Grrl Power #243 – Taking all comers
Jiggawatt’s telebot (arc jump?) is her big hit, but it’s also sort of a high commitment attack, especially against an unknown like (FWT)Death Toll. Punching him sure doesn’t work. It’s not clear if she saw him zap Anvil either, otherwise she might not have tried to lightning him.
Some people in the comments are starting to piece Death Toll together, and this page will obviously fuel more speculation. We’ll see if the team figures it out before Sydney does.
Part of doing this comic involves tapping in to my nerd knowledge to drop in some pop culture nods or sneak in an obtuse reference to something. I’ve put in references everything from Thundercats and Krull to Invader Zim and Phineas and Ferb. Keeping my nerd cred current can be a bit tricky. I can watch Netflix or whatever while I draw, since that’s 90% listening and glancing occasionally at the screen when some actor says “look at this amazing thing which you have to see to understand and which I’m not going to describe verbally!” I am a bit down on my anime consumption since most of it is subbed and I can’t draw and read subtitles at the same time. The most recent thing I’ve watched is the first 8-12 episodes of Attack on Titan, since from about a year ago you couldn’t go anywhere on the internet without seeing some reference to it. Cartoons in general, even if they’re in English (dubbed or native) are harder to watch while I draw cause they tend to move along faster than sitcoms or other long form TV shows like your CSIs and Person of Interest or whatever, and that makes me glance up at the TV more often which slows me down.
I play about 10% as much video games as I used to as well, which is fine since most everything is sequels or remakes these days. I’ve played all of an hour of Minecraft, but that’s all you really need in order to get it. I don’t like MMOs because of the heavy time requirements, also the total lack of player agency. It’s hard to feel like you’ve accomplished anything when the boss you just beat respawns 15 seconds later and on your way back to town you pass 30 people on their way to kill the same guy. Nope, give me single player, co-op single player, or straight up multiplayer, deathmatch and fighting games and the like.
Most recently I made the mistake of installing DOTA2, since I had never played a MOBA before. I get why it’s so popular now, so mission accomplished, but holy crap am I awful at it. One game I played ended with almost everyone on my team being twice my level. I know, there’s a lot to learn and there are a million guides and early game tutorials out there, but again like with MMOs, the time commitment would be enormous. I’m glad I played it, the game world seems like an environment Dabbler would be comfortable in. I could totally see a Dabbler hero in it, but I may have to uninstall it before it sucks up any more of my time.
Comic was broke but now it’s fixed. I’m just testing the admin function really.
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Something tells me Syd is going to figure something out and severely hurt him.
My money is on “humiliate” rather than “hurt”.
Why choose between insult and injury when you can dispense both
Because humiliate without hurt makes you an “ace sheila,” and gives you the moral high ground. Also looks better in the AAR if you can take a purp down without making a mess out of them.
True but there a lot of things you can do to someone that will hurt like the dickens even stop them cold but not really injure them. Thing’s I can easily see Sydney happily doing to anyone who messes with her new friends, kosher or not
Yes. Because Sydney has always shown herself to be a non-violent and subtle person.
*sarcasm – extreme mode*
I keep getting the image of Sydney “pants-ing” FWTDT then pulling his cape over his head & under his crotch for the wedgie combo and topping him off with a trash can on his head to contain. Maybe not the most practical, but sight the rule of funny.
My prediction for the next comic is that Sydney’s lightbulb moment will occur by remembering the movie ‘War Games’. She will broadcast over her comm unit “The only winning move is not to play!”
Not sure whether anybody mentioned it before, but it would be “Energy Leech”, not leach.
And love your comic, by the way :)
I’d have just called him a sucker
Looks suspiciously like Death Toll has more than a few levels of Nemesis
Finally! A CHALLENGE! It’s nice to know that someone can stand up for the reputation of supervillains. It’s taken a beating from our heroes, and now EVIL is striking back! MWAHAHAHAH!
Not to bust your bubble or anything, but since his ability seems to be negating invert copying somebodys attack, he might actually have to wait for somebody to attack him so that he can work it.
Nice laugh though … ;-)
There doesn’t seem to be any shortage of attackers, so until they work that out, he’ll be doing nicely.
