Grrl Power #205 – Hyperactivity bonus vs. backstab
Apparently there was enough room between the wall and the table for a shield that large. Good thing it either automatically resets to a smaller default size or Sydney thought to reset it herself after the demonstration, where if you remember the shield was large enough to totally destroy that room if it went up in there. Her shield does form centered on her, large enough to encompass her, but will adjust itself up or down a bit not to slice off anything near her, which is why Shadow Boxer there didn’t get a haircut when her shield went up. That may be a yet undiscovered option though. Something else to note is that the orbs don’t automatically activate when Sydney grabs them, she can hold them without them turning on, but in this case it was a defensive reflex.
It was kind of tough drawing Sydney taking a real punch. Her adorkableness affects even me. Sure she’s suffered a few hits already during the course of the comic, but most of them were self inflicted except the bonk on the head at the bank, and we all know how well that went for her assailant.
I’ve groused a little about the nature of the webcomic format a little before, in that the delay between pages allows people to consider each page with far more scrutiny than they would if you’re just flipping through a finished book. As such, the resolution to Sydney’s current conundrum may not surprise much of anyone, but what can you do? Of course it works both ways, and the little gags I hide in there whenever I can are more likely to be ferreted out.
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I see pain in someones future.
He hit a girl with glasses on.
Unforgivable.
Us the Energy tentacle!! Show everyone why we call it the molest-orb! I bet he cant faze thru that!
Forget the energy tentacle. Fly straight up really fast, then briefly release the shield orb.
It wouldn’t even have to be on purpose. It seems like something she might instinctively flail around at.
Heh, that worked well on a certain villain in the early days of the New Warriors. Idiot had the ability to affect the pain receptors of his opponent’s body. Namorita plucked him up off the ground and flew up fairly high.
She warned him not to try using his powers. His ego got the better of him and he caused her to get violent stomach cramps. Which of course made her drop him. ( FYI, the same procedure which gave him powers turned his body to a glasslike state. )
He had enough time to lament about not having thought this through before he hit the hardtop, shattering into a million little pieces.
Hyperactive and pissed off will make his day a very bad one.
No, no, no!
It’s: “You shall know fear… You shall know pain… And then, you will die!”
Halo is more pummel you into submission then kill-crazy. You might wish for the sweet release of death but that’s just the pain and shame talking.
+1
Which, assuming that she does not get chopped to pieces before then, will improve her survival chances, long term. Opponents will not need to opt for the easier fatal option, if they do not anticipate an immediate fatal reaction, should she survive. And fear of humiliation may deter some outright! :-D
“…you might feel a little pain. That’s just pride, f-ing with you…”
Or! You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting.
great movie ^^
“Have a pleasant flight!”
Wait, what’s G’Kar doing in this comment section 200 years before he’s even born?
I blame the Vorlons
Lol that transponder
“Warning: you are being punched”
+1
The little details are fun. So she has an AI that can tell her what is already happening. Next time we see that screen it says, “Warning, you are unconscious due to concussion. Seek medical assistance.”
+1
LOL! Awesome!
I can’t read your comment without hearing the voice from the H.E.V. suit in the Halflife video game series. So now I _know_ I’m going to imagine that Sydney’s bracer has a built in speaker reading everything off in that same voice :)
I was like what was this random scrible *zooms in* OH… lol.
Yea, I had zoomed in to see if there was any damage or if any controls were visible. But +10 to Dave for a great, hidden, gag.
You had to zoom in to read that? Are you following the comic on your phone?
What the heck is a “pip boy thing”?
Ok, I see that has been answered already. I’ve never played Fallout…
I had to zoom in to read it too… I’m using a 13″ screen at 2560×1700…. soo…. yeah.
Hmmm, I’m at 2048 x 1152, but I’ve got a pretty sweet Dell 19″ widescreen.
Yeah.
One of the characters in the DC Heroes game I’m in had a bad habit of getting punched through walls, and actually had to set up an alarm to wake himself up (gadgeteer) after each one, that would say out loud “Warning: You have just been punched through another wall. Please wake up.”
+1
‘Pip-boy’. Bwahahahaha! ‘Warning: you are being punched.’ Bwahahahaha!
I must confess that the “pip boy thing” whooshed over my head, so the first half of the dialogue in that panel makes no sense to me at all.
the pip boy is the laptop computer for the fallout series
And for those of us who don’t play video games, it is a total non sequitur. Pip Boy to me makes me think of a typo about Pep Boys auto center.
Yorp, the ‘Pip-Boy’ is a kind of computer worn on the wrist of the player-character in any of the Fallout series of games. It has a multitude of functions including tracking inventory and mapping.
Somebody actually made a real one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCEXEuICWs
Ok, if that is all there is to it, then the grammar of the sentence is very confusing. Surely it should read “Why is Maxima’s phone on her pip boy thing…” If she is implying that she is having a problem working the phone?
My alternative assumption that it may have been a device, similar to the one in aliens, which showed proximity ‘pips’ on screen, and thus worked as a proximity sensor, did not make sense as Harem had been just behind her, before teleporting out. To be almost immediately replaced by the guy phasing in. But we know that the bracelets do have IFF (identify friend or foe) transponders, so it could distinguish between the two.
But, that said, it would be a very sensitive device to distinguish between waiters and backstabbing assassins, in the current environment. Plus she was looking at it before the guy even arrived*. Hence my not leaping to pick that as a likely interpretation.
* Although if it incorporates some Dabbler technomagic or super gadget, then it possibly might have picked him up in the floor and have been beeping. But no sound effect for that, so it seems unlikely.
I think Sydney was just grousing about Max’s ‘pip-boy thing’ being on a phone, whereas Sydney’s is mounted on her wrist.
in the original 2 games you could purchanse a motion detector for it. Fallout 3 and New Vegas the Pip-boy is responsible for the game’s HUD which included the IFF so you can find enemies
Actually, the PIP in PIP-Boy stands for Personal Information Processor. Depending on the game, it’s either a hand-held unit much like a mobile phone (like what Maxima has), or a unit worn on the wrist (like what Sydney has). Either way, it serves as a way to store and process information. In many ways, it is really just a smartphone, but bigger. One of the big points of the Fallout world is that it’s not a complete fabrication, but is actually a divergent reality from our own. The specific point of divergence is that in the Fallout world, the transistor was never developed, so the miniaturization of electronics that occurred in the real world never happened there. With electronics being pretty much a dead end, the scientists of the Fallout world turned their attention to nuclear science (cars in the Fallout universe actually have small nuclear reactors powering them, for example; if you find one with an intact engine block and deal enough damage to it in Fallout 3 or New Vegas, it will actually explode). Of course, that’s getting off-track a bit. The important thing is that the PIP-Boy is basically Fallout’s version of the smartphone, regardless of whether it’s a handheld unit or a wrist-worn one.
actually the pip-boy in FO1 and 2 is a handheld unit (Max’s phone) the 3000 from FO 3 and New Vegas are like Syd’s
Here’s a discussion about PipBoys on the Fallout forum https://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1498500-pipboy-designs-and-formats/
Well crap, this guy looks tough. Good reflexes from Halo blocking that first strike. Willing to bet that if Harem can’t teleport through the shield, this idiot can’t either. Part of me really hopes Halo kicks his ass.
