Grrl Power #210 – Dental-Trauma-Fu -OR- Technically it’s non-lethal
So right away I should apologize as I’m sure many of you reflexively made a face or covered your mouth with your hand when you got to the bottom row of panels. I actually had meant to warn everyone in the comment on the last page that this one shows the worst possible injury. I mean, everyone can see a movie or game where someone gets their skin ripped off by a demon or gets chopped completely in half by a sword and not flinch sympathetically since that sensation is so completely out of our realm of experience, but we’ve all accidentally banged a fork against our tooth or stabbed ourselves in the gums with a dorito.
I had intended this to be another double page, but the previous double page took more work than I had anticipated so I had to break it up. I suppose it’s conceivable I could do two double pages in a week, but if I could manage that consistently I might as well update Monday through Thursday. That’s not likely though since I like each page to be more of a complete thought, and the double pages are really just single pages with bigger panels. This one works okay by itself but it’s low on content compared to most pages. I prefer putting enough on each page that there’s lots to talk about, but this one without the second half is really just continuing to establish that in a fight, the best fighter will probably do alright. It does beg the question that after Math clobbered a big brick (almost literally) why do these guys think they’re going to do much better? Ego certainly has a lot to do with that and why a lot of these guys are attacking the team in the first place, so figure it’s mostly that. Actually ego/pride and alcohol are the primary drivers of poor decision making in my opinion. And jealousy I suppose, but that really just boils back down to ego.
I’ll try streaming again today, mostly inking a page involving shinai girl. I link it here when it gets started and post on twitter and facebook. Update: Stream’s started! Spoilers obviously. https://www.justin.tv/davebarrack Update update: Stream’s over!
A few links for you. My next Gynostar Guest strip should be up today. The current arc starts here.
The Superbitch kickstarter is wrapping up and they’re so close!
Fred Perry is doing another kickstarter to fund a reprinting of the Gold Brick number 2. It’s already funded, but it’s a great price for 450 pages of color comic. Now if only I could draw as fast as Fred, who can apparently pencil, ink and color three pages on a good day.
<– Patreon is a great way to support stuff you like. Not just this comic. But mostly this comic.
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While it’s not exactly made clear, I’m going to believe Math did all that in 1 fluid motion
i believe the next line to be appropriate.
POW! RIGHT IN THE KISSER!
Why is there not a like button on this?
+1
DUDE YOU GOT SOMETHING IN YOUR TEETH!
For Ponny I Like this!!!
Dude is going to look like Letterman from now on.
I admit it, I flinched, but that’s because I thought we had just had our first on-screen death. With the angle of the speed lines, my first reaction was that I though the knife had actually gone THROUGH the back of his throat. I had to scroll away, take a deep breath, and the come back to realize that it was apparently just stuck in his teeth (still bad, but not quite AS bad).
Same! The speed lines extend beyond W.Cyke’s head, giving the initial impression the knife went through the mouth, not just into it
If this was an animated clip, the camera would have been tracking the knife, and continued past the head before moving back to see the knife ‘vibrating’ in the teeth
With the length of that blade it would certainly be into the back of his throat. It wasn’t until I read Dave’s comments that I understood he only meant it to be in the teeth.
Well it makes sense for the discount Cyclops to try his luck with Math.
He can’t hit you if you’re halfway across the room (or that’s the thought)
Well, technically, Math *didn’t* hit him…the knife did.
Sydney’s reaction is both correct and humorous.
On a different note, I wouldn’t mind an explanation of what the heck the powers are of the eye beamy guy up there.
Looks like a Cyclops style kinetic energy beam. No heat, just a ranged impact.
That seems a possible explanation, from the “Oof” and lack of blood. If it had been a Cyclops-style high energy laser attack, the victim should have been cut in half. Assuming a corresponding power level.
An alternative explanation is that the guy, being hit, has some energy absorption/manipulation as part of his power package. We can see the knuckle dusters look like they may be made out of glowing energy. So it would match what we can make out of his power-set that he might be able to use it defensively too. In which case he may be absorbing part of the beams energy (the thermal part, say) but not all of it (leaving, as you indicate, the kinetic component).
Yeah, they look more like whips than beams (like little squirmy red worms that expand out from the iris of the eye… that shall be his name: ParaCyke {Parasite+Cyclopes})
I think it’s more like a light trail; remember those rear light trails from Akira?
Nope, never seen it
I do hope you have since rectified that mistake.
Granted, Sydney didn’t see how Math was fooling around with Anvil earlier, like we did. I thought the same thing when that happened. Now that Sydney really *knows* how good Math is, I doubt she’ll make the same mistake again… :D
Don’t worry about flinching in pain at his teeth.
Sydney’s nutcracker was WAY worse. I still flinch a little if I think about it
No, this is way worse. Nutshots hurt, but at least they don’t leave scars!
Or, for that matter, require KNIVES to be SURGICALLY removed.
Well, I at leave hope not.
that’s only if the mangled-man-bits DON’T require surgery to remove said bits before they cause an infection from internal bleeding… as for scars… meh, i got one a bit bigger than the one this guy MIGHT be getting (on my upper lip from a can of floor wax hitting me a long time ago) any scar he gets will be inside his mouth, and maybe the inside of his ?upper lip? it’s kinda hard to see which way the blade is facing… still nothing at all really… his MENTAL scarring from the realization that he came *THAT* close to getting skewered… THAT’s gonna leave a mark all right!… i foresee that he will be in a lump on the floor/ on his knees, STILL screaming until the very end of this fracas and is being carted away in cuffs to the medics, by the Space Marines…
The blade is pointing(?) up, if you can’t make out the sharpened side of the blade, you can tell by the handle
Since Maxima has ordered to try non-lethal combat if possible, Math is just following orders. If he wasn’t, then ‘ol Laser Brain there might be having https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EyeScream for dessert
Not an Arkansas Toothpick, but it sure shut him down.
Judging from the small amount of blood, I think Beam Boy only has a broken tooth. I don’t think the edge of the knife cut the roof of his mouth.
I doubt he even has a broken tooth. The knife is simply wedged inbetween, which caused his gums to tear. You know, like when you brush your teeth too hard and you can cause your gums to bleed. But this time with a more extreme kind of dental floss :D
I think the damage is more psychological though.. he will probably need a new set clothing, as well as a new job. Where would an eye laser guy find employ? (An eye laser clinic?)
After this, the only tableware he’ll be able to use is a spoon. Anything vaguely pointy will have him hiding under a table.
Yeah, he may even recoil from a flippin’ spork after this.
It looks like a standard steak knife to me. Single-edge, with a contoured grip, as is common in a restaurant. The edge is uppermost, and the length of such a knife’s blade, combined with the location (between the guy’s two front teeth) leads me to believe the tip is tickling his uvula. Many-much ouchness was had…
Actually, if you compare the blood flow in panels 3 to 5, that is quite a significant flow of blood. Given that we can estimate the time, as being that needed for a single breath, in the middle frame. Not a huge amount, in terms of being life-threatening. So I agree with you in that much. But, personally, I would say that there is definitely damage to the gums, at the least.
Actually, it looks like it did also cut his bottom lip on the way in. There is a vertical red line in panel 3 which is thicker in panel 4, which i assume is it starting to bleed.
