Grrl Power #256 – Tactical shift
That was an impressive hit, but if anything Vehemence seems to be picking up steam. I would have liked to soften that up a little by starting with a panel of him reeling a bit from the tumble, or at least Anvil’s chin smash, but that’s not the critical point of the page. The fact that Maxima is finally coming down from on high is.
Getting her face right in the last panel was important. I wanted her to look just the tiniest bit crazy and/or excited. Not steepled fingers crazy, just the realization that she’s going to get to cut lose on someone. Normally panels like that where someone’s wearing a subtle expression take me several tries, but I managed to knock out something pretty close to what I wanted on the first try, (not including the usual juking around the eyes to make them even and stuff like that, so… yay!
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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*pulls out a cell phone* Yeah…yeah, Larry? *pause* Hey, I need to place a bet. *pause* No, not on the MMA fight next week. I need to place one on the Maxima versus Vehemence fight about to happen. *pause* Yeah…the supers fight. *short pause* Yeah, put me down for $100 on Maxima in 6 pages. *pause* Got it? *short pause* Awesome. See you at the bar this weekend. *click*
you realize of course Dave just might stretch it out to seven pages (and then collect the winnings from the bet he got his friend to make for him)
Who’s to say I’m not the friend you speak of?
My bet is that neither wins, and then Vehemence vanishes
I hope you realize just how much you put yourself “on the hook” with that bet. If you lose & welsh out on paying it, your bookie will have very good reason to “find Waldo.”
;)
That actually made me laugh out loud.
You sicko, DaveB.
You left an unfinished bracket!
Now where will I find a lonesome “)” so that I can go to sleep tonight? D:
You’re looking for a lonesome “)” so you can sleep tonight?…
Well, I’m not one to actually try sleeping with punctuation marks, but Hey! Whatever trips *your* trigger is okay too.
Sleeping with a bracket is sort of like spooning.
And it’s usually best to make sure she’s not on her period.
And beware of spastic colon…
Maybe it’s just me, but that sounds like an ’80’s metal garage band.
I wonder if Dabbler could distract Vehemence by flashing him? Though, that might have a debilitating effect on the rest of the team…
…If she flashes V with her “Awesome Lust Aura,” it MIGHT just end this fight quickly & peacefully.
On the other hand, would it really be a good idea to enflame his lust when he’s already engaged in violence? That might be cause for DaveB to shift this to an Adult Comic status, but I don’t think that’s what he’d want to do with it.
If her sleep spell needs to be about 1000 times stronger to work on him, odds are her lust aura wont do the job either, not unless she cranks it up all the way and I expect the results of doing That would take the comic out of pg-13 territory whether it works on Vehemence or not,
Actually I think the most surefire way to take him out, barring an unexpected ability to teleport or the like, would be for Maxima to get inside Sydney’s shield and carry her, Sydney uses airtight, radiation proof shield and lighthook, grabs V and they all fly into orbit, wait for V to surrender (or pass out) and then the fight is over… While not the most spectacular way to end things… I do think the view of V’s reaction when he realizes what’s about to happen would be hilarious ala “Whoops” squared.
More likely of course it would probably just force him to reveal more of his powerset which would be a win for the audience too.
It worked for Jabberwocky (although accidentally and for a different recipient).
Am I the only one hoping that Vehemence beats Maxima on a one-to-one, or at least comes distressingly close to beating her? I just think it’s time *someone* stopped her from gloating about her powers so much.
Considering what we’ve seen of both what Vehemence and Maxima can do, I wouldn’t bet on him being the one to shut her down. If he was that strong the rest of the team would be having much more trouble than they already are. I wouldn’t worry about her going unchecked though, the page of evil foreshadowing from earlier seemed to be pointing to someone in her league coming back for round 2.
little worried as dave said V is reving up and taking the hits better than when the team started on him so we have to wonder is he still soft enough to get taken down by max or has his per round increase in combat power/stats reached challenge maxima levels yet???? could that be his real power abilities grow as he fights but fade back to brick super after time not fighting?
Vehemence might be another one who’s in part powered by being attacked. Or just powered by violence (“I’m pro-violence”). In which case he’s probably actually getting more powerful as the fight goes on.
The way his power is increasing makes it sound like either Combat Empowerment (ability to grow stronger from fighting) or Superior Adaptation (ability to adapt to any situation, automatically gaining the necessary abilities to face them)
Could also be Adaptive Power-Level (ability to adapt one’s power-level to surpass any opposition.)
