Grrl Power #280 – An inauspicious start
Sydney knows about the aura which is the first step in resisting it. It’s like disbelieving an illusion. We’ve seen that her ADHD can be an asset in some cases, but here it’s working against her, as we see her slip from active resistance to “yeah and so’s you’re mom!” in about 4 seconds.
I always knew this step of the plan would fail, in fact I’m not even sure what Sydney had planned for the lighthook. There’s a lot of options; wrap it around his arm to see if that will block the lightning, try and choke him, shove it down or up certain orifices, even make a spring to try and push him off Max. Sydney doesn’t even know if it works that way yet. She’s not the Green Lantern after all. Well, hopefully she can turn it around on the next page.
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V’s subtle use of language is so telling. Always stating his ability rather than his intention.
Nice catch.
It’s the whole crux of my theory that V’s not actually bad, per se, but is giving that appearance for some reason because he needs ARC to behave as though he’s bad.
Naturally, my theory has lots of naysayers, but that’s fine. I’m a scientist. If the facts don’t fit the theory, then the theory is altered to fit the facts, or abandoned.
No creative rant when light hook failed, so failure was part of plan. Its a bluff
I’m guessing that if it could appear inside the shield, the Lighthook would have been used, but it wasn’t an essential part of the plan. Onto the next step!
I think the Lighthook was intended to irritate V by constant jabs and grabbing. He’s too strong to immobilize but his temper could cause him to focus on the wrong thing just long enough to make a big mistake. The orbs can do the job just as well.
Why did I have the immediate impression that Dabbler was about to get spanked on her pert little bottom by the tentacle when I zoomed in on #12?
There is a name for that: Wishful thinking. ;-P
That’s plan B. Give Dabbler enough juice, then lower the shield and let her take down Vehemence!
Huh. It never occurred to me until you said “Give Dabbler enough juice” but… wouldn’t they have protocols for powering her up? She said all she’d need is a fifty-person orgy to take on the whole team, and I’ll bet it wouldn’t be that hard to find fifty–or fifty thousand!–people to join in an orgy if it was for such a noble cause.
That would be pretty awesome seeing a supercharged Dabbler making sexual advances on Vehemence: no violence involved, and his arousal would probably have severe dampening effects on his stored energy.
A fifty person orgy, or maybe one creatively used tentacle? I mean sexual energy is sexual energy regardless of how you generate it.
The difficulties in organizing an orgy on that scale (especially at short notice) is the biggest problem there.
Hey, if Vehemence can start a fight then it only stands to reason that Dabbler can start an orgy.
sure!.. how many people do YOU know that would do that, all conveniently at your instant beck-and-call… heck, even Vehemence had to wait, about 2-3 hours, to get everyone there at the restaurant. otherwise I’m SURE that he would have tried to do it on world-wide TV at the press conference if he could have…
now try to do the same kind of transport task INSTANTLY (without using those portals)… contacting those people, getting each one to agree, GETTING THEM THERE… AND, here’s the important one… keeping them safe from V while doing it (no pun intended)… nope not gonna happen in any less time than V took and probably even longer due to NOT having the powers of Portal Girl, by that time the fight will be over one way or another…
Hmmmm. Good points. Still, though… these are the government-sanctioned good guys. I’m just saying… they have the potential to have a super with V’s power level at, as you say, a few hours’ notice. It would be fun to *at least* hear how ArcSWAT considered a protocol for this and decided against it. That’s a scene I’d love to see; it just feels right for the universe Dave has created, y’know?
Not gonna happen
Think of all the pulled groin muscles!
For that kind of exercise, you can’t even wear a cup or jockstrap to protect yourself…
Depends. Whatever floats yer boat.
You know, I can just see it:
AL: Hi Mom. Yeah, I got the job! I’m working for ArcSWAT now. Doing what…? Uh, I work in the power enhancement division. Yeah, no, it’s an easy gig and totally safe; they have a room where fifty or sixty of us all wait, just in case they run into a huge enemy or something. If that happens, then Dabbler teleports in and we…uh…loan her some power.
Huh? What were my qualifications? Geez, Mom, just because I never finished high school doesn’t mean I’m no good for anything! I have skills, you know!
Yes, mom, I *do*!
Jesus, Mom! Fine! I have a ten inch sh-
Hello? Mom?
PA SYSTEM: All Power Enhancement Personnel to the orgy room! All Power Enhancement Personnel to the orgy room! We have a Code Vehemence! This is not a drill!
It won’t manifest inside of the shield? I… that’s not exactly user friendly! Let me guess, “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!” Am I right?
That aside, what /was/ she planning to do with that darn thing? Not like it would have had any effect.
They are probably all that way by default so the orbs don’t interfere with themselves in their most likely uses. I’m sure she can learn the toggles to get them inside the shield and then her mind will be able to make it happen after she’s done that for a while.