Yeah, you can see a slight cut on the bottom lip in panel 3 (easily missed or thought to be just a wayward speedline), and while there is blood starting to pool on his tongue from his upper teeth, that cut is starting to ‘bruise’ in panel 4 and more ‘intense’ in panel 5
If that’ not a soprano girly scream, I’ll be amazed.
Could be worse. Could be a LOT worse.
My first glance at Panel #3, I thought that knife had gone all the way through his head. Wondering how he could still manage to scream.
Probably just the air escaping, like how corpses tend to ‘fart’ and/or ‘burp’
Hey,
Please look into RSS. Lately it reverts to updated status very often for grrlpower. I suspect every new comment on page is triggering it. But might be something else. All of the history is gets marked unread, not just the latest item. I only have the problem with Grrlpower (got about 35 other comics in RSS). Is my feed url correct? i’m using https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/feed
This started a few weeks ago or so. Before it was working normal.
I use https://feeds.feedburner.com/GrrlPower?format=xml which works fine for me.
I too use the feedburner link as shown above. It seems to show up about 15 minutes after 7 each applicable morning.
I was having the same problem, so I tried switching to the Feedburner feed as recommended, and found that the feed link on this site (as given by ioio) actually redirects to Feedburner, meaning we’re all using the same feed and switching the URL doesn’t solve anything.
Hmm, it’s weird, the RSS broke a few weeks ago and I got it working again, only inoreader says there’s something wrong with the feed – yet it still works. I don’t know what’s misconfigured about it.
Don’t use the RSS feeds, but it can take a couple minutes sometimes for a message to actually be posted (will sit at the ‘loading stage’ for a minute or 3)
Why exactly is that red trailing after eye beam guy’s eyes?
Is that just a visual thing for us, or is it an actual thing that happends in universe? And if so, what does it mean?
The beam is always on. Even when he’s not blasting something, a trickle of light escapes.
So, you’re thinking its sort of like S. Summers without the mental and physical trauma that prevents his control?
My theory: What we’re seeing is what’s happening.
And
As he clearly doesn’t have Cyclops’ “always on” issue, this is a tiny version of the same – dribbles here and there as he turns the flow of energy on and off.
I’m thinking that it is a way of saying “this ain’t lasers folks” and that this perp has solid energy coming out of his retinas at all times. When he goes into the crunch pose he can push it out faster/stronger. OIF, requires Concentration roll to start, side effects: unable to wear sunglasses because the lenses burn off, banned from movie theatre because his trickle glows enough to see by, RKA with mixed PD and ED (higher physical than energy) –how many dice? well it is his only flashy power so maybe 3, 3.5 ish.
Aaaand there is about a -5 to concentration going on in the 3rd panel –going to -11 or so in the 5th. :)
GM: Make a will save.
Player: I got stabbed in the head isn’t it a fortitude save?
GM: No, the knife is stuck between your teeth… you took less than five damage from the knife, but it is in you face. Roll a will save not to panic.
Yup. I’d agree with you there. Will Save not to Panic. Though I’d give two saves. First one to see if he just goes to visit the Sandman for a brief visit. Ie shock and brain shuts down. He stays awake (not a good thing here) THEN he makes a Will Save to avoid panicking!
And doesn’t accidentally….bite….down…..
They’re camera streaks.
…and that, children, is how Oculus got rifted.
Bet Cyclops wishes he had Wolverine’s mutant healing factor NOW, don’t he?
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/748
JESUSFUCKTHATMADEMEWINCE
I concur.
Ouch.
Yeoch!!
wince, I was damn near fetal postion !
giggly every time for me
The fuck is wrong with you man(woman/gender neutral/humanoid dragon creature/lemming) ???
It is fricking FUNNY!
Urgh… I already hate having to floss, then seeing this… He deserved it, and it looks like it barely cut his gums, but man…
And once again, you go, Math! If Dave hadn’t said he was not a super, I’d have called him supernatural in his skill. Nice touch on showing his ear mic and associated equipment in panel 1 as well.
OT On Flossing. If it hurts you’re doing it wrong. Try the softest, thinnest floss you can find. And go slow.
My teeth are squeezed together from wearing braces for years. No matter what floss I try, getting it between them means I have to press it through hard, so it always shoots under the gum and hurts like a b*tch. The braces were worth it though.
My sympathy. I’ve got a Klingon smile myself and it’s hard to get at some spots.
Try teeth sticks (I have no idea what the english name is. Those thin wooden sticks you can use instead of flossing)
That usually works fine for me in the spots that I can’t get floss through
Toothpick. They do help.
You can also get a version that is made of a soft, flexible wire, with a blunt head. Which minimises the discomfort fitting through the gap between the teeth. But also has bristles (like a tooth brush, but much smaller). To give the tooth brush type cleaning action in between the teeth.
It tends to be quite bulky though and, as a result, can cause some gum bleeding, at first. But that is not actually a problem, and it is worth sticking with it, as the gums will get used to it, and toughen up*. If you use it regularly. So it is a very healthy alternative.
* This will not be sufficient to prevent knives from cutting them though, so avoid getting one thrown in your mouth.
Your footnote provides words to live by.
Interdental brush
I’ve never needed braces, but my teeth are so tight together that most dental floss is cut when I try to put it between my teeth.
Try using “Dental Tape”: “Unlike dental floss, the tape doesn’t have the tendency to snap or strike the gums like floss does.”
Just in case, remember to SLIDE it instead to PULL it between the teeth. Use a string as long as necessary to allow you to do it slowly.
The world is my weapon.
Dude’s actually kind of lucky that knife was there. Because if it hadn’t been, the thing flying into his mouth would have been a shard of platterware.
I bet if the knife wasn’t there he would get a mouthful of glowing knuckleduster. Un less they stop glowing when the user is sleeping.
That actually has me cringing more…
.. ouch!
And more of Math showing why he is on the team. I wouldn’t be surprised if he in the meanwhile is keeping score and after the fight will go around checking with others who took out most.
You mean like Gimli and LeggyLass? Nah, Math isn’t that big of a douche
Knowing exactly how many guys you’ve beaten isn’t douchy, it’s badass! Because to count them during combat you really have to be mastering the situation.
Comparing score with someone with a similar or superior power level isn’t being a douche either, it’s only healty competition.
Now if he tries to compare with someone who clearly has no chance of beating his score either because they’re weaker or weren’t supposed to fight… well then that’s being a douche, because it might affect their self esteem, and push them to rash decision and reckless behaviour to “prove themselves”. Also there is nothing badass into beating someone weaker and that’s not Math’s life philosophy either, he seeks challenge: remember he joined archon because he was told that maybe supervillain would be more challenging than streetfights
I approve that Sydney is staying out of the fight. It is not something that we would normally expect of a leading hero. But, contextually, she is a young, untrained, civilian. And her orders imply that she should avoid getting involved. Whilst the cops have the upper hand, she is behaving in a very believable fashion. Even down to the funny line of thought.
I do hope she’s going to get some more action though.
The nutcracker was cool, but I wanna see her real powers in action
Look at the way her arms are crossed. To me, she looks a bit nervous as she looks on. Though I think it’s mostly over the fact that Math is mopping the floor in style and doesn’t even seem to be breaking a sweat over it.
She is realizing how badly she screwed up challenging him without knowing his ability. Know yourself and know your enemy, (even if it is a friendly match).
Math’s feat list must have a table of contents, the dice penalties for a flash kick, to Buddha Palm Strike (The Hadouken Hands), to a dodge then small object throw to a called shot to a small target would be astrnomical.
