Grrl Power #307 – Halo transit
In today’s comic, we learn that The Mighty Halo can be used for troop transport. Also that she’ll lose anything if it’s not where she expects to find it. I’m like that. There are exactly 3 places I ever leave my keys in my house. If they’re as much as two feet from any of those spots, they might as well be in another time space continuum for all the time it will take me to find them.
#MakeComics: When I started writing this page, all I knew was the first panel was Sydney and Harem leaving the shop amidst a crowd of people, and the last one was Sydney her up with her shield. Everything else just happened as I wrote it. That’s where my crippling ADD comes into play. Honestly, half the visual jokes in the comic are spawned from me getting bored with drawing talking head panels, so I think of some gag to draw instead. Of course it has to fit with the flow of the page. Usually what happens is for every page I write, I come up with a few gags that don’t fit, so jot them down for later. Sometimes I use a gag I banked from earlier, but generally I’m running a net positive.
BTW, assume they’re being bombarded with questions and requests to sign stuff while they’re having their conversation. I just don’t want to waste half the page with stuff like that even though it would obviously be going on.
Here’s the vid of me coloring this page and the last. Just some fleshtones, then right at the end I do one panel of Sydney’s hair and some eyes. I don’t do a lot of streaming so my narration is a bit meandering and I clear my throat a few times right into the mic like a boss, so don’t blast this with headphones on. I’ll reconfigure the mic and practice better narration for future videos and streaming. Speaking of which, here’s my Picarto channel if you want to catch my rare stream.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
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wonderd how long it whould be befor halo tryed to fly with someone else in her shield
The real question here is can Harem teleport OUT of Sydney’s shield, don’t you think? Since Hare, is taking an active interest in chaos creation (as seen much earlier) there come the issue, at some poit, of how to…corral her. Them. Whatever.
I’ve been wondering if one of the Level-ups for the Sydney Shield is the ability to make an external bubble – that is, one that she is not in. We know that it’s air-tight but what else does it protect against? Can it be polarized? We know magic of at least one type still gets through, but what of other types of magic…
She wasn’t able to teleport INTO it during the fight that Sydney had with Shadow-Boxer (or whatever his name is), which strongly implies that outbound teleportation wouldn’t happen, either.
It has blocked a number of Max’s blasts, as well as the blast by Hex, and word-of-Dave is that it seems to be a energy-threshold based force field, where once incoming energy approaches a damaging level, it starts getting entirely blocked over that level.
Vehemence’s aggro-aura was completely blocked, so it appears the orb-makers had considerable experience of magic, (assuming that the orbs themselves aren’t magical).
I am not sure which magic you are thinking of that got through her shield. I may be mistaken but I don’t think any has. We haven’t seen her affected by Dabbler’s lust aura, and shadow boxer appeared before she put up her shield (she grabbed to ball while falling from being punched).
The magic of the hypno-boobs managed to bypass Halo’s shield.
That wasn’t magic. It was The Power Of Boobs. Or whatever the TV Tropes webpage is called. :D BTW, don’t go there unless you have several hours to kill without your boss walking by and demanding to know why you’re not working. Or your S.O. walking by and demanding to know why you’re not doing what oyu said you would do four hours ago.
It’s “I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!” And yes, Sydney’s shield is not trope proof, otherwise she’d just drop to the floor and drool.
For once in her lives, Harem is legitimately trapped, unless she can unteleport herself in this situation. Hm, if her teleportation is blocked, does she still have a mental connection to her other selves?
Oh, wow, were she blocked then Sydney would probably have just traumatized Harem. I’m assuming their telepathy, however that works, gets through it though since this is not a grim dark sort of comic and thus she is unlikely to get mentally scarred by such antics.
I was wondering that in a different reply before I saw this. Not just the teleportation bit but whether or not this cuts off this Harem from the other Harems. If it does cut the connection off and it is mentally uncomfortable, I imagine Harem will start kicking Halo in the leg while demanding to be let out before it hit mental trauma levels.
It also might answer whether the other Harem duplicates can exist while cut off or, if being cut off from the “main Harem”, forcefully causes the other duplicates to “crash” (for lack of a better word).
I’ve been waiting for her to try this since I first knew she HAD it.
