Grrl Power #254 – Sydney’s auditing a class at Acme Looniversity
Since the noise Sydney is making is hard to spell, I’ve included an .MP3 of it. The original tongue sound effect was achieved by someone wetting their finger, then popping it out of a bottle, then looping it, so it’s questionable how accurate Sydney’s imitation of it is. Harem has a lot more life experience under her belt than you’d expect for a nineteen year old, but that’s to be expected when you can do two or more things at once from the age of… I don’t recall when I said she first got her powers, I think seven? Anyway, she’s read way more books, had more part time jobs, and definitely watched more TV than almost anyone on the team, (except probably Dabbler or Zeph.) The point being, despite only being nineteen, she knows full well what Sydney is imitating. She just hasn’t quite figured out why. Not that anyone under 20 automatically wouldn’t, but the younger you are, the less chance there is that Lo0ney Tunes was a staple of your childhood. Heck, there are people reading the comic who will be graduating high school this year or next who weren’t even born when Space Jam came out. Yeah, I just made a bunch of people feel old. Myself included.
Anyway, realizing this while I was writing the page, for a split second I considered explaining the joke (for Harem’s benefit), cause as we all know, jokes are funnier when someone explains them to you. Actually, I think some jokes can be funnier when explained, but that’s everything to do with delivery.
You can see a hint of Anvil’s undies on this page, which is intentional but not necessarily intended to be lascivious. It’s more like, there are things that superheroines would have to deal with that superheroes wouldn’t as much (besides being thrown by your hair), for instance, if you’re dragged in to a super throw down when you’re wearing a skirt, there’s a pretty good chance a photo of your panties will wind up online or in a tabloid. Sure, Captain America could get his uniform torn down to just his tighty whities, but it’s much more likely to happen if you’re wearing something flimsy or revealing to begin with. Not that Anvil’s outfit was really revealing at all, but it wasn’t made of kevlar either. I’m setting up for scenes later on where the gals sit around at lunch and commiserate about such things. Of course, drawing Anvil in a battle damaged dress isn’t the worst part of my day or anything, I just don’t want to be too gratuitous about it. :)
Last comic I said that this page was the second half of a double page, which then got rewritten as a double. Here’s the original, which ended with Sydney tricking Vehemence into punching Anvil. It’s not… bad, especially if you imagine it as the second half of the previous page. I like the rebound line, but it sort of felt like it was missing a few panels that explicitly showed Sydney grabbing Anvil and yanking her in front of the punch. The challenge with sequential art is figuring out what you need to show and what you can assume the reader will be able to infer. That’s 101, 102 is concerning yourself with pacing on top of all the 101 stuff. You’d think during action you could cut out more to quicken the pacing, but then OnePunch Man releases an entire chapter that’s just the camera spinning around a character while someone jumps from tree to tree in the background.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey. I’ll make a permanent link for those somewhere on the page eventually.
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To quote a good friend of mine, “Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. Nobody really enjoys it and the frog usually dies in the process.”
Actually, there is a bit used out at the Renaissance Festival, wherein one does a simple joke, and a partner explains the joke to the patron as if the patron were an idiot. Pretty funny if done correctly, especially for everyone except the target.
True, but in that case the explanation IS the joke.
“Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. Nobody really enjoys it . . .”
I enjoy it. Oh wait, you mean frog as in the amphibian, not french guys?
I thought frog meant navy diver so I was dissecting the wrong thing?
A ribbeting experience, for sure.
Was it a French navy diver?
Is that a square frog, or is it frog squared?
a square frog was one that insisted on not leaving the 60’s in the past
The question being, why aren’t her clothes made out of kevlar?
When you’re the force equivalent of a battleship or an aircraft carrier concentrated into the size of a person, you’d think they’d do everything in their power to safeguard their assets (they didn’t want to deploy battleships against other battleships whatsoever because they were ‘too valuable to lose’).
Well most soldiers don’t wear Kevlar armor when all they’re doing is going to dinner. So you have to ask, what were the (statistical) odds of this happening? Three dozen supers (1 in every 1 million people are a super) all meat together a few hours after the TV press conference and congregate on the one restaurant in the entire country that the super team is at and crash the party? Like one in 3.5 billion
They didn’t all ‘meat’ together. Sydney is a vegetarian.
This question’s real answer is “because its a comic strip.” I mean, if non powered assistance is helpful (and a certain sniper seems to be), why don’t they have a hundred people equipped just like her wherever they go? Why don’t each of the Archon folks have a gun and grenades at all times? Why doesn’t Vehemance…and so on forever.
Everyone being maximally optimal might at all times doesn’t give the right story beats.
Because as good as Kevlar is at being armor, it’s not all that great at being pretty and feminine. Maybe you could start a line of armored fashions?
There _are_ bulletproof business suits and the like. Kevlar is a fabric like any other, it’s just that the individual fibers are less likely to break and the thickness of the weave and layering of different fabrics that make bulletproof stuff.