He’s inside the shield though
Which means he’s can’t get away. If he goes through the wall like that again he might backstab and actually kill someone else.
Good point, though it may be harder for him to do so since people there are aware of the phasing rogue now that he’s attacked Halo.
Which means that the Harem that is trapped in the shield with them can kick his butt. Presumably she has had hand-to-hand combat training, unlike dear Sydney.
She’s outside the shield and can’t teleport in. It’s just bad timing as another-her had just left Sydney’s side for the equipment run.
It makes you wonder what else Sydney’s shield blocks. For example :
Would being inside it cut Dabbler off from hammerspace?
Could a Harem teleport between 2 points whose line intersects the shield?
If a Harem was inside the shield, could another Harem (outside the shield) still teleport?
Note that hammerspace was just Sydney’s word for it. Dabbler does actually use teleportation for the summoning trick. So it should be blocked just the same. Harem’s natural teleportation and Dabbler’s technomagic may use completely different principles. But, working on the assumption that the orbs block all teleportation, rather than just one type or another, then the principle is the same.
At the moment, every aspect of the Orb technomagic indicates it is of top quality, so I am going with the ‘no exceptions’ as being more likely. Which can cause problems, if Dabbler is in the shield and needs a gadget from her lab.
But, there are loads of upgrades available on the skill tree. I suspect all of the intersection points, between the shield orb and other powers are options for her to allow other powers to permeate, in one way or another. The telepresence is a weak version of teleportation*. Perhaps activating that node will allow her to permit such things to selectively pass through the shield. Her telepresence mini-orb, being one, or a friendly teleporter or friend’s gadget being others.
* Halo and Harem both have skill points in something with a similar icon. Harem’s is a 3 pointer, whereas Halo’s is just the 1. Which I take to be Harem’s teleportation and Halo’s telepresence. Indicating that they can be categorised together, for certain purposes. Note that Harem has a separate icon for multiple bodies, so it is not connected to that. Although I would have thought that telepresence would be more natural to associate with multiple bodies than teleportation.
Interestingly enough Jiggawatt has a two point version of the power. It will be interesting to see how that manifests.
You know, looking at that power icon, I wonder if the recently added upgrade to the comm-ball might allow Sydney to swap places with the illusion of herself. That might have some uses in this situation…
The Icon might represent ability to appear or be in multiple places at one. Jiggawatts ability is manipulation of anything electric using that she can probably manipulate electrical currents in the air to create a second visual version of her with a little shock touch added in.
Perhaps Jiggawatt can “Ride the lightning?” Lightning moves pretty damn fast (3,700 miles per SECOND) com ball seems to take a second or two to move across the ballroom.
No.
No.
Yes, as long as the path didn’t cross a teleport impervious object.
Harem has a sense of if the area she’s teleporting to is safe to teleport to (e.g. not inside a well). I think Halo’s shield blocks this sense; like how magical scans see the orbs as piles of nothing, Harem’s teleport ability sees the interior of the shield as a big pile of nothing, and is therefore unable to teleport into it. This explaination would probably mean she could teleport to outside of the shield, maybe, but be unable to teleport to another point within the shield even if she was already inside. It’s unlikely that it’d create a teleport shadow on the other side of the shield, so Harem should be able to teleport to a location on the opposite side of the shield.
I suspect (or just like to think, at this stage) that the outcome of this particular encounter will have a great deal in common with the attempted mugging alluded to in https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/416
Exactly my thoughts but using her orbs to deal out the pain.
You are seeing it now: Boston Crab hold with the orbs (Minus the shield orb, since she’d likely still have it up) drumming out a beat on phase-boy’s skull (Possibly other, softer areas).
I was thinking more along the lines of grabbing him with the molest-orb and playing “test the shield strength from the inside” with his body. A human can make a pretty decent bludgeon if grabbed by the feet. Skulls are fairly hard and the flexibility of the body turns it into an beneficent flail though it may degrade fast depending on said body’s durability.
ARRRGGHH!! That was supposed to be efficient!!!
Kind of like a line in Alan Dean Foster’s Star Wars novel ‘Splinter of the Mind’s Eye’ where an alien character is beating a Stormtrooper with a droid that it’s holding by a leg. The trooper and the droid are coming apart at roughly the same rate.
Consider also, no living thing can be as flexible as a tentacle of energy…
…she could grab a few choice appendages, & perform a few chiropractic moves that’ll keep him in traction for MONTHS!
:P
Dr.Detroit would be so proud of her…
:)
At first I was worried for Sydney.
Than I remebered that this is Sydney we’re talking about.
Now I feel sory fir the other guy.
TONGUE SUPLEX
MACE BREATH
PANICKED FACE BITING
INCREDIBLY INVASIVE LIGHT HOOK
SHOYUKEN
WILD FLAILING
She probably fights like Deadpool, she’s so erratic you can’t predict her moves.
On the other hand even if she has huge INI and DEX she has low STR and DEF.
Only in situations where she could not or would not use her powers. Have a look at her cast list. She has a 3 point ranking in a power with a weight icon. Which clearly is the tentacle. We have seen her pick up three people with it, without blinking. And she has mentioned it as being strong enough to pick up a car.
Compare that to the super-strength icon, and we can see that it falls well below Maxima’s 5 points, likewise Super Hiro’s and Stalwart’s 4 points. But Stalwart could kick a tank into the air, so that makes sense. However, it goes give her the equivalent power to Anvil’s 3 point super strength (not including cheating by using stored kinetic energy). So, if she gets her hands on the Pseudopod Tentacle Orb, she has lots of strength!
I always thought that was a bell icon, but I guess a weight icon could mean variations on telekinesis like the lighthook.
