Grrl Power #246 – Sydney Scoville Jr, power susser
Sorry for the late start, I just… forgot to schedule the comic. Bluh.
Anyway a lot of you guys nailed Death Toll’s powers right as the team started taking him seriously, which shouldn’t really surprise me, I mean, I drew him countering fire with ice and ice with fire. Maxima probably could have figured him out, but she does have that whole being the most powerful super known, which makes all the villains look like nails to her giant hammer. Also watching one guy thrash her team got her a little angry, which makes her a little punchy. It’s something she’ll have to work on.
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Those eyes on that mask still crack me up.
Couldn’t you just drop a cage on him and leave him there?
He can beg for food and water from the tourists.
From the vending machine Arianna will have set up nearby, no less.
Of course she would lol.
Hey! You there! Can’t you read the sign? DON’T FEED THE SUPERVILLAIN!
________________
And then there are those darn kids who, despite the many SIGNS!!!, keep poking at him with sticks and or throwing rocks at him causing random perfect super powered counters! What if one of them damages the CAGE some day? Its enough to give the handlers ulcers…
If they throw rocks will pieces of paper appear?
Most likely.
HAH! Good one!
Different effects each time. First maybe that and next he BECOMES a giant piece of paper and wraps them up! XD
Or many Spocks.
This. I love you for saying that, Crest.
Forced starvation could easily be interpreted by his power as an attack and trigger some response.
Most likely photosynthesis…
I was thinking more break the ground around him so he falls into the hole and gets stuck.
Did you mean for your name to be “For Whom the Bread Rolls”?
Bred: the results of selectively picking mates by certain traits to get certain results
Bread: A food staple baked from grains that can come in the form of rolls
Don’t panik, DaveB – this comic is way to nice to be angry with you ! ;-)
Got to love the impotent rage!
Someone needs a blue pill.
I’m enjoying how they’re just ignoring him at this point.
And also how they’re ignoring the two other still-dangerous villains on the field. But eh, Talking Is a Free Action.
And Deathy is sitting there trembling in impotent rage.
Now now, His name is now officially Periwinkle the Butt Sniffer.
It’s neat to see Sydney being competent. Up to this point we’ve really only seen the goofy, quirky side of her. This is promising for her superhero career.
loved the point about the pr department i will now only refer to him as periwinkle butt sniffer
Or PBS if you’re cool…
Hey! Only if you’re cool!
…sorry, but if you use PBS, the Public Broadcasting System will come and hold a fund-raising telethon on your lawn.
I like it, and I am prepared to provide cred.
That acronym is already taken, several times, according to AcronymFinder.
I suggest a compromise: PeBS. This way it works as an acronym AND is pronouncable in one syllable.
Hot tar circle around him, drop a steel dome over him, anchor the dome to the asphalt. Does his power protect him from asphyxiation?
That would still be murder.
Eh, I’m feeling murdery today. I could easily take it out on a fictional character or two.
Not if you opened the dome when he had passed out from anoxia and put him in a nice paddy wagon with an oxygen mask and some bon bons.
Would you settle for 5′ of concrete?
much, much simpler: “Math, he’s all yours!”
Well, it depends on the details of his power, but the easiest way to get at power cancelers and such is typically a highly trained normal.
A. Math is already out.
B. He was confident his power would counter normal grenades.
Flash Grenades
normal grenades would have left a crater
Have you ever used flash bangs? I have, strapped to a normal person like that they can be lethal as they do pack a punch. We caved in a trench with just one. Normal grenades, depends on the type, most are frag, so lots to shrapnel, no crater.
I did NOT know that about flashbangs. Thanks for the relevant/interesting info.
Plasma Seduction Grenade.
+1 nerd point if you know the reference.
if it’s what I’m thinking of, it’s not Plasma Seduction, but SUBDUCTION… ie an implosion grenade… but your version has funny potential that’s risque so it gets a +1 anyway.
Sounds like something Dabbler either uses or would be very interested in.
Xuriel: “ooOOOooh, a SEDUCTION Grenade!”
Peggy: “Er, no, I meant, ‘SUBduction’….”
Xuriel: “Gimme a few hours in my lab, I can make this WORK… hehehe…”
Peggy: “*gulp* What have I done?”
Except he was able to counter the chokehold remember? If he can counter that I’m sure he can counter punches thrown. Probably how he figured out he had powers in the first place. XD
Yeay, I predicted it!!
Good name for the power, though I still would have gone with Wobbuffet
Waahhhhhhbuffet
Neah, Wobbuffet doesn’t really describe it right. If every attack that was sent at him resulted in a counter attack *but could still hit him* it might, but instead every attack is being countered with the perfect block so that it doesn’t hit. When he’s paying attention, he can guide that into a damaging counter, but a wobbuffet just punches you back, it doesn’t send ice to block your fire, or turn immune to lightning and lasers. The Nemesis power (from Champions, right?) does things more along those lines.
We used to call that one Counterpunch; back in 1st edition. I like Nemesis better…
Sydney’s logic in panel 8 has some flaws, one major flaw is jumping out at me. Guns and civilians. Just because he can’t hurt some of the supers on the team does not mean he can’t hurt other people.
I was just gonna say, why doesn’t he just start punching people?
Because unless he is attacked his punches are normal strength.
So, as he is a fairly burly looking guy, why not head for the nearest normals and punch them. They can’t hurt him and he can hurt them and anything they or any supers do to him gives him extra chances to hurt them with the counter.
