Grrl Power #266 – Schooling before the schooling
Arc-SWAT will definitely need to review their arsenal and tactics after this fight. That’s something they’d do anyway, but you know what I mean.
I had a few names to pick from for the violence absorbing demons. Succubi means “to lay under,” Incubus means “to lay upon.” My first thought was “to stand over” but the Latin for that wasn’t great sounding. I don’t recall what it was, I found a really comprehensive Latin dictionary when I was looking up names, but I can’t seem to dig it up again which is a shame since it’s probably not the last time I’ll need to look up a bunch of Latin words. I hate that when you can’t remember the search term you used, or the chain of links you followed to find a good resource.
Hah, as I was typing that I did a few more searches and found the page.
Anyway, there were a lot of latin words I could have gone with, I chose to call “violence eaters” Malumus just because malum also means apple or fruit, which I thought would make for a cute scene with Sydney as you see on this page. Actually for the sake of accuracy, mālum (long a) mean apple, malum (short a) means evil, cataclysm, etc.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome which I can’t live without anymore, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Is it just me or does Sidney seem remarkably calm about all of this?
Apparently to her way of thinking as a comic shop owner all signs still point towards this being the kind of story where the good guys win. Plus I think she is still in some kind of excited overwhelmed daze from how much her life has shifted towards her dreams today and maybe a bit of hero worship of Maxima who was her personal golden heroine… was it just this morning? Nobody tell her the bank job was safe fake out pulled by Arianna till after this fight!
Sydney’s too much of a newbie to rely on her analysis of the situation as unresolvable, if she can’t see the solution immediately someone else must, they are professionals after all. Plus she spent the whole battle except the very start being invulnerable in her bubble. And the one fight she had inside, she won.
She probably feels on top of the world now, utterly incapable of taking any threats seriously. Then again, taking stuff seriously isn’t a prerequisite for her to deal with it in the most amazingly badass fashion.
Or she could be suffering from a slow loss of oxygen again.
I’m betting she is looking up a lot more than the definition of malum.
And I’m sure Leon is feeding her info as well. And we all know how strong his Google-Fu is.
Fear not, I doubt David would let this comic end in less than 300 pages. More fun is sure to come.
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then we’ll need to call for Johhny Appleseed to get rid of Vehemence.
LOL…Of course it’s not anywhere near over. We all know (from page 4) that Sydney, Max, and Anvil (and I think that’s Stalwart in the background) at least survive until Sydney completes her basic training. :) We’re still on day one…that’s actually kinda scary now that I think about it; that all this has happened in one day.
And I’d guess you’re right regarding what she’s looking up/what Leon is feeding her. :)
And we can see that Maxima’s nose has healed by then. I just realized: most people do not get promoted to corporal right out of basic training; it usually takes a couple of years, unless you bring a special skill that requires you to have authority over a group of privates (soldiers, not what Dabbler is working with).
True enough. Any “push-button rank advancement,” as it’s called must follow up with a specialization school right out of boot camp. The actual rank advancement depends on passing through the school. When I was in the Navy, this was how I went from Seaman Recruit to Petty Officer 3rd Class…Effectively skipping Seaman Apprentice and Seaman ranks altogether. I had to complete my A School after boot camp to get the new rank. The classes I went to the school for were specialized enough that I also had to qualify for & hold a security clearance by the time I finished the school.
However, a field promotion can be granted, but it’s still not permanent until the rank recipient can meet all of the official qualifications for the new rank, demonstrating their knowledge through both written & verbal testing. In short, a field promotion is officially “conditional.”
That’s one of the things most people don’t get..
The systems have flaws like any other, but most branches of modern military are exclusively based on a meritocracy view.
Even when a “special case” happens, most frown upon, even if publically they can’t do it.
Sid is also one one who bubble maxes uber bang could not touch. Between the shield and flight shes in no danger. the rest of the team V could most likely grind into paste.
Actually, it didn’t take Maxima’s full über bang, but only as much of it as could be used safely under available test conditions (armoured suit plus steel block).
She has an impeneterable* force field. Why shouldn’t she be calm?
* Sure, sure, it might be penetrable, but given her squishy human physiology it’s likely that it will be impenetrable throughout the comic. Or some other factor will prevent her from becoming paste if her force fiend is penetrated.
Sydney has already demonstrated that, even if an enemy gets inside her shield, she’s still not totally helpless either…https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1290
Can’t say much else about this, so… Oh crap?
That depends on what “this” is.
That depends on what “is” means.
https://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Bala
this?
“It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”
/Clinton
He later said that he was just as obstructionist as he could be because he hated Ken Starr. Which may or may not be true given that he had a lot of other reasons to be obstructionist regarding his acceptance of blow jobs from his intern.
When I saw that panel I imagined him tensing his muscles in concentration and then.. his bleeding eye popping (regenerating)..
IDK WHY. o.O
But he still seems like a reasonable guy.
You’re a bit too late; Dabbler said “oh, crap” just a page or two ago…
The definition of Mummy Missile, at the bottom of the page, wins a- Snot On My Keyboard award!
Not to imply anything specific, but I hope you had a box of facial tissues handy.
And another candidate for the internet Darwin awards
Is she holding the shield orb in a slightly weird manner in her right hand? It seems as though we’d be able to see it normally from this angle.
