Grrl Power #278 – Alarmingly Disorderly Harnessing of Doom
Merry Xmas to those of you who get up to that sort of thing. My present to you is a regularly scheduled comic. :) This was supposed to be an easy bottle episode type page but there’s actually at least a whole page worth of new art on it. :/
Given the limitations of the media, this is my attempt to visualize ADHD, or at least the ADD part. Just a bum rush of stuff going on with the occasional tangent taking you off to parts unknown unless you’re really trying to focus. Sydney seems to have found a way to leverage it with her medication waning just the right amount, even if Batman keeps trying to horn in. Speaking of Batman, this is the song stuck in her head now if you’re not familiar with it is this, obviously with “Batman” in place of “Scatman.”
When I originally envisioned this page, it almost completely laid out Sydney’s plan, obfuscated only by the fact that she was considering several different options, indicated by several running sets of arrows like a football play, but as I started building the page, I realized that would basically just spoil the next few pages. In a comic book, I think that would be ok since people probably wouldn’t spend up to 4 days flipping back through the book and recalling each scene with a checkmark on it, but everyone reading along now potentially has that luxury. I didn’t want to spoil the fun, so I omitted most of the checkmarks and threw in a lot of red herrings, which I think is fine cause it’s still in line with the ADD fueled blur of images. Not everything she dredges up will be useful after all, hence the red X’s everywhere.
Sebastian Shaw, for those of you who don’t know, is the character Keven Bacon played in X-Men: First Class. (The bad guy) His power was to absorb, store and release damage, so hitting him does nothing but make it so he can hit you back just as hard. Some of the ways the X-men ever beat Shaw are applicable to Vehemence, which is why Sydney’s drafting from that well. The reason he looks like colonial Wolverine on this page is that’s how he looks in the comic. Obviously for the movie they didn’t dress Bacon up like that, probably because someone was worried audiences would think he was Wolverine’s aristocratic brother or something. Mutton chops, owl hair, the lot. He dresses like 1800’s British upper class because that’s how everyone in the Hellfire club dresses. (It’s a group he belongs to) Well, I say everyone. The men dress like that. The women in the group dress like hookers with capes, because comics.
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MERRY CRHISTMAS EVERYONE.
Indeed, merry cristmas
Have a very merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
And a Merry Christmas to you as well.
Merry Christmas everybody :)
Merry Christmas to one and all!
Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope your time with friends and family is a good one!
Wishing Dr Revenge a very merry Fwooshmas. Enjoy!
Merry Christmas folks.
merry cristmas
And a happy festivus to all
Happy winter solstice!!! Also, joyeux noël!!!
Merry Xmas! I hope much feasting was had by all.
Cows, turkeys, lobsters, and plants have died that night. :d
Don’t forget pigs (festive hams).
I don’t know if you ARE an ADDer DaveB, but that’s pritty damn accurate
I don’t have ADD but my head does that on occasion. A runaway train of thought with sidetracks and zig-zags. I rarely get anything useful out of it though.
Yeah, I have adhd, and my mind does that a LOT. I will have a nice solid train of thought going then BOOM, I hit a cow on the tracks and jump off in a random direction.
Who needs a cow? A butterfly (or a squirrel) is enough to derail and ADD train of thought, at least in my case…
SQUIRREL
…He’s got tricks, up his sleeve – most bad guys won’t believe….
Yeah= as someone with ADHD, the problem can be getting my brain to STOP doing this.
Sure as shit is. Like said in other comments as well, sometimes it takes MINUTES to stop the train…
It’s very accurate yes – but what’s interesting is I’m more aurally led in my thinking as opposed to visually led. For me, ADHD turbo mode is more a blur of conversations, auditory memories, song lyrics, interesting quotes and internal monologues with only the occasional image thrown in… as opposed to vice versa which Dave has expressed so eloquently above.
Imagine this page being a collection of speech bubbles, partially interlinked and minus the images – then you’ve hit the nail on the head for me personally of what happens once *my* meds wear off.
Conversely this is what happens to my mind when the anti-depressants kick in. It turns out that depression kept my ADD under control for about 35 years and kicking that unleashed the ADD.
Those little party gifts never come alone do they?
I think its time to get Death toll to take on the big guy. One on one. Can DT use his power to wipe the floor with him? Could be interesting
Nah, Vehemence is to smart for that. DT’s powers only work if someone attacks him
Not to mention DT is still out cold. Even V’s Aggro Aura (pat pend) could not wake him up. Right now the only person Sydney can rely on is herself. Everyone else is violently distracted. And story-wise that is just how it should be.
I know what you mean, I tend to get that in bed, usually when it’s important that I get up early because I need to be somewhere.
Chippendale Batman and Catwoman could be interesting
This page is awesome.
Merry Christmas, Dave! Thanks for the present! And hey, when is a greenskinned dancing girl not beneficial to any devious plan?
Dabbler took that form while they were testing Sydney’s orbs back at Archon HQ. It may be significant or it may just be attached to a stray notion. There is about a ream of notes in those panels and no way to eliminate even Chippendale Batman as a mere fancy.