Honestly, with the resources they have, I’d imagine that blouse of Anvil’s could potentially have been made of Golden Orb Weaver silk- spider silk is actually stronger and tougher than Kevlar- it’s just too expensive (right now) to equip every soldier with it- but for unique special forces like Heroes, it should be the go-to material for their clothing. Plus, it looks amazing.
I have some Kevlar-lined riding jeans. The stuff looks like knitted wool but fortunately is not at all scratchy. It is however thick and blocks any air getting through it. A looser weave or thinner threads may be available, but that provides no protection. It’s one layer, two on the seat so not bullet resistant. Just abrasion resistant and able to stop broken glass or plastic from tearing me up. Undyed it’s a light yellow color.
If you don’t insist on bulletproofing I think you can make a soft fabric out of kevlar. This could be useful as it should be very resistant to tearing, and might prevent some wardrobe malfunctions, especially for bricks.
Because Anvil has no interest in wearing a combat uniform every moment of every day, and even if she did, the kind of combat uniform she wore would not be one that reduces physical impacts.
Did anvil just impale a man on her boots?!?! She hit him so fast she broke the sound barrier (the purple rings).
Looks more like she pounded him into the ground like a nail, Looney Tunes-style.
Ahem — he got hit in the head with a falling Anvil, OK?
OMG, I HAD NOT SEEN THAT LIKE THAT HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA oh goody
read it the fist time. got the road runner joke.laughed hard. read it the second time. got the anvil joke laughed HARDER. by the way is anvil seeing someone? cause DAMN!!!!! also vehemence can punch a shuttle. something tells me anvil is going have a fight on her hands…
“Ain’t I a stinker?”
Well, we’ve certainly learned a bit about the strength of her lighthook. I mean, being able to do a whiplash on Anvil … that can’t exactly be easy with how she absorbs Kinetic Energy.
And of course her fall … nice twist on the Cannonball move(I think that’s what it was called) from Xmen. Or for those who played Battletech at one time. Death From Above!
Anvil’s power does not seem to resist her being pulled or thrown, just sudden impact forces. Otherwise she would not be up in the air in the first place.
Battletech tabletop at the old Necronomicon in Tampa. Running around the map in a 20 ton Locust and basically making a PITA of myself among the 60-80 ton mechs on the field. No chance in hell of taking one out but lots of terrain to hide behind etc. Got onto a +3 rise just as two heavies pass into the canyon below me. “whoop whoop whoop” on the radio as I Death-from-above the closer, dropping 1 level and at full run. Critical hit. Cockpit. Instant kill on a 75 tonner. The person refereeing was flabbergasted but decided to make a “roll” to see if the last thing the previous pilot did was “squeeze”.
He did. Rolled again to hit with no bonuses, untargeted shot. Critical hit. Automatic punchout because his SRM racks went up. Two kills and a permanent ban from running light mechs…
Until the next day session where a Phoenix Hawk LAM (me again) took out an Overlord dropship fully loaded _before_ they could even land and unass. Credited with over 50 kills from one crit roll. :)
“nice twist on the Cannonball move”
bup bup bup… fastball special
Thank you for the correction, Deof. Age has not been kind to my Geek Memory. I’ve forgotten names of so many things I’ve seen over the years.
Scotto, how about running past the enemy, three Archers(I think thats what they were called, the mechs with paired LRM 20s) turned and unload on me. Not a single missile hit me.
Or a max range shot from an AC 20. I don’t just hit the target, but I get a head shot. Yes, a headshot. Which can only take at most 12 points of damage (this was back before a lot of the changes started dropping.) My unit was turned into a grease spot the next round as every unit on the other groups side in range hammered the mech. Kaboom.
I think the Paired LRM 20 Mechs are Vultures
Several ‘Mechs meet that description:
BMB-10D Bombardier (3025)
CPLT-C2 Catapult (variant of the CPLT-C1; two LRM-20s but only 2 small lasers for backup)
STK-3H Stalker (variant of the STK-3F, no large lasers, upgrades the LRM-10s to LRM-20s)
Ryoken (aka Storm Crow) (3050) (clan Omni) in Alternate Configuration C
Mad Dog (aka the Vulture) (3050) (clan Omni), primary configuration
Mad Cat (aka the Timber Wolf) (3050) (clan Omni), primary configuration
PPR-5S Salamander (3055) (actually has *three* LRM-20s)
BJ2-O Blackjack (3058) (Inner Sphere Omni), Alternate Configuration A
LGB-7Q Longbow (3058)
Crossbow (3058) (Clan Omni) Primary Configuration
Night Gyr (3058) (Clan Omni) Alternate Configuration D (*four* LRM-20s)
Turkina (3058) (Clan Omni) Alternate Configuration A
VKG-2F Viking (3060) (two LRM-20s and two LRM-15s)
Mandrill (3060) (Clan, non-Omni)
Cougar (3060) (Clan Omni) Alternate Configuration A
Ha Otoko (3060) (Clan non-Omni) (two LRM-20s and two LRM-10s)
Blood Asp (3060) (Clan Omni) Alternate Configuration C
P1 Perseus (3067) (Inner Sphere Omni) Alternate Configuration A
Scylla (3067) (Clan non-Omni)
There were one or two I left out that fall in the category of “missile boat” but don’t have dual LRM-20s. Like the Nova Cat (Clan Omni), configuration C, with its SIX LRM-15s. These are the ones I could remember off the top of my head; there could be others.
