Grrl Power #1277 – Team boy abs
Math decided he wanted to fight a bunch of professional Space Marshall Adventurer Mercenaries who all have at least a foot on him. Taking bets! Cora thought 3 to 1 in favor of her boys was fair, but Dabbler thinks it will be closer to 1 to 1. Maxima doesn’t doesn’t allow intra-team wagering over $5, because she doesn’t want it to become contentious. They all get paid very well, which means she can envision them doing things like casually wagering their cars on stupid stuff, like “the next time Sydney falls, what will she go face-first into” and the like.
Almost everyone who’s fought Math is wagering on him, but Cora’s crew aren’t exactly accountants, and they do have quite a size advantage, so there’s a few bets going the other way. I’m not sure who Detla would bet on. She’s fought and trained with Math though, and she’s less familiar with Cora’s crew. But again, one one four who are all definitely in a different weight class. Lapha’s in the back just wishing she’d had time to feed one side or the other some laxatives and then place a large bet against them.
The new one is almost ready! Just have to finish up some clothes so… soon?
The new vote incentive is up!
Oh no! Superheroines in a deathtrap! Well… a tickle trap. Okay, not trapped, trapped, but… look, three of the girls are getting tickled. Actually, in a way, seven girls are getting tickled since the other four Harems will feel this as well, but technically it’s only the three shown in the picture since Harem insists there’s only one of her – it’s just confusing since she can be in 5 places at once.
As you can probably imagine, Patreon shows what happens if they laugh, and also has a comic revealing who is behind this nefarious situation.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
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.
Five (5) qatloos on Matthias to win.
And I would call him that to his face just to irk him.
… Isn’t that his name though?
Yeah, but he prefers Math because he thinks Mathias sounds too Biblical.
Such a hypocrite. He wants to know everyone biblically…except himself.
I expect he got know himself biblically at least when he was ordered to look a pictures of boobs until he got bored of it.
5 qatloos on him still not being bored of it.
He probably got bored after he nutted … but quickly went back to not being bored.
Well, time to get humbled.
Who? Math is never cocky… unless fighting a naked female
are you trying to poke the bear? or was that an accident?
The aliens are the cocky ones. And everyone we’ve seen go against Math gets their ego crushed unless they boob him.
As they don’t have boobs, my money would be on Math
Any one of them could be a shape/gender shifter, that just rarely changes form.
Or have a secret succubus in their backpocket.
And Cora might try to interfere with surprise flashing.
So, there is still a above 0 chance boobs will be naked.
I wouldn’t mind some female versions of these guys.
“…forgot one thing”
none of you have boobs, Math then proceeds to IP man on them.
Agreed. Math is going to have fun
Team Space Woof!
Perspective is a little messed up in the final panel i think.
But a nice return to violence.
Please, let Math win or I will be very sad.
Nice that Garamm is allowed out to play along with Lapha. He never truly gave off “evil” vibes to me, just someone trying to keep his good friend Lapha from getting in over her head with her schemes. He did assist with at least two kidnapping/slavery attempts, so also not “good”, but the same could be said for Jabberwocky before joining the team.
I’m looking forward to more Garamm interaction.
He’s a moderating influence on Lapha.
Maybe he has some talent we don’t know about yet?
Tail pulling during sex high on her list of his skills.
I’ve honestly never seen Garamm as particularly evil to begin with. More like he just tends to go along with what Lapha wants to do because he’s sweet on her and protective of her. Plus he has shown in the past that he thinks in advance a lot more than Lapha does, like he was with her during the atttempted kidnapping of Maxima (afterwards, when she got thrown through the billboard and was still wondering if there’s a way to win, and he was putting the kibosh on it – or at least saying not with a LOT more firepower on their end).
I get the impression Garamm actually has a lot more experience than Lapha at doing underhanded things with guns (as opposed to retail-level scamming).
Why is he following her? Well, it wouldn’t be the first time a pretty face (or tail in this case) made someone follow against better judgement.
And some of it is probably “If I don’t follow along, she’s going to be alone (or with some backstabber) when it goes wrong. If I’m there, I can maybe minimize the bad stuff.”
Even though he doesn’t admit it, Math has superhuman strength and probably speed as well (and quite possibly others), so the smart money is on him.
