Grrl Power #211 – Battle Royale boredom
Math should know better. In a tournament you have to work your way up the ladder until you get to the tougher opponents – unless your first seed is against one of the guys that makes it to the quarterfinals. These guys are basically byes for him. Well see how well “Lee Press on Claws” does against him. Also in case it isn’t obvious, Dabbler isn’t used to working with a team yet.
The bad guys are going to learn one way or another that they better start telling Archon their pseudonyms or they’re going to get stuck with the first funny thing Leon thinks of.
My second Gynostar Guest strip is up in case you missed it Thursday. The current arc starts here.
I’m sorry I’ve let the vote incentive languish for so long. The Gynostar guest strips are taking longer than I thought, luckily the next two are basically already done except for some minor edits, so I’ll try and put something more interesting up there soon.
Update: I’m going to try something different with the stream today. For one, I’ll be penciling, and for another I’ll be editing the comic as I do it since I wrote too much to fit on the page. This obviously contains ALL the spoilers for page 216, but I’m going to try and record the stream and post that along with the comic when it goes up so you’ll have a chance to watch it then if you want to avoid the spoilers now. I’ll start at 2:30 PM CST today (May 6) and probably go for about an hour. Here’s the link if you want to hang out and chat until then: https://www.justin.tv/davebarrack Update 2: Stream’s over. I’ll post the video for it when page 216 goes up.
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Panel #2 *shudder*
Math anesthetized him before removing the knife. No more pain, until he wakes up.
That is one of the few times I would not mind somebody knocking me out.
Gimme the gas doc, or I walk.
Uh uh…Morphine & the best dentist you can find. Just keep me unconscious until he’s done with my bridgework.
I once was given the choice of a morphine trip (had REALLY good insurance at time) so took it to allow dentist to work on me easier. My last thought before I went out was, “Man! I’m likin this WAY too much…..”
one of few times i cringed at how someone was hurt. that man is going to give up villainy for darn sure
You don’t seem to understand villainy very well.
No, this is the sort of situation where that guy will end up “Swearing Vengeance!” against Math, and ALL Supers!
He’ll probably show up again in the future with some sort of mask or prosthetic to hide his ‘disfigurement’, having taken a level in badass somehow, (focusing lenses, learning actual martial arts, ancient enchanted artifact…) and depending on how Dave wants to play it, either be a serious danger to some of the team or be beaten down even faster for comedy’s sake.
Or, conversely, you could take the Batman route, where they become so obsessed with their new disfigurement that it has a drastic effect on their personality.
As a result, I fully expect we will see “The Dentist” as a supervillain sometime in the future.
He will be eaten by a plant.
Or a grue…
+1. Also, probably true, given that he doesn’t have a nasty knife…
Or “The Letterman” will appear…
His secret weapon isn’t top ten lists, is it?
Lame Top 10 Lists, full of terrible puns and bad inuendoes
He’ll also be easily identifiable by the new whistle when he talks.
Whether he chooses to swear “To Retire From Villainy” or “To Get Revenge” will be the first sign of whether-or-not he has the common sense of your average newborn turkey.
P.S.:
If you want to use the “disfigurement”-trope, you might be better served by “Dr.Victor Von Doom”, rather than “Bruce Wayne”, as an example.
Yes, that or the Phantom of the Opera. He is, after all, one of the prime examples of the trope, if not THE prime example.
Which one? Original or ‘Lloyd Webber brain-fark’ musical version?
I think it is more likely that he’s referring to Batman’s rogue gallery: Think Joker and twoface, clayface, manbat etc etc.
I think he’ll actually be “Thwearing Venjthenth”.
Strange to see Dabbler call someone rude. Is butting in on fights one of her only taboos?
Butting in on a fight is rude.
Especially when the mooks are having trouble staying on their feet long enough to make her look good.
Nope. Math was just ordered (or at least suggested) by his superior to compete for headcount. All he is doing is complying with his leader’s suggestion/order.
Competing for head-counts, does not, should not, include kill-stealing
Wonder if Sydney knows that rule
She is a nerd tom-boy. She knows.
Nobody likes a kill stealer!
I thought She was talking about the big guns out side who are waiting for the fight to be over before going in.
That’s… a possibility ( and would also work)
Guess it didn’t like putting ‘cheating’ and ‘sneaky’ in pointy brackets :P
Sometimes they work for fun stuff, other times not. <I suspect that single words are always treated as if they were commands>
Even a sentence without punctuation did not get through. So put in some punctuation to ensure your message is visible.
<Correction or formatting> <Sentences with punctuation and formatting is probably fine, although one with punctuation alone did not get through.>
First of, thank you for being so punctual in your updates, I stayed behind at my house an extra 3 minutes just because I was hoping to read this before I left, and I did, so thanks. :) Also awesome page, and if you ever need some more super hero/ villan ideas, here are some cool ideas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azVsnHwXLJM
P.S. Hope you don’t mind the link.
Dave is spot on with his updates 99.9% percent of the time.
I think I’ve only missed one, and that was because the Monday was a holiday and that threw me off. Still I got it up just a few hours late.
true, but .0001% sounds like serious nitpicking ;)
Depending on how far ahead he is he might or might not be late with the one after Project A-kon 25 in a few weeks as well.
Speaking of, Dave If you are hosting a panel or informal meetup on Friday I will most likely miss it as I will not be getting to the Con until after 5:00 at best on Friday due to having a Job and no vacation time yet.
99.5%
#1:03, crotch shot, now. Fling target towards wall, disorientation. Focus on continuously pulling him in opposing directions. I HATE that cheesy move.
So yeah, I clearly think the better pursuit is how the villains can tag team better than 1-on-1’ing the heroes who are getting LIVE FEED updates on powers and weaknesses.
In their defense, the baddies seem unaware that the ARC squad is getting updates on them, so the need for such a tactic might not occur to them.
OTOH, the need for any tactics might not occur to either.
Poor Halo is going to get so far behind if they’re competing for headcount… just following orders by staying in her shield, but still, she’ll probably try to make up for it by farming henchmen at some point.
Just so long as she does not get tempted to use the PPO to catch up. Maxima would be miffed.
“That still only counts as one”- Gimli
Heh.
Max- Sydney, sneaking around the fight collecting all the unconscious bodies then piling them up and standing on them doesn’t count, we saw you doing it.
Math- Hey! those 5 are mine!
Oh God, I can imagine her collecting bodies, putting them in a shield, and rolling unconscious bodies around like a Bingo ball. Most embarrassing villain imprisonment ever.
Katamari!
Halo: Finders keepers, losers weepers!
I could picture her doing just that.
ya know, by that theory superman only killed two people in man of steel…
What, you asume those buildings were empty?