Countering is a pretty useful power, if that is what he has.
Don’t worry about bursting my bubble, I have enough hoops and detergent to blow many bubbles! EVIL bubbles!
Wait, why does “Tactics” have an arrow (indicating there is something in the subfolder)? And yet Associations has nothing?
Arc-Light is filling in tactics based on the ongoing fight. Associations is less obvious and less important at the moment, but I expect they’ll fill it in after they get a chance to question him.
Yeah, and I’m betting the “Tactics” dropdown pretty much just says “Stands there and takes whatever is used on him.”
Sydney knows all the angles.
Random thought: Has Death Toll moved his feet at all this entire time?
Simple. This guy has some sort of ultimate adaptability/defense system : he absorbed kinetic energy, he uses ice against dabbler’s fireball, and turned into copper to trap lightning transformed jiggawat inside his body.
That is exactly what I thought. His Power appears to allow him to create an effective response against any incoming attack. The question now is, how do you beat somebody like that? Not attacking could be an answer, since then he has nothing to attack with himself. Or maybe if he attacks first his powers cannot activate straight away when somebody tries a response?
One way to beat him might be using several different powers at once.
Don’t use a super power at all. Just drop a net on the guy from above.
Unless he can counter that. It would be funny if he could sprout spikes in response or something, but then that would be a little too powerful, so I doubt it.
Na, he needs people to attack him, he’s harmless otherwise.
(FWT) Death Tolls is first seen when Maxima flies up to see who is attacking, his is next to the burning person on the lower left, next time he is shown is when Math knocks Concretia out of the restaurant and Death Tolls backhands her into the ground, after that the next time Death Tolls makes an appearance is when Hex(or Budget Halo as Maxima called her) fires wildly and randomly after a squirrel falls into her lap, one of her beams is absorbed by Death Tolls, his following appearance displayed one of Jiggawatts bolts passing very close to his head, after that is his confrontation with Anvil and being drawn into the focus of the comic.
Evidence does seem to suggest he absorbs abilities and his ice blast against Dabbler’s fireball may be from the icy looking nameless guy that got pwned with Break Point when the big guy fell on them. This also makes me want to know what would happen if he tried to copy Harem.
If FWTDT is a power copier this whole thing is a buffet for him regardless of what happens with his “allies”. I would like to hypothesize that Halo’s orb stuff might be immune to his power due to how indistinct they are but the only evidence I have for that is most of the supers engaging him seem to generate their powers themselves rather than get them from objects(unless those Blaster Buddies of Hex’s are some item which is hard to make out since the look like floating energy thingies).
Given that he is the ONLY super who hides his face and the previous antics of the character, I put forth that not only is this situation is engineered by the Mr. Deus of Machina Corp., but For Whom The Death Tolls is Mr. Deus(similar attachment for comic book hero/villain dynamic, though it may be a stretch for Deus as the only villainous things he did was spy on ARCHON, enjoy an evil laugh and have dramatic Lightning. Who doesn’t like dramatic lightning and evil laughing?). I swear they grin similar, but its just my guess, we will all find out soon enough.
He appears to invert copy a super / magical attack in order to negate / oppose it, and not his opponent or his opponents abilities.
Anvil kinetic power absorbation / storage and release -> DT kinetic power drain
Dabbler fire magic -> DT the elemental opposite, cold and water ( and no succubus treats )
Jiggawatt e-power surge -> DT capacitator ( hollow metal object ) based e-power collector
Without being attacked, he probably “only” has his own super strength going for him.
Point: He shocked Anvil while she had him in head lock.
This could have been a power absorbed from Glowbug (the costume malfunction electricity user) or a power distinct to him, and independent of his “copy” power.
So he could have absorbed someone else’s “ice” powers to use against Dabbler’s fire, or he can self generate elemental attacks.
Given the way he changed before and after Jiggawatt, it may be a “catch and release” kind of deal on “absorbed” powers.
… I am not so sure about the “shocked Anvil” part being his own power / a power borrowed elsewhere.
Because, what would oppose an attack to his throat by contracting super muskles ?
Would that not be something forcing muscles to relax or preventing them so function properly ?
