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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Sydney is correct and his power of super self defense kind of proves it
How to take him down? Harem teleport handcuffs onto him. planting the belt of flashbangs and the googly eyes proved that adding elements to his wardrobe don’t count as an attack. And if you need to get his hands together, do it politely. Or have Amorphous pick him up instead of hitting him. Or have Syd wrap him and a defender in a shield together (who simply blocks anything FWTDT tries to do without countering) while she flies the lot of them to a holding cell.
Alternately, lock FWTDT in a cell with Achilles and wait until they wear each other out. Perfectly defends against all attacks versus completely invincible? It’d be hilarious.
Sydney has still not show ANY indication that she can project the shield anywhere other than around her.
Why do people keep bringing this up without anything pointing towards it?
Since she can change the size of the shield, make it super big and surround herself and DT. Then fly him to holding. If she flies slightly erratic, and the shield is big enough, he won’t be able to get footing needed to jump and reach her.
Uh, he would probably be able to counter the shield, as well as the kinetic force that’s trying to move him. He was able to counter both a lightning attack and a headlock, so his powers work on both traditional and super attacks. Presumably on literally anything that would affect him in any way.
Teleporting handcuffs onto him makes sense, but then what, you just leave him standing there in handcuffs? You have to build a jail around the guy.
Since her shield is passive, it wouldn’t count as an attack, it would just be “mobile ground” as far as his power is concerned, just like his ability isn’t attacking the ground he’s standing on.
More likely, as I said earlier, she could GENTLY pick him up with the lighthook. Not an attack, just restraint.
Restraining is a form of attack.
Yeah. Anvil tried to put him in a chokehold and got knocked unconscious.
However, Anvil used a lot of force to do so. presumably, Syd can use the lighthook flexibly to exert minimal force, lifting him off the ground without giving his power anything to really counter…kind of like just making a lighthook “Cage” around him, then moving the cage.
Well any pressure against his skin could be considered an attack if you go with the most picky of definitions. If she were to form the lighthook around him without touching then formed the forcefield and had Maxima or another flier carry the forcefield back to the ArchJail. Since he would have to move to grab or brace against the shield it wouldn’t be an attack from her but from him and therefore his powers shouldn’t work. Another option would be a flier hugging him in a friendly manner then flying away.
There’s no way his power has its own moral compass of what does and doesn’t constitute an attack. I’m sure it just works on anything that would affect him in any way, and he can choose whether to use it or not based on whether or not he feels like it’s an attack.
Incorrect when anvil put him in a choke hold all he did was give her a mild electric shock enough to cause her to let go but causes no (noticeable) damage, but then she tried to punch him and was rendered unconscious. Thus sending someone with good defensive capabilities but little to no offensive capabilities *cough*Achilles*cough* to restrain (not harm) him should be sufficient.
Even when she just put him in a choke hold it had no affect on him. And even if you send Achilles to try and restrain him all it’s going to do is set off his nemesis ability and Achilles will go down too.
If his powers do not work when moving it is simple:
Peggy aims at him. If he takes a step before having surrendered, she shoots him in the foot. Then he can either slowly bleed out (till unconscious) or surrender.
If he tries to outwait them: They got more people. He will get tired before thier shifting guards will. They could propably just let a few normal cops outwait him.
He cannot win anymore, at tops this becomes a draw. At wich point the PR department can really screw him over. Another incentive for him to just give up now.
There is a slight possibility that inderict attacks can work (moving the ground below him so he falls down). But technically concretia flying towards him was a indirect attack/unintentional danger so this propably will not work.
And then there is the mind game. Sydney has been playing his mind. From the last panel I guess he is about to attack her/anybody with his (propably not powered) fists. If he punches either the shield or maxima he will only hurt himself. Plus a potential weakness about movements would kick in.
Won’t work. Peggy tries to shoots him and he becomes bullet proof.
His name is now Return to Sender.
Or Even Steven.
I wonder if a Tranq would work.
If a bullet wouldn’t work why would a tranq?
It depends on whether DT Periwinkle has the power or it’s all in the suit. The fact his visible skin changed to copper along with the suit when he trapped Jiggs strongly suggests he has the power now. (sorry) Anyway if it’s not the suit DTP will just neutralize any drug even if the needle or spray can penetrate the skin or the gas be breathed in. Ditto for a bullet. A Nemesis it would seem requires a non-attack form of attack. And that’s just twisted enough for Sydney to find it childishly simple. Me, I’m confused.
How about instead of handcuffs, they use their handy-dandy sleepytime watch instead. (Though it might be counted as an attack, if it tried to taze him.)
Once it’s on him, wouldn’t it then be part of him like the googly eyes and thus protected from himself?
Another option, what if Halo picks him up by the cape, mama cat style? Would that be considered an attack?
(de-lurk)
All of this is going to depend apon what his power registers as an attack – get it wrong, and you’re curb stomped. Also, I’m a little bit curious of the fact he hasn’t moved at all during the entire battle. Does his power only work when standing still and needs time to recharge after he goes walkies?
Rampant speculation: When this battle began our heroes were surprised by the number of villains attacking as in “more combat capable supers than we though existed in the states”. Could someone have unlocked whatever genetic key/magic/whatever is needed to enable superpowers? Maybe this is a test run, you know send out the first batch of supers and see how arc-swat handles them. If you lose, you’ve got valuable intel and can always make more supers to throw at them after all.
oh ps: I’m really enjoying this comic – keep it up!
