Grrl Power #248 – Mo’ portals mo’ problems
For those wondering, L.C. = Lieutenant Colonel = Maxima
Originally I had envisioned Stalwart coming out of the portal and clobbering Maxima, somewhat ineffectively, but that would have meant that his intention was to punch Opal, which would have left her as a wet smear on the asphalt. He’s the second strongest member of the team after Max when she’s maxed out. (Everyone who is the best on the team at something is usually the second best at it after Maxima when she’s maxed out. Achilles being the notable exception.)
If Opal really wanted to distract Max and endanger Stalwart, she would have aimed his hand at something else. A buttock or boobock, for instance. I considered drawing that actually, but it’s such a predictable thing to happen in a comic like this. Not that it’s off limits, comedic groping is always on the table, but I’d like to find a more creative use for that particular trope.
I wasn’t sure how to draw it in the space I had, but the portal Stalwart is coming out of in the last panel is moving around him, forcing him through it. It will also snap shut a second later, or else Max could easily speed through it and probably clobber Opal before she saw it coming. Not that a rocknado would slow her down all that much either. The difficult part about writing a powerful character like her is always having to have an answer for “why doesn’t she instantly beat everyone always?” For the majority of the fight, she was using the ambush as an opportunity to shake down the team, ready to step in if needed, but as to why she hasn’t stopped Opal herself yet, basically she’s waiting to see if the team can without her, and she feels she’s fast enough to jump in at the last second if she needs to. We’ll see.
I’m working on the next vote incentive, but for some reason I’ve decided on a rather ambitious piece and I’ll have to post it in stages. The upside is that the nature of it requires it to be full color, so I won’t leave it as pencil like I have with quite a few in the past. Since basically every page in the fight is a big ‘ol spoiler of some sort, I haven’t been streaming much lately, but stuff like vote incentives would be fine to stream actually. I’ve set up a Picarto account, which I guess is the hot new art streaming site. If you sign up there you can set it up to email you whenever someone you follow starts streaming, which is probably the best way to get notified besides twitter. I’ll only be able to do it on the occasional evening when I get a little ahead on the comic, so if watching my very slow art interests you, sign up.
Totally unrelated to the comic, is anyone watching The Strain? I think I like it better than Penny Dreadful, which I like better than True Blood.
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Looks like Maxima is readying a charge as well. Those two better watch out. Unless Opal’s portals can work on those energy bolts as well.
And Vekter will always be GHTG to me. Too late, Zephan.
Well the bigger question about Opal deflecting Maxima’s shots is, how fast can she open a portal?
And I’ll bet his name is Victor, right?!… but if he starts pulling out a Squid Gun, all bets are off…
(GlaDOS voice: This next test involves golden beam rays…and how portals affect golden beam rays….)
Test subjects are encouraged to have excellent reflexes during this test.
So that’s how she fights.
Interesting. And potentially VERY powerfull if she can see you coming
She’s potentially one of the most dangerous foes they could ever face, seeing as, if she put her mind to it, she could just decapitate everyone she didn’t like the look of.
only if she can dispell her portals while people are inside if them. Othervice, she is just ridicilusly dangerus, seing that sha can make them atleast 2 m in diameter. She has one of the few powers where trowing/droping a car is actually a good idee…
And it’s actually one of the coolest *defensive* uses if a teleport[usable on others] that I’ve ever seen. I like pretty much all of the characters we’ve seen in the comic so far, but Opal is the first one I’ve seen with such a unique take on a standard super power. I’m actually kind of inspired to build a teleporter for the next game of Champions or Mutants & Masterminds I get into. :)
It’s hardly a uniqe take on portal powers. This is how The spot fought Spiderman, back in the day, only with even more flashy portals
Shouldn’t Vekter be in the Who’s Who now that he’s named?
Opal’s box also appears outdated.
Who’s Who is limited to characters appearing on the page. Apparently voice-overs don’t count.
He does show up on panel 3.
Also Zephan’s missing too.
Who’s who is updated. I added him to the tags last night but forgot to actually upload the graphic.
There’s a typo in his box, it reads “telekenetic”.
Is that an homage to Sluggy Freelance’s “pyrokenetic?” :D
That’s the ability to move Ken using only the power of one’s mind, as opposed to telebarbietic.
well he isnt a “real” telekinetic beacuse he can only move objects that isnt alive. a pure telekinetic can move anything with his mind.
sorry, replied wrong comment.
opal just stalled stalwarts brain I mean who grabs leanders head like that and expects to live added to not expecting to grab the most frightening person he knows (not knowing syd enough to find her scarier yet)
He was expecting to grab Opal’s head. Also, yes, Sydney can be very scary by comparison.
If Opal was paying better attention she would have had him target Sydney so that there was a chance of friendly-fire, her reflexes and automatic responses being what they are.
She might not be able to target inside the force field any better than Harem.
If she’d been really smart, she’d have positioned him to grab Max’s… tush… instead. Then we’d have seen some friendly fire. Also, is there a reason Vekter’s not levitating anyone directly?
He appears to only to be able to telekinetically move objects. The one apparent exception was the explosive bolas. But as they wrapped around Maxima’s body, clearly they were not just formed from energy. So would fall in his remit.
