Grrl Power #129 – Super powered happy fun balls
I know on the previous page I said I was trying to move the story along a bit faster, and now this page seems to be mostly recap… well that’s just it, I realized I didn’t have one spot people could look at to reference Sydney’s powers. I suppose I could have saved a recap for the press conference but the dialog would have had to have been a little different, and the more I think about it, the more the editor in me wants to cover the press conference in as few pages as possible. As an added bonus there’s a bit more going on in this page than just recap.
If you didn’t catch it last week, I posted my entry for the Valentines Day Sex Drive, which is the finished vote incentive pic, plus a topless version over at the DeviantArt page, and links to all the other comics that participated (Most of which of which are NSFW).
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.
Not to hijack post #1 of the new page, but looking over the Harem’s in the vote incentive pic, I see a striking resemblance in hair color and “character style” to that of Mane Six in My Little Pony.
(Clockwise starting on the left: Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity. Missing: Fluttershy)
SON OF A! how did i not see that
It’s not really in regards to the events in the comic. Just noting I felt kind of stupid when I read Peggy’s bio, saw the bit about meeting Maxima overseas, and it being about when she lost her leg. Then thinking ‘Wait, Peggy is missing a leg?’
And even more stupider when I accidentally make my comment a reply to the first post. No more posting before I’m awake.
hahaha … now we know for certain that you browse My Little Pony rule34. :D
That would be an interesting story for Harem. That she can make a 6th copy, a “Fluttershy” version.
intriguing… it does raise the question what style a 6th copy would assume… Beach/Surfer-type? Leather/Biker? Candy/Raver?
If you’re familiar with Jamie Madrox (Multiple Man) from Marvel Comics, the continuity used to be that his ability to create copies of himself was him manifesting aspects of his personality rather than straightforward duplicates.
So, maybe the “Fluttershy” Harem works in a bookworm-y position at ARCHON, and uses her other 5 dupes to live out her more…interesting personality quirks.
If each one of his dupes is an aspect of his personality, unless his dupes were doubles of each other, he was one seriously messed up dude
Like it said, that was a part of the old continuity.
Back then, he couldn’t make more than 20ish copies of himself. So, while not super crazy, her probably did have some issues.
Either way, a hidden 6th copy of Harem would make for good story times.
Smart move keeping her telepresence and truesight secret.
As an illustration, let me refer you to this particular episode of a certain D&D-based webcomic:
https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0819.html
Good to see a fan of the series.
More than one ;-)
Very sensible decision in the last panel – keep quiet about the less obvious stuff (AND the unknowns).
Seconded. Maxima’s former geek background is showing itself. I guess her military experience might help a bit there too. ;-)
Also, cool mention to the SCP foundation.
I think, the whole [redacted] thing.
So, the orb is the fat clown from Spawn?
As in she didn’t veto that name, so obviously it’s now The Violator orb.
I think the “Moving on” can be taken as “Absolutely not, and no more suggestions on that line!”.
Grammar Nazi time: Panel 3, comm-ball balloon: “Lets me make a illusion…” Should be “… *an* illusion…”
Was going to point that out as well (but less of the “Grammar Nazi” as that is just as pathetic as posting “First” when you are the 10th poster)
Blondini doesn’t look angry, more like bored
Forceful “Moving On!” doesn’t sound like an approval to me, more like “We don’t have time to go through countless inappropriate-sounding names, finish the introduction”
I wonder if Grammar Nazis are on ‘The List’. ;)
No doubt they are. Probably have a whole catagorie to themselves
Yup, I’ll fix that first chance I get.
Grammar nazis are on Sydney’s list; typos are on Dave’s list.
Now I’m thinking of this.
I love the way you drew Max’s hair in panel 3. And Vogue looks angry for some reason.
And poor Sydney, trying to explain what keys are. They unlock things, silly.
I was not getting anger, myself. Trying to re-create my line of thought, on initially seeing her look, I think it was something like: “I wonder what she is thinking? Intrigued? Although it could be a cheeky look. Perhaps she thought of a naughty namer or use for the orb with the contentious name, and it is amusing her?”
The ambiguity in her expression might lie in it being complex too. A cheeky thought, held in check by fear of reigniting the wrath of Max?
She’s definitely thinking of uses for the Hentai orb. :)
Yep. That would seem likely. Glad that was picked up on, rather than my “namer” instead of “name” typo. Although Harem might have been thinking of the person rather than the conversation, so it is not that inappropriate a mis-type.
2.5 official new names, check. 3 orbs classed as classed, check. I guess if this is to be the master reference page for the Halo Orbs, I better bring the list here too. Splitting it up, over several posts, due to the limitation on how many links can be included in a single post.
THE HALO ORBS
1. “THE FLY BALL”. Blue, clear. Close up. Gravity control/flight. Known power level: Allows Halo to fly in any orientation. Public knowlege.
2. “THE PPO” (a.k.a. “THE PEW PEW ORB”). Red, with energy streaks in it. Grants: explody beams. Known power level: Pretty powerful . Public knowlege.