If he goes after any normals now, Sydney could just block him with her shield or Max could block him
If slamming a shield around him or directly in his path is not seen as an attack then that is probably how she will stop him in the next update but it would be kind of anticlimactic/boring.
But while he is waiting around he might as well try SOMETHING. I wonder if standing around is required by his power more directly than I previously thought…
Umm…. I don’t think there are any normals left in the area. Arianna would have had them moved to a safe location (where the camera people could film) by now. Don’t want bad PR by letting the Normies get hit by a stray laser blast.
Technically, the armored and armed guys, like the one that was hiding behind Halo’s shield a while back, are normals and their guns can’t hurt him. Likewise any remaining glass cannons or other low defense supers on Maxima’s team.
Well, in the current situation, he’s harmless
Unless he has a hold out weapon or is smart enough to go after normals cause he is still effectively invincible unless his power requires him to never attack anyone else outside his counters.
which it appears is the case or he’d be coming at Maxima like flies after a cowpie
‘Cept he knows she is immune to normal attacks… which is why he would go after supers with no defense or normals as I was wondering above?
My thought is he takes a swing (or shot), Max reacts on Instinct which PBS, would Counter. Unless his power DOES preclude taking any Offensive action of course.
Have you ever tried punching a brick wall?
I think making a non-powered attack against someone like Maxima is about the only way this guy can get hurt.
I think he meant a feint not an actual connecting attack.
If he was smart he would have been doing what stalward has been doing for the good guys all fight, tanking for his non invincible team mates, unfortunately (or fortunately for ARC) this guy is a pretenious dickwaffle with a sense of his own power clouding common sense
SO MUCH THIS!!
This whole fight on the bad guys side seems to be a joke about the quality of some pick up groups in an MMO with only the core group even thinking about team work and no body else having any natural rapport from time spent working or training together so it just turns into a massive zerg of low to mid level baddies.
Its hard for me to blame him personally however as I have been on a server where everyone available to the Horde pick up group Battle Ground que just up and decided to no longer armor up or actually try to fight worth a damn ever again (straaaange decision….. ) I armored up and would try to tank for them but they were so weak that even though I was taking hits from five guys in order to distract for them they seemed to just melt away from behind me. I attacked first and aggressively but I was the last to die despite the fact that NORMALLY I was a weaker armor type. If Death Tolls opinion of his fellows is as low as my opinion of my fellow Horde was after that day then its hard to blame him for attempting a lone strategy even if it is damn stupid. I ended up fighting on my own after that and I lived longer and killed more.
All that to say I agree with you I guess… ^_^
The same thing applies to Jill Random walking down the street, but we don’t arrest her for having the potential to go on a killing spree with her butter knife. (You’d be surprised how easy it is if your target is unsuspecting.) Much like Jill R., he doesn’t appear to be armed, which means his threat level is “random civilian” unless you attack him.
Also, important note – his power protected the googly eyes from the grenades, so they’re now part of his costume. :)
Actually, unles you know where to stab, it’s pritty difficult to kill a human with a knife
I don”t wanna detail how to filet a human now, but I’d say that mainly depends on your knife. If you can’t thrust with it I agree.
Like I said, unles you know what you’re doing
Allow me to introduce you to a concept that fencers don’t seem to “get” until they graduate to saber. It’s called an “edge”, and you don’t thrust with it, you slash with it. You thrust PAST the target, then lay the edge onto them and pull it BACK, then step out of the way of the fountain of gore.
yeah, fighting with a foil is basically a 3ft long Stiletto (the actual icepick-like one) Unless you pop the heart or some other MAJOR (as in one-hit death) organs it’s pretty much useless.
I won’t go into details, but you are soooo wrong about that. So very wrong.
Most knife fights end up with both involved bleeding out if no care is available. And there are hundreds of spots on a human body where one can cut or poink (stab) and get some very interesting results. Some folks just fall from pain and shock, others can go on due to adrenalin.
Fencing can be deadly indeed. And a 3ft long stiletto would be scary as hell compared to a foil. And a foil can have an edge, depends on style. And you can stab with a saber, but it’s not designed for that. It’s a matter of form and shape of blade that normally forms its best usage, but they still have points for a reason. Same for foils having a basic edge. Only in formal duel points were the point in contests, but you could slash the hell out of your opponent too if you wished…much more visibly bloody.
Point taken. So if you’re a graduate of a relatively competent highschool that teaches biology classes then. I’d guess that eliminates about 50-60% of the US from suspicion, but those of us from other countries know [advice redacted, I’d rather not get chased by the NSA].
The point is, he’s no more dangerous than any other random person walking down the street. They _can_ however arrest him on multiple grounds:
1) Wanted for questioning regarding his involvement in a terrorist attack
2) Resisting Arrest (multiple counts)
3) Assault of an officer (yes, that sticks even in self defence in the US, and Stalwart hadn’t attacked him yet when he tossed Jiggawatt through him)
4) Concealing his identity while being present and part of a terrorist attack
5) Involvement in a terrorist attack
Thanks to people like Leland Yee, the finer points of switchblade use is becoming a lost art among the U.S.’ hoodlum population.
you used a switchblade? Bah, BAH I say! Tire Iron baby!