Adaptaive Power-Level sounds like the Hulk…The madder he gets, the stronger he gets. As far as it’s been depicted in Marvel, no one has yet been able to stand up to the Hulk long enough to find out if his strength even *has* an upper-level limit.
True, but World War Hulk just felt like an endless sequence of deus ex machinas. No matter how strong he is, a character who can’t fly or do ranged attacks (other than clapping) should have been easy to immobilize.
This is all on the assumption that all his powers have already been shown to us, could be possible he’s holding out for Max (that may just be wishful thinking though)
It’s shown on this page that he has at least SOME working knowledge of magic and I reckon that the marks on his body are to do with magic rather than his power, hell, the magic marks (if they are indeed magic) may even be the source of his powers, I dunno.
Point is, there’s a lot we still don’t know about this guy and i’m hoping the next fight shall be a close one.
Apparently Hulk recently pissed off Zeus enough for him to stop manwhoring & get serious. Result: Zeus reminded everyone he took down the Titans & his father by beating the hell out of the Hulk.
Why is what Maxima does considered “gloating” and needs to taken down a peg because of it, but what Vehemence does (which comes a lot closer to that, IMHO) either is not gloating or not deserving of being taken down a peg because of it? And “it’s because she’s supposed to be a heroine” is a non-answer because one should apply the same standard should apply to anyone who he or she considers to be gloating.
Wasn’t it established in the comic that while she is apparently “gloating”, it is a calculated move intended to provoke this response? She taunts the egomaniacs to get them to come at her, the idea being that they’ll cause less death and destruction amongst the general population as long as they’re pounding on her. She knows that she’s extremely powerful and almost indestructible, and even if there are supers stronger and tougher than her she’s got the rest of the gang protecting her back. Odds are that someone able to take her out will have some weakness that can be exploited by her the team.
It seems to me that he’s not really a villain in the traditional sense, he’s certainly not a hero either. He’s just some self-serving super looking for a chance to cut loose…
I can just imagine him now I wanna really cut loose and these guys look like they have the potential to let me better bring along so of the weak assholes I know so I know if I can fight them without holding back. If they do good enough I might even throw them some pointers to make it more of a challenge. If they win it was worth it for the fight and If I win they’re likely to improve and give me more of a challenge next time. Hell I’ll probably even let them keep these chumps just to keep them out my and everyone else’s hair.
But, but…Vehemence doesn’t *have* any hair…
Figuratively speaking
This, more than anything, is what is making me hope he actually ends up either:
1.) Becoming a recurring semi-adversarial character, showing up to:
—A.) Yank the team’s collective chain when he’s bored, or he figures they haven’t seen action in a while (a few weeks, tops).
—B.) Act as a giant pressure-release valve. He can take a beating, he enjoys a fight, and even supers can get stressed out. It’d be like punching a pillow. Made out of tungsten-carbide. That also punches back.
OR
2.) Becoming an actual member of ARCSWAT*. (Which doesn’t prevent option 1-B from happening.) (Recall that, other than the telekinesis guy whose name I’ve forgotten, he hasn’t caused any real permanent injury to anything other than the parking lot.)
*Because having someone as outwardly disarming as Sydney on the team, but having them be a mega-brawler, would be absolutely hilarious.
I can picture it now… (poorly)
*Sydney grabs the tanky-villain with the lighthook, (shouting some obscure geek-reference about tanks) and throws them at Vehemence, who’s been taking a nap because he doesn’t deal with ‘orders’, and he’s freaking bored*
*SMACK*
“Eh?” *one eye cracks open, glances down at dazed tank*
*yawns*
*grabs villain*
*shouts “FIELD GOAL!”, & throws the tank back @Sydney who has formed the lighthook into a football goalpost*
*goes back to sleep*
This idea string brought to you by “Why I’m not a comic creator.”
I figured it out, it’s Super Hiro in disguise. That’s why he tore off his shirt in the beginning, to hide his supernatural ability to lost his shirt in freaks of accident.
Super Hiro got his head stamped on by Toll House Cookie
i don’t see why sydney doesn’t just pick him up with lighthook and slam him into the ground several hundred times…could be fun.
…or just choke him with it until he passes out (assuming he’s an oxygen breather and not an alien) or breaks it. Or have Sydney lighthook his butt up into the stratosphere (again, assumes he breathes oxygen).
Also, I’m not really a fan of the whole “World of Cardboard” speech/trope. Do we really have to sit through a couple pages of it, given that the world (and Vehemence) presumably already knows this from the “explodey-go-boom” demonstration at the presser? It really only works if the villain in question is presumably unaware of the supe’s power’s (a la Darkseid when he ran into the Boy Scout from Krypton).
