Grrl Power #276 – It’s not cheating, it’s “boosting”
Gauntlette finally gets a chance to do some damage after Jiggawatt cut her down during her arrival flourish, but it might not last as it looks like Sydney has figured something out about Vehemence that in hindsight is probably pretty obvious. The question is, what will she do with that information? I’m betting it’s something significant.
If I hadn’t had Hex sneak away already, panel 6 would have been Glowbug vs Hex, a fan cameo faceoff! I guess I could have put Breakpoint in there but sonics vs lightning is a poor matchup as we’ve already seen. It basically comes down to whoever gets the first shot since you can’t really block one with the other. Sonics vs. Lightning sounds like a sports match. Actually the SuperSonics was basketball team and the Tampa Bay Lightning is a hockey team (I had to google both of those) Personally, I think sports would be a lot more interesting if a hockey team played against a basketball team, or a baseball team played against a football team. Asymmetrical sides. That’s what makes for an interesting matchup I say. Protoss vs. Zerg, Zangeif vs. Ryu, rugby vs. curling!
It’s probably too late to remind people about the Amazon affiliate link as Xmas is just under a week away, but you last minuters can still use it. Unfortunately I don’t think I get a percentage of the rush shipping charges. :)
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.
So much comment nesting. You could make Russian nesting dolls out of our comments…. eeeee.
Get your V nesting dolls right here! Each one has a different colour band!
And each one has more powers than the one before it!
I have the feeling that the revelation of Syndey’s, DaveB is hinting at, isn’t really about how to beat him, but something else fiercely discussed great a many panels ago ( or it at least feels that long ):
How did the ragtag team of super villians come to be and then attack in the first place ?
At least two villians showed irritation as to “who had the bright idea of attacking in the first place” ( Budget Halo / Hex, Hair dresser guy ), which is why not few were guessing at mind control.
Seeing as Vehemence orchistrated this fight to boost his own power up to fighting level, it is a pretty safe bet to say that this band of supers was swayed through the use of vehemic energy.
… which, of course, well be hell for legal with it probably being impossible to say who actually acted under the influence …. of the imperius curse … and who did on his / her own accord.
As for his ridiculous powerset: This I believe to be mostly a misconception. He certainly can absord vehemic energy which usually comes with the ability to extrude the same.
Maybe he even can form himself a double by projecting vehemic energy, or at least form mass out of it, both of which might explain his growth, healing and “ka-pants”.
But as for the rest:
I thing those are abilities derived through the absortion of vehemic energy in form of remnants from their sources – impurities that were passed along as well.
How to beat him, however, I still can guess at.
Only that he probably won’t be defeated but just chased away or convinced to simply leave – DaveB hinted as much when he said that Vehemence is supposed to become a recurring character of disaster on eyelevel with Maxime as some sort of arch nemesis.
I think you are right, he was juicing them with Vehmic energy pre-fight. That might also explain why they were so aggressive and didn’t work together.
This has been censored so it must be right!
I wish anyone who tries to use “mind control” or anything like that a lot of luck. Although our adversarial system of justice calls for reasonable doubt, that would be a fairly difficult defense to substantiate.
This would be a good time to bust out a negation field.
I will shatter your illusions!
[Serious]Anti-magic fields and such tend to be game breakers against supers. I doubt the Heros are gonna get one, and even if they do it’ll be very inconvenient to use.[/Serious]
One tactic that might work is Sydney using his tendency to speechify to ram her hentorb’s tentacle down his throat.
Or to enclose him in forcefield and let him suffocate.
AHAHAHAHAHAHA, AGAIN. Even when the author addressed it in his little post script stuff someone still suggests this. Sydney must be in the shield with Vehemence if she did (Which I think would swiftly lead to one dead Sydney) as far as we have seen and been show she must be in the shield when it is formed, and then DaveB (the author) confirmed Sydney does not know how to make the shield while excluding herself from it and also that the shield will grow to encompass an object if the border of the shield touches something while it is still forming, so say like she tried to cut off the field around his head the force field would grow to include Vehemence as a whole. (if it even ends up being possible)
Except for the ground. :)
You know that she’s totally got that ability, though, waiting in her skill wheel for when she finally levels up enough.
Sensory deprivation? I wonder if V was isolated somehow from all the violence his powers would weaken?
No doubt. He’s a capacitor for Vehemenic power.
If he could hold on to all this forever, he wouldn’t be worried about Maxima crushing him if she caught him without warmup (which is the reason he stated that he has to kill her) As right now, she’s not that much of a threat to him
How are those two connected?
It is entirely possible that he has ability to retain energy forever. He was weaker before the fight simply because he never found a source of violent energy as abundant before,
The part where V keeps stating he now has ‘energy to burn’ and Dave’s statement of a cost associated with the abilities he’s pulling tells me otherwise. I do believe the possibility of retaining his form for longer periods if he simply ran away now and not continue this brawl.
At any rate, yes, containment will stop him. How to contain him is an entirely different problem.
I’m starting to think Vehemence’s real power is manipulation. There’s no reason to think he wasn’t lying when he said going on the defensive wouldn’t help. I think violence commited against him is more potent than violence he commits himself. If Maxima had turtled up this might not have gone so far. You’re right he “had” energy but after that regeneration he needs more and the violence he’s commiting to Max isn’t cutting it.
As far as V needing to recoup lost power from regneration, we can’t say for certain. All we know is he wasn’t strong enough to kill Max with her triangle diverted to armor, thus he woke the villains and heroes up for a super battle royale. That’s all we have going. We can be certain he can run out of power, but we can’t be certain how much he has in the tank, and though it sounds reasonable to think replacing an arm with a shocker version oughta be a drain despite being new and improved, we simply got nothing. But… in a page or two, we will find out. Or hopefully we will find out. Sydney’s mind is ticking.
The mice got together to discuss the problem of the cat, who would use its stealth to pounce on them and eat them.
One of the mice suggested that a collar with a bell on it would do the trick nicely, since the cat would make a ringing sound when moving which would warn the mice.
“Yes, it’s a great plan”, said one of the mice. “Now, who will bell the cat?”
That is an idea to contain him once he is beaten, but not to beat him.
He clearly stated he can absorb vehemic energy directed at him and that the range of his absoprtion increases as his power does. For all we know solitary confinement in a normal prision would work.
Right now he has way to much power to ignore him. But not enough to beat max (yet).
Yes because there is no less violent place than prisons full of violent offenders. I’ve heard every Friday at prison, the Aryan Brotherhood inmates, the DC Blacks inmates, and the Mexican Mafia inmates have book club followed by scones. :)
Also, when you get out of line, prison guards react with a stern tummy rub. :)
You say it like that never happens in prison. Did they lie to me again? :p
This would solve more than half of societies problems.
Scones or tummy rubs?
Scones. Definitely scones- preferably really, really heavy ones, so that after eating them, all the prisoners would want to do is lie around and digest.
He absorbs violence around him whether it is aimed at him or not. In prison just sitting in a solitary confinement cell he would reach god-like power given enough time just from absorbing each little scuffle and the occasional prison riot.
Clearly the best way to contain him is in his own custom built cell burred four miles under Antarctica with guards who specialize in non-violent take-downs. I still think that Maxima isn’t in as much trouble as she seems and is probably bluffing him… I’m betting he just thinks that his attack is diminishing her power because he felt her superstreigth drain away..(Into her defense, but he doesn’t know that and just think that it’s gone “away”)
Anyways lets assume Maxima is a smart girl who understands the situation and is trying the tactic that was suggested Sydney use… Goad him into attacking and turtle up so he ends up wasting energy on useless attacks and runs out of mana.
