Grrl Power #170 – Serve and protect… eventually
… stunt at the bank… Is it just me or does Arianna look a little… dead shark-eyes in panel 4? I thought it was perfect for her though so I didn’t try and fix it.
Safety really does seem to be a bit of an afterthought here, though to be fair, it would have been harder for Sydney to shoot the tank while shielding everyone. So bonus points to people who surmised that the 3 rings on page 161 were from Max and Sydney testing her shield at different sizes. Obviously whatever Max is planning on doing to the tank, she expects shrapnel.
I have an announcement, but go comment first then come back up here and to read this so there’s at least some chat about the page. Ok, done that? Good.
**********************
So currently I am finding myself sans-job. It’s not a huge deal – I’ve been at the same place for as long as I’ve been working on the comic and people change jobs all the time. So what does this mean for the comic? At worst, nothing will change. I’ll keep putting up a page a week like always while I go on the hunt. I have a little in the bank and can eke by for a month or two.
Of course it’s crossed my mind that this might be the crisatunity needed to make me take a stab at doing the comic full time, the problem being the amount I made at my job vs. the amount I make on the comic from ads is… really significant.
Randy Milholland who does Something*Positive once famously told his readers that if they could match his salary in donations he’d quit and do his comic full time. As it happens, they did it – of course he also has 10x my audience so lets not get our hopes up. But in the spirit of things, I have actually finally created a donation page here which some people have been asking about for some time.
So what’s the best case a more realistic outcome? I get a few bucks in donations, maybe enough so that I don’t have to scramble quite so fast to look for something new. If it extends by financial buffer out by a few months, then I might even be able to post two comics a week for a while. That would be awesome for everyone, but I don’t want to promise anything as I am going to be training myself to learn some new tools. It seems that trying to get a job as a 2D artist doesn’t cut it. These days you have to know 3DSMax or Maya or ZBrush to go along with it. It’s like trying to get a job creating web pages while only knowing HTML and CSS, but not PHP, ASP, and/or Javascript/AJAX. Sure those jobs exist but they’re mostly entry and intern level positions. So if you’ve enjoyed the comic and are so inclined, drop a buck or 5 in the tip jar, or buy something through the Amazon referral link and we’ll see where this goes. Who knows, maybe I will be able to do this full time, even if it’s just for a few months.
So with all that out of the way, I hope everyone stays tuned, there’s some really fun stuff coming up in the comic!
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.
hi, thanks for the new page
Does that orb have touch controls?
That would seem weird to me. She controls the orbs via her mind. She calls them to hand via her mind. She controls the tentacle orb with her mind, etc etc etc. Why give an orb touch controls? The author can do as he pleases, it would just strike me as odd to give one of the orbs touch controls.
In an earlier comic, it was explained that touch was one of the steps. If she’s not holding the orb, she can’t activate it. That being said, there is some level of mental control. They don’t activate the moment she touches them.
She mentally summons one or two to her hands, touches them, then the ones she’s holding can be mentally activated
Oh yeah, far deal that she has touch the orb to power it up. I was just saying that, say with the tentacle orb, she doesn’t rub her finger on the orb to direct the tentacle. As far as we can tell, she directs the tentacle with her mind. Same with so much as activating the shield. She’s never been depicted pushing some kind of rune on the shield orb, she simply holds the orb to “power” it up or “turn it on” and then activates the shield at will with her mind. I guess, my impression is that her grabbing an orb is like plugging the orb into a socket. Anyway, interesting stuff.
Perhaps it is part of the learning process. Some of the more complicated options are encoded on the orbs in runes. Push them to activate the power. When you are familiar enough with the operation of the power, just visualise pushing the button in your ‘mind’s eye’. Eventually even that stage can be bypassed as your subconscious mind directly instructs the orb what results are desired.
In short, Halo may just be pushing the rune as a placebo. The orb is reading her mental intent, rather than sensing pressure on a switch.
By the same token, my logic here is that, while she’s controlling the size semi-consciously, she’s already created the expectation that she has to touch the shield orb in a specific manner/place to make it larger than personal-sized.