The more devious the plan is, the more beneficial a greenskinned dancing girl becomes…
Don’t forget hypnotic boobs. Any devious plan must come with hypnotic boobs.
Right side, just below centre. Has a question mark on it.
Now that’s a capper of a page. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, folks! Peppermint Hot Chocolate for everybody!
A day late and a dollar (or fifty) short, but I’m assuming you mean peppermint schnapps hot chocolate. In that case, I hoist my drink to you! =D
Both peppermint and chocolate aggravate my ADHD. I’ll just grab the eggnog.
whatshe goin to do? throw hyper super extreme spicy noodles at him? lol
Let’s see…Dave said that there’s some elements of a plan forming (noted with a green check mark) however he only included a very little of it, but also a lot of red herrings (I like pickled herrings, but I’ve never seen any red ones).
The first green check mark is recollection of when Max & Syd were outside the bank, talking about how Max was fast enough to stop a bullet (but not fear vomit :P). The second check mark is when Math told Sydney about being “three moves ahead.”
I’d be willing to bet that Sydney’s plan is going to have to rely on how fast Max actually is, but that would first have to get Vehemence to let go of her…I’m almost afraid to think that it’s going to involve fear-vomiting on him.
O.o
The first check mark could also be a link to Maxima observing that “Adrenaline crash is a hell of a thing” (unfortunately appealing as this theory is,just double checked the archives, and you’re right the panel is about fear vomit). Welp, I got nothing.
Last observation:
Batman has bat underpants??
It’s a Bat-Jockstrap.
It’s still not as bad as a Harkonnen Thong.
Made out of rubber. After a whole day of fighting bad guys, it really seals in the flavour. ;p
Well, perhaps that’s Celina’s kink…
heres my theory on the plan, broken down by roles.
first, harem goes for takeout, or more precicely ring of fire sauce, makeshift pepper granades/molotovs
next, dabbler turns on the lust aura and glamor, drawing the source from vehemence. this should have the effect of subverting a large amount of his built up vehemic energy, transforming it into tantric energy for dabbler. this also may subvert his aggro aura.
by this point max will be free of vehemence’s grip, and can go full speed, dodging his future attacks while he burns more vehemic energy. potentially even forming a tornado around him. also smashing free the ground to which he anchored himself. after this, max sends him into orbit.
It was so obvious, why didnt we all think of it! :)
I thought “The Unmaker” > “Ring of Fire” sauce?
more than likely it IS greater than that… but it’s at Archon HQ’s location about an hour away by bus not HERE… BUT… the restaurant kitchen MAY have something like it left over in the rubble. I’d say that with all the shelving, and stainless steel counters, ovens and gills, etc and other miscellaneous stuff, that are present in just about every food establishments kitchen areas, there is a high likelihood of a small bottle like that being UNbroken, whether the kitchen HAS one or not is unknown at this point in time…
oops.. gRills, not gills…
If there is even a kitchen to search anymore.
But anything near headquarters is probably easily accessible by Harem and The Unmaker is small enough to teleport. I don’t think its alive in the conventional sense but um, maybe exposing it to extradimensional energies would be a mistake…
I’d say that the FIGHT probably never even got into that area since Max told “Major” (Hiro i think was the Major) to “get the civvies out” of the bldg, that’s probably the first place he went in order to get them out the back door and out from harm’s way. as for the place being demolished, nah, you’d be surprised at how sturdy stuff is in a kitchen environment, especially since it was just a single story building, and there’s not much “stuff” that COULD come down on it in the first place.
I was thinking more all the blasts and bombs that didn’t hit anything.
I think everyone would have noticed if a bottle of Unmaker broke though. As in, everyone in the entire city
*Bottle of The Unmaker is shattered*
“…and there shall be a mighty burning to herald my coming!”
Actually I think the Sydney/Max scene might be more of an indication for the power of ‘the element of surprise’.
I don’t know the exact plan, but I’d say Distract –> Surprise may be a part of it.
Sydney can handle the spice. Maxima was ambushed by the fear/adrenaline-crash vomit. Harem teleports to ARCHON HQ, gets the spicy sauce (THE UNMAKER!) from there, gets Fusion to remake Sydney’s Evil Gas (‘What is this, about three million Scoville? Do you have a drop of pure cap I can garnish this with?’).
Distraction unknown – Sydney consumes, nuclear strength inferno fear vomit surprise attack on V. Or Unmaker to the eye for V. Something like that. With Stripper Scatman Batman – hey, that’s what will distract V!
Merry Christmas, everyone! And thank you, Dave, for this page. There are so many of those little frames that would have been great by themselves, but all together? Man, you’re spoiling us.
funny scatman reference btw hehe
and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU hehe
Loved seeing the Bats referencing that…:-D
Stripper Batman. Not sure what to make of it. Merry Xmas to everyone, BTW. :-D
It’s amazing her brain keeps functioning like that, not to mention produce anything useable at all.
Nice hidden review by the way – if you subtract batman that is.
