Grrl Power #1064 – Bar-Be-Can’t
So, quick review of Varia’s powers. She has contact gestalt, and each person she touches gives her different powers. The person she’s touching doesn’t get any powers per se, but the do gain immunity to the powers that Varia gets, so if she starts emitting clouds of carbon monoxide, her gestalt partner doesn’t have to worry about suffocating. Well, at least not right away. If they’re in a small space and the room fills up with the stuff and then Varia lets go, it would be a problem. So far there’s no known CO gestalt.
For those of you who have read the Wearing the Cape anthology with Astra meeting the Arc-SWAT team, you know that the Arianna/Varia gestalt gives Varia fire powers. At least a fiery aura and fire blast. Which makes Arianna immune to fire and heat attacks.
So no, Arianna doesn’t have any superpowers. THAT WE KNOW OF? No, seriously, she doesn’t have any powers. OR DOES SHE?
BTW, it’s likely her powers would have worked through something think like stockings, but when a wall of fire is racing at the person who helps manage your public appearances and possible friend, it’s not a chance you want to take.
Unrelated, but that Guardians of the Galaxy game is really good. Yes, the fact that they don’t look like the movie versions is slightly off-putting at first, but you get used to it real quick. Also, it’s weird, because it’s not like they didn’t have licences to use them, because you can unlock MCU skins as you play through the game. Anyway, Rocket and Groot sound basically the same, and all the other voices are perfectly fine after the first 20 minutes. Also it doesn’t follow MCU canon exactly… I think it’s best if you think of MCU as Universe 138C and this game as Universe 135B or something. Also, I like the version of Mantis in the game better than the one in the movies. The movie one is fine, but not exactly well developed. Anyway, the Steam Sale is still going on until today at 10am Pacific, so you can get it for half-price – at least on Steam.
If you do get it, my one piece of advice is to use your teammate’s special attacks a lot. They do a lot of damage and recharge really fast. The “Rocket’s Gravity Grenade” plus “Star Lord’s Eye of the Storm” AOE combo was my go to for clearing out the riff-raff.
Oh, and also, that one lootbox with an alternate outfit for one of the team members that’s under the stairs in a flooded part of a Novacore ship early on that you can’t get to? Yeah, you actually can’t get to it, and it’s super frustrating. You come back to that level later and can get it then, but I spent like 20 minutes trying to figure it out before looking it up online, so you’re welcome. The game isn’t really metroidvania except for that one box, so it threw me.
The June Vote Incentive is still up. I got overambitious with the new one and it’s not finished yet, but I’m working on a stopgap pic that will be up with the Monday comic. In the meantime, there’s still a nude version of Sydney (and guest) over at the Patreon version.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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Am I the only one who see cat ears on arianna due to some weird artifacting of the chopsticks and the fire?
Nope
At least I don’t. Not even after intensely looking for cat ears.
Yes, I see them when I zoom out, especially in panel 2, and a little bit in panel 1.
Your won’t see them if you zoom in.
That last phrase sounds grammaticaly wrong, I have no idea what she is actually saying.
Nothing grammatically wrong with what Vahriah said
She was saying that Ari was lucky her (panty) hose had a run (or ladder or tear) in it
It threw me because we call them “tights” here, but I worked it out.
Always figured ‘tights’ were of a thicker material, like thin wool
Tights are a type of hosiery (or hose for short). Stockings are another type of hosiery. Stockings then are further broken down into subtypes with knee high and thigh high being the most common, with “socks” being short for “stockings”.
We also called the nylons, mostly for the material that they were made of. I think they referred to tights as something that was not semi-transparent.
That sounds about right
Interesting! Here tights are a much thicker material like cotton or wool sometimes nylon. Panty hose is a very thin material prone to rips and tearing.
So fire hoses aren’t selling fast then. >>>>
+1 selling like hotcakes
shortening pantyhose to hose thew me off.
Actually, “hose” is the original version. Basically stockings. “Pantyhose” is a fairly recent invention. – Within my lifetime, but then I’m old.
Kind of like the way “pants” are plural, because you originally wore one for each leg?
Both derived from “hosiery”, actually, which covers (ha) a wide variety of socks and leggings since ancient times – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosiery
@guesticules: ohhhhhh that and the last panel makes a lot more sense now.
thank you!
Glad it helped :)
If you read it as intended, you’ll “hear” dramatic pauses and emphases. Also, there is an implied “that” in the sentence that isn’t actually said.