3. “THE PSEUDOPOD TENTACLE ORB”. Pink, with coiled tentacle in it. Makes pseudopod tentacle thingys. Grants: telekinesis; Known power level: Can toss packing foam. It is unknown whether the force field was up at the time of the throw, or if it was raised immediately after, before the foam hit. Public knowlege.
4. “THE COMM BALL”. Tan/khaki, with inner orb. Grants: Telepresence (illusion of Halo only, plus can see, hear and talk through it, but not touch) on location of inner orb; and True Sight (seeing through illusions and invisibility) for Halo (but not via her telepresence, nor can it see through objects or mundane disguises). Known power level: Can reveal “impenetrable” succubi illusions. CLASSIFIED.
5. “THE FORCEFIELD ORB” (or possibly “THE FORB”). Purple, with white cloud inside. Grants: Force field. Known power level: Can stop penumbrate strength attack, versus Halo, under controlled conditions. Public knowlege.
I really wish we could edit. I have a fer suggestions. PPO: Known Strength, incinerates trees and dirt in 100yd line.
Forb: Stops Multiple attacks from penultimate strength attacker. (A tank might take one shot from Max, sure as hell won’t take 2
Agreed, about the multiple attacks. Albeit that the punches were “pulled” as they were not safe testing circumstances. Lacking the ability to edit, I have modified my master list. Although do not see posting it again unless or until we get to see some drastically new information about them.
As for the PPO power, I let the picture in the link speak for itself. We do not really know the circumstances. From her comment we can assume that the image was pretty much the immediate effect of her test. But it may have been a more modest test (say zapping a branch in half) that just got out of hand, ending up in a raging forest fire.
Even that is a “pretty powerful” capability in the right (or wrong) hands under appropriate circumstances. What can instantly burn a branch in half could bring down an airliner, if used by someone knowledgeable. Which would justify her dialogue.
Slightly nit-picking on my part, I realise. She is a super hero and it can be assumed that she is powerful. But I wanted to limit that list to things we know for certain. And let our imaginations play with any possibilities beyond those.
Actually, looking back at page 90 (demonstrating the forcefield), you can see there is no forcefield as she grabs the foam
I agree with you as regards panel 12. But we do not know if that was when it was raised, for sure. Likely, yes. But it is possible that the force field was raised out of sight, whilst panel 11 was zoomed in on the tentacle picking up the packing foam.
That aside, Sydney might have just decided (even if she knew that she could have used both Forb and Pseudopod Tentacle Orbs simultaneously), that it was more impressive a demonstration to raise it just before the impact, .
It is an important distinction to make that we do not know, categorically, yet. Because one MAJOR limitation of a force field is whether it stops the user from interacting with the outside world. If Halo is able to use the tentacle even when the force field is up, then that is very handy, as she can open doors, throw grenades (being police oriented we assume tear gas or smoke ones, needless to say) or grapple opponents.
Assuming the tentacle is strong enough to do any of those examples, of course. But, critically, it would be at little or no risk to Halo, given the known power of her force field. Let alone the potential power of being able to blast with the powerful PPO, without the danger of return fire!
I’m thinking they’re going to have to give Sydney a way to hide thoe other three orbs so people don’t cotton on to the whole “foru power but seven orbs?” also am I the only one who has started thinking of the orbs in the terms of seven deadly sins?
And why not the seven cardinal virtues? :)P
Hipster Retort — There are only 4 cardinal virtues: Justice, Temperance, Fortitude and Prudence
Faith, Hope, and Charity are theological virtues
Correction taken note of! :)
Oh, and there I was thinking the cardinals’ virtues were: not getting drunk on the communion wine, not sleeping with the nuns, not gossiping about confessions and not interfering with choir boys.
I suspect that she will have difficulty doing that, if she has to concentrate to control them. If they do not mind being separated, and do not need Halo thinking about it constantly she could put those back in the tube. Or Dabbler might have some trick she can use to conceal them.
But it is probably simplest for them to simply announce that they are classified. Arianna, for one, will like that. Nothing gets the public more interested than official secrets.
you will have to forgive my ignorance and while i can pretty much guess them. what are the seven deadly sins?
Pride, Sloth, Greed, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Pride. = Seven Deadly Sins
Oops, said Pride twice, should have had Lust in there instead of one of those.
Dabbler disapproves of you forgetting lust. That’s her favorite one as you might imagine.
Yep, that Porno-Sense is a really great power to have…
Sleepy, Sneezy, Doc, Grumpy, Dopey, Wheezy & Sleezy
Oops! Meant ‘Bashful’ instead of ‘Wheezy’
Yes, Dabbler’s sin list is probably 7 kinds of lust.
Never got that whole ‘seven’ sins thingy. Seems to me that 4 of them are alle variations of a common sin.
Greed – desire for material possessions
Gluttony – desire for food
Lust – desire for sex
Envy – desire for what someone else has
6. UNKNOWN. Green, with yellow cloud inside (showing as swirly shapes which extend beyond the surface, in close up, when activated). Glows. CLASSIFIED.
7. UNKNOWN. Brown, with white cloud inside (showing as geometric shapes which extend beyond the surface, in close up, when activated). Glows. CLASSIFIED.