In the super power genre people are not objects. Various different explanations are offered, depending on what setting (or rules systems for games) you use. A common one is that living beings have an aura that can interfere with some types of super power.
Whereas other types of powers can manipulate living things because of that aura, but cannot affect stuff that lacks it.
I imagine he has tried moving people via their clothes. Like a judo fighters will do, in a match. But, what you end up doing more often than not is just tugging their sleeve down, rather than them. But hitting them over the head, with a lead pipe, will make them reliably fall over.
Ugh, that kind of reasoning reminds me why I’m not into superhero comics anymore.
There are other ways of handling it better. For instance indicating that it is due to a psychological block from the user. They could use it in any way, but had childhood trauma due to dropping a friend, when being distracted, and badly injuring them.
Of course any good gamesmaster will realise that all it will take is a few sessions with a decent therapist and that character will have no restriction. So if it is intended as a finite restriction on a character, that is not a good option. Likewise for a character in a story. Some readers would be tearing their hair out and saying “just go to a shrink you idiot!”
Bear in mind that Dave has not indicated what is causing his limitation (if such exists, he may just do this because it is more stylish), so we are free to go with the one that seems most logical to us. And I agree with you that the common one I mentioned is unsatisfactorily fuzzy.
Personally I favour viewing him as having telekinetic control over minerals. The higher the mineral content the better his capabilities. Hence why he had metallic balls initially [insert double entente of your choice]. This allows him to easily accomplish his most spectacular attack, causing the asphalt to rise up and squish his target.
However, it does become stretched when explaining how he manipulated the energy bolas. Which is why I did not go with that before.
However it can work if the bolas are created by summoning magnetic elements* operating in confined orbits, and using them to anchor (or supply) the more obvious energy which surrounds it.
This is quite a complex explanation, but it does hold together with the dialogue referencing atoms (by virtue of saying atomic, anyhow) as well as fine detail in the drawing. Where you can see distinctly (vastly oversized) atom-like imagery.
Is Maxima flying in that last panel? it looks like she is.
If so, Stallward is about to hit the ground pritty hard.
Damn, Opal could just teleport everyone she wants 20 meters up in the sky and let gravity do the rest
No it looks like she is standing on grass.
Trees in background. She is in the air but Stalwart can easily take the fall I’m sure.
Yeah, it’s not how well a super can fly that matters, nearly as much as how well they can land. Achilles can land so well that he does it with a “Keystone Cops” flare to his style, so Stalwart shouldn’t have any problem..
Also she is aiming her finger gun down.
I mentally saw a gun that fired fingers there for a second! XD
I could just about see her golden disembodied finger sticking out of Moss Heads er head. Hah!
A gun that fires fingers? That’s almost as cool as: https://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/07052010
:D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WuavCTLCbs
Despite the video’s title, isn’t this more accurately called a “gun-shooting penis”…?
Maybe? I didn’t name it or make the video…. Your title sounds good to me. *shrugs*
A favorite trick of mine when roleplaying a character whose attacks can force teleport an opponent. Even if it isn’t a very high teleport it’s exauhsting to have to recover your footing over and over again while fighting someone.
my favorite move i saw pulled with teleportation in an rpg was in a deathwatch campaign (a game for playing space marines from war hammer 40k)
-there is a psy power in that game that lets you open two portals, with a maximum distance between them of ten kilometers times the users psy rating.
-horde of gribbly alien monsters charging down street
-portal gets opened on the road, other end goes on the side of a hive city spire, 50 kilometers up
-unthinking horde keeps charging, then goes flying, then goes splat
And the best thing is, being the Emperor’s Angels Of Death, somebody else has to mop up the mess you leave.
So, big mistake from Harem there.
All other times we saw her do this, she teleported with the stun gun already pressed against the target. Why is now different? (other than to give Vektor a chance to stop it)
Agreed, she took out Speedy Gonzales that way and he had even better reflexes than her AND Chia-Pet…
likely there was a rock in the way or the like. or at least, that would make the most sense.
Actually, Harem should focus on Vekter, while someone else focuses on Opal. He’s defense and watch: Take him out and Opal is vulnerable. Of course, you can’t afford a long battle, but that same teleport to behind him would (and still can) take him out, because there’s no one watching his back. Do it fast and silent, while Stalwart or someone comes in at Opal, and she won’t get warned. Done.
But you’ve got to be fast and have good coordination: Arc may not have that yet.
I’m going to claim that Opal’s portals are magical in origin.
You heard it here first, despite any evidence to the contrary.
Also, Harem should have got the gun into the right posture before teleporting.
She probable couldn’t see her good enough to teleport in the right position
Which makes them the portal version of Dabbler’s “Hammerspace” summon/teleport spell. Wonder if that means Dabbler knows the counter. I’d know the counter to all my more common spells if I were her.