Wait a minute. Did I just say what I think I said? PLEASE tell me I didn’t just say what I think I said. “Off the top of my head”? I did all this from MEMORY? *sighs*
Okay, you can say it with me: “You’re such a NERRRRRD!”
(Near-photographic memory is almost as much of a curse as it is a blessing. I can design an entire Battlemech in my head… I have all the tables memorized. But it means my head is full of otherwise-useless crap. When am I actually going to need to know this stuff in real life? It’s not like anyone holds Battletech tournaments within a three hour’s drive of my home.)
For the record, though: If the enemy ‘Mechs were Inner Sphere, they were *probably* Bombardiers or Catapults. (The Archers had two LRM-15s, not LRM-20s.) If they were Clan, then probably the Ryoken, Mad Dog, or Mad Cat; I’m assuming the game you were talking about was sometime before FASA sold the game to Catalyst Labs.
Strange sort of reversal now. At start of the fight there were many unknowns and powers that could handle or at least cause trouble for the good-gal individuals since the opponents were, unlike movie cannon fodder, far from identical. Now we have one earthbound strongman who is way out of his depth despite his own predictions, since the heroines’ range of abilities lead to humiliation. Again, Dave surprises us – I think everyone (me certainly) expected ultra-tank against infantry but the villain has to live with his own anti-climax. I am sure the cameras are rolling for the PR-deterrent.
It’s entirely possible that Vehemence hasn’t shown the full extent of his powers. Somehow I doubt that this fight will be resolved until Maxima gets her turn.
True, I think most of the major cast that hasn’t been taken out of the picture will get their moment. His defeat is not going to be pretty. However … I’m wanting to see what Math can do! Not just that, but how much Math mocks him!
Math is still in lala-land, probably counting boobs…
Isn’t he like that even while he’s awake?
True, but in his dreams he can motorboat Anvil without having to dodge constantly.
And Max, Jiggy, the Harem’s, Jabs, and maybe Ari.
I give Math more credit than that. He’d ogle Ari maybe, but motorboat … nah.
I’m just glad that Anvil get’s a chance to shine further. I was disappointed that essentially her first fight with a serious villain(second if you count atomic bombshell or whatever her name was) ended with her quickly unconscious. Hoping to see some more Harem too shenanigans but she seems to be mostly support in this fight.
Actually, remember how Harem’s strength doubles (?) with each body she dismisses. With a single body, Harem’s roughly as strong (or stronger?) than Anvil herself.
No, single Harem is as strong as an unpowered Anvil, and an unpowered Anvil is simply as strong as a muscley 6′ woman
Assuming Harem can deadlift 200 lbs when there’s 5 of her (for easy math, she can probably do a bit more) 200x2x2x2x2 = 3200 lbs. Anvil is almost never totally drained, with the possible exception of the moment after she fought For Whom the Death Tolls, so getting her absolute baseline is tough. Normal walking around Anvil can deadlift about 4 tons.
Was close :D
By ‘unpowered’ meant ‘normal’ (for Anvil), without getting extra charged up by haveing Wart punch her in the face a few times :P (or Math pinch her bum ;))
Uh… DaveB, just in case, in the vote incentive (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1268) Anvil was deadlifting 8 (eight) short tons (16,000 lbs) been uncharged (there was a little math ping pong that time :).
However as you just shown, 4 tons do fit far better with Harem numbers.
This isn’t even my final form!
This page made me laugh out loud.
(I’ve never been able to do the tongue thing that well, myself.)
Dave mentions it is a loop of the sound is a wet finger popping out of a bottle neck. No way to duplicate it. I just settle for an old-school razzberry.
Makes one wonder about the thought process that brought about the sound and its use in the first place. “Hey, let’s just record and loop random stuff and see what happens.”
There is a book called “Chuck Amuck” out there. A bio of Chuck Jones and an excellent look at the insane asylum that turned out the Warner cartoons. Including why he had to use Charles M. Jones for so many years. And was explicitly told by his boss bullfights are not funny, thus winning Oscar for “Viva Bugs”.
At least Vehemence isn’t another Lee-Press-On-Claws – talks big but faints at the sight of his own blood. Vehemence can at least take some real injury and keep coming.
Sydney is definitely gonna level up after this fight.
She sooo needs to spiral the Lighthook into an Ogre club.
Thank you the biggest laugh I’ve had all day! It took me a good minute to stop laughing at that punch line! And it’s something I would do in Sydney’s shoes!
If I were in Sydney’s shoes, I’d probably squirm all day. They look much too small for my feet. =OD
I think what to show wise, the original with Sydney’s tentacle looped around her would get the job done… although that’s more reader seeing something before it happens, rather than surprising reader.
-S
So I just noticed, but why is Math the only male member of ArcSwat with the snazzy choker like the ladies?
They don’t look that good on the more muscular necks.
Uh? Everyone of them except Stalwart, has been using it. Although the art do miss them here and there.