I remember over the course of the comments, that someone (I’m not even sure if it was me) suggested that Sydney could use her shield to transport people that way…Whoever it was, they showed some precog ability there. Also, the detail with where she left her car yesterday…
i agree with the modified billboard more than the original
Oh, I have to wonder how many OTHER “improved” billboards there are around town now. :-D
On-coming running gag?
More likely a flying gag.
It works better if there is no gag.
I bet those nuns outside the bank yesterday wanted to gag Sydney. The sailors should’ve been taking notes.
If Sydney is zooming through the air without the shield and swallows a bug it could turn into a flying gag.
In The Incredibles, Dash learned that you don’t need to fly in order to get a face full of bugs.
I believe the WoG is that the FORB has a limited shield which protects at “low” speed, but the shield orb is needed for high speed flying.
I think I like the way they are both still up there. No point giving your girl half measures, after all!
im to poor for the original
I am in the same boat. But if we dive out, looking for pearls, we might get lucky.
There are so many jokes about diving, pearls and getting lucky: I’ll just leave it to each reader to create their own.
Yeah, I mean, you might get superpowers!
Extremely important life lesson on that billboard, methinks.
As for the billboard “improvement,” a lot of guys (& gals) would expect that as a result when he gives her diamond jewelry…It’s a “social expectation” mostly.
:P
There was an SNL parody of that commercial with the shadow people where the man gives the woman a diamond ring but then she gets down on her knees instead of him. Diamonds…she’ll pretty much have to…
that was on family guy
Me too, I’m a woman who doesn’t wear jewelry very often so if Lord Pentrose wants to buy me a gift he knows he’ll get better results with something else, such as books or video games.
okay SINCERELY the way she transformed the billboard DAMN HILARIOUS hehe.
and nice way of halo to trap harem that CAN’T teleport out and force her to show her a bit around. harem MIGHT be freaking out a little on this hehe
to be fair we only know harem cant teleport in. It hasent bean established that it blocks both ways
during the restaurant fight, when taht shadow guy attacked halo trying to “cut her” after punching her. she had put her shield up and harem can’t banging on it saying to drop the shield because she COULDN’T teleport in to save her from the guy. same with the fight at the end when halo was blocking that “anger area” from vehemence.
so it’s been proven twice already.
exactly she couldn’t teleport in to the shield. to save Sydney teleporting out MAY be different
Why?
becose shields are dysined to stop things going in and her shield lets out somethings such as the light-hook
Yup, I agree. Whilst it is probable that it blocks it both ways, the shield is very obviously designed to stop nasty things getting in. And the orbs are very sophisticated. So it may not have to do it both ways, if they designers did not want it to.
im just saying dont take it as canon that harem is stuck till we get confirmation
in that case why did vehemence”s area agro didn’t work out of the shield?
Ahh, very good point. Strong supporting circumstantial evidence. Assuming that it remains consistent in operation across the board, you have tipped me to thinking it should block in both directions.
The orbs were manufactured and designed as a set, as evidenced by the skill tree. It is perfectly logical that they are designed to interact with each other. Thus, while the shield would pass the effects of the other orbs (molestorb and truesight thus far) there is no logical conclusion that it would allow anything else to pass, at least until or unless Sydney learns to make specific exceptions.
or buys that level up the skill tree looked only partially done there were a lot of empty holes there leading to a great number of power-ups she can purchase.
the shield doesn’t let light hook penetrate it, it just forms lighthook outside the shield, as evidenced by Sydney complaining about not knowing how to form one inside her shield during the beginning of her plan against V.
but it operates outside the shield wile the power scorce and the controller are inside this means there is a flow of energy out of the shield
The shield could be functioning as a repeater for the power/control.
They’re both blue thus they could be the same sort of energy. Which could mean that Halo could, in theory, layer the Molestorb on top of her bubble to effectively make a multi-layered and thus more powerful shield, should the need arise.
Looking closely back in the archives, there were a Few examples where, when using shield & lighthook, the lighthook doesn’t originate from the orb itself, but starts manifesting just outside of the shield.
This is not to say that Harem might or might not be able to teleport out either…Indeed, since one of Harem is already inside the shield, it might let Harem’s “others” access either or both ways through the shield. The only thing to do is wait & see if this particular idea comes up during testing/training or some other situation.
” Light hook ” appears outside the shield not in.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1575
I can’t go through walls from either side. But I normally do not try to run into them from the other side just to doublecheck it.
