Grrl Power #218 – Battle break -OR- The most dick way to block something
I’m not quite sure what the rules of “Make Max Say” Bingo are, I think every time someone marks off a word, everyone playing ponies up $10 which is how the pool keeps growing. I was going to originally put a mini comic below the page with Dabbler calling out “Pool up!” but this page already has a lot going on and took a while to draw. In fact it was almost two separate pages. The reason it’s not is it would have left the mammary thing hanging without explanation.
Achilles is curiously simultaneously useful and ineffective. His total invulnerability does tend to mean that his teammates rarely go out of their way to rescue him from anything.
As always I will be at A-kon this year (June 6-8 in Dallas) and, I’ll be doing a panel on Friday. Humor-Based Webcomics 1: Humor in Story. Be sure to stop by!
My sixth (and final) Gynostar Guest strip is up! This doesn’t wrap up the story arc (which starts here) just my contribution to it.
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He’s certainly earned the “aggravatingly” part of his invincibility with that move!
HS knows how to deal with him. Just pile enough bricks on him. He has one dot in the Muscles stat, but even Harem has two.
Muscles are strengthened by developing tiny tears, which then heal… His muscles can’t tear…
He grew up to adulthood, with average, or above average, musculature. Then became invulnerable (somehow). He is just as strong as any fit person.* But can continually over-exert himself in a way that would cause serious injury to anyone else. So magnifying his effective strength above that level. But which he can get away with, due to his invulnerability.
* The period that he gained his power, and his vanity, leads me to suspect that he would have done some body building anyhow. But, even if he did not, super heroes get the fit body free, as part of the package.
This. Plus, let us not forget that’s one dot on superhero scale – which means he probably has about a 400# benchpress, 700# squat/deadlift… His legs are sufficiently uncovered that he’ll be able to get out from under that pile of bricks; it’ll just take some time
Probably closer to a one ton bench press since he doesn’t have to worry about stressing joints or tearing tendons. I pull 350 bench and 800 squat and would be laughably weak among this crew.
And because his muscles can’t tear, he is much stronger than other people with the same amount of muscles.
You are actually extremely strong, you just can’t use that strenght, because doing so would severely damage your muscles.
That’s why, in an extreme adrenalin situation, you suddenly are so strong (like a mother lifting a car to free her child)
This is always overestimated. Couch potatos have a voluntary muscle strength of about 60% of max, but good training will get voluntary up to 90% of max.
Tears happen, and are why you hurt the next day, but they don’t contribute to adaptation except to the extrent they happen less often.
It’s not so much microtears, actually. It’s acid burn. The goal with muscle building is to cause the cells in your muscles to run out of oxygen. With oxygen, cells can process calories into fuel more effectively, and the byproduct of that chemical reaction is basically harmless… but without oxygen, the cell still needs energy, so it still tries to break down the calories. It gets a little fuel (like, 5% of what it could’ve gotten with oxygen in the mix), but the byproduct is a mild acid, which damages the tissue around it. In muscle, that light damage (the painful ache after a weightlifting session) signals to the body that it needs to rebuild and overbuild those muscles.
Conversely, muscles are actually capable of exerting about three times more force than we generally consider possible (they’re strong enough to literally tear themselves off the bone), but our bodies are neurologically wired not to use all of that strength. We have limiters that adrenaline can lift. In most people, it’s supposed to be the sort of capability that you bust out once or twice in a lifetime, tops.
So it looks like Achilles can’t get stronger than his ‘somewhat above average’ strength… and his neurology still has those limiters, so his body doesn’t realize it’s indestructible. Still, in a combat situation, he can also bust out that ‘strong enough to injure yourself’ strength without injuring himself, so he can sustain it throughout a long combat.
It’s also quite likely that after a weightlifting session (or a robust combat), his body may need to evacuate that mild acid… which would probably end up pissed out.
OK, I am now also a Dabbler fan. ROFL.
Yes, my lady IS amazing!
Still, I have to wonder how she managed “Trouser Ferret” without laughing.
Just managed to get both in the same sentence?
Maybe related to panel 8 here: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1302
Dabbler (to Arianna *): So, at the press conference, if somebody gets suspicious of my invisible arms, pressing up against my trousers, is it ok for me to say “Oh that is just my trouser ferret?”
* In earshot of Maxima, but concealing a wink to Arianna.
nah i’d suspect she did something similar to this one, mispronouncing it so Maxima would correct her, possibly saying it as browser ferret or something close to it.
You weren’t before?
I liked her. I would not, previously, say I fancied her, mind.* Neither of which need necessarily equate to being a fan. The three things can be exclusive of one another, or overlap in a single subject. Although ‘liking’ would be a necessary prerequisite for either of the other two.
I am a fan of James Earl Jones’s acting. But I do not fancy him. I do like him as a person however. Using ‘best guess,’ given that one can never tell, for sure, how close the public persona will match the private one.