I think the orb is invisible and in her left hand. I would say it does not fin in her right hand.
I think that’s an easter egg! DaveB forgot to add the orb!
If you read the fine print at the very end, Dave acknowledges that he forgot to put the orb in Sydney’s hand, and says he will fix it when he gets up.
Well, Dave has already acknowledged that he makes mistakes & even expressed his appreciation to the readers who get him back on track to correct the mistakes. Indeed, I’d go so far as to conjecture that, without his fan base, Dave could actually…
…manage to get a good night’s sleep once in a while.
Fail to get the details straight in his own story.
Citing the constant disappearance of Sydney’s facial wounds and other art issues which are often repeated.
I’ve said it before, that art is good even if the story is poor. Relying on your readers to get the art right throws even more fuel on the fire of the story lacking value, given that the art isn’t even great if it can’t be bothered to follow the story.
“Fail to get the details straight in his own story.”
…which is a situation that’s exasperated by lack of sleep…
Sydney has unlocked a new power: the inviso-orb! Let’s hope she does not figure out how to extend the field to her whole body or the guys in the ARC locker room are going to have one more thing to worry about.
It likes like the orb is still missing Saturday (very early) morning.
I can do.. THIS
Dance the Macarena?
If it weren’t for the fact this strip is rated PG13 for fantasy violence and occasional fan service, I’d imagine his This! was X Rated.
Nah, then he’d just be powering up Xuriel.
^This
…is what Vehemence is referring to, the common internet way of approving to the post above. Specifically, in the panel right *above* V saying “this,” he’s impressed (once again) by Sydney’s depth of esoteric knowledge.
Speaking of “esoteric knowledge,” since DaveB had to RE-located his Latin source I hope he bookmarked it this time.
After all, those who say that “a job done right the first time need never be done again,” must never worked as barbers, farmers, worked on factory assemble lines…etc. ;)
I bet if portal girl woke up right about now and removed him from the situation and got an advocate worth even half their salt, she could get a reduced sentence or even off considering what kind of threat this guy is posing.
Nothing short of a daisy-cutter could probably stop him at this point…
A daisy cutter wouldn’t even scratch him at this point. Those are mostly about the over-pressure wave, and if you can ignore being ground by a shattered bridge column, a little over-pressure won’t mean much. Heck, if you can punch clean through such a column a little over-pressure is less that useless.
If it takes as long as last time she’d just get thumped again. Or blasted with a “Vehemic Ray” if that is what THIS! is.
I am not sure if removing him anywhere but to the botton of the sea would be a good idea right now..
Sun. Sun is always good to remove things :P
…Not *always*…
As Goku finds out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ynu9VfTfSc
No the always a good idea places are generally inside the event horizons of BLACK HOLES. The places where if someone returns from, there are much bigger issues to deal with than them wrecking… well anything on Earth, up to and including Earth itself.
Apologies to all if this is has been proposed already, as I may well have missed it in the voluminous comments of the last comic through which I declined to slog, but my solution to the Vehemence conundrum: revive that Deathly Tollhouse guy, and wield him as a weapon against the big V. Or toss him at V, or whatever. Problem solved(?).
Frak. No way to edit my tags? Oh, well.
Yeah, no preview, no edit. I almost left out a. / also.
That was an idea I’d been thinking of for the last few pages, but I hadn’t gotten around to posting it: grab Death Toll at a convenient moment and put him in the way of one of Vehemence’s attacks. Nemesis should take care of the rest.
That depends though if DT has an upper limit to what he can take. We’ve seen that he can be overwhelmed when enough people attack him and he didn’t know if he would be able to match something of Maxima’s level, though was eager to find out. Vehemence at this point might even be above Maxima’s max.
After patching up his bleeding arse etc…
They need to get him to cooperate first. Maybe an offer of greatly reduced or even waived sentence as long as he is checked in on regularly. Otherwise a threat after taking his mask off to get his identity. Or he would just use this opportunity with V to walk as anything they did to him after he was awake is a threat to be countered if he still see them as the enemy.
The comic before last, actually.
So far DT has only shown some simple powers like:
str+ (deflecting concrete woman)
fireball “spell” (in the background, with dabbler)
body transmutation (in a fight with jiggawat)
No telepathic type power has been seen.
The only good “counter” for a berserk like him, is to:
A) disable (his power or restrict movement)
B) mind control (put to sleep, or order him to stop fighting)
C) 1 shot kill (or death touch?)
if DT could cause any of those effects, he would have used them before.
while he is the “all counter” it seams that he can only use simple PHYSICAL effects.
(well, arguably body transmutation is not so simple)
if vechemence and DT started fighting, they would power up themselves to infinity… (unless unless of them has the “upper limit” but even then it may be well beyond maxima’s, or even sydney’s shield)
alright, there was the “instant discharge” that happened when anvil engaged, but then come the other problems mentioned by other people.
You seem to have missed Sydney’s explanation. Death Toll can’t use ANY of those effects you mentioned. Death Toll’s power is to counter any attack that comes at him. He wouldn’t fight Vehemence at all. He would automatically counter Vehemence’s powers, and shut him down.
i know it is one power, but if it could disable the enemy power, it would do so at some point.
as far as we have seen, he cannot diable any power, and as veh already explained, fighting him only makes him stronger.
what we’ve seen so far, was… read the previous post whole.
it being one power does not change my point.