Whether this is accurate (touch controls for specific applications) or whether this is a physical mnemonic that her subconscious (which is actually controlling it) associates with “shield for more than one”, one of the two seems to be the correct answer.
as i pointed out elsewhere earlier i think that it must have a mental component to the rune controls to prevent accidentally activating additional afects at the wrong time
else i can see this senario
1 bad guy shoots at sydney
2 sydney raises shield
3 sydney accidental touches rune
shield expands cushing civilian against the nearust wall
Shouldn’t that be “We all” in panel 4?
Yes, yes it should
Hah, yes, I’ll fix that.
Ho boy.
Nit pick #1: Arianna’s dialog in panel 4 should probably read “WE ALL AGREED” rather than “ALL WE AGREED”.
Nit pick #2: Panel 7 shows Sidney flying, using her forcefield, and using the “embiggener” — three orbs — all at once?
It looks like the forcefield orb itself contains its own embiggener, along with a whole lot of other random runes that no doubt do other crazy things, in some sort of touch interface on the surface of the orb.
I’m sure some of the controls allow for air to be able to pass through or be kept inside, so she can breathe normally or safely breathe for a period of time in an inhospitable environment.
Other controls would probably be for sound (Cone of Silence?) or to open a portion of the sphere up to allow entrance or exit, without completely lowering your defenses.
Also, Dave, if it’s not to crass to ask, what amount of monthly donations would you say you would need to replace a full time job?
The rule I heard once is that you need “1000 true fans” in order to survive on your art full-time. A true fan being someone who spends $100/year on your art. (The $100,000/year total sounds like a lot, but between taxes, getting the merchandise in the first place, and miscellaneous advertising and networking costs, it works out to something more reasonable.)
Where donations are concerned, people would probably donate less than they’d spend on merch, so you might do better trying to find 10,000 people willing to donate $10/year. Dunno how many readers Grrl Power has.
Selling products like T shirts (“Got Cookies”, the Seal shirt, etc), Coffee mugs, pens, mousepads, etc. would be a more consistent cash flow than relying on donations.
Asking for on-going donations actually can keep things going better than merchandise. Just how many Seal t-shirts does somebody need? Now consumable items, like 500 ml bottles of ghost pepper sauce packaged as “Sydney’s Hot Sauce”, might have a faster turn-over, but still, i think the repeated donation, which I expect to have lower overhead (no raw materials) will probably work out better.
For on-going donations, have you seen Patreon ( https://www.patreon.com/ ), it allows “patrons” to pledge on a per-page basis. It then charges their card once per month. It is honour/trust based. A patron could cancel their pledge after the page goes up and then not pay (assuming that they cancel it before the end of the month).
It has a similar kind of system to kickstarter with reward levels. The artist can set amounts per page and give rewards like faster updates.
Yeah I’ll have to look into that, it may be a better way to do it than recurring paypal donations.
Where would Dave get hot sauce hot enough to be considered “Sydney’s hot sauce”? Anything that Sydney would endorse would be so strong you’d have to be arms dealer to acquire it. You did see what happened when she took a hot noodle to the eye right? Now imagine some asshat getting a hold of that and putting it in a squirt gun.
I’ve seen pure cap come it a bottle before. was 16 million scoville units. was in crystal form, so you could actually get it if you wanted…
The cops in my area have that. They call it pepper spray. I think the main use for ghost peppers (900 000 Scoville units) is for making pepper spray.
That is why I am suggesting ghost pepper sauce. It is actually edible (I have once, in a large burrito) if you can handle the heat (I also drank of couple of litres of milk to try to manage the heat).
Yeah, that’s supposedly the magic number. Some people can get by with less, some need more, but usually it helps if you actually have something to sell.
well i am glad you put in a donation button i may not be able to give much but i can definatly sper a few bucks a month (maby more after the holidays) and if enough of us do that you be surprised how quickly it adds up
one thing i have seen work well with a few comics is a donation progress bar with you maybe posting an extra comic or a desktop wallpaper for every $200 donated. that way you encourage donations because people get something extra when they give.
