thought the resemblance might make for a linkage. I guess we’ll find out sometime in 2027 or so.
… only if the sand blasts Max’s shirt to bits.
I would guess that Deus’ pink haired muscle can return at a moments notice and make this look easy which would really put some pressure on Max…
Well that’s 3 of the 6 so far. When we gonna see that crazy preacher-type dude?
4 of the 6. The pair of figures in Panel 5 were the vampires aiding Sciona.
4 of the 6. The two in shadow are vampires from the council. That’s Brunhilde in the back, you can tell by the shape of the hair.
Those two felt far too insignificant in the whole Council storyline to have a place on that page of supervillains.
given their designs they look like two guys who were at the parkinglot fight, Vector and one of the big ones had the same build and design of his hair.
so I think we just have the “cleasning” guy (still suspect tied to the cult like robed figures that kidnapped concretia),
the jester mask with cute stickers on it woman giving off the *god like trickster* vibe.
You know who wasn’t on that page? Sci-fright
You know who worked for Sci-fright? the council vamps (who just happen to both match the silhouettes)
And Nose-boop Guy just had a weird shaved haircut (like that Prodigy singer), the silhouette is clearly braided hair
“I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating…and it gets everywhere.”
~Anakin Skywalker
Deserts may have a dry heat but that only means it’s harder to notice how quickly you’re dehydrating. Instead of moisture getting everywhere & rusting a lot of stuff, replace that with sand & dust. You might be surprised where some slight breezes can deposit that stuff…
Since it also gets into your food before & while you’re eating it, it will wear down your teeth more rapidly too.
So this is the other one? hmmm… He’s not sandman he’s sandstorm man I can see why he’d be a problem no clear limit on how big he can get and yes he’d be able to get to and enter everywhere that wasn’t air-tight. But a simple combination of water control and freeze control in a coordinated attack would render him helpless for a few minutes allowing fire/heat control to fuse his mass into glass. Attacking something that big with conventional weapons or just a heat blast would cause a lot of collateral damage to friendlies. Unless this guy is like the Brandon Frazer mummy and only using his mind to do this and he’s in one of the choppers or walking under the cloud.
*Boss music starts playing*
You mean this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRczGJ-4M5g
and willing to be on the villain splash page this is the guy in the face concealing wrapping we kept arguing/discussing for the last few years if they were Cthillia or someone else.
So this makes another S-class super I take it.
bringing the total to 3 confirmed S classes existing (Maxima, Vehemence, and whoever this is)
and Halo is a potential Omega if she levels up.
As an additional thought, think any of the Alari refugees are having a PTSD moment right now seeing that, given the probability the mech-thulhu guys sent down an army of those war-mech robeast things to destroy their world.
Let me guess; his name is Haboob.
“there are only two individuals who have ever fought me to a standstill. One of them is dead… as far as we know…” F-f-f-foreshadowing!
Wait, is Maxima allowed to fight here? Diplomatic incident ahoy! Or does that fall under self-defence? Wait, did the UN (and the US specifically) ever sign that treaty against deploying supers in combat? Diplomatic incident ahoy ahoy? Galytn hasn’t signed it… was she sent as a “military advisor” like most US soldiers sent to Vietnam?
if Archon’s rules are anything like the Uniform Code of Military Justice that the US uses, as a member of a military force who is acting on her own (technically) as a visitor to a foreign country, Max can likely ‘only’ fight in pure self defense self defense unless her superiors are formally asked by a head of state of that country for her to intercede.
Now… As to whether Deus planned for this revenge/grudge match and has already asked for such to allow Max/Sydney and Anvil to fight on his behalf? We shall see.
Then again, if Deus DID plan for this, he likely has some kind of plan to counter this sandstorm guy. Maybe to impress Max too? Wouldn’t put it past him.
not sure on the legalities or country alliance issues but I do know that it is a breach of proper etiquette that if you are a guest in someone’s home and their home is attacked by bandits or thieves to just leave or allow it to happen and not help defend your host’s home.
True, but there is a BIG difference between someone’s home and another country whose laws may be VERY different.
In some countries, you absolutely help defend the home unless your life is put in immediate danger (and even then, expect a BIG legal hassle). In others, you are obligated by law to defend whatever residence you are visiting using nay force available.
I don’t know how Deus has set things up in his own area, but I bet it will work out to his benefit.
Is his codename Sciroco?
Or do they call him Mariah?
Paint yer wagons. The race is on!
Bonus points for referencing a Lee Marvin / Clint Eastwood movie hardly anyone remembers
Any movie where Clint does more singing than gunslinging should be mandatory viewing :)
Gunsinger
just gonna put that there.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/enterthegungeon_gamepedia/images/c/c1/Gunsinger_Buffing.png/revision/latest?cb=20170223230419
This must be that Darude guy’s Sandstorm pal.
Clearly Max should withdraw her team to safety probably in an upwardly direction.
Can anyone guess why I don’t like sand?
I know it’s fun to argue what the international ROE for Archon are, but I’m pretty sure Djinn Rumble here is going to go directly after Max, the moment he perceives her.
Which does provide a handy “self defense” excuse for taking him down. “Senator, the assailant went straight for Col. Leander as soon as he spotted her. It would be unreasonable for her not to have moved to defend herself, wouldn’t you agree?” (Or some other rhetorical trap Arianna would deploy on the team’s behalf)
Hmmmm. Depending on what Sydney does, is this shaping up to be where/when Deus becomes aware of how major a player (power-wise) Sydney has become? I mean, her extra-planetary jaunt leveled her up considerably.
yeah I am imagining a potential *well that ended abruptly moment* being possible.
Like Sidney is ordered to help draw this massive opponent away from civilians so she does her strafe blast on him and…it completely blows him apart ending the threat.
Nah, that would be way too much for many readers to accept: someone that managed to fight Maxi to a standstill gets blown apart (pun intended :P ) by Sydney without even trying?
It would be a funny throwaway, but a waste of so much setup and potential.
so kind of like Tom then.
I mean we don’t know DaveB’s reasoning, but the Tom situation has this feel like all those years ago there was this plan for them to be this big fantasy world final boss that had it out for Dabbler for defeating them and stealing his treasure, but tastes change, new ideas come along, story writes its self *it happens, new ideas come while writing as you add in the smaller details that change the path organically*, but you really want to use that character as you did establish them so..
(again, assumption I don’t actually know. But I have seen it in some series with commentary to that affect and I myself have done it once or twice…like…yeah I just wasn’t feeling it after a while to keep this villain around; they just didn’t feel like the threat they were supposed to be by the time we got here and didn’t want to force it so..trips and falls off a cliff removal).
-well here they are, but turn of the curtain they aren’t what you expected.
and there is the odd built up villain that just gets offed as a laugh in some series, like Fleshler from Gary and his Demons, they did this whole deconstruction of the demon slaying hero tropes to the point even the final battle built up through the series was (oh we killed him off camera when you were out of town).
which as this series is labeled as comedy, its why I had that thought a, “you take your giant edgelord revenge seeking ass out of my comedy adventures!” *Kaboom!*.
Yeah Tom isn’t playing quite the role I’d have expected, but he’s still in play and has some potential left even after subverting expectations. That option isn’t viable for the only super to survive 1:1 against Max after he shows up and initiates another battle.