(re-lurk)
Indications are that he doesn’t move because he can only retaliate; not initiate. So he plants himself as a big target and taunts people; “agro pull”.
The only weird thing with that is why he hasn’t been swinging at people.
He’s relatively big. A relatively big guy can do a lot of damage, and a lot MORE damage if he’s also hard to fight against. And a tank pulls aggro best by attacking, not by standing still.
So either his powers do actually require him to stay in one spot – maybe he needs a few minutes to get his Nemesis Aura going? – or he’s just…really bad at tanking.
My suspicion is that Halo used the googly eyes partly for humor value but also to test his ability to block stuff that counted as offense in his head versus stuff that physically assaults him.
Based on her tests, I’d say they can cage him without trouble, as long as they don’t try to injure him with the cage.
Actually with Sydney’s force field, taunting the super villains is a very effective tactic. You piss them off enough and they make mistakes. Just watch to make sure there’s no chance of hostages and let her and Achilles go at them verbally. Then as the villains start making amateurish errors, the team sweeps them up.
Probably not the best idea versus the ubers, and FWTDT seemed like one until last strip. We haven’t seen anything break Halo’s forcefield, but that’s no reason to believe it can’t be done.
Not every power is stopped by a force field, and not every villain will make sure not to cause collateral damage when attacking Sydney.
Huh. Didn’t even consider tanking-collateral. Probably for the best I’m not a super, innit?
I’m still confused as to what they are arresting him for.
Taunting people wasn’t a crime last I checked. Same goes for self defense. Anvil told him she was going to take it easy on him because he hadn’t committed any crimes. I don’t really get that logic. Standing around in a dangerous area is generally a bad idea, but not illegal that I know of.
How about standing right in the middle of group that directly attack a group of elite soldiers?
Reason enough to bring everyone in, even if just for questioning.
Him resisting arrest turned it into a fight
The resisting arrest one will hold up in court, especially since he’s a superpowered individual who was present in a lethal confrontation with Archon.
Yeah, but having super powers is totally illega-
Oh wait, wasn’t that the entire thing they were arguing against earlier?
At the very last he is guilty of loitering. Interfering with a crime scene?
What about obstruction of justice? Technically is this comic https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1448 he is shielding an individual who had attacked two individuals of a law enforcement agency.
If they are falling on technicalities in order to get what they want this early in the game, they aren’t likely to be good guys in the long run.
Combined with my perturbation at Maxima’s general behaviour and attitude, I can see this group very easily becoming just as bad as the rest of the US gov, IF NOT WORSE.
Even though he had to wait to be attacked before he could hurt someone, he was there to hurt people. An excuse of “I didn’t do nothing wrong” will cut no ice with anyone. Arc SWAT was publicly introduced, named and their powers and reason for existing explained. Ignorance is never allowed as an excuse in any court. If the fact SWAT is hammering their attackers makes them out to be the bad guys, so be it.
Being a part of a group that is committing a crime is a crime in its own right. Essentially, you don’t get to be a bystander, just sitting there an watching, once your friends have decided to start robbing a place and the, later walking down the street with them and their stolen goods, claim you’re not a part of this.
Plus, the police have the right to arrest anybody for any reason so long as they release them within a certain amount of time (habeus corpus.) If they abuse this they can be sued easily but it is what it is. This means that he resisted arrest and assaulted law enforcement officers with deadly force (ice blasts.)
Your example of a bank robbery should be changed slightly.
If cops come across a bank robbery and there is one individual just standing in the middle of the bank watching everything, then the cops will probably arrest him too.
First is a failure to disperse(it’s basically a riot situation), then there’s reasonable suspicion to detain, and then there’s resisting arrest. After that came assault on federal officers.
Anvil do arrested him for having the worst name ever. Among supers that is a mayor crime, no doubt.
Mayor Crime. Superpolitician.
Wouldn’t that be Lex Luthor?
He actually crossed the line ( https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1448 ) when asked to surrender. He is standing in the middle an assault on federal officials (ArcSWAT is under the Department of Defense). He was asked by, rather politely, to surrender. He refused, rudely, and with a direct challenge to fight. At this point he is now defiantly Resisting Arrest.
He escalates by zapping Anvil when she tried to subdue him. We can argue at trial if Anvil’s use of force was excessive. And again we can argue over this being Assault & Battery on a Police Officer or self defense.
He then drains Anvil, knocking her unconscious. This is now defiantly Assault & Battery on a Police Officer (1st count).
Then possible charge of kidnapping or hostage taking when he “absorbs” Jiggawatt.
He then discourages Jiggawatt into Stalwart, and she hits a wall. Up to 3 counts of Assault & Battery on a Police Officer, plus Resisting Arrest.
He smashed Hiro’s face into the pavement, 4 counts.
Likely throw in Assault with Superpowers as a new charge that came along with the law that crated ArcSWAT.
And lets throw in Aiding and Abetting, since he’s deliberately standing in the middle of a super powered assault, functionally adding to the situation.