I love phased vote incentives. Each time there’s a new detail to see
Opal’s portals are potentially the scariest power of them all. What’s to stop her from closing it while Stalwart is halfway on each side? Or porting someone’s lower half to across the street, without bothering to take the top bit? Can she open portals inside of another person? Just port away a chunk of heart or brain. I’ve long held that unrestricted teleporters are the most lethal supers in a confrontation. There’s a good story on Big Closet called “Harbinger” by Morpheus. That and the e-book “So they tell me I’m the bad guy” will give you an idea of what I mean.
The vast majority of teleport powers in comic books have the limitation that they only work on the entire object, not on parts of it. Judging from the role she took in the fight as a whole, it is a good bet that Opal’s portals are not much use offensively.
And when they don’t there usually given to heroes who won’t. NIghtcrawler can choose how much he ports up to the limit. So on the occasions we see him use it, it is against non-living robots such as sentinels.
Or that she avoided using them offensively so she wouldn’t draw aggro, and could thus get her team out again when the time came to GTFO (as it has).
Conservation of Drama. If artist wants to create someone who can dissect anyone they can see, then that’ll be the most salient thing about em. Opal is primarily about portals. No one’s secondary trait will be more important than her primary trait, otherwise that would be on a new character, who would be introduced cutting someone in half with her mind.
Nah, just open a one foot diameter portal between here and 40 000 feet up. Let the relative air pressure suck your problems away. Or you could open a 1 cm portal to some big hole in the Gulf of Mexico (not that far away) and aim it toward Maxima or Halo for the water cannon effect. I wonder if her portals have a limitation of having to open at the same level in the gravity well, which would prevent these effects or the one where you put the exit portal above the entrance portal and just let something get going at terminal velocity then move over a new target, like Max or Stalwart.
This plus volcanoes, space, the sun, etc… if she has the range. If she can only go as far as a 100 miles in atmosphere then some careful scouting is needed to find the best environments to draw from or I guess she could just create some large barely portable machines to draw from.
Funnily enough, this was my main method of fighting with a portal-using character in RP bouts. Bookmarks located at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, outer space, volcano, and several other places along with dropping things into a personal dimension until they reached terminal velocity and then opening another portal to let it out. Plus creating a small one beneath armor to “block” an attack as the exit opens up next to the offender so they get hit by their own move.
Portals are incredibly versatile and very strong. Even getting close doesn’t guarantee victory over someone able to use them well.
She might be a bit more limited than that. Maybe in a similar vein to Harem’s teleportation? She’d have to be able to see where she opens the portal, or be familiar with the location.
That is my guess too.
If its magic she can probably set up a special magical “bond” with certain areas or if the limitation is distance she could set this up with some machine created nastiness say in some semi parked within the limit. Like a semi full of pressurized gas might be useful if she had the antidote or something equally nasty like liquid nitrogen…
OMG
i swear i would have been HOLDING MY STOMACH LAUGHING if he had grabbed her boob instead of her head.
but their faces ALREADY HILARIOUS hehe.
Uh-oh.
Looks like the entire villain team is going to get away. I guess it makes most sense from storytelling perspective, but at the same time it’s is one of the oldest and most annoying cliches in superhero/supervillain genre. I sincerely hope that Dave is going to subvert this trope somehow :)
I’m fairly certain that Maxima would be capable of charging straight through that maelstrom of stone and tackling Opal faster than the human body is capable of registering if it comes down to it. So the question is not if it’ll be subverted or averted, but exactly how it will be.
Big question with Maxima vs. these two is whether or not Vektor can put his TK on living folks. He certainly isn’t about to stop Maxima by hitting her with stuff. His failure to stop Stalwart suggests that there’s nothing he can do to stop Maxima, and Opal’s portals probably aren’t fast enough.
Worth noting, though, that Opal is sort of like Atomic Bombshell in the “can’t really be captured” category. If you hold her, you have to do so while she’s unconscious, or she’s gone.
If he stopped defending and she was attacking someone else maybe he could slow her movements a bit. With Stalwart I guess he thought warning Miss “Let’s get everyone” would be enough.
I was wondering the same. He is not grabbing or pushing people at all, which right now would be the easiest way to deal with Stalwart or Harem. It is pretty probable he can’t affect living (or conscious) beings.
Also take account of the way his powers are described in the “Who’s who”.
In a lot of fiction, TK can work on living things, but muscle resistance still applies if the subject has a point against which they can brace. i would imagine someone like stalwart can power through the attempted grip
I really enjoy the overlaping faces in panel 6, very well designed, very smooth, that would not have worked with the afore mentionned comedic groping…
definately going to work that into my roleplaying descriptions somehow.
Also in the middle of a fight there wouldn’t be time for him to be embarrassed or for her to get mad or for anyone else to make jokes so it would be a wasted opportunity.
Halo stopped harem’s teleportation with her shield before so I am guessing she just shield everything to stop them from teleporting out?
If she can go that big then yes. Though she better have her buddies shield her well cause then the baddies are gonna get REAL DESPERATE. She’ll probably need to be reminded her shield does that to like say by Harem telling her.
Teleportation and portals are or can be 2 different things entirely. The shield might not effect portals depending on the portals mechanics. In several game systems I’ve played a portal is very different from teleportation.