A good length of steel chain beats that any day. Now a nasty weapon some gangs used back in the day was a car antenna. Light strong and metal it could flex quite a bit. As an improvised weapon it was like a steel whip. If the cops show up just drop it. You could always find another. They don’t really make like that any more though.
true, they’re usually fibreglass now (Which I know from experience also hurts like a sonuvabitch!) But if you have a car, you probably (if you’re smart) have a tire iron, or car keys, in one case I saw a guy pop his gearshift off the steering column and start swining.
Not really. Just about everyone knows the major spots: heart, throat, kidneys. Inside of the thigh is a good one too, but takes about 20 minutes for victim to bleed out. In a fight these are difficult to reach, but a surprise attack in a peaceful setting against an untrained target, piece of cake.
Inside of the thigh doesn’t take 20 minutes, not if you do it right. Then the blood just falls out of them, as Stephenson said, “like cutting the bottom out of a styrofoam cup”. The femoral arteries will empty you to unconsciousness in about 2 minutes, and bye-bye in 4, if they’re opened lengthwise.
The really sad thing is, this was explained by the teachers in two of my grade nine classes, and one of my grade ten and eleven classes, (Science, Gym, Science again, and then Biology) along with the basic vulnerable points on the human body. May not be politically correct, but it got people’s attention and made us focus better during the anatomy lessons when the teacher would occasionally break into comments like “and if you ever get cut there, you’d better hope you have a friend nearby who will rush you to the hospital while…”.
See, the problem is that most people don’t actually know where the heart is exactly.
And if they do, it’s still mostly protected by your rib cage. Which will deflect a knife.
Same problem with they Kidneys. They are als pritty small. Good luck getting someone’s thighs without them expecting it, those are usually covered by the other leg. Also, it’s not like the entire leg is an artery
The neck is probably the one everyone knows and the easiest.
true, but most people don’t know how to do it properly anyway.
The abdomen is a soft spot that can be quite easy to attack with good effect. First of all, remember that your knife has an edge, so use it.
When you’ve stabbed your target do not just pull your knife straight out again, use the edge to aggravate the wound so stir it around a bit first. When you feel it’s time to take another stab make sure you force the knife in the direction of the edge so it makes a nice cut when you pull it out. If you feel like it you can use a sawing motion to achieve a severe wound channel before you rip your target open.
Now kids, say after me; Stab, Stir, Rip and Repeat!
Jamie: Remember kids, some of the stuff we do is very dangerous.
Adam: Do not try anything you see us do on this show.
Why would you do that? Why would you provoke the nerds?
You evil mastermind. Now we have a tutorial for how to kill and severely injure people with a knife in the comment’s section.
… I’m pretty sure again.
Well, that is relative.
First. Actually it is very easy to do mortal wounds with a knife, however I will not give Biblioholic the satisfaction :)
Second. Normal untrained people do a pretty good job stabbing weak points. It is instinctive.
Third. What is pretty hard to do is the actual stab, persons do not like to be stabbed and do not coperate. The protective reflexes are pretty effective, ERs gets a lot of hands/arms wounds that are not what the attacker wanted to do.
Fourth. Although a mortal stab is achieved, a stabbed person likely get to be assisted, so a lot of almost certain deaths are instead avoided.
In short: it is pretty easy to kill with a knife, but usually you get a lot of interference :)
That said, what is actually very very hard to do is to kill with a knife QUICKLY. That does needs special knowledge and training. If not you just get a very yelling person dying along at least several minutes. Movies mostly lie :)
man i love your phrasing
Thank you :) Actually I learned english mostly in an informal way so I am always wondering if I am not throwing weird grammar or bad turns of speech.
Kill quickly. Yeah, that’s kinda what I meant. Should have phrased it better
How much damage do flash bangs, who’s primary purpose is not doing damage, do? Honest question cause I really don’t know. But maybe if its not to high the googly eyes could have survived anyway.
Sydney’s plan to finally take him down will probably prove your point but it seems like a valid question at this stage.
Googly eyes are generally made out of cheap transparent plastic. Flash-bangs contain a lot of gunpowder and other incendiary explosives, which tend to result in (at the very least) scorching everything they’re right in front of, such as with the flash-bang he was holding in his hand, right in front of his face (where the googly eyes were). It was probably less than a foot and a half away when it went off – cheap transparent plastic would have been damaged, or at the very least made not transparent anymore. They’re untouched.
Killing someone with a butterknife…
It sounds like a challenge…
Am I allowed to shoot it from my coil gun?
That would be an insta-kill for sure.
The original script had Maxima making that point, but I cut it cause it didn’t flow out to the end of the page as well as what I have now. I think originally Max says “Unless he brought a gun” and Sydney said something like “Oh, right. Good thing we’re both bulletproof.”
And that sounds like the mini comic with just Max and Sydney heads…
Oh, yes, please.
Oh, Sydney. Much to learn grasshopper.
You might also want to fix the shadow on Sydney’s hand in panel 6. Looks like she just has a line painted on her arm.
Actually that’s some kind of strap for the communicator, and it’s just missing in panels 1 and 3. You can see it more clearly on last page. :)
What’s wrong with Sydney’s shield in pannel 1?
It goes over Till Death’s arm and shoulder.
Well damn, I didn’t even notice that
Yeah, that’s weird, I wondered what was off, his arm and shoulder should be blocking our view of Sydney’s shield. Unless it’s got some REALLY weird visual effects by its nature…
But in panel 9 it’s correct.
Its going Over bell there like he is in the shield or behind part of it
Fixed it, along with a few other little art foibles.
It’s very simple, really. Attack him with Freedom.
‘MURICA.