“You are… SO… *LUCKY*… [that] your hose had a run in them.”
It was grammatically, correct, in the US.
Not just the US
I don’t think anyone is likely to consider you a trustworthy source for grammatical advice. Or at least I hope they wouldn’t.
Yeah, that’s a real weird place for an appositive. If they swapped “grammatically” and “correct” and kept the punctuation, it would work, but it would still be a weird way to say it. Removing the first or both commas would also work, however removing only the second would not.
Sasha has a long history of comma abuse. I think it would be difficult to find a comment of hers that does not contain a wholly unnecessary comma that disrupts the flow of the sentence.
I just assumed that English might not be Sasha’s first language and, perhaps, she has problems with comma placement because of that.
Yeah, I often make that assumption and try not to especially care about people’s grammar online (anymore), I just thought it was funny that someone evaluating what is and is not correct grammar in someone else’s work would do so with a sentence that just does not parse correctly and thought the irony made it worth commenting on.
That’s what I originally thought, but I have a vague memory of her claiming to be a native English speaker, which, admittedly, doesn’t turn up in a quick search. However, she does claim to be an American Indian, and to have a “near-genius IQ”.
I guess its just in all things except writing? But usually those claiming to have high IQs are ones with lower than standard IQs.
A run is a split in a thin garment, like panty hose. Varia stuck her thumb through the run to give herself fire powers and subsequently give Ariana fire immunity. Hence, Arianna is lucky that her (panty) hose had a run in them.
The phrase isn’t wrong, it just uses . to emphasize how lucky Arianna is to have a hole in her clothing. If you are asking why this is good, read the note under the comics.
I really like Varia.
Just putting that out there.
Yah huh, she’s wicked pissa.
Varia definitely looks pretty hot in the last frame.
I’ll be here all night, remember to tip your bar tender.
she’s defiantly on fire here.
Since I havent seen you pun before, I’ll only send a rookie ninja hit squad to you for that one.
Palmvos is getting 3 squads tho.
Its so nice to see you care.
*maniacal laughter*
sadly… the ninja squads melted. have you ever worn black in 100+ degree heat?
Koga ninjas?
Oh dear …
palmvos is in reality, (dun,dun,dun) Akikusa Shintaro.
Arianna likes her more at this moment that all of us combined
hopefully Arianna does not have the hots for her. she needs to keep it cool and professional.
Nothing to worry about. We’re just roasting marshmallows.
Psst… “cue” (as in: stage directions), not “queue” (as in, standing in line).
It may be “queue” because it’s not happening right away.
That’s probably where the confusion comes from: cue and queue can both be used as verbs as well as nouns. However, cue implies “right now”, while queue implies “back of the line”.
arianna is so going to litigate the pants off of the fellow who attempted to torch her (she’s lucky vera was nearby and arianna’s gestalt unlock if fire)
Could have been anybody coming down the hallway….
You won’t be able to go forever without killing somebody off…
… I’m just glad that today was not that day.
At least one has been killed so far… oh, you mean one of the main cast?
Without a miraculous escape, resurrection or one of many other reversals post “death”?
Like said, not main cast
Yes Ari DOES have powers.
She has Super-schmooze!
A bit more asspully than I expected but not surprising at all.Definately a wierd case of “This looks like a job for aquaman”
soooo… for people who aren’t english native….
what’s “gestalt?”
“An organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of it’s parts” according to the google dictionary. I knew it had to do with combinations of things, or mixing, but this is admittedly the first time I’d bothered to check the actual definition.
i appraciate the effort but i’m not sure i understand how it relate to varia’s power set…
It’s originally a German word, and perhaps the German meaning of “shape” or even “configuration” makes more sense, but the implication here is that her power varies based on some other outside factor, which in her case is the person she’s touching. The combination of her and another person unlocks or produces a power that neither of them have on their own, thus, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.
@torabi: ahhhhhhh i understand now, thank you!
i love etymology ^_^
Think of it as a group power – something she only has as when in a particular group (of two in this case, although it’s an interesting thought that maybe she can extend it to groups of more than two).
‘Gestalt’ isn’t a perfect fit for that, but it sounds cool, so rule of cool.
Arianna’s feet look fat.
Probably just swollen from wearing high-heels for too long.
She needs to learn that fashion comes second in a workplace that might come under attack by enemy forces.