Buuut I’d be willing to go out on a limb and say she can’t open a portal inside from the outside and has to make a portal big enough to swallow the current shield size completely in order to move Halo. I’m feeling VERY safe with this assumption. So make a very big shield and smash her and her boyfriends rocks to the ground! (after Harem reminds her it probably stops such things…. )
Unless there is some new restriction on the flight/shield combo lurking in the background to bite this plan…
It’s possible the Bubble only stops ‘porters from getting in, and not from stopping them from getting out
A reverse roach motel?
Possible though I thought that was why Halo put it up AFTER being jumped by shadowman. Cause she thought it would trap him. But she could have been wrong. Kind of felt like that is what DaveB wanted us to think but he could be messing with us.
Honestly, I think she raised it on reflex and accidently trapped herself with him, then used decided to use the situation to her advantage.
Yeah, raised it on instinct/reflex but was too late
I was thinking the same thing. A number bad guys they have already taken down where lined up so she could put heir shield around just them and maybe one of the heroes to be safe.
If Stalwart can react fast enough, he could pull Maxima through the portal so she has a shot right on Opal.
I don’t think that would work; can Stalwart fly? He’d have to in order to change his inertia enough just to get *himself* back through the portal, let alone bring Max with him.
Plus, in the commentary, DaveB already mentioned the portal is forcing Stalwart through and will zip shut in a second or so. Reader knowledge, I know, but still :P
Must not have been paying attention… sorry
Hi, Peggy?
Whatcha doin’?
Lettin’ ’em all get away? Cool, cool…
How would Peggy possibly be able to see through that maelstrom of debris to get off a shot? Even if she didn’t have the restriction they’re not supposed to kill the perps that would be beyond reckless. Not to mention she knows she has teammates going in and out of it, so with the addition of friendly fire I don’t see how she could possibly do anything about Vekter or Opal at this point…
Also, even the best sniper in the world probably can’t aim to account for a tornado in the way.
valid point
I would actually expect Peggy to try to neutralize Vekter, thus leaving Opal distracted and vulnerable
Exactly my thought!!!!!!
THIS is where the sniping should happen. Put a round through her leg….well… near her leg.
Perhaps they should go with something smaller than a .50 cal next time to give Peggy more options.
The problem with that is even without the obstacle of the rockstorm, Peggy only has her .50 with her. A shot through the leg would most likely mean taking the leg off. I suppose she could blow off a foot, but again the rocks are keeping her from getting a clean shot.
She also has her pistol. I wonder how good a shot she is with it? Seems irrelevant in this situation. That maelstrom of rock would cause havoc with her accuracy, even with the Barrett.
With prompt care, amputation is not an automatic kill. With the rocks moving at say, 100 fps, a .50 cal round from Barret at 200 meters is moving at 2458 fps, not likely to hit anything but her target. Vektor is apparently only moving debris and not the air since no ones hair is moving, so Peggy wouldn’t have wind sheer to take into consideration. BTW, IMO Hornady 750gr A-MAX ammo at 2820 fps and 13241 ft/lbs impact at the muzzle is a great choice. 2637/11580 at 200 yards :D
Rather than a matter of relative speeds, it is a matter of relative areas. If you have a random moving obstacle that cover 50% of the visual, there is a 50% chances that it be blocking at the moment the bullet arrive, no matter how fast it is moving (above a minimun, of course).
It seems to me that Opal’s hair is cleary waving around, and even if it is not drawed that way, I find hard to believe that all that objects flying around are not making a twister. Not that it could affect enough a heavy bullet in the split second it take to go thru though.
Do they make rubber bullets for a .50 cal sniper rifle?
Probably not, as it may not be possible to fire a low powder round from the Barrett. And a high powder round will be lethal no matter what it is made of. Most “rubber bullets” are used as shot from shotguns.
A rubber 50 call bullet would still blow your leg off
These are violent armed fleeing felons, so lethal force is allowed by law enforcement officers. That being said the military’s response to retreating armed forces can best be summed up by “The Road to Basra”. Peggy would be using that .50 aiming at Opal’s chest to allow for deflection by the debris.
I understand you want to keep it non lethal, and that is fine, but not in keeping with how things are really done. I like your story and the way you tell it, so I am fine with what you do. It should be interesting.
If going to go full murder-spree by the authorities (and pave the road for a Super Dictatorship), then just have Maxi mini-nuke the whole parking lot
Not sure what you mean by full murder-spree? Killing the one taking the rest out of there is not a murder spree, and could easily be justified by not allowing those who are attempting, or have attempted to kill, from getting away and killing others. The public safety has to be considered.
So far, she is seen targeting those in possible need of medical attention, so yeah, guess it makes sense to kill the medics, not like their is a Geneva Convention or anything
One ARC is supplying medical assistance, so you argument there is history. Two she has not proven to be a medic in any fashion. Three the Geneva Convention doesn’t cover terrorists (those not affiliated with and in the uniform of a recognized country). The safety of those Arc have sworn to protect must come first.
A good reference would be the current military’s Law of Armed Conflict (LoAC). It used to basis of the Geneva convention, but covers some of the points that you are making.
Archon doesn’t kill people (yet). Peggy can’t shoot either of these two, since unlike Concretia they look squishy and unlike Heavenly Sword they don’t have accessories to splat.