*eats red-white-blueberry pancakes*
I was going to say that..? But I figured I’d let someone else take that leap.
Just out of curiosity, in panel four when Max is adjusting her earpiece, is she reacting to Leon’s giggle-snort?
More likely five Harems giggling.
And Leon, who saw what Arianna was writing.
She’s adjusting her hair. The funny thing is she puts it up over her right ear there and it’s up over her left the rest of the following panels.
Dear Dave,
My Mondays and Thursdays just begin after I have read Grrl power. You are responsible for my lack of productivity today! xD
Will they make him fight achiles? it would be a veeery long fight, i guess. And what was the point with the funny eyes?
Dose there ever need a point for Googley eyes?
The eyes had two purposes – first, they make him look dumb, so his posturing and taunting gets laughter instead of “attack!” responses. Second, they showed that his power treats things he’s wearing as part of him, and protects them too. Put a straitjacket on him? It’s invulnerable to damage.
maybe Halo wanted to test with the googly eyes if he could be affected through multiple attacks – like the original Nemesis kid was (basically, his powers could not really adapt to fight two opponnents at a time)
so Harem put flashbangs on FWTDT – against which his powers protected him – but could do not prevent the second Harem from putting the googly eyes on his mask.
Even if his power can’t deal with multiple attacks, once those eyes were on him, his power protected them. The solution then is, distraction attack while sticking handcuffs (or some other restraint) on him.
If it really is Nemesis, restraints are NOT an attack as far as the power is concerned.
Harem’s body contact with Mr periwinkle was not a true attack. They were not doing anything that would actively harm him, so they were able to touch him.
Math, is he is using no super powers, should me able to knock Mr Periwinkle around without any problem
The flashbangs weren’t using a super power either though. Periwinkle’s power still blocked them, so it’s likely that Math’s fists, if going fast enough to cause harm, would also be countered.
Nemesis Kid’s powers couldn’t even adapt to fighting one person with two powersets at a time, which is how Princess Projectra killed him with martial arts while he was adapted to see through her illusions.
Death Tool seems to have a more comprehensive version.
I was gonna add a third but Zenanii below you covers it more or less…
I’m guessing they were to test if he could be affected by things not considered an acctual atack.
Which he obviously can, which is why Sydney now knows how to defeat him.
duct tape.
Duct tape is always the awnser
If he had just bought a gun or something he could keep them attacking by going after weaker targets… Seems like he should have planned for this eventuality since HE knows his weakness…………….
I’m guessing he believes attacking non-powered people (“We call you people normies” -Peter Griffon) is beneath him.
No, ‘weaker targets’ does not have to mean ‘non-powered’
That would be a awesome code for a “bad buy” with zero self initiated attack powers. He’d be better off joining with another super as their tank/shield then. I’m kind of curious why he didn’t stand in front of some attacks aimed at Atomic Bombshell to get his part of the fight rolling while there was enough of his team left to keep things to hot and confused to figure out what his power was easily… is standing perfectly still part of his power?
Guesticus made made my other point for me. (which might be the first time Guesticus has ever done that in my favor………………….. XD )
So glad that someone pointed out how they attacked him first
Maxi is correct though: he does need to be detained somehow
Sydney lacks her shield on panel 5
Jeeze, I’ll get this art stuff right eventually.
Ok. that’s fixed too.
Is Sydney’s forefield orb missing from panel 8 or is it just out of sight?
Oh my god this page may have a record number of omissions on it. I’ll get that fixed eventually too.
Including the page itself! Sorry, could not resist.
On the upside, I believe dear Sydney’s bruise did not pull it’s disappearing act this time. So… level up?
I sooo need blow up pics of muppet face. =P
With animated GOOGLY EYES!! ^0^
Well I guess countering powers wins out over the other possibility of the ability to absorb various types of energy directed at him. The rules for this type of superpower just seem so ad hoc to me, like they were somehow granted by some trickster deity-like entity or he has some weird mental bloc.
You’re saying his mask might be The Mask?! O.O’
I’m disappointed that his name in the Who is Who is still ‘For whom the death tolls’ and not ‘Periwinkle Butt Sniffer’
Its too short for an “other aliases” section.
Well there are two types of villain he could become…a smart feller or a fart smeller!
I was going to call him Death Nell but no one cares for that apparently.
easiest way to beat nemesis power is to surround someone with a projected field of some type that you can remove the air from. the subject will asphyxiate and you can cuff them when they pass out. as long as the projected field stays outside the subjects defensive redius there’s nothing they can counter.
Its some kind of ultimate defense that just changed the elemental nature of his outfit for a counter attack…. I’m thinking if the intent of an attack is there that his power will just convert the air nearest him back into part oxygen or his outfit will transform into some kind of fast metabolism moss or something else oxygenating. Its been darn near magical so far…
Depends how their power works – if it adapts to a direct attack, sure. But if it’s more like Darwin from X-Men, in that it adapts to defend the ‘owner’ then their body would just shift to not need air (i.e. generate energy in cells in a way other than respiration)
This risks you suddenly having a villain with nuclear cells!
Of course, it can also work against the ‘owner”s intentions – going back to Darwin, when he face the Hulk his powers realised that getting big & strong would be pointless (since Hulk would just get bigger & stronger too) so gave him the ability to teleport, and removed him from the area. (So, he was kinda dissapointing in First Class…)
And what is the green-haired telekinetic doing while this is going on? And his companion, Ms. Visor Facepaint?