Second possible attempt to take him down… Lock him inside the shield with Sydney, and possibly Maxima too. (Worse case scenario it doesn’t affect V at all, best case scenario it blocks off his ability to gain energy from anyone outside the shield, leaving him locked in a bubble with someone powerful enough to take his head off who he intends to kill and someone with magic bobbles that he probably knows nothing about… )
If they manage to get him to run his batteries down enough to contain him then we can probably assume that a nice isolated solitary confinement cell far away from any source of violence would be the perfect containment… Maybe build a space station for just that exact purpose.
Heck it might be one of these things where they use him as a consultant on magical studies(In the same sense that Hannibal Lector was a consultant in silence of the lambs.) since he does seem to be a knowledgeable wizard…(Who might know a bit more on that subject than Dabbler, though Dabbler has a wider range of knowledge)
Mm. There certainly is violence in prison, but possibly not as much as you might expect from watching television. I work in a medium security prison, which is the kind of prison where felons who’ve committed crimes ranging from minor drug offenses all the way up to gang-related mass murders are housed, and we see an average on one serious fight about every month. Since I started working there a year ago, three people have died in the prison, two due to violence; that’s certainly a lot more than I would expect working in a public school (I’m a teacher), but not quite the nonstop bloodbath that most people assume that prisons actually are.
Everything that I know about prison, I’ve learned from the Shawshank Redemption, Oz, Prison Break, and Hollywood movies starring either Jean Claude Van Damme or Sylvester Stallone.
Oh yeah, and that season of The Walking Dead in the prison. If the zombie apocalypse happens, I’m heading for Alcatraz.
Two theories about this page and its ramifications.
A. It seems to me that he needs to build up and sustain a level of violence around himself in order to manifest his powers. after a while, the violence level goes down and no more powers. (I’d assume it’s the same for Dabbler too) He’s using the “creative license” granted by his supercharged vehemic powers to do mind control (or perhaps he has always had to the ability to incite violence in others to some degree) and therefore maintain the needed levels of violence.
B. V is actually at his limit, and needs more violence in order to even injure Maxima in her full armor state. How exactly this is useful, I don’t know (too tired after work to think much) but it is possible that he’s running out of juice, that he’s at the point where he needs to devote all his strength to hurting Maxima and might be vulnerable (somehow) to some sort of alternative attack.
These are just ideas I had once I finished reading this page, someone else can play with them, or point out that someone already said them (assuming someone has) or poke fun at the holes in my theories that I’m too tired to notice right now.
That need to overcome Maxima seems plausible.
I’m thinking, judging from the comics and comments, that V’s hit his point of diminishing returns. Can he keep getting stronger? Sure- but not fast enough or hard enough to counter Maxima after she recharges. We know V can get hurt, and get hurt bad. The issue is, though, pain won’t stop him and injury can be repaired. My thoughts are that all the team needs to do to stop V is to stand clear and wait about five minutes- all his heals and buffs are based at violence, so the violence’s removal will cause a ramp-down crash, after which he may run away or get nailed.
Also, has anyone here considered putting Anvil into a balloon, and dropping her out of it a few times? Store the ground impact energy, and then put the equivalent of a Rod From God into her next big punch.
Seems like he has no law of diminishing returns, judging from the arm being blown off. Maybe if Dabbler got to destroy his brain step, but plot armor kicked in at that point.
Who knows, maybe he’d be like Lobo and just grow his head back.
Yeah, I think I’m done for the duration. 33 weeks of God Mode Boy is enough for me. I’ll check back in in a few months after the Grrl Power version of “One More Day” is hopefully concluded.
Oh, that was hitting below the belt.
Isn’t that exactly what multiple people have been telling non-V-lovers to do for over a week now?
Not trying to start a fight, but it seems like you want to have your cake and eat it at the same time.
You misunderstand Mechwarrior’s comment.
He was saying that the “33 weeks of God Mode Boy is enough for me” and “after the Grrl Power version of One More Day is hopefully concluded” were unneeded criticism.
He doesn’t care about the “I’ll check back in a few months” part.
Personally, I agree with Mechwarrior; that was unfair criticism, particularly in the face of DaveB saying on Monday that he’s in the final stretch of the fight, and that, 10:1 odds, Russell Jackman hasn’t ever tried to make a webcomic in his life. IT. IS. HARD.
I read quite a few, and it seems like feelings of “reader entitlement” is getting more and more common these days.
Again, what is with the inane comments from people saying ‘if you do not make a webcomic, you should not make any critiques of webcomics?’ This is becoming the second most common spewing from V-lovers next to ‘if you don’t like it, leave’ (which ironically is what Russell Jackman is doing, at least for a while).
I mean… what are you – 5 years old? People can make comments on books or movies or video games or politics or, god forbid, WEBCOMICS, without being in those businesses. Even DaveB already said that. I hope you never wrote a negative review on Amazon.com or Ebay, or you’ll be a hypocrite. Hell, most reviewers are not themselves writers (beyond writing REVIEWS), and most food critics are not master chefs.
How you make those comments is also important for whether or not people will let them stand or suggest one be quiet. For example, referring to people who don’t have problems with Vehemence as ‘V-Lovers’ which comes off as a dismissive and negative label and does not help constructive discourse and ‘agree to disagree’ tolerance. Same goes with the ‘5 year old’ comment, it doesn’t help things using such phrasing.
Right. I see. However referring to those who dislike this arc as “whiners” is a perfectly tactful and acceptable way to foster intelligent discourse.
Carry on.
Nothing about what I said can be construed as somehow condoning that kind of language use either, indeed it includes all such negative labeling.
That’s disingenuous. If you were truly unbiased, you would be going back through the last couple weeks worth of posts to soothe tempers- and volatile rhetoric- from both sides.
Whether anyone goes around to every single comment to stop every single side from losing their minds or not, his point is still valid. Name calling or low blows is uncalled for, regardless of which side of the fence you’re on. Look, as far as this one goes, neither Nightmask nor Ehnawneemus came in this thread for a fight, so no need to take jabs at them. There are other places that could use a whooping in comparison.
Um… actually, Nightmask specifically called me out- or, at least, that’s how I read it. He may not have used deliberately inflammatory language, but his message was pretty clear: if you are against Vehemence and are tired of hearing the low blows laid down by those who are clearly in favor of more Vehemence, play nicely. His utter omission of any comments on the deliberately inflammatory comments made by those who favor more Vehemence is a clear indication of bias.
In other words, there’s more to a post than just the words- context matters. If you plan on calling me out, expect that I may respond.
I will also point out that my response was to someone who saw fit to criticize Jackman for leaving- after he’d been instructed to do so by repeated posts that say, essentially, if you don’t like what’s happening, go away. Nightmask chose to take issue with that post.
It would be ridiculous to go through and post on every single post where people get bent out of shape and need to be reminded to simply respect each others views and not resort to negative labeling nor as bleh points out do I need to to demonstrate a non-biased stance or to try and encourage the use of less inflammatory language or labeling. Nor for that matter do I need to do a running list of everyone who’s using such negative behavior I merely need to point to one or two of the most obvious and remind everyone that it doesn’t happen to be constructive or helpful and it won’t earn your position support.
In regards to my post you’ve clearly read things into it that aren’t even remotely there, so no I was not ‘calling you out’ nor am I biased towards fans of Vehemence and you’ve made up all of that from whole cloth. Also anyone actually looking at the post sequence will see that the post I responded to among other things called those disagreeing with them 5 year olds for it and using a dismissive label like ‘V-lovers’ rather than something more neutral like ‘Vehemence fans’.
In any case there isn’t any need to continue this further.
Or how about any other post, hm?
Calling out Pander isn’t really any better- but, in any case, you specifically brought up the phrase “V-lovers” which harkened back to what I said. I grant you that I referred to “non-V-lovers,” and that phrasing is, in fact, argumentative. I didn’t and don’t feel that I need to really apologize for that, though, given the number of STFU and “quit whining” posts I’ve seen over the last two weeks.