Isn’t that exactly what the e-shock did to her ? And what other way would there be to begin with ?
I must admit though that the main reason I am searching for a different explanations is that a “power copying / borrowing” ability allowing to use any power ever copied / borrowed over and over again, would be a seriously bad case of “overpowered” and quite unlike DaveB`s characters so far.
His only arguable character in the “overpowered” section up until now might be Dabbler.
My guess on when he shocked anvil would be that he surreptitiously borrowed a bit of Jiggawatt’s power’s off panel. If he’s an ability duplicator he could have used dabbler’s magic to create ice (as she did when finishing heavenly sword). What’s interesting is that the time he shocked anvil was the ONLY time I can remember him using a power belonging to someone he wasn’t fighting/near, and it was weak. (assuming here that his toughness is innate.) He also appears to have lost Jiggawatt’s power after he ejected her, either because he’s switched to stalwart’s power or because he’s got some kind of range limit. I’m guessing the latter, since otherwise he’d steal/duplicate Maxima’s power set and murder everyone.
So far I’m going to guess he has the Nemesis power, which is an adaptive “I have the perfect countermeasure to any power used against me” power. In Anvil’s case, she operates off of absorbing kinetic energy. An electric zap would hurt her. She throws a punch, he counters by negating her kinetic charge. He counters Jiggawatt by grounding her out (which had the bonus effect of trapping her, since she converted herself into the attack). Counters Dabbler (WOOO! Sorry, just glad to see Dabbler not roflstomp someone) by throwing ice to her fire. And so-on.
The best way to stop him would probably be… ignore him, set a car on him, or Penny make with the BOOM headshot.
yes a cold water a succubus’ natural counter unless she wears a white t-shirt. car I fear he could shift or slide out from under, otherwise car use like peggy is lethal force risk which is being avoided in addition to a chance he could absorb the force to unknown effect.
I would think that the best way would be to put that invulnerable bubble over top of him and suck the air out. . . .
You mean, the Shield that Sydney has to be inside of? That ‘invulnerable bubble’?
I think you’re on to something.
1. First mop up, so Sydney isn’t in danger when she moves the shield.
2. Englobe him, and also blanket him in some sort of darkness or smoke screen. Light=incoming energy, so you have to get rid of that. Also, remember that he started the battle by standing around? He was absorbing the smaller energy given off by sound and light from other folks’ powers. So you have to cut off ALL energy, not just direct attacks.
3. Then you leave him like that for about 24 hours. He’ll be weak as a kitten, and have to pee really bad. Ripe for capture!
Problem: Sydney has to be in (or near) the center (but definitely inside) of the shield bubble. Why she had to fly up to use the ’embiggener’ at the press conference.
Sorry to single you out, just see a lot of people saying she should put the shield around him, but she can’t unless she’s in there with him. And you never want to let someone with unknown abilities inside your primary defense (especially when it is pretty much your only defense).
And if he can counter indirect use of superpowers?
Ok, how about Sydney gets a therapy couch and makes him tell truth till he is rehabilitated….or even discloses his own weakness?
Silver Age Rules!
Now we can only hope FWTDT isn’t any smarter than HS.
DOTA2 is good and top end probably has a higher skill-cap then League of Legends. But bottom end for learning a MOBA type game and a more casual play-environment you might be better off with League of Legends or possibly the new game Blizzard is releasing (jury’s still out on what the Blizzard one will be like).
Wrong window.
Anvil’s grapple worked, but she couldnt choke him out.
Pick him up, and fly a mile or two upward.
Well, my call would be “Crap! He absorbs super powers and/or uses them against us/negates them!” “Say, Math…you don’t actually have ‘powers’, per se, might you see if you can pummel him senseless? Since you don’t have powers, he can’t absorb anything to use against you…and it fits your theme of matching skill and experience as a ‘normal human’ against superpowered villains.” “Plus, if you defeat him, Jaberwokky would be massively impressed.”
Except that Math is still sleeping off the after-affects of Jabberwocky’s Ultimate Fishnet Top Flash tactic. The knee to the nose bridge isn’t helping him recover any faster.