A safety feature seems plausible.
On that basis, I’m still contemplating the horrific consequnces of using the PPO at FULL POWER in that circumstance (Ie, fully enclosed by the shield). Probably the best that could be said (assuming the shield held) is that there would be very very little in the way of remains to collect afterwards.
(Talk about ‘A Storm In A Teacup’)
It all depends on how the shield works, does it reflect or absorb or something else? If it’s absorb then there’s no problem.
Based on what we’ve seem so far (especially Max’s testing of the shield at the range), there isn’t much absorption going on. If any.
Also its not sure how well Sydney can control the output of the PPO
I had to actually look back at the time when Sydney used the hentacle with the shield, as I once thought the hentacle went through said shield itself. Huh. Of all things for the hentacle to fail, not able to manifest itself inside the shield was not one of them. Probably a good thing in the end just because of all the other theories we’ve concocted.
Kinda begs the question now. Are there any other orbs that can’t project inside the shield besides the molestorb?
I think only the PPO can be used from inside. It’s the only pairing active on the skill mandala.
It’s actually PPO and flight that have the pairing point.
Really? Cool, PPO + Flight sounds like a tractor beam/levitation beam!
we’ve already seen PPO + flight, it sliced through a tank “like buttah!”
That’s just what it does with or without flight I think. I was assuming a point on the bridge between two orbs meant that you could toggle them to act as one temporarily creating a third conjoined power instead of two separate ones.
Oh, you’re talking about the power map! Took me a second to remember that!
That’s an interesting idea. Reminds me of that show, “The Lost Room,” with all the reality-bending artifacts. Certain artifacts, when combined, can provide new, and totally different powers.
I’m still curious about what her plan was.
Objects. The things were called Objects, with a capital O.
Maybe using the lighthook inside the shield requires activating the lighthook first, then the shield
Or the shield will push the hentacle out, resulting in a nuclear rant worse than marmite pus.
I like my idea better :)
One day i need to try marmite now
Assuming it’s the same stuff as Vegemite, you really don’t. The stuff is unbelievably revolting.
That said, if you REALLY want to try it, it’s not hard. Here’s the recipe:
In a small bowl, mix 4 tbsp of petroleum jelly and 1 cup salt. Eat.
Maybe it’ll taste better with pus swirled zebra turd.
ADD is a superpower
I’m guessing it’s one of those mutant powers that can come in handy but is really annoying to have in everyday life?
Sydney’s plans never survive contact with Sydney… I like that XD
Now that she seems to have mastered the idea of “3 steps ahead,” Sydney’s going to have to work on the idea of “contingency planning.”
;)
She’s at least a quick learner. :D
Between dabbler’s flashback thingies and everything, I’m starting to get a Braev from Bravely Default vibe from this guy.
Harpy’s Nude Ear!!!
So, what, someone started shaving the cat from Fairy Tail?
I would ask how does Happy feel about being shaved, but Makarov Dreyar and Erza Scarlet, could get away with it
Edolas Lucy could and would do it.
At this time of year, in this weather, I pull my touke down over my ears…This is not the kind of weather in which I’d be wishing anyone a happy nude ear!
Three fish, ewes, a mare, egrets, moose
Three fish, ewes, a mare, egrets, moose
Three fish, ewes, a mare, egrets, moose
Panda Hippo Gnu Dear
Or deer.
Ewe are being a ba-aa-aa-ad boy for ramming that one down our throats…
:p
Not sure I believe that Sydney either doesn’t know she can’t or can’t use the light hook inside her shield. She’s playing V and setting him up for move 2 & 3 and maybe 4 or more.
Yah V, just keep thinking that Halo is just a cute, nerdy, airhead who is incapable of out thinking or harming you.
I don’t think he does
I like that she did indeed contemplate my “PewPew Orb is OP, even to you” idea. Now, though, I’m wondering what the plan is. I’m sure “Get him of Maxima” is still part of it, and I’m still pretty confident in his escape when confronted with too much violence versus not enough returns as the final resolution, but I’m wondering how Sydney is going to reach that outcome now. Obviously she’s not normally vicious enough to slice a guy’s head off with her powers. Similarly, I’m pretty sure she still has several more moves to play out; I doubt that using the lighthook, which had already proven largely ineffective as anything beyond a distraction to Vehemence, was a major factor to her plans.
I am intrigued.
Pretty sure Sydney IS vicious enough to slice his head off. She’s tried biting people’s heads open before, even without superpowers.
She was contemplating the PPO due to the aggro aura
Yes, but NORMALLY she’s not a murderer. That might also give us some clue as to how much of a mind-bend that aura was actually doing.