He ragdolled around Concretia, who had probably like 150+ kg on him. Sylv, who, while big and muscular and athletic, only has biological muscles to generate force, so he should hesitate to assume he has the strength advantage.
Per the story; he’s not superhuman in any way.
He’s just almost supernaturally skilled.
I would say that “almost” is written on the flimsiest of 1ply toilet paper
He has shown unambiguously superhuman strength (and toughness as a required secondary power) before.
He’s also supernaturally skilled (although it might be more combat precognition than skill), but he should be thought of has having some sort of super martial arts.
Him not being superhuman just doesn’t work out with his performances on page.
If he can hurt Concretia like he did, he doesn’t have to worry about the mercs’ bulk – he’s strong enough to easily hurt them as well.
You’re not taking into account superhero universe physics, where even normies are tougher than humans are in real life.
No normies have shown abilities like these.
If it’s different physics, it’s the “martial arts are supernaturally effective” we see in, for example, Wuxia. I’m comfortable calling that “super martial arts”.
Especially as we haven’t seen any other martial artists becoming superhumanly effective just via martial arts.
Perhaps a Charles Atlas superpower, but we don’t actually ever see Math doing any sort of training or even taking anything seriously. It feels more like he was actually born with super martial arts.
I mean…it’s been straight up stated in-story that he isn’t a supe, he’s “just that good”.
Also we’re dealing with a world where martial arts can work the way people and fiction *want* them to work (aka. the way many movies show), rather than what the laws of physics say is possible.
“it’s been straight up stated in-story that he isn’t a supe”
my recollection of the wording is that it was fairly ambiguous. as in he was so good it MIGHT actually BE a super power.
this was the phrasing: “[He’s] good enough that trying to differentiate between his abilities and someone with actual super powers is a futile exercise”
so basically whether he has super powers or not, no one can tell. he either has them, or he’s so good that its the same as having powers.
granted the other way to read that is that he DOESN’T have powers but he’s so good it appears that he does. I tend towards the first interpretation that you just cant tell whether he has powers or not. one reason for that is his looks. supers are all physically perfect. math does not look like a sydney or a peggy. he looks more like hiro and stalwart.
Note that “Super” is a specific thing and not the only source of superpowers in universe.
Demons, vampires, weres, etc. have superhuman powers without being supers, Sciona apparently got enhanced by the epimorph, Maxima is both a super and got enhanced by the geode water, Sydney bonded to artifacts, Vale, at least according to Sciona, is not a super.
So yeah, Math probably isn’t a super, but that doesn’t mean he’s just a human who trained really hard either.
Sciona did not get enhanced by the Epimorph though? She used it to restore her original body (plus some bust). She then had that body completely annihilated when she popped her people’s ghost jar emergency shelter on her home world and brought their ghostliness to earth again, where she possessed the dead body of a super, Escorpia, whose touch is a drug.
Deus said “you might be a match for Vale … after using the epimorph”. Maybe Sciona didn’t use that (and hence got stomped hard by Vale), or maybe Alari are just naturally stronger than trolls (but I feel like that would have come up). But that’s where my conclusion came from.
“I mean…it’s been straight up stated in-story that he isn’t a supe, he’s “just that good”.”
Yes, and maintain that this isn’t compatible with how he’s portrayed.
“Also we’re dealing with a world where martial arts can work the way people and fiction *want* them to work (aka. the way many movies show), rather than what the laws of physics say is possible.”
That just means super martial arts exist in-universe, not that the characters empowered by them are normal humans, and especially not that they don’t have superhuman physical stats, just that they are granted by martial arts.
No one would say a Xianxia cultivator is a normal human.
He’s a four color super normal , in the same league as batman and Ozymandias in Watchmen , only a power level eleven* ( according to DaveB system of notation )had wiped the floor with the later and a power level nine or ten had struggled with the former.
They will be somewhat caught with their pants down…
* It’s a rough idea of the power of the blue tired god.
In 15 April 1972 Vasily Alekseyev lifted 645kg
Assuming that when this happened concretia was 2m long(a head taller than Matthias), 41cm wide(average US men’s width(36 women), but she could choose her own posture and I’m not going to do pixel meaurements) and 30 cm thick(find your own source I was too lazy and took my own).