Not only that, the fact that Fedora Facepaint pointed out FWTDT is starting to look less helpful now because that’s how you bring a power like FWTDT’s into play – convince people to attack him. So, despite Fedora Facepaint’s “hope she doesn’t die” thought, he is looking less like friendly now.
Face paint crew could be the field agents who gathered up and directed the mob in which case once they have enough info they will bolt to report to their real “team”.
Moss hair acts like he has some vague idea of team work so it is surprising he didn’t assist by making an attack on Death Tolls behalf (like throwing your voice how would they know it was Moss hair that did it instead of Death Tolls) to keep things rolling. But maybe he is running now too if he just saw the face paint crew head for the hills?
“hope she doesn’t die”, so I can fight her later when she is better trained and generally more fun! ;)
I wish I could remember the entire quote, but it was to the effect that against laughter all were vanquished, or no one can stand, something like that. Totally proven for FWTDT (or Periwinkle Butt Sniffer ;) )
what she going to do? bury him under a bunny or other plushie piles? heheheh
LOL, That wasn’t a burn regarding the name that was friggin’ incineration.
Also, Quit giving Arianna ideas, Sydney.
*sells “Periwinkle Butt-Sniffer” dolls*
Is it normal that Max is calling her “Sydney” rather than “Halo”? I thought code-names were important.
Also, this familiarity is a far cry from the usual relationship between soldiers and their superiors in the armed forces…
Maybe it is because Sydney isn’t trained yet.
They are but in Sydney’s case her name is public knowledge thanks to the bank robbery interview and the press conference and her real name isn’t any harder to say quickly than Halo in fact you can shorten it down to Syd if needed.
Well, her super powers didn’t have to be outed by the bank footage especially since their hacker had control of it and Maxima was the star super. If I were them I would have tried to make her identity secret. Its just to dangerous this way ultimately she is gonna loose some people close to her or have her shop attacked or something. All it takes is for one super villain who doesn’t have family or doesn’t think through to the all out war (splashing back on his family) attacking the easiest target (Sydney) will cause or an organization that thinks they can keep secret enough to protect themselves from the revenge and so decides to “turn” Sydney through threats.
She didn’t use her powers at the bank. An obvious subset of them were revealed at the press conference but not all of them and not their scope. Col. Maximillia Leander faces the same issues, likely Hiro, Kenya, Daphne and anyone named in the press pamphlets. Same with almost any real cop especially those in a prominent position like commissioner, chief, or sheriff.
This got lost in the bizarre comment system snafu the other day so we’ll try it again…
I think she used her ability to move her orbs (inside the satchel) at the bank. I have no idea if it was caught on film or not.
I think its an order of magnitude matter though. A police officer stands between a potential villain and his beat. A higher city law enforcement official can be used to alter facts in cases, get people off of light charges (maybe), get your dirty cops hired/promoted and procure information (and he probably does get increased security though maybe not enough… ). Arc-SWAT stands between super beings/mad scientists/and powerful secret organizations employing such methods and the chance to lord it over other authorities like gods or demigods acting with impunity (this is a comic world and that is usually how it goes down between the strongest of supers and most types of authority/law enforcement short of other supers). Seems like this increases their importance to at least a congressional level if not presidential family protection level. From their type of threat their small group is the primary defense of a whole nation (and to some extent its allies). Even if a wack job with amazing powers (the mid-level guys measure themselves by the ability to take out tanks efficiently!) doesn’t take an interest some dark organization or rival nation is bound to see the potential in turning one or more of them by threat. So I’m pretty sure if they do go about effectively defending all of their friends and family its gonna cost a ton in personnel, etc…
They’ve instantly gained a ton of potential enemies just by going public. Some of them didn’t have much chance of staying incognito being golden skinned amazons etc… but they could have made things a bit easier by keeping the more normal looking ones under cover. And since they have illusionists etc… they could have confused matters with some of the rest of them as well. The public would have /mostly/ gone along with it as much as they ever do as we have all been conditioned towards the necessity of such by the entertainment media. I can see the press advantages to them all being open and honest “ordinary law enforcement just on a bigger scale” figures but I wonder if we will eventually see some moments where some of them seriously wished they had gone a different route.
I mean a mayor is a governor is a president may be true as to type of official but (with exceptions for truly huge cities maybe… ) a president is gonna require MUCH higher security for both himself and his family than most mayors. Arc-SWAT super powered members are both REALLY high up there law enforcement and a type of asset similar in some aspect to really expensive and rare weapons platforms or something. What ever works on the city level probably isn’t gonna be enough… This is more like guarding small nuclear weapons (multiple use) that are also people. I’m having trouble coming up with a description for it because basically this is a unique fantasy situation and has no real world equivalent just bizarre “what if they mated” scenarios (what if a navy seal black ops mated with a CIA agent and the child was merged with a child of a stealth fighter and a tank with small nuclear armament?? XD ). Any way what if multiple things mated that all individually required secrecy and high security? That would be Arc-SWAT. So I will be interested to see how DaveB handles this issue. Maybe they will actually get that much manpower. Maybe they will use magic and rare high tech from both the alien and others to fill in the gaps and cut down on the personnel requirements. I’m sure DaveB has something up his sleeve or in the works that will satisfy well enough for a fantasy situation like this one.