I am not a fan of Sylvester Stallone. I respect some of his acting, but it is too narrow a range, for me to become a fan, of him. I do not follow celebrity gossip, but he seems nice enough, and has a good business head on him. If I bumped into him, I would offer to buy him a drink. But, big Hollywood film star though he is, I do not feel the urge to hop into bed with him.
I am a fan of Dolly Parton**. Don’t fancy her, in the least. Do love her as a person though. Which I have done ever since I found out that she both wrote Coat of Many Colors, and that it was autobiographical. When combined with how sincerely she comes across, as a nice person, in every interview I have seen of her.
Katie Melua gets massive check marks, in all three columns.
Dabbler has managed to go from one check mark and a question mark,* to three checks, in a single issue.
Obviously, I would have to break it gently to Dabbler, that Sydney is still the girl for me. And I would not allow her to build up any false hopes. But, after today, she would probably be able to sense a tingling, whenever I saw her with a cute smile, like above.
* I did not particularly fancy her, but she certainly earnt kudos for curiosity value. If she sang “Voulez vous coucher avec mois?” to me, and I was absolutely certain Sydney had no interest in me, I would not have hesitated.
** Restrained fan, rather than rabid. I like a fair bit of her music, but not all of it. But I cannot think of any songs which I dislike. So, I have not felt the urge to fly to America, just to see her perform. But if she toured my country, or I was in America for other reasons, and I could afford it, I would like to see her live.
Well at least he is using a stick.
*snerk* MOO!
This is brilliant.
Checkered sneakers?
All his other ones were destroyed by various attacks. He must go through a lot of apparel.
That’s probably why Achilles blocked HS’s sword with a part of his body that isn’t covered by his clothing…He wouldn’t want to replace clothes that get slashed up. Understandable, but he still fits the “aggravatingly” part of his invulnerability, in spades.
checkmate sneakers ;)
Vans (e.g. https://www.loserkids.com/index/page/product/product_id/32689/product_name/Vans+Checkerboard+Print+Canvas+Era+Pro+Shoes+BlackWhiteBlue)
The shoes and the mullet are part of his ‘stuck in the 80’s’ look.
I wonder who else is playing bingo?
Errm, everybody? Sydney will have some catching up to do.
The pool indicates that there are only five players so far.
If that’s the case, the pool started empty and no-one except Dabbler has ticked off any boxes. Which could work. I guess Harem didn’t have “hump” on her card.
Check out Dave’s author’s comment above. It is $10 to join the pool. The total is up to $250. There are 25 players. Most of Arc-SWAT are probably in on it.
And I would not put it past Maxima to be aware of it and tolerate it*. It is a good morale building exercise, even if it could undermine the authority of a less secure leader.
* I suspect not, as she would be getting irritated at her self for falling for that trap. But it is possible that she simply does not know which words are on the sheet. If she chose to turn a blind eye to the pool, that would probably have been very wise, for her own blood pressure.
But at $10 per word crossed off per player, the pool went up by $50 each time, and there are 5 crossed off on Dabbler’s card alone, means no one else is doing very well.
Oh, I stand corrected. I was reading it as just $10 per player. I missed the ‘per word’ bit.
But DaveB does say he is not sure himself, so he could change his mind. The way he has actually described it probably would not work well, in the long run. Once somebody gets a noticeable lead, no one else will want to join the pool. And everyone else, except anyone in a close second, would want to drop out. Plus, to stay in, you would need to keep coming up with more and more money.
In fact if one person does get a decisive lead, then everybody else might drop out, making the scheme fold completely. The only person left in would get the stakes invested to date, by default. But it would not feel very satisfying.
This system could work of course, but it is a poor way for a pool to operate, as it would disincentivise the bulk of the participants. Probably just ending up with two or three core people remaining in until the end, and with everyone else loosing interest. Even now, would it be sensible for Sydney to invest $250, when somebody already had a five word head start, out of twenty five?
Of course you could still get teams of people teaming up, to sponsor their favourites, for a slice of the reward. But even so you are investing a lot of money in the hope of getting a return of 2:1 or 3:1. Whereas most sweepstake type pools tempt lots of players in, by keeping the investment low, but with the promise of the winner getting a significant return. In this case, 25:1.
We know Sydney is strapped for funds, and is unlikely to get paid until the end of the month.* She has just had an expensive holiday, and her business is going under. Even if she gets a cash loan, to tide her over, could she justify spending $250, to try playing catch-up with Dabbler?
We certainly would want to see that, I think.
A more normal large pool, with a simple $10 per player, might be the way to go. And, of course, everybody who has lots of cash to spare, can also place side-bets for who gets the most difficult words first, the greatest number of words crossed off in a single conversation, and so on. Meaning everybody would be keenly interested, right up until the end, even with a slow start.
* Assuming that US military personnel normally get paid monthly.