Ok, Veh is way too intelligent to be doing this unless he A: has an immense ace up his sleeve thing. Or B: has a “get out of jail free” card, like diplomatic imunity,
There is a C possibility… He actualy wants to get into jail for some reason. Stage a jailbreak for super prissoners from inside perhaps?
He owns arc-everything. Remember the guy with the thunder recording for when he laughs? He knows eventing about the team, and that guy was obviously a super villain.
However, both of those guys shared a splash page a while back, so while Arc-Owner is definitely a supervillain (or Lex Luthor analogue at least), they are not the same person.
Fedorka is NOT!!11!! Deus X Mechina
Well, there is a simple answer for how he expects to avoid legal consequences regardless of win or loss.
This Isn’t His Only Form.
Drum roll please.
He’s actually a Clark Kent type working at the downtown bagel shop. This … its a “therapeutic” way to blow stress. Well at least in His mind it is.
If he is the “Clark Kent” type, I’m going to laugh if his “disguise” consists of nothing more than putting on a pair of eyeglasses, with further guffaws if he can’t figure out why it doesn’t work any better for him than that it does for “that guy in the funny papers”.
Actually I’m wondering exactly how they plan on keeping him and all the others captive. Between teleporters and people who can punch through anything, is there a facility in existence already that can contain them? Otherwise they’d be out of jail faster than the Joker from Arkham.
That will be interesting. They could keep them sedated, but that’s not really a solution. They could try to counter or nullify their powers (Dabbler’s got to have a few tricks up her sleeves – she has four after all. Well, not the way she dresses, but I’m getting distracted).
Containing the villains is always much harder than capturing them. Unless you’re the Punisher or something.
You know, I could see Dabbler providing a ‘pocket universe jail’ for them.
Or, possibly magic. I’d actually kinda like to see the hyper-teched Gov’t agency full of physical superheros not having some sort of fancy ‘Power nullifier technology’ going on, but rather just tagging the villains with non-violence Geiseses, or putting them in regular old jail cells inscribed with ‘unbreakable’ or ‘inescapable’ runes. Because while anything Science-y is objective and has a demonstrable upper limit, Magic is Subjective, and can literally be as powerful as necessary.
Maybe a nice bunker on the moon. Go ahead and break out. Hope you like the cold vaccumn of space. As long as the teleporters can’t just VORP back to earth from that range.
There’s probably very few teleporters that could do that from the inside of a cell. A few more might be able to do it if they could get a direct view of the earth. I’m talking a window and not a screen.
Harem would not be able to do it, or at least that’s what has been said in the comic up until now. Perhaps her power will evolve to that level eventually, but I wouldn’t put money on it.
Not sure if it’s been said yet, but…missing close-parenthesis in the commentary! Argh!
Just for that “Deus ex maxima” pun, you win an internet.
Good day !
https://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/034/706/winternet.jpg?1318992465
“Let’s take this outside… the county.”
Ah, I see. You want to start an international incident.
Or possibly interstellar/interdimensional.
Outside the county, which might only cause an Interstate incident.
Actually, I was just thinking Maxima will want to avoid more damage to the urban environment, especially with her level of power (and Vehemence’s abilities, whose limits are still unknown). Let the EPA yell at her for wrecking a forest or a grassland.
Oh, I just realised vehemence is the creepy rich guy from earlier.
You mean Deus?
No, Deus looks different
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/797
No he isn’t. Creepy rich guy has hair, and less muscle, and no weird tattoo that can glow, and a “X” shaped scar on his forehead. Vehemence is a totally different dude, if you look at the page with all the upcoming villains you can recognise him as the first one, the dude with the same hat as he was wearing while watching the fight.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1189
Its me or the one’s in the middle are Vecter and Opal?
First is Vehemence, the blond guy is unknown for now, the third is Dabbler enemy, fourth is Max worst nightmare, here are Opal and Vecter, ninja kawai is other unknown and Deus…
Some people believe it is them, some do not
I’m pretty sure that in the comic of foreshadowed enemies, Dues was the last one, Vehemence was the first, but i too lazy to go and confirm it right now.
My bet is that Sydney will win this by using just one of her balls on him.
For being a female, Sydney *does* have a lot of balls…
Sydney: “David Caruso! David Caruso!”