It also assumes that power absorption is his only trick. He may have mimicry as well.
That’s assuming he absorbs powers
I can’t hep but wonder if Sydney can shoot lasers out of her bubble. That would be OP as hell and awesome. (But might let lazers inside. That actually gives context for Page 1-3 w/ her RPG character)
To Zephy
I just read your “Villain Tally V1.8”, a great job, I like it.
However as I recall I think there are a few “1st appearence #204” missing.
Also one of your listed is Defeated 26 (“yellow shirt, green pants”) but I do not see him there, maybe you are mistaking “Atomic Bombshell” (Defeated 35), who is dressed alike, at the center throwing one of her charges to Maxima. Also could be a doubt about “Concretia” (Defeated 6).
The missings at #204 are:
a) “Silent Shadow/Mach the Knife” credited as 1st in #219 is at the upper left (green with orange hair).
b) “Death Toll” credited as 1st in #209 is at the center in front of “Gauntlette”, despiste the difference in color (“Gauntlette” looks pretty different too) he is the only one with cape, beside the typical stance.
c) At the bottom left, someone with grey skin and hair. I think you take it as “Concretia” (Defeated 6) despiste the different skin and hair color, but with the differences already seen on “Death Toll” and “Gauntlette” I could agree.
d) At the center above “Giant” (Defeated 30), someone in grey-white shooting white bits. I think this is actually your “Blue crystal swordsman” (Defeated 31) credited as 1st in #231.
e) At the center above “Opal” (Active 3), someone in glowing white. I think this is “Glowbug” (Defeated 32) credited as 1st in #219.
That is all I get right now, hope it helps.
Assuming he does indeed counter enemy attacks, I see 4 possible ways to deal with him, some or all of which may not be effective depending on exactly how his powers work (sorry if these have all already been covered):
1. Hit him hard enough that it overwhelms his defenses. If this would work, it would be Maxima who could do it, but it would be risky. If it doesn’t work, he could do a huge amount of damage with his counter. If it doesn’t, it would be really hard to gauge how much power to use so there is a high chance of incinerating him.
2. As someone else mention, use non-super attacks, either from Math or Halo. Unfortunately Math is down for the count, and we don’t know whether Halo’s powers count as “super” under the rules that govern his powers. Maxima could also drop something heavy on him.
3. Hit him with an attack that is generic enough that you can’t really counter it. He can counter electricity and kinetic attacks, but maybe “raw energy” (whatever that means) could be effective. Again, this would be Maxima. This would be easy but unlikely to work and really cheap if it did.
4. Hit him with multiple substantially different attacks at the same time. Especially if his counters are under some degree of conscious control (as seems to be the case when he fought Jiggawatt), he may not be able to counter multiple attacks at the same time. I would put my money on this approach, especially since Halo can use 2 powers at once and Dabbler may very well be able to use four. That would be six attacks at once, I sincerely doubt he could counter that, especially if he hadn’t seen any of them yet (he hasn’t seen anything from Halo and Dabbler apparently has a large store of tricks).
5. Shoot him. This is both not a super attack and would almost certainly be far to fast for him to consciously counter. Of course Maxima won’t allow a headshot, but take out his arms and he probably won’t pose much of a threat. I don’t know if Maxima allows this, though. Beanbag rounds, rubber bullets, or tranquilizer darts may also be effective.
Grab him around the ankles with the lighthook, then do a HULK SMASH LOKI attack… Since she’s not attacking him directly, he can’t invert her power. Technically, it’s the ground attacking him…
How about a mix of 2 and 4. DaveB mentioned, I think in Harem’s bio, that she has a martial art that she has developed to take advantage of her multiple bodies. Perhaps a non super attack would be a good idea, but also hitting him from multiple angles might be the trick too. Perhaps this villain will be when we get to see Harem’s fighting style in action!
But then ALL of my guesses have been wrong. So what do I know :P
Or, since he seems to take on some attributes from the elements he counters, force him to counter two incompatible types. Fire and ice, for example. What types like that exist on the field of battle? Not sure – maybe jig’s anti-lightning and then throw glowbug at him simultaneously?
I’m going for #5.