Origins:
Found whilst scuba diving around the Florida Keys.
Advantages:
The orbs can be controlled telekinetically, including summoning them, even when no orbs are in hand;
the orbs are undetectable other than by direct observation;
they provide huge marketing spin off potential;
and the orbs are tethered to Halo (uncontrollably).
“the orbs are undetectable other than by direct observation;”
As far as I am aware they have only tried magical scanning.
Do we know yet if they can be seen on camera?
(Or perhaps X-ray)?
It would be funny if the press conference revealed that they don’t show up on camera either.
An amusing thought How did she get them through Airport Security for the flight back home?
Perhaps the Fly Ball might answer that? If so, the background checking of her travel patterns, mentioned elsewhere in this page of comments, is likely to pick up on that.
In this particular case, my film knowledge exceeds my poor geographical education. However, if Hollywood has educated me correctly, I think the Florida Keys are a chain of islands connected by bridges, to Florida itself. We know that Sydney drives. If she chose to, say travel by train, then hire a car for local use, she would not pass through airports.
Assuming that she did go by air (which is reasonable, despite my habitual exploration of the alternatives), it is likely she would have used Tubey or a similar container to hold the orbs. Although her inseparability from the orbs might seem a problem, I do not think it would, in practice, as the distance containers have to go from passengers, through the x-ray scanners, is not great.
If the ultra high tech/magic that Dabbler uses cannot detect the orbs, I doubt airport scanners will fare any better.
Finally, even if the container was opened up, I do not think you will find that coloured balls are on any list of prohibited items for transport through airports. ;-)
Confidential Security Memo
From: American Airlines To: Acme Corporation
Re. Airport X-ray machine supplied for installation in Florida Airport
Dear sirs,
We regret to inform you that the above machine has found to be faulty. As you can see from the enclosed security footage, it is unable to detect what appears to be either childrens’ playing balls or Christmas tree ornaments. We consider the implications for dangerous items to be severe.
Not to mention the anger it caused to the customer in particular, as you will be able to hear. And the extreme distress suffered by all the other passengers in earshot of her! If this matter is not resolved to our satisfaction, you can expect to hear from our lawyers.
Ok, it is official, there is something about spoiler behaviour I do not understand. The dirty joke I told a few weeks ago stopped the spoiler well short of where I thought it should. Just like this one. And I am sure I told it to continue the spoiler to the end.
Not that it is important, as it was only a gag, but it does look odd.
Ok, that grumble/test may have supplied an answer.
*start of spoiler* If my guess is right, the spoiler will cut off *here*
Because I just did a double return. Whereas I actually instructed it to *stop spoiler here*
[spoiler]If so, I may be able to get around this behaviour
[spoiler]by starting a fresh spoiler whenever that happens.
[spoiler]I will not even bother to tell the spoiler to stop, as it does not seem to care.
And this should be “unspoilt”. If this experiment did not work, then I will avoid anything other than simple spoiler text in future. Apologies for all the yacking today. It has been keeping my mind off something else. On top of the subject and your comments being too interesting to avoid commenting.
Huh, that’s peculiar. I didn’t know the spoiler code worked like that.
I’m not familiar with the backend code that is used to handle the [spoiler] tag here, so I don’t know if it’s something standard or custom for this site, but judging by Yorp’s tests and a look at the generated HTML, it appears to simply be doing a search for a combination of the start and end spoiler tags, and replacing them with an HTML span, without considering any paragraph separators in between the start and end tags. (Probably a single preg_replace() call.)
Since browsers are lenient when parsing HTML, the span tags are implicitly ended when their parent element (the paragraph) ends, and the span end tag is ignored for having no start tag within its parent, which in combination causes the apparent effect of only the first paragraph being hidden.
It should not be difficult to change the code to also look for paragraph separators inside the spoiler tags, and end/restart the spoiler span at that point. With an improvement to the JavaScript, it could still open the entire thing with one click instead of each paragraph separately.
I’m a programmer myself, and couldn’t resist the challenge, so I’ve already written the JavaScript portion of that, and I have a decent idea of how to do the PHP portion as well. I’m willing to write that part as well, if someone could point me to a copy of the relevant piece of the current code (to have a starting point). (It would also be helpful to know if the code is run before or after the newlines-to-paragraph-tags code.)
The resulting code would obviously have to be checked, approved and installed by the owner(s)/admin(s) of this site before it would do anything here though, so if you’re not interested I guess there’s not much point…
OK, I found where you said that the spoiler tag was a plugin – but as you didn’t say which plugin, and I’ve found several (none of which seem like they do quite what yours do), I still don’t know exactly where to do the PHP change, or if my assumptions about it are correct. However, I did figure out that I didn’t really need to know if it was before or after the newlines-to-paragraphs code, as I could just match on both, and I’ve gone ahead and written the actual code. The PHP part of it actually just changes the parameters to a single function call (assuming the plugin works the way I think it does).
See the link on my name for the code and instructions for how to use it. If you need any further help with it, just email me; I’ll leave this topic now so as to not repeatedly bother you with something you’re not interested in.