We also assume she was a perfect cube.
2*0,41*0,30 = 0.246m3
asphalt meant for parking lots weighs around 2560kg/m3
629.76kg<645kg
What he did falls within human limits.
As for lifting 150+ kg more than your own weight.
david rigert lifted 13 July 1972 400kg+ more than his own weight.
To paraphrase Math "there's no such thing as "merely human""
“In 15 April 1972 Vasily Alekseyev lifted 645kg”
That was his total, i.e. the sum of 3 separate lifts.
Concretia isn’t a cube. A human her size would probably at about 100-120kg, which puts her at 250-300kg.
But Math didn’t “lift” Concretia. He kicked her in the air. I couldn’t to that with 5kg, and if I tried I’d risk breaking my leg. Then he punched her through a wall, on a trajectory that humans would be able to achieve shotputting 6kg. This should also have broken his wrists.
Lifting heavy weights is a slow motion as the lifter struggles against gravity. Math imparted much more momentum, and doing it by way of strikes means the time do it was shorter and the forces involved massively higher.
If he did a judo throw, that would have been plausible, because the strength part of that is just a short lift from the legs. But that’s not what happened.
“To paraphrase Math “there’s no such thing as “merely human”””
There absolutely is, Math just has no idea what he’s talking about. He doesn’t actually know what being a normal human feels like.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-209-dramatic-speed-lines-ensue/
Look behind her: he didn’t kick her throug a wall, but through an already smashed window
Taking your guesstimate on her actual weight and switching to single kick strength, because I finally found some data on that and most of his force seems to come from the kick
Leg strength is generally bigger than arm strength and a good martial artist can build up momentum.
Shit news there’s basically no data on the record in force.
Here’s the best I have.
According to https://qr.vern.cc/How-hard-do-humans-kick?lang=www the hardest kick in their data set is 5000N(technically 8000N, but there was way too much variation in the results of that type of kick to be certain that wasn’t a measurement mistake)
I will be assuming all kicks take just as long when in contact with the target, because I’ve no data on MATH
300*9,81=2943N is the gravitational force that was keeping a 300kg concretia grounded
5000N is the hardest kick a human can give(I’m not counting tackles, because they’re not kicks).
He could nearly kick her upward twice.
his “push” is double handed and with his full body weight.
This counts more as a tackle placing it within the 7000N range with the same quora source(get your own pushing or throwing data)
He moves her around 0,50 meters at an unclear speed.
Sorry I’m disregarding air resistance(in my defense she is pretty dense)
Vf2 = Vi2 + 2ad
Final velocit(VF) is zero.
distance is 0,5 meters.
deacelleration is -9,81(gravity)
0 = Vi2 + 2*-9,81*0,5
0=Vi2 + -9,81
Vi2 = 9,81
Vi = 3,132091953 m/s
E=0,5 m*V2
E =0,5* 300*3,132091953^2
E=150*9,81=1471,5N
1471,5N<7000N
> Look behind her: he didn’t kick her throug a wall, but through an already smashed window
She didn’t go through the window. In panel 6 we can see debris flying around from where she exits, and the author blurb calls it “her exploding from the building”.
> I will be assuming all kicks take just as long when in contact with the target
Kicks or punches only have contact with the target for a fraction of a second, especially when thrown by one as fast as Math. That means even a high force only imparts moderate momentum. A force higher than gravity for a fraction of a second will only slightly lift the target off the ground. Making them do a backflip is a wholly different matter.
“Vf2 = Vi2 + 2ad
Final velocit(VF) is zero.
distance is 0,5 meters.
deacelleration is -9,81(gravity)”
That approach would be valid for determining the imparted velocity if he pushed her straight up and she rose 0,5m, then fell back down. But that’s not the situation, he pushed her mostly horizontally, on a very flat trajectory, which implies a high imparted velocity.
We don’t have the data to actually calculate this, but we know enough to conclude it isn’t possible for a human. (See my previous comment.) Also, reality check: Is it really plausible that an elite martial artist can launch a 300kg concrete statue around like that? When just lifting it off the ground would be a serious feat?
Just as an aside:
> E=150*9,81=1471,5N
is not correct, because energy =/= force.