The shock of Anvil and the energy *could* have been argued into lesser charges (and used in a civil counter suit for damages), possibly, if he hadn’t used incendiary language. On the grounds of defending himself from an excessive use of force used in subduing him, arguing police brutality. And again with Jiggawatt, getting hit by massive amounts of electricity could have been excessive. His statements (recorded by every ArcSWAT headset and maybe a TV crew with a good mic) throw those out. And his follow up discharge of Jiggawatt into Stalwart and a wall basically seals it. Add the stomp he gives Hiro….
Resisting Arrest
4 counts Assault & Battery on a Police Officer, with Super Powers
Aiding and Abetting
Participation in a Riot, with Super Powers
We could likely find a few more. He wasn’t doing anything, until he started doing things and mouthing off while doing the things.
Now Mr. Hairdresser ( https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1420 ), he’s likely going to be looking at Aiding and Abetting. Considering he’s the only one to actually surrender, and voluntarily, before there was any real fighting between him and anyone on ArcSWAT, likely puts him in the best position of a reasonable plea bargain.
The question is if anyone will try to arrest and detain “Challenge Accepted” ( https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1422 ), if he doesn’t vanish as the fight wraps up.
You are fogging that prior to Anvil he had been attacked once if not twice by ARC without any call for surrender.
The first and problematic attack was when Math launched Anima out of the restaurant and he deflected her away,
The second and more serious was the second when Jiggawatt tryed to zap him and missed , we saw no call to surrender there.
Jiggs violated a prime precept of both law enforcement and military engagement protocols, I.E. did he pose a clear and present danger to any one at that time.
Now let us look at the nature of his power.
Does he concesly choose how he counters an attack or is it automatic, my bet automatic.
Next can he turn it on and off as he chooses, and if he can turn it off why should he do so and leave himself open to being hurt regardless the source.
In case of Jiggawatt shooting lightning at FWTDT the first time, she immediatelly afterwards says that she has BAD trouble aiming, so it may have just been him getting into crossfire – the previous page deals with Glowbug assaulting another ARC agent, something I’d expect being a lot higher on Jiggawatt’s favoured target list than a weird looking bystander.
That being said, he is still in an area where a combat situation is going on, and considering that he seems completely unfussed by that, combined with how he is dressed, he was definitelly NOT safe to be considered a noncombatant; I would compare it to being inside an area of a police stand off with armed bank robbers, while having one’s face concealed and holding a gun, fake or not – at that point, police officers can’t probably be expected to go and check him whether he really is just an innocent bystander.
All in all, I’d say that if FWTDT tried to get his case of being attacked to a court, the charges he’d press would be pretty quickly shot down with “you were stupid to be where you were in the first place”, not to mention that ill intent was confirmed when he challenged Anvil to combat, and then asked all the others to fight him as well.
I can see Jiggawatt getting a reprimand (or how it’s called in English, I ain’t a native speaker) for continuing in combat operation when she was unable to both communicate with the rest of the team (and thus effectively disconnected from command structure) and unable to use her powers correctly – at that point, she was dangerous to her team mates as well and should’ve left the combat field, unless her presence was ABSOLUTELY necessary.
Disclaimer: On top on not being a native speaker, I am also a bloody civilian and not a US citizen (in fact, I come from somewhere in the continental EU), therefore all I wrote above is at best an educated guess, so in case I am wrong, feel free to politely call me up on it and afterwards ignore what I said. x)
I didn’t put it in the comic, wish I had, but when Maxima flew outside, at some point she shouted at them all to surrender and identified herself as a cop/fed.
Retro-active page inclusion; would solve so much confusion.
At that point only two or three had directly attacked them that scene where she flying added by an order to disperse would make everything after when they refused and were clearly in cohoots with each other makes the rest legal.
Good enough.
But Jiggs still violated basic law enforcement / military protocols on the use of lethal force, i.e. FWtDT did not present a clear and present danger to any one.
And any cop or solider who uses lethal force like that can expect to see the inside of a prison for the next 20 or more years.
Now once force is used that is a different story.
Tho depending on the exact workings of Death trolls power there will probably be a very long and drawn out case against him
Agreed, Jiggawatt is going to be need some heavy retraining. Maybe go back through the courses with Sydney :P . She’s made so many errors in judgment this fight.
Although I wouldn’t have called it lethal force. Excessive, but her zapping through folks isn’t necessarily a risk of death. As seen with her entrance, where burns were caused but not fatalities.
The danger with electricity is amperage. If Jiggawatt has a high enough control over herself as a bolt of electricity to avoid passing through the heart and triggering arrhythmia or full cardiac arrest, she’d be very painfully non-lethal. Perhaps even excessively non-lethal :P
High Voltage isn’t the killer, its amperage being pushed through the body. If she was keeping her bolts to about 10 to 30 milliamps (mA) that’s going to be painful but unlikely to be deadly. If she does it the same way a taser does (~150 mA in a pulsed high frequency), she’s basically got a long range air taser. And as noted earlier, supers for some unknown reason tend to be idealized physical specimens, which makes the likelihood of a super with a heart condition that would leave them susceptible to electric shocks is even lower than in the non-super population.
Is her level of force excessive? Very debatable and something that could very easily be turned into a major point in a court of law.
Was it deadly force? Likely demonstrably not. Well… all except the purple anti-beam that was on the verge of killing everyone with gamma radiation… which thinking about it, would have been deadly to everyone except FWTDT.
As for FWTDT himself, his boot stomping Hiro along side his direct threats/challenges basically undoes much of his case. Its really hard to argue self-defense when you smash someones face into the pavement. Demonstrates clear intent, even if his power set isn’t suited to directly harming others.