The ones who have the choker have half chokers
Well, not exactly.
There are 5 mens.
Amorphous and Hiro have an open one (“a half” is a bit far, it just do not cover the Adam’s apple). Amorphous is cause he stretched, and Hiro cause the size of his neck.
Stalwart never used one yet so nobody knows.
Achilles and Math have one that is alike the ladies.
The ‘open’ is what was calling ‘half’ because it certainly wasn’t a ‘full’ one
Fine. Half it your way.
Anyone else really like the fact that someone actually responded to a shouted “My turn!” by successfully dodging?
Stalwart is a trained fighter with some experience. His mistake was to try to anchor V too soon. Thanks to Sydney, V can’t follow up his punch either.
Stalwart has proved that Vehemence can feel pain. Which means that Vehemence will either not get up at all, or well get up REALLY mad. Probably the latter. Come on Maxima, your turn!
The thing is, our villain has to have more than just strength and durability. Maybe regeneration? Or some sort of energy thing? Otherwise, he’ll going down quickly.
Given the establishing shot in Panel 1, I’d just like to note that Harem vorped in behind Sydney for the express purpose of being unable to get Sydney’s joke.
I think Harem’s just so young, she’s not hip to the Road Runner.
Though she’d probably be right up there with a Pokemon joke right about now.
Considering how long it took some of us ‘oldies’ to get the full joke
Oops, teamwork trumps Inverse Ninja effect.
Not the reply to I was looking XD
Just in case you were being serious :) you said “She got her first dupe at 8, second at 9, third at 11, fourth at 14. ” (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/997#comment-42745).
BTW, just curious: does this implies that she could not teleport before she got her first duple? It seems logic but I was wondering about that since a while :)
Wow, nice sleuthing. I should write that down. :)
Harem’s power fascinate me quite a bit, so I have been paying attention ;)
Both statements could be correct (having not read all of Dave’s previous rants and comments). The dupes could just be an extension of how her teleportation works, i.e. if she uses something akin to “copy and delete” teleporting, a dupe could result from skipping the “delete” portion. Could make for an interesting backstory power reveal (suddenly having two sets of eyes, ears, etc.) as well as allow for more dupes in the futures.
Skipping school, yet being there as well…
Holding onto a stack of dishes and having one fall –only to lung and catch it with another whole instance of herself.
The book “Jumper” comes to mind. (The movie was okay, making up for a lot of dreck with CGI, but the book was hella better)
One thing I never did get about the movie:
If they were trying to avoid these other people following them throught the portals they made, why didn’t they do something like teleport into midair for a split second and then onto their real destination?
Probably because it’s been tried before.
Duplicates are what happens when you try (and fail) to teleport across time or alternate-possibility timelines.
Than following that pattern, Harem could be ready to “pop” a 6th body any time now (if she’s is going to anyway.
Dave has discussed that she is at his planned limit for her. In addition, her strength for all copies is halved every time she adds another one to the mix. She is currently at ‘normal’ human strength with 5 bodies extant (bonus word score!). At 6 bodies she would be barely able to walk, let alone fight.
I’m not going to tell Dave what to do: if he wants to keep her at five, he will. Whatever serves the story.
But, again having not read all of Dave’s previous comments, I don’t necessarily agree with your logic. Obviously, at the current time, losing a dupe doubles the strength of those remaining and halves them when replaced. I don’t agree with your assumption that the initial creation of a dupe halves the strength of those dupes that already existed. I view the process as additive: as a whole, Harem has a greater maximum strength, rather than a lower minimum, with each new duplicate. Additionally, I don’t like the idea that she was born with twelve times the strength of a normal person and has been progressively losing it, but that’s personal taste.
DaveB – Did you name the character ‘Anvil’ just for this one joke?
Well, She hasn’t yet met her “Hammer” yet..
That girl doesn’t need a audition, she’s already a loon! Best thing they could do is put her in a straight jacket and throw her in the rubber room were she belongs!
PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE TROLL!
Says the troll.
so untill I commented this convo was a troll trolling a troll FWtDT aka rogue?
For Whom the Death Trolls?
Come to think of it, getting trolled by Death would be probably one of the scariest things in the world. Constant “I’m not going to kill you now. Well, maybe not. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.” messages.
Text from Death at 5:30 am
“Today you die”
text at 11:30 pm
“Sorry got held up catch you tomorrow. XOXOXO Death”
Good luck with anything beyond the first step.
Anvil should have done the Goofy “Woo hoo hoo!” as well as she was yanked down for the impact.
Either that or a spinning sign saying “Eep!” should have been left in her wake.
If you’re going to pull out the old cartoon tropes, may as well go all in!
Halo is really figuring out the tricks with Lighthook, so far the Shield and Lighthook combo is pretty damn good stuff!
You mean when Goofy yells “WA hoooohooo weee!” Best fall down line.
Catch up, DaveB already used it: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1303
You know this isn’t even close to done. If a space shuttle weighing hero doesn’t slow Vehemence down this little anvil stunt shore as hell wont.
Though nice lace panties there Anvil.