The plugin is called “SASpoiler” which I modified very slightly to require a click since mousing over something to too easy to do accidentally.
I’m not really sure how to implement what you’ve written, but I could probably edit the SASpoiler if you modify that.
Ah, I see. Thank you for that link. I’ve adapted the code now, and have uploaded a version of the plugin that I believe should work (see name link). I don’t have a WordPress installation I can test it on at the moment, but I’ve kept the changes small to avoid as many potential problems as possible. I also included the colors you’re currently using in the CSS, so I think that all you should need to do is replace the version of the plugin you have now with this new one.
This is just a test! So Yorp or anyone else reading this there is no reason to read any further, or put time into responding as I’m simply trying to see if and what kind of bug may still be present in the spoiler tag if any…
test hidden visible hidden again
on two rows
Visible
Hidden
with two CR
And visible.
and hidden
with three CR
test
four CR
And that’s all folks!
And one more test…
“test” “test test test”
“test test test test”
she probably drove. Or simply stuck them. In a small carry on with a change of clothes
Additional advantage: Glow in the dark, when activated. Level of illumination possibly controllable.
Weaknesses:
Mittens;
limited to using one per free hand (exception – able to telekinesis/summon orbs without any in hand);
the orbs like to take a nap if not used for a while;
and the orbs are tethered to Halo uncontrollably.
Actually it’s unknown if it can be used as illumination, because it “glows”, but it doesn’t actually emit light.
Actually Dabbler said she can see them glow, but not detect the light coming off them (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/621)
Good point. I guess we will have to wait and find out, on that one. Although we do see what is presumably light reflecting off Sydney’s face and other nearby objects every now and then. Possibly there is light, but it is simply (as mentioned by RobK) undetectable by whatever means Dabbler was using?
For me, the source of illumination from the orbs is one of the more interesting questions yet unanswered in the series. Being human (unlike Dabbler) the only things I can actually “see” are certain wavelengths of radiation or “light”. The light (and corresponding color) seen either has to be the wavelength reflected off of the surface of the object or the wavelength emitted by the object itself. That the orbs emit no light means that I’m not actually seeing them. At least, not physically by using my eyes anyway. I look forward to seeing what method (currently undetectable) they use to project an image into my brain… Perhaps I hear it. :)
On an interesting sidenote, since they aren’t visible, the orbs may not be orbs at all. (Although they probably are since Sydney holds them and they must feel like orbs to her to get no WTF reaction)
*throws new day’s resolution out the window*
I had been planning to be strong, and remain silent. But your line of reasoning is too juicy not to sink my teeth into! I guess no gypsy fortune teller will ever use the phrase “tomorrow you will meet a strong, silent man.”
Possibly what we are detecting is nothing more than a direct manipulation of our minds? There could either be something else there (little fairies in tu tu’s, tiny mechanical bees or incarnate allegories) or nothing (that we would normally perceive in our standard time and space anyhow).
Likewise, when Sydney handles them, her tactile receptors are being bypassed and the impression of feeling is transmitted directly into her Thalamus, Cerebral Cortex or Hippocampus.
They mentally instruct us “This looks like a shiny blue orb, it has the usual properties you would expect of a hard, cold, smooth ball…”. Similar to how the Matrix tells us “this is a spoon”.
However, in the case of the orbs there is a problem. Perhaps the mental signal is designed for human brains to receive, and so Dabbler’s alien brain does not process it exactly the same (when she concentrates on it). Or there is a flaw in the relevant line of code.
Perhaps it fails to appreciate modern, scientific thinking on how light works (ironically it may even be because our understanding of that is flawed, and it just does not take that into account) and in telling us the properties of the orbs it fails to also describe the light hitting it, not expecting us to examine that in its own regard, in the way that we think of it.
Or possibly, the discrepancy might arise in that Dabbler was conducting her examination by some artificial means (cybernetic eye, magic spell or android metachlorians) which could not be fooled. So her brain was telling her “you see it glow” but her sensors were saying “there is no light”.
I can see one thing about your theory that I must adress.
She can hit people (pritty hard) with the orbs. So there is some (pritty hard) physical thing there
Yup, well argued. And, the simplest explanation is usually the right one, so your conclusion is probably correct. But, to run with the hypothesis, if they are capable of making Sydney feel the sensation of touching them, then it is no more than a matter of degree for them do the same to Math. But making him feel it a lot harder. The pain that went with the sensation could either be Math’s own mind, responding to the input in the normal fashion, or it also created by the same source.
At the end of the day, if you assume that there is “something out there” controlling the sensory input that you (for argument’s sake) are getting, there is no known way for you to disprove the hypothesis categorically. You could be a soul in hell, being tormented with the illusion of a normal life by some demon. Or you could be an organic battery floating in a tub of nutrients being fed sensory input by your robot overlords.
Every sensation you experience, every pain or pleasure and even your memories being subject to their whim. In such circumstance, being within the illusion, there is no way for you to see beyond it. Unless someone gives you a pill to take to dispel it.
Which even calls the possibility of your very existence into doubt, let alone the real form that it might take. Were it not for the fact that you can argue “I am thinking, therefore I exist“.