Ok point taken but I still think you’re overthinking it. Shr’s in no worse posistion than any other prominent Law Enforcement Officer. You think Sheriff Joe Arpaio gives a shit about about people knowing who he is and what he can do using his political powers. You think these guy’s worry about being up against criminals. ARC-SWAT isn’t like a CIA branch, It’s like The FBI, the MPs or You local SWAT branch. You want to worry about CIA like stuff you look into ARCHON’s ARC-DARK Branch. If you want a little CSI well that’s ARC-LIGHT. And if you want someone to screw you over in court like a ruffied up prom date well go see Arianna.
Heh, forgot a closing tag.
Sorry I said CIA. I don’t think FBI is what I was looking for either but since I never seem to have time to research up a proper comment this year I’ll have to leave it at that. Anyway it was more about scope and asset value then job description (CIA is probably still wrong even then but meh, I think you got that point anyway.)
Any attempt to respond to the Sheriff Joe thing takes me down the same old comment roads I’ve been trodding ineffectively for some comments now. I think the level and type of national and international interest that truly unique and uniquely placed assets like these super beings garner makes them targets that require a ton of protection. Way more than Sheriff Joe who at most will probably deal with the equivalent of real world organized crime as opposed to international agents or people who can alter your mind at will. Not saying Sheriff Joe won’t become unlucky enough to get in the way of such at some point but he is much less likely to be their target than say any of ARC’s branches, including ARC-SWAT, so we can probably get away with him operating with less security.
I don’t really have the time to look into this or see if someone else has done the work for me. It is pretty clear I don’t have the skills to explain this properly “on the fly” as it were. Sorry I couldn’t keep up my end of the conversation. Thank you for the discussion. :)
Actually, I pity those who attack Sydney believing her to be the easiest target, especially at work where she, without doubt, will make sure to make her comic shop a stomping ground for any comic-interested member of the supergroup… making it the best super-patrolled place in the country :p
Everyone on the team’s name is public knowledge. ARC doesn’t do secret identities
You would think that would be procedure else why have code names at all I mean they already introduced them as themselves at the press conference (Sydney even plugged her shop) even though they are cool, catchy and would go well with a toy line… wait ARIAANAA!!
Seriously though I think their choice to have public identities will have serious draw backs for the most accessible members like Sydney. They aren’t normal cops. They are in fact a rather rare group of assets that once countered leaves the equally rare super powered (or super science powered) threats MUCH more free to act so why WOULDN’T they threaten all Sydney loves to A) Neutralize her or better yet B) turn her?! Public identities……….. this is gonna hurt if this comic has any realism to it. (said on a page with a villain being defeated by Googly Eyes! LOL ) I’ll read it anyway though. I like all kinds of stuff.
Not always, Stark and Rogers pretty much dealt with having public identities. So do a majority of cops (vice and narcotics withstanding). There are ways of doing it. It’s just a bit of more complicated.
Wasn’t Stark like rich and had no family? He was already a public personality that had to have some defense anyway. He just had to ramp it up I guess. They would need a lot of people to watch everyone in Sydney’s past and future life. And no one in her life has money or super powers to defend themselves…. It could be done but it would cost a pretty penny in personnel and resources. Something I guess Arianna or the general could use to rain Sydney in with later if she needs “handling”. And since defense is always has weaknesses and that’s a lot of people it would probably fail at some point…
In this case it was being done to show they were operation openly and above board. Every ARC-SWAT Member was released to the press in one form or another. I’m sure the aforementioned press pamphlets have Hiro, Mathias, Harold, Azarin’s last names as well as Mr Amorphous’s real name.
Dave I swear if Hiro’s family name is Supaa, I’m emailing you an ear of corn.
Protagonist. Hiro Protagonist. Actual protagonist name in Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. Which was a good read, BTW.
Well it’s probably going to be a plot point down the line
Well, Max is used to calling her Sydney. Halo would be almost formal, and probably used during press conferences and stuff. When she snaps at her she reverts to Sydney anyway, and when she’s mad she calls her Scoville.
Max and Sydney’s mom are going to get along great. They’ll be exchanging stories about their wayward daughter for years.
So the code names are not really for operational use but are more of Arriana’s packaging of her product? Funny! XD
Yes, it is normal, they do not have a rule about it: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1034 (Panel 3)
Since he can respond to Dabler’s magic, super powered attacks, and presumably normal grenades it doesn’t matter if the attack is power based or not and he could counter cold attacks so presumably attacks by draining air wouldn’t work as well.
I wonder what is needed to trigger a response a damage threshold, intent of attacker? I would assume that attempts to use a sedative would trigger it but simply trapping him wouldn’t but that is just an assumption at this point. Could he electrocute himself or jump off a building to trigger an attack himself? He can at least sometimes use his counters to fight other people(shooting Jiggawatt) so it is possible he could go on offense through teamwork.
one thing i don’t get about that “nemesis power”
nemesis would mean being the complete perfect opposite needed to block an attack. so fire for ice and so on.
but against anvil he used the same power she has, that’s nothing of nemesis.
and worst jiggawatt, he abrobed her and his body turned metallic? what was that nemesis part about turn into a giant batterie?
To counter an incoming lightning bolt…you absorb it instead of trying to block it. Thus, he turned into a man-sized Duracell.
in that case I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO SEE HIM TURN INTO THE DURACELL BUNNY hehe
would have been HILARIOUS hehe
best way to counter Lightning is Lightning-Rod. He just added Capacitor to the mix.
i guess this could be yeah. had to know with just this “changes” onto him. hehe
Best way to counter someone with stored energy is to drain said energy.