If you have a problem with that language, and you wish not to seem biased, then, in all fairness, you ought to be making at least one similar post to comment-writers sitting on the other side of the fence.
He replied to Pander using remarks she made in his comment, no other undertones to be found otherwise. Whether he chose this thread out of some wicked dastardly plot, love and peace, or simply chose this at random, no one else can truly say. Words only do so much, and I can’t really read his mind. What I am saying is, without anything else to go by, it’s better to direct the punches elsewhere than to throw them here where there may or may not be any attacks against you personally.
Aaaaand I post a tad late. Like real late… ah well. You may have the last word on this.
Actually, my comment was in response to Ehnawneemuss saying, in response to Russell, “10:1 odds, Russell Jackman hasn’t ever tried to make a webcomic in his life. IT. IS. HARD. I read quite a few, and it seems like feelings of “reader entitlement” is getting more and more common these days.”
So yeah, Ehnawwhateverhisnameis said something that is incredibly inane and a 5 year old mentality. Not writing a webcomic yourself does not invalidate you from commenting. Book reviewers do not have to have written novels. Movie reviewers don’t need to be directors. Video game reviews don’t have to be written by people who have programmed games. And critiques on a webcomic bboard do not need to be written exclusively by people who have written their own webcomics. And it’s getting very common as an argument, because they just don’t want to hear anything except parroted sycophancy. God forbid someone makes valid constructive criticism.
Nor for that matter will you find my ever having said any such thing, as your post implies. It just adds to the negativity rather than being constructive.
Critiques ARE constructive. That’s why it’s called constructive critiques. It’s in the NAME even.
If criticism was always constructive, then the phrase “constructive criticism” wouldn’t exist, it would just be “criticism”. Not all criticism is constructive. To be constructive, it has to provide working solutions to the problems being criticized, and done so in a manner that builds up the person being criticized rather than tears them down.
For example, someone is doing target practice with a rifle and misses their target.
Constructive criticism would be “nice shot, you almost hit it, but try taking your time pulling the trigger during an exhale”
Destructive criticism would be “you’re a f’ing idiot, you can’t even hit the damn target. You’re a terrible marksman, why are you even here?”
Point taken, Tokumei.
But what we’ve been doing has been CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. From what I’ve seen no one’s said ‘DaveB, you’re an idiot and your webcomic sucks’ – they’ve pointed out multiple problems with Vehemence and the Vehemence arc of the fight, some of which DaveB even acknowledged, and we tend to get either ‘if you don’t like it, leave’ or the even dumber ‘you can’t make a critique unless you’re a writer’ or an even MORE specific ‘you can’t make a critique until you’ve made a webcomic yourself!’
Grrlpower is easily one of the top ten webcomics out there and is arguably the best in the superhero genre. Dave is a professional, if he is taking a long time on this segment, it is because this segment is that important to the development of the overall series.
Everyone who ISN”T contributing on Patreon: before you put in your two cents, please put in your two cents.
I’ll be happy to put my $50.00 per month back in- once I’m satisfied with the direction the comic is going again. Since I’ve already contributed in the range of $450.00, can I ask everybody who has not to please stop commenting?
No?
Okay, then. How about we agree that the amount of financial contribution should not actually be used as a measure for one’s right to comment and critique?
Whether it be for or against, don’t you think it’s a bit silly to pay before you comment?
For the record, I certainly think it’s ridiculous to put a pricetag on the right to comment.
Commentary, both from disgruntled readers and happy readers, is a valuable commodity for writers. Silencing either group is counterproductive, especially when part of your goal is to satisfy as many as possible in order to make a living.
Thank you, thought police. Jawohl! *salute*
Not a constructive response, it’s flippant and rude and simply discourages people from affording you and your views respect because you aren’t willing to be respectful in turn.
Considering you’re backing people who’s sole argument is ‘shut up and leave since you don’t like this character’ or ‘shut up unless you’ve made your own webcomic,’ I’m amused that you’re then talking about ‘respect,’ boss.
Except I’m NOT backing them, that’s just the spin you’re putting on my posts so you can behave badly and go ‘it’s your fault you backed them!’ rather than accept that you have behaved badly and that it’s irrelevant whoever else behaved badly it doesn’t give you any kind of free pass to do it yourself.
Because your post was where I started (since there has to be one post that’s first obviously) you’re just slapping a ‘Oh he’s just a V-lover that’s why’ label on me for that so you can keep behaving badly rather than try and be more respectful, since again it doesn’t matter how badly others are doing it doesn’t make you doing it okay and they certainly aren’t going to see a reason to improve how they say things to be less antagonistic if you aren’t willing to.
Basically you can’t expect to get what you aren’t giving and it tends to make people go ‘well if you hate it so much why are you here?’ if you appear to be endlessly negative and put down those who are enjoying it or willing to wait and see how things play out.
Soon as someone pulls the ‘if you don’t like it, leave’ or ‘you can’t comment until you’re a writer/webcomic artist yourself’ they’ve pretty much lost the need to ‘respect’ them. Telling someone to leave just because they don’t parrot your opinion leaves no room for discussion.
Maybe you should read BEFORE my first post, then comment on them instead.
I’ve read prior to your first post and it’s still counter-productive to be antagonistic even if you think the other party is already doing so, and if someone’s only been complaining and never complimenting anything yes you can expect them to ask why you stay particularly if your complaints come across as antagonistic rather than simply ‘I don’t like this character and here’s why’. Which is why we all need to be mindful to avoid being antagonistic (although no one being perfect give some latitude for someone having a bad day and sounding more rude than they intended) so things don’t escalate. Better one not move things from say a 2 to a 4 on the antagonistic scale by adding to things and instead try and keep it from going above 2 while working to get it back to 0 (Even if that means not saying something you otherwise would).
if you don’t like it leave. HERE, I SAID IT!!! YAAAAYYY.
but seriously.
if you leave for a few months, there will be more pages and the fight will likely end.
if you stay, you are going to attack people who say that there is no problem.
now, if there was someone (a specific person) who attacks you because you think differently, and everyone else who also things differently than him.
would you encourage that person to stay?
its you btw, you are EVERYWHERE, attacking EVERYONE who don’t agree with you.
it is not something they say to just anyone who disagree. you attacked them first. and THAT’S why they say it, they do not appreciate your negativity.
i am not saying you ‘have to’ go, but answer honestly, what keeping you there?
you don’t like it, you would rather read something else, that has no V in it… and yet.
you are saying that telling you to leave is inappropriate, why, what reason do you have to stay.
Yawn. You two arent worth responding to anymore on this, since you just don’t get it.
Stop the thread, guys! YOU’RE MAKING HIM STRONGER!
You know what? I’ve never tried to make a webcomic, either- but I’ve supported several and I do write and read and (as a significant part of my job) critique other peoples’ writing.
Jackman stating that he’s tired and fed up is entirely fair and his statements regarding his reasons were, oddly, actually pretty spot on, if a little on the low side- it has, in fact, been over 33 weeks since the fight began. It is not unreasonable to assume it may take more than one month for it to conclude- after all, DaveB himself has said that he’d horrible about pacing.
I’d respond, but I’m busy programming a triple A video game so that I can tell Amazon’s quote board how much Escape Dead Island sucks.
Rude, I don’t think you understand good storytelling, Russell, if you think an overpowered villain turning an army of apex meta humans into underdogs is a bad thing. If you wanted a curb stomp then go play some Halo on easy.
True sight at a distance may not penetrate the glamour. She was rather interested in the fight and he quickly redirected her attention to the wobbit. It is sight based but may require emanations from the orb to pick up –IE does not work on televised illusion images (if you could do so in the first place).