Time for Sydney to do the unexpected, pick a feather on the end of the light hook and start tickling him
I love his smile, he seems to really do like Sydney. Well, probably not enough to not break a few of her bones, but that is what she gets for tripping him when he tries to be all amazingly threatening supervillan
Maybe he doesn’t hold a big grudge against her, because by tripping him she used the force, I mean violence und thus helped him.
Yeah, that’s the mystery about this guy to me. On several occasions he is very calm and casual even bordering on friendly – like panel 4 here. What is his deal?! Arrgh, I hope it will all make a lot of sense and character development and depth and (real) drama…
No pressure on the Author though ;D
Also: he isn’t going to rip his arm off, is he? D:
I’m thinking he’s like Destruction from Sandman. Yeah he’s got an aptitude for a really dangerous abstract thingie. But it’s not all of his personality.
I get the impression that Vehemence has a lot of punch clock villain traits. He seems more or less to be doing this either for the power boost for a bigger scheme, which he’s not particularly concerned with Archon for save for the delicious meal. That, or he’s just doing this because he legitimately enjoys a no-holds fight and the chance to experience his powers pushed to a level he’d need to jump in a melting down reactor for otherwise.
It all depends on how long he can hold onto the power boost for and how finite it is. (If it’s like a pool/stockpile, then he’s gonna have an interesting time disengaging with enough left to do schemes with). Working out how these kinds of powers work will be useful for understanding Dabbler too since they seem to function in similar ways
I think his calm may come when he’s charging for a large attack. Possibly.
He really seems to feel a strong affinity with the genre savvy. He appreciates those with knowledge just as much as he does those with raw power. Ones a peer and ones a snack. ;)
I’d like to point out that V is still taking damage. ie.e the broken tooth, and the shut/bleeding eye.
he’s also still being remarkably polite to Sydney, so while he might be wanting ‘more power’ if the oppurtunity occurs, he might also be open to a more amicable settllement (i.e. join the team) ?
he seems to be acting a little bit like the proverbial kid in a toy store, considering this is the biggest ‘charge up’ he’s (ever?) had.
He was taking decent damage. Every new power level is a new deal. Maybe now he can catch .50 cals in his teeth with speed and durability or maybe that’s next level *shrugs* who knows till he fights/gets hit again?
Vehemence knows Latin! I like him now.
Oh, I wouldn’t know what to suggest for English to Latin search, but if you want the full range of meanings for any Latin term use this (currently set on malum for example’s sake)
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=malum&la=la
It’s what Latin academics use, it gives you every possible term for what you type in as well as word type, number, gender and case. It also has the dictionary’s first translation on the side (but sometimes it misreads the transcript so don’t trust that one too much) and if you click on “Lewis & Short” it gives you the full entry, or “Elem. Lewis” for the short version, the other one can be a bit overwhelming and confusing if you’re not in the trade. Lewis and Short is the fullest Latin to English dictionary, along with the Oxford one.
If you lose the link just google “latin word study tool”. or “greek word study tool” if you ever fancy using some greek terms.
Perseus! Woot! Represent! :D
Malo malum.
Marshmallow Apples… :D
yech… I’ll stick to just plain old caramel covered ones thank you… i can’t stand marshmallows, they make me gag. unless they’re the fake chalky type that are just foamed and dried out sugar, like in Lucky Charms cereal… those i like, but not the rubbery ones people make S’Mores out of…
This, I’m sorry to say, is getting kinda silly. With entropy and the normal violence of animal and human life going on, this guy would be highly charged at all times. And he’s never been heard of? What’s he been doing with all this energy?
Fire a glue gun up his nostrils and down his throat and call it done. Let him rip his own face off trying to breathe.
Quality if violence is part of it. Range is another. He has a sharp dropoff of range for what he can absorb, and that background violence probably isn’t enough to do more than maintain him at the very lowest level. He needs severe violence with INTENT to get this kind of charge.
As has also been mentioned time and time again, proximity and quality (as in direct conflict) also matters. A lion killing something in another part of the globe does nothing for him, and watching people fight gives him far less of a charge than actually being involved in a fight. It also helps that his opponent can actually stay in the fight long enough to reach whatever level he wants to reach, otherwise one knockout or death later, there goes his source. Then there’s the likelihood of energy fallout, given Dabbler’s suggestion of containment. Until now, he’s not always highly charged, therefore under the radar.
I’m also under the impression that he likely wasn’t born with this ability, but rather was given it at some point in his life. Rare even amongst demons, and unheard of amongst humans, all the more reason why he was practically invisible.
Of course, being tagged by a demon means the ability is not innate. Ah well, point still stands.
It’s also possible that some “ancient magical artifact” branded the power into him as an innate ability…Perhaps in the same way that the Crimson Ruby of Cytorrak made Juggernaut (Marvel comics) into what he is.
People and animals also have sex all the time, from wat you say Dabbler should be constantly gaining energy. See the other comments as to why that doesn’t happen.
Okay, so is there something that negates violent energy that they just haven’t thought of yet? Maybe a hug?
Please let it be an apology: “Sorry about all that. Wanna get a milkshake?” *poof*
(Also, long time lurker, first time poster. Hi, all! Please don’t eat me.)
CAREBEARS! Those must be his kryptonite!