If harem cannot TP in, she propably cannot TP out either. Otherwise she propably would have TP’ed out the second sydney did that.
Actually it might be interesting to see if the “connection” to the other selfs still works when she is inside, or if she is now “on her own”.
A door analogy might be better. Because we can’t go through walls. But Harem can, by teleporting. So she can use her power to open a door. The shield though, might have a bar on it, which stops the door opening from the outside. But, from the inside it would not stop you going out.
Not that I am saying it is likely to work that way. Simply that we do not know yet.
All that we have seen of the forb so far suggests the shield works the same on the outside as the inside, ie if it cant get in? its not getting out.. even the lighthook, part of the same powerset, cannot get through the shield as seen during the big fight finish.
So really it’s not a case of “she might be able to get out until we see it confirmed that she cannot” and more of a case of “she can in all probability not get out since she could not get in, unless we see evidence to the contrary”.
Also as an aside, Do you think maybe the reason why the shield keeps air out might be because either A: the shield is detecting the assorted pollutants and assorted compounds dispersed in the average major city’s air as possibly dangerous and therefore wont let it in? Or B: because halo has yet to run the orb through a proper calibration sequence to make it understand what kind of gasses are and are not safe for her/humans to breathe? Might also explain why the powerup grid has no writing or symbols that we can see that explain what the various nodes do, because tis displayed in some wavelength that neither human nor succubi eyes can see. Which would make sense only if the orbs where Meant to come with some kind of instruction manual separately or if it is a one of a kind invention custom made by one person, for one person’s use, making built in instructions unnecessary (at least to the mind of the “genius” who built it and then lost the things on earth).
I think the reason why air can’t get out is because that is more useful, in the long run, than being air permeable. The latter option might allow poison gas, biological agents or tear gas to affect the user, for example.
Whereas the former still allows Halo to go underwater or in space. If time is an issue, she can make a big force field, to hold more air. Or she can take along her scuba gear and a bunch of spare tanks.
Or, since there are a great number of unexplored glyphs on the orb, she can learn to adjust the shield to be airtight or permeable as needed.
Absolutely true.
Now there’s an idea. Having an air tank as part of her required equipment could solve her air supply issue. Maybe, have one the size of her poster tube that she can take hits off of.
they do have some that could fit inside the poster tube quite easily. they’re only good for 30 minutes but i know some units in Iraq bought them to keep in trucks incase one rolled over in a canal or something.
Quite a practical solution. Sydney is already conditioned to carry Tubey around with her, whenever she can. It would be a lot heavier than that mind, but they could be professionally modified into a dual-cylinder arrangement, rather like regular breathing tanks can have.
But that would easily be offset by the basic training that Halo is about to go through. There is bound to be an element of physical toughening up, even if it does not go to the same extremes as infantry or special ops training. I know, for instance, that aircrew (which is what she would most closely resemble, in terms of role) have a much lighter exercise routine (I used to use one such myself).
“what kind of gasses are and are not safe for her/humans to breathe”
That assumes that the orbs were made by/for humans. Maybe when Sydney was getting lightheaded the orbs were performing correctly by getting rid of that nasty corrosive oxygen in the atmosphere.
My guess on finding a help function would be to think like the designer. He/she/it/they would need to make it available at any time regardless of what the user was doing. Look for a specific glyph that is known to appear on every single orb. This would be the menu symbol for ‘help’.
As long as the pressures and gas ratios are in acceptable ranges, compressed air, oxygen-helium, or pure oxygen. CO2 Scrubbers can also be used to extend air time.
Sorry missread you those are safe mixes. The general consensus is that the fight had been going on a couple hours which is plenty of time for CO2 to build up to levels high enough to affect her in an airtight sphere of the size she was using.
Another thing that I thought of that’s related to that is: Does Halo’s shield block the “quantum entanglement” between Harem’s brains? Maybe this particular Harem is more “on her own” than we might think right now…
O.O
good question!
my theory on this is ‘yes, if it wants too’
the shield can decide what to block and what not to block; I think one of those balls (possibly an unknown one) is the ‘intelligence core’… it’s obviously quite sophisticated.
She couldn’t teleport out last time either, it was thenone instructed to hump gear to everyone.
Naa, last time Harem was on the outside, trying to get in. Which she could not do. However I understand when folks get the other impression, as the scene is not at-a-glance clear. But if you examine the page linked (and the next page) carefully you can deduce she is on the outside.