If this was asked to do in my D6 group, I would allow it but at a -7D penalty…
Oops, forgot the kick at the top of the page and that was a called dodge at the bottom.
Minus 9D
His agility bonuses give him a +5 to hit combined with his experience level means that he hits for damage on anything greater than a 3, on a D20. Also he just rolled a bunch of natural 20’s to hit.
He doesn’t need to throw the dice, just chose 10 because is an easy task for him.
I think everyone but Sidney is at a very high level.
Like, epic tier or something.
Nonsense. Sidney is the only one with a leveling system (in the form of a skilltree). She is the only one with the ability to level and get more powerful.
damn… that has got to hurt!!!!!
Actually, I don’t think it hurts. Right from the start.
I’ll take the brain a few seconds to procces this kind of pain. This screaming is him realizing that there is a knife lodged in his teeth. In a few seconds, when the pain hits, he’ll start sobbing
While I have rarely cut myself without knowing it until I saw blood, *then* the pain kicks in, I think this is at least a few degrees greater than a paper cut.
I remember, as a kid, walking with my brother. We reached the end of a city block, and I looked back for some reason, and noticed a line of red marks, on the pavement behind us. Stretching back to the previous junction. Which had not been there before. I said to my brother “Have you cut your foot?” before finishing tracing the line of footprints. Looking down, I saw that they ended with me, and I was standing in a small puddle of blood.
Then the pain hit.
What happened? A drive-by stabbing?
Yorp it is evil to leave us guessing, what happened?
Oh, sorry, it was not an intentional cliff-hanger. I had originally started it by saying “When I was a kid, I used to walk around barefoot most of the time…”, but decided that it telegraphed the ending too much, so snipped that out. Afterwards, we figured out that there had been a shard of glass that cut my foot. But it was a smooth, clean cut, with nothing to draw attention to it, such as might happen if stepping on a lumpy rock with a sharp edge.
I suspect that my subconscious mind had spotted there was a problem, and was trying to draw my attention to it. “Ahem, have you noticed that there is a problem? Something you are not paying attention to?” Hence both my looking around, and unconscious assumption that there was a cut foot involved. Just leaping to the wrong conclusion from not feeling any pain myself.
It is not that I lack pain receptors, just that some types of wound do not necessarily trigger them. I remember that, some time after the incident, I developed a trick that I could use, at school, to freak out other students. Which was sliding needles * completely through the skin in my hand. Such as the webbing between thumb and finger. Doing it at the right speed prevents it from hurting. A trick that a good doctor or nurse can emulate with injections. Provided the patient is either looking away or is relaxed enough about it, not to tense up.
* Not really to be recommended, due to the risk of infection, but I was a kid. At least I knew to avoid pins, as they are much more likely to lead to infection than needles. And I took some basic measures to sterilise them.
Thank you. And yes I have cut myself before and not realized it until seeing the blood. Though I once knew I had cut myself, but didn’t realize how badly for a bit, (it was a very sharp knife). It took six stitches in my thumb for that with one through the nail.
while no cut incident will a bruise the size of a baseball on the inner thigh by the knee qualify? and yes I only felt the stinging ache after I saw it then it didn’t go away for hours.
I get bruises and wonder where they came from all the time.
Still happens to me a lot.
While at work will look down see a new scratch/cut bleeding and will wonder when it happened.
Same here.
I have managed to nick myself while shaving and noticed the damage only in the mirror; I see the blood leaking from the cut before the pain signal gets to my brain (if ever). This is a little more than a shaving accident.
While the ultimate audience thing could be fun, say if Sydney uses the telepresence orb or just starts physically flying around making the quips only a woman of her vast comic and rpg knowledge would know, now would be a good opportunity to start experimenting to figure out what other powers work best with the shield up. We don’t even know if all of her powers can work through her shield.
We’ve already seen that flight orb works with shield on. That can be used in combat (Can’t wait to see Sydney bash villains with her energy shield). Telepresence could be used in as trickster way to make villains friendly fire each other while staying completely protected and hidden. I’m guessing the PPO wouldn’t work thought, it would be blocked by the shield… that or create a temporary “window” to get out, possibly allowing a counterattack. But I think the best possible combination with the shield would be the molestorb erm… lighthook I meant lighthook. The tentacle isn’t connected to the orb generating it so no issues about passing the shield because it could be completely outside it. The lighthook also offer a wider range of option: Hit people, restrain them, pick them up and smack them into other people/the ground/your own shield (because that might generate more XP and we know that the shield can take insane amount of punishment when even the ground might be weak in some places because of things like sewer pipes and subways lines under the surface. Street suddently caving in happen, I’m pretty sure we’ve all seen images of cars or truck sticking out of the road in a city because it suddenly gave way)
Some good thinking there. A couple of counter-points though.
She should probably avoid active use of the telepresence orb, whilst she has alternatives. The truesight function is fine, so long as she is discreet about it. But the whole orb is classified, and the illusionary decoy thing is something that can give her a significant advantage later in her career. For instance, if she offers herself in a hostage exchange. But she cannot pull such a trick if that property becomes general knowledge. And there are far too many potential witnesses here.
Although you may be right in your assumption about the tentacle, it is not certain that it can be used through the shield. If it can, it is indeed a hugely powerful and useful combination. Whilst it does not have a visible connection to the orb, it does tend to project from it, and very closely to it. For example when covering up the awful secret. Close enough that I think it is fair to say that the gap is artistic license, rather than a significant separation.
Of course that is not to say that she will not be able to do as you suggest. Merely that I doubt it myself. I think that is something that she will need to use an upgrade slot to do. For various reasons. But chief amongst which is that it would remove all sense of danger for her. Unless she chose to voluntarily expose herself to fire, she could overcome a huge range of enemies, and problems, with no risk. Especially as we now know that it is 3 star strength. Capable of lifting a car.
I had thought of the “telepresence isn’t as useful when people know you can do it” but I believe she could pull it of in a way making it look like she has teleportation and phasing powers. Still good point.
I was going to counter your counter about the tentacle thing but as I was looking for a page proving my point I discovered you were, in fact, right. Still there is a gap between the orb and the start of the tentacle, she only has to keep her hand close to her shield (which is easily done if she can reduce it significantly, but even if the current page size is the minimal one it can be done).
Her limiter is obvious, she can only use two powers at once, there as to be a time window between changing orbs, no matter how fast she can do it, and of course there is situation in which she won’t be able to let go of a power while needing another one. For example let’s say she’s flying with shield on, then she need to fire a beam at something: she can’t let go of the fly orb because she would fall, so she has to let go of her shield, leaving her vulnerable to an enemy super with fly or long range attack power (or just a well aimed bullet really) while she attack. One can imagine a lot of situations like this one.
I’m going to answer Elfguy in the same message because I’m lazy: The only time we’ve seen her using her Pew Pew Orb she was flying, and it was clear that the interaction between flight orb and PPO modified the nature of the attack, from and energy blast to an explosive laser cut. Non-flight blast might appear closer to the hand.
The only time we’ve seen the PPO fire, the blast started a few feet from the orb, so presumably she could use it through the shield in that way.