Do you have an “Always. Expect. Ninjas.” shirt yet?
Yeah, but I need to spend some time building an actual store. Here’s a link to the sad Cafe Press store. https://www.cafepress.com/grrlpowercomic
going back to the very first comics there was an argument over a clear shield and a light based attack. as that is set after this comic i would say sydney has some experience with making her shield opake for that reason im calling that one of the controls makes the shield opaque
I think the embiggener is the force field orb.
You can see the telepresence, energy blast and the two unknown orbs above her head and the formation indicates the last one (tentacle) is hidden behind her head.
I’m pretty sure the “embiggener” and the “ensmallener” are mental controls embedded within the shield orb
no way the text is clearly attached to the pick where you can see glowing runes on the shield orb with the statement “which one of these was the embiggener” no way its a mental thing
which i suspect is new for sydney as most of her problems seam to be a mental thing
Or, she’s just adding a Physical component to a Mental one (like people adding a Verbal when one is not needed, just to mess with enemies… what? just me?)
Or when a persons mouth moves while reading something, even if they’re not speaking.
Since they seem to be mentally controlled to some extent it’s likely that all she needs to do is think of the associated command rune to control it. It wouldn’t make much sense if she had to place her fingers or thumb on the rune to activate it. It also seems as the the actual size of the shield is controlled via a mental command rather than it starting at one size then her having to scale it up………since that would push anyone outside the shield at the start away from her rather than encasing them. I’m also pretty sure that it’s got safeties to keep the shield from slicing someone in half if she didn’t expand it enough. Tho maybe she can still do that if she concentrates on it.
you say it whouldent make senc for her to have to touch the runes to activat them yet the runes are on orbs that she needs to touch to acervate the orbs are not 100% controlled by her head
in fact the runes being touch based may be why the orbs only work in her hands as that is the only part of the body with the fine controle to touch the right runes
yes she has to touch the orbs to use them, but if she’s trying to touch 2.3 runes at once she won’t be able to hold onto the orb and then she won’t be able to use it at all.
OK, looks like another question answered – Sydney CAN vary the size of her force field.
Good luck with the job hunting, Dave.
Ditto. I hope you find one without too much delay. Unless you do decide to go pro, of course.
They, indeed, should have shielded the audience in the first place.
Problem was there was no need in shielding until Sydney came along. And sydney was the only one that could do the shield thing. So not really possible.
Besides, this way it’s much cooler suprise
I agree that before Sydney, there was not as big of a need for a shield. Everyone else has more training with there powers and more accuracy.
The problem I see with Sydney supplying the shield is that she already had the flight and PPO. To use the shield she would of had to put down the flight orb.
They had Maxima on “Shrapnel deflection duty” (propably maxing out reaction time and speed). And they only really needed her for Sydney (all the others had know powers, so they picked enough distance).
We can guess Max is going to max out her attack power for this one. Maybe even use more then one finger in the blast. So somebody else has to guard the press for this one. And max stresstested the shield properly beforehand.
I guess the press is going see a mushroom cloud from a really close distance (remmeber those clouds form because of sheer explosive force and are not linked to use of nuclear weapons).
I’m guessing Sydney just randomly pressed ‘buttons’ on the orbs to figure out the controls, seems like here style.
Hopefully one the other orbs is a knowledge repository, which would naturally include an instruction manual for the other orbs.
that would be Waayy too easy though. besides, if you notice the orbs aren’t exactly printing in english so it may not be understandable at all.
many years ago there was a show called The Greatest American Hero. the main character received a suit from some aliens that gave him super powers, the problem was he lost the instruction manual so he was constantly trying to figure out what powers he had.
And, eventually, he got a replacement manual, which he promptly lost after shrinking down to the size of an ant
I loved that show! The comparison between Ralph Hinkley and Sydney makes me happy. :)
And that would make Maxi, FBI Agent Bill Maxwell… spooky!