I’ll buy the possibility of the solipsism-hack for feeling the presence of the orbs in ‘normal’ circumstances, but there seems no way for that to produce the gross physical effects that have been demonstrated. A hack on the thalamus etc. can make you think you’re holding an orb, but it can’t produce a whole-body yoing.
If it is affecting the viewers it can. If I were to hypnotise you, I could convince you to see whatever I told you. For instance “you see a dragon eating the moon”. That is a massive physical effect Yet, although it is only in your mind, you cannot tell that it is not true. You might say that to yourself, but you still see the holes, where it has taken bites.
If the orbs effect extends to everybody viewing them, then whatever illusion was projected would be, to most intents and purposes, indistinguishable from reality.
To take it even further, it is possible that the entire Earth is nothing more than an illusion projected by the orbs, to entertain or educate the orb wielder. What you perceive as self-will and self-identity, is simply created as an aspect of the greater illusion.
Weakness should also include:
-Being Riddled With Bullets
-Being Staked In The Heart
-Beheadings
-Shirtless Guys With Abs
-Sunlight
-Spicy Food To The Eyeball
(Feel free to add others)
Ooh, I am a guy and I have abs (they’re hiding in there somewhere, among all that ahem insulation). Does that count?
Ahh, but those would be properties of Sydney, not her orbs. Let me check my list of her properties versus yours. Mmm, no there is a major discrepancy. Under “Disadvantages” mine just says “Flawless”!
-Running short of space in ‘the list’
-Actually planning to do something to people or things on ‘the list’. Soon. <— yes, a weakness well worth the 25 character points you get for it. 10 if meds can help…
-Intimidated by crowds of peculiarly tall, strong, beautiful people around her.
-Ohhhhh shiny! Attention troubles.
-Hyperactivity
-Not being capable to succesfully compensate for any ADHD type behaviors (it's called "farming a disadvantage for more points – again" and the gamemaster will make you pay for it in spades).
-Low stomach size, apparently due to stomach wall nuke-and-beyond-proofing; needs to eat frequently.
It might be an idea to translate the Mittens thing to a little wider ‘needs to be able to use hands’
You know, glowing in the dark can be a disadvantage as well, unless she can turn it off or has something to cover them with so that it’s not visible – otherwise, it would be hard to escape detection by hiding in the dark… (Not that I think that’s something Sydney would often do…
Plot sense tingling. Man, it has taken a long time for me to make this association. What else do we know about the waters off Florida? Well, the Bermuda Triangle springs to mind. Rather an ominous location to be potentially linked to!
Although the orbs might be in the proximity for a good reason (or perhaps as a result of whatever deeper mystery causes the Bermuda Triangle in that world).
As a fun thought about the underwater discovery. One of the unknown orbs might provide some kind of aquatic power, such as water breathing. A pretty standard thing that role players might check for. But Sydney might not have considered it, because they have been in the water and did not display any unknown properties. However, she did have scuba gear on at the time.
Some say Atlantis might have been in that area.
I was giving some thought the other night as to what the unknown orbs might do and then I thought “maybe they DON’T do anything . . . yet.
Here’s my thinking: What if the orbs don’t have any “designed in” powers but instead acquire powers by imprinting? (think pokemon balls) This would mean the known orbs have powers that some previous owner(s) won in combat and the unknown orbs are empty vessels just waiting for Syd to win a fight against a supervillain.
that could turn into one hell of a scary ride. Imagine her with succubus-like powers, or invisibility, things like that? If one gives super healing, she could find out with her eye isue though.
Lots of ship traffic, including smugglers for around 500 years.
Yup. We like to attribute mystery where there is none. And those facts alone (not to mention pirates and other normal hazards) can attribute many losses down the years. Albeit not explaining the circumstances of some particularly notorious ones.
Equally, humans are good at explaining away unknown causes by attributing mundane explanations to them. Which means that sometimes we fail to discover unusual alternatives. And, of course, in a world with super powers, magic and alien species, nothing is unrealistic. Including Atlantis.
From Phineas and Ferb…Ahem
*Sing* ATLANTIS! Sunken city you enchant us!
The Bermuda Triangle is a piker. See https://www.michigansotherside.com/Articles/Great_Lakes_Triangle.htm and links therein.
Yeah, I was sucked in by the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ hype when younger.
These days, I know that weird #### is not confined to this one area – it happens everywhere..
Do NOT taunt Happy Fun Ball.
Is that HAL9000 below the screen in the background?
Nah, it is just the TV control/decode box.
“HAL, open channel 685.”
“I’m sorry, Dave, I can’t do that. That channel is restricted by parental controls.”
let’s call the tentacle thingy, Yuki ball!!! ;)
LOL is that a wise crack at one of the characters in Ma3? ^_^
He he. I failed to make that connection, if that was the implication. But it does make sense, now that you have pointed it out.
If that is what he was getting at (guessing so I mean Yuki has a *little* prob w/ tentacles lol) that rules.
<3 ma3
Can not wait to see the press conference. There are so many ways that dave can play it.
Press: What does each of the orbs do?