Oh I wasn’t even counting her powers, I was just pointing out her base stats.
Someone should make a stat page for Sydney and every orb seperately.
Obviously the lighthook has huge STR and the flight orb gives her SPE and forb givs her DEF – 10.
I wonder if orb stats stack with her stats?
Don’t forget “Panic-vomit so fast that even Maxima couldn’t dodge.”
You forgot the Equalizer Kick. The correct sequence is Equalizer Kick, Tongue Grab, Snap-mare flip. According to Max she also has Boston Crab-Hair Bite combo.
No Sydney that’s the wrong orb. You need the Molestorb to pummel him.
This is what she gets for programming her brain to “raise shields” instead of PPOing.
Every good Federation starship captain knows that you raise shields THEN fire phasers.
And, if that fails, she has 6 reusable torpedos to fire at him…
I wonder if either of the unknowns activate on contact with the enemy?
…
WHY DID I NOT THINK OF THAT?!?!
The ‘on contact with enemy’ makes all kinds of sense. Just off the top of my head there are a half dozen status effects that the orbs could have. Maybe one is healing? Wouldn’t that just be the thing. Wack them for 10 damage, next orb heals them for 10.
+1 as regards the not thinking of it bit. Yea, that would explain why she could never figure out what the mystery orbs do. She is a role-player and has been testing them secretly for months. If it can be imagined, she has probably tested it by now, somehow. But she has been doing it solo. No sparring partner. And she may not have thought to test it by hitting her pet cat physically with them.
Perhaps that is for the best, if the power is ‘disintegrate.’
Or “Grow Spikes”…
Groinshot! Math would be very happy he was any ‘Flyball’ed…
*only
Stupid auto-incorrect…
My though is mabe thous too orbs don’t have power because they copy the powers of fallen enemy’s… so if i’m right sid is gonna get phasing.lol the boys bathroom will never be safe again.
Or, fly up at 400mph then turn off the shield.
Heh, I like that one.
Of course, he could turn intangible, and phase through the floor, if he thought of it. But it should scare the bejeezus out of him, even if he does. And he will be out of the fight a long time, given how far down he would likely fall, through the ground.
It’d probably be better to include the
MoslestorbLighthook in that plan. Why settle for a terminal velocity impact when you use the victim as a projectile?I wonder if she can use it as a Home run bat?
Aw, I was hoping to be the first to post that, RobK. OH well! :D
So why is her shield big enough to include the bad guy? Leftover from the last time she used it?
He is standing over her legs. If she wants her feet inside the shield, it’s either with the whole bad guy or with his feet only.
And she was quite lucky that the PPO got in the punch’s way, so she didn’t get a full hit. Who knows what that would have done – that guy looks quite confident. So either he’s tougher than he looks or just more stupid – against someone with unknown capabilities… As it is now, I’d also bet that the bad guy is about to discover that he’s inside the shield with an angry Sydney and not the other way round.
Well he did have the perfect tactic to fight Sydney.
Hit her before she can arm.
So he asumes it takes time for her to grab and start up an orb (which it did with the shield), so he figures, now that he’s close, he can beat her before she can grab something dangerous
Shield? Not so much. PPO during the demonstration (which was on TV)? Much slower.
I’m not sure if that is luck. It looks like the orb swerved to block. Maybe the bout with Math paid off?
Indeed, it did. Hmm. Caused by an “reflexive” though of Sydney? Or without that = “by itself”?
So why is her shield big enough to include the bad guy? Leftover from the last time she used it?RockB’s comments are corroborated by the author’s above. Automatic safety features are all well and good, but sometimes, in preventing cutting someone in half, the power might not work as anticipated.
Or, she was simply disoriented by the punch and misjudged. It certainly looked that way.
Or, as I hope, despite the disorientation, it is a containment technique, to stop him getting away.
Any one else hoping/thinking that Sydney isn’t trapped with him, but that he is trapped with her? ;)
*fingers crossed*
Yes.
Sydney’s response?
1) Drop Sheild. Raise sheild with opponent outside. (Requires two command cycles.)
2) Attack with the item formerly known as Molestorb. (Please wait for Orb to load.)
3) Pummel opponent with all unselected Orbs. (This function available immediately.)
I’m of similar mind, but if “Lighthook” is first used to trap him (before shield-drop), then he has less time to wreak mischief. Harem’s inability to ‘port-in implies that he can’t ‘port out either, & Syd can do such hurtful things to him with that tentacle…
…I’m picturing… such horrible things… best left unsaid.
Dang it!
English is supposed to be my first language!
What I meant to say is Sydney has to CHOOSE one of the following:
Drop/Raise shields.
or
As rapidly as possible grab Lighthook Orb and activate it.
or
Use the other Orbs motions offensively to incapacitate her attacker.
I stand corrected, Good Sir.
I saw a numbered list, & my “OCD” assumed that it was a SEQUENCE of actions, rather than a CHOICE-list.
Sorry about that.
My fault.
Shoulda used a-b-c instead of 1-2-3.
Orb pummeling would be her quickest response.
Yep, I’m hoping that his prediction of mutual fame comes true, just not in the way he expects.
He becomes famous – by being carried out of this fight in a fetal position, whilst crying like a little girl.
After a “little girl” totally wipes the floor with him (maybe even literally).
So far the villains are staying true to form by issuing vague, “an empire will be destroyed”-type prophecies.
He locked himself into a room with a (soon to be) very angry badger…
When Sydney is present – Always. Expect. Badgers.
Looks like a previously unknown villain has just bought a ticket on the pain train, fast-tracked by a hyperactive, ADHD-afflicted, unpredictable windmill of unfettered fury…And even worse, he’s trapped inside of the shield with her.
No-no-no…
“Always Expect NINJAS”
[https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/346]
…That way, th’badgers can get ya while yer looking fer th’ninjas, ya see…?
:P
:)
No – no – no…
Sydney herself always expects ninjas already…When Sydney is around other people, THEY must always expect badgers.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/494
Point taken.
:)
The ‘H’ of ADHD is ‘hyperactive’.
The Rorschach attack? I see the first supervillain left crying like a baby muttering incoherently about tentacle rape and tiny spaces.
Really?
He was still THAT articulate!!!?!
Wow…
She must’a been feeling either merciful, or else “off her game”…?
I can imagine that guy being all like ” Let me out, let me out! Have mercy!!!” as he’s banging on the force-field in a few pages. :)
Yup.