Or the illusion started when he visibly started to grow…
About Sonic vs Electricity??? Watch and Learn!! Sonic waves Compress Air-Thus allowing Arcs to be diverted and channeled….. Think of Electricity as a Garden hose and the Sonic waves as Sideways channels in the dirt that you are trying to carve through….. Big enough sound wave (Very high Db) will channel vast amounts of juice to the side….
https://themindunleashed.org/2014/11/musician-uses-sound-manipulate-tesla-coil-fire-matter.html
I think DaveB’s point was that if Glowbug went first, it wouldn’t matter what the sound could do to the electrical attack. Similarly, if Breakpoint got in the first shot, Glowbug wouldn’t get a chance to return fire. Given the ranges involved, the only character we’ve seen so far who might have a chance to react in time to have any effect on the outcome of a battle between these two would be Mach the Knife.
Or, to be fair, Maxima with enough of her pool placed in speed, I suppose- technically sound does travel slower than most bullets, and Max can react fast enough to catch a bullet at what is, essentially, point-blank range…
Actually, sound travels slower than -all- bullets. Sound travels at 768 miles per hour (340.29 m/s), while the average modern bullet travels at between 600-1500 m/s. The average speed of a bullet is 896 m/s. So Maxima can at least react at around twice the speed of sound.
They experimented on this on Mythbusters. It’s a common misconception that you can dodge a bullet by listening for the sound then dodging – by the time you’ve heard the sound, you’d already be shot. You’d have to react to it in some way other than sound – sight, air distortion, intuition, etc. Cassandra Cain from Batman dodges bullets by dodging a fraction of a second before the gun is even fired by reading the shooter’s body language.
Unless you mean like a shotgun. Those just move at between 360m/s and 460m/s – which is still faster than the speed of sound. It’s not actually hard to travel faster than sound. Humans have been doing so with vehicles since 1933.
I didn’t like the 1933 number so i came to look for it.
I found that the research on supersonic travel started 1944 (miss-click maybe?)
” As the first human to break the sound barrier, on October 14, 1947,”
That is a line i found on wkipedia. So it ‘seems’ that you are wrong.
why did i answer when it has nothing to do with v? well, WHY DID YOU?
because she didn’t provide details? you know, just mentioning that:
“bullets are actually way faster, and myth-buster checked it too”
would be enough.
but you HAD TO be so specific… so i couldn’t help it, and had to check the number.
Actually, the FIRST claim to breaking the sound barrier was made in 1933, not 1944.
It was done by Yuri Pobedonostsev, using a phosphorous-powered ramjet. – he managed 600 m/s.
Look him up. I was specific because I’m right.
Point of order. It seems that the claim that the 1933 experiment by Pobedonostsev counts as a “vehicle” is misleading.
From the “ramjet” article in Wikipedia:
<>
That does not count as a vehicle.
The next “things” that routinely broke the sound barrier were V2 rockets during their approach on targets. The V2 usually impacted at Mach 4.
The first manned vehicle to break the sound barrier with irrefutable confirmation was the Bell X1 piloted by Chuck Yeager in 1947.
I never said it was a manned flight.
Pander quote: “Humans have been doing so with vehicles since 1933.”
Seemed that was what you meant.
I meant humans have been creating vehicles capable of going faster than the sound barrier since 1933. Which they have been. They just didnt start actually manning them until around 1942-1944. But the had the technology to do so 9 years prior.
I probably should have said ‘Humans have been capable of doing so with vehicles since 1933’
Sounds good. Just figured I’d point out why they all felt that way since you seemed surprised.
Oh crap, formatting error. Here goes the relevant text from Wikipedia that doesn’t show in my previous comment:
” The first engine, the GIRD-04, was designed by I.A. Merkulov and tested in April 1933. To simulate supersonic flight, it was fed by air compressed to 20,000 kilopascals (200 atm), and was fueled with hydrogen. The GIRD-08 phosphorus-fueled ramjet was tested by firing it from an artillery cannon. These shells may have been the first jet-powered projectiles to break the speed of sound.”
Sorry!
JoseB
Also, I should have mentioned that when I say “the first things that routinely broke the sound barried were V2 rockets” I meant “the first things that looked like they might eventually be made into a faster-than-sound vehicle” :P
Man, what a badly written first reply I had…
I was actually referring to subsonic ammunition- it’s a thing, look it up- which uses a heavier bullet with a lighter charge in order to avoid propelling the round faster than the speed of sound.
Pretty sure, though, that Maxima is able to react faster than a speeding bullet, since I don’t think the staged event at the bank was using subsonic bullets.
In any case, I’m agreeing with you about how both Mach the Knife -and- Maxima are capable of out-moving something moving at the speed of sound. :)
Not all bullets are subsonic… There are subsonic versions of normally supersonic ammunition as well as some calibres being inherently subsonic such as the bullets used in the older .45 Colt pistols.
Most bullets are supersonic actually, Tokumei. I think the point whisk was making was that a sonic attack against someone who can outrun or dodge bullets through sheer speed is not going to be all that effective if the sonic attack is localized.
That, yes. Also that, assuming that a person is not possessed of superhuman reflexes, the time between firing either a sonic blast or a lightning bolt and hitting a target at combat ranges (likely far less than 100m) is, essentially, negligible.
Average human reaction time is approximately 250 ms; exceptional (near the very best) may be as low as 105 ms. In 250 ms, sound can travel 85m at sea level; a lightning bolt will travel significantly further, but the point is effectively moot, since most combat happens at ranges between 0m and 7m. Even the fastest human alive cannot react within that time frame in a typical combat engagement.
I’m sorry, but that doesn’t work. While it’s true that electricity flows easier trough air than trough vacuum.
The title of the page with the video is correct. He uses sound to manipulate the tesla coil, not the electric arc coming from it. He uses the frequency of the sound as an input to change the frequency of the tesla coil’s AC. The fire manipulation is also not done directly by sound waves. Rather the pressure of the flammable gas in the pipe varies because the sound waves reverberate in a fixed manner (the notes for the song and pipe length has to be chosen correctly for this to work best). This causes local high and low pressures, so the flames flare up at the high pressure points because the gas is pushed out fast and dim down at low pressure points because the gas stops to flow because the pressure inside the pipe is not high enough to make the gas flow.
This brings me to the final point. You cannot make sound infinitely louder. As you saw with the flames, they look like a sound wave, but the bottom of the flame cannot go below the pipe. For sound it is similar. Once the low pressure part of the sound wave gets close to 0 (nearing vacuum) you cannot make the sound louder, because the vibrations in the air are transmitted by the air “waves” pushing against each other. The lower the pressure becomes, the less air there is to do the pushing, since a vacuum does not transmit sound.
Theoretically you could make it loud enough that you have waves of pure vacuum (no air molecules present) separated by waves of air so dense that it nearly undergoes fusion, but practical purposes it would more closely resemble a rapid series of blast waves than sound.
It’s an interesting thought. For the record, Breakpoint could not- her actual maximum volume is about 180 dB.
Sorry if this has been said anywhere else in the comments yet but I think I see the solution here.
To me at least it appears that Halo’s shield is blocking whatever effect V’s energy wave is having on everyone. Unless its only affecting those who were unconscious or mentally drained in some way.
Anyways, if her shield is blocking the energy he is releasing and possibly feeding on she might be able to fly up above him and seal the two of them into the shield together and cutoff his energy absorption and let him drain himself as he tries to get her. Either that or he seals everyone else from him inside of the shield in order to cut off any energy being fed into them from V.
She might indeed be able to do that, but doing so would mean she’s not shielded from Vehemence herself.
And being very squishy, that’d mean a gigantic risk (we can probably asume that killing her would shut down the shield).
Now offcourse, this would also mean Vehemence would be distracted from trying to choke Maxima, which would give Maxima enough time to put her power into blowing up Vehemence (entirely, not just his head this time). But Sydney doesn’t know that’s how Maxima her powers work. So she has no idea that might even be an option. So for her, this would only be an utter last resort, potentially sacrifising herself in an attampt that might not even work.