He didn’t copy Anvil’s power. Anvil can absorb and store incoming kinetic energy. He drained HER store of energy. Different thing
not REALLY sure about the “difference” there sorry…and still not sure how it’s anything about “nemesis” about it.
Anvil couldn’t do what he did to her, she has no way to suck stored energy out of someone. If Anvil is punched, she can absorb the energy of that punch. Therefore it was not a copy in the slightest. And considering how it knocked out, we can assume the attack he used did more than just absorb her normal kinetic reserves, therefore definitely not in the realm of her powers. If you’re going to argue about how “nemesis” something is you’re just getting into scemantics of what you think a counter to something is. It’s obviously how Dave imagined a counter to Anvil would work so just go with it.
How do you know she CAN’T absorb stored energy? When was that stated?
It’s not stated, or even hinted, that she can.
So it’s kinda a big leap to just asume she can do something isn’t it?
As much a big leap as to asume that she can’t, is all that I am saying.
Sorry if i try to understand the scientific part of this and
OMG the LOGIC…
“dissipated” would probably be a better term for what he did against Anvil as he didn’t channel, deflect or absorb her kinetic energy, his power got rid of it.
I have to admit that if his power is supposed to be opposites, then for Jiggawatt he should have become an insulator (non-conductive) and immediately deflected her rather than become a capacitor.
I think Sydney defined his power pretty clear: “It allows him to counter anything throw at him”.
“Counter” do not means necessary the “opposite” kind, it could be the same kind in the opposite direction or whatever.
Ice with fire (Dabbler), strength with strength (Hiro), energy beam with armor (Hex), projectile with strength (Concretia), living lightning with electric trap (Jiggawatt), grab with shock (Anvil), kinetic blast with energy dissipation (Anvil).
If it counteract the attack, it fits, whatever it was.
In Judo and other martial arts counters are not blocking attacks per se you simply redirect their punches to hit through the air beside you instead of against your flesh usually with the intent of leveraging their attack so they end up in a position where you can easily apply an arm bar or other sorts of holds to immobilise them.
I’m guessing the best way to defeat someone with FWTDT’s powers is to somehow trick them into attacking themselves and create some sort of feedback loop. Suspect that’s what Sidney’s hinting at with her “normally yes” it’s not a good tactic to taunt supervillains.
Looks like he isn’t immune to social attacks.Sydney will use Power Word: Censored on him until he surrenders.
I can’t help but feel that if Death Toll is successfully arrested at this juncture, he will never see a day in prison. What he might see is a whole bunch of lab testing as his abilities are researched. Or an agent from any of a number of government agencies offering him a work release arrangement.
The powers we’ve seen thus far in the comic are, for lack of a better word, direct. Hero X can summon fire. Death Toll’s powers are meta. He appears to be able to counter anything (at seemingly any threat level), because that ability is his power.
While Syndey will no doubt demonstrate a method of subduing him in the next few pages, think of how well Death Toll’s abilities would mesh with any of a number of groups: Deployed in a military context, he could essentially neutralize attempts to interdict conventional forces via super powered agents. Military tactics would return to the conventional calculus of forces. For a super team such as Arc-light, Death Toll would be an incredible asset. A purely defensive power set is a good pr asset, and they’d be hard pressed to find a super threat he couldn’t be useful against in some context.
Yes, and his powers are in some ways much better than Achilles cause he stays where you place him as a shield where Achilles, while probably more “invincible”, can be knocked out of the way if not held in place by a second asset.
Methods that immediately come to mind:
* Make him realize he’s his own worse enemy. :)
* passive restraint that would require him to attack it.
* Tell him to put on the sleepy time watch and they they’ll attack him?
Ok, they may not be work, but they’d be funny. :)
Gently picking him up with the Lighthook/hentorb wouldn’t be an attack.
To quote Mirth: So who’s fighting? This is merely binding!
They should make FWTDT’s official code name Come At Me Bro.
Sydney gets it. They assaulted him (also, I don’t recall anyone of them claiming to be federal agents).
Sydney does have one flaw, and that’s believing he only has the one power. While he’s pissed off, he could still be holding back.
They are army, not cops. They were also attacked directly.
And yes, FWTDT has been informed he was under attack, and resisted
“Archon is federal military police force. Something America has never had before.” (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/953)
Also Max just said that they are federal agents.
Not for him. He did not directly attack anybody, he is unable to do that (“his powers are defensive”).
No matter what I will surely resist if I were under attack informed or not :)
And anybody put him under arrest in a valid way.
Once again, I do believe that they have the right and the need to neutralize him, but what didn’t happen, didn’t happen.
Regardless of whether he attacked them first or not, he was ordered to surrender and ArcSwat had a legitimate interest in issuing that order: first, to make sure that a guy standing in the middle of a fire fight wasn’t a danger to them; and, second, holding him as a person of interest. Technically, neither of these required them to arrest him, although they could, depending on information gathered later, lead to his arrest. If he questioned their authority to demand his surrender, he could have asked they supply identification. Instead, he not only refused to comply with a lawful order, but his words could be taken as a threat.
You conveniently forget jiggawatt tried to blast him with a lightning bolt without bothering to call for his surrender first.
but only AFTER he one-shotted Anvil… who DID call for his peaceable surrender and processing (caught on the camera glasses as well). at that point he is ACTIVELY resisting arrest, assaulting federal agents, etc..etc..
Nope be for it was just after she got deafened by Breakpoint.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1415
To be precise.