Sydney! Play your phone’s ringtone! Over and over!
Oh man, it would be great if Vehemence was also a Bronie.
Vehemence power source being violence doesn’t mean he would discharge if he is near the opposite (whatever that is).
By that logic put some nun near Dabbler and watch her die.
Or possibly become super charged… ;D
The nun or dabbler? Mind you, nuns are human too, so you can’t expect constant holiness and restraint of the mind 24/7. It’s just that their vows mean they can’t indulge in the physical side.
And if he doesn’t wind down somehow, he’s just going to be getting stronger all the time. Bearing in mind the amount of violence found in childhood, that would mean he’d now be nearly indestructible. Although you have a point. Presence of his opposite doesn’t mean he’s going to deflate. It just amused me to think of that possibility.
If someone could infuse a sense of apathy into him, it might not deflate his current level of power, but he’ll be far less inclined to *do* anything with his power.
More like, put a nonlibidoist asexual near Dabbler and watch her angrily waste her power trying to get a reaction other than “no, thanks”…
“Power down with opposite emotion” seems too silly&easy an option to work in anything other than a kiddie cartoon, tbh
during dabbler’s intro to the Sydney-interview, she put her lust aura up and had pretty much everyone in the room getting turned on, including the straight girls in the group going “not a lesbian, not a lesbian” in their head. This suggests that a person’s native sexual orientation while not a non-issue, is ultimately not going to stop dabbler (or a pureblood succubus, one assumes) from getting said person aroused even when they would not normally be.
It remains to be seen whether being say an android/synthetic organism or something else that while sentient and by some definitions alive but lacking a sex-drive would immunize you from being used as a source of tantric energy. I for one Definitely expect to see Dabbler down the line run into a sentient, possibly alien robot pretending to be a living being/human and finding out that having a heart of chrome and titanium does not mean a multi-talented person like Dabbler cant get it to skip a beat.
I’d say that that’s only applicable if their “emotion chip” (ie: Data from Star Trek) is not enabled. but I’ll bet that if it “IS” enabled, then they’ll be affected by her aura, as that would be what the programming would dictate that it needs to be doing… whether it is “real” or just a “simulated” emotion, the effect would be the same I’d wager… the robot falls madly in love/lust with Dabbler.
Vehemence seemed to imply that it’s not ‘power down with opposite emotion’, it’s ‘can’t power up with opposite emotion’ – It’s to late to not attack him. In other words, if they’d known his powers before, and isolated him without violence, they could have dealt with him that way, but he’s powered up now so you have to deal with him having that power level.
Exactly
Dabbles is aware of similar beings and the legends surrounding them and thinks passive snare or containment is the best bet probably till he burns through his charge. Course he’s get a little juice from the act at first but not once its set up.
Just throw him into orbit. Or to the moon, or wherever. If Superman could do it, Max should be able to. See how long V can hold his breath.
Max is not Supes, though.
When I see him so polite and silly to Sydney it just makes me want to like him, -.-
I think Vehemence might be starting to like & *respect* Sydney for her scope of intelligence & knowledge coupled with her inherent ability to “think outside the box” in innovative ways. V seems to be on Sydney’s level when it comes to the tropes in the “superhuman” genre, so I’m beginning to wonder if he might even start to fall into the “star-crossed villain/hero impossible romance relationship” trope.
Of course, I think Sydney’s attitude towards HIM is what would make it the “impossible romance.”
RE: [Of course, I think Sydney’s attitude towards HIM is what would make it the “impossible romance.”]
Careful!
That’s what they used to say about Buffy-&-Spike!
Do you REALLY wanna start down that road?!?
:P
I could picture them in more of a “Big Tough Brother”, who has fond regard for “Feisty Little Sister” type of scenario, myself.
;)
:)
I love this villain precisely because he seem to actually like most of the heroes, especially Halo. He’s not just “argle bargle control the world.” In truth, his logic largely checks out: He removed many, many super powered threats to the world, all to power up and apparently brawl with the big boys… for fun.
As a hero squad, I would gladly take a polite meat mountain that wants nothing more then a good rumble over, say, a speedster who liked to knife people, or a portal thief, never-mind all that and more.
I would not be deeply surprised if Vehmanance ends up a training tool (officially or unofficially) for ARC-SWAT.
As long as he doesn’t resort to threatening/harming the innocents, it actually sounds like a pretty viable outcome!
Heh! V might actually go for a deal like that, as long as he’d be willing to comply with the Due Process of Law & paid the penalty for his current crimes. After all, as Chief Leg-Breaker for a Loan Shark (it’s only my own conjecture that this might be his current “profession’), he’d NEVER get this kind of workout. And if Archon would also be paying him for his “service” as trainer/tester/sparring partner, that would just be icing on his cake.
Sydney has government sponsored internet access (they have a monitoring program on that?) and the shield to allow her to use it during a fight? Definitely think she is being set up to be the teams strategist (don’t know how that will go down with Maxima being field commander but some anime’s make it work). She looks like every nerdy strategist player in those anime’s that are also games ever… When this becomes a game I guess we know how to work in where the info is coming from like the pokedex. SuperVillaindex: Gotta catch ’em all – or alternatively Gotta smash ’em all if Maxima is the player’s main avatar. Or maybe it could be more like the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe? Sydney starts writing “Sydney’s Guide to Supers” or “Sydney’s Super Guide” DON’T PANIC and remember your “The List” booklet.