Which means that, when Harem went off on the resupply run, she was outside the shield so it did no present any obstacle.
Made that billboard a 1000 times more memorable and fun for everyone.
Reminds me of what Jay wrote on the side of that building in Clerks 2.
SO MUCH better hehe
a bite mark and “eat” appearing now…so PERFECT hehe.
I see nothing wrong with the billboard.
No one said there was anything wrong with it.
Okay. How about this.
I consider it to be a massive improvement on the billboard, and far more pertinent to a good relationship. :)
Cool. :D
The banana hammock agrees.
I would argue the new billboard message being an important, nay crucial, aspect of the original one
Exactly! To treat your lady right usually involves eating and jewellery :P
I agree on all accounts, but also their is a question that must be asked, unfortunately, Will the city or company that runs the billboard either fix it or leave it as it now is…..
Every gal knows that the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so giving him something good to eat once in a while only enhances the relationship.
under the rib cage and through the diafram is faster
At range with a good rifle and scope set up is way faster.
Just ask Peggy .
But a tactical nuke is faster still, and far harder to miss.
Just shut your evasion wormhole before it goes off.
If you are going for that much collateral damage, just nova the sun while moving to another planet.
…Another planet in a different solar system, preferably. When Sol goes, everything in this solar system will experience some level of negative consequences.
We know she can’t teleport through it, but does it block her mind-link to her other selves? Since this Harem isn’t freaking out about being an individual again, I suspect not, but I think it could be interesting if that happened and she decided not to go back to the group.
I am thinking that right now, this Harem is upset about being unceremoniously dumps into the bottom of the force field bubble. She just does not notice that she has lost connection to her other selves. Do you notice right away when your Internet connection goes down? I only notice if I am trying to get a new page on my web browser.
Yep, well argued.
Right now gravity has won and Harem is on her arse. But we will see next comic, if there is a connection cut. But freaking out will follow fast I think, if that has happened. If you get drunk enough to loose control of your legs and arms, you might not notice until you try to stand up. But if you are sober and the same thing happens, you will realise damned fast!
Clearly this Harem is ok, even if there is a problem. However, the question is, have the bodies on the outside collapsed, with no control? Or possibly she may be experiencing a split personality. This Harem on her own. The other four freaking out (as one mind) at having lost touch with the one on the inside.
I can’t wait to see how it goes. :)
Too bad we have to wait, at least until Thursday.
Another idea is that when the force field goes down, this Harem suddenly realizes that she had been cut off and now can hear herselves again. Sort of like moving from the quiet study room in the library to the main part of the library, which is still pretty quiet.
But it now sounds really loud by comparison.
I pushed Submit too quickly.
VERY LOUD as the other four have been screaming their heads off trying to reach her.
I would wonder if Sydney every does this stunt to the “original” would the other four disappear entirely..?
there is no original just least modified from original design they are all equally real and all created from a teleport
Maybe it’s an advanced form of Phantom limb syndrome or the ultimate form of when your hand/leg/appendage goes to sleep (paresthesia)?
Or because the connection was broken if it is broken, remains broken after the shield is dropped. If that happens would it mess up her teleportation powers, or give her the ability to make four new Harem based off of the new persona? BUT would they be able to teleport between them? the two separate groups I mean if the above did happen…
most likely as it is a single mind that has all the knowledge of each Harem that is immediately distributed to them all so 4 learns something and they all learn it to.
So if she is on her own she still knows how to TP and to make new selves.
I don’t think however that her energy level is high enough to create new selves, unless she was the first and the others did disappear when she was caught.
If so Maxim will have issue as the one training has vanished and Sidney still isn’t there.
True enough but if it turns out that she is separated from the others these would answer the question of what happens if one of here copies die it would be a fare guess.
Which is really interesting… ’cause she didn’t hop into the air just before the field went up! There’s some ting more tha meets the eye going on here; otherwise Harem would be standing on a divot of asphalt popped out of the parking lot when Sidney did the field-up and liftoff. Apparently, under certain circumstances, solids are permitted to exit the field…
Makes me wonder if the field has a subconscious control component… Something along the lines of: “I want Harem to come along; I don’t want a big chunk of parking lot — ’cause I’d have to pay to fix the hole and it’d be right in front of the shop too!”