That’s the same reasoning why LeggyLass’s take-down of that elephant thing (and all it’s passengers) only counted as ‘one’
Maybe. But she did knock one down. Not bad for the first day on the job.
Well, he knocked Sydney down first. Tit for tat, ya’ know.
…Even though the other gals in ARCSwat are already two-up on Syndey for that…
I wonder if the Lighthook can operate outside the shield while it’s up? That would allow her to contribute, maybe kick some serious buttock from a position of absolute safety if she can do so, tie up one or two particular recalcitrants who refuse to go down, that sort of thing.
I’d rather see her use the yellow com-ball to act as a scout to find the hidden or more dangerous enemies and help match them with a hero. Sort of how she is described in the cast files.
I’m personally hoping the upgrade to the orb might provide information on villain stats.
eh revealing the com-ball’s illusion function this early seems foolish to me…
I was assuming that Mr Sir was referring to the truesight function of the Comm-Ball, as opposed to the telepresence capability. Thus envisaging her obeying orders by keeping her shield up (and not getting into the thick of battle but scouting around the edges), but getting an eyeball on as many foes as possible and reporting on any illusions, shapeshifted or invisible foes she spots. Given that Maxima has already voiced the possibility that a number of foes might be illusions, I am surprised that she has not done so. But thought it a very good suggestion.
Whereas, if she were to use the telepresence illusion, we know that she cannot use truesight through that. So whilst it would be safer, it would be no more than an extra pair of eyes on the battlefield. So you are very right to say that would be a minimal return, for revealing a secret function. Even if she were to minimise the risk of exposure by hiding her real self out of sight, such as in the washroom, the illusion could be detected as such by various means. And, therefore, would be a bad mistake.
I wasn’t aware she couldn’t use truesight through telepresence, but yes, the truesight portion was the part I was referring to.
Yea, nobody listened when Sydney mentioned that. Mind you she would need a seriously good assertiveness course, to compete with distractions like that.
Well, if Halo gets bored she can always pull an Achilles and just walk around with the shield up, bumping into bad guys she knows can’t break her shield, and being a nuisance.
I don’t think she can walk around (especially with the shield intersecting the ground), but she could definitely fly. Sydney can use the shield while flying, but it didn’t move at all when hit by Maxima’s blasts. The only thing proven to be able to move the shield is the flying orb.
Good point, that actually counters my suggestion too. The orb did hold sand in it, so is likely to get stuck in the ground if it passes through it*. But she could do a big hamster ball impersonation. Which would be hilarious in its own right. Although, if not anchored by the ground, it may make her vulnerable to being knocked around, by super strength, heavy winds or simply by big opponents. **
Plus rather like a Games Master who compromises to allow a slightly abusive power use, provided the player only talks in rhymes. Or has to tap dance whilst describing the character’s actions. Something that will discourage it from being used too often, for fear of being laughed at.
* Barring a sophisticated discriminatory function that allows it through because it is helpful and/or intelligent orbs and/or a sigil, like the embigener, to override the default and allow specific substances or individual sot pass. Similarly one of the sigils (and/or skill upgrades) might allow a hemisphere to be created.
A sophisticated version of the last function would map the contours of the surface being stood upon, and match the force field to it exactly. Thus allowing walking with no problem. A less sophisticated one would extend the shield down only as far as it could go before touching the highest point on the ground. Which would create two problems. One being that it would allow small things to slip underneath as well as clearly not being airtight. The other being that the force field could snag on things as she moved around.
Of course, the force field may have either version of the hemisphere as its default. But I think it more likely that it does extend to make a full sphere at all times. Simply because that is the better default option to provide maximum protection. Even though it does come with some drawbacks. And we can see that the Forb has been built with powerful defence in mind.
** Or not, if the force field prevents knock-back. Which it very well may, depending on how the force field works. If it functions as an energy absorber, for instance, it would.
I’m assuming Lee Press On Claws is a joke – sorry I’m not american, so can someone tell me what the joke is? Thanks.
Also, I think the blonde girl in white is going to need better reflexes before she gets into fights.
Check “Lee Press On Nails” on Google, and you’ll get the joke.
Beauty product Lee Press-On Nails. Fingernail extensions.
Lee is a brand of Press-On Nails, which are plastic pieces that women (and men, but men don’t do it nearly as often) can put on their fingernails to make them temporarily look longer and/or painted without much effort.
I am assuming there may be some other cultural reference to it (possibly the “Lee” being a reference to Bruce Lee?) But the bit that jumped out at me is the press-on nails that girls wear. Which are very prone to breaking off, so are only worn in circumstances where they are not likely to do so. Certainly not when doing manual work or fighting.
So Leon is likening him to a fashion-conscious girl, who would avoid a fight.
Nah the Lee part is just the brand name of the fake nails Yorp, nothing to do with Bruce Lee at all. Here is the companies website, dunno if they actually still make the fake nails but they did in the 80s.
https://www.lee.com/store/LEE_STORE_US/en_US/category/women.html
Search engines are your friend. Lee Press On Nails were a teen fashion accessory in the …80’s apparently. Tough colourful plastic stick-on fingernail things.
Look at fake nails in the country you’re in. Now picture them having the brand name “Lee Press On”
Thanks for the info all. It’s a product I’d never heard of.
What are you talking about? WindowLock has better reflexes than ParaCyke had
I am with Zephan on this one. That is a more then stretched name. Funny though it is.
* Admittedly he is only in the mini-comic, but could do with him and Leon appearing in the Who’s Who. If only for ease of comment reference.
Aren’t the mini-coms canon?
No they aren’t though you can see them that way as they don’t interfere with the story much
Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t.
Depends on what DaveB sais
Unless DaveB specifically says otherwise, counting them to be official-just-not-able-to-fit-in-the-main-comic
Technically, per the word-of-god, they are not cannon. Although DaveB has specifically indicated a few as being such. But, bearing in mind that the rule of funny allows leeway from realism, I cannot recall a single one that did not seem to be fitting. So personally I take them all as being cannon. And am certainly happy as citing them as precedent or extra information on what characters have done (such as checking out Henai).
I truly hope you are right :)
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/209
I mentioned the rule of funny for a reason. Besides which we know that Achon is real, and just has not gone public yet. ;-)
The fact that Leon and Zeph have both been added to the “Who’s who” kinda reinforces that this mini-com at least is canon :D
I look at them as sort of an “audience aside,” the technique made famous by Groucho Marx.
More sensible? How is “Lee Press On Claws” not a sensible name? What nonsense! (I’m pretty sure “Needs A Nailclipper Man” would be a better designation, of course, but what can you do?)
“Not Craw, Craw!” Maxwell Smart villain The Claw with a Chinese accent that you could not cut through with a craw.
How about night-clawer…
+ all my cookies
cute!