…can’t find it on the web, so you’re going to have to take my word for it… Tests show that any projectile which survive being shot an effective distance from a Barrett .50 do unpleasant things to the target.
In other words, no matter what the round Peggy uses, shooting her with a .50 is not allowed by Rules of Engagement. IF she’s got the equipment, a FB launched into the area would work a treat, though…
Peggy could effectively aim at the ground *close* to Opal’s foot. The resulting “shrapnel” from the ground would cause *some* foot/leg injury & likely to cause sufficient distraction to prevent Opal from creating any portals.
An indirect shot relying on splash damage should be a viable option.
This has been used to exceed the maximum score on army firing ranges.
Shoot the ground in front on the target.
If they have moderate damage resistance then this will be useless and a direct shot will be as effective.
Why appear where an enemy can see you and cover your approach/attack? 10 yards back, and neither baddie would have seen her before she got her shot off. And where is our sniper? An arm or leg shot might not be out of order. Does the sniper have any nonlethal ammo available, if you wish to go that route? I’m wondering if Arc already has a clue as to where these villains are ‘porting to, otherwise Max might be using more extreme methods to deal with this situation. Arc is seriously restraining itself during this battle.
If Max was willing to take lethal measures she could have killed most of the baddies right at the start with one blast
I’m assuming that puts her in range of the rocks.
Rock tornado makes sniping tricky.
IF the armband things they are slapping on them have powerful trackers and some of the ones with trackers have been taken then maybe they do know.
ARC’s field commander, Maxima, is seriously restraining everybody with lack of info (like she isn’t handling as much as she could) and I would say lack of coordinating commands that help them deal with not having Maxima act though I don’t know how much autonomy ARC expects of each individual member. Maybe “stop her”, “protect this asset” is as much as they expect their trained team members to need to know? Still pretty hamstrung though as they are acting individually assuming Maxima is doing her all? Whole thing is weird unless they consider the prisoners pretty low priority to muck about “playing” “what if” scenarios like this.
Harem isn’t holding a gun, but a tranqualizer. Melee range only
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1380
And no snipers don’t have non lethal ammo. If you get shot in your arm with a Barret, you lost your arm
Re: losing the arm
That would be true, unless you have a ridiculous armour class, like Max, Hiro or Stalwart.
I understand why she doesn’t have it here being caught flatfooted and all but she needs a tranq rifle as a secondary snipe solution. It won’t alway be adequate to every situation but it’d give her more less than lethal options in the future.
Real tranquilizer guns are CO2 powered, smooth-bore and very short-ranged. Usually measured in feet. Anything with sufficient velocity to reach from say 100 yards would act like a bullet. Or enough like one do do more damage than intended. Now if we could talk Harem out of that zero-range injector and give her a dart pistol, problem solved. Multi-barrel to select a decent dosage.
Why didn’t harem get both green hair and opal at the same time? She did say she could multitask.
Stressful situations make it harder to her to manage her multibody. Also maybe she cant think so clever under pressure.
They are on a hurry, and I guess she has not herself all together right now (pun intended :)
And, as Dave pointed out with the little phrase in the bottom margin of the comic, Harem probably wouldn’t want to risk more than one body in that rockstorm. To Harem, the phrase “breaking every bone in your body” carries 5x more significance than with anyone else…
Indeed. The more bodies, the more targets.
She theoretically could gang in, but that would mean several simultaneous vorps into a pretty restricted space surrounded with fast moving debris, plus two enemies.
Even if she could do it, she will need to promptly manage multiple too similar feedbacks to direct several precise fast moves while taking care of the incoming, with a high risk of get all her coordination messed up by a surprise hit, leaving her even more open to further hits.
Too risky.
Indeed, that was the point. Even though only one broken bone in one body doesn’t also break the same bone in every other body, every body she has manifested *feels it*
If can you imagine what it would feel like to feel every bone in your body breaking in quick succession 5 times over?!…
Right now Harem is down to two free agents. One is working as Peggy’s spotter/security, one is watching the prisoners, one is out partially with a gashed arm (maybe also working the prisoner detail).
So since Max seems determined to delegate and not handle the situation herself with invulnerability/flight/superspeed, I guess we’ll see Sydney calmly walk through the telekinetic shitstorm to Opal, extend the shield to include her (thus neutralising her teleportals) and belch in her face making her blind.
Might be safer to just fly through with the shield up and wack her and her boyfriend around enough to give the others a chance to restrain her. Everybody’s been wanting to see her do the “Bowler” attack for some time now so I guess this would be a good time but I think someone else is gonna have to suggest it to her as she isn’t used to thinking of herself as a weapon like Maxima does. I think Harem would be the best one to tell her this as Harem had the scariest run in with the teleport blocking aspect of Sydney’s shield.
I hope that happens.
No, just give Sydney one of the tranquilizer guns. That way, once she puts Opal in her force field, she can just knock her out, or carry a Harem with her, who has the tranquilizer gun.
That would be hilarious if Opal can still use her portals WITHIN the shield!