That may not have been an attack targeted at Periwinkle Butt Sniffer. Jig said (after that blast) that she was having trouble aiming because of her deafness. she may have been aiming at some one else and missed both her target and PBS.
Tell it to a judge.
If noting else it is called reckless endangerment.
While ArcSwat should make every reasonable effort to avoid attacking innocents and keep them safe, that shouldn’t include having to unnecessarily risk their own personal safety to do so. And “unnecessarily” would include ignoring a potential threat that could turn into an actual threat in the middle of a firefight. Even if his purpose was to merely observe ArcSwat, FWTDT had a responsibility to make every effort to remove himself from the area given the numerous opportunities for him to do so, if only to make ArcSwat’s job of differentiating non-threats from threats easier. Neither his restraint from attacking anyone, the location on public property, nor any ambiguity of his motives give him the inalienable right to stand in the middle of a firefight where someone with adverse intentions towards ArcSwat could do them great harm- despite what many commentators seem to believe. And if he chooses to do so, then ArcSwat has every right to treat him as a potential threat.
As for Jiggawatt’s lightning, it’s possible that she may have had no intention of hitting him with it and, even if she did, she may have made it not strong enough to do any damage. Hence, PBS would have to prove that he was actually endangered by it.
They knew ARC-SWAT was a group of federal agents going in (thanks to the press conference) and indicated understanding such knowledge at the onset of the fight. Identification became moot at that point.
Theoretical defense time.
Estate I knew about the attack, but I was there to observe ARC to see if they were worth trying to join.
Then I was attacked without provocation or warning while I was just standing and watching.
This highly unprofessional act has shown me that ARC is a slipshod organization that needs to get its act together or they will probably kill some innocent bystander sooner or later?
No, the fact he was seen conversing peacefully with a clear understanding or prior encounters with an individual that then attempted to murder two federal agents; who even tried to shield behind the person in question places him squarely under suspicion of being with the attacking force.
He neither hindered nor aided A-bomb and his talking was a snide comment about her performance or lack there of
They had enough to at least bring him in for questioning before he resisted he was seen conversing with her and longer than a single line and it’s unknown if the hero heard any part of the conversation prior to the snide comment. Additionally, given the nature of his powers, a reasonable theory for motivation in not aiding them despite potentially being allied can be logically established. The fact she sought his help also helped incriminate him. He might have escaped charges before the resisting arrest but the officer were in their rights to arrest him from the moment he showed up with the active civilian combatants.
I know how to beat him: Hire him.
How much devastation could he prevent and counter if he were on payroll? How much training could he provide members of the team in learning how to deal with the inverse of their powersets? How much money could be made in action figures selling the various incarnations of his powers (Ice fortress Death Toll, Volcano island Death Toll, Malibu Death Toll)?
Steady government paycheck with benefits and the whole resisting arrest and conspiracy charges can be written off as time served through community service. He would also get a stylist, use of the PR department, proceeds for the use of his likeness in merch… It’s a sweet gig and he gets to show off his powers by simply putting himself between enemies and their true targets.
Given that chance My only question would be: “where do I sign?”
Be funny if someone failed the background and psychological tests to be a part of arcSWAT and then got in anyway by attacking them. Or there is a story arc where someone really powerful attacks them cause he thinks that is how you get in based on Death Toll! LOL
Reminds me of Squirrel-Girl’s first appearance; she wanted to be Iron-Man’s sidekick so to prove herself she ambushed him in the forest and beat him up.
That didn’t work? I’d of hired her! XD
Maxima: “Totaly pissing off” super powered criminals is usually not a good strategy.”
Me: Pfft ha ha ha ha ha ha!
…
Oh, wait, she’s serious!? Then let me laugh harder…
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HYPOCRITE!!
I’m calling it here and now, Maxima becomes the main villain of the comic down the road.
There is a bit of distinction. Annoy, aggravate, and frustrate until the screw up, sure… send them into a murderous rage, not so much.
Math would be an effective teacher of the difference.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1178
And… https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1183
And also https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1189
Arianna was 100% correct. Maxima did something horrible, and it had consequences.
She acts like she can do whatever she wants, and this is largely because she’s invincible. But she doesn’t seem to care that her decisions affect others. She doesn’t respect authority, because she sees herself as the ultimate authority…
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1150 and https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1157
And remember: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/389 ? Yeah, she wasn’t supposed to do that… she took it upon herself to punish Harem. I doubt it would surprise everyone if Maxima ever decided that she should be in charge of everything and pulls a Zod.
If Maxima DOESN’T go rogue I’ll be more surprised. There’s been so much foreshadowing!
One more thing comes to mind. Here’s a page from the comic Irredeemable:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Vf98RpA0Uws/SwUtCBuzlJI/AAAAAAAAAR4/V00_L2wOLts/s1600/Irredeemable+8+interior.jpg
Here’s a page from Grrlpower:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1142
I remember seeing Maxima reveling in her own destruction, and being really appalled by it. Now I know why.
What horrible thing did she do? Create an explosion with the permission of a high ranking military official (herself) at a military bombing range, in view of civilians who were sufficiently protected? Make a few incendiary comments designed to intimidate lawbreakers with god complexes?
Because that’s the thing… that whole event? That was a show. A calculated performance designed to elicit a specific reaction from a specific kind of psychology. Is it ugly? Arguably, because that’s the kind of stimulus that sort of psychology responds to… but it’s unlikely that it reflects her actual personal worldview.