So, this page is not about a fortified gateway?
Man, I was looking forward to some medieval architecture.
This feels…Very narratively convenient. Like to an irritating degree. I can only guess that Varia has already poked everyone at the base to see what her options are, but the fact that she JUST SO HAPPENED to get fire powers from the person who needed emergency fire protection is just silly. Like how many people are in the base right now, and the exact right person was under attack from the exact right thing at the exact right time.
Not gonna lie, it smacks of lazy, trope-y superhero writing.
Actually, in a related work it had been established that Ari gives fire as gestalt. Check Dave’s comments
It was also established during Varia’s intro Q&A that she did in fact go through the building cataloging what power she gets from everyone, so she definitely knew in advance what power she and Arianna would have together. And we saw Arianna and Varia together in the hall just moments ago.
So it’s pretty well justified, even if it is a convenient narrative device to demonstrate a power set, so I’m willing to consider it lampshading in service of moving the plot forward in an interesting way.
But why? She’s no super and on top of that this is the main book if you will. Show dont tell I say. Dave has gotten to comfortable explaining things in the comments and not in the story, which at times leads to bad story telling practices.
It’s already been established, in the comic, that Varia’s power works with non-supers as well as other supers.
Not everything needs to be spelled out in detail. That’s talking down to your audience, assuming they can’t figure anything out on their own through observation. And this page? This is showing, rather than telling, that Varia’s gestalt with Arianna is fire-based. Varia already said that she’s “going through the whole building cataloging all the gestalts”. She knew what her gestalt with Arianna was, and we had the information available to know that she knew, but it wasn’t necessary that we actually knew what the power was until now.
Nearly all the stories we consider worth telling will struggle with “convenience”, because we tend to find stories in which the characters make fatally stupid decisions, are fatally unlucky, or just fail at their goals to be boring or depressing. We tell stories about exceptional events or characters, not mundane ones.
“This feels…Very narratively convenient. Like to an irritating degree.”
Actually it’s not, which is why I find it a brilliant resolution to the cliffhanger of what was about to happen to Arianna.
It isnt just ‘sprung on us’ out of the blue. There were hint sprinkled in up until this point.
1) Varia has a gestalt power. It’s already been described in detail that different people that she touches give her different powers, and those people are immune to the new power she gets, so that her touching people does not instantly kill them from the new power she gets.
2) It was already established in another literary work in this canon universe that Varia’s power from touching Arianna is flame powers. Therefore, while touching Arianna, Arianna is immune to fire damage.
3) It was already established that Arianna and Varia were BOTH in the hallway or nearby, from a couple of pages ago.
4) It was already established that this bad guy has fire powers, both 2 pages ago (he has a flaming head) and 1 page ago. The other super apparently may have some sort of Beast-like powers (superstrength, durability, able to dig into walls with his bare hands and feet, etc).
So that’s why I consider this to be brilliant, and not at ALL ‘irritatingly convenient.’
Because there were clues sprinkled in leading up to this, instead of it being some deus ex machina way out.
But on the other hand is this really a comic where we want to see a high tier group of supers “scorched earth”ing an organization due to death of a friend/teammate,and a proven willingness for indiscriminate lethal force to non-combatants.
That too. It would be out of theme with the general feel of the comic. But I’m mainly pointing to the narrative brilliance of this particular scene and how it actually avoided what Zero was irritated about.
I think Zero was irritated because, from his perspective, it felt out of the blue because Zero did not know about the particular gestalt power that Varia gets when touching Arianna. Plus he might not have read DaveB’s blurb below explaining where it was explained in advance. Mainly because, while it’s not in the comic itself, it’s in a story which is associated WITH the comic, which he might not have read. Fair enough criticism (again, from his perspective) but I’m just pointing out how he’s mistaken as far as the in canon universe is concerned.
In fact, this VERY SITUATION was alluded to way back when we first saw Varia introduced, by Varia herself.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-324-she-should-put-all-those-answers-on-a-shirt/
Varia: “Whoever I grab becomes immune to my powah, like they don’t get burned if I burst into flames or whatevah. I can tell you I would have had a much more traumatic childhood if not for that particulah safety feature.”