Sydney: “Time to go nite nite O’Holey One!” *Sydney thrusts the tranquilizer gun at Opal*
Opal: *portal appears in front of gun at the last second and another appears behind Sydney’s neck* “Sweet dreams Super Monkey Ball-buster.”
Why was the first thing that went through my mind when reading this comic GLaDOS’ voice saying “now you’re thinking with portals”? :)
OP Opal.
Couldn’t resist the pun.
I was going to say that Sydney should use the Lighthook against her, but then I saw it in panel one and realized she was already on it.
But it’ll just end up tangled in portals too?
Why is Vector not simply lifting Stalwart ? He cant be that heavy and Stalwart does not have flight .
Rock tornado must be near his limit of objects, force, speed to control?
This will be answered later.
I’m going to guess that he can’t effect humans directly
His profile states he is incredibly resistant to knockback I am assuming that he has a Juggernaut/Blob like power that keeps outside forces from being able to move him. He only moves where he wants to go.
I’m guessing that he can only effect non-organic things. We’ve really only seen him manipulate the asphalt and if I had powers in his area I would be throwing my enemies into the stratosphere. (Or into a jail cell. Y’know, if I was more heroically inclined.)
It’s actually a pretty reasonable limit on a power like his. Instead you should just have maxima drop an elephant on him. (Or a tree if that falls in the realm of untouchable objects.)
So their clothes/gear or just grab them with small objects pressing on them? That would be an easy limit to get around in the open though here I would just say he already has a lot on his mind!
That do not work. The fabric will be tearing apart, or they will just take the clothes off. Also most of them can blow up whatever object he use, like Stalwart there, one way or another.
With the level of power he is demonstrating he could press enough of your clothes against you to hold you without tearing them or just turn their belt into a snake and hold them. They could only get the clothes to stop pressing on them if they are stronger than him. Aaand lastly if their “bio-field” or whatever is protecting their immediate clothes then he could just grab multiple rocks and press them against them in various places to lift them off the ground. Being lifted off the ground really weakens the options of even the strongest of them. And if they concentrate on getting a rock or two off them he can easily replace them with another while they are still struggling with the first ones. Its the same as Magneto grabbing you with metal chunks. Easy peasy and I’ve seen it done a million times to get around the inability to directly affect organic beings.
Well, one thing is to be able to move an object and another to control each atom of it to strengthen it up.
In Vekter case he is obviously unable to preserve the integrity of the object he is using, otherwise Stalwart could not pulverize the rocks.
The multiple grab maybe could work. The point is that he is not doing it, the same way he is not grabbing them directly, so must be a reason for that.
In this situation in particular he is already doing a lot, maybe it is a matter of limits. Or maybe they ARE stronger than him.
PS: I think it is hard to see X-Men as respecting logic :) Anyway do Magneto ever trapped somebody that should be able to tear up metal?
Maybe its that, he is concentrating on too much already plus calling out what he can’t handle to his partner.
I guess I probably read more webcomics than read real ones but it seems that is the solution I always see to speedsters and the incredibly strong: Separate them from the ground if you can. If you don’t have the power to just lift them straight up there than juggle them with hits.
So I just figured it would work like that. He sends say at least 6 head sized or bigger rocks at someone to lift them up. They smack one of the rocks into a few fist sized or larger chunks. He sends the fist sized ones back around to shove upwards. He fires, what was it?, pinballs? So I assume he can handle pretty small stuff normally if maybe not so many objects in so many directions as what is happening here. So if he wasn’t holding a team off then I see no reason why he couldn’t keep a non-flier “juggled” for a while. Maxima as a flying brick able to withstand his best shots, and just about anything else, is his worst nightmare followed by the lesser nightmare of any flying bricks of sufficient defense. He would be a near God amongst most one-trick pony powers seen here(barring the really crazy overpowered ones like casually reassembling atoms with your mind within sight or something truly God-like!! But this world seems to be big on living organisms being “proof” against direct attack by many long-range exotic powers… )
OK, so Max sees this as one big surprise opportunity to test her team which means she doesn’t consider any of the rest of the targets team to be particularly important to hold onto? I mean, aren’t we loosing some of them every so many seconds this fight goes STARTING with FWT Death Tolls the guy who was wiping half her team before they calmed down? Granted SOME of them have such minor powers and got trounced so thoroughly that they probably won’t want to cause trouble on a large attention getting scale again but I can’t think her superiors will love this decision…. And some of them have powers that could have been a real issue with better strategy or if they get recruited by someone who can use their power to juice up power armor or a weapon or something…
I suppose a military mind might consider the risk of her members getting hurt or dead worth the huge leap in field experience and training but wow…
I heard someone mention the little medicating/monitoring/restraint devices above as maybe part of the reason for her confidence. I guess if they all have powerful tracking devices and the baddies lair doesn’t have adequate jamming? Maybe this training idea would be slightly less worrisome?