Halo bringing up her chinese restaurant memories makes me worry a bit that we are about to see another of “them bio-logical attacks”:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/194
Welcome to the world of the ADD. It IS a miracle that we’re capable of working through that cloud to get things done, in general, it’s a struggle to complete basic tasks while having to filter through that. Imagine that every waking moment, and then imagine that you’re told that you should just pay attention and you’re not trying hard enough to focus. Then tell me why I was a upset that he was seemingly joining the wailing masses that make fun of us as worthless good for nothing goof offs.
On a side note, you did well, Dave.
Interestinglly enough, there are upsides. They just don’t fit in the world of today.
For example, ADDers (and ADHD, in this situation, rhoughly the same thing) are the best multitaskers in the world. To bad most of the world today revolves about focussing on 1 thing
Normally, people that claim to multitask simply switch quickly back and forth between multiple tasks. ADDers can’t help but focus on multiple things at the same time. I can have a deep conversation, or listen in class, while reading an unrelated book, or staring out the window, or whatever else.
People that don’t know me often asume that I’m not paying attention, and that tends to piss them off. But it’s always funny when a teacher KNOWS you weren’t paying attention, and than you repeat everything they just said to them
Down here in the trenches multitasking on that level would still be useful in the extreme. Like Shipping and Receiving clerks for a certain factories warehouse I could mention. You usually had at least two tasks that needed to be done at anyone time, constantly on the network pulling up information on part location etc… and were usually either being called on the phone to see if something had made it to the staging area (either receiving or shipping) or had to call somebody else off and on to see if they had finally finished MAKING the parts you needed to package, label and send out the door in 15 minutes… I’m sure there are a lot more jobs a lot worse than that in places I was lucky enough not to work for.
There is only so much your actual HANDS could be doing at anyone time but if you could THINK of multiple things at once a job like that would be a piece of cake because you would be 3 Steps Ahead mentally so your hands would never just be in your pockets when there are two or three things that need to be done right now. So to me that is mental multitasking because even though your hands are jumping around your mind needs to keep track of multiple things past present and future or you’ll never manage to switch back and forth physically as you say. Most of us can’t and some of us (me) really can’t. We can only think of one thing and then jump to another as you say which is not quite good enough for a job like that. (stressful…. )
I could fake the teacher thing though. I have no multitasking and a poor long term memory but a really good short term one. The teacher would call on me as you suggest and I would stall just long enough to “check the buffer” as it were. The teacher probably thought I was thinking up and educated guess or something furiously but basically I was just “listening” to a recording of the most recent sentences which I had totally not heard at the time but my brain had dumped into some pocket of short term anyway.
Yea, trouble is, school is nothing like this job you describe. And in an environment where everything revolves around concentration and sequential task completion, having a brain that is constantly high on the mental equivalent of wanderlust makes everyone assume you’re either an idiot or not trying hard enough. The irritating part, for me, at least, is that having ADHD just makes all the flaws in the lecture format so utterly glaring; the number of educational blog entries that treat my everyday observations from high school and college as some kind of grand revelation is frustrating to put it politely.
Additionally, since it’s a subjective / mental process, proclaiming one form of multitasking to be fake or real isn’t a terrible useful or accurate concept. From what I’ve seen there’s a general acceptance that all human beings engage in a form of conscious / subconscious multitasking continuously, where while only one thought or task may be on the conscious mind at a time, the subconscious continues to process anything with mental or emotional importance. My hypothesis, therefore, is that AD(H)Ders become adept at this subconscious processing because of our lack of control over our conscious thoughts. My personal experience also seems to suggest that the “barrier” between the two realms of thought is thinner, I often find myself distracted by a continuation of something I was thinking about previously (see: sydney and batman).
Well, if you survive high school they will give you that job with no further schooling needed around here anyway.
I’m assuming the fake or real thing is referring to RobK.
My problem is the other direction. I am extremely linear in thought, some mental speed and memory issues aside, and therefore do wonderfully in school as long as I get enough time. However I do horribly in many real life jobs and other situations. Sadly, I now have more time in the work force (or trying to be) than school so most of my memories are of failure by degrees.
I hope you survive school and get out here where, in the grunt job world at any rate, you’ll probably do better than I by far. Good luck. :)
Merry Cristmas.
Merry Christmas for those who understand that Political Correctness…Isn’t!
I second that.
Merry Christmas!
Hey, David, Happy Holidays to you too and thanks for the awesome Christmas present. :) I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who has this kind of thought process.
…Merry Christmas to all,with a wish of heath+happiness for the new year…
Dave, if are familar with the old TV show The Avengers, one of the Diana Rigg episodes involved her being hypotized into becoming the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. Same outfit and all. I was a teen and it damn near fried my brain in it’s own hormones.
(Psst… it’s where they got the idea… also, Sebastian Shaw is the guy who played dying/dead Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker, Donald Pierce is Donald Sutherland/Hawkeye Pierce)
Wow this page is amazing. Merry christmas to everybody!
I feel like Batman needs a Who’s Who box now.
Simple box. Batman. Always has a plan. Unstoppable. Powers: I’m Batman.
Awesome! As a fellow ADD I can totally confirm that this is totally how my brain works (with an exception of shirtless guys – I don’t swing that way). Only the squirrels are missing from the general picture.