THANK YOU! I went diving in the archive to find this page to respond to one of the many ‘Dues ex Machina’ complaints. (pun fully intended.) please note- warn your ninja squads that the heat index around here is 114 F!!!!! tell them to bring water, lots of it. maybe they need to see if the one people call Jack will help them…
The temperature is only that hot by you because, prior to attack, the elite ninja hit squad focused a comically giant-sized magnifying glass on your area.
DaveB and I live in the same area… do you really want to claim responsibility for baking the metro area he is in?
hmm I shall have to see if i can convince some of them to do something for me…
I’m very inclined to agree. This is a massive piece of plot armor. Would have made more sense if the team member who has fire powers all the time was present to absorb the flames. Seems Dave just wanted a dramatic bait and switch. Honestly I would have probably burned Arianna were this my book. It would have certainly shown the stakes of being a superhuman cop/soldier, especially since I don’t recall anyone at ARC actually being grievously injured in a life threatening way.
I have an interesting question that hopefully DaveB will see and answer.
Or at the very least would make for an interesting discussion among us rabble.
Varia’s powers have a safety feature of making the person she touches immune to her power.
So…. if she touches someone and gains the power of superhuman strength, would that make the person she touches functionally invulnerable to kinetic-based attacks? (punches, kicks, weapons/objects that involve physical force to cause damage). As a sort of safety feature against her accidentally breaking the hand of whoever she touches while she has superhuman strength?
I was under the impression that most of the super strength in this universe is zero range telekinesis. in the taking a hit power usage this functions like a shield. so yes it would protect the body from punches and errant stuff that interrupts involuntary flying. I like that this fails in stages. as both Hiro and Maxima can attest. at some level the clothing gets damaged after that the body gets damaged. Vehemence broke Maxima’s nose in the steakhouse fight.
I don’t think ‘most’ superstrength is zero range telekinesis necessarily. Ren’s definitely is not, and neither is Stalwart’s, from what we’ve seen in the comics. Ren’s superstrength is based on adrenaline, and Stalwart’s is based on, as Altus described it, “being saturated in force fields and repulsor beams.” Plus apparently he can also change his physical mass and weight, from what we saw during his fight with Vehemence.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-769-incoming-eventually/
(panel 2)
So those two do not have superstrength because of zero-range TK
Although I have no idea about Hiro’s, but at least one thing about Hiro is he apparently can absorbing certain attacks as part of his powerset (at least sonic attacks like against Breakpoint), which manifests itself as invulnerability and/or moderate superstrength.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-231-communicant/
(panels 1 and 2)
Anvil’s superstrength is directly related to absorbing and releasing kinetic energy, much like Sebastian Shaw from Marvel comics, rather than zero range telekinesis.
Vehemence’s superstrength was based on vehemic energy, rather than zero range TK.
I think that Maxima’s form of superstrength is not that common for superstrong people in the Grrlpower universe. She explains to Sydney in the restaurant hallways about how to properly fight with her lighthook’s superstrength, not using a car to hit someone – using the lighthook itself. Plus if you were to use a car, don’t swing it around by the bumper like a club, because that would just rip off the bumper. Unless you’re Maxima, who uses zero range TK, much like Superboy’s Tactile Telekinesis, or Superman and Supergirl’s biomatrix field, or Molly Hayes’ superstrength being possibly psionic in origin (which is probably the most similar in Marvel to Maxima’s powers).
Tom was VERY surprised that Maxima was able to flip and bodyslam him by his finger, not because of the amount of strength required, but rather because ‘the leverage made no sense physics-wise.’ Unless you take into account her Z.P. T.K. :)
> Stalwart’s is based on, as Altus described it, “being saturated in force fields and repulsor beams.”
I think that was a comparison demonstrating the magnitude, not an attempt at describing the mechanics. He says “it’s like you’re covered in forcefields. If it was a force-field around his body, I feel like that might be argued to qualify as zero-range telekinesis.
I think the mass-increasing is his actual deal – by physics, it comes with a corresponding increase in force.
In any case, Stalwart’s superstrength is not from zero point telekinesis. :)
Well… telekinesis is a force effect.
Telekinesis that is skin tight is basically a field of force.
Moving that field along with your limbs and having it take all the pressure and impact of your strength IS Zero Point Telekinesis (that’s really a mouthful. Why isn’t it just called Touch-teke like everyone else uses?)
The human body basically can’t support more than a ton of weight, and certainly can’t ignore the impacts of the amount of force ‘superstrength’ typifies.
so, basically EVERYONE who has superstrength, unless they are made of metal or stone or something, is using Touchteke, force effects to support their organs and bones, and some form of non-physical force to support their bodies and not just squish their fingers when trying to lift something.