Oh well, she’s doing this crazy thing and it will be on her head later I guess and I know I’m gonna keep happily reading so moving on…. *sigh*
So *fake chipper voice* assuming its up to the rest of the team to get it done I wonder what their strategy be? Hmmm… it would be nice if this is a “lets see what they can do without me test” that Maxima would appoint someone else as test field commander so they would know on of their best assets is bowing out and start getting orders based on getting around that! (oops I said moving on didn’t I? heh) So I guess we assume its every body for themselves to follow the last “get ’em” order then, um, I guess Sydney should get every body with a great defense to shield her and then see how large her shield can go. If she can hold the area then they can settle down to strategize without loosing anymore hard won prisoners (yes hard won by some like those who got wounded or knocked out… ). IF we can’t risk Sydney like that then perhaps some kind of massive area of effect distraction like the flashbangs or gas grenades to make it harder for Opal to do her thing while the rest attempt to get around her defense which might also help if she needs line of sight to lock on targets.
No one’s been sucked through the portals yet, Opal is still priming them.
Question is are they tethered to them or can Harrm just start teliporting them around or Sid start grabbing them by there ankles with ligh hook and start running them around like fishes on a line. Also if harem wanted to plan for the worst go stuff one of her com necklaces on them so they can be tracked or just hug one and get taken along for the ride.
Harem can’t teleport the living (and she has mass limits unless she sends many of her selves into “storage”).
Depends on how Opal’s “lock-on” works. Maybe moving them won’t help once she is locked on. Plus that’s a lot of people to light hook.
Many of them already have tracking devices as a part of the devices that got attached to them to keep them unconscious after capture.
Going along for the ride might work… though kind of leaping into the unknown…
Thank you. That is very cool to know and very helpful. Wish I’d seen this earlier before making some of my replies.
I don’t know if Maxima knows that she is planning to take them all at once (or maybe she has to cause it is the most time conservative in battle? Makes sense. ) or how long locking on to that many people is going to take but she might given her experience or the ARC-LIGHT people might be feeding her their expertise in real time.
Thank you very much. That changes things, maybe including motivations, depending on character knowledge.
I am trying to figure out why she is doing that, why she is placing a lock instead directly port each one like she did with Stalwart.
Need/want she to port all of them at the same time? Why?
Have she a energy limit and it is more effective do it that way?
Have she a cooldown time and one multiple port is faster than multiple one port?
Is she showing off?
I am still working on it :)
I’m guessing the spell for quick portals in the local sphere take less time, energy and concentration then ones to far enough away to escape Maxima’s team (or just Maxima for that matter). Maybe she has come up with a way to get multiple targets long distances faster than doing it individually by making this bigger ritual lock on spell?
Am I the only one who’d like to see someone take on Maxima, Dabbler and Sydney and hand their asses to them on a silver plate?
Seriously… those 3 are really overpowered… but that makes it just funnier when they fall! xD
Well, Toll House Cookie Monster was able to handle Dabbles, and Sydney claimed that not even Maxi would have faired much better in a straightup one-on-one fight
Well… Cookie Monster’s powers had a HUGE weakness: they are merely defensive, and they counter ONLY the power that’s been thrown at him.
People like Maxima, Dabbler (it was Anvil who was knocked out, not her) and Sydney, who possess multiple powers, could have had some problems, but ultimately they would have come on top.
Especially Sydney, since one of her strongest powers, the barrier, is defensive as well, and Death Toll had no way to counter or bypass it.
Yeah, said she ‘handle(d) Dabbles’ as in was able to counter her attacks
Maxi has more than one ability, but she can’t use more than one offensively at a time (and knowing her ego, she would have amped her strength way up leaving everything else way down and even more vulnerable. damit Sydney, why did you have to stop her!)
The Strain is alright but I’m more of a comedy man myself. Game of Thrones being the only exception.
My general problem with horror movies is that I haven’t seen one that has anything scarier in it than what already occurs in real life.
So I’m guessing the Vektor can only move NONLIVING objects, otherwise he could just have picked up Stalwart and used him as a projectile.
Depends on the mass, like how the main reason why Harem can’t *vorp* a human is because of size/weight
He ripped up two gigantic hunks of asphalt from the parking lot earlier to make a Jabberwocky sandwich, remember? Whatever his mass limit is, it’s a lot more than even a fairly large human.
In Zephan Zoeng’s Who’s who it says that he was an explorer and adventurer. Does that mean that his life used to be a pulp adventure story? In his youth did he regularly punch Nazis in South America or stop mythical cult leaders in Europe. I’m really curious and really hope we get an answer one day.
Way back when Sydney was first unveiling her powers you saw what each of the interviewers was imagining when she opened the tube. Zephans implied that he has seen some pretty bad stuff. Less Indiana Jones and more Randolph Carter.
Yes, and don’t forget scaring the crap out of random bandits in the Gobi desert.
The Strain is very good. It is building at a steady pace instead of pounding in too much info right away. There is a nice character development flow but I think a bit more depth is required for a couple key characters.
I’m enjoying The Strain. Like most TV shows I haven’t managed to be a regular viewer, but they’ve managed to script it so that I’m not lost if I miss an episode here or there.
I was a bit surprised that they killed off Samwise so early, as he seemed to be a major character. But I think that GoT has pounded the theme of “anyone can die, and that’s not a bad thing” into the public’s consciousness and so more and more shows are going to adopt that style.
PS: Every post I make gives me a “timed out” message on a white page on the first attempt. The second time after I use the back button to recover my text it manages to post.