Any time Halo is standing on soft, like sand, the force field can form a sphere, as the wall can just push the grains apart, to take it’s shape.
However, if standing on asphalt, it cannot do that, as it is solid. So it instead has to form a hemisphere. Where the top is a dome, and the bottom of the shield just runs flush to the ground. Rather like with the the grains of sand though, it forms between the asphalt and the shoes, pushing the people off the ground slightly, in the process.
When Halo flies up, the force field no longer needs to deform to lie flat on the ground, but expands to it’s normal spherical shape. And whoever is in it has to adjust their footing accordingly, or take a spill.
Sydney’s next feat of daring do: A fire breaks out at the “Scraps of Hope” orphanage. Sydney flies to the river and picks up a half-full (half-empty?) sphere of water. She flies back to the burning building and pops the bubble, releasing the water and putting out the fire.
I could be wrong, but it hasn’t been established exactly what goes on under Sydney’s feet. The theory that the shield conforms to the ground has one data point against it: this page (panel 1) shows her kicking up dust while being dragged along.
Since it never scoops out a chunk of the ground, the only alternatives are that it 1) ends where it meets the ground or 2) phases through it.
Yea, I have voiced that all three have been options in the past, but nothing was conclusive. Whereas the above comic makes me happy in my contention that is what has happened there.
However it does not preclude the possibility that the force field is flexible enough to form a half-hemisphere, on demand. Probably using the same kind of mechanism as the embiggener does. That is not necessary though, to match the example you linked. Rather it complies exactly with my description.
In that instance Sydney was standing on something soft (dust, gravel or sand) so the force field attempted to form as spherical as it could. Meaning that the force field would be formed underneath the the dust, but above the asphalt.* Sydney probably often stands on trace amounts of such, scooped up whenever she forms the field.**
What you have pointed out is corroboration of my theory, not refuting evidence.
And goes to show, as ever, DaveB‘s eye for detail. Assuming that he envisaged it the way I am describing, it means he has already thought of the consequences and followed them through from the outset.
The phasing version is still a possible option. But one that I feel is less likely now that we have strong indicators as to how it does. So, in my opinion, at best, it is an option that can be engaged, rather than the default means of operation. But not one we have any supporting evidence for, as yet.
* Possibly there is a threshold. If gravel is too big or too coarse, it may count as being solid. Depending on how easily the force field could form though it. There has to be a cut off point, mind, as topsoil is just a medium state in between loose sand and solid asphalt or stone.
All assuming my observations and deductions are sound. At this point I am happy they are, so talk about them as being fact, unless somebody spots an error in the process. Or if something new comes out in the story, of course. As always, I am happy to correct my thinking, when such happens.
** Trivial enough that we would not expect to see such minor details, any more than we would expect to see dust drawn on clothing. But it would imply that course-grained stuff is not routinely being scooped up, unintentionally, otherwise we would see that.
So it may be that the intent is more important than dumb default operation. The orbs do follow Halo’s mental commands for things like punching, so we know such is perfectly reasonable to assume for the orbs.
I’m not really sure of that…at the press conference when Sydney blasted the tank & grabbed for her shield orb a bit too late. The sand & dirt that was close to her when the FF went up got trapped inside. It was all loose stuff yet it didn’t push it aside, which indicates that the FF doesn’t expand into shape, it’s more like flipping a light switch on.
Also, when Sydney was getting dragged along by Vehemence by the lighthook, the bottom of the FF also dragged along with her, meaning that if there was any manifestation of the shield the penetrated the ground, then it would started grinding a furrow as it moved.
I think the FF merely conforms to the surface that Sydney’s standing on at the moment, but if she jumps or starts flying, the bottom of the field reconfigures it’s shape as Sydney goes up until it can close itself at the bottom.
Although I agree that the process would be near instantaneous, I do not envisage it starting small (coffin sized) and getting big (air balloon sized). This would push the air out of the way, as it went, creating a partial vacuum and leaving Sydney with, at best, a thin atmosphere to breathe. Which clearly does not happen.
It is possible that it spontaneously forms, but that would require that the force field bends around every object individually. Giving it’s surface (along the ground) a pitted effect, like an orange. Whilst this is possible, it does not explain how the force field gets underneath the shoes, with Sydney’s full weight on it.
Other than the possibility of it slicing off the bottom layer of atoms in Sydney’s shoes, each time the shield forms, it must be pushing her up. Unless we envisage the force field as having zero width, which just does not seem right.