I suspect that the symbols might not even be real buttons, and she’s using them as mental triggers to manipulate the shield. There are similar principles in quite a few magical lores, such as with Eragon, where the spells just make it easier to cause specific effects.
I’m still waiting for three things from that series:
1. A movie adaptation that doesn’t suck up the wazoo.
2. A GOOD ending to the series. (Or at least a reason why he decided to kill off so many characters, leave so many cliffhangers unanswered *cough*ANGELA*cough*, and end the series on such a depressing note.)
3. A continuation like he said he might do later.
Darn, I’d almost forgotten that travesty of a movie, and the “Avatar the last Airbender” one too. :(
If you want a better example, “The Sleeping Beauty” by Mercedes Lackey would probably be a good choice. It points out how talent and practice can allow someone to untangle some pretty darn complicated spells, without saying a single word, through a pretty powerful example.
Max has a point as well, but I do wonder why she didn’t test Syd’s PPO when they got to the artillery range earlier the same way they tested her shield orb. For that matter, why did Max simply allow Syd to go forward with blasting the tank as her demonstation? If she simply didn’t know or guess that Syd’s PPO was that powerful (and wild), then she’s as culpable as Arianna.
While I don’t really disagree, she was probably thinking:
1. Between Max and Dabbler they can probably block most anything.
2. She doesn’t like the press anyway.
3. Screw Arianna.
Also the touch controls on the orb are really interesting given that they also respond to her thoughts. Perhaps mentals commands are rough and the touch controls fine tune things? Maybe the mystery orbs just haven’t been held or stroked the right way to activate. … I didn’t mean that to sound dirty but I think it’s unavoidable. :D
and andor get the dirtiest statement award for suggesting sydney should stroke her balls
I don’t think the orbs have any touch controls the same way an iPad does or like the buttons of a remote control. I think they’re controlled purely by thought; it’s just that they require (hand-specific) physical contact in order to input any commands.
The problems with that are:
1. There’s a bit of difference between “most anything” and “anything”.
2. As much as she may or may not like the press, I don’t think it’s to the point that she’d like to see any of them hurt.
3. Very little chance of Arianna getting hurt.
I’m sure that she has the authority to have nixed Sydney’s idea if she thought it was too dangerous. She didn’t, and therefore has about the same degree of blame for the journalists almost getting hurt as Ari.
My nerd knowledge banks are incomplete. Is JAWOHL! a reference to something?
german yes
In short, ja(wohl) can mean a variety of similar things, such as yes, indeed…
As this is a military context, it can be taken as: “Yes, sir!”
It’s german for “Yes!” or “Yes, Sir!”
Stronger than a simple yes.
and it’s a vague reference to every WWII movie set in Europe…
or if you need it to be geek-worthy, it could be a Hogan’s Heroes or Indiana Jones reference, specifically
“I know nothink! NOTHINK!”
it was “I see Nothing” actually… and in David Weber and John Ringo’s “March Upcountry” series the 4th book has the good guys taking over a starport, and the associated ships, from the corrupt governor, who used “Shultze’s” as his standard guards, they’re called Shultze’s because of their “i see nothing, i know nothing” attitudes… even after a couple of thousand years, Hogan’s Hero’s STILL has an impact!
Or Spaceballs, if you take parodies into context as well.
You forget “The Producers.”
Hopefully the orbs have a learning mode in addition to a “Don’t kill the orbmaster” default mode.
Programmable?
By the way/off topic:
Why doesn’t my new TV allow me to customize its response to my Cablebox remote?
BUT NO! I have get the remote to speak the TV’s dialect!
It should be the other way around!
You are more likely to have the same cable box as your neighbors, than the same TV. That means that not only might you accidently control someone elses set, someone else could possible control yours.
“Honey? Why is the channel set to Extreme Naked Midget Wrestling, again?”
“Umm, must be the neighbours again, you know what they are like, have you seen the car they drive?”
*rubs hands and cackles maniacally* Now we’ll see what Max can turn it up to 11 next week.