Honest impression from a non-artist on the last panel, I get more of a worried or concerned look. Not necessarily worried about how she’ll do, just worried he’s way more powerful than expected and the Maxima option is required. That’s what I’m getting from the crease above the nose and eyes turned down toward the nose, and the mouth not smiling but just simply parted.
Hold on, when she called on Maxima, I think I might just have spawned life. Glad its turning into a fight after all. I mean the boss battle….years for one fight sort of qualifies as it is.
I wonder what happened to HALO’s Lighthook after the first two panels?
Chasing Anvil but lost her in the dust cloud. Halo may be poking around to see if she can find Anvil.
That will be fun if she pokes the wrong area :D
Like Anvil isn’t mad enough already.
She might like it though ;)
I didn’t know Anvil had any wrong areas to poke.
Unless you mean from her perspective.
Meanwhile in Pentagon
Alarm sounds followed by an announcement through speakers. “Defcon Max,…… I repeat Defcon Max,……….. This is not a drill,………….. I repeat this is not a drill.” In one of room two generals looking at each other “I thought they were just having steaks tonight.” says older looking general.. Younger general turns and looks at older one. “It seems our enemies were faster than we thought considering we already have a teleporter it wouldn’t be too surprising if they had one as well. Anyway if we want the city to be intact order Harem operation ‘rabbit hole'” Older general looks worried “We didn’t try operation ‘rabbit hole’ with live subjects something may go wrong.” Younger general cuts in “We have no choice.”
This fight is getting a bit…silly. No one has tried a foaming/sticky weapon…..no one has tried a sticky, blinding weapon….no one has tried lassoing him with a molestorb and playing toss and catch with him.
No one has tried depriving him of air, either by chemicals, or altitude.
They have an entire armory of weapons, and a teleporter to go get them and they just keep punching each other.
And now we call in someone that hits harder?
I suppose you didn’t see the concunsion granade that Harem throws at him.
Or the gun being fired at him
Or the sword which actually injured him.
Or the spell which tried but didn’t effect him.
Or the several effects which weren’t just punching but harmed him, such as Halo sending an Anvil down on his head, and Anvil sending the Earth itself against him multiple times (Nautilus Slam!).
I understand that thet’re trying the same stuff they’ve already been doing…that’s kinda my point. He goes toe to toe with Anvil and Hero and incurs darn little damage.
So let’s toss a concussion grenade..that packs less of a punch than Harem.
Now, let’s toss a spell while he’s looking right at it.
And let’s shoot bullets…which pack a smaller punch than getting hit by telekinetically tossed bricks.
A smart leader would have started using techniques and weapons that he HASN’T been watching for the last 1/2 hour.
I’m picking up what brody is putting down. Heck, he knows them all by name already, so it’s likely any variation of their already demonstrated powers is not going to be any more effective.
His tooth is still missing, there is still a bit of blood from the sword slice, but by and large nothing is having a truly lasting effect, or slowing him down in any way we can perceive at this time.
His comment at Anvil might be a hint that he wants to fight each of them, maybe every new opponent gives him a power boost? Temp or permament, it would also explain why he attacked them all at once and turned on the other villains.
V does not want to fight Anvil, specifically. He cannot hit her with getting hit back with an amplified punch. All he really wants is a one-on-one with Maxima.
He didn’t “turn on the other villains”, he bitch-slapped Opal and then punched Chia-pet over the moon
Uh oh. I think I figured out what needs to happen to beat this guy.
But I don’t predict comics anymore. Superfogeys taught me the error of those ways. So all I’ll say is, if I’m right, the Chekhov’s Gun is already on the mantelpiece. It just needs to be fired.
I’m very curious what you think Chekhov’s Gun is
Chekhov’s Gun:
quickly looks on wiki-pedia
Chekhov’s gun is a dramatic principle that requires every element in a narrative be necessary and irreplaceable, and that everything else be removed
“Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.”
—Anton Chekhov
I don’t think he was asking for a definition, but what the person to whom he was replying considered a “Chekov’s gun” in the comic.
I don’t know if David has planned what I THINK he has planned. It probably isn’t. But something has been revealed that, if used properly, would take M down pretty much painlessly.
Sydney can do it. She just needs to realize that she can.
Thank you for mentioning Superfogeys and ruining my plan of going to bed early.
-_-
Bwah hah hahhhhh! My work here is done.
Except for a Shameless Plug for my own webcomic, at quarktime.net. It’s on hiatus right now, but it WILL rise again!
Am I the only one who’s ship-sense tingled? *puts on life preserver for the ss vehemax*
That took me a second to understand.
Ow.
And mine didn’t tingle. At least not in the traditional sense.