Stalwart would have a very specific kind of force effect that increases his downward pressure to emulate weight. It doesn’t say he magnifies gravity, nor that he increases his mass. His weight goes up, which means he’s pressing down with a force effect. Touchteke on himself.
All that being said, I’m assuming that if Varia had a power which was like ZP TK… what you’re suggesting sounds accurate. :) Wondering what if it’s not ZP TK… what if it’s like Anvil’s superstrength, or Stalwart’s?
Maxima’s forcefield weakens as it projects outwards, so the strenghtening effect just isn’t as potent.
Hiro doesn’t have one.
Hiro does, it just wraps around individual cells and doesn’t emanate at all. anyone with invulnerability or indestructibility has some form of force effect protecting their body from exploding from big hits and stuff.
I would guess that it’s not absolute immunity to any similar power, but that the resistance is only as strong as the power itself. So they’d probably gain resistance equal to their own super strength, but someone stronger could still hurt them.
Just remember: not all off the Gestalted have powers of any kind
Or did you mean Vahriah’s power level?
I mean the strength of the gestalt power that Varia receives from the other person. If it enables her to lift 1000 lbs, for instance, I would expect it to provide resistance against 1000 lbs of force, but no more.
I’d assume they get super toughness along with super strength, so they don’t tear their own body apart. So they’d be able to take a hit like a generic super, but not like Anvil (unless that was part of the power).
So yeah, literally everyone called it… although I am a bit surprised her suit survived.
Did they really have a run or are you just pretending you didn’t use your sharp nails to make a hole and stick your thumb through it, Varia?
And really, I think Aria’s real luck is that out of all the different super-power combinations possible she was being attacked by someone whose power matched the one she gave you. And not, like, an electric guy while touching her makes you invisible.
Considering there just happens to be another run where her thumbnail ended up…
Varia no doubt has a good idea of who gives her what powers Arianna is just lucky Varia was close enough to reach her in time. I still wonder if it’s going to come out that she can use Sydney’s orbs while in contact with her that would make one heck of a “Hail Mary”!
Sydney using shield and flight and Varia using PPO and Teleport would make them almost unstoppable! A simple belt holding bare backs or shoulders would do the trick, plus if Sydney is using the shield even if contact was broken Varia would have time to recover it.
AUGH! As fully explained in the afore mentioned novel, Varia gets the power, the person she touches gets immunity to said power. (Otherwise, it would be a very short acquisition of power in some cases, and she’d be wanted for murder.)
Arianna is not on fire, save from the guy blasting flames at her, she’s just immune to flames as long as Varia is touching her.
Varia should have Arianna drop to the floor and grab Varia’s bare leg so she can return fire while it most likely won’t hurt the fire guy it will distract him and might even blind him long enough for another super to counter him. Speed and reaction is key in a fight this serious they have clearly shown that it’s a “no witnesses” type of attack. Time for Jiggawatt to light up his life maybe? Clearly the attackers think the real power is across the globe so they can get away with it.
So what happens if nine or a dozen people all put a hand on Varia (We’ll say she’s wearing a backless dress and they’re all cooperating to “give her a lift”) Are all of them then immune to ALL of the powers she gets? Or is each immune to just the power she gets from them? If the gal she gets plant powers from is immune to plant powers, the guy she gets weasel-flinging from is immune to weasel-bites, and the guy she gets fire powers from being immune to fire – Then the fire guy could get bitten to death by a weasel, while the weasel-flinging guy gets a lethal dose of poison ivy, and the plant-powers lady gets burned to a crisp while being devoured by flaming weasels.
It would be unfortunate.
But funny as hell.
Actually now I really want to know what happens when Varia touches >1 person, seems impossible that she’s never experienced this. Thinking about back at the dance club when she was partnering with random folks on a crowded dance floor, seems impossible that neither she nor her current partner wouldn’t ever bump someone else…
Also, thanks for reminding me of this weasel-themed song.
its always a good day to think of Weird Al. Im sure that Weasles, Santa, reindeer, and elves may disagree.
So, is the whole “Ariana has fire powers which she makes no use of although the team know it” shtick, a set-up for this moment?
Huh. That vote incentive is misleading.
I love the Guardians of the Galaxy game, it’s free on GamePass!