Those dust clouds are also there before he kicks her.
He’s not the only player in the field, those are the dust clouds of a building crumbling on the combined force of 50 supers.
They don’t need help to destroy that building.
And the data I use is also limited by sideway imparted force(try doing an upward tackle).
He doesn’t have to lift her “right up” 0,5m.
He kicks her in the front/top, which is an effective way of toppling something balanced primary by gravity.
When he pushes her she has clearly been turning(head is suddenly down).
Like a good martial artist he let her do the heavy lifting herself and stand up.
On your reality check: ever watched caber toss.
The record stands on throwing a 175kg pole 5,94 m.
He doesn’t have to get 1/8 that far, although double as heavy.
Also remember that velocity is squared, but mass just mulitplied and velocity is what gives the distance.
On your last point.
Ehm oops.
F.
“Those dust clouds are also there before he kicks her.”
No, not dust clouds, actual debris, namely pieces of planks. Those will fall down quickly. The ones exploding outwards from Concretia’s trajectory are new. Also you’re ignoring the WoG.
> And the data I use is also limited by sideway imparted force(try doing an upward tackle). He doesn’t have to lift her “right up” 0,5m.
My point is that you can’t calculate that, and what you ended up calculating is unrelated to what happened.
He’d have do straight up for your calculation approach to be applicable.
“He kicks her in the front/top, which is an effective way of toppling something balanced primary by gravity.”
She doesn’t just fall over. She’s upside down with her head at chest height, which implies her center of gravity was launched upwards. She didn’t jump up or anything, that backflip was forced by his kick.
“On your reality check: ever watched caber toss.”
Yes. It’s a very long pole, you start with it holding it upright on hip height, which means center of gravity is already high up, you accelerate it with a running start, and then you tip it forwards, meaning its own length adds to the distance. Completely unapplicable to our situation. Show me someone doing that with a 2m statue standing on the ground, using a swift push.
“The record stands on throwing a 175kg pole 5,94 m.”
No, the weight is 175 pounds (79kg), and 5.94m is the pole’s length. (The distance isn’t even measured, the goal is to get it turn end over end (as straight as possible.))
> He doesn’t have to get 1/8 that far, although double as heavy.
Where are you getting 1/8 from? She’s flying several meters with a seemingly flat trajectory, being stopped not by hitting the ground but by For Whom The Death Tolls.
“On your last point.
Ehm oops.
F.”
That makes it worse, because you were using the fomula for energy. You can’t just treat force and energy interchangeably.
“In 15 April 1972 Vasily Alekseyev lifted 645kg”
That was his total, i.e. the sum of 3 separate lifts.
Concretia isn’t a cube. A human her size would probably at about 100-120kg, which puts her at 250-300kg.
But Math didn’t “lift” Concretia. He kicked her in the air. I couldn’t to that with 5kg, and if I tried I’d risk breaking my leg. Then he punched her through a wall, on a trajectory that humans would be able to achieve shotputting 6kg. This should also have broken his wrists.
Lifting heavy weights is a slow motion as the lifter struggles against gravity. Math imparted much more momentum, and doing it by way of strikes means the time do it was shorter and the forces involved massively higher.
If he did a judo throw, that would have been plausible, because the strength part of that is just a short lift from the legs. But that’s not what happened.
“To paraphrase Math “there’s no such thing as “merely human”””
There absolutely is, Math just has no idea what he’s talking about, because he never experienced “just human”.
Four-person attacks against a single person are possible, so it wouldn’t be a series of 1-on-1 or 2-on-1 fights with the rest dancing around in a circle. But unless “Team Space Studs” has been regularly training in group coordinated CQC against a single subject they’ll spend more time getting in each other’s way than they will fighting.
If they regularly train like this it’ll be really close. Dabbler has seen both sides fight, and her 1-1 odds imply they do. I’m predicting Team Space Studs will put on a good show and land a few hits (Fritz gets at least one blow in), but Math will win handily.
This gets my vote. It’s coming down to their group training vs. his physical prowess. If anything I give them a bit of a edge, because Math can’t kill them, which becomes harder to do the more targets you’re facing off against.