In the “grudgingly-respected effort-worthy opponent” sense? Yep.
Scariest part for me is Maxima having purple shadows across her face from purple hair. She has her own ‘accent lighting’?
I bet her glasses will Shine if she wants to
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScaryShinyGlasses
Been there, done that: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1142.
Dave said he’s had that image sitting around since before the entire web comic was created.
He used to be an adventure like you till he got shot in the knee, now he goes around in glee of violence, the bullet to the knee didn’t even phase him.
(and it’s a high Impact Caliber round too. wtf is this guy made of? remember that indi Superhero Comic (The Outsider I think it was? where the one guy couldn’t be harmed by anything but had no sensation other than taste sight and sound, but someone managed to kill him with a plastic bag? This is who Venomance and Maxima remind me of, only the power mutated to allow physical sensation)
There was a character in ‘Rising Stars’ by JMS that that happened to. Awesome series. Definitely worth finding.
So, anyone aside from me feel like the intelligence arm of ARCSWAT is falling down on the job?
Because the villains seem to know all about the team (yah, yah, news conference) but the good guys know _nothing_ about the villains. It’s pretty clear that this is not the first time at the rodeo for Vehemence, so _someone_ should have had something about him, even if only peripheral. How do they not know about Vekter, or Opal, the portal generator, or even Knifey McKniferson the Speedster? These are some pretty specialized and practiced powers, unlike Brick the Hairstylist or some of the others who are obv. “new” to the game. You don’t just up and suddenly know how to properly use superpowers; you have to practice, practice, practice. Using them, whether for good or bad, gets noticed– it’s how they found Sydney.
How have they not noticed a guy who can literally walk through walls? Or someone who can portal a crew of bankrobbers into a vault and out again? Or run through a crowd and commit mass murder with a knife? Or telekinese a Cadillac across a parking lot (though I must admit, that would come in handy during the daily commute)?
Arc-Light knew who are Vecter and Opal.
“Zee, I know you’re excited about knowing someone’s name, but how about telling us something useful?”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1477
They should have more than a nom de guerre there at ARC-Light, oughtn’t they? More than “His name is Vekter, he’s a powerful telekinetic!” at the very least. I mean, the fighting team figured that out on their own.
Not really. In context it appears as though their abilities are only being analyzed by ARC-Light and conveyed during the fight. I don’t see any reason to suspect that they knew about those heroes and their abilities prior to this fight.
V does seem to be well ahead on the intelligence front, but that’s not outrageous considering that ARC had never even known of much less confronted any of these villains previously. V knew about them, obviously, and we may learn how this came to pass. And I sincerely hope that we do learn how…
Some of it can be chalked up to people being mistrusting of the government (e.g. Sydney’s fear of government run vivisection teams). V may also have super-powered supers detection capabilities, and at least for now it appears as though he has extraordinary abilities to convince others to take certain actions. It does seem that the harsh realities of combat allow for more “saving throws” against his influence, taking Hex and Super Barber as examples of people wondered why they were participating in this combat at all.
In ArcLight’s defense, Vehemence got to stand by and take notes while ArcSwat fought. Plus, he seems to be almost the same level as Sydney in terms of genre savvicity, whereas ArcLight’s job might be more in line with recording known information than in generating strategy and theory.
They ‘noticed’ Sydney because she got caught up in a bungled publicity stunt setup (without prior arning from one of the main stars) by Ari
I already looking forward to see Maxima Fight seriously. :D
btw: Will there be a Leroy Jenkins joke at some point? Or did it already happened and I only have forgot it.
So is Math still down for the count after jabberwakky’s Booby style attack? You would think the guy would be more used to getting over a nose bleed then that.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1432
She followed up the flash with a knee to the nose, and it’s only been a few minutes at the most
I have a distinct feeling that Vehemence is holding back – and that he won’t allow the conflict to escalate to the point where fatalities are likely.
He has his own purpose – while beating the heroes may be part and parcel with that purpose… I do not think that it is the whole of that purpose.
The Auld Grump
Actually, Chutzpah is Yiddish for shameless audacity or impudence. Or, GUMPTION! :) Just thought I’d let you know! :) (I’d also like to know what story it was that gave you Chutzpah as a magical term, just as I’d like a solid explanation for who a female wizard would be without defaulting to the Harry Potter witch, which according to my interpretation of the Brother’s Grimm, is the female for warlock, and their example of a warlock [or the one I remember anyway] was someone willing to eat chopped up people in their stew for additional power / to appease their insanity.)