Telekinesis affects the light hook?
This is my idea, just yank Opal into the debris field that Vektor is causing.
‘Cept she is too fast with her short range moving portals so the light hook will be directed elsewhere. Possible resuming its original name….. O.O’
Portals, even if you assume a material edge (thereby preventing bisections and vivsections) are crazy powerful.
I sat down to make a Playing with Portals character in Hero once and soon realized the only way to capture all the tricks is with a multipower. A big one.
Easier to just make a “Portals” power pool.
I wonder if Opal can do that trick where you open one portal over someone’s head and another one under their feet so they keep on falling faster and faster.
And than, as they are moving really fast, place the top portal somewhere else so they smash into the ground
I just realized, that Halo can easily stop them both.
Earlier Harem could not teleport inside her shield, so it means, that she could not be affected by opal’s power. So, all Halo needs to do is to go in with shield up, and stop them with lighthook.
That’s…uh, very brave? No reason in the world that Harem’s not being able to port into the shield means Opal can’t open one inside it. Further, no reason to suspect Vektor can’t TK things within it.
Assuming that what Walter said isn’t so, Sydney’s Light Hook grapple attempt would run into portal interference just like Stalwarts grapple attempt did. EXCEPT THIS TIME IT MIGHT INVOLVE THE LIGHT HOOK RESUMING ITS ORIGINAL TITLE ON MAXIMA’S PERSON!!! XD XD XD Which means I suddenly wholeheartedly support this attack! Please Opal, make all attacks hit Maxima from now on out for hilarious effect, oh yes, please do! (little Miss Trainer so and so *grumble* *grumble* ) Especially any thrown pies…
Surely Halos tentacle thing won’t be affected …
My guess is that after hearing Vekter’s name over the comm system the first thought’s going through Halo’s pop culture mind was: “We have clearance, Clarence. Roger, Roger. What’s our vector, Victor?”
Totally unrelated: There is a web comic named Penny Dreadful, But I don’t know about one named The Strain nor True Blood.
The latter two are actually TV shows. True Blood just finished it last season.
True Blood was originally a series of books, which until the last couple, were much better than the TV series. Then they got just as bad :(
Opal has The Spot’s ability! My absolute favorite ability of any Marvel character. I fantasized about having that power as a kid sooo much. Or portable holes from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which are even slightly cooler.
Wormholes are the best.
Is Opal targeting the person or the area? If she is targeting the area, just pull the people out before she actually snatches the downed opponents away. The light hook would be perfect for this – when Halo sees the portal forming, she just moves the unconscious perp. Of course, if Opal is targeting the people then that tactic won’t work.
Does Harem actually break bones on multiple bodies, or just feel the pain multiple times?
“Harem can break more bones at once than anyone else”
Breaking bones on multiple bodies doesn’t really make sense…
The other one got hit in the same spot earlier is what I think they are hinting at. I’m to lazy to look up what exactly the earlier attack was but I’m thinking knife from Mach the knife (forget his real name). The tag line at the end was a funny reference to the huge amount of “potential” bones she can break and then feel simultaneously. Not that her power MAKES her bones break in every clone. Each clone just feels it a bit to a lot because their minds are perfectly linked.
Yeah, they just feel the injury, not sustain it on multiple bodies (unless the reaction causes one to faceplant an open cupboard door :P)
Still one of the top 5 strips in this comic. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/389
Inspired in an Observer’s comment it could be pretty efective for Vekter to gain time performing an Atomic Wedgie (c) on everybody.
And even acquire mementos. For either of them both :)
Of course he will need to fly at once and vanish forever, because he will become #1 in Max’s “to vaporize” list.
PS: I know Max have a clothes shield, but bear with me :)
Max’s body shield may prevent clothing destruction, but giving her shorts a yank is another matter. Remember, Sydney grabbed Max’s hat right after the bank job.
What’s almost as funny as the strip itself is some people’s reaction to it that it somehow marks Maxima as a bully when a) the punishment fit the “crime”, since I doubt Harem (and her pride) suffered more than Heatwave and b) she probably could have found a way to punish Harem officially (and much more severely).
Although I keep getting a mental image of how funny it would have been if Harem had been talking to Deus when it happened.
I always thought it was the first sign that Max had a wicked sense of humor. She is well able to hold her own and keep her team’s respect. She just prefers a deadpan delivery style, like right in this strip.
Shouldn’t there be a few rock debris teleporting with Stalwart; the portal itself is moving, so SOME debris would be caught up in that without a doubt. Is that merely a drawing oversight or a condition of Opal’s power, she has to target her target and the portals only bring them through?
Be interesting to know if this was just a small oversight or purposefully drawn.
Good question either way but it was probably an oversight.
I think she made her portal when he was almost reaching her, ie with him being inside the flying rocks bubble.
A villain shouting “Arrrgh! Paprika! KITTENS! CURSE YOU ARCSWAT!!” would be funny!
Forcing him to watch Paprika with kittens…Oh dear, he’s doomed!
If he is sufficiently allergic to paprika for it to knock him out of the battle, then it will also keep him from screaming too.