Alternatively, sharing her shield with all the enraged villains that can shoot deadly energy blasts would probably give the same resusts.
Having Anvil and Dabbler in the shield aswel to protect her might work though
Also, if Big V killed Halo he could potentially grab her balls (that did not sound right).
Then he’d have two sets of power.
In short it is a very risky idea and it may backfire spectacularly.
You’re assuming that that orb ownership is transferred by whoever touches them first after the previous owner is killed. Never mind that they could have to choose their new owner, or maybe they’re bonded to a single owner and die with that owner, and Sydney stumbled upon an as yet unclaimed package of them.
To be fair, MAXIMUM is going off of the only known situation of which we the readers are aware. Sydney was clearly the first person to find the orbs, and they immediately attuned to her.
The “die with that owner” theory is clever, but I believe that the history of magical artifacts in comic books is weighted towards the artifact outliving the owner. Or even “absorbing” them in some manner in order to facilitate the typical “Oh, noes! They died! Ah, but 5 issues later they returned from death” scenarios so common in comics.
Everyone is claiming mind control…but from what I see, there IS no mind control. All V is doing is feeding violent energy back into everyone else. All these people are acting out their own issues. Complete with Hiro and Stalwart horsing around. In essence, it’s super powered horseplay. Of course, this is at THIS level. If it continues, it’ll grow worse and worse till they actively and wantonly try to obliterate each other…all of which just feeds right back into Vehemence. He’s creating a feedback loop to keep himself going.
Well they are clearly not in their right mind. Hiro and Stallwart would probably never fight out any differences in an active battlefield, unless something is activley blocking some parts of their mind, and stimulating other parts. So blocking anything else, and strenghtening the desire to do this.
That’s sortoff a form of mind control. Limited control, but still
Yeah, stimulating ‘rage’ and ‘violence’, not in any way shape or form ‘mind control’, unless you buy into that crap that ‘video games promote violence’
Would you accept mind alteration, then? Really, I think this is just semantics- Hiro and Stalwart are attacking each other in ways that would never be acceptable in friendly sparring or scuffling- clearly something is going on to make them decide this is appropriate.
Add to that that enough of their intellect remains that they can make quips while they’re doing it… it isn’t just mindless rage. What would you call it?
But we all love some antics! ;D I’d call it an overdose of bad juju.
I call it mind control (albeit mind control limited to violence, though based on stuff that V’s done and his reasoning, there isnt a legitimate reason why he can’t just do mind control period, and then claim ‘he has power to burn’
Champions Terms then: Mind Control Limited to command “FIGHT!”
+1
Yep, basically.
In D&D lingo Command: “Fight” with an AOE effect on it, which would probably make it a 5th or 6th level spell.
Is the reason it didn’t affect Harem, Sydney, Dabbler, Maxima, etc because they were not unconscious? Because there are people giving alternate theories (Sydney’s shield, it doesnt work on succubi, harem’s split mind, Maxima’s… I don’t know… Maxima-ness). I figured it’s because when you’re unconscious, you can’t resist the mind control impulse to fight ‘anyone’
It affected Dabbler, her aggression just happened to be targeted at Vehemence before her attention was pulled by Gauntlette. She’s been charmed before so she’s a little better mitigating it than anyone else on the team. Maxima was effected but what’s she going to do at this point? So was Harem, but I only have so much room on each page to show what’s going on. Sydney on the other hand is snug in her shield.
Though come to think of it, it would be interesting to see how Harem would be affected if some of her were in the field and some of her weren’t. Since she only has one consciousness I guess it would affect her by a fraction of how many of her were in the field.
Thank you for clearing the air on this. Been on the fence on this one.
Depends on what you call ‘friendly sparring’: can remember as kids play fighting with older brother in the lounge and me instinctively dropping to the ground as he came charging and kicking upwards at his nuts as he jumped over me
We don’t know how Wart and Hiro feel towards each other at other times, we have only had limited contact with either of them in less than a 12 hour period: just because they are on the same team doens’t mean there can’t already be ‘bad blood’ between the two of them
It seemed like they were at the ‘friendly jibes to each other’ stage from the smalltalk during Maxima’s tank demonstration.
Yeah mind *control* implies more than what is shown here. He’s not controlling them… just manipulating them.
Yet another question…can Sid expand/contract the force bubble? Expanding it’ll cause a drop in air pressure, wih the amount of drop proportional to the size of the expansion.
Nothing directly related to the battle….just curious.
She can expand it, we’ve seen her do so. But after she learned that her shield was airtight, she lampshaded the very fact that she did not explode/implode uppon changing the size of the shield.
So there is something preventing such a drop in pressure.
An option is that the shield doesn’t actually expand, but rather forms a new shield at the desired size, and drops the old one at the same time
When she found the ’embiggener’ button on the shield orb, I was under the impression that it expanded out through all the press and everyone else that needed to be protected (and you know, left Max on the inside of the shield during attempt #1). I would guess the shield becomes permeable while expanding (you know, so that Sydney can’t just crush bad guys to paste with her already ludicrously overpowered forcefield ^_^) but the shield simply appearing at the new limit works too
So…. With everyone waking up, Jiggawat must be up to.
I wonder how Vehemence deals with being hit by lightning. So far the only attacks he’s had to deal with were physical in nature (except for Maxima exploding his arm. And that did real damage unit he regenerated it).
Electricity on it’s own is not violent, and it can reaaly screw up control over your limbs. Especially if it’s guided to specific parts of the body
If she can hit one-point-twenty-one Jiggawatts, will she send him back in time?
Without a Flux Capacitor™?
I’m sure Dabbler has one of those lying around, right?
Probably sitting next to the Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor ™. Y’know, it’s almost 2015. I’m still waiting on the flying cars, hover boards, and my own Mr. Fusion ™.
Flying car:
https://youtu.be/0Yn2uyQJ1jc
Hoverboard:
https://youtu.be/HSheVhmcYLA
and
https://youtu.be/YP9vLScDXkI
Mr Fusion Home energy reactor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38xVBd60yas
Anything else? :)
Can that board work on water or does it need power? o.O
The one Tony Hawk was riding needs that special flooring. The one powered by leaf blowers, if the motors are powerful enough, could possibly go across water, just like a hovercraft.
Good lord, traffic safety is already horrendous, and you want to give the average idiot driver flight?
No thank you!
Well, to be fair, there’s a lot more room in the air than there is on the road. I’m not saying you’re wrong, just that if we had flying cars, traffic would have an entirely different set of problems than it does now.
I’m with makeinu on this. I worked at a gas station for a 3 years while in college and sometimes I wonder why I am still alive let alone how some of these people survived their trip to get gas.
Well, what would probably happen is some form of fusion between airplane autopilot (most passenger jets can land on their own strictly by autopilot) and something like that google autopilot for cars. Basically, once you take off, it’s hands off.
Or possibly a tiered system, where one level is for people who have no clue how to fly. A second tier for people who have basically visual flight rules, then Instrument flight rules as a third tier.
The flight system would have to be, by nature, much more automated and computer controlled due to the sheer quantity of vehicles in the air. Add to that the fact that not everyone would want a flying car or could afford it, and I think it would be manageable with the right technology.
Meanwhile, the only real question this page leaves me with is this:
Are Glowbug and Bombshell fighting, or is this the way the two of them play Missile Command?
That gave me a laugh. But did you just date yourself? I remember the original Missile Command in arcades, but that’s because I am an old fart. These days the only way to find it in similar settings is to find someone with a MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator).
Unfortunately you are right sir about that fact.
Terribly , terribly right (grievous voice)…
Ah, the original Asteroids… it’s just not the same without the pin-sharp vector graphics…
Some modern versions actually try to add colours !!!