Lack of killing is a factor in their favor, along with Math’s inability to subdue with holds. If you go to ground in a multi-on-1 fight you immediately get kicked by the ones standing.
But they have access to incredible healing abilities, both “super” augmented and highly advanced technology. Even though this is a “friendly” fight, broken bones, nerve strikes, pain centers, etc. are all on the table. Pretty much anything short of causing instant death (broken skull, neck) and they’ll be fully healed by the next morning.
First consider what motives Dabbler may have in giving biased odds.
Second consider if Dabbler’s fight projections are accurate if they include concepts like 1-1 Math will showboat, and stretch a session to gain insight, with greater potential for a technical loss.
3-1 coordinated team, Math will be fighting intensely, and with more dangerous projected results.
2-1 coordinated team, Math will be more serious than a single opponent, and can still potentially use opponent’s against one another.
Yes…YES!!!
“This is the kind of wacky time-wasting nonsense I’ve been missing.”
Same.
How far did Jabber jump straight up? That looks to be around 15 feet. I guess she was channelling Kangaroo style, or something similar, to do that jump.
She’s taking Adrenanoloxin Plutoniam Sulphide
She clearly bent her legs though to make that leap.
Nah, Flea-style (they can leap higher per body size than a kanga can)
Perhaps a serval cat. They hunt birds like that.
Flea
I’ve got 2:1 favoring Math.
Despite the obvious physical advantages of team Space Cowboy, Math has a smaller hit box, greater mobility, and essentially lives fighting/self-mastery. He does have to “do,” be rather can simply “be.” Cora’s guys have other things that have drawn their attention & time away from just fighting practice. Additionally, while I am quite certain they are practiced at fighting as a unit, I still expect them to start becoming obstacles to each other once Math starts.
I think Doctor Chevy will be very interested in the fight’s outcome because she has not had the opportunity to work on injuries to alien animals before.
“Alien animals”?
Really?
They’re *people*!
People *are* animals, but I get what you mean and support it.
You saying the drummer for the Muppets isn’t a person?
Nah man, Electric Mayhem had him put down at the vets years ago.
I don’t know if you should rely on that.
That vet is rather unreliable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk6HHLAvzXk
While I’m Sure they’re all quite decent fighters they’ve been shown to mostly use guns, Math has a clear advantage of fighting on his terms. Still four to one would be almost impossible for most people, but as the best martial artist on the team (and possibly on the whole planet) he’s still my favorite to win.
Ohh, Math used half a sentence, every time he’s done that he’s won quite handily while delivering the second half!
In the real world, 1 vs 4 will always go very badly for the 1. You just need one person to grab you and then you can’t defend properly against the others bashing your head in.
In comic book logic, however, going up against 4 people is a character’s chance to shine, so Math may very well win this.
To paraphrase the late Terry Pratchett.
“But… there’s four of us… and just one of them… plus he’s really old… We haven’t got a chance of winning…”
At least he Ain’t got a broom
Rule number one.
LOL! Upvote for Pratchett reference!
Also, I really like the looks of this sparring match. Math is one of my favorites, simply because he isn’t technically a super, but can hold his own when fighting supers. Plus his personality is just ADORABLE!
He’s *extremely* attractive to my female gaze – even though I’m usually not attracted to blonde guys.
That’s how it goes if one of them is willing to take some serious injuries for the team, and they’ve trained. And maybe so, since they’ve had access to much better medicine than available on Earth for their whole lives, maybe they don’t have the usual aversion to taking crippling injuries; There are plenty of martial arts moves you simply can’t properly practice exactly because they’re crippling, like elbow or knee dislocates.
But I expect his first move will be to pick one to attack, probably Sylv given the image on that tablet, and immediately reduce it to a 3 against 1 fight before they can all close on him. It’s only 4-1 if he’s still in the middle, after all…
4-on-1 is a big advantage, but not an insumountable one.
The 1 needs to stay mobile, which means I agree with you that they need to be significantly better at grapple-breaking than the 4 need to be at grappling.
If you *can* stay mobile, and know how to get them in each other’s way, then it’s certainly possible.
Cora’s Studs are primarily a gun-and-mech team, so I could see their grapple game being weak.
The four might win, but how many of them will still be standing at the end?