Where is the squirrel? We haven’t seen him in months, Well a few seconds in storytime.
He’s smarter than most humans. After the second time he was disturbed he got the heck out of there. Only humans move toward known danger.
The squirrel followed Hex when she made her strategic withdrawal. He is currently plotting revenge on her for disturbing his home life.
it’s not a squirrel, it’s one of Boldricks plains. A plain so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a squirrel
either that or it’s gone back to squirrel girl
if that is a Black Adder reference, isn’t that name supposed to be Baldric?
Gone back to meet with the all-squirrel and, with the rest of the hive, plot ways to enslave humanity.
As long as I get cookies in the end…
The squirrel transformed into Batman. Obviously. Duh.
Not true. The all-squirrel can never be as epic as the Batman.
That’s just what he wants you to think!
Think about it – you never see the squirrel and Batman in the same place at the same time!
And we never see baby Batmen nor squirrels! You may be on to something…
(…shhh – secret squirrel!…)
https://homepage1.nifty.com/96iruka/secret/img/ss_page_05.gif
But what about shirtless Squirrels?
Not as important as pantless squirrels…
What about pantless flying Shatner squirrels?
This is frightening….Merry Christmas or the more P.C Happy Holidays.
No offense to you, but I don’t understand the whole political correctness in saying “Happy Holidays”. Yes there’s more than one holiday going on, but on the calendar it says December 25th is Christmas. It doesn’t say “Holidays”. I can and do say Merry Christmas to people. If someone were to wish me Happy Hanukkah, I’d say thank you and the same to them. I wouldn’t get upset because they follow a different religion than I do.
In short, I think political correctness is stupid. People shouldn’t be offended because of well wishing.
While you have a point when it comes to well-wishing, the social utility of Political Correctness is greater than most people give it credit for. It’s effectively a kind of modern cross-sub-cultural etiquette, a way of showing respect towards people you don’t identify with, and I’ve seen at least one study with results that suggest it can have a significant benefit on group productivity and creativeness in non-homogeneous groups. Interestingly, the study also suggested that within homogeneous groups PCness decreased creativity.
Except that I, for one, cannot help but note that the term ‘political correctness’ was originally coined for use in direct connection with totalitarianism. As in whatever might be deemed as ‘acceptable’ by or for a specific regime.
Yes, ‘Political Correctness’ is in itself not at all politically correct.
Then there are the times when, no matter how well-intentioned the basic principle might be, it is (IMO) grotesquely MISused.
Such as ….
Young children barred from doing Xmas pageants because some moron arbitrarily decided the pre-planned event “might” offend non-Christians (commonly, without even consulting any non-Christians involved).
Historical / literary works threatened with “editing” or even downright banning because of characters in them using words or expressing views appropriate to the time when written, but far less so now.
Models / artwork / pictures of places and objects relating to ww2 that have ALL swastikas excised from view.
Nursery rhymes, names of locations or organizations, etc. coming under attack from PC because of some perceived slight against a particular group.
*****
Sensitivity for the feelings of others, respect for each other’s differances, these are things I believe the world always needs more of. But no matter how logical, enlightened and generally “right” a principle / law / creed / course of action might appear, there are always ways in which it can be abused. Worse still, there may be times when it can be twisted to the exact opposite of what might have originally been intended. This is especially true of “Political Coorrectness”.
You’re very close when you say that Political Correctness leads to totalitarian regimes. It’s aptly described in the Communist Manifesto as a method of achieving mass-mind control.
The basic jist of it is that, if you can control how people use their language, you start making them think the way you *want* them to start thinking…All because their minds have to “go through *your* hoops” just to be able to communicate. The key to gaining control over the use of language is based on heavy use of euphanisms, to confuse people what you really mean. Yet, Political Correctness & over-use of euphanisms only makes someone so ambiguous that they’re not saying anything in context with the real world as it exists.
The followers of Mithras and Sol Invictus beg to differ with you. 12/25 is the nativity for both those deities.
so
ticks == relevant or useful
? == questionable relevance
so what does all the ticks and question marks come down to ???
on reflection there ar a couple of images that dont have tick, ? or cross
relevent or did i find a easter egg (Christmas cracker?)
my bets on the plan involving the shield and dabbler
I’m the Bat-man (ski-bi-di-bi-di-do-bap-do…)
bat bleh no cookie
*is actually eating some Chewy Chips Ahoy for breakfast*
^_____________________^
Whee-ba-da-ba-da-bop!
I’ve totally got that song stuck in my head now… which isn’t a bad thing, in my opinion. I’ve liked it for quite some time: the idea that a 50-something (at the time) stuttering jazz singer could top the pop dance charts amuses me.
Los del Rio, a Latin group that was around since the 60’s… but it wasn’t until 1996 that they got REALLY famous. i’ll let you google them on your own if you don’t get it yet. ;D
It’s more a visualization off how her ADHD brain works. Rapidly cycling through the day, shelving everything in different catagories.
The ticks are relavent to what she’s trying to come up with, the question marks might be, the crosses are deemed irrelavent.
i took the question marks as more along the lines of “wtf am i thinking about THIS for?”