Devil’s advocate: V has literally stated his intent to murder Maxima. I think most police forces would consider this an acceptable time to use lethal force to protect her. So if Sydney did end up killing V I doubt any court would convict her of murder. Whether she would be okay mentally afterwards I very much doubt. Thank goodness V dropped the aura.
That’s more my point. I think she would normally happily have mauled someone, because, and I quote, “Amb theb see bid me on ba heab amb sparted punthing my eah!”
But destroying a person’s body or removing someone’s limb, and more importantly, killing someone, takes a lot more out of someone.
I remember, I used to say that, if you couldn’t take a knife, walk up to someone, cut their throat, and watch them die, you had no business shooting a gun at someone. The reason isn’t because I’m a sociopath; I could NOT do that. Most of us can’t, I’d say. And that’s the point; most of us are not killers. Neither is Sydney.
By grabnars hammer!
Somehow, I don’t think Nar would appreciate having his hammer grabbed…
If i was a cop and you try to kill and threaten to kill another police officer, i will drop you with lethal intent with a bullet in your brain at the very first opening. And i would be totally within my rights to do so.
And that is why you (and really, most of us) should never, ever be a police officer. Those with power should only be granted such if it comes with the wisdom and restriant to know when and how to use it properly.
Restraint… arghh… Just like what I should have used before clicking the “submit” button!
Restraint is only good against someone who will not see it as an opening to kill yoi. Thats the difference between hitler dealing with neville chamberlain or hitler dealing with winston churchill.
Actually if you are a cop and soneone is pointing a gun at you or another cop and about to kill him or her… And you are not willing to respond with lethal intent… Prepare to have a dead cop on your conscience for the few seconds before you are dead as well
Unfortunately, that’s a pretty damn hard thing to screen. Especially considering recent events and the accompanying autopsy reports (muzzle burn on back, for example).
I know several cops. One of the reasons most of them become cops is because they get to pack heat legally, They are no better or worse than most of us. but most have been trained on when it is lawful to kill and not kill. You don’t have to be a sociopath to kill someone, but it helps.
I am willing to bet that arcswat didnt become arcswat to abuse their powers
And most cops, including my cousin, become cops to protect and serve. Not to “legally pack heat”
Btw… 2nd amendment. You can legally ‘pack heat’ without being a police officer
ArcSWAT became ArcSWAT because Dave drew them that way…
Yes. And I’m pretty sure that, as DaveB drew them, they didnt become ArcSwat to abuse their powers. You know. Since they’re heroes?
As this is aiming to be a ‘light comedy and slice of life’ kinda webcomic, I have to agree.
Howevah, they are military. Which means that if given orders they don’t particularly like, or even object to.. they have to carry them out.
This is true. But theyre a pretty visible branch of military with a pr specialist for a reason :)
In fact thats one of the conditions the general had about sydney. That she not act like a sociopath
… And it is well worth noting that cops who shoot someone, however justifiable it was, are IMMEDIATELY taken off duty – and have to undergo psychiatric evaluation (to say nothing of an inquiry into the incident) before they can return to duty. HUGE differance from what we see on pretty much all cop shows.
Shooting someone, even if they are “only” injured as a result, is not something that most human beings can just shrug off. Nor should it be.
DIdn’t say it’s something that should be shrugged off. Just that it’s quite excusable (and reasonable as something to do) if someone like Vehemence is doing what he’s doing. Psychiatric analysis afterwards is necessary and proper too, to make sure the person shot him to save their life or someone else’s life, rather than ‘for the lulz’
Didn’t say you did, matey. :)
Arrrrrrrr
Should also mention that, with Vehemence…. you can’t ‘just injure him’
Since Vehemence is a pretty extreme case….
Consider Vehemence to be sort of like a criminal or terrorist who has a nuclear bomb around him, which if he gets injured, he can set off to explode. If you kill him (while he’s actively trying to kill another officer, to boot), he can’t set the bomb off. If you shoot and injure him, he sets the bomb off. Does anyone actually think it’s a good idea to not kill him at that point.
You should know the answer to that one. :p
I should, but given the amount of people convinced that V us a musunderstood good person or a secret trainer or some other ridiculousness, I’ve found that i need to not overestimate the average intelligence or logic or people :)
build a better mouse trap the world will beat a path to your door but build something idiot proof and the world builds a better idiot.
But… But… He is an awesome trainer. Those complaining about broken ribs, loss of a toe, and concussions ahoy are just whiners, and need to man up. Including the women. >=3
I have regrets… So many regrets in starting this part of the conversation…
To clarify my point, a lot of people, a LOT of them, talk a big game. When angered, enraged, terrified, or desperate, we are not ourselves. It changes us, and makes us a different person at that time. During those times, yes, we are capable of things that would normally not be acceptable.