One might grab you, but it all depends on where they grab you to be effective, and then the others have to fight around them to avoid doing damage to them instead of you (and, of course, you potentially have a blunt-force weapon to use against the others)
For this situation to occur (4 vs 1, with the 1 in the middle) the 1 would have to be surprised. So yeah, that won’t go well. But a large part of that is surprise, so the 1 is in white or yellow, while the 4 are in yellow to red.
Alley would generally be 2 and 2, with walls in the way. Coordination problem with the 2 teams, depending on lighting.
Tournament? As below, the optimum move is to attack one of the 4 so you quickly end up behind him, so the other 3 get in each other’s way when they move. Tournament generally has an arena, so that does limit this tactic.
If you’re the 1 you had better move first though.
Not if the one is a master of the art of Bullshido, like Comrade Steven Seagal. :)
Seriously though, it is doable if the 1 is skilled & motivated and not suffering from tournament rules or the “bound by honour” curse.
In comic context, we know Math is VERY skilled, motivated, etc (ie: peak human in the same flimsy as heck way that Capt America or Batman are). We don’t know that the 4 Space Studs are on the same level (or if they’re worse, or better), and they might feel honour-bound to hold back long enough for Math to level the field a bit.
I think Math’s going to surprise them at first, and force whoever’s still awake after the first round to take him deadly-seriously.
For the record, Capt America isn’t “peak human,” he’s explicitly super-human (at least in the movies, I’ve not read his comics)
Hawkeye and Black Widow are “peak human.”
He’s supposed to be peak human in terms of strength and speed, the superhuman aspects all revolve around the fact that the serum neutralizes all toxins, including fatigue toxins, while enabling enhanced healing.
So he doesn’t tire, at all. He can’t run any faster than an Olympic sprinter, for instance, but he can run an entire marathon as fast as the fastest sprinter could do a hundred meters. No mental fatigue, either.
That’s the original story, anyway. Like all comic book heroes, his powers vary situationally and between writers.
I did sort of wonder what was going on with that “on your left” thing with Falcon. He was basically sprinting laps around that pool instead of jogging, because I guess he can go at that pace basically until he has to eat or drink.
The MCU Captain America is closer to the COmics’ Ultimate Captain America, who expressly has superhuman speed, endurance, toughness, telepathy resistance, and a healing factor, in addition to accelerated learning and juiced reflexes.
Comics basic Captain America is considered peak human in all physical aspects, with his only really superhuman point being his endurance, resistance to poisons, and a x10 reflex speed. His analytical ability in combat situations, perfect memory, leadership abilities, and the like are more peak human than superhuman.
So Marvel Comics Cap is as strong as the strongest weightlifter, flexible as a yoga instructor, agile as a circus acrobat, swift as a sprinter, etc, but doesn’t surpass those limits.
Note: Comics Black Panther gets approximately the same physical buffs, with the addition of animal senses.
I think there’s an implication that this makes his training superhumanly effective, allowing him to grow beyond what normal people can grow, even though he wouldn’t necessarily be inherently superhuman (although he is.)
I’ve won against bigger numbers, but I had the ability to use terrain advantage and most of my opponents had just like myself no group fighting training.
One time I was on a diving/swimming platform, so a good push could immobilize multiple opponents by throwing them into the water and another few times all I needed to do was get at the other side of the field, while they needed to lift me up.
In both cases weighing a lot and being able to push hard at the center of mass are 70% of the battle.
I like this aspect of Math, he’s cocky yes, but he’s not being an ass. Just looking for a fight.
No, not cocky, confident: the difference is if you can back up what you claim
He *wants* matches that he could lose. That’s where one improves.
I’m a little confused about what’s happening in the last panel. Can someone explain please? Thanks in advance.
Math tosses the tablet over his shoulder. Jabba in the background jumps up and catches it.
Oh okay. Because it didn’t look like it was a jump. Probably because there were no motion lines so that confused me. Thanks.
At least Math was smart enough to do his homework before jumping in.