He is lucky that she went for a plain potato, and not a ‘super spicy’ option this time…
+1
Passive: Tear gas breath – due to high lifelong capaiscine consumption, any breath attacks have a chance to stun and blind opponents.
A few pages? Naw, I give it three panels, at most.
I am willing to believe max’s vision of the mugging was somewhat prophetic
I swear to god
swear to grathars hammer
Grabthar’s Hammer
=OP
by grabthar’s hammer and by the suns of warfhan! You shall have your revenge!,,, or is it you shall be avenged?
Hey, you’re the goto exeptr. Thanks for hanging out here.
Poor Sydney!
Is Harem trying to redeem herself? She may do good after all.
I don’t think redeeming is kind off a factor. She’s just trying to save her teammate
That is not Harem, none of her look like that
Yes it is. Here you can see all 5 on a row.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1195
Also, she’s talking about teleporting (only Harem can do that on this team), and she has Harem’s neck band thingy on
That is Blondini, and what has Harem got to be redeemed for?
Blaming her for the attack is, until confirmed by DaveB, just anti-Harem reader progaganda/speculating
She is a double agent, working for Deus. Unless she proves that she is a triple agent * and her true loyalties lie with Archon, then she is in need of redemption. Plus she is a proven untrustworthy blabbermouth. But, if she finds a way to save Halo, we can forgive the latter. :-D
* As he suspects.
She doesn’t think she needs redemption, and no else knows, so they don’t think she needs redemption, so I don’t think she’s going for redemption. :)
that’s Harem-Vogue – the same one that shoulder-boobed Leon way back in the aftermath of the bank heist
or…
1) If Harem didn’t make it look like she was trying to save Halo, questions would be raised.
2) Deus could have set it up so that Harem “saves” Halo, which would enhance her reputation on the team.
Damn she has some good reactions.
Not only raised her hand to stop a hit, but she even tried to use the PPO to deflect the hit
Yea, we can see that the other orbs are in their distinctive orbit, and the zip lines show that it is moving out of pattern. Most likely in a block, given the angle of the zip line. But possibly she was calling it to hand, and the final curve of the line is because of the deflection from the blow. Without that it may have been on it’s way down to her left hand.
I would be hesitant to assumes the orbs can be effected by anything in the real world outside of syd at this point. we’ve had a few people try to scan them and get nothing and even Maxi could move them past their limit. we’re not going to get into how old they are and still work perfectly.
even here the zip line of the orb could easily imply the orb wasn’t even budged an inch by the impact.
not saying you wrog about I just more willing to believe the orb was moved to block that hit then moved by the hit.
She is taking inspiration from the Wonder Woman t-shirt she is wearing.
Oh, that is what the logo is inspired by! * And, yea, I can see just how she could have been channelling her, for that block.
* Boy that penny must have been falling from quite some height to take three or four years to drop. Even with all the clues from the other T Shirts she has worn in the flash-back within the flash-back.
* +1
Well good thing air slows it down or it would leave a crater big enough to swallow a dog.
Or worse: chop said puppy in half!
I was gonna say, maybe Maxima is going to shoot through the shield with her goldrays, since it’s transparent, as a little call back to the first few comics… then I realised the shield’s already been hit by her goldrays in testing, and it can stop them.
So, umm…. eep!
Maxima’s attack would be blocked by it. It has a physical aspect to it, remember her holding it in her hand? Plasma, or some such, rather than laser.
It might block lasers too. If you look at the texture it’s similar to a form of Transitional shielding. I can’t remember what show it was from but upon being hit with a laser attack the shield would become opaque where hit to block the damage. Therefore allowing regular light through but not damaging light.
We still don’t know if lasers can penetrate it because Maxima shoots high-speed particles. I’m not sure what it says when Harem can’t teleport through it.
Harem can’t *vorp* through it because she is still a physical object
It says that the makers of the orbs are familiar with teleportation and know how to build their shield to block it. If teleportation allows the individual to move into hyperspace, travel through it in an instant, and then re-enter the real world, then they need merely extend the shield into hyper-space.
Or it has been built with a teleportation dampening effect on the inside, that renders any area in side the sphere as impossible to set as a teleport arrival point. Or a bunch of other possibilities. Doubtless the Star Trek physics has a reason why their teleporters would not work through them. Same result though. It is a good shield. Perhaps too good at the moment.
in Star Trek, the Teleporters work by changing physical matter into an energy data stream, then transmitting the stream to a fixed point to return to physical form. since the shields block energy, they block the transmission of the data stream.
The Trek ‘Porters also work by disintergrating (ie, deadifying if living) the object and creating an exact clone/copy at the destination
Yeah.. I always hated those teleporters. The reality is that every time you beam someone anywhere you kill them and then clone them at the location. Can’t say I would want to get killed and have a different me that thinks it is still me continue on.
Well that and they never seemed to realize that using them for boarding parties is stupid; port a torpedo instead.
I hate that distinction. Yeah, technically the subject dies; but when people say that, it reminds me of how people “die” when they sneeze. From all practical perspectives, the subject keeps living, just in a different place.
I’m beginning to wonder how much the spheres can react to her thoughts – at this point, halo’s already able to use it by reflex (i doubt she would have been able to move the red ball conciously to deflect the second punch) – unless… The sphere themselves can move on their own to protect the person who carries them ?
That is a posibility. Though maybe that’d contradict her encounter with Math earlier? I’m not sure.
Well, if her thought then was ‘zoom around like electrons’ then no.
Responding to thoughts alone would account for the reaction time. When we use brain scanners to test when people make decisions, the distinctive change in brain patterns to show that a decision has been made is detectable before the person presses the button to make their choice. So the balls could start moving before Halo even realised she had made a decision! But it would have been hers.
Of course, that is not to say that the balls may not have sentience. It is just that nothing they have done yet cannot be explained by sophisticated programming and technomagic. Plus we know that she can actively control them with her mind (or appears to if, perhaps, colluding with them to make it seem so).
To chase this theory a little, we know that when Halo gets hungry the orbs get grumpy enough to FUS RO DA! at her.
This shows that they are definitely reactant to their user/PersonWhoNeedsProtecting/host’s physical state. The question is, are they responding to her feelings, or acting out of concern for their ward?
Pretty sure that was her stomache.
Ignore my horrible spelling ability.
I stand corrected.
I hope she shrinks the shield down to envolope her that way she won’t get hit.
Problem is, that will just make him that much closer to her, and we don’t want him to pull a Pincusion/Porcupine on her, now do we?