I see this often enough that it bothers me actually, yes the amps can stop your heart…the voltage….is not harmless…its will COOK YOU when high enough. The electric chair does not use amps to kill prisoners (which would be more humane), it roasts in your body with electricity.
Jiggawatt is just a recruit, as much as Sydney, not sure how much instruction she has had. Taking account of that I do not find her actions unexpected.
what if he had a pacemaker, or shrapnel near his heart or any other condition which her bolt could have affected negitivly
How do you know how much force Jiggawatt used? It could have been very low wattage/amperage. Furthermore, what proof do you have that she intended to hit FWTDT with it? She may have been simply sending a warning/diversion or even been aiming for someone else entirely.
see comment above
1) Nothing you wrote answers my second question above (“Furthermore, what proof do you have that she intended to hit FWTDT with it?”).
2) There is some question whether “a reasonable person would consider” Jiggawatt’s attack “likely to cause death or serious bodily harm” to FWTDT.
3) I understand that ArcSwat should make every reasonable effort to keep innocents safe, but at what point do you think that they should be allowed to protect themselves from a potential threat within an area where they’ve just been attacked and are dealing with multiple hostiles? At what point does someone in FTWDT’s position (even if one assumed he had completely pure motives) bear the responsibility for getting out of their way so that they have one less concern to worry about, thus making their job that much easier and safer?
Points 1&2 reasonable.
Point 3 tho is the tricky one.
Was he in any way hindering ARC at that time, not that I saw.
Yet Jiggs apears to try and pop him with a lightning bolt without bothering to see if he was a good or bad guy.
I just read all the new posts about this and, know what? I am afraid that you will need to include it. And a BIG badge in Max jacket. And maybe Sydney doing a pseudopod-sign to avoid the “what if somebody is deaf?” bit.
It amazes me a lot that there was an argument about this at all, let aside lasting so long.
It is one of those things we nerd/geeks love to discuss adnausem
You! Said. That. With. Pride! ;)
“Insert smug smile”
Counts 1 & 2 will only count if he has conscious control of his defensive backlash.
Also remember Anvils kinetic absorption ability was considered secret and not released to the public. Also Jiggys telebolt could only be handled 1 of 3 ways insulate from it, let it pass thru and absorb.
So unless he CHOSE the defense mechanism, hostage/kidnapping out the window.
Next you have him releasing Jiggs a Stalwart who was getting ready to hit him after being show to the world kicking a tank and moving it always away from him.
As for Hiro well there he may be boned. but we do not know how he was brought down.
The boot to the head that’s going to be the hard one to beat.
And as for Aiding and abetting, he has not helped any of the others in the least.
When Anvil grabbed A-bomb he made no move to help A-bomb
What is the perfect way to beat him? He sounds like a socially repressed loner. I’m guessing he has never had a girlfriend. Just have Maxima step up and give him a big kiss. He would probably faint from the surprise.
She’d crush you into the ground just for suggesting that
That, or have Harem ‘hump’ him straight into a cell?
Oh, I love that image, lol… wait would having Harem “heavy petting” him be considered an attack? And if it was successful, would it be a viable option in the future? More to the point, would harem actually be willing and able to accomplish this?
Oh god, maybe thats why he’s so cranky. Maybe his power considers anything inflicted on his body as an attack and when his girlfriend kissed him one day his power launched her away or shocked her, and ever since he obtained his powers all physical or energy contact is repelled or countered. Making it impossible to receive any kind of affection.
This post makes me kind of sad.
Pleasure and pain responses are nearly identical, and the body can even substitute one for the other as a defense mechanism. As he gains powers to counter powers or anything else, we saw a physical attack rebuffed by a tazer-skin or shock attack; while this may make me sound bad, as a defense against Dabbler’s Beholder’s Beauty or Succubus Charm abilities he’d probably on that first see something horribly unattractive as a psychic defense, and on the second turn homosexual or asexual for the time being (so either opposite attraction to her intended effect or attracted to something else, or a zero libido effect; which would kind of suck; someone hits you with a charm spell and your counter is a self inflicted full mental and physical impotence spell.
Or a 5 way flash
It’d be pretty easy to disable him.
Maxima grabs his cape, flies straight up, then lets go.
Edna Mode says; No Capes!
Good god, he’ll reflect the impact back into the ground and destroy the earth! Don’t do it Maxima!
I never said how high she’d let him go from. If he’s taken by surprise, she could drop him from a few inches, and he might end up twisting an ankle.
this begs two questions; would the force of being forcefully moved count as an attack; in which case he could counter; and would being dropped count as an attack; granted the ground is inanimate and he is heading towards it not the other way around. However other inanimate objects moving towards him at a high rate not under his own power (going towards him not him running towards them) have been deflected; so if his power works on a relative position axis it could consider the ground attacking him as he is technically not moving and is being forced at the ground by gravity
…flight of Feather Drop would probably result.
Well its true so far what hes done has been in self defense, all hes done up until they attacked him was stand around watching the fights. But damn a little sad to see him go, wish his power could have been more along the lines of the Evolution ability so he could at least put up a fight and not just block.
Yeah. Make him the Doomsday of the group. Or at least team him up with a ultimate attacker.
Sidney really does deserve a few more shots to the face. Her smug smarmy attitude is really annoying me. Total Marry Sue.