But for all those who say “Oh, I would so do that if my back was to the wall,” to put it bluntly, most people will freeze. Most will be unable to act. They are stuck between the conflict of necessity and risk. We see similar things happen when a crisis happens; there are those who stare mutely or look away from a mugging or an accident, and those who choose to act. Most people fall in the former, not the latter.
Most people talk a very good game, but when the time comes to play, words don’t make the game, actions do.
Sydney is now at a point where she is showing exactly what kind of character she is. She is no killer, but she does much more than just talk the talk. Stepping into that radius and letting Vehemence into the shield is NOT something most of us could do.
Doing that did take an extra helping of pure chutzpah
Maybe SHE should have been handling the incantations for sleep spells.
it’s all that role playing she does.
Keep scheming Sydney, keep scheming. It makes the world (and this comic) just that much more interesting.
His statement about never planning to kill her and dropping the aggro aura also may have something to do with the fact that no-one knows the extent of her powers and, due to Max’s orders, she was not exerting the full extent of her powers. He does know about the PPO, however, since it was shown taking out the tank. In either case, there may be some self-interest in the action/comment.
Happy New Year, Grrl Power and readers!
Dave, I would love to see a high-res version of the “N’YOP” panel because the look on Dabbler’s face is too good.
She could really annoy him by dropping her shield. And when he puts his aura up again just put her shield up again. Up, down, up, down, up, down. hahahaha
He’d have to deal with her then… And with her being able to make her shield very large and fly around in it…it might be tough for him to get a hold of her.
This makes me think of another potentially simple solution. Make the shield BIGGER. Then Sydney can be up high flying around in it, with it being 1/2 the size of the parking lot. V can’t get any stronger from violence (unless Sydney loses control. V starts to lose his power, and Maxima can regain the upper hand. She would be flying a distance from V, staying as far as she can from him. Just a thought.
I say this mainly because I think V has underestimated Maxima too much and he ISN’T strong enough to take her out yet.
true, but then that “force push” attack he did to Anvil just a few pages ago will cause her to be splattered over the INSIDE of the shield… NOT a good thing to have happen i imagine.
You just know at some point we will have “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for that meddling kid.”
Mostly, Dave has been subverting tropes like that. But then again, he’s also playing with tropes. We’ll just have to wait & see…
playing with tropes… here trope! good trope! pat pat. *tosses meme*
Doge says: “Much like. Very tasty. Want many memes.”
The discussion of the com-ball having it’s com orb inside when inactive has sent me all the way back to 472 …
The original demonstration.
The shield orb is hard to see the shield inside of it, the flight orb has nothing inside of it.
Take a look at the tank series and the PPO only has a thingy once the safety is OFF. It’s still not empty once it’s used. But flight does not gain an icon when flying.
So, it’s not an absolute guideline, or there’s a deeper power for the flight orb with it’s OWN safety that has to be clicked off.
Now, as for Vehamince…
Yes, they could play tag with shield and aura, raising it, dropping it, lowering it, increasing it, but lets just assume we’re not going to see it, as that would be days of art we don’t REALLY need.
But, ARCSwat now knows the current containment isn’t good enough for the defeated bad guys, as we have smart cast members, anybody else expect harem to be tasked in moving them away, or dabbler to teleport them into prison or something?
For all that he acts like she’s dismissable, he can’t be absolutely sure, if the PPO isn’t the worst of her powers, the other two classified, she might have things devastating enough to worry him, so removing the aura is quite possibly self defense on his part. If nothing else a shot of the PPO would mean he’d have to do SOMETHING, and he wants to concentrate on Maxima.
So, now we have a question, is Halo more dangerous, coldly calculating, or enraged… V thinks enraged is too much of a risk.
Three. Steps. Ahead.
Also … I suspect he’s burning power right now keeping up his increased size, possibly his arm, who knows, maybe even the pants. But every bit he waits he’s losing energy.
So… she’s going to level up when this is done, right?
Halo can try to puke on Vehamince. It might distracted him.
Well, it was enough to empty the bank & affect who-knows-how-many-others within a few blocks around the bank…But Sydney’s stomach was pretty well charged up at the time. Her lunch with Peggy was cut short due to a medical emergency & she’s only had (maybe only a part of) a baked potato since then.
But since her current plan in mind isn’t effective (trying to use the Lighthook flopped around ineffectively) & her first vomit attack was due to fear, maybe she would be good to get really scared right about now…
We sting your eyes!
Happy new year. Nice to see Halo taking Math’s advice to heart. Can’t wait to see the real plan.
He’s not Pro Mode Shaw… He’s pro mode HULK! :D
Not quite. After quite a bit of review, he’s actually far, far more like the DC villain, Parasite, although Parasite had a MUCH longer buildup.