Yea, the alternative is to turn it off, adjust the embiggener to an ensmalllener, and then raise it again. Given that involves poking at sigils, which she is not properly practised with, that would allow ample time for a nasty stabbing incident.
is another option. the shield not affecting her moving through it. shrink shield…crush shadow boy into basketball.
Did anyone here foresee this? Should we have realized a ‘porter could get through?
That said, I’m sure Sydney’s pissed off more than panicking or worried by panel 7. It’s time for her to show this doofus what she can do even without training. And I look forward to it.
I also wonder what Harem can do in this situation. If she wants in but isn’t capable of ‘porting an entire person out (IIRC), then that means she’s going to physically defend Sydney.
D’oh! Harem answered my own question: she can’t port through Syd’s shield.
If so, maybe Syd should just drop then re-raise the shield between her and her attacker.
Harem is pritty strong, if she absorbs a few of her bodys.
Which she probably is already doing dynamicy in this fight.
Vorping in and out different bodys, depending on the need (1 strong body, or multiple weak ones.
Cast page also sais she’s developing a martial art that uses her ability to transform between multiple weaker persons, and one strong person. So that’s probably another one
My reading of the last panel is that Harem is on the outside of the shield, trying to get in. So she cannot intervene, even though she wants to, physically or otherwise. The second to last panel showing that the other guy is inside the bubble, it does not matter how strong she is, she would not be able to either hit him or break through (not that I thought you were implying the latter). Sydney’s shield is just too powerful*.
* Nice touch by the way, DaveB, inverting the “I cann’a give you any more power” trope and making the strength of the shield a disadvantage the first time she tries to use it.
No, I more meant that she’s pritty strong, so she could help IF she could get to Sydney
Indeed very smart use of powersets to give her a disadvantage. Hit her before she’s ready and she’s just as soft as a normal human
*Very* well done deflecting that punch with the PPO. A straight hit could well have put her down for good.
The poor shadow guy,probable didn’t watched the video to see what happened to a guy who just bonked her.And i like the totally useless warning on the pipboy.
Mama bear Max is going to be so mad at Sydney for dropping her shield… and so proud when Blackhand gets his “famous” handed to him.
D’oh, Dave already gave this joker a name: Shadow Boxer.
hmm ppo used to block
UNLESS the PPO was heading for her left hand and was caught in mid move. The FForb went to the right hand. We know she is left handed (I think?) so this makes sense as a sword and board reaction (most dangerous to primary, most defensive to secondary).
I want to see the PPO come to hand and do a stutter shot as the “settings” were scrambled by his attack. Can you say cone of destruction?
I do believe that PPO has a defensive feature. Let us refer to the skill-tree.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1166
Yes…
Two distinct lines have ‘points’ in them.
Possibly, but unlikely. She did nothing there which cannot be explained by her existing powers. We know that she can move the orbs by thought alone. And that she has been using them enough that she can use them as extra limbs for punching. Blocking requires the same ballpark amount of control. Or, as I detailed above, it could have just been an accident.
If the PPO, specifically, did have a defensive feature, I would expect it to be one that immolated incoming enemies, incinerated attacking weapons or had some kind of fiery theme to it. Even the Comm ball keeps to it’s theme. Being illusions and countering the same (broadly speaking). So a defensive counterpart for the PPO (a very very sensible one) would be either to give immunity to fire or to allow fires to be extinguished.
There’s also a point on the line directly between the PPO & her FF Orb…I’d guess that might mean that Sydney CAN shoot through her own shield without interference.
Ooops, I misread the colors in her skill tree. I think that point is between the PPO & Flight Orbs. My bad.
Every orb has a connection to every other orb. Without exception. What they each do though is open to speculation.
Well, this is as good a time as any to learn that one of the unknown orbs responds specifically when Syd is in danger.
Yea, there is the possibility that one of them is providing danger sense. Whilst it is possible for somebody to inherently have danger sense * it may well be that one of the mystery orbs is providing her spider sense. She has demonstrated remarkable reaction speed for incoming teleports, amongst other things. Plus we do know that the mystery orbs do already have active skills in them. If so, whichever one is responsible, can clearly be used even when not in hand. For that aspect, anyhow.
She could explore the possibility by holding one or the other and attempting to actively locate enemies. Assuming that danger sense or combat awareness are watered down default uses of the full power that it might have when in hand.
* Different people pay varying degrees of attention to the environment around them. I know that I tend to remain focussed on the task at hand. Whereas a friend of mine will notice something interesting half a block away, even though keeping up with conversation and what ever activity we are engaged in.
From the comments that various readers have made, I take it that ADD and ADHD enjoyers are inherently more alert than average folks. Hence my assumption, to date, that it is simply an advantage she possesses. Of course there is no reason why she cannot have both. Ie being naturally good at it and having supernatural orb assistance.
Oh yes Darkmatter, just monologue away and let Sydney catch her bearings, letting her inventive mind concentrate on the vast arsenal orbiting her head…
Now that he’s trapped in there with you, use the mo…ahem… Lighhook, Halo.
Outside action pauses due to LOUD male scream
^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^
And then everyone inside screams, “MY GOD SYDNEY”
A la
A la https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0020.html
Dammit.
3rd time’s the charm.
*AHEM*
A la this
He he.
That reminds me, I am overdue an OOTS catch-up. Because he has an irregular update schedule, it does not appear in my daily lists. And I tend to forget the ‘irregular’ folder for long periods.
After 928 strips I can see Belkar saying this as a form of the biggerest compliment of V’s powers.
“Shadow Boxer” according to DaveB
What does HE k…. ah!
I could have sworn it wasn’t there the first ime around, but I’ve been known to be wrong… from time to time…
Knuckleduster and blade weapon. Shadow lantern ?
Ohh, action! I don’t understand the last panel… Is Harem trapped inside the shield or is she outside trying to get in to help Sydney?
Yea, Harem seems to be outside, banging on the shield trying to get in
Outside. Sydney raised the shield but had it set too large, trapping her assassin in with her, and Harem just found out that it blocks teleportation preventing her from jaunting to the rescue.
Yea, that is just the way I interpret it. Although it is just possible that she is inside it, banging to be let out. But unlikely on analysis.
Unlike the previous frame, where you can see the guy’s feet and say categorically that he is inside the shield, we can only infer her location. But, if she were inside she would need to pivot more to her left to be pounding on the inside of the hemisphere. As it is, assuming both were flush to it, her left hand would be poking through the wall. Whereas if she is outside her body position is exactly right to keep her fists parallel to the surface.