Uh..wtf? Vehemence was shown to also have super speed 2 page ago while Stalwart only have strenght and armor. I understand he got the first hit thanks to surprise but how the fuck did he dodge Vehemence’s punch and stomped his foot without him easily dodging?
Also,I been wondering: can the lighthook go through the shield or is the orb creating the lighthook already outside?
Well, Vehemence was trying to out strong the strong guy, going for alpha dominance rather than anything strategic. Although, it could be argued that flattening the second strongest member of the team has some tactical value beyond just removing him from the fight. It could also be argued that easily dispensing with him using the full range of his abilities would be an even better move, so just a bad call really.
The same reason why Sydney managed to trip up Fedorka: just because he is super speedy doesn’t mean he can’t be caught unawares
Hah! Yes! Anvil CAN fly! I KNEW IT!!!!!!!!!!
How do I know this? Simple. She cannot be any higher than 20 feet straight up, or Sydney’s lighthook couldn’t reach. People fall at roughly 32 feet per second, which means that in order for her to take 10 seconds to hit the ground again, she would have to go 480 feet up into the air (minimum), which is about eight times the reach of the light-hook. I’m guessing Sydney has a 0.2 seconds as potential additional reaction time for Sydney, and you’ve got a distance of anywhere from 160 to 224 feet traveled…except Sydney can still reach Anvil. Therefore, Anvil MUST be releasing force (somehow) to slow down her ascent, and reducing her climb rate by a ridiculous amount–anywhere from 30% to over 90%, depending on the panel timing works out. Otherwise, she’d be out of reach of the lighthook, and Sydney could not have done what she did.
There are, of course, those who would say that Mayhem just tossed her more gently, and they would normally have a valid point…except for that 10 second figure. Since gravity essentially subtracts the force from your acceleration, the initial acceleration of the toss has to have been sufficient to propel her up for about five seconds, and the speed of her ascent will be greatest at the beginning of the flight. Thus, in the first second she will travel 160 feet, in the second, she will travel 128, then 96, then 64, and then 32. At the end of the fifth second, her speed will be essentially zero, and she will be 480 feet in the air–or about 48 stories, to give you an easier figure to imagine for us non-math types.
So…Sydney’s reactions, right? Maybe Sydney was just that fast, that she hooked Anvil before she got out of reach? That IS possible…but if so, we know what one of the two missing orbs does, because the upper limit of human reaction time as recorded online is 103 milliseconds. In other words, it would take Math a good tenth of a second to react to Anvil getting tossed into the air, and Sydney is nowhere near as fast as Math is–remember, we’ve seen them square off. Even Math’s reactions, which rate as the best of the best, however, would still require Sydney to be an terrific shot–she’s only got one try at this, you see, because even a 1/10th of a second puts Anvil 16 feet into the air. Even giving Sydney a reflex time of .200 milliseconds (which would put her in the 80th percentile, or better) would mean that Anvil was out of reach by the time Sydney could react. Even if Sydney started to react as soon as Mayhem grabbed Anvil’s hair, it wouldn’t be fast enough, because the math for accelerating somebody that much in that little space means that time involved is practically non-existent.
The only possible explanation? Simple: Mayhem tossed Anvil a LOT harder than that, and Anvil is essentially blasting force out her back to provide a jetpack effect, and she’s powering this by absorbing the impact gravity is having on her. By focusing the jet-pack out of a smaller area, she can essentially increase the decceleration gravity would normally impart by a factor of five or more (more than this the human body will not tolerate), meaning that she would still be within lighthook range. This would also explain why she hit Mayhem so hard when she came down–she’s literally got a jet engine strapped to her back that’s powering her fall!
Ah, yes, fun with physics. Ain’t life grand?
Grr…sorry. That first paragraph should read as follows:
“How do I know this? Simple. She cannot be any higher than 20 feet straight up, or Sydney’s lighthook couldn’t reach. People fall at roughly 32 feet per second, which means that in order for her to take 10 seconds to hit the ground again, she would have to go 480 feet up into the air (minimum), which is about eight times the reach of the light-hook. I’m guessing Sydney has a 0.2 second reaction time (this puts her in the upper 20% of human reaction speed). Add to this the 1 to 1.5 seconds required to say the dialogue and perform the actions (I timed it), and you’ve got a distance of anywhere from 160 to 224 feet traveled during the intervening panels…except Sydney can still reach Anvil. Therefore, Anvil MUST be releasing force (somehow) to slow down her ascent, and reducing her climb rate by a ridiculous amount–anywhere from 30% if she grabs Anvil IMMEDIATELY, and the discussion takes almost no time to over 90%, which is what would be required if the conversation takes the full second and half that I got when I tried it. Otherwise, she’d be out of reach of the lighthook, and Sydney could not have done what she did.
Ignor the nay-sayers! The laws of physics apply to everyone and everything (mostly). Maybe Sydney was working on that “three moves ahead” advice from Math, so she was prepared for the inflight interception. Or maybe DaveB just wanted to drop an anvil on someone’s head…
Um… you know how they said explaining a joke kills the joke? Over-analyzing a super hero comic isn’t any better.