Originally, ordinary human, below average intelligence working for Lexcorp. Was moving/dumping industrial toxic waste. Said waste being a failed medical agent for treating metabolic disorders.
Combination of Lexcorp’s business ethics being “what can Lex get away with?” and his own stupidity, this worker nearly drowns to death in the stuff. Parasite is born. Threat Level: Annoying. Although he could steal someone’s life by touch, as long as you weren’t stupid enough to engage him in fisticuffs, or grappling, he could be easily beaten. Heck, you could even win with your fists, if you simply wore latex gloves. He was eventually incarcerated in a joint supported government/Lexcorp/Wayne Corp lab solely for the purpose of trying to return him to an ordinary human.
AN issue or two after “The Death of Superman,” when Superman returned to life, he came back wrong. His limiter was broken, and his superpowers went out of control. So much so, that he had to wear a blindfold or he’d turn Metropolis into a smoking crater with his heat vision, and all but the lightest touch would turn Lois into a greasy smear. Superman is taken to the same lab as Parasite to have his excess energy drained. Long story, short. Parasite now has that level of strength. He still needs to touch you to drain your life, but is MUCH harder to avoid, and can also draw energy from various other sources. Threat Level: Severe.
After an encounter with Superboy, who wisely chose to fight by using projectile weapons, Parasite’s body adapted, and he can now absorb energy from an object’s INERTIA. Superboy only won the fight by outsmarting him. Threat Level: Deadly.
Since there is now no safe or effective means to kill Parasite, he was imprisoned in a stasis field that reduces his metabolic functions to their bare minimum. Effectively putting him in a coma. A dying Lex Luthor strikes a Faustian deal with a devil. In exchange for his life, Luthor must free Parasite. Luthor rigs the power for the whole facility to fail. Parasite breaks out and literally eats the closest researcher to the cage by swallowing him whole. Luthor escapes blame by blending in with the fleeing crowd. Parasite absorbs the researcher’s genius level IQ and begins building VERY EFFECTIVE tactics and strategies around his power set. Threat Level: HOLY FREAKING SHIT!
Civilians: Hide. Don’t move. Don’t talk. Pray to whatever god you believe in that he doesn’t realize you’re there.
Superheroes and Supervillains alike. If by some miracle you work out a strategy that manages to beat him, don’t expect to have that strategy work a second time. He now learns from his mistakes.
Parasite. An excellent example or power creep turning a somewhat useful villain into a god mode villain mary sue that has outlived his usefulness for storytelling
Definitely reminds me of vehemence :)
Something that just occurred to me. Sydney’s part of the US military now, right? As her CO, Maxima should recommend her for some kind of decoration for valor, considering the enormous risk she’s taken to her own life in trapping herself inside her shield with Vehemence.
Sydeny would probably be the first raw recruit in history to earn such a badge.
We do have to get Sydney up to corporal rank (as seen in #4). Maybe this will be part of it.
I’ve got it! Now that Sydney knows that V won’t kill her she will start attacking him with the opposite of violence! In other words she’s going to get out some bandages, some milk and cookies and start acting like an overly sweet grandmother to him filled with hugs and cheek kissed galore! Nothing is more unviolent then an overly sweet grandmother coddling someone as if they were their own grandchild!
GRANDMA POWERS ACTIVATE!
Where’s Sydney going to get all that stuff? She doesn’t have any access to Hammerspace. Although she was willing to get set up for it, Dabbler refused.
Only cause dabbler was a wuss and wouldnt chop sydneys arm off :)
Even worse, Dabbler even talked Sydney into wussing out…
Uh….. Maybe one of the Unknown orbs is a Summon Milk and Cookies orb?
Also Harem might be able to bring some in but at this point I’m just grasping at straws
Unknown orb #1: Boss, hey boss? I know you can’t hear or understand me, but hey, i gotz me an idea, use me!
Unknown orb #2: Meh, don’t listen to that waffling weasel nugget, use me! Yeah, that’s right, use every swear you got, but turn ’em inside out on this guy, and level me up!
Shouldn’t there be an aura in the background in the frame where she is thinking about the PPO?
not at this angle, remember, she’s standing at the edge of the shield so the ground we’re seeing is actually outside the shield which is blocking the aura.
Because I didn’t see it in that panel, when it shut off, I didn’t realize that was what they were showing a few panels later.
Hmm, wonder whether to take ‘can’t form it inside the shield’ as a real limitation just now discovered, or a misdirection/preparation to do something outside the shield. Something to do with Dabbler… Not willing to bet either way with Syd, but the possibilities are interesting.
Huh. Seeing Dabbs in profile like that, I guess I’m kind of surprised. I thought she had a tail. And pants with a nice neat little ‘sleeve’ about six inches long for it to poke out of. But looking back through the archives, nope. No tail. Wonder where I saw that?