Trapping her assassin inside with her?
…That has yet to be seen…Sydney may be down for the moment, but she’s far from being out.
Assassin just denotes class – It doesn’t mean he’ll be successful at it.
can’t even teleport through her shield uh? interesting effect for sure even if double edged sword.
the bracelet message you wanna go “NO SHIT SHERLOCK”
but yeah that guy is about to FAITH THE WRATH of a sydney blowing a casket heh e
Next time on Grrlpower:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmayb5RvFrw
[6 telekinetic balls flying around in an enclosed space as opposed to Jensen’s ball bearings, but same idea]
So, you anticipate a Deus vs Halo showdown someday then? ;-)
Choose the form of your destruction.
A. Tied in a knot / drawn and quartered by a Hentacle.
B. Smashed against the interior of an impenetrable force field during rapid directional change flight.
C. The Power of the Sun (Xandar Drax).
You forgot to add gay hentai attack
Gay? Sydney is female, it’d be the straightest tentacle rape ever!
Tune in next time to find out in 3 days when… we cut to another scene.
NO!
“Sydney, you were trapped in your force bubble and knocked for a loop! What happened next?”
“I died, of course.”
A pregnant pause, then our protagonist is buried under a mound of popcorn.
Some credit to Halo’s wrist device- still functioning or even undamaged after blocking that shot.
Alternatively, a little bit of the opposite for Shadow Boxer- how powerful are his shadow constructs? Being able to form weapons is handy and dangerous but it seems like they’re only as good as the objects he imitates. He can form a knife which is as deadly as any other non-shadow-made knife but nothing more than that.
Sydney blocking with her orbs again. I keep getting worried they’re eventually going to shatter and break.
Deus knows how to make good gadgets. Maybe he is Steve Job’s long-lost non-identical evil twin?
Yeah, I don’t think it’d be good for the planet if the PPO broke, particularly in light of the whole “It’s like touching a star” comment.
He will soon learn that knocking the glasses off a powerful individual is like kicking sand in the face of a bully.
Or like what happens to the bad guys whenvere Goku completely loses his shirt.
Or you knock the Terminator’s Ray-Bans off.
Or incinerate GLaDoS’ s pink core.
(sings)
You don’t tug on superman’s cape,
You don’t spit into the wind,
You don’t pull the mask off that ‘ol Lone ranger &,
You don’t mess around with Syd.
Guh, I had such a hard time pulling that melody into my head because I had something else playing on Pandora. I was half thinking Sid might be the right name. Darn you pulling lyrics from a song I haven’t heard in years.
Actually in that song the original subject “Jim” gets his from a country boy named Slim.
“He was cut in about a hundred places and shot in a couple more”
and then the last time, it’s “you don’t mess around with Slim”
Yes, yes, I’m already aware of the *original* lyrics. I merely substituted Sydney’s name on purpose.
“looked like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone”
Thank you for the Jim Croce Reference. Awesome song, awesome singer.
I suspect that Sydney is about to demonstrate that no, she was not throwing her XP away by putting points in Physics and Geometry*. Imagine what one can do with an unbreakable pulley system…
*She should also put at least one in Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering).
I use those unbreakable, frictionless pulleys all the time when I am teaching mechanics in physics, along with the non-stretching, unbreakable ropes, and perfectly ridged rods that do not bend, stretch nor compress.
Physics Man! As powerful as Molecule Man, and even MORE underestimated!
Yeah, I teach chemistry too.
I’m curious where you also find the “flat, level, friction-free surfaces,” upon which everything occurs…
Don’t forget “in a vacuum”, either!
But seriously, if these artifacts were not assumed in lower level physics, it would take 3 years just to get kids past the first class.
Once you clear the snow off the ice, local lakes in winter do a good approximation of flat, level, friction-free surfaces. Okay, low friction surface.
Sydney is now pissed, but also has her orbs out…
I almost feel sorry for this guy. I can’t wait to see just how viciously she destroys him. As well as what creative cursing she will unleash.
Shadowboxer: “My ears, they are bleading!”
I have never understand that reaction. On hearing a stream of cursing like hers, I would be listening intensely for a few seconds, then giggle slightly, then gradually progress to laughing so hard I can’t breathe.
That should still render you unable to fight.
Good point.
Well, his ears may mot actually bleed, but at the very least, his common sense, ability for rational thought & maintain self-composure would be leaking out…
I see that despite all the “how it really would work” musings, the villains still conform to the Supervillain Code by not using their most lethal attacks when they take a hero by surprise. If Shadow Boxer had used a sharp shadow, Sidney would be dead now.
Seems he wants to drag things out with a longer fight and gloating.I imagine from his perspective its better to humiliate her before the kill, just killing her would lack style and if its fame he’s after, he would get considerable less from ending her quickly.
No, he started with the blade and got deflected by hyper active reaction. His follow up probably would have been lethal too, except it was defected by the PPO.
Now Sydney needs to take Math’s advice and think ahead of this assassin.
Not true actually, in fact it would have caused her less problem than the weapon he did use. A blade, being lighter than the super-big knuckle duster he did use, would have been deflected more, so Sydney would have suffered less of an impact, and possibly none. And, at that angle, would have only cut her cheek, not killed her.
Painful yes, but it would not have rattled her brains around in her skull, and disorient her as badly as it did. But bleeding wounds just get the adrenalin going and make a foe more dangerous. So she would not have mis-judged her power use and ended up with him inside the raised shield. He may instead have found himself burnt to a crisp. She would have been fully justified in ramping up to a lethal option herself.
Artistically, I think that the bruise will be easier to manage than a bloody scar, which would need to hang around a lot longer, even with accelerated super doctor skills. Plus we don’t want to see Halo being all cut up and bloody, when it would have no benefit to the story.
The reasons those tropes exist is that if everyone fought as smart as possible without any of that pesky ego getting in the way, these comics would be totally different. Instead of sending a big lug in after them first (he actually probably just jumped the gun and ruined the villains initiative in doing so) they would have just blown up the restaurant and killed everyone in there without sufficient armor, which is well over half the team. While it would certainly be interesting to read a comic where half the team got killed in the first fight, that’s not the sort of comic I’m looking to make. That’s not to say there won’t be high stakes in the comic, but this fight is just getting started.
I did actually almost title the page “Good thing he didn’t punch THEN stab” cause then even if Sydney had partially deflected it she’d have a huge gash on her face. To be fair to him, he did sneak up behind her and try to rake her spine with a blade without taunting or throwing out some catch phrase first. Only his shadow gave him away and only Sydney’s hyperactivity saved her.