Maybe if Sydney tentacle whips him into the ground? I think he may be either a robot or power-suited human, because of all the metal. Would fit in with his dorkiness. Also, maybe Dabbler could seduce him?or they could ping him up into the outer atmosphere to freeze and pass out from oxygen loss
That was not just conductive material. He turned himself into a faraday cage, otherwise she would just have grounded herself or passed through.
I noticed he keeps using the same hand to counter, and as was pointed out, his mask never changed. It may be possible for Sydney to simply light hook the mask off, and see what happens there.
Not necessarily a “Faraday Cage” – it could be he turned into a capacitor…that can hold onto a charge too.
Oh come on… you really gave FWTDT’s the super-power of FUCKING DARWIN! I mean come on that’s just rude to put someone that powerful this earlier in the comic, especially in the team’s first fight… as he is nigh-unbeatable because he has the power of Instantaneous Adaptation… in otherwords: HE ADAPTS TO ANYTHING from growing gills if he was thrown in the water; to not needing to breathe if thrown in the vacuum of space without a space suit or oxygen.
Six bucks says it’s training cooked up by either Max or Arianna.
Max asked Arianna if she cooked it up. So I’ll take your bet, and I think I’ve already won.
Possibly, but I don’t see it. Maxima was angry enough over the bank incident and I would think Ariana would have learned after that. Furthermore, the latter more or less denied any such involvement (albeit non-verbally) when Maxima “questioned” her earlier.
Panels one through eight. Ariana is really scared of Max’s wrath. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1260
Which is why I linked to that comic. Either that’s an Oscar (TM) award worthy performance or there’s no way, no how she’s behind this.
I missed your link, oops.
Yes, he is stopping each attack directed at him. Individually.
Just hit him with multiple attacks simultaneously.
He seems to be able to adapt to some things (at least some super powers). Whether he can adapt to anything, or adapt to multiple things at the same time, remains to be seen.
True… but my point still remains.
Why the fuck was this guy introduced in the first actual TEAM FIGHT they have…. had he not been in the fight, this would’ve been a good first fight that they had as a team, but with him….
It’s like the writer’s throwing Buu in during the Saiyan saga of DBZ… it’s throwing an enemy that is TOO powerful for your team at the moment to fight and are going to get their asses whipped hard and lose… as he walks away unharmed.
Now if he’s the big bad of the entire comic, then it could work… but he’s not as this is WAAAAAAAAAY to earlier in a comic to reveal your Big Bad already since it’s not that far in the series really.
Haven’t seen anyone else mention it, but: note the arrow to Anvil is grey, all other ARC personnel markers are purple. Subtle Dave. Sneaky, subtle, & cool.
Well spotted.
if you are looking for an easier moba I would go with Infinite crisis (a DC comics based moba, very good if you like DC comics) or EA’s new Dawngate (easy to get into and has a comic that explains the story)
There is a clear effect when he absorbs/holds anvil. His entire clothing/body turns orange-brownish.
That implies that he has an absorption limit and Jiggawat as whole fills it up. So hitting him with Jigga again, then hitting him with some other energy attack might overload him.
Also interesting that his mask stayed normal. That means it could be the center of his powers, or just something he added to hide is identity. Attacking/stealing it might be worth a shoot.
They still have Dabbler, Syd, Max and Jigg with energy attacks.
Maybe he cannot actually project ice, but only absorbed some (minor) ice attack earlier?
Maybe he can only counter attacks he knows will be comming (Jigga kinda called her move there; not sure if dabbler used fire before or it was just a luckly guess).
Another fact is that his absorption/projection might be limited to his hands.
So attack him from 3+ directions at once might be too much for him to block. Equally they could bind at least one his arms somehow.
Of course he will propably choose the attacks seeming most dangerous, so they might have to deceive him about the attack danger.
Dabbler ice attack gave me an idea:
What if you attack him with something that is conductive and is also be countered by something that is conductive? Could jigga then jump over both attacks, giving him a suprise dose of electricity?
It’s usually a bad idea to base one’s strategy on assumptions.