Rather I see it as starting at at the high point of the sphere, above Halo’s head,and spreading out, like batter being pored onto a grill, to make a pancake. Except, of course, that it is curved and trying to form a sphere.
When the leading edge of the (near instantaneously) expanding curve, reaches the ground it has, at this moment, formed an open-hemisphere. Had the ground been sand here, like in the desert firing range, it could have pushed the sand grains to either side of it’s path.*
In the desert it formed a complete sphere that way, with the sand trapped in the bottom. Here though, it rather encountered a small layer of incidental dust/ dirt /gravel** so pushes that to one side (such little that it has to do anyhow). And then proceeds to flow, on top of the hard asphalt, underneath the rest of dust layer, towards, and eventually underneath, Halo’s feet.
Once it joins up at the centre point, beneath her, the shield is completely enclosed. But deformed into the shape of a closed-hemisphere. The entire process happening in the blink of an eye, such that to anyone, without the aid of high-speed cameras, it would appear to have happened instantaneously.
* For a frozen moment in time, it would look like an upturned glass bowl.
** Please do not mistake my “Sydney was standing on something soft” in my previous post as being anything more than a reference to this incidental layer. I was just trying to clarify how something ended up on top of the force field, to allow the puffs of dust to rise up, as Sydney is being dragged along.
I did rather over-emphasises it though (or, at least failed to clarify that it was just a thin layer, lying on top of the usual hard car park), so I can how easy it was to misinterpret my intent.
You will note that my following line did go on as follows (but I add emphasis in this quote): “Meaning that the force field would be formed underneath the the dust, but above the asphalt.” i.e. we are describing practically the same process in my previous post, and your reply. Barring the subtlety of it behaving more like a very fast version of this.
Yorp: I so wanted to say “we have a winner” about this idea – but then I remembered this shield usage.
Squaring your scheme with the presence of the large steel block inside the shield… will take some thought.
It just got pushed up, like Sydney does. It is just bigger and heavier, but the principle is the same.
Had it been a steel block that extended 40 metres into the ground, it may have inhibited the shield from being raised. Which would indicate it can only form a sphere or hemisphere, with limited deviation.
Alternatively, if it is more flexible, it could simply deform to fit.
Usually, if there is something blocking a larger shield, Halo can just form a smaller one that just surrounds her. So, for personal protection, that issue has not arisen yet. But, if Halo needs to protect civilians, hiding in a more restricted area, we may get some clues. Depending on how she goes about doing that.
I was wondering if the shield would block Harem’s mind link, since she can’t teleport through. I guess we’ll know next page, if she has a panic attack or not.
Billboard. Definitely improved.
Heh… middle jewelry piece, I approve and actually know what it represents. Nice one there.
Heck, in truth I wouldn’t mind having a pendant exactly like it.
are you going to tell us what it means or are you going to leave us hanging?
LOL, it’s the polyamoury symbol representing many loves.
Its a bad sign for my love life that I would have enjoyed the joke more if they had been this kind of reference.
https://img0.etsystatic.com/003/0/6386201/il_570xN.360993994_tnw5.jpg
(though not necessarily those)
The green one would work, um, I’m usually really good at coordinating jewelry and clothes. Don’t get the wrong idea I’m straight, I just have a really good sense of fashion.
What would it work with? Something you are wearing, which I can’t see, or one of the characters?
Hard to get the wrong idea even if I wanted to seeing as how I don’t know what gender you are. Though I am pretty sure both genders can wear jewelry now a days and pendants of video game nature even a “straight” male with overly traditional worries could get away with for cosplay. (Links the one who gather’s the things. why couldn’t he wear one on the way to the Master Sword? *shrugs*)
Aw man, I found the exact pendant, but it’s way out of my price range even though it’s on sale… T_T https://www.overstock.com/Jewelry-Watches/Necklaces/Infinity,/necklace-type,/2357/cat.html
I see I’m not the only one who noticed. Hey there, random stranger. <83
;) Hey there.
… _Or_ it can be interpreted as “Love Eternal” without “poly” aspect.