Ahh, that has pointed out why she spotted him. And the art is there, clear to see.
Previously I had dismissed the possibility that she had seen a reflection of him on the armband screen. The angle was totally wrong. And she did seem to be looking up, rather than down. But if he is radiating a shadow effect, due to his presence, she would have noticed the unusual change in lighting, on her hair, and have been trying to spot what was causing it.
Why not a stab and a stab? I’m sure there are all sorts of possible explanations why Shadowboxer didn’t kill Sydney. And they all come back to what Terry Pratchett calls the Law of Narrative Causality. Shadowboxer can’t kill Sydney because that would ruin the story. So something will happen to prevent Sidney’s death (And a good thing too; don’t think I don’t thoroughly approve). And ultimately it doesn’t matter if the reason is Shadowboxer’s ego or his incompetence or Sidney’s competence or a bumblebee stinging Shadowboxer at the crucial moment.
The point is that this is in no way how things would really be and that it CAN’T be how things would really be because the Law of Narrative Causality applies to stories but not to how it would really be.
Death (not shouting this is just the way he talks.)
OH CRAP ANOTHER ONE.
Are all bad guys shirtless by the way?
I was about to make the same comment. I’m guessing the reason for them joining the bag guy brigade is that they are really poor. None of them seem to be able to afford clothes.
Unfortunately, not (just go back one page to see Heart Lock and Hex wearing shirts/tops :()
Sexism! We need a retroactive shirt removal. * Equal rights demands it!
* Exemptions for any real-world characters, of course, as they should remain true to their reference photo.
“Bump”
*”…rimshot…”*
+1
But as much as many of us would approve (for several reasons),
DaveB would either have to re-rate the comic or make a 18+section.
+1 for gender equality demands.
My girlfriend, her brother, his bf (my brother) and I were on holiday in NYC last summer
(yes, that kind of gf/bf) as a gift for her 18th b-day.
Since we`d joked about that NYC topless-law from the 90ies, my gf and the two guys decided to go such, topless.
Guess who was locked up. They paraded her over a block, then it got worse.
Lets just say we found a good lawyer damned quick.
And they sure as heck were lucky nobody like Max was there.
I guess I’m behind the times. Understandable, considering I live in Virginia and rarely travel to NY. I thought that topless law (odd that it takes a law to make something legal, isn’t it?) was still in effect.
It is still in effect, but people are still jerks and douches I’d say.
And yeah, I keep wondering why they’d need a law for gender equality in that area when it should be clear already by the constitution. Besides, nobody HAS to look at boobs. It’s just that most people do.
If the law was still in effect, then why was SexyBabe’s girlfriend arrested?
No, they all just like to show off their abs/pecs/otherwise minimal body fat.
I guess Dave needs to get some use out of those anatomy and live-model drawing classes he took in art school. I’m trying to imagine what type of homework assignments you would get in those. “Alright class, tonight’s assignment is to go home and look at pictures of nude men on the Internet.”
Later that evening in Dave’s room: “Honest mom, I was doing homework!”
I would not obsess too much, DaveB, about folk’s being able to predict elements of the next page, given the time between updates. That predicting is the fun part, and if someone calls it right, then it gives them a buzz. For everyone else who called it wrong, they had the fun of speculating.
There is the possibility of someone saying ‘predictable’, but they are just being predictable themselves and voicing the obvious. If a rock is thrown on a trajectory it is obvious that it will continue until it hits something. Saying ‘the rock is going to hit something’ is pointless. Especially as you sometimes ensure that it does not!
And, regardless that the bulk of your current audience are seeing it in the live update fashion, even we all get to see it in traditional format, whenever we do a re-read. Plus the bulk of your eventual audience will see it via the archives.
Why do I say that, well current readership in the tens of thousands and a total population of seven billion. There are a lot more people, in the world, who will become readers than there are currently eyeballing it. Plus * that is not counting the untolled billions more, who have not yet been born, who will have the opportunity to follow the adventures of Halo the Mightay!
* Assuming that the human race manages to both dodge extinction and keep society functioning well enough for the internet to keep working and hosting the comic.
Plus the fact that trying to outsmart/plan/guess the collective group that is the readership is a very big hurdle. There are so many more of us than Dave.
And some of us have brains that like leaping in really strange directions *grin*
And more than 1 at the same time.
Some people say I keep thinking outside the box.
I say: “What box?”
I denounce your box and substitute it with my own!
A tesseract that is, I’m perfectly comfortable inside that box, hey is that a new SSB trailer?
*warps away with the box*
Why settle for a tesseract?
Do you not have access to a 12-cube? (This is all the dimensions by the way)
You have access to only 12 dimensions.
“Gives Prototype Cyborg a hug”
Unfortunately, only 12 dimensions exist in this universe, and 7 of the space dimensions and 1 time dimension have been compactified, which is why we do not normally experience them.
I believe you mistook my comment to mean dimensions as being parallel universes. However an infinite number of such universes can be reached simply by travelling left or right through time (the compactified dimension).
I am a little familar with string theory, but you left an important part out of your statement.
It goes like this,
As far as we know at this time.
No, thinking in anything higher than 4 gives me a headache.
Which is still more dimensions than some “carboard cutout characters” I’ve encountered in some of my reading…
One of the advantages DaveB has is he can see the feedback we provide and adjust fire, on the fly, if we point out something significantly wrong, or even just provide a better idea than what he had planned initially (and smugly explain that was what he’d planned all along, of course ^.^)
In a way, it’s almost like DMing an RPG- just with more pictures and fewer meddling player characters.
It is interesting to see the writer’s reactions to speculation, however.
Rich Burlew of OotS has said that he does not change the plot based upon forum speculation. Andy O of TMI has said that he does. Andy O has one of the most scattered and convoluted plots of any webcomic I’ve read. His one redeeming feature is that he is quite prolific.
Poor Shadow Warrior, I think he’s going to find out Halo isn’t trapped inside the shield with him, he’s trapped inside the shield with her.
I wonder if there will be a repeat demonstration of her mastery of Tongue Fu…
Tounge-fu?
Augh, bad mental image!
Whyyyyyyy?
…I hope you’re not forgetting the mental (& actual) image of Sydney performing the “7-10 Split” maneuver just *prior* to executing Tongue Fu on poor Mr. Amorphorous…
“My glasses! Oh no! I can’t modulate my rage response without my glasses!”