Well, now that we know his powers come from energy absorption all my dreams of crafting his knocked out teeth into special items have turned to dust. Maybe they still would make good spell components with all that violence having flowed through them. (yet no cavities… gotta learn which toothpaste he uses!)
He’s an innate user of something only demons have been innate users of before. Would using magical tattoos to capture, merge with and control a demon still have you fall under the category “innate”. Maybe, only one of the three main definitions of the word insist on it actually being “from birth” the others allow some leeway. Even if we have to go with the “from birth” definition if he merged with a demon part of him may feel the right to that word. Perhaps he’s a warlock/wizard originally and that’s why he knows so much about magic in general and Succubi in particular? If he is channeling or merged with a demon maybe that was very demon Dabbs sent into that pit that said, “Found you!” after the demonstration explosion. But nah, that is too pat so I take that back. I’m sure everybody on the “villains page” will get their own special turn. :)
Thanks for the content good sir! :D
“Or maybe it could be more like the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe?”
Of course, Sydney would also HAVE to include some advice about always knowing where your towel is…
Aaaw… but I cleverly replaced the towel bit with her “The List” booklet… I was so proud of myself to. :(
It’s just that I could almost see Sydney at some point hand a towel to a villain.
“Here ya’ go. Now that you have one, you can throw in the towel & save yourself any more trouble.”
I’m wondering if dabbler’s powers would work against him?
Hers are more “positive relationship driven”, even If it’s sexual, where as his are negative relationship driven.
It was a page or two ago that she said they would need a massive orgy to get her to his current level. And from what I can gather, that would need to be an orgy using the population of a decent sized city.
No, she meant exactly the orgy of this number of participants, presuming she gained energy at the same rate as him to estimate his current power level. We don’t actually /know/ how fast or slow he powers up compared to Dabbler.
The energies they work on are not mutually exclusive. They might have worked on him before Max powered him up, but he’s probably too strong now or ahe would have suggested that. Regardless, they wouldn’t actually weaken him in any case. He’d just be horny AND violent.
Yeah, it’s been mentioned in previous pages that sex/lust mixes with violence all too well. A direct confrontation of Tantric Vs. Vehemic energies might very well become a self-reinforcing feedback loop that would build up to the equivalent of a nuclear reactor going full-blown “China Syndrome” on them.
Given his orientation (=violence), I’m surprised that no-one has yet speculated on just how rough Dabbler might like it…
…assuming, of course, that she did somehow manage to get him aroused…
…because he did a pretty good job of blocking her spell before.
Sydney is already working on a plan i am really curious at what it is an dont think it have something te do with trowing hem in orbit or like something that kill hem.
She’s at least gathering information anyway. Good use of down time!
Heads up. What if he uses his powers for more than being tough and strong?
I’m actually worrying that V is about to send the whole team into a berserker frenzy, by expending some of his power to radiate violence. And then he will feed on that violence as well. The team physically may not be able to withdraw… it’s too late not to fight him, he said.
You beat me to it – I was thinking he would radiate a violence aura (like Dabbler can radiate a lust aura) and get an intra-team fight going.
Yeah, TJ, that’s what I’m thinking. His plan: he saturates them with Vehmic energy, they go berserk and a moshpit starts that can only have one ending.
Sh-sh-sh-sh… Shoot!
RUN YOU IDIOTS, DON’T YOU SEE THAT HE’S GLOWING? NOTHONG GOOD EVER HAPPENS TO SOMEONE FIGHTING A PERSON WHO GLOWS!
Dabbler glows too when she’s using her powers – her stripes glow pink, we saw this when she took out the animal powers girl (or to be more precise, turned her against her teammates, then they took her out).
What I’m getting at is that it’s not exclusive to him and probably doesn’t mean all that much for this team.
I can do THIS!
He glows in the DAAAAAARK!
Well, either that or he farts.
Bets anyone?
Sorry, I won’t take that bet. I don’t want to wind up emulating Waldo’s bet with his bookie on how long this fight continues.
“I only bet with my life, never my money.”
~Rick O’Connell, The Mummy movie
That why I don’t see him around? O.o
Never mind. Found him. :D
Oh good. I was thinking that Waldo’s bookie might have sent Vehemence after him to collect on the bet…I’m glad that this doesn’t seem to be the case.
So why not just let him kick Achilles around for half an hour, and let him waste all his power fruitlessly?
Achilles would go flying on the first hit and end up who knows where? He is darn near a cartoon character in a fight like this. He desperately needs more peripheral skills and hold outs. Maybe an iron man suit…
also, beating achilles for an hour would still give him a charge, Achilles himself might not get hurt, but I expect being used as a living pinata wont do the environment any favors.
The “Mummy Missile” definition at the bottom of the page… I still don’t understand it. Is it something Adult/18+? Should I google it? Or will it be something that I’ll regret knowing about?
Dabblers earlier in the fight shot a projectile that came apart and wrapped the target in bandage like bonds. Greatly resembling a mummies wrappings. Mummies are those preserved Pharaohs from ancient Egypt.
It relates to sexual bondage.
It’s what she used to down Mach the Knife in here.
Most of these names are either BDSM related or highly ambiguous and suggestive.