And now that I have thoroughly grossed you out with unnecessary information in the middle for a request for information, I absolutely LOVE this comic! Can’t wait for more, ESPECIALLY THE AWESOMENESS OF SYDNEY’S “INSANITY”!!!!! ;D
See you Monday!
To be fair, most Witches in fairy tales _did_ have a penchant for Long Pork.
Chutzpah as a wizarding term could potentially come from Kingdom of Loathing, or it could be a reference for how magic (or sorcery) relies on force of will to work.
Or could just be DaveB trolling the geeks and nerds :P
It’s also a stat in the old Toon tabletop RPG, in which you play Looney-Tunes-esque cartoon characters. The Chutzpah stat governed things like your ability to pull dynamite out of hammerspace or paint doors on walls, then go through them. (In effect, it was the “magic” stat.)
Ah! you three make much sense! Thank yous!
I dunno. I think his originally stated reasoning is probably pretty close. He got a bunch of people to get together to attack the group. This shows that ARC is needed because of dangerous supers. Also, he stopped them from being embarrassed by letting them all get away. Now, he’s playing the big bad that’s hard to take down/gets away to keep Maxima from being turned on by the people/media for being an out-of-control danger. Ensuring ARC gets kept around, staying as a challenge for him (if he wants the over-the-top exercise) and a group to point at his enemies.
That being said, this only is likely if he knows he/they are able to get away later, if they are willing to be fugitives. Knockout bracelets aside, Dave has stated that there’s no magic ‘power canceler’ in this universe. So I imagine the bracelets are short-term, immediate danger use only. The law certainly won’t allow for people, even criminals, to be kept in a coma or serve their jail sentences ‘asleep’. Opal is going to be able to leave anytime she wants. Most of the supers are also, without super guards being present.
Wonder if they’ll use a jail like Alcatraz just to make it harder for the supers (who can’t fly anyway) to leave. Or maybe an underwater jail like an Atlantis type.
No, DaveB said there was no ‘catchall’ universal power canceller, as in each one would have to be specially tailored to the individual
With that in mind, and the KO wristbands for an example, there may be a special holding area partly prepped and full of modular accessories to built custom cells or personal restraints for powered prisoners. The issue may be how much room they have. Since nobody expected a mob like this at all.
Zack Tilly, hopefully that almost-Villain we saw before the fight started can get on the crew building the new “Super Holding and Forced Training” building (or “S.H.a.F.T.”)
I just realized (after laughing at your on-page comment about Anvil’s Boop!) that it has been far too long since I’ve been reading the good stuff! Not to be mean or anything because the action is amazing and I like it and all, but this comic is hilarious, and we’re missing just the slightest bit of humor. Once again, not trying to be mean, because I know you’ll bring it back (that much good humor is not something to be wasted when we have an atmosphere of powerful action after all!), but I thought I’d let you know that there could definitely be a little more gut-busting hilarity in the next page, if possible (and I just remembered Harem’s colas! :D). Well, like I said a few minutes ago, see you monday!
Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance!
Touch my monkey!
Thaumion excitation? I could be wrong, but I think he means “recitation“?
Speaking of which, thaumaturgic/thaumaturgical might be a better choice as well, but what do I know?
‘Thaumion’ sounds more like a racial thing rather than a school of magic, and ‘excitation’ may have been the spell she was casting rather than the sleep spell she used on Glowworm
Sounds more like a fundamental particle of magic, or something like that. Like photon, electron, neutron, that kinda thing.
It’s arcanobabble.
“Thaumion” sounds like it’s based on various particle types, notably fermions (a category that includes quarks, electrons, neutrinos, and various others). A “thaumion”, then, is presumably a particle of magic.
As to “excitation” in this context*, most likely it refers to energizing the particles in question–the way you can pump a photon into an electron to increase its energy state. (When the electron “relaxes” back to its initial state, it will emit a photon. This is the principle behind optically pumped lasers.)
At a guess, spells in this magic system function sort of analogously to lasers. You build the spell structure out of thaumions (which may be quanta of magical force, rather than actual particles, but that’s probably a distinction without a distance). Then you pump energy into it until it reaches its “firing” threshold, and it goes off. Dabbler either needs a spell-structure that can hold a much higher level of energy, or to pour more energy into it before firing, in order to get through V’s defenses.