Don’t Scratch that Itch Man
Wiping Can Be Painful Guy
No Woman Wants My Caress Dude (could be his motivation for going villain)
Seriously, Dude, Clip Those Nails Guy
Warning: May Cause Lacerations PSA-Man
Nails.
Less is more.
…If this guy worked for the TSA, I’d charge him with assault for just showing up to work…
I hope “Lee…” isn’t your final designate for Math’s new challenger, and that you have a proper moniker lined up for him.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a funny name, it’s just a bit of a mouthful.
Personally, I’d like to see him try and get away with calling himself “Shredder”, and have Sydney lose it on him.
Copyright problem, shredder is the villain in TMNT
-Joke-
-Your head-
Or as Peanut would say “Eeeeyowww!”. (waves hand high over his head)
Let’s name him Scratch(y) or Nails.
Heh. And I see you beat me to one of those by a couple of hours.
What about:
“Jack the Ripper”
or
“Gash”
or
“Slash” (NVM, he’d need curly hair and a top hat.)
To annoy Halo he would be wolverine.
Naa, not brooding enough. You may have noticed even Leon has a brooding vibe about him. Hence having caught her eye. I don’t think girly-nails-guy will turn her on.
I think most the “box” names are placeholders quickly applied by the folks ‘watching’ from the shadows. Shows that someone has a sense of humor. Though I’m sure that Concretia is likely to stick, the others most likely will be changed later.
Quite possibly. Of course ‘Lee Press on Nails’ is going to have that as his bitch name in prison, so he better get used to it.
Could just call him “LPN” for short.
Or maybe “Li Pon?”
Math is smiling. He’s got a live one this time. Nails missed his best chance though. It down to how long can he last.
They have matching hair styles. the fight is about to break down into 30 minutes posing in fighting stance and 20 seconds of blurred fists and feet. (Dragon who? Never heard of them.)
Unfortunately, Math gives off the DBZ vibe of wanting to test himself against the strongest possible opponent. Once he finds someone ‘worthy’, he may give the baddie time to power up or complete his uber-weapon to make the fight interesting (Mandarin power rings, gotta collect them all!)
Not just hair styles, he could almost be Math’s evil twin.
Can’t be an evil twin: he doesn’t have the goatee/Van Dyke
Naw, Math’s evil twin was an only-child.
And his best chance was apparently a surprise attack from behind which didn’t even manage to draw blood from Math’s merely human skin. I don’t give LPoN much odds now that it’s a face to face fight.
Have the cast page symbols been described somewhere? Some of them I can make a decent guess about, others I have no idea what they mean. The villain assignments use nice, friendly words to which Leon’s guess at their power level is assigned, it’d be nice if the cast page did the same.
Here are my best guesses.
If Math even manages to break a sweat with this guy, at least he won’t have to worry about laundering his shirt afterwards. Just throw it away.
…Or wait…
This might be a chance for Math to display his ability for: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bullet-proof+nudity
Interesting Side Note: While some lechers may discriminate against women the classify as “fatties” or “uggos”, it’s nice to see that Math is open to all types of women.
This has been hinted before, first time he saw Sydney and went “YEAH! MORE WOMEN!” and then got knocked out on purpose to try to get some guilt motivated mouth to mouth. I’m not saying Sydney is ugly, but she is far from the glamazone or bimbo types that most lecher would target.
Anecdotal evidence says Mohammed Ali in his prime preferred homely women, because they were so happy and grateful afterwards. His trainer, Angelo Dundee, seems to have originated the phrase “pelvic missionary” to describe the champion’s sex life.
Maybe he listens to Jimmy Soul
I wonder what is Math’s favorite pick-up line?
“Hi, I’m Math. Do you want to learn how to multiply?”
“Hey baby, I’m Math. What’s your SINE?”
(of course, this line of thought may be going off on a tangent)
Math’s comment to self had me chuckling. Apt expression too.
Oh my god, Math… WHY DO YOU HATE TEETH?
Is that wince from maxima when she blocks the lightning pain, or just from the light?
Math’s skill here makes me wonder who he was training with before he joined the team, does he have some terrifying old sensei stashed away somewhere?
I took it as being from the light. The rest of her expression I put down to reacting to her conversation with Math.
I think Maxima’s expression is irritation dealing with Math’s complaint in mid-fight.
“Defeat me and you will face my Master who is ten times greater. Defeat him and you will face his Master.”
Defeat him, and… well, you get the picture.
I dread to think how powerful that would make the first master, in Math’s own line.
Well, if we assume that every master is indeed 10x greater than his student, and math is the 999th student in that line… The first Master was god, who it turns out made the world with Kung-Fu.
*bows*
That was ten times funnier than my comment.
Well naturally.
I mean, that’s just…Math.
So, would that mean that the original Master in Math’s line caused the Big Bang by sneezing?
I mean, the universe is still expanding. The Big Bang is STILL banging…
Too bad nobody else was around to invent facial tissues.
Seems to me that Mac is being kept plenty busy with her own personal “target-rich environment”. Any reactions she is showing would relate much more to what is happening to or near her.
I just realised… Math was being nice by quickly removing the knife. He had just knocked the guy out after all… try not to think about what would have happened if he had fallen face first like it look like he was going to.
Just so. And, if you think back, when he defeated Halo, he ensured that she landed on Anvil. Who, as we know, is the safest landing cushion in the world. Even the most incompetent klutz could not hurt themselves, falling onto her.
Character flaws
Lecher *
Self-aggrandising ego maniac *
Positive traits
Thoughtful forward thinker, who ensures that there are no unforeseen consequences of his actions.
Willing to steer Halo down the same path.
* But who isn’t? He is definitely growing on me.
Also, by making him land face-down Math ensures that blood wont pool down his throat and into his lungs. Most people wouldn’t even consider anything like that, just goes to show how good Math is at instantly assessing everything around him.
My Brother’s suggested response to the comment is ‘Taught him well Master Yoda did’.
I suspect he has the Ryanzankpako Senseis or something equally terrifying and powerful behind his training.
Note… I KNOW I got that spelling wrong , am referring to ‘History’s strongest Disciple Kenichi’
I honestly could not think of the correct spelling and didn’t want to open a second window and possibly lose the comment.
Nah, He’s the current disciple of ‘The Master of Sinanju’.
…I want to see Chiun make an appearance. I like that little Korean, in the books and the movie.
No chance of that happening. Not using my browser (Google Chrome) anyhow. I have been seriously impressed with how robust the interface is.
Even if you use the ‘back’ arrow, in the browser, to double-check what the original poster said, or to copy some text to use in a quote, when you use the ‘forward’ arrow all the text, you typed previously, is retained.