Most game-pools are static, fronted investment. Dabbler’s payoff is $50 per word, then the overall pool is $1250. At $10 per entry, that means 125 people are playing – probably all of ARC-SWAT, and probably some significant fraction of the other divisions as well.
Another possibility is the pool-payout is based on how many witnesses there are (you only pay out if you heard Max say it) – this would make for a smaller number of players, and still allow for a variable pool. The equal stepping of Dabbler’s payout makes this seem somewhat less likely.
There are 5 players, each ponying up $10 each time a word on the list is called. 5 words have previously been called, which means 5 words x 5 players x $10 = $250. A sixth word has just been called, which will bump the total pot up to $300. That means right now each player has (or will have) $60 in the pot.
My guess is each player has the same list, just arranged differently on the card. Now why Dabbler went for “Booby” at this time is difficult to fathom. She already had two on the diagonal, yet she went for a word in the next-to-bottom row that is not on that diagonal, a row that only had one word marked off so far.
The “needs a witness” part is handily taken care of by the “Linked to ARC-net via cybernetics” blurb.
Although if all it takes is a computer record to score a word, Leon would be the winner if he chose to cheat.
You’re assuming that every bingo card has the same words, I think…
If I were Maxima, I would join the pool then speak the words and get the bingo.
“every time someone marks off a word, everyone playing ponies up $10”
Five words marked off so far, with the pool growing in increments of $50. So yeah.
If Dave does decide to change it, the comic need not change. The single most likely person organising this will be Harem. Normally in a bulk-participant sweepstake, one person will make the rounds of the team and sign up as many people as they can, to get the pot going. Letting all the participants know the initial pot, once they are done.
Later, they will try tempting everyone else, who failed to sign up initially, now they can show there is a reasonable basic reward to offer. Updating each participant’s score sheet, with the current total. The bigger the pot grows, the more people get tempted into it, each time the organiser does their rounds.
In this case, if it is Harem running the pool*, she would naturally have five bodies doing the rounds simultaneously. So it would not be surprising that the total goes up in increments of five.
* At severe risk of camel toe. **
** Which could ironically win her the competition, if she works it to her advantage.
Marth and Harem are a lock. Peggy probably as well, maybe Leon. Sidney’s too new, but will get in on the action soon. Arianna and Gen. Columbo would be hilarious.
*dap*
Harem, at least. Achilles is highly likely to be in on that pool as well. Anvil and Heatwave are the only ArcSWAT members who’d surprise me if they were a part of this.
Also, “fart” on the list? And it’s not crossed off, no less….But “trouser ferret” is….Huh.
She wants to stab people, but not in the eye?
Doesn’t the sight of internal organs gross her out also?
Or….
She’s never sliced anyone open before?
She’s said “shaft” twice?
Doesn’t mean she was actually going to follow through and stab Dabbler – she might just have held it to her throat in traditional “do you yield?” fashion. She does seem way too honourable to be a hardcore villain. Hope we see more of her.
is she actually a ‘villain’? aside from being part of the attack on arc-swat (and we don’t know why they’re being attacked, who organised it or what their motives are?) she’s not really being villainous. she didn’t use her power for quite a while (dabblers been fighting her since the start) if she wanted to kill people she would have been using her power since the beginning.
She didn’t use her power because she was showing off
I think HS has a bit of the same issue as Math, she is looking not for carnage, but for a challenge.
Heavenly Sword appears to value the Fight Itself over The Reason for the Fight. If that’s the case, that would make her Neutral, adopting whichever morality the side she’s currently fighting on has, by association.
Blocking a blow by allowing yourself to be stabbed in the eye is squick material for anyone. Superman stopping a bullet with his eye can be written off as unintentional, since IT’S A BULLET. But blocking a sword that way… Yeah.
If someone attempting to block your sword INTENTIONALLY moves it to stop with their eyeball your first thought is probably gonna be “holycrapthispersonistotallyINSANE”
Especially if you don’t know that they’re totally invulnerable.
I would have reacted the same way, and I’m not squimish at all. I’ve been to medical school which included disecting an entire corps in fases, I’ve cut myself to the bone in an accident and my only reaction to that was looking at my bone and calmly telling my dad I needed to go to the hospital, etc. But eyeballs freak me the f#ck out. I usually laugh at horror-movies, but I just can’t bring myself to watch the ‘eye-scene’ in Un Chien Andalou. We all have our limits. HS and mine are eyeballs.