The orbs really don’t make sense as any manufactured object of straightforward intent. If you’re mass producing weapons or tools, you wouldn’t make them “power up” gradually as the user gains experience; you’d make them at a particular strength and rely on the employer or the military outfit to train the operator. If they’re one-offs intended to be there to empower a single champion or hero, why would you want your empowered being at less than full capabilities?
And If they’re not weapons or tools, what the heck would somebody manufacture them for? They’d pretty explicitly have to be some kind of sports equipment, for some kind of weird game whose play time is measured in years, wouldn’t they? That’s the only thing I can think of. Syd using them in pursuit of justice may be putting them to a much higher and more serious purpose than the manufacturer ever considered.
Oh, happy new year everybody!
maybe they were intended to be used in some form of a real-life RPG?
They could be training tools for some form of magitech user. Like a wooden practice sword that slowly gets sharper as the person practicing advances in skill.
See, my theory is that the orbs weren’t manufactured by anybody for ay purpose, becuase the orbs don’t actually exist. The powers are inherent in sydney, and the orbs are merely a convenient user interface. She subconsciously expects to have a skill tree, therefore she does.
Your theories are all nice but I think that her “balls” were made just for her by a certain someone to help with a problem that has yet to occur.
And the reason that no one can examine them is a safety features their creator will incorporate to preserve the timeline.
I bet they’d come in handy for a game of Brockian Ultra-Cricket…
A +1 literacy point for the first to know that reference.
;)
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy #3.
Life, the universe and everything
Or was it So long and thanks for all the fish…
Literacy +1. Douglas Adams mentioned Ultra-Cricket as part of a discussion about the Krikket wars.
Yay me!
Bear,
you probably say Dabbler having a tail in the Wereworld comic.
https://wereworld.comicgenesis.com/
Rann has used Dabbler in his comic with permission of Dave.
obligatory typo: ‘say’ must be ‘saw’ :P
Huh… I tried to check that link and it was blocked due to “Prohibited Content”… I have no idea how that would even come about.
There might be a Maturity block set on your computer preventing you from seeing mature web pages.
There was also this, which was a Vote Incentive many moons ago. WoG is that the tail is cybernetic.
Yup, that was also the case in Wereworld. :)
What if the way to form the lighthook inside the sphere is to FIRST activate the lighthook, then activate the shield (instead of first activating the shield, then activating the lighthook).
That way, the lighthook first forms, then a shield forms outside of the lighthook. Voila. Lighthook within the shield.
That’s an idea that Sydney will have to test during testing/training. If it turns out that the Lighthook/Shield combo works that way, then Sydney could still hentai the living hell out of someone & no one outside of her shield could stop her…
O.o
They have them so new functions are opened only after the person has demonstrated mastery of the old ones? I can see a point in that.
I would conjecture that the training/levelup system is in place because whoever made them intended them to be used by an individual who wouldn’t necessarily /have/ access to an organization that could train them in their usage.
This isn’t an assault rifle or a tank, mass produced for any conventional military purpose. The orbs are, as a set, more like Excalibur or something like the Sigil of the Order from Strife. Highly potent one-off creations. May even be some flavor of pseudo-intelligent, and intended to monitor their user’s development to meter opportunities to explore the depths of their more complex interactions so they don’t accidentally do too much damage to themselves and others. This of course raises the question of why, if they have any kind of internal ‘manual’ at all, can’t they just directly share that information with their user?
There are a few potential answers to that question, first and foremost Sydney’s ADHD. She might be compatible for their use in terms of personality, morals/ethics, but asking her to process the full scope of what the orbs could do in a single sitting is going to be a lost cause. Likewise, presupposing they even /could/ directly communicate with her, she might respond unproductively to the idea of the orbs as an active partner…even if she liked the idea, that might be something she’d lean on too heavily for her own good.
More simply, the orbs may just be designed under the assumption that whoever picked them up wouldn’t know the language of the creator or have any access to such information (think, last creation of a dieing civilization…they were found off of Florida so product of Atlantis perhaps?). Intended to be found and used by potential ‘heroic’ individuals, and designed to ease them into things intuitively through practice without the benefit of having a manual or tutorial.
Either makes a certain amount of sense, given the dangers of the powers involved and the suggestion that they all have some form of interaction with one another that increases the complexity…as well as danger…of using them in concert.
The upshot of all that of course is just that typical military/police doctrines /don’t/ necessarily apply here. Given the levelup system and it’s possible purposes, it seems unlikely that the orbs were anything that would have been mass produced…sports equipment is as mass produced as any series of rifle, and basketballs don’t cut swathes through tanks.