In addition to my super Maxima-Vehemence ship, (Pleeeeaaase??? I was good this year!) I’m now really feeling a Math and Halo thing. Batman can watch, of course.
You forgot her adding Leon to the back of the List?
Oh no, I remember. My wish list is very long this year ;-)
Mathlo? Ehh, they would be good buddies, but I do no believe anything serious could form
I am tempted to get Patreon, so Dave would create a Character named “Gilhelmi” (so expensive for a daydream).
LoHelm has a nice ring to it.
Several of the flashbacks involved her volcano vomit incident. I think that must be at least part of her solution.
Sassafras. Sorry Dave you missed Sydney’s bruise in the three framing panels.
Hah hah geeze, I’ll fix it post. :P
Imaginary Sydneys have no need for bruises or orbs.
I absolutely approve of the Scatman John reference.
Merry christmas to all!
A newcomer.
Thats… is pretty much how I imagine an ADHA-brain on speed looks like… or how I feel it.. :o
Merry Christmas to you too Dave! :cheers:
… so, they are gonna Gas him? An attack that doesn’t count as an attack and over time has been used to waylaying all but the most powerful (and sometimes even them) of supers?
The really weird thing is Ridalin is basically speed. Although the dose is much smaller it actually helps concentration. There are a lot of theories why but it does work.
an ADHD brain is basically a normal brain on a high dose of speed. by giving them more it forces the brain to lag which causes it to act more like a normal brain though still highly susceptible to distraction. those that have ADHD are also highly resistant to sleep aids.
i took Vicodin once because i had my wisdom teeth pulled and i didnt sleep for a couple days. (i’m ADHD and just got distracted…what was i talking about again? squirrels?)
First off: it’s spelled Ritalin, its chemical name is Methylphenidate, it’s part of a class of drugs called psychostimulants, and many brand name ADHD drugs are Methylphenidate with various release systems. Notable exceptions are Focalin (dexmethylphenidate), Adderall (a mix of 4 kinds of amphetamines), Buproprion/Wellbutrin (which is an anti-depressant / anxiety medication with mild stimulant effects) and Strattera (Atomoxetine), Estulic/Tenex/Intuniv (Guanfacine), and Clonidine (these last three are considered non-stimulants).
Actually, current wisdom holds that AD(H)D arises from functional neurotransmitter system deficiencies (dopamine and norepinephrine transmission specifically) and that psychostimulants help people with AD(H)D maintain their concentration for longer periods because said stimulants increase activity in these systems. A decade or so ago they thought it was all about blood flow to specific functional/structural areas of the prefrontal cortex, though to my knowledge the two theories aren’t exclusive. It’s (now?) widely accepted that the drugs have a similar effect in “normal” people, which is why the Ivy League Adderall scandal is a scandal; ADHD drugs were introduced with the intent of evening the playing field for people with an academic deficiency, and instead are being used by already high performers. Like if female athletes with high testosterone levels started doing steroids on top of it (though the analogy holds for any distinct natural athletic advantage)
That said, I do have quite a collection of anecdotes concerning people with AD(H)D responding to stimulants in amusing ways. I, myself, fell asleep shortly after chugging a can of monster, but it’s unclear if these odd responses are a result of the ADHD, or long term exposure to stimulants, or if they’re statistically significant, for that matter. I also find it amusing that most of the criticisms of modern teaching methods are utterly obvious to everyone I know with AD(H)D. It’s almost like human beings aren’t meant to sit still all day, silently listening to other people talk, like learning is some kind of active multi-sensory process, and the lecture format is an outdated idea that was pretty poor in the first place. For more information, wikipedia. -_-
tl;dr : ADHD brains are not “regular” brains on speed, and stimulants affect people similarly whether they have ADHD or not. Also: Having academic interests and ADHD sucks. *is bitter*
Maybe I got lucky but my ADD came with a weird sort of intense focus where the rest of the world just fades away. If I am reading sometimes I don’t notice what is going on around me.
In my experience, those with ADHD can focus extremely well on tasks that interest them, and hardly at all on things that do not. I’d hazard that it is to do with stimuli. Interesting things are more mentally stimulating, therefore they are much easier to focus on.
That’s basically it. Ask me to fill in the bookings for our doctor who club? I’ll probably forget to do it when the deadline approaches and makes me panic.
Ask me to upgrade the facebook banner? My mind is buzzing and ready as I fire up the image editor.
I think it has something to do with the theory of active vs passive attention. Things which demand your attention are easy to do. Things which you must actively focus on? Demanding.
Perhaps this is why I tend to do things in slightly odd ways, to make them interesting.
Gas is a bad idea, it tends to get dispersed by the wind
ADHD brain on speed is basicly a regular brain. I never tried some myself, but I know someone with ADD who once took speed. She fell asleep from it
Surely Anvil would be the Sebastian Shaw equivalent?
Both Anvil and V gain power by absorption. As does Shaw. Sydney calls V a “pro-mode” Shaw since you don’t have to hit him directly.