Should you Google this? I don’t know. I guess it comes down to factors such as age, personal preferences, privacy concerns and your gut feelings. If you decide to look it up I highly suggest you start by searching Wikipedia first. It’s not the end all information dump, but compared to what a google search is likely to uncover it’s absolutely a better start. After you’ve has a look at a few Wikipedia articles you can decide if you think you are ready to brave the wilderness and have a go at google.
Ah, thanks. I think I’ll leave my curiousity at that. Yes, I’m over 18, but there’s some things I wish I never found out about. Yay for Wiki being a safe-ish source!
Since when has wiki been even remotely ‘safe-ish’? O.o
Wikipedia is extremely safe compared to a google search…
We still have Zephan and X waiting in the wings. Especially X. If he was placed as Dabbler’s minder, it would make sense that he could stop her. He might be able to affect V as well.
Is X here? He works in a different department ARCDARK.
He’s been assigned to follow Dabbler around & keep an eye on her (grrlpowercomic.com/archives/641). Yeah, he’s probably around here somewhere…
OH. I thought that they wanted her surveilled without her knowledge he went back to the shop to find another way or something… I mean she was gonna be with the team for the rest of the day. But maybe you’re right.
I think it would be more accurate to say X would’ve told the inventors/engineers/technicians working in ARCDark to work on it…X himself would still follow Dabbler around while *they* solve the problem.
Ya’ gotta learn how to *delegate*
;)
@Cyber:
No, that’s not certain.
He may have THOUGHT that he could handle her.
Then again, he thought that he was stealthy enough – & look how that turned out. Not only was he wrong, but she played along, rather than tip him off. She’d still be doing so, if Syd hadn’t messed with the “status quo”.
Not saying its certain, just a possibility.
Err, and by “makes sense”, I mean that X could be a viable option without pulling a dues ex machina scenario in order to defeat V. Having Sydney pull the rug out from under him is still probably more probable.
i got the feeling that sydney has an idea she is “cooking up”
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/supersto#Latin
What I could find for “to stand over”
Could have called himself “Superstare” and confused everyone about what his powers were…
Nice of him to acknowledge she knew another meaning lol
‘My first thought was “to stand over” but the Latin for that wasn’t great sounding’
Latin verb supersto, superstare: stand over, survive
(If A stands over B, A is alive and B is dead, so A has survived B; the word “survive” (French sur “over” + vive “live”) has very similar etymology)
The verb supersto is the source of the Latin noun superstitio
So he’s doing THIS and that is.. showing his tongue because showing off his teeth wasn’t enough?
Well, if his breath is as foul as is violent…
…Then Gojira might have some competition.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Ok, in the futile hope that it will keep repeat posts down, let’s collect all the ways of taking V down that have been proposed repeatedly.
– Use Death Toll to nemesis him into oblivion.
– Use Heat Wave to slow-boil him.
– Chuck him into space / the ocean / the desert.
– Care Bear stare.
– Keep him suspended in Halo’s force field.
– Levitate him in mid-air until he runs out of juice.
Did I miss anything?
Anyone who re-posts any of the above shall receive the Unmaker unto their squishy bits.
– Death Toll is unconscious, an asshole, and ArcSWAT can’t deliberately put a defeated criminal in harm’s way.
– Brooke is unconscious and needs surgery if she’s gonna keep that toe.
– Boring, and probably not gonna work given whatever he’s doing now.
– Halo MUST be inside her force field. That would be a death sentence for her.
– Vekter is the only TK around and he is ALSO unconscious and requires surgery.
Also – there’s no Care Bears.
All these ideas suck. :<
Agreed, but they are the most speculated options.
Unless Halo does a Dues ex machina with her unknown orbs, or the team stumbles on his one weakness “Oh no, you’ve found my weakness to extremely runny Camembert!” I’d say this isn’t looking good..
Ooh, Add Halo using a new orb to the list of captain obvious solutions maybe?
As Sydney said earlier while eating cheetos in her battle against the soul-sucking energy creature…
“We’ll have to unleash the most powerful weapon of all – LOVE!”
Space seems reasonable to me, actually. Either Maxima could do it, or everybody could clobber Anvil until she’s got enough energy to toss him into space. I’d personally recommend sending him to Mars or Venus… though the sun would work even better.
Yeah, but it’s boring and unsatisfying. Such a DnD player’s GM-frustrating solution.
Also, the sun or even the moon is a freakishly far distance to punch him to…
Since there is no gravity we just need to punch him for an initial speed on space if we get him close enough to sun suns own gravity will handle the rest for moon well you need to do a good calcularion before launch :P
And there’s also the subsequent legal hassles to face afterwards. Vehemence has already displayed enough concern for injured people here that a court trial would have trouble convincing a jury that he has “lethal intent.” Very *violent* intent, sure, but he’s taking specific pains to avoid lethality.
If ARCSwat does launch him into space, that would constitute a murder charge, because that shows “lethal response to a non-lethal threat.”
And the winner of today’s Captain Obvious Medal of Obviousness is….
Yeah yeah, I just thought it was important to also include why all of those ideas are bad.
Sydney could do the levitation – using the tentacle orb. Just grab an ankle.