One other handy tip, is that if you ever make a serious error (such as bumping a key, when all the text is highlighted, for some reason), and feel like screaming, just right click on the box and choose ‘undo’ from the pop-up menu options.
Having a Jack Russell Terrier * sitting on my lap 90% of the day, I find that I do get the odd one or two typos happening, at unexpected times. Especially if something tasty-looking falls into the vicinity of the keyboard unnoticed.
* a.k.a. Parson’s Terrier, for some of you colonial types.
Just in case when you are writing a reply there is a line above the first text box that say “Reply to nickname“. The “nickname” is a link to the original comment, if you click on it you jump to it without leave the page. Then you can return to the bottom of the page to continue writing. I find it quickier.
Well Math, it looks like Nomura Junior is here to entertain you.
in between chevrons seems to indicate that it’s a translated foreign word.
I’m sure the Demonic word for “rude” would count as a swear word in any other language. As, in fact, do all Demonic words.
Is there a way to type the greater-than and less-than signs in comments? < and > perhaps?
Oh, good.
So, what I meant to say earlier was that <Rude&;gt indicates a translated word, and you can type the triangle-brackets with < and >
Stop talking in demon. I can’t understand you.
Testing…
<
>
If you look carefully on the page you will spot chevrons appearing somewhere else too. In a spot that might be considered rude. I am surprised that Dabbler did not notice that and choose a different opponent*.
* Although not in a tactical sense. The practice sword-wielder being a lieutenant and a more worthy target.
I noticed those and wondered if he was trying to make himself look bigger or just highlighting a target.
THAT is a Spot check :)
She has chevrons too, and in a more intriguing way. That could have helped Dabbler to make her mind, men are too obvious.
That took me a bit to see, though I did just now see the keyhole shape on the leader lady’s chest.
The villains are going to start sowing name tags on their costumes. On the outside. So they do not get a sissy handle.
I was just thinking that…well, that’s it right there.
For everyone who’s wondered why the villain gives himself away and takes precious seconds announcing himself?
“Lee Press-on Claws” is what happens to you when you don’t give yourself away and announce yourself. The heroes’ marketing department gets to name you. A fate worse than death.
heroes marketing dept. would come up with much more sinister sounding names, so the heroes would be more marketable. I have a feeling this naming is possibly from Halo’s POV, and she’s giggling to herself maniacally, confusing the bad guys into believing she’s evil, too.
I have a character who calls himself “The Octopod” with 6 arms, stretching, water breathing, etc. A female newscaster called him “Captain Calimari” before he had a chance to introduce himself… He has a love/hate relationship with her now…
Oh, and please don’t forget to vote. We are still languishing in 5th place!
Now in 4th
Needing about 200 more to hit no. 2
back in 4th now
3rd now
If this villain turns out to have martial arts ability, he can be upgraded to “Bruce Lee Press-On Claws”.
And then we do a little language joke and he will be Blue 3.
面白い！
Wonder if he has something cool on his back or are those straps just really bad fashion sense?
Be lucky if distracting team mates with silly names doesn’t get one of them hurt. Its bad enough they have to read stuff floating above their heads in battle… Though perhaps in the age of MMO’s this was the inevitable….
Hopefully his whining doesn’t encourage Dabbler to give one of his opponents a “boost” to teach him a lesson.
DaveB, I hope i get to see you at A-kon this year.
I’ll be there and I’ll be doing a panel. I think the same topic as last year which was “Writing for humor” or something.
Here’s hoping that they’ll start to introduce more formidable villains. I find it infuriating when a surprise super-villain showdown is treated this lightly.
Something you have to remember though is that both Maxima and Sydney are genre conscious. Just like us, they know there must be an end-of-level boss lurking in the background. No surprises for them, or us, about that. The surprises lie elsewhere. You know, in the unpredictable areas.
I think we just got the first serious challenger, at least for Math.
I think if you look at the superhero genre as a whole the first “real” fight is either against a group of “ok” level villains, but since the group hasn’t really fine tuned their tactics it is still a challenge OR they’re facing up against one unholy strong nigh unstoppable threat that owns their butts until they figure out his gimmick and them drop him like yesterdays news.
Seems to be the de facto standard for “first fights”. There are exceptions of course, but as a whole that’s about how it seems to work out.
I wish I had an entire afternoon to explain how wrong you and Yorp are when comparing this comic to other series. It’s too bad I have a job.
*scratches head with paw*
The only other
seriesseriesessesthings I can remember comparing the comic to is Buffy the Vampire slayer and Girl Genius. And then only because they are the ultimate standards to aspire to, in their respective genres. Something that DaveB is shaping up to, more and more, as he progresses.Beyond those named examples though, we have a whole world of entertainment out there, all creating many more virtual worlds. Of which there are seas of dross to sift through and find pearls. But it is a big world with many big oceans, so there are lots of pearls to be found.
Oddly enough, I’m having trouble seeing much difference from Marvel right now.
We were -told- that the series was going to be a little more reality based than a typical comic. So far I haven’t seen anything suggesting that.
There’s holes in the walls and the roof from where people have been thrown through, but nobody has hit a load bearing wall, nobody has hit any water pipes, nobody has hit any of the electrical wiring. People have even been tossing energy beams around, but nothing is on fire. We haven’t even seen anyone take a serious wound. Maybe some of the tough guys who have been knocked out have internal injuries. Meh. Where is someone with an arm ripped off spraying their lifeblood all over the room?
We were -told- that “supers” were really rare. Max’s speech talked about how “if you happen to have powers you probably haven’t met anyone else who does”. People early on talked about “supers” as if they were not convinced that they really did exist.
Then we have 30 of them show up for the first fight. You’d have a hard time getting that many supervillains together for a fight in Marvel’s New York. It only happens in big “crossover” events.
For that matter, think about what exactly is going down here. A press conference announces that a heavily armed military unit is going to be serving as an “UberSWAT” team. So 30 heavily armed criminals show up to attack them at their post press conference dinner? In -America-? If anyone happens to see any realism around here, point it out for me, because I am not seeing it.
In most comic books that I have read, the first fight for a superhero team, the heroes get trounced. This is done to teach them lessons about the value of teamwork. From the writer’s perspective this is the quickest and easiest way to show off everyone’s powers, establish elements of their character, and explain why this diverse bunch of individuals becomes a team.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what DaveB does to make Maxima appear to feel the need for help from her team mates.
Arc … as to the number of supers … they’re always inaccurate. I fully expect that Dave will have some scenes about “how could everything we know be so off base?” after this mess is over.
As to the destruction (and the apparent lack of violence) some of it is due to having to keep the comic as PG rated as possible. He has to deal with the fact this is a one hundred percent OPEN strip to read, anywhere. Which means violence above a certain level would not be a good thing. If you’re expecting gritty realism where characters will have limbs torn off … maybe you should be looking elsewhere.