Hopefully it will make Ari run for cover.
Did Sydney “accidentally” leave her outside the force-field?
More like accidentally shielded her. Won’t do Max much good for her demonstration if she can’t reach the target.
He was talking about leaving Arianna outside the shield.
DaveB, if you want to actually get out there and do this full time you might think about making posters, and selling them yourself or better yet getting with comic book shops and have them sell them for you. Or something along those lines.
The one where Sydney is standing on a wall and shouting “Physics? Bitch, I’m a Super Hero!”, would sell like hotcakes in that kind uf venue.
I would love that one as a bookmark.
seconded, but please add wallpaper and t-shirt/sweater and coffee mug.
This is getting way too interesting to be able to hold the suspense for a week :D
Thank you, DaveB, for this awesomesauce webcomic.
Touch controls, very interesting. I’m assuming they are used to trigger other effects of the orbs, where the movement is contro0lled by thought. Probably a safety feature. You wouldn’t want the PPO orb, for example, firing at a random thought. This makes the orbs even more powerful though. I can imagine the PPO orb being capable of several different beams for example, at least have some sort of power level control anyway.
I recently read an article on how light can be adjusted into a sort of “bullet” apparently a ring-Airy modulation of the light allows it to intensify the further it travels. https://dottech.org/135158/scientists-are-testing-real-light-bullets-pew-pew-pew/ Looks like Blasters are on the way folks. =)
blasters and lightsabers… still waiting on my flying car (yes, I’ve seen the aerodynes they sell for usurious amounts – something under $100K please)
Almost expecting Max to drop kick/uppercut the tank into the troposphere (stratosphere might be a bit dangerous) then hit it with a particle beam. Or two… Or just blast her dislike of the press into it till no one else can have a turn. :3
Well she is the last one.
Also she can blast her dislike directly AT the press. Which is now shielded
That would be an extremely STUPID!!!! thing to do, specially seeing how they are trying to make the public, and the media, not view them as dangerous and out-of-control
How is that out of control? They tested it thuroughly, it’s safe. And a very inpressive way of showing of the forcefield
The fact they targeted members of the media
No they didn’t. They targeted a shield. The members of the media had front row tickets, and were never in any danger.
Just make sure you tell the cameraguys to start filming
No, you specifically said “Also she can blast her dislike directly AT the press. Which is now shielded”, just because they are shielded doesn’t change the fact they were deliberately and directly targeted
And then Sydney fumbles Max’ stunt and Max accidentially hits the moon; at least it would be most spectacular.
So this is the first time we’ve learned the balls have more than an on/off switch?
If they all have controls like that, it opens a helluva a lot of possibilities for all of them!
I believe that the reason Max and Dabbler didn’t protect Sydney from the back-blast of her beam, is that they were busy protecting the crowd. Having participated in similar military demonstrations of munitions, you have to put the audience a mile or more back, or put them in a bunker. Both options significantly reduce the impact of the demonstration, so, if you can have your audience see the show up close, and protect them, that is much more impressive, and better PR.
I also noted that Sydney was flying, shielding and embiggening. I would guess that the embiggen orb is activated in regards to a specific orb/orbs, and then those are utilized once the switch is thrown on the embiggen orb. I hope that it can go the other way and emsmallen as well. Remember, these orbs are very high tech/magic and may still reveal some sort of advanced AI/guiding sentience.
The embiggening is simply an option on the shield orb
Ah. I missed that.
oh, and regarding the post-comment – I’ll volunteer to explore max’ gold cave ^.^
read out of context leads to many inappropriate discussions
Right. Just let me get inside Sydney’s shield before you tell Max. Hope you have life insurance.
wanna bet the reporters are gonna see what being on the OTHER side of a Particle Weapon Blast? (And maybe have someone soil themselves.)
Not gunna happen.
1) This is Max, the professional of the group.
2) This is Max, the leader of the group.
For Arc to work, they need to be accepted by the public. Being a big mean scary group lead by an uncontrolled leader won’t be the right image. Both Max and Max understand this.