Syd: The Purple one here is called the Violator. It creates a tentical that I can use as I see fit….
Press: Do you mind demistrating one of the orbs.
Syd grabs the violator, as her hand closes on the orb a purple tentical snakes out to grab one of her male teams “insert what ever hi jinks you want”
I think you have been browsing a bit too many of the links given for the Valentine’s day sex drive, and it has corrupted your plot sense!
Nope I have not yet browsed the valentines pics yet. I just put what I might do, thou I would have used said orb on the females. Plus I left it open ended to on how far others minds will go into the gutter. Syd could just drag said captored person closer, or have done something far worst.
Yea, after posting I decided it was me inferring things that may not have been implied. I don’t think I should have looked at that list myself!
That works, but perhaps change it to “tentacle grabs male reporter, and hijinks ensue” ;)
with arianna looming over sidney now? i think she will tone down a little bit…. just a little
Sit Halo beside Anvil. As Sydney starts playing badly with others, she can give a little Be Nice! reminder.
One of the unknown orbs could provide life support (possibly the green one?). That would only show up when she was in a hostile atmosphere, and not in her testing.
Yeah, like in an old comic (The Outsiders?) where at least one of them changed different colours and they couldn’t figure out what one of them did, turned out it provided breathable atmosphere where there was none (ie allowed them to breath, and survive, on the moon)
With great power comes great confusion in naming :p
Hey Artemisia,
When did you get here?
Hey there, Art.
she should have requested 2 conditions 2 comics ago: whatever the actual condition is, and calling the orb the hentorb. this is the funniest in a while david
That middle panel is just about perfect! All the orbs layed out with their powers in nicely arranged text bubbles, so that folks can gather everythingin a glance, including the two that Sydney is vexed with. Plus that little exchange about what to call the groping orb. Made me giggle. :)
Wonder if it will be Dabbler or Harem that asks Sydney for a private demo of the hentorb? ……..Hmm time to check the odds in Vegas.
Neither. Dabbler does not worry about privacy, and Harems’ would end up public anyway.
Glad that Sydney resisted the urge to give demonstrations, on reflection. It means she is likely to see boot camp. Rather than Guantanamo – as an inmate!
Is it me, or is Sydney’s chest getting a little larger in this and the last few comics compared to months ago?
Well supers all look super attrective in this universe. Maybe she’s turning into a super XD
I hope not. I like Sydney just the way she is! But checking the definitive page, I do not think there is any significant change that is not explained by body posture or the way cloth hangs.
Doubtless pharmaceutical and other corporations in their world will be investigating the attractive superhero phenomenon. They would make a fortune if they could bottle it or put it in a pill!
*shudder* I just thought of the point that villains, of various sorts, might not wait for (rare) superheroes to volunteer to participate in their experiments. At the very least heroes might expect hairbrushes and the like to be stolen for genetic or other analysis. Super villains might not limit themselves to that though.
This might be also be expected regarding the superpowers themselves, of course. But that has a limiting feature built in. The stronger the powers, the more attractive they are to those seeking to replicate them. But the better their owner can protect themselves from that, if they do not want to co-operate.
But as good looks are universal, then people with very weak * powers will be very much at risk from this. Sydney being a rare exception, not being an innate super, but one granted power from her orbs.
* or at least weak as regards combat/concealment/evasion.
Ok. Just saying, in the vote incentive, the harem’s said they had a hobby of scuba diving. Anyone else picturing a universe where harem found the orbs. I mean, she could use all of them at once.
…
Epic.
They’d only be tethered to one body though. I think…
Harem is one body she clones herself when she teleports just doesn’t remove the original after the port. So technically yes she could use all the orbs; however, it would more then likely limit the range of her teleport since the range at which you can get away from the orbs is only about ten meters or so.
True, there would be disadvantages. However, if they each carried one orb, it could offset. Maybe each orb would only need to be near one of the harems, or each harem near one of the orbs. We don’t know, and probably never will. Could be pretty awesome anyway, hivemind + superpowered alien weaponry (Or whatever the orbs are…godly relics, ancient atlantis tech.)
The idea is moot, since Harem did not find the orbs, there is no method known to transfer them, and Halo woudn’t even if she could. However, the idea is intriguing. If Halo had found the Orbs and I was GM, I would rule that her bodies are interchangable for the purpose of controlling orbs. (They all have the same mind, after all.) The real question is how far the orbs can get from each other. If there is a short distance, then two of Harem form a forward “assault team”, each controlling two of the 4 public orbs. The other three orbs rotate around them. If the orbs will separate, as long as they stay with a Harem body, then you can split up the orbs/powers however you like. Wow! The mind, it boggles. (my mind, anyway…)
Leaving all that behind, Harem is a teleporter. She obviously can carry some amount of mass with her, as she retains clothes and accessories. Is she limited to how much she can carry? Because Sydney is pretty light, and with Fly Ball can become essentially weightless…
Be interesting to see what Halo comes up with in terms of tactics for this crew, not that Maxima probably hasn’t already considered some innovative moves…
Just a reminder: Weightless is not mass-less. Sydney would (likely) keep her inertia when flying/manipulating her very local gravity.