“I scream, you scream, we all scream for https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EyeScream
(Excepting, of course, people like Achilles & Superman for two examples…)
When Stick Girl aka Heavenly Sword introduced herself, it mentions that her weapon is a shinai. I wanted to learn more about it since there are so many different weapons in martial arts (though I didn’t realize that I has seen one in person as a kid). One thing I noticed is that the dimensions in the comic are different from any pictures/diagrams I came across. The white band in the middle of the ‘blade’ is usually one-third of the length of the exposed bamboo from the tip. I don’t know if it’s an oversight or if Stick Girl just uses a custom shinai.
didn’t realize that I *had seen one
I’d noticed that as well… BUT, the detail was sufficient to make it identifiable as a shinai, even with the naka-yui misplaced, and the thickness of the taki being suspiciously uniform…
I just thought of this: perhaps it’s intentional – since her name is Heavenly Blade, that her fushi would have an extended ten (“heaven”)
bwahaha.. that method of disarming heavenly were hilarious, pure comedy gold :P
you know i am starting to really like achilles now at the beginning he was just the boring old invincible hero now he is showing more of a personality and one that i like
Dave, that clip on her ear… I recognise that clip from your “other” work. The implications are highly disturbing. Well done for being so very, very disturbing. Also “Trouser Ferret”. How does that come in conversation, and how can I do it?
First off you should only attempt to do so if you have proper veterinary qualifications. And then only with a genuine medical need.
It probably involves an orange. Maybe a piece of string.
There’s a sport where grown men shove angry weasels into their pants, and see how long they can last before they either let the weasel out or are rendered unconscious… I’m sure the conversation took that turn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferret_legging
A line, quoted from the page linked:
Achilles would be the all-time World Champion at this game…
Even so, a sport like this is still not as bad as https://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1996-07.html
*sigh* Another bookmark for my collection. Thanks a bunch.
I do love the Darwin awards though. They reaffirm my faith in humanity.
Yep, I’ve always had faith that humanity will either live up to the Laws of Nature & Natural Selection…Or die trying.
I think I see the mammary trap. Soul Reaver is embedded in a tree and it has grown crystals around itself. I suppose if someone touched it, they would be trapped in crystal or possibly turned into crystals.
[Anime style] Imprisoning Sword! Soooouuuul Reeeeeeaver! [/Anime style]
Smart move. He is invulnerable not super strong so burying him puts him out of the action.
Speaking of super-strong, Heavenly Sword is lifting Achilles over her head in panel 6, showing how much her strength is close to optimum woman, as in without confusing your reproductive organs injecting male hormones and/or analogues. Even if he was running at her, lifting him that much is going to take a lot of energy. If you just want to throw him into the wall and bury him, a hip toss does not need as much power, just to redirect his momentum.
If she’s a “natural” super, she’ll have probably started with the perfect, athletic body. Then add in all of the martial arts training to build up strength as well.
She may have needed needed to throw like that because she wanted the extra distance to slam him into the wall, because that was the most applicable in the opening that Achilles gave her, or because she wanted to humiliate him in revenge.
Or she might be drawn doing it because it looks cooler and is more visually clear as to what is happening.
+1
Actually, since that looks like a throw…. perhaps not as much energy.
I’ve seen small female aidokas and judokas throw some huge men over their heads.
Albeit…not it THAT pose…but….
Actually, the way she’s holding Achilles, that looks very similar to a specific Judo throw.
Doesn’t cost awhole lot of effort to lift someone 10 kg heavier than you if you do it right (I used to lift people 30kg heavier than me like that. Though those cooperated, which makes it easier
And the restaurant is still standing, somewhat, mostly. Not quite as much as a moment ago though.
Quick question. Who is the dude poking Dabbler’s pet sword? A new bad guy reconsidering his lifestyle choice?
My first thought was that this was Stalwart (he of the fine Italian suits), but our guy does not have the white lines on his face and the features are a little different, so yeah, I am thinking this is a bad guy we have not been introduced to yet.
YES IT IS!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1189
Fingers to maximum steepleage!
Panel #1
Wow, well spotted. I would not have picked up on that, as his expression is very different. But, I concur, almost certainly one and the same guy.
And, a bit hard to make out, but O.B. Juan could also be correct, below.
He is both!
“Challenge… declined forthwith!”
We finally get to meet the mysterious ‘Man Behind the Tree”.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1280 (upper right of bottom panel)
And Dave wins the ‘obsessive artist’ award for this one. In the previous panel we see the guy standing near the highway. In the new panel we see Dave actually added a highway overpass as seen from the person’s perspective.
Hey… isn’t the guy poking Dabbler’s sword the guy from the first panel on Fingers to Maximum Steepleage? (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1189) ?
definitely looks that way :) i thought the same too when seeing him :)
Well spotted. It looks like those scenes really were canon, which means Mighty Burning will be planning revenge on Dabbler too
He still has a Urologist appointment to go too first.
Good spotting. He also seems to have been observing from behind the tree since Maxima surveyed the parking lot. Though it is a bit hard to make out any details.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1280
Oh *checks time stamp*, nicely spotted.
The tree froze…
Heck, with this number of armed police officers around, he is wise to hold his branches in the air, and do just that.