Besides, it’d be nasty if the larger size makes the shield comparatively weaker…
Have been enjoying the comic so I dropped a tip in the jar. Hope it helps. I feel like I’m the curse of death for online comics. I find one, fall in love with it, and the artist abandons it. Please keep drawing. Please :)
If I were a reporter at that moment having seen what I saw, I’d be more afraid right now, not less.
and it’s a gold mine…not a cave.
Make a few more “gold” related puns. It reminds me of all those old, corny cartoons I used to watch as a kid where the bad-guy is just hilariously, stupidly, evil. Like he’s going to get SUPER-RICH by stealing all the world’s gold, then keeping it in his mega-fortress of doom (money doesn’t work unless you spend it)….but he never actually pays for anything anyway; whatever he wants he just takes.
Gold. Goldgoldgold. Goldy-goldishness. Goldfish. Goldylox and the three bears. Say that word enough times in a row and it turns to gibberish.
Do you put Goldylox on Goldybagels?
if we acespt that the runes are controles for the ords take a looka th this page https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/515
the two orbs of unknown power have a lot of controls on them
Now all we need is to find someone who can read Atlantean (based on the orbs aquatic origins).
I am thinking that they two-stage on-switches and Sydney has not pushed the correct two runes in the correct order. Let’s see: 15 runes yields 15!/13! = 210 permutations for a two-rune touch activation. Even an obsessive-complusive is likely to give up before trying them all, let alone a hyperactive.
to be fair i’m not obsessive and whould be done in 5 hours
You underestimate the staying power of obsessive compulsives, methinks.
And ADHD. Sure, we’d get bored fast, but we’d always come back to it shortly.
Wait, so Sydney is merely protecting everyone from the results of Maxima’s attack?
I was sensing a Fastball Special…
We’ve seen Sydney’s orb is able to pick up and carry what’s inside it. I wonder what would happen if she decided to fly up now with the entire press corps and the ground they’re standing on inside the shield. If she could pull it off that would be even more impressive than blowing up a tank. Plus, the aerial shots they could get of Max demolishing the remains of the tank…
When did we see that?
Besides, it would be pritty difficult for the press to stand up in an orb. Or she’d have to take the ground along with it, which wouldn’t be to practical either
If she has the raw power to lift the weight, why not? All it would do is leave an extra crater in the firing range when she is done. And not even that if she tidied up by putting landing them back in the same spot they took off from.
As has been discussed in the past, Syd’s “flight” orb is actually a gravity-control orb. So she could take the dirt the press is standing on (as she did on smaller scale 2 weeks ago), lift them in the air, and tilt them ~20 degrees for ease-of-viewing; all with them standing comfortably in their 1-gee bubble.
Now that would be a superpower demo!
Huh, does that thing use touch controls? I guess so, my mind didn’t jump there though. Isn’t the “embiggener” another of her orbs? So, now we know what one of the two mystery orbs do. I’m assuming it empowers other orbs, so, could it make the PPO stronger for example or make her fly faster or something? Anyway, that is where my head went.
Touch controls also seem odd to me because now that I think about it, she seems to largely control the orbs with her mind. She calls orbs to her via mind and can control the telepresence orb and the “hentorb” via her mind as well. So, why on Earth go for touch controls when mental control is available? Yeah, I’m going to run with, those are just runes, not touch controls. Anyway, I wonder what mystery orb #2 does, I’m voting for a healing orb personally.
i will say thats were my mind whent ferst but there are a few problems with it
1. we are specifically shown the runes in regard to the witch on one statement
2. sydney is flying and using the shield orb and she can only use 2 orbs at a time
although i think the runes may respond the the thought of her activating them (with touching possibly being a mental crutch for sydney) which is why she hasn’t accidentally activated the runes by holding the orbs
I don’t know why everyone seems to think those are touch controls. My take on it is that those are “thought controls”. In other words the runes are a visual interface that she selects from by a kind of mental/visual point-and-click method. She goes through the runes until she spots the one she wants and then mentally “selects” it. Why the need for controls at all if it’s controlled mentally? A shield is something you generally want to behave a certain way while you’re using it, and we’ve all seen Sydney’s ability to concentrate. By using a control interface to set the shield’s behavior it can be relied upon to act the way it was set to as long as it’s running, even if Sydney gets distracted. The alternative is wildly unpredictable behavior as Sydney’s mood and attention shift.