º
O · · · <
Φ
</old fart>
… so, the <code> tags mess up ASCII art. Good to know. 8-(
Now I wish I knew what your ascii art looks like.
Screw Asteroids, Battlezone for life.
Battlezone was awesome, but the two games I miss are the:
1) The Star Trek one where the Enterprise fought a Klingon in a battlefield which was pretty much the same as asteroids, except you could customize the sun in the middle between a few different gravity settings.
2) I don’t even recall the name, but there was a motionless enemy in the center of the field which always turned to face you. It had 3 sets of counter-rotating, segmented shields around it. You had to shoot segments of the shield down, and then you could start shooting the enemy in the middle. But since it always turned to face you it started shooting back… There were also 2 “nags”, tiny bombs which auto-tracked on you and kept you moving to avoid them. They also kept getting faster as you advanced levels.
Wasnt that called Net Trek?
I remember that game… Now I’m going to have it stuck in my head until I remember it. I dropped hundreds of quarters into that game over the summer trying to dodge those little floaters while killing the shielded guy.
What’s another oldie but goodie was Sinistar…. “I HUNGER!”
Ah, Sinistar! That magical moment when I won a level by preventing it from being built… I didn’t even know that was possible!
HAH! Star Castle
Battlezone was great, but my favourite was the Star Wars game. The one with the ‘cockpit’ you actually sat inside, which seemed so advanced at the time!
Tempest 4-color line art for the win!
I think I was more of a Galaga type.
I’ve never dated myself- no one saw me, there were no receipts, and you can’t prove anything!
(In other words, probably- I did, after all, play both missile command and asteroids in real, honest-to-goodness arcades…)
Not sure how that dates him. I’m 27 and I’ve played Missile Command :) Retro games are so in.
Next up: Make Love, Not War. :)
For all that he started out as a bit of a gentleman and even did things like making sure that people get appropriate medical attention, V has just created a situation where numerous fatalities would be extremely likely. What if Stalwart selected a non-brick to space-shuttle? What if the chick with the boom aimed at someone who didn’t have a power that can block her boom instead of Glowbug? What if anyone with super-strength decided to hit that person next to them who isn’t a brick? What if Heavenly sword gets her new gloves off and stabs the heck out of someone?
It’s an enormous escalation and it’s a little bit out of character for how he started out. But I guess we can write that off as just absorbing too much violence? Or something?
Or maybe that lack of actual killing is a FEATURE and not a glitch. Hypnosis can make people do all kinds of unusual things, but only to a point. Killing IS that point for just about everyone. (Which is why “I was mesmerized” doesn’t work as a murder defense) V may not be able incite a super-punch on someone that person knows might die.
Could also be a deliberate throttling by V himself. If say…. V requires ongoing violence to power up, then any deaths would reduce his potential batteries. Also the “I just won/killed” vibe has got to be different then “I want to hit”. Fear of dying probably doesn’t work either.
V himself said if someone is dead, then they aren’t violent, thus he doesn’t have anything to gain. So he may be intentionally throttling the action to keep it at levels he can benefit from.
If he’s doing this he has to be manually choosing who each person attacks. There’s a LOT of mooks on the field and there’s at least half a dozen fighters who are easily capable of lethal attacks if they attack anyone not built to withstand them.
Back at the beginning of the fight he could afford to be generous (for a certain value of the word). Now he’s just being pragmatic.
Or he’s so amped up that he’s having trouble controlling his own aggression.
Also, Vehemence must have known that people could die from this whole encounter, or he wouldnt have said ‘hope she survives tonight.’
Oh my dear lord as soon as Sydney called him a cheater I had a bloody epiphany!
V’s been bluffing. This whole time he’s been Bluffing! Sydney was right he did make that word up earlier.
Violence doesn’t make him stronger, V’s power is just that he’s a copycat of everyone else’s powers in the near by vicinity.
Evidence shown on this page to the extreme by The lighting chick’s lightning being fired in the exact same way as V’s and then theres the next panel with…. uh…. Shirtless-Bif pinning down Shirtless-Bof and its slightly cracking through the pavement the near same way that V is holding down Maxima…. i mean cept V is doing it with his hands while Shirtless-Bif is doing it with his foot but thats not the point. Also its possible that the summon pants power he did was something similar to what Harem can do with her teleport powers. Thank the lord he doesn’t fully understand Harem’s powers or else the comment section for this would have been twice as heated
Here’s my theory on basically what happened: V set the whole bloody thing up asked for a list of super powers who joined the thing, also wrote down everyone’s super powers that were revealed from the press conference, made sure that at least one of their teams had a healer so that he couldn’t die, and then he had everyone fight while casually standing by slowly getting a small amount of someone else’s super power every-time someone used one used a power and saved it all until the end when he figured “Hey I’ve got like everyone else’s super powers for a small period of time! Time to win!”
SCREW YOU V! If you’re going to be a super villain at least have some style! You’ve got to be original and be able to do something that no one else can do! The only thing you did was copy everyone else and claim it as your own! You’ve got as much originality as a Sonic Fan Character!….. ok I’m done yelling now
If this has all been a bluff, and he only gains the powers of those nearby, then quite possibly, one of Sydney’s orbs has regeneration capabilities (which is why that bruise keeps disappearing) but is limited to mental focus (which is why that bruise keeps REappearing)
He isn’t a copycat/thief otherwise maxima wouldn’t have been able to hurt him because he would have simply borrowed Achilles’ invincibility and/or Anvil’s kinetic absorption. Also Glowbug doesn’t need weird crystals growing out of her body in order to project electricity.
Amusing idea, but I would like to point out that Dabbler confirmed that he didn’t make up the word.
Still possible that he’s bluffing though.
I think I figured out how to beat V but it’s risky.
V is making everyone fight to make more energy for himself. Sydney is unaffected due to her shield. If she can put her shield around V it will block his influence on the others and block his absorption of the other supers.
Possibly, but Sydney has to be within the shield too, and chances are he can tear out a small part of the asphalt and hurl it with sufficient force to murder her on the spot, and can probably throw it fast enough that her non-super reaction speed won’t be enough to save her.
:( I can’t see it. I have an iPad and the comics not loading. Third check today :(
Here’s my question: How does Dabbler get those painted-on pants over her hooves?
She isn’t wearing pants, it’s an illusion.
Magic. They shrink to fit/stretch to put on.
Maybe she knows how to ka-pants too
I am sure she has a ka-pants-off.
Yes. I’m sure she does. As does pretty much any incredibly sexy woman. It’s called ‘Tell the guy to take off his pants so they can have sex.’
I just want to say that I love this comic, and especially Vehemence. A super villain who actually knows how to properly leverage his powers in a fight? Amazing. One who has a sense of humor, doesn’t actually want to take over the world and just wants to get high off of fights? Even better.
I think it’s awesome that V isn’t just the big, stupid super category that so many Villains seem to fall into. He’s played to his strengths wonderfully, even going so far as to neglect regenerating his eye in order to have that trump card for if he really needed it.
Personally, I don’t see how Maxima could have played this better. I will admit that she should have, IMO, stopped Opal herself. Given her lack of knowledge on Opals warm-up time, the correct scenario would have been to incapacitate her immediately. Even so, I feel like Max’s reactions to V (letting the team handle him at first to see his power level, deciding to help when it looked like they couldn’t handle it, then eventually deciding to blow his arm off in a attempt to force a surrender from an opponent who was obviously a real threat to the team) were all logical at the time of execution.
Without knowing that he was slowly building power, she would have no reason to shut him down immediately. Without knowing he could regenerate, and even thinking he couldn’t because he hadn’t healed his eye, she had no reason to immediately kill him without first giving him serious reason to surrender.