I’d like to know the circumstances in which someone got Max to say ‘Trouser Ferret.” All the others seem resonable enough given alternate meanings/situations (E.g. ‘spank’, but I could see her saying that in reference to a sparing match or sports event).
My question is how did ‘Hump the Barret’ NOT make it onto the list?
P.S. At least we now have a valid explanation as to why Dabbler has been constantly taunting Maxima in a suggestive way. She is just trying to win the pool.
It might be on Peggy’s card or that may be the real reason Harem giggled.
Random thoughts:
I imagine being totally invulnerable might lessen one’s drive to be or become good at fighting. One could just wear an opponent down. Hence Achilles getting his butt handed to him. He doesn’t really care.
“Trouser ferret” made me chuckle, then when I realized it was crossed off, I laughed out loud.
Love the sword cut in the building in panel 5.
Love this whole page, really. The art, the humor… the funny background events. Good stuff.
“Human Shield available. Service with a smile.”
Well, he IS smiling in the first two panels…
Because of Minmax in the Goblins there is one thing I must always think and try very hard to resist when ever I see a super powerful sword… it is the following: *look at sword* … *think carefully* … *Look at sword* …. *consider all options* … *look at sword* …. *proclaim proudly* I Am Totally Gonna Pee On This!!!
Don’t forget the follow up. “Penis Go BOOM!”
to be fair that particular sword was 5 stories tall
I just want to thank my 2 fellow Goblins fan’s for commenting, and also… does it really matter how big it is?…if its a magic sword…how do you -not- pee on it? Does not matter who can pick it up or that you cant… does not matter that the next person who can will only be born a 1000 000 years from now… somewhere deep down inside… they’ll know ….and that’s what really patters… XD
^matters
If a bone is too big, to carry away with you, you must pee on it. This is just normal behaviour.
*scratches behind ear, with hind food*
Knew that scene immediately :D
5 players in the Maxima Pool. there were 5 words crossed off and the pool is presently 250. Each person kicks in $10 per after the first.
now figure out the 5 players
Dabbler is a given
I say its :
Math
Leon
Peggy
Anvil
I doubt Anvil’s in on it. I’d say it’s Harem.
And while I think Peggy is a possibility, I also think it’s probably Arianna instead, given how those two seem to dig at each other all the time.
As for Math and Leon, I completely agree. Especially Math.
Not Arianna–she’s too prim and proper for that (which is why Max drives her nuts). I can MAYBE see Harem doing it, but my money would be Math, Achilles, Mr. Amorpheus, and Peggy as the initial starters, with the number of people going up in each round. And…yeah, I can totally see Sydney getting in on this.
I think I can say with some degree of accuracy that Dabbler and Sydney get along dangerously well.
Plus, bonus kudos for making the full meaning of “aggravatingly invulnerable” clear. Holy crap, that would piss me off if somebody did that to me.
I don’t think there’s a chance in hell Harem isn’t involved, and I can’t see Peggy doing it either. She may be a bit more laid back than Maxima, but you don’t become best friends with an ardent feminazi like Max without some of it rubbing off on you.
I agree with you on both counts. But for Peggy, simply because she is best friends with Maxima. I do not think the strident feminism need necessarily have rubbed off on her, at all.* She knows it would hurt Maxima’s feelings, so would not want to get involved. But might have joined the pool if, it was someone else who was the subject, say Arianna.
My feelings on this stem from the way she bonded with Sydney, and (along with Gwen) clearly considered that Harem had betrayed her, by spreading the gossip about her being a vegetarian. That is the trait of somebody who values friendship. Likewise she did make her ‘A’ team reference, which although not necessarily anything feminist, is not the kind of thing that someone who was rabidly politically correct would say.
* It may have done, but I just doubt that Dave would share such a characteristic trait between them. Peggy already has a strong personality in her as is. I can see that she would take care to avoid being inadvertently offensive, to overly sensitive feminists **, but that is not quite the same as being one herself.
Although it may be what you meant by ‘rubbed off’, if I took that too strongly.
** A trait I share with her.
Youse guys are totally wrong about Peggy. She’s buds with Max, and that would be *why* she’s in. This is the kind of thing buds will yell about this week and then laugh about for the rest of their lives. Especially given that both of them are coming out of Army culture. And it’s a given that Max is going to return the favor in some interesting way at some point.
This is what, in the Army, one refers to as an “unofficial morale building exercise.” It’s completely harmless, and while Max might take offense if particularly thin-skinned, you don’t get thin-skinned people in the army (or at least they don’t do well if they stay that way) and in the long run this kind of give-and-take builds esprit de corps.
Yea, I could see that too. It will be interesting to see how her personality plays out. I think she is particularly interesting in this crowd, because she is mmm restrained, patient…. tolerant. But she has a lovely dry sense of humour too. That played incredibly well against Sydney’s antics.