Also, Dave already HAD a strip (and commentary) talking about the fine line of “violence” he could show in the comic due to those very factors.
The numbers aren’t just inaccurate. The numbers are wrong to a stupid and unbelievable degree. Comic number 145 is where they announce at the press conference that supers appear to be between 1 in a million and 1 in 900,000 with higher incidence in developed nations. America is believed to have between 400 and 600 supers.
In comic number 146 Arianna states that “there’s no correlation between having powers and increased rates of sociopathy or any other degenerate behavior.” That’s a hugely important point. It is the entire basis for why the government doesn’t need to make having powers illegal, or require supers to register and be monitored.
We are told there’s maybe as many as 600 supers in the United States, and as a population they show the same statistics for crime as any other population. So take a look at the FBI statistics on crime. The crime rate has been going down for the past few years, and as of 2011, the most recent year for which they have released statistics, the number of violent crimes was 386 per 100,000 people.
So for a group of 600 people, it is reasonable to expect that you would see 2, maybe 3 violent crimes over a year’s time.
Maxima estimated 30 attackers. That’s 30 violent criminals attacking ArcSWAT. Not only that, this is 30 violent felons so case hardened they are willing to -attack- the cops. These aren’t guys trying to shoot their way out of a robbery. These are guys who came looking for the police and opened fire.
Inaccurate does not begin to cover it. I’m hoping DaveB will come up with a decent explanation. Based on what we are seeing, either supers are 100 times more common than the government believed, which would have been blatantly obvious, or supers are 100 times more likely to become criminals than normal people, which, again, would have been blatantly obvious.
As to the point about overt violence, you are correct. I had forgotten that DaveB said he was going to soft-pedal that. It’s on the same page as the one in which Maxima points out to Sydney why throwing people through walls is a bad idea. There’s -stuff- in walls, like electrical lines, water pipes, and gas lines. It troubles me to have this point specifically brought up right before the bad guys attack, and then completely ignored during the fight.
These numbers are like any statistic: can only work with what you have been giving. Unless ARCHON has been secretly monitoring every birth and then following every individual for the last 70+ years, there is no way they can have anything even remotely accurate concerning the numbers of Supers, let alone which ones will go ‘villain’ (considering that statement/report came from the Spin Queen, it’s highly possible she didn’t want to panic the gullible mass-morons, or have a quintuple increase of vigilantes seeking to ‘expose’ villains, or those who have a grudge about a neighbour/co-worker and report them to the authorities about being an ‘unregistered super who used their powers to cheat at foozeball’)
As for the crime numbers going down? The part you neglected to mention, is it is the reported crime numbers, as in, “if they aren’t reported, then they didn’t happen” (similar to unemployment numbers, they heavily fudge the numbers, or out and out lie and hope no-one the public cares about follows up on it)
Another thing about censuses (plural of ‘census’): people lie on those those things, or are filled out by the delusional (just look at the numbers of ‘Jedi’ or ‘Klingons’ that pop up every time)
When you round off to the nearest million, the national census is perfectly accurate.
If you can find crime statistics more accurate than those published by the FBI, I’d love to know about them.
In the Grrl Power universe the government has known about the existence of supers since Lincoln was President, if not before. You can be certain the phenomenon has been the subject of a great deal of study. Their count won’t be perfect, but they should have a pretty solid idea of how many supers per million citizens there are. It’s not like “between 400 and 600” is high precision.
The Press Conference, from a writer’s point of view, was a chance to lay down some exposition in a way that seemed natural to the setting and hopefully not boring to the audience. The whole point of giving out the information they did was to establish the setting.
So the setting that DaveB told us he was going to be using is one where supervillains are really, really, rare. The vast majority of supers won’t be heroes or villains, just ordinary citizens with extraordinary abilities. The government doesn’t feel a need to hunt down the supers, make having or using powers illegal, or even force supers to register, because supers aren’t any more likely to be criminals than anyone else.
I don’t know about you, but I was kind of looking forward to seeing how a setting like that would play out.
And then came the Supervillain Blitzkrieg. ArcSWAT gets attacked by more supervillains than logically should exist in the entire United States. It’s almost like having DaveB say “You know that setting I was telling you about? Yeah. I’m not actually using that one. I don’t know why I told you about it.”
Maybe there is a Good Explanation coming. I’d like that.
The thing that I like is that the heroes have no more idea than we do. It is anomalous to what they understood. Hence Maxima’s suspicion that some may be illusions.
But I do approve of the fact that things aren’t working the way that they expected. It bugs me when you see a movie or TV series and they roll out some scientist who infallibly knows exactly what the strange phenomenon the story centres around is. Plus the McGuffin you need to acquire to counter it. Whereas in the real world you might get a generation’s worth of researchers who would still not be able to explain a strange phenomenon. With all the research resources they need at their disposal.
The very fact that witches faced centuries of persecution the world over means that if things analogous to magical powers did exist, and could be passed down to children, means that there could be lots more supers out there who are just keeping old family traditions of staying quiet about their abilities.
Not to mention that if you believe the adage that ‘power corrupts’, then there will be a lot of people out there who thought they had a unique ability, and turned it to their advantage, thinking there was no chance they could ever be caught. Say a stock trader who used his telepathy to learn company secrets. Which would class as ‘insider trading’. So would go to lengths to avoid government attention.
Not to mention the fact that much of the population, like Sydney herself, would be fearful of what the government would do if they found out about those powers. Plus there would be many people who just would not want to be treated like a freak. We all find out, early on, that if the colour of your skin does not match, or you do not wear the right label on your clothes, or you have a funny accent, that you get treated harshly in our society.
The sad truth is that humans tend to ostracise those who are different. And super humans are really different. So there would be a powerful dynamic encouraging them to keep quiet.
So there are a lot of reasons why such statistics would be very inaccurate. And where criminal or subversive elements of society might know more about the true situation, than government employed statisticians.
Personally i am glad that the figures appear to be low. Because as it was you would only get about 5 supers even in New York. And that is just way too low to allow for a decent range of villains. If criminality amongst supers matched the general populace demographics, Archon personnel would likely outnumber the criminal population in any area they operated in. Whilst that may be an interesting concept, it is an extremely limiting one. Which would leave very little for our supers to do.
I still think it would make sense if a “dark organization” was trying to find ways to develop supers any way they could (splicing, cloning, breeding, cyber, machine assisted lesser supers, etc…) on their way to making a slave army and they are gathering data on the opposition by throwing their rejects at them… Thus the world would be as DaveB said and supers would seem very special to folk of this generation at first but as the organization started its first missions with its artificially designed sups we could see the transition. Also the potential pool of “good guys” would be less meaning Super HEROs would be few and very special with plenty of villains for those few to overcome. That’s how I would like to see it play out anyway.