So yeah, in the end I just want to say that I love the way you’ve directed this fight. I think that if this was in comic book format, and we weren’t waiting so long for each update, that this would be one of the best comic book Villain fights I’ve ever read. Amazing story, amazing Villain, I can’t wait to see more. Thank you so much for putting your time and effort into this.
Seconded.
Thirded-ed.
A note to all the “it’s taking too long” folks… really.. learn some patience people!
I wonder what they would do if they had to wait 5 years for the next episode, like “A Dance with Dragons”.
Quit?
It’s not just the amount of time it’s taking. It’s how little progress is happening during that time.
I’m a fan of Goblins comic, which has taken around 3 years between when Thunt drops off from one storyline and moves to another, before he comes back to the first one for a resolution to the cliffhanger. I don’t have a problem with patience – Thunt has other interesting things happening in the alternate storyline so you’re not thinking ‘when will this boring arc be OVER already’ – Vehemence is a boring arc because every update is essentially the same thing – Vehemence creates a new power or has a new reason the strategy won’t work on him. It’s like the end of the first Lord of the Rings where there’s 5 times where the movie could have and should have ENDED.
Thanks! It’s hard to see how the pacing is being so close to it. When I start the next arc my plan is to write much further ahead and try to group pages by scene, then make sure each page contributes something useful, whether it’s plot, a good character moment, world building etc. Hopefully that will allow me to have a better birds eye view of the pacing, and make sure nothing’s bogging down.
Personally, I don’t see too much of a problem so far, except that we’re dealing with this in a webcomic format where we only get two pages a week. I figure that, if this were a proper comic book, printed on pretty gloss pages and having a nice cover, then it would probably have started on page 250 (right after his impressive “Dun dun duunnnnnnnnn”) and be continuing to now. That’s only roughly 26-30 pages, depending on how you count the doubles. So… maybe a comic or two for the pre-fight, and maybe a comic or two for the V-fight. That’s not bad at all for a brawl of his magnitude.
We have people who just aren’t happy with the kind of pacing we’re dealing with. Though some are being a bit snippy about it, they’re probably thinking right that their best bet is probably to come back in a couple weeks and catch things in a clump. Now me, I’ve shown this one to a couple actual comic book writers/artists, and they agree that you have a solid pacing based on what they’re used to dealing with.
This might not be perfect for people used to webcomics, but such is life. You’ve still got something good here, and it’s been refreshing watching your art progress and improve. One example: I like how you’ve kept Anvil as a tall, powerful, very muscular woman, yet if you compare her from here and here, we can see her evolve from an example of how to make a musclebound woman look like a man with boobs, to a physically striking and attractive woman who is also friggin’ ripped and muscular. (no offense meant there, but Anvil just does not quite look right in that first picture).
Either way, keep up the good work, and glad to see you’re learning from the whole experience.
I wonder if Vehemence and Dabbler’s emotion absorbing powers have the same neurochemistry? If you have a drug that can shut down a succubus’ sexy sucking powers, could it also work against a vehemic’s violence verisimilitude?
A point for everyone to notice, all the “regular” people who can be effected by that vehemtic wave are all angry now – while dabbler (an alien) and halo (in the shield) are not under the influence. If it was a mind control effect, alien or shield wouldn’t matter, so it doesn’t appear to be that. A succubus & a being inside an impenetrable bubble are not hit by the wave are the only ones left to fix this.
At this point, again, only 2 things I can see to stop V now are either a new orb power (a depower or mental ability of some kind) or using the shields ability to stop incoming energy by throwing it around V – which means he would use his power to escape before his power can drain (since he has no more incoming energy inside the shield)
It has been pointed out approximately 4 million times that Sydney can only put the shield around herself. To put it around V she would have to be in there with him. Which would be almost-immediately fatal.
True, but it depends on how much that energy is required to keep him going – he might need a constant influx to keep his powers up, so why he started everyone up again makes sense. It also is a point that Halo can make a large shield, & fly – but we already know V can’t. With a large shield & fly orb, Halo could be high enough to avoid him while his energy dissipates. That would force him to use the last of his energy to escape. (Assuming I am correct in how V needs the energy, but I could be wrong)
Until V just jumps up and squishes Sydney.
Or you know…. lightnings her. Or lightnings the entire inside of the sphere. Or creates laser eyes. Or creates the ability to fly. Or any other number of things which results in a dead Sydney.
i dont know if he can control the lightning that well, i don’t know he can have laser eyes…
but he already shown the ability to make a forceblast thing, which he used to keep anvil away.
so atleast we agree that this is a bad idea
Sure he could have laser eyes. Or control lightning. He has already been stated to be able to make up powers as he needs, whatever he wants, because he has power to burn.
Plus he -has- shown an ability to jump 100 feet into the air. And like you said, the ‘wall of force’ thingy.
Ryan, he is currently keeping maxima pinned with one arm. He needs approximately no time to react and squish poor not invulnerable sydney like a bug. Hell, he could use maxima as a mace and beat sydney to death with her solid gold ass if he took it into his mind to do so. Unless this INSTANTLY depowers him, trying to put a shield around him would result in sydney being flicked like a booger.
He couldn’t possibly escape the shield. It blocks teleportation. Even if he didn’t want to, his only course of action would be to kill Sydney.
I’m not sure that the shield does block the V-wave. Sydney is rather pissed at her closest target right now, although Dabbler (part succubus) might be immune (or horny). If the shield can block V’s power absorption then a better option would be to put the shield around everyone except V. Most were placed at one end of the parking lot after they were knocked out so the shield would not even need to be that large. Just as long as she stays up high enough to avoid drawing the attention of the combatants on the ground.
Now I’m imagining rugger players trying to move a curling stone….
Re-watching Hancock…. kind of wondering how he would do in the Grrl Power world.
Hard to tell, since in his world, there arent any other superhumans (other than him and his ‘wife’)
It’s obvious. Vehemence would win because he is an invulnerable rage machine that can’t loose.
And unfortunately, looks like from the comment on the first page we have at least five more pages of this interminable fight …
Really, really, REALLY over this fight. It goes on, and on, and on …
Not even close to the part of this that I enjoy, really, which seems like it’s never coming back in the endless Vehemence unstoppable rage machine comic strip.
10 This is the fight that never ends
20 It just goes on and on and on
30 Some people started reading it
40 Not knowing how long it was
50 And now they just keep reading it
60 Forever just because
70 Goto 10
And before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, I’m joking. Not being mean.
using System.GrrlPower;
class Pander
{
static void Main()
{
while(true)
{
Console.WriteLine("I'm just happy to be");
Console.WriteLine("along for the ride...");
Console.WriteLine("and it will end soon");
Console.WriteLine("I have no doubt.");
}
}
}
I give up…
Have you NEVER gone to camp and sung camp songs?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz6OGVCdov8
LOL.
Best of all, someone posted a version that is 10 hours long!
Here in the UK, for endless songs we had “There’s a Hole In My Bucket” and “Michael Finnegan”.
And there’s always Badgers.
I’m not quite that cruel.
Also “Henry the eighth I am I am”
Next verse, the same as the first, a little bit louder, a little bit worse.
Change Henry the Eighth to V power set and you’ve got something there! :)
No.
Well my comment is based on a song we learned in camp, which was based on some old TV show, to which I posted a link to the song being sung.
+1
Yes, duly noted.
You are the first one to complain about that.
But hey! Just read the comments.
Not only their not boring, many times it’s were the REAL action is!
I promise you , you will not be disappointed!
And none of that passive–aggressive s1ht!
Here it’s in your face baby! WOOOHOO!
they’re
If that was your attempt at wit, you’re only half-way there.
Cool, I’m a half-full glass kind of guy.
…and all the world loves me, I just know it!
Can’t we just bludgeon V with ForWhomTheDeathTolls?
It depends on if Death Tolls still has googly eyes on and if V would find that funny or not.