I like this idea! It is now my personal canon. :P
Ditto, this makes the most sense, and is now my canon, too, lol.
I like the fact they’re pretty much visual, particularly because Dabbler didn’t see them, and they weren’t seen, until Sydney interfaced with her orbs–even the “GNDN” orbs had interface runes once active, but not before…so it’d be like summoning up holographic projections with a thought to sort through the root menu, which the mind then seizes upon a particular entry. And yes, they’d be written in alien (or at least unknown to modern times) glyphs of some sort.
Yeah, I still favor mental over touch controls but the flying thing I hadn’t noticed before. I really hate to nitpick, I find that can just ruin perfectly good entertainment. I’ve certainly read some of the comments to Dave before and just kind of gone “really, is that REALLY an issue? cut the guy some slack!” Still, the whole two orb thing is pretty much the only thing that keeps Sydney from being completely OP. How is she flying, making a shield, and enlarging it? Could the “embiggener” power up the shield simply from Sydney touching it once and then keep the larger shield once she lets go? Hmm, interesting. Well, I’m curious to know but I’m also curious for the comic to move to some actual crime-fighting, seems like there has been awful lot of set up. Well, it’s fun set up so that is cool.
the emigenner is a control rune on the shield orb not one of the other orbs hell you see the fight and shield orbs fly in to her hand at the same time. it is only after summoning thoughs two do she look for the embiggener, the only question is if the runes are touch or thought activated as the orbs have both a mental and a touch based component to their operation. after all she needs to touch them to use the powers as well as being able to will them around so it is entirely poseble that there is a touch component to the runes. however i think that there must be a mental component to prevent say accidentally expanding the shield while you are in a building
Pardon me, looking more carefully at that panel, you might have it. The “embiggener” isn’t another orb, it’s a rune on her shield orb? Heh . . . I find that odd when the orbs otherwise seem to be controlled by her mind. Why couldn’t she just shrink and enlarge the shield at will? Still, it would explain how she is flying and enlarging the shield, there is no 3rd orb. Well, gotta say, I love Dave’s work but sometimes he throws in little details that are easy to miss, would be one of my only critiques of his comic. If she really is pushing a rune on that orb to enlarge it, that should be more . . . showcased, or highlighted in some way. An energy glow where she is pushing the rune or even just a “tap” sound effect or something.
Sequential art is a skill unto itself. I’m still learning how much you need to break down a scene to show each an every little thing, and how much you can leave for granted, which is difficult because while I know what’s going on, the readers may have trouble following along if I leave too much out, but too much hand holding can slow down the story if I have to show every little thing that happens. Still, another panel showing her tapping something with her thumb might have helped in this case.
and deny us our nerd debate are you mad the debate has bean fun
Tank gonna pull a vanishing Act in a hurry, I expect.
Also, Dead Shark Eyes, on a Merchandiser-Lawyer? Nahhh All such people are warm and cuddly on the inside right?
Oddly enough, to me, they don’t look “dead shark”. They don’t look “dead” or “flat” in any way to me. They actually look more “mock-charming”…and I’d also say “mock-seductive” but it has nothing to do with sex. It’s that look you get when you go all syrupy-sweet as you close in for the kill.
I like it.
Loving the chibi-off in panel 5 (but, sorry to say, Ari wins this round)
The blonde reporter is an idiot: Sydney couldn’t protect them at the same time as flying and firing (not knowing about her limitations is no excuse for him being an idiot)
Maxi is thinking in the last panel: “Way to ruin the moment/my glory!”