Of course, she’d have to stand there and wait until he runs out of juice. Which will be after she runs out of air in her shield, so she’d have to drop it. Better hope he doesn’t have any way of attacking her in the meantime. (At the moment he could probably pull out a tooth and throw it fast enough to kill someone… Or use his pants somehow. Etc. Or he could have a violence aura like Dabbler’s lust aura – which would work as a ranged attack.)
But they don’t have to rely on Vekter.
Include death by snu snu in there. :p Even after this, we still have some who will suggest using list aura on him.
Ugh… I said lust, not list.
Oh whew!
I thought you were speaking of The Mighty Halo’s “THE LIST”. I was actually scared there for a minute. ;D
You kidding me? I’m not THAT cruel. XD
In my head I grouped all hug/kiss/chill/laugh/etc. options under Care Bear Stare.
Snu Snu Bear is bestest Care Bear.
As far as I know Jiggawatt is still in the fight.
Option 1)
Have her shift into lightning mode and blast V through the chest. It would either give him a heart attack or knock him unconscious.
Option 2)
Move the team back and then have her blast him with a stream of antimatter. He is probably not radiation proof.
Jiggawatt is only in the fight marginally. She was hit with high-powered sonics, resulting in deafness, bleeding ears, loss of balance & other general feelings of disorientation…Not a good choice to send back into battle.
Have Sydney use the hentacle to grab him by the feet.
Then twirl him around like a lasso for about 5 minutes, when he gets put down all he will be able to do is lay there till the world stops spinning .
Often repeated suggestion that we still don’t know if it could work.
Possible obstacles to this; Is the tentacle strong enough to lift him? It probably is, but it’s not confirmed. Can she swing him around fast enough that the centripetal force is strong enough that he can not pull himself up and grab the tentacle? Probably not at the moment.
I don’t think having him climb “up” the tentacle is a big risk. Sydney just have to cancel it and he should go tumbling, but in the end it wouldn’t achieve much more than powering him up a bit more again.
also
– gas (with the rest of the team in Halo’s shield/flying/having gas masks distributed/whatever)
– glue up his nostrils (I have no idea how they could do it but I couldn’t not mention this idea)
– take out his other eye
basically you forgot/ignored all the non-superpowered options :P shame on you
Drink
HULK MOMENT INCOMING EVERYONE GET DOWN!!!!!!
Hey, I have an idea. Why doesn’t Sydney use her shield to… (no, not THAT idea.)
Get everyone on the team INSIDE the shield, and leave V on the OUTSIDE. He can stand there and pound on it as long as he likes.
Until they run out of air.
oh, thank you. we are all dead tired of THAT idea.
It could work, unless V starts to threaten to harm innocents if they won’t fight him. or cause massive destruction.
And, let’s be real here, why wouldn’t he go around wrecking the city?
What if he actually does have some moral objections to holding innocents hostage? I mean the team is presuming he doesn’t which is why they are fighting him, but what if he’s passively bluffing?
It’s usually more a protagonist trait when the law enforcement/government actually ends up holding innocents hostage against them, all the while obliviously thinking themselves good guys, but what if?
What if he’s banking on their assumptions and doesn’t actually have any leverage to make them fight him that he’s willing to use?
I mean this attack he orchestrated actually served the interests of the peaceful community, taking out some of the biggest&dumbest threats to public safety…
He could just start destroying infrastructure like the overpasses and such. Throw a few random chunks at some passing cars and “miss” they would pretty much have to act to stop him. Its a bluff cops aren’t really allowed to ignore on that level on television. Well, they could but it would go poorly for them.
Whether he has morals on killing certain people or not, ArcSWAT cannot afford to take that chance.
The big glaring problem with a complete turtle strategy is that V can keep pounding Halo’s shield untill the violence of doing so, if he’s not strong enough to do it already, tops him up to the point where the shield breaks. There really is only two possible outcomes depending on what happens first:
Shield breaks, everyone inside probably die as the cataclysmic shock wave from the forces involved cause a minor earthquake.
Those inside the shield run out of air and are left to choose between suffocation or turning the shield off.
In short, this can buy them some time but wont really solve anything.
It has not been stated either way, but I think it would be a logical limitation if he was unable to power himself up by his own actions. Otherwise he, and any other user of Vehemic energy would in effect be self sustaining and pretty much always at maximum power. He wouldn’t have any need to gather the goon squad to jump start him, and then get Maxima to power him up. He would have been able to do it all himself all along.
When a Hulk-moment comes, getting down is not a very good response…Getting AWAY would be better.
meh, both will do you about the same amount of good, but getting down will at least minimize the chance of getting hit by the debris should you survive the initial attack
If you happen to be in a building that starts to crumble, which direction does the roof fall?
Getting AWAY is better than getting down…
if your on the 2nd floor it’s the same thing ;)
Merely standing *near* a building, even if outside of it, getting down would still incur the increased risk of getting buried too. Again, getting AWAY is better than getting down.
At this point, all I can think of is a ceasefire agreement. Unless Dabbler knows some form of energy drain spell, his strength will most likely not go down at any point in this fight.
the spell Sanctuary would shut down Vehemence instantaneously since it prevents all forms of violence inside it’s border and and as of such it basically dispels all vehemic energy, which would render vehemence as powerful as a newborn kitten
…a new-born kitten that happens to be over 6′ tall & still as strong as a normal human with his physical build…
Still not exactly powerLESS…
So… What exactly is Vehemence’s endgame here. He gets uber-powerful, defeats some superheroes, … then what?