None-the-less, unless it does not function like any energy we are aware of, it will still be emitting from the orb. So, even though it is not in the visible spectrum, there would still be energy present. And we know that the force field is a broad spectrum defence, rather than narrow, like Anvil’s. So invisible energy should be blocked just as readily as the visible stuff. In fact, we have heard Sydney’s own role-playing argument that the reverse should actually be the more permeable.
Other than that, my arguments about balance and upgrades, from my reply above, apply equally to this combination. Likewise my conclusion. Whilst you may be right, my gut instinct is that it can’t penetrate. Yet.
Ooopsie. Look like I missed the point while replying. Hum. Maybe the energy can pass because the orbs all use the same? So the power of one orb could be transmited by the manifestation of another?
… No I think you’re right. It’s something that has to be unlocked. Otherwise she would be able to use her other powers through her telepresence, or shot energy beam from the tentacle
The shield doesn’t just block energy though. If it did, light wouldn’t be able to pass through it.
If, as we have already discussed, the shield can selectivly block harmfull things, while allowing harmless things to pass, it should be perfectly capable of letting the lighthook and PPO blast through, when shooting out of the shield.
It is also perfectly possible that the energy from the PPO blast doesn’t actually come from inside the PPO
No it doesn’t work that way. If it allowed “harmless” things to pass then during the demonstration Maxima wouldn’t have had to remind Sydney not to include her in the shield. Also when Sydney used her explodey beam and put the shield up afterward half of it was full of trapped dust and sand, which was rather inconvenient. Yeah it let light pass, but I don’t think it’s because it recognise harmful things. Maybe it was created without anyone thinking “hey what if someone weaponized light?” or maybe thinking “Someone, someday, is going to weaponize light, that’s just how it is, but if I get protection from light I can’t see a darn thing! Can’t have it all, you gotta make choices”. Of maybe the forcefield can be tuned. I mean she already found a dial to control the size, maybe there is one to choose what kind of energy you want to block?
This inspire me with a new real of possibility for the use of the shield in combat thought! She could use it in conjunction with the flight orb to trap bad guys, staying near the top while there trapped at the bottom (thought that would be risky in case some can fly or have long range attack). Maybe she could move the whole battlefield if the flight orb is powerful enough to pull tons of rock with people on top.
But the funniest one would be scaling up a concept already seen just a few page ago… CAGEEE FIIIIIGHT! With the shield surrounding the action she wouldn’t have to stop and think “hey were am I pointing my laser orb? Were am I throwing that guy?” no matter the attacks directions they would be contained by the shield.
There are a few things that we know it does do selectively. It does let sound through. Likewise enough light to see by. But it does not let through the harmful energies of Maxima’s attack. So we know that there is a certain amount of discrimination taking place. So it is fair to say that it is allowing some helpful things through. Whilst, simultaneously, blocking other harmful things.
Maxima’s blast is not a laser however, so we do not definitively know that it will block harmful levels of light, but it is a possibility. One that Sydney can easily test, if she has not done so already. Of course, even if it does stop damaging levels of light, would it also stop lesser levels that are potentially dangerous, such as dazzling? That we do not know either. But there is no reason why not. Even our primitive technology builds in anti-dazzle features to helmet visors, when it is useful.
We know that the orbs have powerful safety measures built in. Such as being able to stop even the strongest super in the world from moving them away from Halo. Note that is a discriminatory effect in it’s own right. Maxima was able to pick up the tube, and move it around. But only up to the range limit that the orbs (or the orb’s makers, anyhow) allowed, and no further.
My default assumption is that the orbs block everything, except certain useful things that are needed to sustain life. So enough light and sound (and probably smell) to sense the environment. And, probably, allowing clean air in.
That last assumption though depends on how long the flight to the firing range was. If it was short, then she may have had enough air in her shield that she would not have had a problem breathing. But if it was long, then we can conclude that it is air permeable, because she did not pass out. This is something Sydney will know for certain already, as she has been testing it, and that is a very very basic feature she would have found out early on.
One final note, just because Maxima assumed that the force field is not Maxima permeable, does not mean it is not. When Max was striking the shield, in testing it, it did stop her. But a blow by Maxima certainly is harmful. An ally trying to walk though though, may be classed as acceptable. If the orbs have extremely sophisticated discrimination (and/or sapience).
The orbs did block the vile traitor Harem from teleporting through. But that just shows good taste on the orb’s behalf, as she is potentially dangerous. Maxima, on the other hand, may be able to step through like it was air. Providing she is not attacking at the time. Or harbouring dark secrets of betrayal.
Although it is not likely that allies can pass, it is not something that Sydney will have had the chance to test yet. Due to having kept the orbs secret from everyone else, up until now.
The force field, like all the orb functions, have a lot of upgrade options. So, even if it can’t let allies through yet, that may be something she can allocate a skill point to later.
“The orbs did block the vile traitor Harem from teleporting through. But that just shows good taste on the orb’s behalf, as she is potentially dangerous.”
Stop, just stop
Ok. Just for you mind. I shall henceforth give her the benefit of the doubt, and assume that she is a triple agent. Deus seemed to think it likely, so I am willing to run with that. But I shall keep a very sceptical eye on her.
Of course we need to keep an eye on her (come on, who wouldn’t? ;)), but until we find out for sure, please don’t call her a ‘vile traitor’
And pretty much any of them is ‘potentially dangerous’, not excluding Sydney herself
I think the fact that Harem couldn’t teleport inside the shield is the best proof that it isn’t sentient or discriminate in a complex way.
Even if Harem was a dangerous traitor -which is far from proven, so far she only leaked info to a supposed ally of Archon, look more like mischief and trickster stuff to me, but for the sake of this demonstration let’s assume that she is an enemy spy and assassin whose mission would be to, ultimately, wipe out the whole team- at the time she was trying to help! And Harem couldn’t pass trough the shield (even in the hypothetical case of assassin-Harem she would be trying to help to keep her good reputation with the team, if she had wanted to use the opportunity to have Sydney killed she would have teleported away to allow the guy to kill her and later pretended that he must’ve gotten here right after she went to get the weapons). She still could’ve pretended not being able to teleport inside the shield in order to pretend she was powerless to stop the murder, but she is touching the shield and not going trough in that page. If the shield was sentient and aware that she is a double agent he would’ve let her enter because if she could help she had to in order to keep up the appearence of trustworthiness.
If the orbs are sentient they have a reason for not appearing so. In which case doing things which reveals their sentience could go contrary to their unknown purpose. As with many things that is something we will only know if they choose to reveal themselves. Or have their paws forced in some way.
But here is one mechanism that can be used either by an active intelligence or sophisticated programming. Which would support exactly the contentions I made.
Long range, infallible precognition. Check the future. Does allowing this person or substance to pass keep the orb owner (Halo) alive, happy and physically and mentally healthy for the span of their natural lifetime? If not, does blocking it improve or worsen the forecast. Obviously these are incredibly powerful forecasts, requiring extremely complex and subjective calculations (using our techniques, although they might be very simple for the orb creators). But these are super objects, so power is not a limitation.
Blocking Harem
Halo defeats the opponent, builds her self-confidence. Going on to show other team members how to use their own powers as creatively as she does hers. Advice which they feel confident in accepting, because they have seen how well she handled herself, in a defining crisis that involved every member of the team. It immediately forms long-lasting bonds.