Well… except the ways that Sebastian Shaw has been beaten in comics were 1) Rogue once threw him into orbit or something along those lines (can’t happen here, since he has that anchor thing), rather than relying on punching him, 2) The Hulk hit him so hard that it went beyond what he could absorb (law of diminishing returns?), and 3) Psychic attack (no one here has that power)
So obviously the plan is to beat him by using Mel Torme dressed as Batman, in underwear. Because that’s thinking three moves ahead.
OBVIOUSLY.
You forgot…
4) He was once hit by a super-distressed Storm’s (when she’s in panic mode, or fighting for control of her body (like she was with Emma Frost at the time) the sky goes ballistic) lightning storm-bolts, which put him into a coma. Needless to say, that ain’t gonna work either.
My idea is that Sydney’s gonna get some of that HOT sauce we saw earlier, eat it raw, then wrap herself, V, and Max up with her shield orb, and then finally, breathe in V’s face, counting on Max’s invulnerability to protect her from any ‘splashback’ fumes. Of course, this plan all hinges on wether Max can take advantage of the 2-3 seconds it’ll take for V to try an push Syd away, only to realize that he’s turned her into a greasy smear on his palm…
In “The Uncanny X-Men” TV show, Shaw was beaten when Storm froze him solid. Ice causes damage, true, but it does so SLOWLY, so the cold would sap his strength faster than he could absorb the damage, and it had the bonus of immobilizing him. Cyclops was able to defeat him by destroying the floor under him, dropping him down into the sub-basement of the Hellfire club hideout (too far down to jump back up into the battle.) Beast was able to make him dizzy and make him whine to “stop it!” by picking him up and spin him like a frozen pizza for a while until Shaw figured out how to absorb the kinetic energy of being spun (because originally, spinning was not “directed at Shaw” and it doesn’t do damage.)
None of these solutions would currently work for Vehemence as he’s both too big to be lifted, and too strong to be frozen solid, and even if this wasn’t a parking lot, and there was a way to take out the floor beneath him, he’s got Maxima pinned, and taking the floor out under him, takes it out from under her too.
Cold is passive damage, not kinetic in nature. Shaw absorbs kinetic energy, but extreme cold doesn’t *produce* kinetic energy…Indeed, it *reduces* kinetic (motion) energy on a molecular & atomic level.
Another way that Shaw can be beaten (& Anvil also) would be to passively *encase* him without actually causing any impact, such as using telekinesis to form a material shell around him instead of hitting him with the material. If Shaw doesn’t already have enough strength built up from absorbing earlier impacts to break the material you use to encase him, he’s trapped.
yes and no
Anvil absorb the force directed at HER at the moment of contact before it does damage.
V absorb something that is a result of damage done.
Anvil can negate the damage by redirecting the force.
V gets stronger, the more damage is done.
the way it was described:
“His power was to absorb, store and release damage, so hitting him does nothing but make it so he can hit you back just as hard.”
seems more like anvil to me. unless the “damage” in the description means damage done, and not “potential” damage. it says it does nothing, but V is still taking damage, even if he can heal them later.
I always thought Sebastian Shaw is a kinetic energy absorber. Bishop has a similar ability, but for other energy, and he releases it through blasts instead of through kinetic force.
He HAS been beaten by Hulk though, who eventually hit him harder than he was able to absorb.
Yeah, Anvil & Shaw have the same power: Absorbing Kinetic Energy. They can only absorb kinetic energy that comes into direct contact with them. Vehemence specifically absorbs Vehemic Energy, which is not exactly the same thing as kinetic energy. Anvil & Shaw absorb the direct “energy of motion” as impact occurs, but Vehemence absorbs the energy released as a *result* of the impact…It’s this energy that radiates out *from* the impact that V absorbs, which seems to me to be the reason why he absorbs it from a distance, rather than only that which contacts him directly.
I apologize for lacking the actual physics terminology needed to describe it, but it’s an intrinsic part of particle physics.
Merry Christmas to all count your blessings,
Count your loves and all those dear to you,
Count love in beginnings and endings;
Hold family and friends close to you.
Life is oft brief and oft seems not ‘fair'(it ever seems so) –
And things might just leave you((as I well know) –
So hold to your loved ones, your family and friends,
Know that there are but beginnings and never are ends;
Love, family friends, those dear and close to you –
Are closer than life’s caprice can possibly take from you –
Hold them all dear and close to your heart,
And from your the embrace of your heart they never will part.
So Merry Christmas to all hold them tight,
Love family, and friends and those dear to you,
Hold them close and love, daytime or night,
Merry Christmas and blessings to each of you too.
Thank you RDM. And Merry Christmas to you and yours.
I wonder if her plan will involve condiments? John Taylor (from Simon Green’s Nightside series) swears by them.
A handful of pepper is nothing to sneeze at. (crickets) I’ll just see myself out.
*Offers a rimshot for the well taken opportunity.*
Happy bah humbug day to all and to all a happy calendar change day.
THAT is what the inside of her head looks like? …. can you imagine what that kind of stimulus overload would do to someone like Professor X (but not him of course because he’d be able to handle it… may get a migraine later but could handle it I’m sure) if they tried to invade that?