For Whom the Death Tolls’ copy/counter powers strike me as being more Final Fantasy Blue Mage in nature. He also seems limited to using them defensively. Anvil, Jiggawatt, Dabby, and Stalwart were all countered. I have a feeling preoccupation with collecting super powers wasn’t the only reason he hasn’t done anything but stand in place before now.
Has anyone mentioned, ‘A Beautiful Person’ from the SCP Series? It’s an individual who can imitate, amalgamate, and improve upon those around them. Death Toll seems like a limited version of that but with better competence and emotional stability to compensate.
It would actually be kind of cool to see some SCP expy’s. The ‘Hard-To-Destroy-Reptile’ would be an ideal recurring boss that the heroes can take the kid gloves off and unleash hell on, ‘Able’ would be another shoe-in for this series.
Both of those are world-ending threats that can’t actually be defeated, only delayed. I think that kind of inevitable doom runs counter to the light-hearted tone Dave appears to aiming for in this comic. The SCP Foundation is an entire shadow government of He Who Fights Monsters. They routinely tap-dance on the Moral Event Horizon. I don’t think anyone wants to see Archon go down that road.
Earlier, SKW had the thought that (FWT) Death Toll might be a construct possibly operated by the Man in blue Sydney talked to on the side of the battle. If so, then the power is the power of the construct. His answer that he is “multitasking” makes sense in this context because he must think about what to make the construct do, analyze incoming attacks to come up with the counter, and converse with other people such as Anvil and Atomic Bombshell. It also explains why (FWT) Death Toll didn’t react to the matter/antimatter annihilation caused by Glowbug and Jiggawatt because, the Man in blue must not have realized the danger inherent. It also explains why he would direct Sydney’s attention to (FWT) Death Toll even though he is technically with the villains.
If true then it is interesting that Atomic Bombshell asks (FWT) Death Toll when he is going to pitch in to the battle as well as hiding behind him after Anvil brushes off her big attack while, not talking to the Man in blue. It implies that the Man in blue and (FWT) Death Toll were introduced to the villains as separate individuals with separate abilities. It is also interesting that (FWT) Death Toll only makes the dramatic gestures when dealing with attacks and or dangers that were easily observable by a 3rd person (Concretia when the fight was still mostly inside the building, Dab’s fire, Jigga’s telebolt, Anvil’s attacks, and Stalwart’s attack, but not the Buster Buddies [the battle was chaotic and that friendly fire was especially unpredictable, or the matter/antimatter annihilation consequences [one needs to know quite a bit of physics to know the radiation hazard since it showed no other effects]).
The major problem with this theory is that it doesn’t seem to be the simplest explanation. It requires that the Man in blue has the construct power/control and that the construct has the power absorption/reflection ability triggerable by the Man in blue or, that the Man in blue has a power set that lets him duplicate such a construct. Either way, the solution is to hit the Man in blue. If (FWT) Death Toll freezes, glitches, vanishes, or races to the Man in blue’s defense then this theory is correct and the action plan should be ramped up. If not then ARCSWAT will have to try dealing with (FWT) Death Toll the hard way. Personal theory for a brick to pulverize the ground near him with a punch or stomp to create a dust cloud blinding him temporarily so that the gamma radiation he did absorb (assuming he isn’t a construct) doesn’t get flung at somebody how can’t take it. Peggy or Harem lobbing a smoke grenade/flashbang/tear gas might work as well.
You know, in the days before the internet I had to listen to voices in my head come up with wacky ideas like this. So lucky to live in an age when I don’t need that much effort.
I haven’t read the whole thread, but I’ve a prediction: Sydney’s going to figure something out to take him down, but it’s going to require a two-orb stunt, meaning she’ll have to drop the shield and take a big risk in stepping up to the plate.
Shadow Crushednuts: “I’m about to be famous!”
FAIL!
Jiggawatt: “my soon to be famous telebolt”
FAIL!
I’m seeing a recurring theme of karmic punishment for arrogance.
yep, you can only be arrogant AFTER you take them out… but THEN it’s called Schadenfreude…
I just wanted to point out that technically “Death Toll” hasn’t really done anything wrong. At worst, he could be guilty of loitering and inciting to riot, but since he’s been as sarcastic to the villains as to the heroes, even the latter is questionable. A decent lawyer could make the case that since he is seemingly impervious to the battle, he was just watching it, though admittedly his costume and name are somewhat antagonistic.