Allowing Harem to pass
Harem defeats Shadow Boxer. Halo’s confidence is harmed. She starts habitually doubting herself, and relies more on others to help her, rather than finding solutions herself. Getting off to a bad start, makes all the other team members treat her as an erratic rookie. Whilst she forms a few close bonds, most of the team do not trust her. This alone shortens Halo’s predicted lifespan, and reduces her quality of life, even whilst still alive.
Conclusion:
Block Harem.
Note that this does not even factor in that such a system could tell if a hypothetical evil Harem would eventually turn on Halo. But, if Halo was under the impression that Harem could pass freely, then she would not know that she can use her force field to protect herself. So the long-range forecast would have to say block Harem now, or it will later cause Halo to die young.
Long range infallible precognition? Impossible. There would be absolutely no suspense left in the story if the orb were sentient and had this level of power. So far she either didn’t needed them or used them by herself, but they’re capable of independant movement (Spinning before the level up, skillgrid configuration) so the orbs could allow Halo to be harmed if it wasn’t dangerous in the long term but any time a real threat would show up they would just take care of it by themselves…
Long range infallible precognition also require a deterministic world were past, present and future are fixed and cannot be altered: any time travel you do is already accounted for, you can’t escape fate, any glimpse of the future will be true no matter what you do to prevent it, all precognition and measures taken to avoid there outcome are already taken into account by the timeline… not very interesting. Even if you take into account the fact that well… it’s a webcomic so there IS a fixed timeline and an almighty determinator it still allow for variations because the author can change his mind. For example having the orb preventing harem to help and the bad guy is taken out by Sydney imply that there is absolutely no possibility that a “wake up call: these guys are villains, it’s not a game, they-re trying to kill you” followed by a calmer, more responsible behavior, also training hat was going to happen anyway and will probably boost her confidence, won’t be beneficial at all in the long term. That the orb prevented Harem from teleporting inside “so sydney know she is protected against teleporter” mean that she would have absolutely no other way to learn that before she is confronted to an hostile one (and archon hasn’t really tested the extend of her powers yet, except the little “how fast can she fly” and “how much damage can the shield absorb?” by Maxima. They are probably going to do that very soon.)
Also I don’t think your psychological explanation works with Halo, at least not in this situation: she took care of negassassin in the next page, and pretended to be vulnerable to fool him. That’s not the kind of thinking you do when you panic. So right after getting punched in the face with nega knuckles she was already starting to apply Math’s advice of thinking several moves ahead. Even if Harem had helped Halo probably would have been more “Hey! That was my bad guy! I was about to crush his nuts!” more than ” *sob sob* Bwaaa thank you *sob* I was so afraid! ” (in fact it’s so out of character I had trouble writing it down). No self confidence harmed because she was in control of the situation.
*read his own comment* we went a long way from “how can Sydney own her enemies while using her shield?” didn’t we?
Err, no it is not. Both philosophically and from personal experience. Having had a recurring precognitive dream which came true. With an eight year gap between the first occurrence and it actually coming to pass. And it was infallible in that every word and nuance of the scene played out exactly as predicted.
Destiny/pre-determination versus free will/self-determination being something that has long been debated. And in Norse mythology Odin was convinced that he had free will, only to find that his destiny was controlled by the Fates. So it is quite an old controversy. However, despite my experience above, I do not know which is true, myself. I had the opportunity to find out, by disrupting the scene part way through. But the fascination of it playing out was too interesting to do so. Every line that followed the dream, proved the accuracy of it to a higher degree.
However, like you, I choose to believe in free-will and that I could have changed the course of the scene had I wanted to. So, in that regard, it would not have been infallible. Of course I could be wrong and the vision took into account my apparently free-willed decision. But here I choose to accept the word of a friend who had a similar experience but did choose to intervene. Successfully.
However, given that I cannot offer proof of it, in any way, I mention it only as a matter of interest. I did not find it credible myself, until it came to pass. Assuming that similar (shorter range prediction) childhood experiences I had could be put down to misremembering or false memories. So I could not expect anybody else to.do otherwise either.
But there are perfectly plausible ways to envisage a long range accurate forecast, which would satisfy our shared desire that there is also self-determination and variability at work. Trouble is, the standard model arguments tend to take the one extreme or the other. So it could be a lengthy reply. Especially if addressing your other points. So I think it best if I leave such, until some time after the next comic goes live. So that it does not clutter up the main comments screen, even more than I have already done.
Ok, responses on your various other points first:
Agreed. But I was not suggesting that all the orbs would operate using that capability. And remember that I specified that such can be done without sentience at all. It would make the force field extremely flexible in function though, and would give Harem a considerable edge. The kind of thing that is useful for justifying long-term survival in a harsh human-eat-human world.
First off this is only important if there is either time travel or other precognition going on in the setting. I can recall nothing even hinting at that. So it can be ignored. But, if it does come in to play, then it is worth realising that one of the leading contenders on how time works (if it even exists at all) is precisely that it is pre-determined. In our real world.
But, theorists have worked out how, if a means was found of time travelling, you ‘change’ the past. Which is that when you ‘go back in time’ you are not going back to a point in your own fixed and unvarying timeline. You are in fact going to an alternate universe timeline, that is otherwise exactly the same. In fact your very act of time-travelling could be what caused that universe to diverge from yours in the first place.
That way, you can shoot your grandfather, before your father was born, and yet not create a paradox. Because the timeline that you left has not altered. You still got born and found out how to time travel But in this time line you are now in, this world will not have your father or you being born So you could travel to the point matching your present day, in that time line, and see what the world would be like without you in it. Presumably a better place, with one less murderer in it.
Chance can be handled precisely the same way. Every time a truly random event takes place, a new universe is created, for each possible outcome. Toss a coin and you get three universes (in one of them the coin landed on its edge).
So even this routine explanation of how the world actually works (note there are rival ones, it is merely a popular one), does allow for long-range infallible predictions. If just means you stay on the timeline that will end up with the result you foresaw. If my friend is right, you can choose to deliberately avoid that outcome, by altering a variable that you foresaw. In her vision she saw her husband getting seriously hurt, possibly dying. As soon as the scene began to unfold, she stopped him before he took the disastrous action, and he was not harmed.
Assuming that she is telling the truth, it would mean that you can consciously choose to exit the fixed and unvarying timeline you were on, and go down one of the diverging timelines. Probably those timelines diverged at the point where she had the vision. The other timelines being one where she had no vision. And another where she had it, but chose not to act on it, for some reason.
Follow this line of reasoning, and you can see that the future can be self-deterministic even if in a fixed timeline. Each person can make their own choices and slip from one timeline to another. But are you actually going to another world, or is your consciousness just swapping places with your other self there? Because, in that theory, you still exist in the world that you chose not to be in. In her case there are at least two. The one where her husband had the accident, and this one, where he did not.
I think you will agree that Halo did not think of her counter-attack the instant she was hit? Especially as she had just been hit in the head and would have been stunned and disoriented for a moment. And it was at this point that Harem announced that she could not get through. Clearly she must have actually made the attempt prior to announcing her failure. And it may have taken her a moment or two to realise that it was the shield that was causing the problem, as it is the first time she has tried to teleport into/out of it.
Which means that, at the time the Forb was having to decide (by sentience or programming) whether to allow her to pass, Halo had not yet formulated her plan. Whereas Harem was already acting on hers. Had she been admitted, she could have bapped the bad guy on the head, from behind, as an example. So, instead of completing her line of thought that lead to the cunning plan, instead she has a body fall on top of her.