I’m waiting for Max to grab Sydney and say something like “I want to do something CRAZY that I haven’t done in YEARS! Corporal, you just Volunteered!”
*2 Hours later*
Max: HAH! Natural 20!! Critical hit!
GM from the first couple pages: The Nuclea-droid’s endo-frame shatters causing it to crumble and leaving it’s power-core peeking from the rubble.
I can see Maxima getting in on it secretly, and winning the money or splitting it with someone.
That would be a pure military humor move. Senior enlisted and senior officers LOVE doing that to the troops.
“What? You couldn’t possibly think that I DIDN’T know about this……”
Actually, I picture Peggy is only in this pool because she’s FRONTING for Maxima!
:)
Peggy will do a “come from behind”-type of win at the end, & she & Max will split the take…
…publicly – in front of all the other contestants.
LOL! +1
Since you put it that way, I can totally see Maxima having that kind of forethought & participation already in mind. She’s already hinted a few times about how important “troop morale” is to her & she really played off Arianna with the press corps earlier that day…
Yeah, sometimes Max makes me think more Master Sergeant (or whatever the AF equivalent) than Colonel. It’s why I think she got Mustanged.
And we discover another of HS’s super powers – fighting in heels!
In my defense they’re not stilettos. :) I don’t know what those would be called. Kind of chunky, around 2-3 inches high. Kind of like slightly higher than usual boot heels I guess.
I had a practicality question about skin-tight thigh-high boots. How do you get them to bend at the knees?
A note from Chuck Jones allowing you limited use of cartoon physics. Or some color-matched stretch material at the knees.
part of the spandex / lycra body suit
Believe that style of heel is called “Court Heels”
I’m not familiar with the term “Court heels” but her heels are about as high and as wide as “Character heels.” And those are made to be used for dancing, and don’t need much training to get used to.
If Ginger Rogers can match Fred Astaire backward and in high heels, Heavenly Sword should have no issue with those boots.
Panel 5 not showing Achilles’ head makes the reader think something bad did happen to him…
That said, wow, he’s the ultimate tank.
HS is surprisingly squeamish for can-cut-anything sword supervillain.
As said in another post, when you fight people, they normally try to avoid being cut, by dodging or by blocking.
Now if somebody throws himself in the path of a sword and block it not with its weapon or at least arm, but WITH ITS EYE, even the most badass sadistic (but not sociopath) villain would be like “OMGWTF? That guy’s not normal in the head” and flinch in a way or another out of “empathy”.
Empathy works unconsciously, like how if you see someone getting punched in the balls, you have a split-second reaction of “feeling it physically”, when the brain recreates a similar situation and “imagine” the pain.
Dibbs on her saying thrust next.
That card is going haunt you. You know that the at least some of the people following Grrl Power will cross check anything that Max is going to say from now on with what is on that card.
Yeah, I’m starting to consider that, but of course, no one gets credit if she just says it. The point is you have to get her to say it, like she’s answering a questions or correcting you.
That still doesn’t explain how they got her to say “trouser Ferret” Unless it actually involved a Ferret in someone’s trousers. (I mean a ferret playing with a pair of pants on the floor you perverts!)
Compo often had his ferrets stuffed down his trousers, go check out old clips of “Last Of The Summer Wine”
easy incentive for next month more bingo cards
So much for me to like on this page.
I love all of it, but my favorite is Dabblers face in panel 9 when she is summoning the bingo card!
GOD the reaction of heavenly sword is priceless for a vilain… she doesn’t like blood either? hehe or at least… some sights hehe
anyway nice job achilles
but DAMN they GOT A POOL ON THOSE??? lol SOUNDS FUNNY SIGN ME IN hehe
I think it’s the reaction to purposefully taking it in the eye that bothered her. Taking it in the chest/gut/hand? Wouldn’t be bothered at all most likely. But taking it in the eye, ON purpose? Yeah, as someone who doesn’t like anything other than their own finger near their eye (I’ve nearly had my eye stabbed out on accident before), I can get why she’s kind of squeamish.
i have nothing against the fact that she is squimish
but most vilains would be giving a maniacal laugh as they stab repeatedly the eye no?
It’s kinda like a guy seeing another guy block a baseball with his nuts.
Even if you wanted to hurt him, you’re still going to feel it in your own nuts
More like the guy purposely JUMPING to take the ball in the nuts.
Turn down for what, did you say?
not a whole lot of vilains exactly has this kind of empathy.
as long as it’s not their nuts they don’t care lol
Ok thatis so freaking funny! When I read that I couldn’t help laughin, and I actually started snorting a bit, and my breakfest flew out of my mouth and all over my labtop and table and stuff a few times! >D
I feel ya, ‘bro.
Oddly I can’t help but think Achilles should be saying “Strategyyyyyyy” which ends in an eeeeeeee sound like wheeeee, while switching to yaa mid word seems weaker and a bit contrived. Dunno probably just me, after all this guy ENJOYS being beaten on….