*FOOM*
“Ah, there they are.”
I wonder whether the projecting(?) symbols on the shield orb were a warning/message in the sense “Shield will either cut someone’s legs off -or- will get bigger (default unless commanded otherwise)…”
Nah, those were always there. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1112
Oh. Right.
I wonder if she’ll learn how to project the shield somewhere else than around herself, thus being able to remotely protect civs, or trap badguys. Another power upgrade for the shield could be an armour type shield.
…If she could combine the shield and the PPO, would it become a firewall?
I’m betting using the shield as a focusing lens for the laser…
ether that of you have the ppo pushing the shield because it can’t pass through, an invulnerable object (the shield) traveling at the speed of light would do considerably more damage than the ppo itself.
What about concentric, simultaneous shields?
1)__It keeps him contained.
2)__She’s safe.
3)__Adjust the 2 diameters on-the-fly, & he can get crushed just as thin as she chooses.
Will she utter those words that should actually make this guy realize how badly he screwed up by attacking her. Colonel permission to go weapons free. Now even if Max says no she can still bluff and go for one of the other orbs. But if it is a yes Cheap shot there is going to have bad day.
1. Good show on the brass knuckles. Without the orb deflection Sydney would have a severely broken jaw, crushed cheek, and several crushed teeth, plus probable eye socket trauma. If she wasn’t lucky enough to be unconscious, she would be heading into shock. As it is, I am happy to see that you have indicated the start of severe bruising on her cheek. Brass knuckles are nasty weapons. The right side of Sydney’s face is gonna be swelling up pretty quickly.
2. I am unable to understand why Sydney’s force field didn’t just encompass herself. Others have stated that the villain is standing by Sydney’s feet; however, perspective indicates that the villain is several feet away from Sydney’s feet, plus the kinetic energy of the punch would have sent Sydney sprawling several feet away. As Sydney is not combat trained, I find it difficult to believe that she was able to make any kind of plan in the time it took her to become aware of the villain and she hit the floor.
Re 2.: Please consider his right boot and Sydney’s right shoe in panel 7 – it seems to me that the boot is nearer to the viewer than the shoe. While taking perspective and relative distances to each other and the border of the shield into account.
Nope. Not buying it. From the angle looking past Sydney’s head, we should not be able to see the whole villain. He should appear bigger if he was standing right at Sydney’s feet. I say that he appears to be approximately 2 meters beyond Sydney’s feet.
His boot is clearly right beside her leg, possibly even her knee
The artist could choose the perspective he wants so relative sizes do not means nothing:
https://cdn.photigy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/fisheye-lens-review.jpg
Ground line in the other hand can’t be tricked, just trace a line paralel to the base of the rear wall and you will see the actual relative position of they feets.
Somebody else did the math on later in these comments, showing that the Pythagorean Theorem supports that a 6 foot baddie is gonna be 10 to 12 feet away from the point of view. As far as the fish-eye lens effect, it doesn’t seem to fit Dave’s style (I could be wrong here), but I am willing to wait and see how things go on the next page. Personally, if the baddie was standing over Sydney, a partial view, say- from the waist down, can be used to imply intimidating circumstances. If the baddie is further away, then Sydney’s best, and easiest option is to drop and reform the force field more closely around herself. That is providing that Sydney isn’t a bit addled right now. Having been in a bad car accident myself (jerk rear-ended my van at 50 mph), I can attest to the effects of violent kinetic energy on one’s ability to gather one’s wits. It took me approximately two minutes to fully re-gather my wits; however, I was able to clear my head enough at 20 seconds to realize my foot was off of the brake and I was drifting into on-coming traffic. As Sydney just got nailed in the face, I’m guessing she may take a bit more time to fully gather her wits, but she should be able to adjust her basic defense while the baddie gets his brag on.
For your comment #1: Yeah, it’s a good thing Sydney is officially recruited in with a military unit now…They also cover dental work.
I have highlighted the answer in the end of your own question. Sydney’s instincts would be to raise the shield. She is not combat trained though, nor had time to practice such. Once she does she will learn to make the shield as small as possible*. At the moment though, she is a disoriented, panicked civilian attempting a defence and misjudging it.
Ok, she may turn it to her advantage, as it is stopping him getting out. But that is just the sign of resourcefulness, and turning a mistake into an advantage.
* This is ignoring the cutting the legs off comments, which is just as an important consideration as to why the shield would not allow a smaller shield, in this instance.
Sydney may not be combat trained, but she DOES know ‘Fast’n’Crazy’.
Luckily we know that at least Syd will survive this fight, as well as Stalwart, Max and Anvil.
But what we don’t know is, if Harem survives, or whoever goes to push daisies.
Given all that Harem is up to and is as yet unresolved (refer https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/797 ), I’m dang certain she survives.
All the more reason to kill her off. Make her look like a key character, include her in the cast titles. Then, when people are dying to see how her story turns out, … BLAM!
From then on nobody is safe.
You. Would make a truly evil author.
You’ve been watching Game of Thrones again haven’t you?
Sadly, Harem *is* the one who is most likely to “dirt nap”, here.
Not due to her shady deal with Deus, but rather because she has 4 “spare” bodies.
Also, it remains to be seen whether-or-not her mind can handle a death-trauma, & still stay sane.
Yeah, Duplication powers does tend to make a character into the Cannonball Fodder Du Jure, just ask Madrox!
Sydney needs to train herself to use the unknown orbs for her parries, since they may have powers that trigger when they’re used to block (or, alternately, if used as meele weapons? That would also be cool)
I`m toying with the idea to use one of the above mentioned ideas in a variant in one of my teenage-superhero novels.
As in: superhero friends get into something big & bad and everybody except the one with the actual superpowers dies.
Hey, it even happened to Superman once (Joker gassed the entire Daily Planet).
Dude, you do know all if this is a flashback right?
You can’t die in your own fkashback can you?
They know Syd, Max, Anvil and Stalwart will survive from the obvious way off earlier comic that was still in the present time (those 4 were shown to still be there). Nobody else was shown in that page however. So, we do not know if, when and how any of the others die in the intermediate time, such as Harem.
Maxi and Anvil for sure, but why do you mention ‘Wart?
The guy behind Max could be he: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/60
Oh right, probably, but if that be so, why he no on the “Who’s Who?” bar?
There is a lot of pages where someone is not there. Mostly someone not speaking, but a few even so.
Time ago David said none of Harems bodies would die. He could have changed his mind though.