Possibly freaking her out. But, however she reacts, she would realise that if not for Harem she could have died. And, even though she may suspect that she would have come up with a cunning plan, the fact would be that she had not. Hence the loss of confidence and beginnings of self-doubt. Increased if she freaked out at him falling on her.
Had a bash at writing out my other explanation, but got to the size where I knew I should split it into another comment to avoid big wall of text syndrome, and realised that I had covered about a third of what I would need to explain it comprehensively. After factoring in some healthy editing to cut down the size.
So although it does have some very interesting features, such as allowing both a deterministic and non-deterministic universe simultaneously. And, separately to that, also allowing long-range infallible precognition, as claimed. However it is just too long, given that I managed to, hopefully, show the solution just using a normal model. So I shall spare my guilt at using up too much screen space, and skip boring y’all with my personal theory.
If the orbs turn out only have very basic discrimination, as you are arguing, then your other comment is highly plausible. Namely:
I thought she used the lighthook through the shield in her original demonstration, but I went back and looked, and she clearly started the shield after… but if she could use the lighthook through the shield, then Math simply wouldn’t have anything useful to do to her, and should could just crush him against any object/ use the lighthook’s OTHER name on him…
Actually, based on the sizes of stuff we’ve seen her do with the lighthook already, she could make a second “shield” with it inside her current shield and hold someone against the inside of the shield pretty safely, too (unless they were stronger than the lighthook, able to become insubstantial, or otherwise immune to the LH).
Is that a blush I see in panel 2? Sydney likes math =P
I thought the same, but on another examination that may be the bruise forming from the nega-knuckle shot she took earlier.
That’s a mark from being punched in the face earlier.
I think Karishi and Lydialeera are calling this right. And it is corroborated by her body language. Which is yelling “Yikes” not “I want”.
One can blush for reasons other than desire. Any embarrassment can do, like say, remembering her earlier hubris. As her thought bubble indicates. Though I think I concur that this redness instance is due to a bruise…
Zoom in and you will see that it is only on the side she was hit.
It’s great to see that Math enjoys his work so much.
DAMN!
That would certainly throw off my mojo. o.O
So…
I guess Math is a fan of the Charles Atlas program?
Ahh, I take that to be a friendly fire incident above, as Math drops. It clearly is not Anvil. And, from the team photo (issue #189), the only other hero who’s hand might match (the bald guy sitting on the right, with the space marines), is wearing a different shirt.
So we have a combined dodge and attack in a single panel. I bet Math is a seriously good chess player too.
Indeed. “Three steps ahead. Master that, and you will have begun to learn.”
That actually sounds like something you’d hear from a chess tutor.
Actually it is a known phrase with various forms in various fields. For example in Log Horizon the main character who is also a strategist says ‘think 30 seconds ahead’ many similar sayings exists in East Asia Martial arts too so it is no wonder Math would tell that :P
The connection runs deep. Both chess and martial arts having their origins in warfare. Sun Tzu being a prime example of a commonality.
And, yes, I am aware that early martial arts were were developed in peace-time, by people without weapons. Hence, technically, being a civilian, rather than a military advancement. But it was their way of countering the warfare capability of others, without breaking edicts banning carrying of weapons. So my point is valid, as to the inspirations, which would have influenced their philosophies and tactics.
Since Math is a MARTIAL ARTIST i believe Go would be a more appropriate game for him to referance.
Well, if Math can advise Sydney to think “at least 3 steps ahead,” it would be safe to say that Math thinks even further ahead than that…After all, he’s actually performing a number of actions at once. To be able to pull *that* off effectively, he’s got to be thinking waaaaaay more than merely 3 moves ahead.
Math has four down and I think he put more effort into fighting Sydney. Of course, he was trying very hard not to really hurt her and that takes effort.
All he did against Sydney was shove her leg half a centimeter to the side.
Offcourse he planned before that, but he also did that here. He knew exactly where to stand to make sure the beam would hit the other guy, and so that he could kick up the knife while ducking.
He had the entire ‘fight’ planned out before any of the players made a move
Which is why I think Sydney was more work for Math than this bunch. He experiments with a few moves to see what happens, calculates ALL the orb trajectories and gently pushes Sydney’s shin into a point where the impact is no worse than hitting your shin on a low table stumbling around in the dark. Then stands in awe of her vocabulary.
In Capitalist Steak house… knife licks you!
And Math moves up my list of awesome comic fighters.
No merely human indeed.
“Come on. He’s only one guy. We can take if we hit him all at once.” Thus ended the fight inside the steak house.
Well, they did at least try 3 on one. They’re at a certain level of dumb, where they’re willing to team up, but not smart enough to realise that this is a very bad idea.
At the moment, I’m really wondering what their motives are though. Why the hell did any of them decide to do this? What do they gain?
The consensus in the comments seems to be they were bribed or threatened or both. They are persisting on the “I’m better than that loser” excuse. Or because reporting failure is not allowed.
And now we get a hint as to the nature of Math’s ranged attack capability. Anything that can be moved, and is in reach, is a weapon.
First, Math’s mind is his weapon, everything in his environment (not just his reach) is an extension of that (he got Concretia smacked by her own “ally,” after all). Second, I’m seeing the steakhouse mounting that knife for publicity.
Oo, that is definitly going to be someone’s VERY expencive trophy
Mounted where? There is very little of the restaurant left standing.
(Grrl Power universe’s) Chef Irvine: You said you were having trouble with your restaurant. The name of the show is not “Crater Impossible!”
Owner: Well, a fight broke out the day before yesterday and most of the dining room got trashed. We have someone else coming in to actually fix the structure. We just need you to help with the actual restaurant part.
(Canadian contractor) Mike Holmes: I am normally fixing things when a builder or renovator screwed things up. This is not a bad renovation; stuff went through these walls and ceilings. What, was somebody using a cannon in here?
If Maxima draws her pistol or Peggy cuts loose with the Barrett the answer to that last question will be, “right near the end somebody started playing the 1812 Overture with live ammo, I think.”
Well, if you consider the people to be ‘live’, and being used like ‘ammo’… then they already started :P
Mr. Cyclops wannabe is VERY lucky that knife landed the way it did. It could have sliced his tongue. It could have gone through his throat. It could be coming out the back of his neck, severing the brain stem! As of now, he’s going to need to see a VERY good dentist, but he’ll live. Anything else would have him in the morgue, and he would have deserved it.
Luck had nothing to do with it. Math put that blade right where he wanted. Mr. Cyclops is out of the fight and barely scratched by any standard.
All things considered, he very well might have an impromptu tongue-piercing as well as the dental work.
Yes, Math is a little too confident of his own ability. While this almost certainly puts Eyes out of the combat, and likely makes him easy to catch later, this just requires impossible levels of precision combined with overwhelming risks. [While I doubt he will have much legal worries when he is being attacked by 3? 4? 5? superpowered foes who can be presumed to have lethal intent, he is acting like this is not even serious practice, and that puts serious limits on any claims of self-defense. This looks not like they are attacking him, but rather that they are getting within range of his attacks. So with a hostile judge, he becomes liable for any damage to Eyes, including jail time for murder.] He has to hit a tiny moving [in an unpredictable way] while he is also moving and being distracted, and he has very limited time to aim. Our sympathy for Eyes if he choked to death on his own blood or was paralyzed for life might be justifiably be limited, but Max should likely include Math in the audience the next time she lectures Sidney on taking care innocents [& sorta innocents] do not get hurt.