Naa, I don’t get self-centred from Maxima at all. Unlike many of the members of the team.
She is probably just a bit frustrated that Sydney has done a painting-herself-into-a-corner maneuver. But, given her long, stressful day and overdue rest, it is not surprising that she is making mistakes. Which is something that Max needs to carefully factor in on any further demonstration.
Mind you, given her showdown with Arianna, that is obviously not far from her mind.
Touch controls? Oh, this certainly opens up a new range of possibilities.
Just gonna call know, but when max is on the outside of the bubble and showing just how powerful she really is, any bets our sydney is gonna throw out another of her timely references?
my money is on “She cannae take much more captain!”
I agree the shark eyes in panel 4 work. Also, good luck with the job hunt!
To review the sequence of events in the last panel
– Syd grabs the flight and shield orb
– She lifts off
– She activates the shield and expands the size.
– Max is ticked because she is inside rather than outside
To be nit-pickety about this:
– The flight orb is not needed because the half-dome would still cover the people if Syd were standing at ground level
– If she activated and expanded the shield in a group of people, the people outside the original shield size would just get pushed away when it got enlarged.
– There is the possibility that when the shield wall is created in a group it could BISECT one of those people in the group. Yuck.
The only reason I can think for the hover deployment would be that the shield starts at a point above her head and then descends around her in all directions. That way she could mentally calculate the size needed at the start and monitor how the deployment is going, possibly adjusting it in the process.
I also agree that one of the shield orb runes should be for an ‘opaque’ setting, since this deficiency was pointed out in the first pages of the comic.
I doubt she made the shield and than enlarged it. Probably just activated a big shield.
Besides, wouldn’t you be flying if you could at that point? Would give a good spot to see if everyone is in the shield
Especially when you are five feet tall and pretty much everybody else is taller. She does not want to get stuck behind Anvil when Max does her thing.
I agree with all the above. And add that flying is part of the spectacle. Sydney has an appropriate flair for the dramatic.
Plus, if Max is firing a powerful blast and you’re controlling the shield, you would want a decent view to keep an eye on Max.
Why do I get the feeling ’embiggening’ is the one that looks like volume control?
seams logical
I use Maya, but it hasn’t helped me find a job.
Apparently no work I do counts unless I get a paycheck from it; and you can’t get a paycheck from it unless you’ve been getting a paycheck from it for three years.
F*** you job market, f*** you.
See if there is a charity in your area that needs/wants somebody to volunteer to do some Maya work for them. After you have done a few small projects, list your Maya work in the Volunteer/Charity Work section of your resume.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if she put the shield around everyone, then kept on flying and the forcefield started carrying people as Sydney rose! Love the comic and if I wasn’t broke I would totally donate!!!
And this is why it’s better to be a villain. They don’t have to take “sass,” from media honkies like Arianna. They get sasses, the one that does said sassing gets shot.
I TOTALLY WISH YOU’D DONE THAT AMAZON THING A WEEK AGO! I spent like £50-£60! But I’ll be keeping that link in my bookmarks. ;)
Also, totally looking forward to what Maxima has planned for the tank!! :D
i don’t get it.
what is happening that got the crowd’s attention?
from the art I don’t see jack.
and embiggener? did she just make her forcefield big or what?
clearly the artwork doesn express the action, er, clearly enough.
The reporters have not seen the force-field from the inside before. So, Sydney floating up and creating the force-field from up there is a little awe-inspiring.
ah.
meh.
And this is why the uniforms for female ARC personnel do not include skirts.
One more thing I need to say about the last panel of this strip: I appreciate that Dave puts more attention to detail in just the shoes the characters are wearing than most others put into their whole comic.
I must confess that I was unsure whether the embeegener had enlarged just the shield or both the shield and Halo herself. With nothing to give scale for Halo, she could either be normal sized and just above their heads, or 1,000 foot tall and hovering above the clouds. The inside of her shield having it’s own weather system. I would go “oooh” at that sight.
But, I narrowed it down to just being the force field. Backed up by the controls being on the force field orb.