Thar would be very workable, Observer.
* that
Kinda like how pretty much every member of “GI Joe” is a named character (you only ocassionally see nameless grunts when they are being used as literal cannonfodder to die at the hands of Cobra, either the equally nameless but vastly superior in number Vipers or the very few named Cobra soldiers)
If we knew there were hundreds of super villains, then this little rumble wouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone (namely, there is no way in blazing blue hazes that Faulke nor Ari would have allowed it after announcing to said hundreds of villains “Hey! We are here to stop you, come get us!”, this is basically serving up Maxi and team on a giant serving platter and ringing the feeding bell)
Scan … I said Genre, NOT series. The core foundation of this comic is the superhero Genre, so it will of course be compared to it. That’s expected. I’ve never mentioned any specific Series, but rather the Genre as a whole. The concept of Secret Identities are not series specific, its a concept of the GENRE as a whole.
In Yorp’s defense, I don’t recall him mentioning any specific Series that its similar to (unless it was for inspiration). If he did … I must have missed it.
It is a big tactitical error to send a Ninja into a room with Sydney
he’s got to get past math before syd gets to go spaz on him…..
That is assuming that Halo can stop herself from being Sydney for a moment.
Well, for one thing, she was Sydney much longer than she was Halo, so that seems likely. What I’m looking for is that particular situation that forces Sydney to act, instead of continuing to follow orders to stay inside her shield & out of action until getting trained. Of course, Shadow Boxer was the one exception so far, since he’s the only one to directly attack Sydney so far.
But what the exact situation is & exactly who is involved that will force Sydney to act, I’m not going to try out-guessing how DaveB pulls it off. A situation like this would be within genre after all.
You would be better off asking the sun to stop shining. But don’t ask it of Sydney. She might be able to do just that.
Oh, you didn’t hear? Word is one of her unknown orbs has the power to temporarily rewrite reality in a localized area.
She calls it “Sydney’s World”.
Please, don’t shoot me. Was tempted to use an anime reference, but couldn’t think of a way to say it that fit Sydney.
Try the Bleach quote: “I reject your reality and substitute my own.”
Huh, I already crossed this guy off my chart as a score for Maxima. Looks like he can take some damage.
Also, did he change his costume since #204?
He is tough it seems, looks like she only pushed him into battle. Maybe they must add that to his “Demonstrated Abilities”
Yup, his costume was already changed in 209 (*) I like it more this way.
(*) Maybe another of his abilities: Fashion Adaptability.
Could be a shapechanger pretending to have a simpler powerset. That kind of unpredictability could make him a major threat for Math.
Happy Birthday Dave!
Thanks!
Really? Have a nice day!
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday Dave
Many happy returns of the day!
Blessings upon you
Here’s to having survived another year!
Holy crap. Happy bday late !
Happy Birth+1 Day!.
Hmmm, May seems to be a good month for cartoonists…
お誕生日おめでとうございます！
Happy Birthday!!
And here’s another Happy B-Day for DaveB.
For someone quickly distracted by woman Math seems awfullly casual throwing a knife at one. And I’m guessing ‘Lee’ already has Math’s respect, or interest at least, for managing to get close enough to damage his clothes.
Just because he likes women (all women) doesn’t mean he won’t just hit on one
But with a blood stained knife? Ewww, that is “rude”
That was a distraction to try to help out. He aimed at the sword.
Speed lines indicate to me that she hastily brought the sword up to block.
I must admit that I thought the same as Faust, and, as such, my opinion of her had slipped down a peg. That she had been surprised at a knife hitting her sword.
But, now that you have pointed it out, you are perfectly right. And, in which case, kudos to her for blocking a thrown weapon, spotted out of the corner of her eye, despite loosing her cool somewhat.
I’m a lech myself, love women, all sorts of women and have almost no restrictions on the adult women I desire. If I was in a fight where me or my teammates lives were at risk, I would beat the crap out of a woman on the opposing side. Math, like me, probably refuses to underestimate them. Women are just as dangerous as men and should never be taken for granted.
Okay we had a “Discount Cyclops” now a “Wolverine Knock-off” any more cheap versions of X-Men maybe a Doctor D? The letter of course indicting level of power.
THAT IS A SABER TOOTH KNOCK OFF
Yeah you’re right but not everyone would get that. Joel could switch to “Bag-Lady Nails”. :)
Who would ever mistake Victor for Jimmie? o_O
Most likely someone like me who never paid attention to the comics or the movies (except to note that Anna Paquin was in them).
Yeah, but Jimmie has always had the 3 claws that came out the back of his hands!!! and not 5 finger-claws on each hand (plus Vicki grew up to be a lot shaggier :P)
And until now, I did not know that difference between Wolverine and Saber-Tooth, because I’ve never watched the whole first movie for one reason or another.
the actual outfit looks like an X-23 knockoff
I thought X-23 (Laura Kinney) had two metal blades in her arms like her clone-donor/father and one in each foot, not super-fingernail type claws.
was meaning his clothes. They look like a cross between when the other X-men first met her at Wannabes and the all black outfit she’s better known for
If the claws are retractable, then he would fall under the ‘Lady Deathstrike’ power set.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Deathstrike
As for sensible wardrobe, she has had more costume changes than a Victoria’s secret fashion show:
https://marvel.wikia.com/Lady_Deathstrike
(P.S. for those of you who were contributing to the nose-picking viability discussion of a few weeks back, here is another candidate)
Which version of Lady Deathstrike? The movie-mutant version? Or the comic-cyborg?
That was kind of where I was going with my post. She has shown up in comics, animation, movies and video games, each time with a different look and back story. I don’t know why they can’t just make up new female villains when they need one, rather than keep remaking the same one over and over again.
Side note: Her regenerative powers came from the infusion of Wolverine’s DNA into her system. If Sydney manages to carry out her plan to marry Logan, then she should be invite Yuriko to the wedding as a family member on the groom’s side.
He he. Funny logic.
First version of Lady Deathstryke I ever saw was a cyborg created in The Bodyshoppe, which was run by Spiral. That version didn’t have retractable claws, nor did she have regeneration. She might have had some auto-repair systems. There was very little left of her that was human.
Don’t forget the Magneto knock off.
Too late. Totally forgotten.
Who? Seriously, don’t recall a Maggie-wannabe
You can easily tell who is a villain by their level of attempt at getting into a costume.
Dave did you ever play BTRC’s Macho Women with Guns and supplements oh so long ago?
Wait, you say the rules are playable? I only bought the rules for laughs at that time.
It seems I have to reread them.
Well, the author indicates that the rules are playable, but I never had a chance to find out if they are…Or maybe just another joke written in.
Rules are very playable.
They are just the simplest version of BTRC’s system.