Sure, he took down Anvil, Jiggawatt, and Stalwart, but in each case he was attacked first. While everyone is talking about his apparent powers and counters, you’re missing the most important part: each take down was clearly self-defence.
From the point of view of normal superhero comics, attacking the guy with the cowl standing next to the bad guys makes total sense, but DaveB has been going out of his way pointing out the problems with the genre from a realism point of view, and Maxima has clearly been trying to operate the group as a military/ police force. So why the sudden assault against the one guy present who didn’t attack first?
Max announced that they were LEO, and were ordering everyone to disperse. They answered by open firing on her. DT was given the order to stand down and surrender by a LEO in a riot situation. He challenged said LEO to a fight, and then knocked said LEO out. Had he walked away, yeah, I could see him getting off with no repercussions. Anvil followed protocol, started with a subdue hold, then went for a punch after she was attacked.
DT wont get out of this if he goes to jail. Yeah, we have the right to peaceably assemble. Those that attacked ARC not only attacked the Military/Police, but they started a riot. When the officers say stand down in that situation, you stand down or your rights went out the window. His further actions incriminate him further.
Never mind he was consorting with someone that just tried to kill 2 LEOs. Make no mistake, this is all being recorded. DT is a cool villain, but to say he is blameless is not correct.
I do not recall Max doing nothing the like. Her only official advise was to put Meat-Head (first guy), and only him, under arrest.
Also Anvil did not identify herself as a LEO nor has any official badge at sight.
Beside that I can agree with you.
Actually I think that is true for everyone, but everybody else was repelling an attack (say Anvil-FirstGuy) or taking action after witnessing one (say Math-Concretia).
By staying he lost his status of innocent bystander and now he is resisting arrest.
And he can’t claim self defense on that since he was offered the choice to surrender peacefully and chose combat instead. Plus he’ll be up for conspiracy, or at least aiding and abetting, since he was chatty with Shebang* before, during, and after an attempted murder.
(*Atomic Bombshell)
If it turns out Fedorka is a bad guy, and involved, then Sydney can be charged as well
Moronic logic goes both ways
The guy in the fedora is a different issue. Sydney did what any LEO would, and assess a threat. He, in turn, pointed out a real threat, as a diversion or bait, and refocused her.
At the moment, Fedora guy has attacked no one, threatened no one, and has not interacted with any of the attackers at all. If he does not quietly disappear before the fight ends, he will be brought in for questioning. If he cooperates, does not attack anyone, and is not found being wanted by the Law, he will be let go.
If he knows any of the attackers, and they roll on him, that will be different.
And he is standing by the side, not in the middle of a group of supers.
At first I thought he might have the same cloaking field as X but Sidney could see him with her telepresense. Unless the last upgrade activated that power.
One possible strategem would be to have Halo gently but firmly mummy-wrap FWTDT with the Lighthook…presuming she can do it without exerting a lot of force, that would give him nothing significant to absorb and she could just carry him off the field.
Unless he can absorb the Hentorb itself
It seems that the armor reacts on a subconscious level. DT is shown as being not that bright yet is pulling off masterful counters.
I am wondering if it is part of the same set as Halo’s orbs. I would love to see Halo trigger one of the unknown orbs and take control of the armor leaving DT in a skull mask and underoos.
The armor is doing it, not the person. He’s a Tool-Assisted Super, kind of like Iron Man. It seems to be doing mostly energy absorption and redirection. Solutions are:
1) Brute Force approach. i.e. overload him. Possible explosions detrimental to the nearby real estate.
2) Redirect his own force. i.e. Forcehook his ankle and dangle him upside down. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. He cannot apply force if he has nothing to apply force against.
3) Vacuum attack. Instead of attacking with force, attack with resource denial.
4) Target non-force vectors. i.e. use Lighthook to flail him around in the air. Don’t smash him into the ground, he might get enough kenetic energy to break free. Just wave him around in the air until he starts getting sick in his mask. It’s still a human under there, after all.