It looks like it would be like playing the mental version of wack-a-mole from the 5th dimension or something.
Actually, there are two ways a brain works: Linear thoughts that proceed directly from each other, and random connections to other things bouncing around.
That’s why some people have conversations of “Hey, isn’t x like related other thing y?” followed by “Why yes, they’re also like unrelated things 3, 5, and flapjacks.” which usually garners a reaction along the lines of “O_o” or “How did you get to that from x?!”
Congrats, Dave. “Ski bi di bi di do bap do” evoked that song for me perfectly, no link required (but I did follow it and listened for confirmation and enjoyment).
As for “getting up to that sort of thing”, as an atheist I’ll just say Happy Holidays! There is no evidence to support the census which supposedly brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, and there are many historical records from that time which would have mentioned such an event. And if some tosser died for my “sins” (which includes somehow the sins of my fathers through some kind of “born into sin” stigma), he died and rotted in the grave just like all others who die. Resurrection of the dead is a common theme amongst many different religious mythologies which Christianity borrowed heavily from.
I’m an atheist too, but I still celebrate Xmas. I just celebrate the Santa version, not the Jesus version. All presents, no church!
Good time of the year to enjoy Terry Pratchet’s “The Hog Father”, which does a good job of explaining the origins of such myths, and is entertaining at the same time.
I don’t see why non-Christians shouldn’t celebrate that version of Christmas – the one based uponSanta and family and food and presents and joy and goodwill. Also,merry Christmas or similar season’s greetings as appropriate to one and all. Loving the comic so far – don’t worry too much about pacing,that’s the one downside of the webcomic format.
Totally dude. I’m an English teacher in Thailand and we just had a big old Xmas thing today, games, snacks, dancing, prizes, singing, costumes and all kinds of fun. And Thailand’s Buddhist so yeah.. Christian stuff not required.
One does not need to be Christian to celebrate the winter solstice. This holiday exists in almost every culture and religion of the world. The Church established December 25th as Christmas probably as late as in 4th century, in order to compete with the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti festivities and Mithraist mysteries in Rome.
Almost all the symbols and traditions associated with Christmas precede Christianity and come from a variety of religions, cultures and Pagan celebrations. Heck, even the popular image of Mary with Child was patterned after Egyptian Isis with baby Horus…
So, let us all celebrate the Return of the Light and the rebirth of the world :)
just so long as we’re NOT celebrating the return of “The Light Bringer” and HIS version of the “Rebirth” of the world… i’m ok with your version.
By “HIS” you mean the occult (LaVey’s) interpretation of the Christian interpretation of the Caananite worship of planet Venus? No problem here :)
Christmas as a holiday was originally a pagan holiday anyway. Don’t have the info in front of me, but the early Catholic church I think latched onto it several hundred years ago. Something about when a nation conquered a new group of people, instead of forcing them into their culture, it was easier to let them keep their own and assimilate. Thus several pagan holidays melded with Christianity as well as other religions. Easter is the same way.
I’m a Christian myself, but I’m not a fan of Christmas. Got nothing to do with it not being mentioned in the bible (really the only true Christian holiday is Passover, but most modern Christians don’t follow it) but more to do with the disgust in how commercialized its become. Society; at least in America; has become so focused with OMG I HAVE TO BUY THIS TOY FOR MY CHILD NOW ONE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING BECAUSE REASONS!! Instead of focusing on spending time with family and wanting to give presents. Do I still buy presents and spend time with family? Of course. Do I stress out about it and go shopping on black Friday? Not at all. Do I go around telling everyone “Jesus is the reason for the season”? No I don’t because Jesus isn’t the reason Christmas exists.
All that being said, thanks for the comic Dave, and a Merry Christmas to you sir. Can’t wait to see how Sydney gets the gang out of trouble this time.
I feel it bears mentioning that the X is xmas is actually a Greek Chi, the first letter of Christ. That said, as an ambivalent agnostic: WOOO CHRISTMAS.
Heyo, just wanted to add that historians now believe that Jesus was actually born in March, and the whole thing of Decemeber was actually used to better ease ‘all those backwards pagan folks’ better into Christianity by celebrating the winter solstice at around the same time as the Christian ‘savior’. I’d cite references, but they should be just as easy for you to find as myself.
Just thought you’d like to add that to your repertiour :3
Either way, a day is what we choose to make of it. I’m an Agnostic raised with a Christian father and Jewish mother ~AND~ with family in the military and retail that made it so we weren’t all together for most holidays. Because of this, we learned to make the most out every holiday on a day that would work for all of us, even if it was the weekend before or a week after. Heck, just last week I dropped by my mom’s place to wish her a Happy Chanukkah gifts before attending a Christmas party with my husband and some friends.
Let society run off with consumerism if that’s what it wishes to do. I’ll focus on having a great excuse to visit family and spend time with those who mean the most to me.