*I’m not going into quasiparticles and collective excitations, because I don’t think that’s what was being referenced here.
nah, that would be the correct usage of the word “excitation”… it’s how the gasses inside a Neon bulb work to make it light up. the power supply puts a frickin’ HUGE amount of voltage across two electrodes inside the tube and causes a spark to jump from one to the over, just like lightning does, this is “exciting” the gas molecules/atoms into a higher energy state, and when the voltage goes away a short time later, the gas gives off that extra energy as a glow that we can see.
Dabbler is causing the local? Magic/Thaumion field to be in a higher energy state than it was just previously, by the act of casting her spell, unfortunately for all the effect it has on Vehemence, it may have been the same as trying to start your car with your cell phone battery… just not ENOUGH juice to get the job done… thus, his comment about it needing to be at least 3 orders of magnitude greater to affect him. that MAY be possible, but since ARC-Swat is STILL, operating under Maxima’s “keep it non-lethal if possible” orders, she may not be willing to bring that level of magical power into play… YET…
as for who’s gonna win this fight, I’m still putting my Moxana Points on Halo… V is gonna kick the crap out of everyone on the team… probably including Max by being able to either dish out more than she can max out her defense stats in at any one thing, OR, as just as they took out FWTDT, they did it by hitting him with more things at once than he could counter at the same time… he could do something to Max that has her maxxed out in one stat, then, faster than she can react and swap out stats (fear vomit anyone) he does something else to her that she is NOT ready for and poof!, down she goes… then Halo is the only one left… why else would she be called/nicknamed “Big Guns” from Anvil in the 3rd panel here: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/60
based on the number of replies i would have to say “never underesternate the power of a bunch of nerds with access to the internet”
Looking at this and the comments, I want to refine my evaluations.
Vehemence is still clearly enjoying the HELL out of this battle. He’s fully aware of all the people with public IDs, so Maxima — and the fact that her power outdoes pretty much everyone’s — is something he knows and seems unconcerned with, perhaps even looking FORWARD to.
He appears willing to take, or perhaps unwilling to prevent, MINOR injuries — a flesh wound, a stamped foot, a lost tooth — but seems able to completely shrug off, without damage, far more powerful attacks. This may imply that only WEAKER attacks really harm him, and the stronger the attack, the less effective it is. This would be similar to Dune’s duelling shields, which would shrug off bullets but a slow stab with a dagger went right through.
He is also CLEARLY genre-savvy and far, far more educated than most of his randomly-assembled wrecking crew. He appreciates good banter and style, and so far doesn’t seem to be going for lethal attacks. He’s amused by Sydney’s genre wisdom.
I am inclining to the suspicion, voiced by others, that Vehemence is someone with the ability to enhance themselves through some mechanism — possibly by magic, as those lines and symbols DO look runelike. But it could also be, say, super-nanotechnological enhancement.
In either case, though, this is a man who THOUGHT THIS OUT. Anyone thinking that he’s going to just get beat by someone punching harder is probably flat-out wrong, unless Vehemence has *SERIOUSLY* underestimated the top end of the scale — and he doesn’t seem too worried about that. The theory that he gets stronger the longer the battle goes may also merit some consideration.
Looking forward to the next sequence.
I’m going to save myself some effort on mentioning all your points and just second your entire post.
Almost called it!! Got the “Anvil upside down”, got the “Anvil showing her glorious glutes”, just didn’t have the “Anvil buried headfirst” :(
Who knows where or how she ended up in all that dust?
In the game of power, I’ve learned many, many things. This comes from a wise villain who was mentoring his #2.
“You may be the strongest, but there is always someone stronger. Have you forgotten my teachings?”
Bruce Lee once said “I have the absolute confidence not to be number two, but then I have enough sense also to realize that there can be no number one”
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=DOli9N3CM02BkM&tbnid=NJ_FvR5AQZWv9M:&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwhowasbrucelee.com%2Fi-have-the-absolute-confidence-not-to-be-number-two-but-then-i-have-enough-sense-also-to-realize-that-there-can-be-no-number-one-bruce-lee-3%2F&ei=IM43VIThNJTxarLfgYgN&bvm=bv.76943099,d.d2s&psig=AFQjCNGLGDZaLz67rkL5lHc5Pp9ZI7zy1A&ust=1413029772801631
“I have headphones louder than this” His neighbors must hate him.