You, sir, have no idea what “Mary Sue” means beyond the knowledge that it’s an insult to the author.
+1 Understatement
I think he is talking about taking legal action against your wedding priest, but I can’t see the connection.
Mary Sue (and Marty Stew for guys) means that a character is a wish fulfillment stand-in for the author. Most commonly found in fan-fic that introduces a special new character. For a blatant example, if a guy was writing a fanfic in a super hero universe, and for some reason all the cannon females fall all over themselves for him and he can beat any one with out breaking a sweat.
I know, I was reffering to the misspell.
Sydney doesn’t qualify as a Mary Sue; she has too many flaws. As for being smug, she IS pretty much an expert on comic book superhero/ines…and after the vegetarian revelation fiasco, she’s finally feeling like she’s coming out on top around all these super-powerful, super-knowledgeable superhero teammates. It’s a bit overly smug, but…I can see why she would be, given her personality, immediate history, and so forth. Don’t worry, her ego will take a beating again soon enough.
As for what they can do, Harem cannot teleport living flesh (the author hath spoken)…but she CAN deteleport a few of herselves…and teleport a cage around Periwinkle Sniffer, there. No attack, no problem.
She’s about as “expert,” as any other comic book otaku out there. And that vegetarian thing was nothing to be proud of ether. This girl’s ego has gotten way out of control!
As for the cage idea. You do realize we have a telekinetic and a gate way maker that can easily get him out of that.
you the reader know this, but does anyone in-comic know this? Personally, i doubt it. Max MIGHT know who directed the bolo-bomb into her, but i’ll bet that she will assume (wrongly) that it was from Shebang rather than from the Chia-pet…and as for the portal babe… i highly doubt that anyone knows anything about her or her powers, as they aren’t very flashy, as well as she may be one of those “glass cannons” that will go down at the first inkling of personal close-up involvement, since up to now she’s been on the sidelines directing comms to the various members, but that’s about it. who knows, she may not even HAVE any defensive powers and would go down if even Sydney punched her (a normal human punch, not a super powered one)
Wow. You’ve got some SERIOUS hate for Sydney going on! If you hate her so much, then why are you even here? She IS kinda the star of the comic, after all!
Mary Sue has become a vague (buzz word) for anyone the reader doesn’t like; which people who use the term have begun to be labled as (Iron-Age/Dark Age fanboys); wanting mentally damaged heroes who are hated by society but must do what has to be done…not hating on this type of character by the way; but they are the opposite of what people generally regard as a Mary Sue; by its definition classic Bat-man and Superman and most Golden and Silver Age heroes are Mary Sues; being characters who always have the solution and everyone loves no matter what (aside from villains).
However a true Mary Sue has no villains; check out the root of the term; a Star Trek character written as a character that physically stands out, and everyone has an instant liking of, and has zero flaws able to win in every situation; even telling the Captain of the Enterprise what to do without ever being questioned. What qualifies has become so muddled that to read the tv tropes page for the term is to see numerous contradictions as people have tried to define it; coming out to (I just don’t like this character, I don’t like winners or characters that can solve problems ).
I will add; I can like a character who falls under that in one setting but hate them in another. For instance I like Squirrel-Girl from Marvel comics; because she is a breath of fresh old school air; a superhero that brings back the ideals of hope in an industry that has tried to be more (real world) through out the Dark Age and what I call the Deconstruction age (2001-present): like the dark age but tries to be more like super-heroes if they were in the real world. Basically if the character is fun and their personality explains this outlook; powers too.
but if you have some character who for no reason is loved/obeyed by everyone and solves everything especially if they have no abilities, backstory, or any reason to be able to do so or relation to other characters (a great deal of fanfiction)
Heck for the longest time I was afraid my character Rhulan was going to be labeled a Mary Sue…but it seems she is labeled as a megalomaniac or psychologically damaged god by people who have read the fanfics and cannon stories she is in. Like I said; its a fine line (as in not a line, just preferences) in what qualifies as a Mary Sue vs competent/planned/powerful/likable.
Ideas to defeat him:
Blast the ground out from under his feet. The fall is a consequence of the attack, rather than the attack itself.
Imprison him (as others have suggested).
Goad him into attacking. If he takes a swing at Max, he may well break his hand.
Trick him into hitting himself.
As far as blasting the ground out from under his feet, the fall might still trigger defense as incoming damage, but he’d still be stuck in a hole in the ground, so they could deal with him later. It’d work about as well as just imprisoning him, but be a lot flashier. Frankly, he’s probably quite vulnerable to being wrapped up in a tarp like a burrito, slung over someone’s shoulder and carried off.
“Stop hitting yourself!”
I wonder how discerning his power is in dealing with attacks. If he smacks his forehead in annoyance, the feedback may just lay him out.
Since “Nemesis” is a 1-1 ability, I say “Dog pile!”
Or, he can gain the ability to fly temporarily.
I say, build a transparent cage around him and charge admission to see him.
Rebuild the restaurant around him, with his cage being the star attraction.
Cart off the bit of asphalt he’s standing on. If he jumps, there’s one fewer supers in the world.