Clearly, Harem can carry more than just her own weight and her own clothing, such as guys’ shirts. Probably along the lines of how much she can physically lift. I wonder what the effect would be as she teleports carrying more and more things.
We’d have to ask Dave, but I think Harem has a pretty small load limit for teleporting. The heaviest things we’ve seen her take with her were like a couple pounds.
The bigger question here would be:
What happends with the physical orb if harem teleports away. Does it go flying after her? If so, how long would it take to arive? Or does it teleport with the user? OR, does it interfere with the teleporting
Sydney has some wicked balls.
Sydney throws the best balls of all.
Panel #2…the look exchange. I think that Sydney’s “Umm” and “Uh’s”, about Florida and the keys may be an indication that she wasn’t quite truthful about were she got them. Either that or suggesting that further investigation of the Florida Keys is forthcoming.
Iiinteresting subtlety that I had not picked up on. I took it as being a look of frustration at Sydney’s inept public speaking. But you might have the lie of it (so to speak).
Remember. Sydney doesn’t know how to lie.
Sydney knows how to lie. She is just not very good at it! Which is why I give credibility Sylent‘s suggestion.
Her hesitation and rambling might be a sign of clumsy public speaking. Which could lead to worried exchanges of glances. Given that one of the world’s most significant press conferences is just about to focus on her.
Or alternatively both might be attributed, by Maxima and Zephan, to signs of duplicity. With similar, significant glances as a result. Both possibilities are in the running, in my opinion.
By the way, this is one of the reasons I love this comic. The writing does have depth, the art has subtlety leading to a wealth of possibilities when you analyse the details. This is not the first significant, plausible, aspect I would have missed, but for reading the comments!
I think you guys might be onto something. I spotted this too, but attributed it to nervousness on Sydney’s part. But, thinking on it, she hasn’t displayed anything like this problem – in situations that could be considered at least odd and arguably downright stressful.
My SWAG (Simple Wild-@$$ed Guess) is that she is holding back something. In the flashback, we only had a brief glimpse of her in scuba gear. No telling what might have led up to that particular moment, or what immediately followed it. I look forward to (eventually) finding out, though.
Sydney may seem kooky, but she KNOWS what she knows, and she definitely doesn’t seem to KNOW the Keys. I don’t think shes telling the truth about her origin story. Not to mention, if anyone was going to look exasperated over poor oratory skills, it’ll be Arianna, who for some reason is staying out of the naming debate. I would’ve thought she’d be all up in that business.
The more I type the word KNOW, the less it seems like an actual word; it just looks wrong.
i can`t believe it took me this long to notice. you did the same thing as stan lee.
Sydney Scoville (jr.) S.S
same first letters for initials
i think he did that with most if not all of his characters
Peter Parker
Jonah Jameson
Bruce Banner
etc.
…
…
…
kewl ^_^
It’s a sickness. Anvil’s name is Kenya Cassidy, Harem’s is Daphne DeShantis. I have to work hard to fight the urge when naming new characters.
Check out Harem and Anvils real names too.
Lol was gonna say that it might be an unconscious choice,
This alliteration problem started long before Stan Lee became active in the comics scene. Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lex (short for Alexander) Luthor, Lori Lemaris, Lucy Lane, Lionel Luthor, etc. And that is just one story set! Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards, Doctor Stephen Strange are unmentioned so far.
BTW, John Jonah Jameson (often referred to as J. Jonah Jameson) is the antagonistic publisher/boss of Peter Parker.
…Scott Summers, Warren Worthington, Betsy and Brian Braddock, Matthew Michael Murdock, Seren Smyth… probably more, those are just the ones I can think of offhand that hadn’t already been named.
(Okay, that last was my most recent Marvel RPG character. Giving her an alliterative name seemed like a requirement.)
add Miles Morales (ultimate spider-man) and Wade Wilson (Deadpool) to that list
I think that Sydney would prove her intensive nerd background by naming the tentacle ball, “4F”. A little play on the military rejection code for being physically unfit for military duty, but mostly as an homage to Rowan & Martin’s “The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate”.
“Flying Fickle Finger of Fate”! Perfect!
Maybe this time somebody will ask what happens if someone else tries to grab an orb? Surprised it didn’t come up in the ballroom.
I know the first reaction, to that suggestion, would be both Math and Dabbler flinching. They probably still have bruises!
How many of the 101 things we bring up in our comments get resolved at this point, depends on pacing. I guess more of them will come out dynamically in the ongoing story. Even if, practically, some of them would be asked (and possibly answered, ‘off camera’) in these circumstances.
Maybe she got a little too close to Cuba, which isn’t really allowed. Max and Zephan trade some quizzical significant looks when Sydney says that…
Zeph said a while back that they were going to investigate her foreign travel. That ought to help them narrow down the real location.
BTW, I’m sure this has been stated already but I don’t recall…
Do you, as the author, actually know what the last two orbs do, or do you have some general idea but nothing too specific, or do you just want to work on it later, or what?