Strategaaaah
Strategaaah
oh whatever, to put words into dabblers mouse “english sucks” XD
nah, i think he’s shortening the word… Strategy (or strategies) turns into: “I got’s me some mad strats…” whereas the “yaa!” was his reaction to HS throwing him around like a wet rag and dropping a ton of brick on him…
Another great comic!
I have to admit, when Dabbler said her sword was “mammary trapped”, I thought she meant it literally. In my defense, she [i]is[/i] a succubus.
yeah I was thinking “is that a Succubus thing, or did Dabbler pull a Ziva”
I took it as a trap that is keyed to trigger if any mammal touched it. Which is actually something that you could easily do with a high tech, instant DNA recognition test. It would be better than trying to limit it to just humans. Otherwise she might find things like does a Neandertal count as human (homo sapiens)? Does a super human (homo superior)?
Dabbler could ensure that she was exempt, despite her meeting the technical requirements. Either by specific exclusion or by limiting it to Terran mammal DNA.
Which made me laugh even louder, when I read Maxima’s comment, and saw Dabbler’s follow up actions and expressions. Absolutely priceless.
I read it as a literal mammary trap, much like a certain magical sword in Abenobashi… Would grow breasts on anyone who was tickled with it.
A minor nitpick, but in panel five, it doesn’t really look like Dabbler’s in contact with the ground. Maybe the shadowing below her could be a hair darker?
Can’t say that it felt like a problem to me personally, even when first seeing it.
HOT DANG!!!
A Word Bingo!!! I Love IT!!!
Go, Dabbler, Go!
I’m curious as to how they got her to say “Trouser Ferret”…
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoodleIncident
yea, lol’d pretty hard wondering about that myself.
Me too.
I’ wager it was Harem and Dabbler bouncing the offending phrase back and forth in some kind of nonsensical conversation, and more and more Hero/ines joining in, until Max finally snappend: “Everyone stop saying trouser ferret!”
And that was that.
That is a sensible, plausible reason for all that
and therefore has no place here :P
This brings back memories: When I was a kid I had to have cataract surgery. When they were preparing me from the operation they asked if I “would like to be put under or AWAKE for the procedure.”
I chose to be asleep – for some reason the idea of watching a scalpel penetrate my eye did not appeal to me.
I felt the same way when the doctor had a visual monitor set up in my line of sight for a Colonoscopy…
It is funny how different things gross out different people. I remember one incident in hospital where I met someone where we grossed each other out simultaneously. He had been hit by a car, and needed to have a bolt put through his leg. Which would stay in for weeks, until the break had mended. But it was plainly visible, including the point where it entered the body, on both sides. Making him look like Frankenstein’s monster. Yuck.
He meanwhile was freaked out at one aspect of my operation. Not what had happened,* but simply at the fact that the pins ** would stay in permanently. Why just that bothered him, I could not get, but it made him wig out big time. I asked him if it was because it made him wonder what it would be like if his own bolt had to stay in permanently.*** But, nope, that was not it, and he could not explain why.
* It was a fairly horrendous injury, but he had been through something similar.
** Which were completely hidden inside me, so he would not have even known of them, had I not told him they existed.
*** This thought helped my own wigging out process, though. Just imagine having to live with the inconvenience of it snagging on things, and the risk of infection, let alone everyone’s reactions to the sight of it. EEEW!
If anyone is going through anything similar to that, you have my sympathies.
I’m not entirely sure I wanna know how she’s gonna get some of those outta her…
Yeah. Getting someone to say “Cloaca” would have to be a pretty contrived circumstance.
“Hey Maxima, do male birds have a penis?”
“Max, explain Earth Avian/Reptilian reproduction? Is it true they have to take it up the anus to mate?”
Max: (Distracted by paperwork) It’s called the Cloaca.
*Squeak*
Max: What was that?
Dabbler: Notes.
“Ducks do, they grow a new one every mating season.”
Considering the prevalence of rape with ducks, which explains why they have such weird mating apparatus, you can expect Maxima to know that.
Almost had tingle when Sydney pointed out “X”.
I wonder if Lee Press-on-claws’ claws could hurt Achilles. Hmm… Guess not, stupid liar, he is.
I laughed so hard at today’s installment that my wife came over to read the comic. She knows nothing about the story and she still laughed. Best page yet.
I have always found the whole invulnerable also including the eye to be a bit of a show off tactic, and bull. I mean the eyes are the most sensitive things on the body, blocking a bullet or in this case a sword with you’re eye is a bit much. I don’t care if you’re the man of steel or Mr. Invulnerable here that has to hurt!
Clearly what Heavenly thought too, so you are not alone. There is no reason for it to be painful though, as it does not harm him, in any way. The thing that most impresses me is the fact that he did not blink. He may have been neglecting his unarmed combat training. But he has obviously been working very hard on overcoming normal reflex actions, which are now counter-productive for him.