It really does not matter how hostile the judge is. He is one man being attacked by multiple attackers. All of whom have superhuman combat powers. No jury is going to listen to any arguments beyond that. Given their indiscriminate use of weapons, and the clear attempt to murder Halo already, he would be fully justified in using lethal force. And has been authorised to do so, by his commanding officer.
They are lucky that he feels arrogant enough about his skills to attempt less-lethal responses. And even luckier that his skills match his ego.
Self defense is based on the threat to you, not numbers nor their power. Math simply didn’t feel threatened in the current scene and so his options for self defense are limited. He can’t use any more violence than is needed, no matter how powerful the foe nor how many foes.
We can see this a little easier if we look at Superman. 5 men, 500 men attacking him. No matter. He can’t kill a one without the threat of a murder charge. One man armed with kryptonite, Now he is threatened and can consider killing. Even then he has to consider the actual risk to him and may not legally be able to kill.
Same thing for Math. Super or not, those attacking simply do not make a threat to him that he can’t meet with non-lethal means. Accordingly, he can’t use lethal defenses, or those that carry a high rate of accidental death.
Military law does not put Math at all in the clear. True, military is often soldier friendly in such cases, but the key word is “often” and we are assuming a hostile judge. And when the military is hostile, it is very hostile. Math could easily face conviction and long jail time for a charge that a civilian court would let him walk on.
Of course, it is not clear he would reach a military court anyway. The soldier is not immune to civilian law. Nor does he get a pass with a claim he was following orders. The locals often have good reason to allow or prefer the military to handle it, but that is not a requirement [in real life. Now in the comic, there could be such a law.]
The ONLY reason he’s not in any danger, is because he knocked them out quick.
Drawing out the fight with lame ass weak attacks (as you want him to do), would put him in much greater danger.
He’s not invulnerable like Achilles. One screw up and Math bites the dust, so it’s either react and knock them out, or risk being killed
The fact he knocked them out/incapacitated them just reinforces, not disputes, that he was not really threatened
They had the ability to do serious damage. They showed intent to use that ability. The fact that they couldn’t use it because he was so skilled, probably doesn’t come into play.
All your points are solid, and my well be put by prosecutors. The key counters have already, correctly, been made by RobK/ and Jindra34. Following on from, and supporting, their arguments though, is to correct the example you drew. Which is, in itself, totally correct. But is not a good precedent for this situation. Math is not a Superman or Achilles superhero with invulnerability. The better analogy would be that of an armed man.
Likewise it is not fair, in your analogy to make the opponents normal people. You have turned the situation around to the diametric opposite of what it actually is. So it would be a normal armed person, defending himself against (in a real world context) against multiple armed opponents. Some of whom also have heavy body armour.
The armed combatant’s confidence only comes from the fact that he knows that he can survive by using his weapon. Without using it, he will be killed in very short order, given the fact that he is already under attack.
As an aside, given that very fact, it is unnecessary, in law, for him to declare that he is an armed policeman and is authorised to fire. Self-defence and the protection of others (notably from the gaze attack), takes precedent when under fire. And the criminals are already aware both that they are attacking police officers and that he is a martial artist. Likewise, by their own actions, they have prevented the option of a peaceful solution.
So the only options he has are: 1) Evasive, delaying tactics; 2) Less-lethal attacks, designed to disable or incapacitate; 3) Lethal attacks.
If they were in a contained situation, with just the combatants displayed in the above comic, and reinforcements were to hand, you would be justified in arguing that he should consider 1). That is inappropriate at this time though, as the entire team is massively outnumbered, and he cannot reasonably expect assistance. To the contrary, should he delay, he will be endangering the lives of his allies, who will be in need of his help.
Remember that the enemy have already attempted to kill. Likewise, he could only evade for so long, before succumbing to exhaustion. And one lucky blow by any of these foes could kill him, or anyone else in the path of the attack.
2) is actually a risky option. In my counter-analogy, the armed officer has the option to shoot the attackers in the limbs, in the hope of disabling them. This is not recommended procedure for law enforcement officials. No matter how capable they are with their weapon. It leaves the opponents capable of responding, and returning fire. And, given that these individuals are super-human, they cannot be disarmed. So will remain a substantial threat, even with wounds.
So I stand by my contention that he is, in fact, endangering the lives of himself, other police officers and civilians, by not choosing the most decisive option, namely 3). The fact that the civilians are not in immediate danger, however, mitigates his decision. So his actions can be posed as bravery, despite his arrogance.
Regardless of that though, there is no lesser option, that society can reasonably expect him to take, than striking to disable. So, whilst a kangaroo-court could prosecute him, it would be a miscarriage of justice. He is doing his best to avoid killing them. As such, even if any of the wounds do prove to be fatal, it can be shown that he was acting proportionately, to the threat posed.
Unfortunately, legal precedent in this kind of case (well, as close to this kind of case as we can get in our mundane world) has not been so consistent. In fact, it has often gone against the lone defender – the reason being that he’s just one voice saying he was defending himself, whilst the other side has multiple voices that may say that they were collectively just standing around while this, obviously insane, man ran up and started attacking them, and then producing the obvious injuries they sustained compared to him being unhurt (well, maybe bruised knuckles and palm-heels).
Obviously in this case, in the context of a larger melee, recording devices (both mundane and magical) would substantiate Math’s case, but may not provide quite so much legal protection as we might hope.
Also, in the state of Oklahoma it is legal for the District Attorney to perjure their witnesses. So, lets hope this in no where near a place like that.
I assume that comment is as regards a specific trial ruling, where it gave that impression? Because it does not seem likely that a law would be specifically drafted, with that intent in mind. Nor would I see it as being likely to stand unchallenged. Given that it would run counter to the principles of a fair trial.
Oklahoma refuses to allow you to bring up what witnesses have said in other court cases, even if they are referencing the case you are now in. So the DA knows they are perjuring themselves and are covering for them. It really should violate the Constitutions guarantee of a fair trial, but this crooked state just cares about locking people up.
Every state has its problems so don’t be hatin my home
I’ve been here 44 years. I do however hate anything that attacks what America is supposed to stand for. Corruption is corruption, it needs to be ended.
been here about 45
But surely, if the witness did clearly perjure themselves (as opposed to framing their answer in a better light, given the context of each respective case), then the District Attorney would file charges of perjury against them? And, in doing so, would be obliged to notify the trial judge.
By the way, I will not press the question beyond this point. As I know that US courts have a lot of politics involved in them. What with DA’s going on to become politicians, as a matter of course. Personally I find it highly dangerous allowing politicians to get involved in the legal system. Much preferring the UK arrangement of having a strict separation between the two.
But am interested enough in the quirks that come up, when discussing international differences in law, to try and clarify that one point. But fear going any further would risk things getting too political.
Yorp, the DA uses that law to cover for their witnesses perjury. With the approval of the trial judge. What I don’t understand is a jury that will still convict when seeing that it is clearly lies being given to them. As for being politicians, the main DA in each county and all judges are politicians as they are elected. It seems once a judge gets elected they are basically just there, since most voters never bother to check on records and vote as needed, just reelect. It is sad really, America has truly died through apathy of the citizens.
You forget something very important in your analasys.
Archon is a militairy organization. This entire fight is a hostile group attacking a group of soldiers.