Right now I know what they do plus a lot of other stuff about the orbs, but I’ve changed quite a bit of stuff in the comic from my original… let’s call it the daydream version. A lot of it is just taking a second or third editorial pass over what I came up with originally, just for the sake of a more interesting story or while working discreet scenes into the larger plot, and I’ve gotten plenty of ideas from the comments. I can’t promise it won’t be the same when I canonize it by putting it in the comic. But for right now, yes. I even have diagrams.
Heh. “Diagrams.” Do any of them involve Harem simultaneously seducing the female members of Arc (to varying degrees of success)? Because, well, because…
In panel two, who else is speaking? I would have assumed Maxima, since she does all the other interaction with Sydney on this page, but the tail goes off into midair…
Sydney. The tail is pointing at the top of her head. I probably could laid that out a little better, but the important thing is Max throwing Zeph a glance.
The dialogue AlpineBob is referring to is “We know what the keys are.” Contextually I thought it may have been either Max or Zeph who said it. But equally it could be a member of the rest of the audience, out of sight?
Oh right, sorry, yeah, it’s just someone in the room telling her to get on with it. I imagine the remainder of the team is looking down from the second level since they can’t all fit in the one media room.
I was gonna comment on that. Max and Zeph obviously have detected deliberate misrepresentations in Sydney’s backstory.
For the tentacle ‘The Probe’.
Hate to be the grammar fag in my first post (great comic by the way) but when she is describing the yellow orb she should say “Lets me create AN illusion”.
*nods* That has already been picked up on. Dave said he will correct it.
And… fixed.
…and cue: “are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? (etc ad infinitum)”
You could just skip the press conference a little bit, maybe just have like Sydney reading about herself in the papers or watching it on the tv so you know it happened but don’t have to drag it out?
OHHHH And I like that guys idea for the tentacle orb being called the Probe^^^
I’d say to mostly do scenes of Joel and Sidney’s family & friends watching the conference on TV. That’d get back to Joel & the comic shop, intro Sidney’s family, convey at least the feel of the conference & public reaction to it, and avoid the drag of a re-re-intro of Sidney & orbs.
(Not that I think Dave hasn’t written the next few strips already.)
Hey guys, need some help. Computer died a while back, and life got in the way, so trying to finally get back to my comics. Anyway, got most of them, but still trying to find one. Any help is appreciated, so if this sounds familiar, hope you post. In general, here it is. Several roommates in a house, one is crazy, one I believe is indian. The house itself is magical I guess, though they don’t realize it, then somehow they come to the attention of an organization lead by a crazy guy, and they begin observations, and when one of them confronts the crazy roommate he pulls out a hammer from nowhere and attacks him. Then there is a portal in their kitchen cabinet, and someone comes through and they have to go into it. At some point I think there might have been a talking cat that kisses on of them and they turn into a cat guy.
Emerency Exit. Currently on hiatus
Emergency* GOD DAMN TYPO DEMON!
ok, thank you very much!
… Is it a bad sign that I knew which comic you were talking about off the top of my head, despite your semi-inaccurate description?
Naah… Or if so, I’m in trouble too, because I recognized it by the third comma of the description, with everything after just making me more sure. :P :)
might be nothing,,, bot going with what she call most orb,, would she have tried to call it Violatorb instead of violator
,, and by the way,, with you nsfw incentive,,,goth daphne’s right nipple shopiuldnt be flat into her breast,, specialy since its pierced
I was thinking the same thing.
Ah Molestorb… Best Pokémon name ever!
If you look at the roots, it simply means “bothersome circle”.
I wonder if the green one w/yellow swirls is an alpha state or dream powered orb? Right now as is- if held would protect her from mental attacks. It’s attack is if held when in a meditative state (Cue lesson from Math for good or bad) or sleep dream state/REM- allows astral projection. This can then occur w/telepresence ball to be real while elsewhere and mentally communicate.
Then w/o TP ball she can enter someone else’s dream- you can imagine the horrors of having Sydney in your dreams would be…especially if she realizes it. Con is that dreams can hurt her unless she has another orb in hand as a companion to give her an edge… Would you want Sydney in your brain w/the Green dream orb and her Hentai-orb? I mean really?
So Nightmare orb??
THe other I reserve ideas on until I’ve had more caffeine. (recovering from migraines again.)
I pity the poor character who’s only power is to detect magic. In a world without magic. Or who is psionic resistant, in a world without telepathy.
Of course, for every 100 of those that there may be, there is the 1 that readers/viewers complain about: “Stupid co-incidence, the one person who can detect magic, happening to pass by the only mage to come to Earth!”
OMG, I had a full blown 30-45 second LOL-ROFL(tm) attack over the whole “Molestorb. Hentorb. The violator” exchange. :-D
It almost sounded like an evil warlord laugh, just not as gloating, and with more lols. I wonder if my landlord is worried now… ;)
Really wish we knew what (passive?) heat/other resistance one of the orbs provides her with. It would be unusual to have her be able to ingest/ withstand area of effect of the hot sauce she can consume. Obviously she can’t take any direct heat (hot sauce in the eye), but the area of effect is able to stop people in its track, yet she doesn’t flinch… something’s up.