He doesn’t appear to be defending against the ground, or gravity, so I would simply ram a bunch of iron bars into the ground around him, and build a cage that does not contact him, then simply take a scoop of the ground and transport him to a more permanent damper cell. Another way would be to reduce the gravity in his immediate vicinity so that he floats and cannot make contact with anything, then gently float him to a damper cell. A riot/restraining foam might do the trick. Passive restraint appears to be the key.
Sydney best be careful. Arc may have a PR team, but she, and Arc can still be sued for defamation of character and libel. This is ‘MURICA, after all. Home of the frivolous lawsuit.
Not to detract from your main point, but your comment raised an interesting question. Whom, exactly, would the legal system consider this individual’s “peers” for purposes of a jury? I suppose they would have to conclude that supers and non-powered humans are “peers” because otherwise they’d probably not be able to put together a jury of twelve. (That is, twelve supers who are not A: the team who did the arresting, B: key witnesses in the prosecution, or C: villains complicit in the crime being tried.)
Regardless, I think we can conclude with a relative degree of safety that – though he has the option to sue – the jury is unlikely to convict.
https://www.twogag.com/archives/3198 seems pertinent to this post.
Hell I’d vote in his favor if I were in that Jury. No one deserves to have a name like that put on them by a bully like Sidney!
ok for who the death tolls we’ll have syd switch the name in arc-glasses to iron rogue and we can all live as un troll like as we are each willing to live
I wonder, can they sue the military?
Anyone or any group can be sued. The operative question is would it stand up in court? (IE win)
The Tort Claims Act prohibits suing government employees for actions taken within the scope of their jobs. For example, you cannot sue your mailman for accidentally delivering your mail to the wrong address. In order to sue the PR department or its employees, Periwinkle would have to prove that slapping the insulting name on him was not within the agency’s legitimate duties. Since it is part of their legitimate duties to render asswipes like Periwinkle Butt Sniffer ineffectual, it is well within the scope of their legitimate duties to give him a moniker that no one takes seriously.
I still have no clue and don’t understand the joke/horribleness behind “For whom the death tolls” name. Be it just plain old English or some obscure reference, it flies right over my head. Someone please help me out.
It’s just “For whom the bell tolls” and “death toll” mushed together into one meaningless phrase.
“Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” Is a reference to death.
Also, to “toll” can mean to charge money. Greek tradition has Charon who would take a fee to transport the dead across the river Acheron, so you can loosely interperate it as a way of saying “Death pays me” or implying some other form of mastery over death (or Death)
So, that makes TPBS a thoroughly disillusioned (but not disillusioned) Harry Potter?
It’s a paraphrase of a line by John Donne from his poem “No Man Is An Island”:
“Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.”
It’s still a really idiotic choice. Who uses a catchphrase as a name?!
Actually it is from “Meditation XVII”, which is a prose, not a poem. The phrase “for whom the bell tolls” is also at the very start of it (“Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill…”) but the line you quoted is the more known.
“No man is an island” is another line from it.
It’s also used in and well known from a Metallica song
Very true… to some people :)
It was also prevously used in and well known from (my case) the title of a book by Heminway.
And “Meditation XVII” used to be a well known text back in the 17th century :)
Memes just works that way ;)
Thanks for all the answers.
And yet he is still unaware that there are googly eyes stuck on his mask. *snerk*
Just waiting for his expression when he sees this on YouTube.
Oh lawdy, Sydney’s smug expressions in this page are just pure gold. This guy is so done.
But don’t try to stick a fork in him. He’ll counter it.
Sooo, it’s not a good strategy to piss off supervillains but it’s perfectly fine to attack them? Someone needs to get their priorities straight!
1) Present time, he’s more likely to keep fighting (assuming he could) regardless of the consequences to himself or others if angered.
2) In the future, he’s more likely to seek vengeance if angered.
So, fairly good advice.
You know, reading some of the comments on this page, I’m suddenly reminded of the book ‘Playing for Keeps’, written by Mur Lafferty. Of particular interest is the character Keepsie. In the book, people have superpowers, and an Academy has been set up to deal with them. Those with useful powers (Flight, Superstrength, Heat Generation, etc.) become superheroes, while those without useful powers are turned away, and have to live normal lives. Keepsie’s power is that no one can steal from her. That’s it. However, with it, she manages to immobilize one hero with super strength, and another who can make his tattoos come to life. They were trying to kill her, but as far as her power is concerned, they were trying to ‘steal her life’, so her power kicked in and immobilized them (which happens to anyone who tries to steal from her. They’re stuck that way until she releases them). She even manages to extend that power to keep her friends safe by remembering that they’ve eaten food from the bar she owns, and at the end of the book she’s given the Key to the City (the implication being that, since it’s ‘her’ city, no one can kill or steal in that city). I don’t know why I was reminded of the book, but I thought someone might find it interesting.
That is interesting, I might have to read it. :)
It’s good. It arguably goes a little far in turning “useless” powers into amazing ones by playing some semantic games, but who knows how powers work in that world. I’d recommend it. Link
Keepsie’s powers didn’t go crazy until [REDACTED], so it’s not entirely semantics. More a mental evolution for her.
I like concepts like this, tend to make them as a thought game;
characters whose powers seem silly and/or useless until used creatively
or
have a weird secondary effect and only seem dumb at first: like Edible-Man, who can turn into inanimate food objects he has eaten before (even able to create the plate and such as seen when he ate the food); for about five minutes (has to) or up to five hours if he forces it.