Looks like I’m way late to the party when it comes to guessing that Math’s next line is going to be something about them not having boobs. XD
I don’t think we’ve seen Math lose a fight except for when he saw what’s-her-name’s boobs and when Sydney hit him with an orb, and I remember him being bored while fighting a bunch of supers at the beginning of that huge fight led by Vehemence (where his opponents were presumably actually fighting to kill, not just spar), so I don’t think we’ve seen his actual peak yet and I can understand why he’d challenge all of Cora’s team, but overall I bet that the four of them will barely be able to overpower him and all five of them will have black eyes and/or bruises.
I wonder if they’re going to try and kick each other in the nuts or if this sparring session has rules against that implemented. I mean, they have super-powered healing at their disposal, so even breaking some bones might not be out of the question, but it all depends on which boundaries they’ve agreed on setting beforehand.
Math almost took Dabbler in a fight. And would have beaten her if she hadn’t pulled out that invisible web spell.
I’m pretty sure Dabbler is up close to Sydney and Max, so Math is one of their stronger fighters when environment and range don’t render him ineffective.
Dabbler isn’t one of the best hand to hand fighters, she’s good but not top tier
She is very versatile, so she can beat most magic users hand to hand and use magic & gear to beat combatants she can’t beat hth
Keep it a ‘clean’ fight and no hitting below the belt.
If Math hurts the SpaceWoof parts she plans on using later, Sydney might show him some things he can’t counter ;)
Like the normal human office staff DON’T have a betting pool related to Sydney’s Antics!
It would be amusing to see her reaction to seeing a ‘Facepool’ posted up somewhere.
Like would she be offended that people are betting on what an inept klutz she is? Or would she be thrilled by being near Deadpool by association?
Given she’s participating in “make Maxima say” bingo, I’m sure it’s closer to a “well, that’s fair” at the bottom end of the reaction probability.
she might be mercenary enough to attempt to ‘manipulate’ the odds. but fail spectacularly at the acting required.
Maybe if they are actually trained in team fighting? Otherwise, they are likely to get in each others way. So their numbers would only matter if this becomes a test of endurance.
Their clearest option to win would be a ability to deploy surprise space boobs.
Maybe one of them is a secret shape/gender shifter?
Maybe one of them has a succubus contract in the back?
Maybe Cora will have a “random holographic malfunction” to aid her team?
I have no doubt they’ve trained extensively as a team… and not just for fighting. Math will probably still be able to cause them to interfere with each other’s movements, but that’s because he’s ridiculously skilled; absent teleportation, he could probably trip up even Harem that way, and you really can’t coordinate better than Harem.
– Maybe Cora will have a “random holographic malfunction” to aid her team?
Remember that all of them except Frix are wearing those hard light suits.
I personally find Math incredibly annoying & hate him, but I also found it amusing to watch his ‘no-game’ antics in the early stages of the comic, when he couldn’t get any action to save his life. I think he’s at his best as a character when he’s not getting any. Now that he’s confirmed to have gotten laid by members of Archon, he’s just another douche-canoe.
Having said that? I can see him winning this fight. Not really clear on the physical capabilities of all of his opponents, but he’s taken on multiple opponents who were much tougher than him on paper in the past.
Speaking of strong characters Math has fought before, what happened to Concretia after that fight against Henchwench & her ’employers’ in Yew Cork Nity?
Woofie is directly behind Math & not focusing on him. >50% he’s the first target, and he goes down HARD.
I’d say he wins when Sydney goes to ‘kiss his booboo’s”
Something I just caught on to, and that I think is a pretty neat touch, is that nobody in Cora’s crew appears to think they are better than Math, despite their physical advantages. In the commentary, Cora gave her boys 3-to-1 odds, but there are 4 of them and a coordinated group is better than the sum of its parts, meaning if she thought each of her boys were equal to Math she would have given 5-to-1 odds or better. And note Sylv’s statement – he says he doesn’t think Math could beat TWO of them, implying he does believe they would all lose in one-on-one matchups. Clearly, they’ve got a lot of respect for humans after seeing their performance against the Fel.
obviously these guys have not seen enough of Math sparring other supers who were not women.
also, any superhuman stuff can be excused if there’s any incidence of ki or martial art energy around, which can put him over the strength/toughness top just with spiritual energy. Given how hard he can hit and fast he can move, assuming he doesn’t have something similar to use would be foolish.
They probably haven’t seen yet how hard he hits and how fast he moves.