No, if he had stereo speakers louder than that, they would hate him, they love him that he uses headphones
not when you’ve got your headphones on trying to listen to something and you can still hear what their listening to on their headphones
Maxi’s face is perfect: you have 2 expressions in one: top half is all serious slash ‘mad nao’, bottom half is all ‘happy happy joy joy’ that she can finally get to have some fun :D
I posit that Vehemence has super healing linked to an Aid power (a la Champions) which boosts him every time it heals damage delta by another power. So his entry into the combat was step through a damage shield force field (Vektor’s), take a punch, kick, slam etc. He doesn’t absorb, but as long as the damage doesn’t put him out he heals and boosts –and the boost is also effecting his heal and boost itself…
The win condition against him is to have Max fly Sydney to an island with force field up around them both a and Lighthook dragging him along. Drop him alone with nothing to attack him, leave some supplies (water, MREs) and pick him up again when he is puny and weak.
Dealt not delta. Stupid spell checker ….
In a nutshell: “That which doesn’t kill me makes me stronger”
And that which does kill me, makes me stronger still.
Considering he’s sporting battle damage by now, I’m not sure how a healing factor is what’s keeping him going.
Superficial. It heals damage which could kill.
At the beginning of the fight he could probably take a bullet and keep walking. Further in, he withstands a rock tornado. He is now getting up from Anvil enhanced slams. And he just promoted himself to Maxima level damage.
Think about it, he could have challenged her outright and made it one on one without much fuss by calling he a coward right from the start.
Visible damage to V:
Tooth knocked out – Stalwart
Minor cut – Dabbler: “Gah!”
Attacks which appeared to effect him without visible damage:
Lighthook Trip – Halo: No damage, just embarrassment and a loss of action(s)
Foot stomp – Stalwart (who may be faster given that he dodged a V punch): “YAAAAA!”
Anvil drop – Anvil + Halo: “OW! That hurt!” (also Anvil: “Ow, dangit, that landing hurt my boobs.”)
Anvil/Maxima double team: No visible damage, no audible acknowledgement of damage, but V looks worried after he has his punch absorbed by Anvil, and loses his smile for the rest of the maneuver. But he ate an Anvil punch powered by Halo’s “whiplash” and V’s own punch which Anvil absorbed, plus Maxima’s kick, plus Anvil’s “Nautilus Slam” without a single injury appearing.
Attacks which V shrugged off entirely:
Vekter swarm of rocks – Completely ignored
Vekter Cadillac attack (and resulting explosion of “grenades in the trunk”) – Completely ignored
I’m not sure why a character with kinetic absorption powers has to worry about their boobs being hurt by kinetic energy. If a punch by a super-strength villain, such as the idiot at the beginning of this fight, doesn’t hurt her boobs, then why would landing hard on a villain hurt her? It makes no logical sense…
Don’t believe Prime Idiot punched her bewbs
It makes perfect sense. Anvil absorbs the kinetic energy applied to her body from without. “Bouncing Betty’s” from a sudden drop and stop is internally applied kinetic energy so it would not be/ could not be affected by her powers. I happily volunteer to hold them steady for her the next time she stomps a villain from altitude :P
warm your hands first
Maybe he has a resistance to certain damage types?
Antaeus. Though why he would goad a super with flight powers is beyond me.
But, hey, it’s the best I got…
Do we know for sure he can’t fly? o_O
Well, that Kryptonian Boy Scout started out “leaping tall buildings in a single bound,” didn’t he, until he figured out that flying is just leaping at the ground and missing with style… So I guess it’s possible.
But V just seems so earthbound, and his reactions to actions that get him tossed in the air are not exactly happy go lucky fight-fighter. See the “oooops” when he realizes Anvil is about to punch him up to Max. That’s not a happy warrior, you know?
No, he went ‘whoops’ because he realised he just charged up the Kinetic-absorber, he had no idea what she had planned other than hitting him, really really hard
No, really, what else would he do?
If they had decided to play pingpong with him, he’d be tossed between the two, never touching the ground, getting progressively weaker. So, yeah, “I just punched the kinetic absorber, this won’t hurt much, but it might undo my power” sort of reaction.
I’ve been pondering the Antaeus angle — he’s untiring and undefeatable, with superstrength, so long as he is in contact with the Earth. He’s not impervious to injury, he just never gives up and cannot be defeated by “normal” damage. Hence, a sword, ensorcelled or not, cuts him, and a foot stomp causes him pain, and a really hard smack in the face costs him a tooth, but dropping a supersonic Anvil on him, or a storm of telekinetically propelled rock (or a caddy) is barely worth noting (other than obviously he feels pain from the supersonic Anvil, akin to Stalwart’s punch and footstomp). In fact, being tied to the earth for his power, Vekter’s orbiting “shield” of stone and dirt actually might serve to “anchor” Vehemence more strongly in place.
But I’m sure there are holes in that.