However the multi-dimensional energy/mass exchange factor that allows him to change back and forth makes it so if anyone/anything eats any part of him as food that mass will explode violently when it comes time for his human body to reconfigure.
That reminds me when the Joker kidnapped Robin to try to force Batman to commit a crime. So when ordered to steal, Batman “steals” Joker’s thunder, “steals” his spotlight, etc. Then later, when ordered to kill, he “kills” time, “kills” two birds with one stone, etc. And so forth and so on.
I Looks like I get to say it. “Called it.” :)
Well you know the old saying “Sticks and stones will bounce off me harmlessly but names will enrage me senselessly.”
“He doesn’t get to just walk away, Sydney. He attacked multiple federal agents.”
*DeathToll strolls away.*
“Stop him, he’s getting away!”
*DeathToll buys a newspaper to read while he waits for the bus.*
*bus drops Phrasic Dumbface off inside a prison*
“Totally Pissing Off” super powered criminals is essential to Tanking them. You get them really mad at -you- and you keep them that way so they don’t attack anyone else. Sydney was told to go do that.
Yea, verily.
Hahaha :) “Arrested for resisting the arrest”, I know that one :)
https://leftoversoup.com/archive.php?num=562
The fun thing about being in a group of criminals, is you get to share in their charges. Anvil attempted to arrest him peacefully. He refused, and demanded she fight him. She attempted a minimally lethal hold, only to be zapped. He can be charged with attempted murder, property destruction, assault, battery, having a stupid name, resisting arrest, unlawful assembly, kidnapping (those 2 or 3 seconds he held Jiggawatt against her will count), rioting, terrorism, and whatever else they can dream up. He probably won’t be charged with half of that, but he could be.
Oh please, we can allude to what happened or not (and btw Anvil did not actually arrest him) but give a rest to the whole legal thing, we already talked it to death, and by the way I voted aye :)
Right now I was just joking with DaveB’s comment.
I know Dave’s mentioned/linked to that comic before, but thanks to you I spent last night blitzing Leftover Soup. I am okay with this.
Oh, I feel proud :)
So pretty much the main points that Sydney’s plan established were that the goggly eyes survived the flashbangs, and neither of them were countered when he was adorned with them, nor were the Harems that added them. Additions to his wardrobe are harmless until otherwise established. One could probably slap handcuffs on him without any problem until they got to the part where they pull his arms together.
Perhaps rope that one may cinch tight, or something like that. I’m sure there’s a simpler solution. Probably apparent in how Anvil had him in a chokehold for at least a few seconds before he generated electricity to stop her. Perhaps contact that does not immediately apply blunt force has to be intellectually processed before being decided as a threat.
If care is not taken in the planning, this process could become tedious.
I wonder if he could decide that their plotting soundwaves that touched his ears was a threat against him, and generate a sonic attack to counter it?
I’m probably reaching too far. But I have always been interested in those types of rubber band powers that could be stretched like that, with enough self-induced madness. Inability to miss? Fire sound-waves from your throat in the form of words to destroy a target’s confidence. Can generate voids? Part spacetime before you in a bubble and stroll along to flashstep and pause time for philisophical deliberations. That sort of stuff. If it’s dependent on how you percieve it, it should be possible to bend it.
Perriwinkle Butt Sniffer could very easily become a hassle to capture. His stupidity is actually a bonus on his part, currently. Though against Sydney’s genre savvy, I’m sure they can turn it back into a proper weakness.
You might find the tabletop RPG Nobilis interesting. Each player character is an avatar of sorts, empowered with control over a specific concept or class of things. The miracles they can work depend in part on how creative the player can be in interpreting the character’s domain. A character whose domain is “lost things”, for example, would never lack for pens, socks, and the like…but they might also be able to “find” the ten minutes they “lost” in traffic.
So what happened to the strap the flash-bangs were on, and why is DT still wearing pants?
If it was just the usual nylon webbing, the strap was probably shredded when the flashbangs went off.
Harem didn’t have time to pants DT before they needed to get clear of the blast. Pity.
I agree.
Do you remember the speech Max did? https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1123
Sometimes I feel like Max is a bit affected by the same thing. She surely can look at supers the same way supers look at normal people.
kind of how the Hulk looks at everyone
“puny god”
Well, Harem managed to attach a set of fake eyeballs to him… maybe she can attach something else, such as manacles.
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!
This was supposed to be a reply to Peter Sadlon on the first page. Why did it get posted here?
The commenting system moves in mysterious ways.
The commenting system moves your posts around in mysterious ways.
Well going postal is known as having a crazy episode…why then should posts be…oh nvm….for whom the mail tolls.
Well, it looks like the reply system must have attacked Death Toll and got itself countered…
Well, as Sydney has pointed out, if no one includes postage, DT can’t return the mail…
That’s deliciously meta. Let’s do this.
Death Toll yo momma is A NICE LADY.
The commenting system moves in mysterious ways (see below*).
*Although that one actually might have been mea culpa**.
** Friends don’t let friends talk on the phone whilst making comments on the internet.
Okay, so not my fault.
Yes it is!
YES YOU ARE AT FAULT!
That’s not foreshadowing, dude. That’s projection.
With some one like that you trap him. Wall him off and he can do nothing. The walls aren’t attacking so he is rendered neutral and void. Null Ay as the Canadians say.