Aka Timelords, Warpworld, and C.O.R.P.S.
I reread the rules and you are right, they are playable.
And I remembered why I never tried it out – my gamers…
Shades of talking is a free action here. Well, perhaps that’s a superpower too.
DaveB does run with some of the super hero tropes. That is one of them. Witty banter being part and parcel of what makes the genre interesting. Likewise I fully expect any hero be entitled to a dying speech, no matter how instantly fatal their end should be.
That said though, Maxima is clearly doing other stuff, such as fighting. Given how inconsequential she, and Math, feel the opponents are though, it really is not necessary to show that she does a dozen other actions, during each stage of the conversation.
Math was rude: you don’t interfer in anothers fight unless they tag you in
I’m a D&D, the world of dragons, magic and lots of impossibilities, player and I have to comment on unrealistic tactics? But it may be because of sharing the loot and thus not having a kill-steal problem that I am quite eager to have my teammates help out. Anyway, Dabbler should be happy to get a little help from Math. [One of my happier game memories is having a wizard set up some targets, so my 50 points of hurt became 150.]
And throwing in the chaff in without support is throwing it away. In D&D the big guy is also up there right away too, and gets in a couple of free swings while we are removing these distractions. We have to work to make the big guys sit back and watch. Letting the small fry get creamed is just a waste of prime battle time.
Definitely agree – The villains ought to know that the heroes, as a military organization, will be doing as much if not more intel-gathering during these opening rounds. And so far, the only damage the hero side has taken was the punch to Halo, who was already benched.
Wholeheartedly agree.
MMOs have ruined this crop of potential gamers.
Unless the villains in charge are using this as an opportunity to gauge the heroes. Jumping blindly into a fight without knowing what your enemies can do is only for the dim-witted and overconfident.
And jumping part-way in is for the suicidal [or at least those willing to lose a leg or two]. Max has already told us they are learning at least as much as the opposition, so all they are doing is losing troops. Even if they are expendable, it is much more useful for them to all attack at the same time and make the defenders suffer more.
Oh yeah, they could all be trapped if they all go in at once, but if you have even the least threat of it being a trap, you don’t want to go in at all.
At least ParaCyke doesn’t have to worry about having a utensil in his teeth anymore
Lee truly believes he can stand a chance against Math? Did he not see how easily (and quickly) he took down 4 (and almost a 5th if WindowLock wasn’t a recurring character)
Our supers are presumed to have serious ego problems, such that he assumes he will win despite the evidence. After all, he is super. And quiet efficient tactics are rejected out of hand when the alternative is showy and makes headlines. [I bet these fellows have websites where they brag about how they are hiding their secret base.]
Just follow ’em on Twitter. There are already numerous cases where criminals were dumb enough to brag about their activities.
“Criminal” and “Genius” don’t belong in the same sentence. Sometimes not on the same page. And most of the masterminds of comic history are included.
Except, of course, when talking about the original, Professor Moriarty. But certainly not if glorifying crime, agreed.
Why is Lee on the “Who’s Who”? Cree was (and she wasn’t much of a challenge)
Damnit! That should have been “Why is Lee not on the ‘Who’s Who’?”
Sometime the who’s who for a character show up only on the page after his introduction. There is also the possibility that since only recurring character get a who’s who Concretia is going to show up again but Lee is going to get his ass handed over so hard he will never dare show up again out of shame?
Cree was only in 2 pages, DaveB said she was added because she was introduced/named and that she would be in 2 pages (he never said anything about her being in any more pages, but could be wrong)
Being in the Who’s who is not a guarantee of longevity, per DaveB, as Guesticus rightly says. So I agree that he is one of the Who’s who omissions on this page, as he has both been introduced (by the HUD) and had a speaking part.
I see Math was being nice by allowing bamboo sword chick to block the knife. Or his focus being lost due to attractive women again?
He was distracting her so Dabbler could make an attack. Dabbler didn’t seem to appreciate it though.
I agree with eddi‘s comment. Plus Math had obviously lost interest, at that stage, and just did not care.
Gotta love the “Anime Dad” Nod there in panel 4
Shinai Gal seems to be wobbling badly. Bad time to be lack structural support.
Math may be a martial artist but his aim shore sucks!
Lets see how he does with someone more his speed? Ninja saber tooth!
He aimed at the face of an enemy. The only reason it did not hit was because she blocked with her sword (note the speed lines indicating such). So his aim was spot on. Math just wanted to dispose of the knife from his hand and that was as convenient a place to send it, as dropping it to the floor. Which is where he knew it would end up anyhow.
Seeing his level of advanced thinking, he knew perfectly well she was capable of blocking it. And would not have done so if he thought otherwise. He is under orders to avoid killing, after all. So he predicted it would end up on the floor. But he just really could not be bothered, with such unworthy opponents.
…and it turned into a ballroom blitz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN9jTnxv0RU
one of my all time favorite songs….
Max knows how to show her team a good time.
Yep. Dinner AND a show…with audience participation, no less.
Back when guys weren’t afraid to have long gloriously flowing hair
I think the designations are only coming out on some villains because Leon can only navigate his GUI so fast.
This is the thing I hate about GUI’s. You have to wait until you see where it puts things, then move the goddamn mouse pointer, then click, then it takes forever to get your hand back to the keyboard, *THEN* you can enter a name, then you have to go for the mouse again while you hit return and hope it has drawn a UI update by the time you get there.
I FSCKing HATE GUI’s when I’m in a hurry. Especially when designed by assholes who don’t put keyboard shortcuts on everything. But even if they do put keyboard shortcuts on things, they still process input out of sequence so you still can’t type ahead the way you can with a good command line interface. It won’t take input for a given menu item until it has at least displayed the damn menu, so you have to slow down because if you type fast, it’s likely to miss the first three or four characters of the name while it responds to your shortcut-key, or miss your shortcut-key because it hasn’t processed “return” after the previous entry.
Anyway, the point is fights happen a lot faster than GUI’s will allow themselves to be used. Leon needs a CLI if he’s going to do this in realtime.
True story.
Many years ago a friend of mine asked me to come to his office on a weekend and help him install Linux on a spare computer. He was a Windows user only and wanted to learn Linux. Once it was installed I showed him the file structure and started to explain some of the common CLI commands. He asked if there was a GUI, and we fired up whatever GUI came with the release (I don’t recall which it was). Then he wanted me to show him how to do common but necessary tasks using the GUI, such as assigning an IP address, setting DNS servers, networking, etc. I tried, but was pretty lousy at it because the GUI wasn’t familiar to me. I then showed him how to do all of these things and more using the CLI, but he kept complaining about the lack of a GUI.