Watch his strength trickle away until he’s back to normal, but now he’s well known and on the run? Eventually he gets gassed and stuck in a padded cell in the middle of nowhere? From then on he just reminisces about that one time he was really powerful?
I just don’t see what he planned to get out of this. At least not yet.
Who said he even needs an endgame? As far as I’m concerned, he’s in it for the lolz, consequences be damned.
He’s smart, well connected, and a good enough manipulator that he was able to pull together 3? dozen supers on super short notice to create a feeding frenzy for himself.
I take this to mean that he’s been around for a while, is good at planning, and most certainly has an endgame in mind.
Being smart still doesn’t mean he has an endgame. All it means is he knows how to capitalize on an opportunity to get doped up.
No, but it’s highly suggestive of one. He’s been picking up names for long enough that he was able to round up 3 dozen very rare supers inside of a day. He’s manipulative enough that he was able to get this done while having a different (and also apparently strategic) super believe that the credit was his instead. He’s confident enough in this plan that he’s made a BIG reveal for no strategic benefit (consider that just determining DT’s power set cost at least 3 ArcSwat members).
All of that is no guarantee of an endgame, but the balance of probability lies there. Someone who is as demonstrably strategic as V has been is more than likely going to have a complete plan.
Or it could be nothing more than cheap thrills. Not saying it isn’t possible for an endgame, but being hung up over it especially given his personality is rather moot.
We don’t know how much energy he lose every pasing moment or how much energy he got during this fight. It would be possible for him to stay at that state for decades and each time someone tries to fight against him and actually has a chance he will be feeding off more. I say his endgame sounds really promising at some points since we don’t have any info about him.
Honestly, I think the best, easiest way to deal with V would be for Maxima to learn Aikido, or another martial art that focuses on deflecting/redirecting instead of countering and attacking. As a speedster/brick she should be able to easily outpace him, redirect his blows harmlessly, and survive if something goes wrong.
I’m also curious, if V and Anvil sat there trading blows, who would reach their limit first?
If Maxima sped around and just used anvil to cushion V’s hits, would that work as enough of a drain?
Holy cow, I think you have come up with perpetual motion! V and Anvil fighting powers both of them up. As if they each weren’t already dangerous enough.
there is a limit, Vehemence’ muscles are getting bigger the more energy he absorbs, and if they keep growing like that his skin will burst, and don’t get me started on the dangers of absorbing kinetic energy, I think D&D’s Kinetic Barrier gives AMPLE descriptions as to what happens if you reach your limit there, namely, the kinetic energy of everything you got hit with happens all at once, so all those punches, all those collisions with objects all those times being hammered into the ground, all of that would happen to you at once, basically turning you into a geyser of blood, gore and liquified bone.
Dave has said that V is not bulking up as he absorbs vehemic energy. He also said that V:s size has fluctuated because has Dave has a bit of a problem drawing huge muscular guys, or something to that effect. So no, he doesn’t run the risk of exploding because his muscles grows to fast.
As for Anvil though, she does actually hulk up when absorbing energy. What her limits are is currently unknown, as is any possibly related risk this might have for her, the environment or both.
No way is Sydney this calm, smiling, and cracking wise with the apple comment unless she has a plan.
It’s a cunning plan.
Sydney spends a few minutes playing Angry Birds on her Pip-Boy and announces:
“Hey, does anyone know where we could get a giant slingshot?”
You know, another solution occurred to me. Dabbler mentions she’s only heard of demons with this type of power, not humans. What if V’s markings are some sort of bindings to keep a demon sealed in the body? It would then become an issue of extracting/banishing the demon.
Vehemence dad or granddad could be one of those demons.
Aaaw you stole my idea! X-P Mine was two hours earlier = I win!! LOL
No, but seriously I agree with something like this and am glad somebody else is on board. :)
Or V could’ve gotten his power from some kind of mage casting a specific spell on him, or encountering some kind of magical artifact that did the same thing. Think of: Marko Cain (Prof. Xavier’s step-brother) & the Crimson Ruby of Cytorrak that turned him into Juggernaut.
“Mummy Missile” seems a bit tame for Dabble. I would expect something like “Bondage Bolt” :)
DaveB covered that in the mini-dialogue at the bottom of the page with “bondage bullet”
My personal fave, btw. :D
who wants to bet apples are his secret weakness somehow
okay I read the commentary and know it was random but WHAT IF
If apples happen to NOT be his weakness, then he’d have a field day in that apple orchard in Oz, where Dorothy & Scarecrow walked through…
Mine is chicken wings.
I agree that Death Toll could be involved in V’s takedown somehow because V directed Sydney (and the team) towards him in #236. Granted it didn’t really work, but he did make the effort. Unless he was worried about Death Toll running away and losing the vehemic energy that he would provide, V didn’t need to give Sydney the extra push to attack. It’s very likely V knew of the Nemesis power beforehand if he had helped get the super villains together and it’s possible that V doesn’t know DT’s power absorption limit. He was really the only villain we’ve seen in the fight who might be a threat to V.
Or, DT might have been the only villian that was there that could have gotten the team to really cut loose (ex. Maxima’s near-intervention), thus providing the tastiest bump of energy that Vehemence had absorbed thus far.