Perhaps the orbs are an alien probe placed on planets with life or the potential for life in the hopes that one day an intelligent being would pick them up and attempt to use them. Like a test to see how intelligent the being was and how the being preferred to apply that intelligence to solve problems. The unknown orbs actually have no powers assigned to them now. One or both of them will develop a power “unlocked” by the choices and “play style” of the user.
I do not believe Sydney actually “Found the orbs off the coast of Florida near the Keys”. If you go back to the page where she’s talking about having found them, her speech comes off as trying to cover or hide something. I also believe that the general and the Asian Dr. noticed her attempt at misdirection, as they shared a look between them when she made her statement. It was (at least to me anyway) as if they were saying to each other “Did you catch that? She’s hiding something”.
If Sydney survives this intact, she will need to do a lot of experimenting with various combinations of her orbs and find out their abilities and limitations.
The US Air Force, I’m pretty sure, still starts new pilot-trainees off in single-engine prop planes.
They make you learn to drive a car before you start learning to drive a semi. And most people drive bicycles before they learn to drive a car.
Sydney’s spheres probably are the ultimate version, but they are also the trainer version. Suitably depowered to be relatively safe in the hands of rookies.
That’s the way it works now.
They used to start them in the old T-37 jet trainer.
I know this because I lived on an Air Force train base.
The thing about that theory is, the training program is as short as they safely can make it. We’re talking six months or so, tops, before you somebody you’ve been training with all the power you’re training them for. If it takes longer than that, there’s something wrong. ESPECIALLY if you’re tying up your best hardware during the training period. If it requires an investment to make those, maximizing return on investment requires keeping the training period as short as it can safely be.
Peterson Field? I was stationed there for a couple years in the 70s. Worked up at Cheyene Mountain.
Nope Vance in OK.
Is it possible the tentacle outside thing is a bluff?
Also we have some indications that others cant movie the orbs by force but we also know Sydney cant leave their area, does that mean that if you got all or at least 2 of them locked in some kind of box (like a big ass vault) and moved them to opposite sides of Sydney she’s effectively be stuck in place? I think the PPO would have to be one of them and the Tentacle-orb one the other so she cant grab or blast the box’s to free herself/the orbs.
Also also, we know the shield is super strong and effective and all that but can things be moved by it or cut by it? Like if the shield is put up while she’s flying over a tree would it cut some of the leaves or branches off if they are within the area of effect? If Halo need to Evac some folks could she form a BIG shield and fly up, taking all the earth that the people around her are standing on with her and flying off with it? (ya know so everyone has something to stand on instead of all of them just falling/sliding to the lowest part of the sphere the shield forms. (she had something like that in 168 but on a much smaller and accidental scale.)
Also also also she is soooooo totally going to level again from this, speculation on what she’ll spend it on?
Dave mentioned in page 205 author notes that the shield automatically adjusts itself to avoid cutting things.
So I’m thinking- he’s stuck inside the shield, and the shield is spherical, roughly, but is permeable to the ground but impermeable to attacks. She can walk around without it cutting the ground up- but remember when she and Max were testing powers and she ended up in the air with a bunch of the ground caught in the bottom of her shield?
Yeah, I think that if something relative to the shield moves fast enough it goes from ‘permeable’ to ‘impermeable’, and you get the ground slicing issue. Add to the fact that we know she can go easily as fast as Max can without seeming to run into any limits, and that’s pretty damn fast.
So I’m thinking she has the shield up, grabs the flight orb, and then rockets up into the sky, possibly even into space.
This will have a number of benefits, the first of which is removing any nearby sources of violence from him, the second- obviously- removing him from the area, but more than that she and Max can both fly- he can’t. He can do that gravity effect he used to dodge Max before, but if Sydney’s carrying a big chunk of the parking lot, it may just work relative to that.
She gets him up into orbit, she can either try ‘diplomacy’ by threatening to drop the shield. He’s strong but can he survive a drop from orbit? Or worse, drifting into space? Sure she’d be exposed to vacuum for a bit, and that could well kill her, but she doesn’t have a lot of options here.
But the bonus is, of course, that if she gets u into space and drops the shield, there’s no longer the earth supporting Vehemence’s hold on Max. So he’s pushing her down into a crater that is free floating, what happens? She flies off. Sydney does have to drop the shield for that one, but she could immediately put it back up around herself. Can Max survive in space? Maybe.
But then you have two flying supers in spaaaaace and one who can’t fly.
[quote]but remember when she and Max were testing powers and she ended up in the air with a bunch of the ground caught in the bottom of her shield?
Yeah, I think that if something relative to the shield moves fast enough it goes from ‘permeable’ to ‘impermeable’, and you get the ground slicing issue.[/quote]
are you talking about when she was displaying her PPO to the press and ended up with a bunch of sand in her shield? because that was more due to the sand already being within the radius of the shield.