Flash forward about 15 years, and we’re now at the same company working in the same office. At the first team meeting after I joined (he was incumbent), he made some comment about how using a GUI was for end-users and that the CLI was the way to go. I had to laugh and remind him of that day so long ago where he had been so fixated on trying to do everything via a GUI. We got a good chuckle out of it.
I think it’s a type of “amnesia”. Back when I used to train cooks at a restaurant I used to work for, I found it funny how some of the guys I had already trained would laugh at new employees for making the same (types of) mistakes they had. Simply asking them, “well, did you know everything when you first started working here?” almost always put a stop to that.
*nods* It is why I dislike the term “noobs”. It is both unhelpful, anti-social and absolutely reeks of hubris. So you are absolutely right about how often that happens and the best way of dealing with it.
Mind you, there are also some, lucky, people who are simply very good at picking up some tasks. So do not make the common mistakes that others do. But I find them simply lacking in empathy, if they make similar comments. Why take it out on somebody for being normal, just because they (the verbal bully) happen to be born with a knack for something?
I know one guy who is continually frustrated with his son for not learning things, as fast as he does himself. And, as he is such a good jack-of-all-trades, I can fully believe that he was much more capable than his son is, even at a comparable age. But, because of being constantly berated by his dad, the son just ends up feeling incompetent. Which is very unfair, as I judge him to be just average. But, rather than spurring him on to try harder, the comments only serve to drive him more into his shell. Making him less capable, not more.
Yeah, that’s the main difference between ‘noob’ and ‘newb’: a ‘newb’ (or ‘newbie’) is simply someone new at something, and they should be helped, not ridiculed and/or insulted. a ‘noob’ is someone who believes they know everything about anything, even something that has only just been released, they are the ones who tend to mock and ridicule others, they also refuse to learn because they “already know everything”
So, embrace and encourage your fellow ‘newbs’, because we were all new once (even ‘noobs’) and you don’t stop learning new things as long as you are willing to admit you don’t know everything (even something you have been doing for years)
Dave that’s a really good job on the Gynostar guest strip, you really matched Rebecca’s style.
That seems to be one of DaveB‘s superpowers, he nailed it on GWS as well.
DaveB just in case it helps the strips you did to GWS are now in the following page:
https://www.girlswithslingshots.com/gueststrips.php
They are the number 10 (dildo) and 17 (ASL), the direct links are:
https://www.girlswithslingshots.com/photos/1365747056-gueststrip-10.jpg
https://www.girlswithslingshots.com/photos/1365747093-gueststrip-17.jpg
You mentioned the #10 in “Guest comic up at Girls with Slingshots” (where you already added the direct link) and the #17 in “Badgers. Apparently terrifying”. In “Geek Week” you mentioned both.
This comment should have gone into moderation, feel free to delete it since it has no further point.
Sydney is right, always expect ninjas. Although she might want to do a nunja check with a “Look Satan!”
So, in panel 3, did she block or did he not feel comfortable knifing a beautiful woman?
The sword motion lines makes me think that she blocked, but that it was a close thing (“Whoa!”) for her.
Math threw it to hit handle first. If it hit it would have hurt but nothing serious. Point first would have stuck in her shinai, it’s a bundle of bamboo slats.
Ahh, another subtly that I had not picked up on. Well spotted. So, even when feeling blasé, Math was not taking any chances. Although he expected her to block, just in case she did not, he made sure that the pointy end would not hurt her, unintentionally. Ok, seriously impressed with Math now. The guy does have good morals, in addition to martial arts skills. Despite his overt lechery.
Sexism is good morals now? Both she and the laser eye guy are trying to commit an act of mass murder together to establish street cred. Math mutilated the male’s mouth and throat with a knife, but wouldn’t hurt a female guilty of the same crime
Just in case you are referring to his sexism against females, may I draw your attention to my final line, namely:
Although, from the rest of your comment it appears that you are complaining that he is being sexist against males, by giving preferential treatment to females. Which really does not make sense. Given that on the previous page he beat the crap out of Concretia. Who is a female.
Plus, on this page, he just got bored. The fact that his next opponent was a female was totally irrelevant. Guy or girl, the individual was simply not worthy of his attention.
As for the mouth injury, it is incorrect to label it as ‘mutilation’ as that word implies a permanent disfiguring scarring or loss of function. Any scar, that he may get, would be hidden inside his mouth. So would not be disfiguring. And I doubt it will cause him any loss of function. Other than, perhaps, developing aichmophobia.
Besides which laser-eye-guy should be thankful that Math chose to opt for a non-lethal attack. As he was under fire, Math was perfectly entitled, and authorised, to use lethal force.
1. concreta is made of concrete, he just tossed her around without causing any serious damage
2. “Mutilation or maiming is an act of physical injury that degrades the appearance or function of any living body”. Losing teeth causes loss of function AND appearance. Also, the argument that inside your mouth is not visible is bunk, because smiling is a thing, as is dental cosmetics. Also, based on the size of the knife I am pretty sure it cut the inside of his mouth severely. Which would cause further loss of function
Mayhaps you have heard of this new profession: cosmetic dentestry, it allows anyone (with money) to get a perfect set of chompers (actually, seeing how you are under the impression that any lose or injury to a tooth is permanant, you probably haven’t heard of it)
1) Check the HUD, Concretia is either made out of the substance or coated in it. If she is coated in it, she is till taking a pounding being knocked around inside her stony armour. Especially her brain being rattled around in her skull. Alternatively (with owner’s permission) try dropping a stone or concrete statue from a height onto it’s head or limb. I think you will find that it develops fractures and may loose a limb.Hopefully, being living stone/concrete she is more robust than that. But there is no indication that she brushed it off, so your argument does not hold water I am afraid.
2) Just as well he did not loose any then. And bleeding gums (alone) do not cause teeth to drop out. Mutilation concerns permanent loss, not temporary. The mouth is capable of healing cuts easily. And Math has taken precautions to minimise the chance of him being killed accidentally, by removing the knife.
The key rebuttal being that both Concretia and Math have some risk of death and/or long lasting injury. Math has chosen less-lethal means of incapacitating them. There are plenty of locations on a human body that are prone to mutilation, depending on the method of attack used. Math has not chosen one of those. As such, in the event of any lasting damage, the categorisation would be accidental injury, not mutilation.
Using English parlance, if he were charged with causing grievous bodily harm (GBH), he would be found not guilty. On the grounds that the wound would be lawfully inflicted, in an act of self-defence. Likewise for any cracks that Concretia develops.
And, keeping to the point, nothing in your reply indicates there was any sexual discrimination. That would be thrown out of court, without even proceeding to charges being levelled.
I do not think so. IMO she clearly hit the knife aside in its way to her (*).
(*) also if the knife was throw spinning (the stronger and more accurate way) in a point previous to the impact it had not even been pointing ahead.