He said “I’m just a really good martial artist”, and they took it at face value, not being aware he has super martial arts.
Since he’s the only one who has shown something like this so far (Jabberwokky is a super), they are excused from not being aware of the possibility.
Even real-world martial artists at the high end start to look like they’ve got low end super powers, because they’ve learned to access the sort of hysterical strength that people can normally only manage in incredible emergencies.
Human muscle fiber recruitment is fairly low normally, which gives us a lot of fine motor control compared to chimpanzees, for instance. But a 120 chimp could literally tear you limb from limb, because it’s using ALL of it’s muscle fibers.
People can do that, too, with suitable training. Or if flooded with adrenaline. At the risk of broken bones and torn ligaments if they’re not in tip top shape…
he will wip out the “there is no such thing as … just human”
again
In real life, there’s basically no way any fighter could win any four-on-one match against skilled opponents let alone ones with these kinds of advantages. In comic book logic? Pretty sure Math’s got this.
Even in real life, it’s a matter of skill gap. Which, granted, realistically would not be large enough in this case. But other than tha? yeah, if he really IS that much better, then skill gap wins the day.
“…Aliens don’t know karate! No, karate comes from Earth!” /cartervail
I’m a trained (or was) martial artist, and before I broke my back I took down two guys half again my size, and did a fair job against 3 guys swinging knifes and a hunk a pipe. In that case I hurt/disarmed all three and ran off. Math is FAR better than I ever was in my youth! Tactics and skill count as much if not more in a fight, plus these guys haven’t seen how skilled Math is, so it could be an interesting match.
Yes, but a question is how skilled were your opponents?
The crew are all experienced combatants who’ve worked together
While I honestly love each of the main characters, math will always hold a soft spot in my heart. Sorry Syd, but GO Math!
My hand to Ghod…at first I thought that the ears in the foreground were a D&D Mini base for the green guy…. (No, I have no life.)
Is it me or is this comic a much lower resolution than we’re accustomed to?
All my money on Math. He’s checking out scans of his opponents on that tablet, looking for similarities with humans so he knows what to hit or avoid. His extreme martial arts, and near perfectly fit form, lets him easily fight folks taller and stronger than him.
Agreed. Size can be an advantage in certain styles of fighting and a liability in others. Math strikes me as the type who can abuse the variance to his benefit.
It’s also entirely possible he loses for sympathy; we know he is not above that tactic.
Math will handle one or two of them, but it will end in a draw after Dabbler will cover them in oil…
Firstly I agree that Maths is going to win and secondly he knows that even if he loses there is no shame in losing to 4 against 1 odds so he’s fine anyway.
Given the team is likely to be facing more aliens and non-human sapient species, with non-traditional biological associated with Earth’s biospheres it makes sense Math would want to train and learn about the various and most common features in other humanoids and sapient life forms.
Martial arts relies greatly on a knowledge of human anatomy and capabilities. What to expect your body and that of your enemy could potentially do *flexibility, limits of the skeleton and tendons* muscular structures, pressure points, weak points in the skeleton, nervous system, how flexible your opponent can be, how they can move. etc…
all this kind of stuff you learn when fighting martial arts is going to vary a great deal with aliens and other creatures, kind of pointless to aim for a pressure point that isn’t there or try to get them of balance when their center of balance isn’t the same as a human’s. the same fake outs might not invoke the same reflexes, the same stance maynot telegraph the same strike given a difference in anatomy and what muscles are connected where and push and pull against which others. like to suplex someone with a slinky spine and you don’t even take them off their feet, or they can see behind themselves, or try to kick out the back of their knee but their legs have a lockdown hydraulic system and you might as well be kicking a metal pipe.
Every mode you make that does nothing, leaves you open to a counterstrike, and these aliens know terrans as there is a population of terrans in space, so he is at a disadvantage unless he learns what they can do. Which we assume is the point to him looking at medical charts of their anatomy before the fight.
I have two questions: One did Math propose this fight?
And two: Did he proclaim his invincibility beforehand? because we all know how that one ends. XD
Also did anyone else notice that Sylv doesn’t appear to have a ribcage or any bones other than spine and skull?
Sylv may be more cartilaginous than bony. That would explain his stated flexibility while still giving his muscles something to attach to.