What if he punches the wall hard enough to hurt his hand and registers it as an attack?
but if that were the case, then his power would counter the “attack” itself, thus it would counter his own punch… therefore nothing would happen to the walls at all. but he would probably get smacked down somehow…
Hah! Nemesis! Called it!
I wonder of Leon has already updated FWTDBTs status in everyone’s HUDs to reflect his new name?
And power and intelligence level.
What would be the nemesis response to being sprayed in the face with a fire extinguisher? Catching fire?
Shield/forcefield to prevent spray from hitting person.
AHAHAHAHAH! YESS!!!
You, Meh, have just won all of the comments speculating on superpowers for today. Huzzah!
Well he did use a Fire Aura when Dabbler tried to hit with an Ice-Encasement spell.
and to counter Jiggawat his body and clothes turned into a conductive surface (protecting his inner body and trapping the electrical current on the outside). I say he must have had practice against electricity (possibly Glow Bug) before hand to figure out just how much he could control the current he was deflecting.
I disagree that forcefield is the opposite of fire extinguisher. Force field would be the opposite of everything. Fire attack, good thing I have a force field, someone throws a punch, force field. I want this guy to get sprayed with a fire extinguisher. At this point I think it would be his kryptonite.
Just saying, with all the nitpicking that goes on why has no one called DaveB on the carpet for totally ignoring an integral part of of Arc Swat on the either the cast page or Who’s Who. Namely, Art Swat.
All units, all units, prepare to roll out, this is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill.
We are at Retcon Delta, numerous inconsistencies detected.
O-missions are building, you are authorized to go weapons free.
and what would you be calling him out FOR? ArcSwat isn’t a CAST member, it’s an organization made up OF the cast members, it would be as redundant.
Just an observation on panel 6.
– Sydney is explaining how the bad guy works. It’s the culmination, and vindication, of a lifetime’s geekiness. Now, look at her eyes in that panel. Her pupils and irises are HUGE. Conclusion: Sydney just had a nerdgasm.
No offense DaveB, but for anyone who ever played Marvel Super Heroes and had the Ultimate Powers Book, you kinda telegraphed this one in.
Not saying it’s not good, it’s great. For some of us very old school geeks though…
Anyway, live the comic as always, keep it up!
It’s a balance between never hinting at anything lest you guys guess it, and letting you play along. This wasn’t really intended to be the big reveal of the fight so I had to give Sydney enough to work with.
Fedora guy being the big reveal, then?
No, no. Super squirrel. The evil mastermind.
He is stirring up chaos in an attempt to summon Cthulhu.
Just brew a HUGE pot of coffee and he will be there.
Who wants to bet the solution to capturing a nemisis man is to perpetually require him to be defending agaisnt an attack by being immobile and inofensive. My most amusing concept of this is something that requires him to be soft as a dishrag and as weak as a mouse. Perhaps a feather pillow attack?.
Panel 1: The hand wave… bwa ha ha.
Also panel 1: “Skeletor”
Panel 2: Oh Lord, it’s hard to be intimidating,
when you have a pair of googly eyes attached to your mask….
Panel 3: Get used to it, FWTDT. I’d bet good money you’re going to be hearing that name a lot (especially in prison).
Panels 4 and 5) Like how Maxima is coming around and allowing Sydney to use her initiative and knowledge instead of demanding that Archon follow her orders.
Panels 4, 7, and 9) Also like how she’s able to nudge Sydney’s train of thought to more productive ends.
Panel 5: I believe FWTDT protesteth too much.
Panel 7: Also like how Maxima shows a deft touch in dealing with Sydney, allowing a “suggestion” (don’t totally piss off villains) to do the work of a direct order. Do it because it’s more logical, rather than just because you’ve been ordered to do so.
Panel 8: Looks like Sydney’s been reading the comment section. =OP
Panel 9: For some reason, I keep seeing Maxima’s arms and torso as coming from FWTDT’s cowl.
All relevant panels: Love the variety of Sydney’s and Maxima’s facial expression as well as Maxima’s casually combing her fingers through her hair in panel 4. And FWTDT’s useless attempts to look threatening by using a variety of hand curls and pointing.
Finally, can’t wait to see Green Bean’s reaction to all this; wonder what would happen if Green Bean attacked him (could FWTDT use the counter to GB’s powers against Archon?); and learn what Fedora’s role and purpose are.
Okay, so how does my comment appear above comments that were made earlier? [cues theme to The Twilight Zone]
If I had to guess: the reason is that this thread is the most recent correctly formatted/ non-buggy comment while the orphaned comments are “buggy” and instead of being deleted/ignored entirely are shown at the end of the page.
As to what causes the buggy comments; my first guess would be old browsers or weird plugin interactions. Of course replying to a buggy comment could create a buggy comment irregardless of any other settings.
So why is Maxima fixing her hair on the right side and a moment after it is behind her left ear? Or is it just me seeing it wrong?
you dont really have to attack someone to capture them. Drop a cage on them instead. THe steel bars aren’t going to be countered since they wouldn’t even touch him. Then you tear out a piece of parking lot with him and the cage on top, possibly welding the bars down so he can’t push them of the chuck of asphalt, and then you just fly him over to a jail cell. Or if you wanted to, you could just build a jail around him, a special little private jail built right there.
Clearly it is now time to bring out… The Comfy Chair!
He’s here to irritate us. I doubt he even reads the comic.