He doesn’t seem to be able to fly, so just throw him in a big hole or something.
FWT Death Tolls: A bottomless whole suddenly? This is madness!
Maxima: Madness? THIS IS ARC-SWAT!!
DM, I has question, can the force field orb prevent flow of oxygen, if so would, if Heatwave were able to focus enough past her injury to do so, heating the air around Death Toll (but of course being careful not to hit Death Toll), followed immediately by Halo immediately using the force field orb in the area of effect and (depending on skilled control of the force field) allowing the hot air to escape but no air in to replace, and thus choking out Death Toll without touching him work?
Good idea. If he can’t penetrate the barrier, you would’t even need to go that far. Just seal him in and wait.
The fact that the blue orb prevented the flow of air when Halo was flying would imply that it probably blocks oxygen too. This may be a vulnerability that can be exploited, or can help her in dangerous situations (poison gas room).
You are both forgetting the basic rule of the shield orb, expounded on here numerous times and put forth by DaveB himself: The Shield Is Always Centered Around Sydney.Being inside a ball of vacuum with a deadly enemy does not sound like good strategy for an otherwise normal human.
unless the hentorb and forb combined moves the shield
Unless one of the unknowns protects her from vacuum.
That would also explain why it does not to do anything when active.
Though personally I doubt it.
and you’re forgetting the “Skill Tree”… she probably just hasn’t gotten around to learning HOW to do any of those things yet, the oxygen denial, and/or the create a vacuum, or even move the shield away from herself…
just because word-of-god says that she can’t do it, just means that she can’t do it YET, not that she’ll NEVER be able to do it.
What did she spend her skill points on, then…not even she knows what she’s unlocked…anyone know what orb she spent it on?
Telepresence-Truesight, the yellow one.
A number of people have already started surmising that (FWT)Death Toll’s powers are purely defensive, and while I do consider that to be one of the most likely possibilities at this point, another possibility just occurred to me this morning:
Perhaps Death Toll cannot do anything directly offensive until he receives a sufficient amount of attacks, filling up his “limit break” gauge or what have you, and THEN he becomes an offensive powerhouse!
At any rate, I am eager to see how this develops.
Two things come to mind–either he is a bigger and better energy sponge than Anvil (ice can be made by absorbing heat energy, after all), or he isn’t really there, and the attacks are coming from some sort of remote projection.
Personally, I suspect that we’re looking at a projection–otherwise, at least SOME of the attacks should have fazed him.
Read a series once that had a bad guy called the Chauffeur. Sounds like a stupid name, right? But he was always the one who took you on your final drive….
So he played golf with players about to retire?
Reminds me of one of YaYa’s first major battles. It was against a doll with multiple cores. It could only use one core at a time and once it did it exhausted the core and couldn’t use it again. She let herself be beat up a little so when it turned into mist her blood mixed in and Yaya was able to smash it into the ground.
Also kinda reminds me of Bishop… or the times Rogue went psycho :P
There are several ways to deal with an opponent like this one. Achilles would be great as most probably he would be immune to any and all powers he might have absobed (if he’s an absorber type) and there is no real way to counter “proper aggravating invulnerability” (if he is wobbuffet type).
He seems to transform in order to be able to counter some powers, you can use this to your advantage so as to force a conversion that would make him vulnerable to another attack before he has the chance to release and readjust.
Absorbers can usually be overloaded but Maxima would advise against this strategy as they don’t know how he might react to an overload (overloading things usually explode or he might attempt to release the extra energy unfocused causing some fallout).
If his power, however, is adaptability you can use a opposite-natured attack to bring him down.
Finally you can always teleport or tk him into orbit and see how he survives outer space.
And remember if all else fails you can always do a “DC Comics” and throw him into the sun which will make his survival a lot more difficult and his escape from such gravitational prison even more so.
And… what if he has the power to absorb the sun? You just wiped out the entire star system, encluding the entire population of the planet you call home, but hey, you managed to defeat the DTs, so, all good?
Sorry for the double post. I’ve also noticed that the blue logo belongs to the blonde in pink administering the sleeping drug to the captured villains although she has never been introduced. Any guesses?
That’s one of the Harem(s)