Now he is up and about, it seems the best solution.
Playing rock, paper, scissors with a mirror never ends well.
So… I’m guessing Vehemence sent out a bullshit energy wave that causes everyone to act violently, and Halo wasn’t affected because of her shield. So maybe if she wraps the shield around Vehemence, it’ll block his mind control powers… but then she makes herself vulnerable :(
It sounds super-risky!
That, or one of her orbs has an adverse magic-dampening effect.
Or a behavior-mod that dampens excessive violence.
Or even her ADD meds are protecting her.
But given Vehemence’s reaction to Sydney when standing next to her, I suspect one of the orbs.
That OR the ‘Vehemence Wave’ only affects the weak minded and/or unconscious. Notice that Harem wasn’t affected either (other than to note that Something Wicked This Way Passed) And Dabbler was trying to shoot Vehemence (unlike Stalwart, who had to walk some 20 or so feet in order to stomp Hiro into the tarmac) so it’s a safe bet that she was unaffected as well.
The only thing these three share is that they were awake when the wave passed them by.
So maybe Sydney’s shield isn’t V-proof after all…
Harem could be unaffected because of a byproduct of quantum brain.
I don’t think it works by majority I mean if one gets drunk won’t they all be drunk?
It’s just multiple routes to the one brain.
Am I the only one here who feels seriously sorry for Stalwart right now? Hiro is basically superman lite, so that kick has some major oomph behind it.
Kinda surprised there wasn’t much of a reaction, even if his nuts were as heavy as shuttle parts…
My thoughts exactly…
If they’re amped up on V-juice, they may not even feel it, due to the adrenaline and endorphions coursing through them.
Ever been in a fight? Ever not realized how bad that punch in the face hurt until the next day? I think that’s what’s going on. There’s gonna be a lot of “I did what?” going around if/when the fight ends.
Or they’re simply shuttle nuts of steel…
Heavenly Sword may be missing the point. If she can add blades to anything she wields as a weapon (blade and ribbon demonstrated so far), then all she has to do is think of the tape on her hands as a weapon. Instant punch daggers / bladed gauntlet. Admittedly, that’s not her style, but it is better than nothing. Or maybe there’s a chance that the blades would form intersecting with her hands, in which case her decision makes sense.
Or, she just doesn’t like her hands being bound that way
Looks like she has to be holding the object in the palm of her hand to work as opposed to having said object wrapped around her fist. Mittens are her kryptonite.
I thought mittens were Halo’s kryptonite. :-D
I thought it was being riddled with bullets. :D
Shirtless guys with abs. That’s why she’s so ineffective against Vehemence.
Hmm after the old Italian comment I think she has immunity to his.
Just look at the size difference and she should be cringing.
Mastiff looking to get frisky with Chiwawa time
That might be more because of what he was saying than what he looks like.
Though how he acts also makes him extremely unattractive as well.
Maybe he should’ve kept his pants off then… or not. :P
Out of all the comment sections I see here and the positive/negative feedback given, along with the speculation from cautious to rampant, is this observation:
Dave must be feeling pretty happy right now.
Plainly and simply, he has created something that provides polar opposites. People who are heavily for his comic, and people who are heavily against his writing tactics. Regardless, people are talking, and talking, AND talking about his work. This is something I think Dave should reflect on and take pride in.
I will be gone for part of the Christmas/New Years season, but will check back in after the first of the year. I have Dave’s amazon link uploaded to my phone so I can buy things through it. I hope everyone here has a Merry Christmas, or whatever other way you celebrate this holiday season.
DaveB. Ignore all negativity. You are consistently scoring hundreds of comments, which means that your comic rocks and is deserving of all the attention it is getting.
IE we post == we care.
+1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
I had an idea to end this fight. Unfortunately, it is outside of Sydney’s current orb control ability.
1) Dabbler hands Sydney a sheet of paper with a drawing and whispers something in her ear.
2) Sydney grabs the flight and PPO orb and zooms up into the air above Vehemence.
3) She engages the PPO and a wandering stream of energy starts hitting the ground all around V.
4) The beam stops, and V looks up and says, “Ha, you missed me!”
5) Sydney replies “I wasn’t aiming at YOU.”
6) The view pulls back to reveal a giant pentagram seal surrounded by runes with V in the center.
(A.K.A. the ‘devil’s trap’ seen in Supernatural)
https://www.supernaturalwiki.com/index.php?title=Devil's_trap_(symbol)
7) V tries to use his powers and finds he can’t do any magic or leave the circle. He raises his fists into the air and shouts the obligatory defeated supervillain “NOOOOOOOOO!”
I like that, except I don’t think Sydney has enough fine control of teh PPO to use it that way. Isn’t that one reason she hasn’t been using it?
Actually it’s because the power output from the PPO has, on both occasions, caused too much of a backlash from the explosion. Once it set an entire forest on fire, the other time with the tank, it almost sent a portion of the tank flying at the press (deflected by Maxima fortunately) and caused a bunch of explodey sand to fly up at her.
Although it’s still possible that she doesnt have fine control either. She did say the PPO was harder to use than all the others.
With meds wearing out, if fine control wasn’t the problem then, it will be now.
Won’t matter much, though, since Dabbler has been affected, albeit not as bad as the rest.
Vehemence only revived those people and made disabled Arc members fight eachother AFTER Maxima stopped fighting. I think he can only use his powers while people are fighting in the vicinity, be it fighting him or others, and of course for a short duration afterward…
Reading through the archives the pacing of this comic is awesome! Vehemence is a great villain and reading through again, there’s less mood change from polite to violent than reading it as it updates. Thank you for writing this comic!
Vehemence … Is fast becoming one of my least favorite villains ever.
Seriously. It can be hard to read the next panel knowing that,meet again, it’s going to be centered around vehemence and whatever new ability or immunity he sprouts next.
Based on how things have gone the last few comics, someone WILL Throw Death Toll at him, and he’ll actually catch him and knock him out with an ‘anti power field’ which is a one time thing because he’s so flush with power.’ At which point he’ll brag some more, and monologue some more about how awesome he is.
Or maybe Vehemence will counter by using 5 different powers on Death Toll at the same time in order to knock him out again, and say ‘that little stunt gave me enough power to now kill Maxima’ and brag about that.
While im sure sydney will come up with an awesome solution for this, right now I would suggest, “Yo Dabbler! I got your back. Take the shot and I will keep the bad guys off you!” I mean, we have no way of knowing if vehemence can tank a rail gun designed to shoot satellites out of orbit, but its worth a shot. And it might be enough to knock him off maxima. If she can get back on her feet, then we can go to round 3.
And now she knows she cant let herself get pinned by him. So speed and explosive power instead of armor. No more tanking hits. A good setup would be for maxima to be obviously powering up her biggest hit possible, vehemence comes in to stop it, and sydney pops up her shield around herself and maxima for that instant, then drops it again while vehemence is at point blank range and wide open. Boom, all thats left is his arm an eye, and a tooth. We have already seen she can obliterate his flesh (We dont know if she can obliterate his new arm though) And so far we have yet to see a reason why sydneys shield CANT take the hit, or at least deflect it enough for this final blast.
Any reason vehemence and maxima are in the who’s who section and not the “I like boxers” gal?
Because she’s a nameless peon meant only to prevent Dabbler from being able to kill Vehemence, possibly.
She is not likely to be a recurring character. She’s a minor super at best, and won’t be able to avoid jail time for what she’s done tonight. She could get broken out by a villain, but right now she’s set up to never be seen again after this fight sequence ends. No sense in getting to know someone that won’t be around to be known!
I don’t know why but I badly wish to see her with an eyepatch again. HER EYEPATCH WAS COOL!
Sydney Scoville: Mini-Sagat
Yes! She was cute with an eyepatch!
She can’t do a proper FADC, though.