Mind you, no rush. I can understand the methodology in obtaining perfection in one thing at a time, before moving on to the next. He has all the time in the world. And then some.
Though just because someone is invulnerable doesn’t mean they can’t be subdued or killed. Such as what Heavenly Sword has done here. If they don’t have super strength you can bury them under heavy objects, in this case a tone of bricks to keep them there, or a localized gravity field to have them ether float or also be pinned there. For a more permanent solution take away there air ether by drowning, removing all the air in there space by magic or airless bubble on there head, constriction, or blocking there airways via slime or other means. Just because there invulnerable doesn’t mean they don’t need to breath. Then of course there are ether phasers or being able to vibrate a weapon or appendage threw them and damage them internally. Oh the possibilities to take down those smug SOB’s!
Before we get a barrage of comments, yes, it has been mentioned that Achilles does not need air.
However, I agree that he would be relatively easy to put away somewhere. Just put him in sturdy manacles and leg chains and them dump him into a work site where they are doing a big concrete pour. The chains should keep him in place until the concrete sets up. by then his ‘normal’ strength would not be enough to break himself out. It would be impossible for him to contact anyone else to come and get him. (They are smart enough to remove his ID collar)
Actually, if his eyeball cannot be damaged, and since his hair can neither grow or be cut it’s a safe bet that neither can his fingernails. It might take a long time but all he have to do is clear out space for his hands to move while the concrete cures and eventually he’s be able to cut the cuffs and litteraly claw his way out. (a 8’x8′ cube of concrete can take days if not weeks to fully cure at the core so it is theoretically possible to create an open area the size of a hand. )
Agreed. My only concern with Achilles, as always, is whether he has a super-heroic energy source. His cells are invulnerable to damage, even down to the sub-atomic level. So dehydration and a lack of oxygen would not harm him. But equally, unless he does have something else providing energy, if he lacks the necessary elements to sustain biological reaction, he cannot metabolise in order to produce energy.
So if he does need food, air and water, to make energy then he only has so long entombed, until he will loose consciousness and/or slip into hibernation. Of course, as soon as he is dug out, or the concrete is eroded, and some air gets in, he will be as fit as a fiddle and able to start digging his way free.
Then it is just a matter of seeing if there is anyone around to keep him company. Or if he is going to have to start his cockroach breeding program. Eventually he will be able to get them smart enough to hold down a conversation.
What many people don’t realize, is that breathing is a part of the eating process
Oxygen is a vital part of the celular cycle that produces energy. It is used to syphon off hydrogen and carbon atoms that are released in the process.
Without oxygen, the entire energy production process grinds to a hold, in exactly the same way as it would if you had no food.
So if he doesn’t need to breathe, it’s safe to say that he doesn’t need to eat either
Trouble is, we know he does need it for some purposes, from simple observation, and deduction. He could not talk without it, being one. And we have seen him eating a delicious steak. The only other information we have is from the cast list:
Which is, very specifically, talking about not taking damage. It does not say, or even imply, that he does not need air, or food, for every other purpose.
since he can’t be starved to death, i assume that if his body run out of energy, he’ll just “stop”
not die per say, just stop, like in a coma, suspended animation, pump his stomach full of sugar and he’ll eventually start again
the human body have an emergency gear in its energy production, to still produce energy from food without oxygen, but it only work for a really short time for normal people cause it produce lactic acid in your cells as byproduct, soon destroying them in the process
but someone that could swim in lava wouldn’t die from simple acid intoxication, so i guess achille could survive on the emergency energy production for a long time, his only need really being food only
Ahh, cool, that was precisely the kind of information I was fishing for. Thanks :-)
tho it would be fun if he was emprisoned behind bars and decided to hold his breath long enough for his urine to become really acid, to corrode the locks
I did not concider that. Good point
Just like Miss Jones from Gunnerkrigg Court
Older than dirt, literally.
Thinking further on it, he should be able to sustain himself a lot longer than a normal person mind. Much of the resources our body requires is to provide sustenance for our cells. If his are fine without such, then his only need is for energy.* The implications being that he may be able to carry on drawing on just fat reserves for his energy, provided that it does not require oxygen to do that.
I think we would have to pass that to an imaginative biochemist to figure out. It is not something that would be easy to unravel from a Wikipediea trawl alone. Not without getting a nasty headache in the process, anyhow. But, if it is possible, then I totally agree with your slow, but steady, escape theory.
* Which would probably also mean he is a superb all-round athlete, long-distance runner and the like. Over and above the levels that any super gets due to inherent fitness.
Sort of, but not quite, similar to the time Spider-Man got Juggernaut trapped in a concrete foundation for a large building…It took several *months* for him to *walk* out. but then again, Achilles isn’t nearly as strong as Juggernaut, so it would be a lot more difficult (if not impossible) to escape.