Hmm, Going by the images, my theory is, she is taking the info maxima gave her about the adrenaline crash, and math’s three steps ahead line, and possibly combining it with how maxima with her super speed couldnt dodge fear vomit, the fact that someone else cant move her orbs, harems teleport ability, dabblers distraction, opals teleport, hot sauce to the face, dt and his abilities, math getting taken off guard by her orb control, her ability to shield everyone from fallout, and another shot of dabblers hypnotic effects.
Ok, her plan is to distract, annoy, bedevil, and befuddle vehemence, possibly using harem to grab the ultra deluxe mega hot sauce for a slap to the eyes, backed up by using dabbler to unleash her aura to counter the vehemic aura thats making everyone fight. She is trying to force a crash. If she can break his rhythm, she might be able to disrupt the entire flow of battle. She basically needs to come up with something like her apple line. Once he is broken from his fight or flight mindset, he may lose his ability to combat maxima efficiently for a time, giving her the chance to unleash the big bang attack we have all been waiting for.
Throwing up on Vehemence WOULD be unexpected. And not necessarily violent.
the only part i cannot agree with is the dabbler aura supposed to counter V’s
violence + lust = mass rape?
Ah! I got it! They’re going to use the super pepper sauce to wake up Death Toll while distracting Vehemence, they they’ll use Dabbler’s hypnotic boobies to get Death Toll on their side, after which, it’s just a matter of getting Vehemence to hit Death Toll!
I just don’t know how they’ll distract Vehemence, and they might use the super peppers to blind/distract Vehemence instead of as a wake up call for Death Toll.
Either way: SUPER INSANE SYDNEY-FU HYPER PLAN FUN TIME SENPAI SAVING THINGY GO!
…
I apologize for that. It was random and silly.
I’ve got it!
Sydney starts singing Scatman. This will counter the violence of everyone as they will HAVE to dance. There’s no way around that.
Then, while everyone’s dancing and Vehemence is temporarily dazed from the lack of violence, Sydney throws up on Vehemence’s feet, causing him to have to move his feet to not get it all over him.
As soon as his feet are off the ground, Maxima can throw him into orbit – which she can do because she can quickly change from full armor to full strength, since his electricity will be cut off due to everyone scatman-dancing.
It’s a 3 step plan, and Sydney is thinking 3 steps ahead to do it.
So…getting everyone to do a two-step dance is part of Sydney’s three-steps-ahead plan?…
*shields self from the flurry of rotten veggies being thrown*
Your plan is totally missing the most important component of all. Hypnotic boobs.
Loose thought train:
Sing -> Dance -> Dancefight -> Ansom -> Wanda Firebaugh -> Parson Gotti.
They need new chief warlord to direct the fight.
And someone to scream: “Leeeeeeeroy Jenkins!”
The Hog Father gives gifts. And a future, is the best gift of all.
Um, you kind of totally missed the pun there. The line is “the Hogfather gives presents. And there’s no better present than a future.”
See, it’s a play on the word “present,” which depending on context can have two different meanings.
Well… this page solves everything, doesnt it? :)
Merry Christmas everyone!
On a comic note: I wish MY ADHD brain would do that…
To be fair Sydney’s brain has a great deal of incentive to pay some lip service to her stronger demands. It doesn’t want to be “reset” with a nearby desk! XD
Mewwy Chwistmas!
What, conjure up naked batman?
noooo… he’s wearing a jockstrap….
Batstrap!
Great Scatman reference. For anyone who doesn’t know who he is or haven’t heard his music, go look it up! He is inspirational and his music is just about all positive.
I have no idea what Sydney’s plan is, but I like how it’s sort of after school special-ish (or Zelda dungeon-ish if you prefer) in that she’s taking into account all of the things she learned during the day to solve the problem at hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVm8r6TmD6Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6oXW_YiV6g
Better one, but the first one is good because it’s Batman Scatman doing the Batoosi
This is what I think about when I think “scat singing” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgdMJDD6oYQ But then I’m old.
Thank you for the page. Happy Holidays everybody.
As someone who has ADD i can confirm that Yes this is kinda what its like only more random and faster
nothing like doing math work in school and having ideas for new taco ingrediants start running through you head
Yea, way faster. Also the images wouldn’t be in chronological order
Had my Christmas coffee, and my Christmas bacon (applewood smoked, uncured, thick-cut, and very lean, also; baked in my Breville Smart Oven), now I’ve had my Christmas comic (thanks for a real comic and not a holiday postcard, DaveB). I am now well-bolstered to deal with earning double-time all day in my group home job, which I’ve been getting since midnight.
hmmm…. the big question right now is, can she get portal girl inside the shield with her, without dropping the shield first and thus becoming vulnerable to the aura?
If she can get portal girl to cooperate, i can see possibilities…. open a portal to a pepper spray foundry vat, and dump it on everyone for crowd control. then portal most of the bystanders to death valley so they can shake off the aura effects somewhere harmless. finally, portal a vat of liquid nitrogen on top of Vehemence.
and i think she IS planning to use her control over the orbs position as her third power, somehow.
Not much seems to be able to get through Halo’s shield, so it would really depend on whether Portal Gal could open a portal which crosses her shield.
But I suppose Sydney could just park her in the shadow of the shield and have a chat with her, and not even have to risk having her inside the shield with her.