Actually, I would disagree (obviously). In my experience, superhero comics require EXTREMELY extensive analysis, for the simple reason that they are in no way comparable to the world we live in. If a writer is to create and maintain the necessary suspension of disbelief for any kind of superhero comic, they have to analyze everything pretty extensively. Otherwise, the story can’t draw people in, and keep them there. The same holds true for science fiction and fantasy–the single most important step is world-building, where you determine what abilities the characters have, why they work the way they do, and when they don’t. This gives your characters limits, which is the primary source of tension in a story. Nobody is ever worried about whether or not Wolverine will survive a fight, after all. He’s Wolverine. He recovers from ANYTHING. The question is, can he win? Sometimes simple survival is not enough, and Wolverine is actually pretty easy to neutralize–that’s what makes him popular. It’s all very well to point to Star Trek and a few other shows, and say, “don’t over-analyze, it screws up the show,” but the reality is that if you have to say that, you’ve already lost the audience. When somebody’s first reaction to a panel is “that’s impossible,” you’ve got a problem, because now they can’t get into the story, and you’ve just lost a customer…unless you’ve been so consistent in making the explanations for other things obvious that your readers can take it on faith that you’re not ignoring the rules, you’re just using the “impossible” action to foreshadow something new.
As long as the Author remains consistant with their worlds’ rules, then there is no need for anal-eyes’ing
Mmm… here https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1242 the Lighthook seems to be more than 20 feet to me, for instance.
Anyway: how do you know the max Lighthook reach?
Also, Anvil’s “10 seconds” seems more like an estimate than a conclusion based on exact calculations.
Or she was taking her upward velocity into account. There’s a moment when a baseball that’ll take 10 seconds to reach the ground again is less than 20 feet from the batter. Five seconds going up, five seconds coming down. Maximum height around 240 feet.
First of all: upward velocity. If Anvil’s upward velocity was only enough to propel her upwards for two hundred and forty feet, she would only be airborne for six seconds and change (about 6.5 seconds, as close as I can figure). Here’s the math:
1st second descent: 32 feet per second, for a distance of 32 feet.
2nd second: 64 feet per second, for a distance of 96 feet (32+64)
3rd second: 96 feet per second, for a distance of 192 feet (32 + 64 + 96)
4th second: 128 feet per second, for a distance of 320 feet (32 +64 + 96 +128).
Since what goes up must come down, tells you how fast Anvil would have to get thrown upwards to get to 240 feet. Now, at 100+ fps, Sydney might be able to catch Anvil, but I doubt it–she’d have about .2 seconds to act, assuming previous range estimates. This is quite possible, but it conflicts significantly with the time estimate–a six-second arc would probably be estimated as being something like five seconds.
Range: I don’t actually know where the 20 feet comes from. I know I’ve seen it, probably during the initial discussion, but darned if I can find it. However, given that the orbs won’t get more than twenty feet from Sydney (judging by her car’s hood and stuff), I figure that would still make sense regardless.
While we have seen tentacles that are longer than twenty feet, I would point out that length and range aren’t the same thing–range–the light hook could easily have unlimited length within that twenty foot range, with the range limit simply being a limit in terms of how far the energy can/will be projected.
sounds to me like the teather for the orbs themselves as listed in daveB’s comments under one of the early posts (while the orbs where still tubed) but not checking if figure is right or exact post
I don’t think you’re allotting enough time for the wind-up. Vehemence and Kenya have enough time to say quite a bit while Vehemence is grabbing her hair, indicating at least a few seconds’ delay between Vehemence grabbing Kenya’s hair and Kenya being flung. I’m picturing Vehemence grabbing her and swinging her around himself in a circle a few times, like a hammer throw.
As for catching her, there are a few mitigating factors. One, the molestorb isn’t a human muscle—there’s every chance that it can react literally as fast as Sydney can send it mental instructions, which means as much as a hundred milliseconds’ faster reaction. That’s an advantage. Another advantage is, Kenya’s a large target that Sydney just has to, essentially, draw a line across. It’s not like hitting a baseball, where you’ve got a tiny target in all three dimensions to try and meet.
So I don’t think Kenya can necessarily fall more slowly than mere mortals. Really neat, informative, well-thought-out post, though.
I am, actually. Windup or not, the acceleration needed to get Anvil that high requires a certain speed of throw. If Mayhem takes a full second to accelerate Anvil, he would have to spin her around no less than four times to get the distance needed. Since Sydney has no way to know when he’s going to let her go, that all boils down to reflexes again.
However, your assumption is incorrect. Hammer throwers do, indeed, spin around before throwing, but they only spin once, to accelerate. The hammer, weighing 17 lbs, is sufficiently heavy for this to be necessary…but if a thrower spins more than once, than the release means they fall flat on their ass. Why? Because balancing an object that is that big, and is going that fast, requires that you be (essentially) moving with a similar level of momentum yourself. So long as you have the hammer, you can spin the momentum, which creates a sort of balance. If you don’t have it anymore, you WILL go flying off in the opposite direction. This is why hammer-throwers always stagger when they let go (I know this from experience). Looking at Anvil, I’d give her weight as being something like 200 lbs, perhaps more. THat means that Mayhem would be trying to control something like 600 pounds when throwing Kenya…and when he let go, he would essentially toss himself backwards with all of that strength.