Using the flight orb and shield to take him into space also has an added life insurance benefit.(He doesn’t want to kill her now, and he defiantly won’t want to risk her dropping the shield if it’s the only thing protecting him from the cold vacuum of space)
not to mention the fact that once he is airborne, he will have no way of defending himself which means that she would easily be able to throw him into space with the lighthook without going high enough that dropping the shield means her own death.
Sydney has had so many super cute expressions over the last few pages.
if you can get into space without reaching escape velocity, they second you quit accelerating you are going to fall back to earth.
Unless space magic
Nice to know that all of us randomly thinking that he actually liked her in a “you amuse me, munchkin” way was accurate. *grin*
He just doesnt consider her a threat.
Heres to hoping hes wrong
Of course he will be wrong. Maybe still not to the point where he would want to kill her, but perhaps to the point where he would want to concuss her the next time they meet.
Vehemence does parse his words carefully.
He didnt say he wouldnt kill her. He said ‘I never had any plans on killing you’ – because he only sees Maxima as someone capable of ever stopping him.
Of course. At the same time, depending on how things turn out, he may still not plan on killing her now (assuming he’d even get that chance) or the next time. Maybe try to out-trope her with a side of concussion for all I know, but I would think he’d underestimate her the next time at least.
Er… it’s ‘he’d not underestimate her the next time at least’.
Depends on how ruthless Sydney gets. He’s apparently willing to kill anyone who has the potential ability to stop him.
He’s short sighted though – he should also be willing to kill Dabbler since her railgun could do the same thing. Maybe he doesnt know about its capabilities.
I don´t want to nitpick, especially since it is only for reader convenience, but since every little detail in this comic is so well thought out (as well as a baraly visible clue, like syds shield cutting through three pixels of aura), i must point out, hat at the time syd was reaching for her PPO, she already relinquished the commball, so technically there shouldn´t have been a visible Aura in any pannel.
Sorry, going to have to nit pick your nit picking here. Sydney hadn’t relinquished the comm ball until she was switching to the light hook. She still has the comm ball in hand as she’s pulling her fingers back from the PPO. You can just see the edge of it between her thumb and forefinger. When she switches to the light hook the comm ball and the PPO both float up to take their place in orbit around her head.
Look at her thumb as the aura fades. The comm-ball is still in her palm when she notices the fade-out and decides not to switch to the pew-pew orb.
Damn, he thinks of everything, doesn´t he. Not that I´m complaining.
I´m glad to be wrong when i´m picking nits. Hate to do it anyway.
The question is, does Sydney get XP for knocking everyone out? Technically she did…
The only ones that seem to be knocked out now are those villains who were drugged after being taken out of the fight. It was V’s Aggro Aura keeping them up on their feet, but Sydney blocked the Aura’s effects. Technically, Sydney didn’t knock them out…They were already “out on their feet.”
Panel 6 with Breakpoint looks very practised. A bit too much. I like.
When will you release an official porn comic, Dave?
Hurm….
OK, so in the previous page, V’s teeth were standard ivory as he did the level up, “I’m-SOOOOO-high, mannnnn!” brag dance. The blood from his eye was also gone (such a pretty pretty face (whoever said he looked like a beautiful evil fae was spot on).
With this page, the tooth has gone back to silver and his eye is bleeding again.
Is that because as his power fades he cycles back through his mods, losing what he replaced, or just an oversight by the Artist? Because if it’s the former, Sydney (and I suppose Max) only has to drain him down to the point his arm disappears and he bleeds out… Certainly not violent, per se.
Hey, maybe that’s why the atomic barf was highlighted. With an impermeable shield, and her already demonstrated queasiness, I suspect Sydney will be dodging vomitus and blood if that happens.
It’s more likely an art error.
..and by that I mean the previous page had the art errors.
Bangbangbangbang…
Sorry. I was banging my head on the desk. Where was I? Where am I? Oh, shoot, are we still stuck with this guy?!? :E
Someone suggested that if I found the comic so frustrating, I should stop reading for a while and come back. So I skipped out on this comic and resisted reading for two weeks. Here it is the new year and Chuckles is still pontificating. This truly is the Song. That. Never. Ends. See you in February!
Dude!… TWO WEEKS is only FOUR pages… if you want that remark to mean anything other than you just whining, say it again after a two MONTH departure… if we still have V being shown in-comic (for THIS fight mind you, NOT a second fight later in the comic’s time-line) THEN you can complain without people getting riled, but until then just chill.
I can understand his frustration. But at least it does seem like the Vehemence portion is coming to a much needed close and Sydney is finally going to lay a smackdown on him without another ‘Vehemence power from his butt’ move. :)
Siunds like you need a hobby. Two weeks? Two WHOLE weeks? Puh-leez. Sydney’s counter duty at her shop took more time than that.