I doubt the army has to worry about individual self defence reasons, when an entire team gets attacked.
So even IF he has to defend his actions, it would be to a superior officer, or in the worst case, a military judge. Civlilain legal system won’t have any part in this
Have to ask: did Math aim for the teeth? Or did he just get unbefreakinglievalutely lucky? o_O
I would go for aim he is a flashy guy and that is ALOT more impressive than just stabbing him with it.
I would agree. He is attempting to use a less-lethal option. A distraction, rather than a serious attempt to kill. Although it does appear to be having a lot more effect than I would have anticipated. Seeming to have, temporarily, stopped the attack completely. Which is not something that I would have counted on happening.
The glow to the guy’s chest being a clue that disrupting his breathing might interfere with his attack. But it is hard to see how a painful mouth would do that, on its own.
I think he’s having a full blown panic attack. Trust me he’s useless for the next 3-5 minutes.
I doubt that he’d be dumb enough to get up after that.
I think the glow is just the light from the beams. It seems to be the shadow of his head around his neck.
That makes sense.
I agree – intentionally aimed at the gap in his teeth instead of, say, an eye or his throat.
Still, it might’ve been funny to see his team-mates refer to him as “Tracheotomy Man” (while he simultaneously smokes 2 cigarettes)
… with his arms folded.
That seems to be his signature move
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/572
Out of curiosity, is your avatar symbolic of the wisdom of seeing no evil?
Or are you just a bird, who does not want to be recognised?
I think he just as a very big monobrown
Bite down, please. Or not.
Instead of “AAAAAAAA!” in the last panel, perhaps “SHRIEK!!!” to indicate the villian’s horror of the moment.
is it just me or the second guy got laser shot in the crotch? hehe
Looks below the belt from this angle. Maybe not a Halo style perfect storm, but he’s not gonna be interested in current events for a while.
Knife to the teeth or a laser to the crotch. Choices choices
With those choices, I think I would choose to be the guy that got kicked in the head.
Hey Dave, quit knocking out the bad guys before we can see what their powers are. The last we saw of the amazing undershirt man he was standing in the parking lot wearing a yellow construction helmet. We didn’t even get to hear him make any bad puns like ‘I will wreck you!’.
It could be that the reason he went down so fast was that he wasn’t even a villain, just a mind-controlled civilian. For all we know, Math just knocked out one of the Village People.
“The last we saw of the amazing undershirt man he was standing in the parking lot wearing a yellow construction helmet.”
Where? There was a guy wearing a with t-shirt but it had sleeves and a yellow drawing on it. Also the “yellow-head” seemed to be his hair.
I think this guy is one of the ten that was at the roof, since almost all of them seems to be disappeared from there I assume they jumped into the room.
Expecting that Math’s psych lims will kick in shortly.
Overconfidence plus an attractive female within groping distance has repeatedly proven his downfall before and, I am sure, will be again.
If you mean Sydney, I don’t think she is that distracting to him. Not intended to be rude to her, but Math has shown a preference for Harem. What he needs is a real challenge to get him focused.
With those requirements in place, I nominate Heartbreaker, which is what I’m calling the semi-commander with the shinai from earlier until Dave corrects me.
No it won’t.
Good martial artists can zone out the envirioment while they fight.
In tournaments, where he’d lose because of females (see cast page), he has no reason to zone out because there was no challange, no danger.
Here, there is danger and challange. I doubt he is focussing on much other than fighting
‘Good’ does not equal ‘infallible’. Math is not infallible – we’ve seen multiple examples of this already.
The majority of the supers on the cast page have power levels of 5 or 6.
When a non-super has a power level of 7…well, now we know what happens. D:
So, what Dave’s saying is that our primary failing in achieving our goals is ego.
Ego, and pride.
Well, Ego and pride, alcohol.
Ah, wait, Ego. Pride, and alcohol, and jealousy.
Ego, pride, alcohol on occasion, finally, jealousy, and fanatical devotion to the Pope.
Bugger, let me start again.
Going for the full Monty?
Nobody expects the failing of their goals.
People who don’t expect that also fail to expect the ninjas that *cause* their failures…
He he.
…Ow. Also know as YAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGGG!!! MY MOUTH MY MOUTH GETITOUT MOTHER OF GOD MAKE THE HURTING STOP!!!!!!!
Sounds rather like what is heard after some poor fool goes into a chili-eating context versus Sydney.
Damn typos. That’s CONTEST.
The Typo Ninja strikes again
…followed by a similar screaming about 20 minutes later
WRT why they would attack Math after seeing him take out Concretia.
1. He might have gotten lucky.
2. Eyebeam guy seems like a putz but if his power is really a speed of light beam it’s not dodgable for long.
3. I’m reminded of a line from the Amber novels when Corwin fought Gerard, something to the effect of “You are a better swordsman, but I only need to get past your point but once to beat you.” Anyone with super strength only needs the tiniest of slip-ups to best him.
4. They might just be stalling until one of the better villians can control him telepathically or turn him into a frog or whatever.
1. SKILL. MEGA RENSHAI LEVEL OF SKILL
2. the problem with eye beam guy is that his power works only in line of sight and it has to power up so to speak. to make along story short he has to stop, charge and aim at his opponent to get off a shot.
3. as harry dreseden says : “fight smarter not harder” math is one who takes this very seriously in a fight. Combined martial arts with battle field tactics/awareness he becomes a terror in a fight.
4.it will have to be a supreme knockout of a woman to even distract math or a someone on his or higher level to take out math.i’m not seeing it here. but i could be wrong.
You don’t get into the supervillian game unless you are cocky about your powers. Concretia obviously got unlucky. ;)
And the eyebeam guy probably thought he was safe: He’s got a ranged attack, and Math wasn’t holding a weapon. Take the martial artist out before he gets close enough to throw a punch is a logical strategy.
Besides: Math is ‘just human’ – To an outsider he’s the weakest of the group. You seriously think avoiding Math and attacking Maxima instead is the safer option?
You’re wrong that. Math is not the weakest of the group.
If you look at the cast page, he’s ranked 7 stars. Hiro and Dabbler are also 7 stars, and Maxima is 9+
The rest of the team is lower.
We have seen him beat up Anvil with the same ease as he fought the villains. Anvil’s powers relly on strenght. Both hitting and getting hit. Martial arts allow you to turn your opponents strenght against them, without having to do much yourself. So Anvil’s powers are useless against Math.
Offcourse, villains might not realize that. But after today they will
But, Math knows how Anvil’s powers work – he didn’t ever actually hit her, only throws or light contact. Unless her powers boost speed like they do strength, she can’t actually use them against Math… Had big & ugly just throw her through the roof, an energy-beam-user could probably have finished her off. Well, had she been on her own rather than backed up by an elite squad of Anti-Super Specialists…
On the other hand, Math seems to have adapted to his natural squishiness by specialising in 3 types of defensive strategy: 1) “Can’t touch this”, 2) “Friendly fire!” and 3) “Stop punching yourself” Or a combination of the three
+1 for your strategy descriptions
+1&2
“Can’t Stop Punching/Hitting Friendlies”? :)
“You’re wrong that. Math is not the weakest of the group.”
DStaal said: “To an outsider he’s the weakest of the group.” (emphasis is mine)
I concur with that, the foes did not see the fight with Anvil nor have the cast page :)