But wait! It gets better! If you watch a hammer throw, it takes a bit less than a second for a really good throw to come down. Why? Because for all the distance the hammer is thrown, it’s upwards velocity is pretty low–only 16 fps. Assuming a throw of 160 feet (which is a pretty respectable throw), the ball is actually moving at slightly better than 160.7 feet, and is launched at an angle of about 9 degrees (I think), which is close enough to flat so as to make no difference. So, in other words, if Mayhem is spinning her around as a wind up, Anvil is moving even FASTER that I initially supposed. If that is, indeed, the case, then Sydney’s orbs have to be granting passive super-powers, because that’s well beyond human range.
And while I realize that the lighthook operates at literally the speed of thought, that’s not as fast as most people think it is. Most reflexes and/or reactions of this kind do not involve the brain at all, you see. Instead, our spinal cord handles any kind of instantaneous responses like that, as it cuts something like a half second from our reaction times. This is one of the two factors that makes the whole 3-steps thing work so well: humans can sort of pre-program their spinal cords in this manner, meaning that step 3 gets unleashed significantly faster than would normally be possible. The extent to which we can do this determines the speed of our reflexes. In other words, the thought part of our response is actually the slowest part of the whole process, and thinking three steps ahead is so effective because it does not allow time for the opponent to think, respond, or alter the sequence.
For the record, to give you an idea as to why planning ahead 3 steps makes a difference, and how much of a difference it makes, let me give you this to think upon: my reflex time is about 0.38 seconds, on a good day. Most days, it comes in at about 0.42 seconds or slower, which puts me pretty solidly in the bottom 1% of human beings. My friends, on the other hand, have commented that, under certain conditions, my reflexes can become almost blindingly fast–in such conditions, my reflexes can and do outmatch the reflexes of people who are in the top 1% (we’ve tested this). Why? Because I plan ahead VERY extensively. The only effective way to out-pace me in those circumstances is to do something I don’t expect–planning ahead cuts roughly 0.3 seconds out of my response loop, which is…well, to be honest, it’s retardedly fast. Now, me, I have to plan about 4 steps ahead–I can’t do it with just 3, because the difference is so great. But in order to make that work, everybody has to do EXACTLY what I expect–if my brain has to get involved, my reflexes become awful again. That’s what the 3-steps ahead relies on–you cut the decision loop so much that you are essentially responding to events before they happen. It is a very nifty trick, and lots of fun.
Sure, major league baseball players do the same thing—they hit balls on a regular basis that are moving faster than human reflexes should allow them to track. Experience lets them predict the location of the ball, by watching the pitcher’s motion.
I still think Vehemence’s windup is taking longer than you’re modeling, though. The two of them have a short conversation during the grab and windup; if there’s enough time to talk, there’s enough time to react. Time’s a bit stretchy in that regard; everybody in comics seems to have the superpower of fitting way more words into a given timeframe than should be possible. But it also makes sense that in order to overcome Kenya’s kinetic absorption, he’d take it a bit slow so that she’d be caught off guard. If he just goes in and yanks, well, she’s already primed to absorb a punch. But if he does a more subtle, less forceful push/pull move, she may be more likely to react by trying to keep her footing than by using her absorption power.
So I think the windup probably took longer than just what would be necessary to accelerate Kenya’s mass at the rate implied. Not much longer, sure—nobody besides Sydney reacted, after all, and with a base speed rating of 5, it’s probably fair to assume that Maxima has super-reflexes at some level. Sydney, though, is genre savvy. So my thinking is that as soon as Vehemence went for the hair grab, Sydney predicted he’d be throwing Kenya. So, like you say, three moves ahead: Sydney has a plan before the throw even really gets started.
I guess I’m not arguing the math so much as the tactics. I also tend to favor fan explanations that support the existing material—it’s just how I tend to think. Given the level of strength and the masses involved, if Vehemence were moving at full speed, it would definitely require something more than what’s been presented for the physics to even come close to matching up. No disagreement from me there.
kenya doesn’t seem to absorb being swung but V doesn’t actually have as much to deal with pushing him off balance as the arc she seems to move is almost straight up so two or three times round and out of action in the air (as was often guessed in the last set of comments) while he is dealing with downward force not lateral
I’d like frame 10 better if the light hook wasn’t in it. It looks mechanically awkward to throw anvil from that position rather than just dragging her out of the frame and releasing her like a sling.
Otherwise a very fun page.
Alt text for panels 7 & 8;
” We’re not taking turns, that’s stupid. You’re stupid. ”
” Well all right then. ”
( I love one punch man. )
Alt text for panel 11:
“Please tell me I didn’t go commando today, please tell me I didn’t go…. What’s that breeze?”
=OP
The Road Runner is classic, and its been around forever and a day, luckily its even older then me…
I am laughing so hard at her Road Runner impression! Especially the face in the last panel! XD
wouldn’t her power reduce the force of impact?
Ask the guy who received the nose boop of doom.
that was when she was releasing. remember that guy said that it felt wrong when he hit her. he said it was like hitting sand.
200lb sandbag hitting you at terminal velocity….nope, still kills a squishy human.
if she absorbs the impact that would cause herself to have broken bones and releases it through her feet at the same time then she will hit vehemence with twice the initial impact force which is quite a bit considering the speed at which sydney tossed her.
It’s the difference between hitting a sandbag and being hit by one. Between her mass and speed V got nailed hard. And Anvil’s share of the impact was turned into a strength boost as usual.
when I 1st saw panel 6 I thought he was prepping a special attack
So I had to go watch some Road runner to get this joke. And it was glorious! :D
I sometimes feel sorry for Wile E. But what would happen if he ever actually caught the Roadrunner?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeEHT-ruA90
Poor Harem! Such a
depraved– I mean, deprived- childhood.No, she knew Sydney was doing the Road Runner, she didn’t understand why
The “why” is actually the easy part: because she’s Sydney.
Make that ‘why now?’
Why ask why? =OP
(Very old CR)
Bud Dry
A thing to note is that the LightHook is formed at a given length and starting shape out of Sydney’s mind. So it is _really_ fast, yes? She then may move it as if she were Telekinese-ing, but there it is. Light speed, formed at a thought. So yeah, she could snap it into being around Anvil just by looking at here –on the way up even.
Length? I don’t remember seeing a maximum (hurr hurr) to how long she could reach with it. Probably going to be one of those items to cover in training, yes? Make her more fun at Power-tag in the off hours –very few people could catch Harem off guard, but the LightHook… maybe.
Everything’s good and funny, but the artwork on the mouth is wrong one image the guy losses the tooth next to his front most teath the next it’s his k9 tooth that’s gone. You can count them too k9 three teath bam missing tooth, then the next image k9 and four theath missing the bam the k9 on the other side is gone.
Keep up the great work and looking forward to the next page.
getting the guy’s foot? excellent.
stopping to gloat instead of finishing the job? not very wise
Syd is using smarts to fight this guy. XD
Now, I could play the 1812 overture, or perhaps the Anvilania national anthem (if I wanted to put you to sleep), but there’s another jaunty tune I’d like to share:
(with no apologies to ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin on my Head’, and no remorse whatsoever)
Anvil is fallin’ on your head
And just like the villain who got too big for his hat
Stompin’ Vehemence flat
Anvil is fallin’ on your head, she is fallin’
Just wondering if anyone else here takes the Metro bus in L.A. and has seen the challenge to this week’s Transit TV LA Health and Fitness segment: What is a Scoville Unit? Looks like I’m going to have to use a lifeline on this one.
A Scoville Unit? Isn’t that what you would call Sydney’s family home? :D
It is a measure of the heat sensation generated by peppers and other spicy food. It starts at zero for a bell pepper and ends at about 10,000 for a jalapeno, for me. for the rest well, here’s Wiki with more
Looking it up on Wikipedia… or Googling it… or using onelook.com… or….
Why didn’t I think of that? =OD
BTW there is a new hottest pepper called the Carolina Reaper which had a single pepper hit 2.2 million SU.
How do they keep it from spontaneously combusting on the bush? Bury the plants in ice?
They can only grow it in the Antarctic,
Which explains the melting problem.
Looks like Cracked.com came up with a handy chart.
Leave it to Cracked to make everything clear.
I would expect sonic waves emanating from every blow of the super powered and their near invulnerable skin. So Sydney better keep up her protective shield just for that alone, not counting being so close to two-plus-two-super bruisers duking it out toe-to-toe.
So many can’t recall they can use the internet for answering questions.
I would expect sonic waves emanating from every blow of the super powered and their near invulnerable skin. So Sydney better keep up her protective shield just for that alone, not counting being so close to two-plus-two-super bruisers duking it out toe-to-toe.
So many still can’t recall they can use the internet for answering questions.
While some people are congratulating Sydney for being clever she is actually anything but. Rather than pulling Anvil down she ought to be lifting Vehemence up. Or just wrapping the lighthook around him: if it is anything like the orb that generates it it will effectively be an immovable object unless Sydney wants it to move. It likely wouldn’t end the fight, but it should at least force V to show one or more of the trump cards he must be holding to make him think he can tackle all of Archon at once.
Or she could hold him up at, say, 22,000 feet for a while. A big muscle bruiser like him needs a lot of oxygen to keep burning. Or she could toss him out at escape velocity and call it a day.
Throwing him into space…ehhh, It seems tactically sound, but a genre-savvy Scoville is unlikely to risk him dropping back to earth at some dramatically appropriate and utterly inopportune time. Also, without knowing his defenses against such things it probably doesn’t count as “nonlethal” which, in spite of how much force has been thrown around, is still the order of the day.
Unless you factor in that Anvil had not reached the peek of the rising arc when she had that thought, thus not being as high as your theory projected. (And that she was probably giving a rough estimate and didn’t actually calculate her own airtime.)