Or “I’m nauseated by hearts” – symbols are strange this way, you know…
dam we already have a halo cos play. well not really but panel 1 has a woman with wearing the same shirt that Sydney was wearing on tv yesterday at. turning up at her place of work and im calling it cosplay
You sure that’s a woman? Just because there is long hair doesn’t mean female. I have known men with long hair to wear those kind of hair clips to hold it in check.
as a man with longer hair than the chariter in question i am most defiantly aware of men with long hair. as for the clip i would say few men use that tipe and then is the fact that s/he has a pierced ear with a dangely earring. men tend to were studs or simple rings then there is the fact that its a wonder woman shirt. again something way more likely to be in woman’s wardrop than a mans.
so although i cant say i’m 100% certen on the balance of probability i going woman
I’m headcanonning “man” just for 50/50 vote balance XD
or we could just ask dav
Also look (not literally if you can) at the amount of men who cos play Sailor moon at conventions. Worst one I made the misfortune of seeing was a few burgers short of an Elvis, bearded and sweating like he was a under a spotlamp. *shudder*
Google “Sailor Bacon”… if you dare. LOL, :))
That’s probably the artist Lars from the strip Least I Could Do . It’s for fund raising for Walk for Multiple Sclerosis.
Like I said, I’ve known men who wore those types of hair clips. Also I dated a guy in high school who had one ear pierced and his earring brushed his shoulder, I also know plenty of men who wear feminine shirts and just as many women who wear masculine shirts. Quite a few of the guys that I know are fans of Wonder Woman as well. I’m not saying with any certainty that it is a guy, but the possibility is there. Also, if most of the crowd is cosplaying, than you should know that cross play is also a thing where guys dress as female characters.
ok im fucking up the quoting
so although i cant say i’m 100% certen on the balance of probability i going woman
That’s cool, all I was trying to say was that it could be either or. Knowing Dave’s sense of humor it could be both for all we know. lol
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My pleasure. :-)
I’m going woman.
Is that like going turbo?
depends on the woman
I also see a Steven Universe expy/ cosplay.
Masturbation and oral sex jokes? Time to up the age rating I think.
dont know about were you are from but in the uk you could get this pre watershed if it was on tv.
Sadly the US is incredibly prudish, you can show all the violence you want, but if you make sexual innuendos or God’s forbid show a little skin… everyone starts screaming about how you’re corrupting the youth.
Yes, its a bit worrying about the US approach to sex and violence. Pretty sure the film review boards claim to be protecting American/ Christian values.
Below is a relevant quote.
“I can write a scene describing in detail a penis entering a vagina and there will be a portion of the audience who will get very upset by that and then I can write a scene about an axe entering a human skull, nobody will blink.” -George RR Martin
Also my original comment was meant to be joke. Probably could of made that clearer.
A joke? BURN THE HERETIC! We must have more violence and less sex :P
If the US did a 180 and had more sex they would probably get less violent.
Vehemence approves this message.
and dabbler begins negotiations to change minds with an aura bumped up to 13
99.9% of the comic readers agree with Dabblers offers. The other 0.1% were too busy gargling in their own drool.
Perhaps it will have a cool Pandora’s Box effect?
Like we totally overload folks on violence and so anyone not already chemically/background/whatever inclined towards violence gets bored with the very idea of it. But we withold sexual imagery and discussions making it this curious treasure hunt that demands the cats attention. (Adventure!)
No? I’d say that’s how it worked on me but personally I think the modern U.S. has plenty of sex? Every time I go over to my friends for a movie night seems a very high chance of actually seeing sex depicted let alone having such matters discussed. Have you seen Game of Thrones? Seems to have a fairly strong fan base… do we need more of such content than GoT? Are we going to have to start handing out little blue pills so people can get through a day of shooting in non-porn modern TV/Movie series. If I’m a prude for saying I’d rather not get to THAT level of detail then I’m fine with being a prude. If you know what all the parts look like and you know what they are doing is that not good enough for the story? If they openly discuss such relationships, when appropriate to the way that character would talk and to that part of the story, why do we have to see every little bit and piece?
Frankly, most content creators would abuse the ability to lessen somethings value as a narrative with extra spice that serves no real purpose to what is happening or takes valuable time away from character/story development.
I know the OP wasn’t going that far I guess this is just the ideas spawned by the whole subject. Perhaps I got carried away… *sheepish*
i understand what your saying however the “content creators” have to appeal to the lowest common denominator or they don’t get aired. that is why a great many programs these days are so mind numbingly dull and generally reduce ones IQ for seeing a preview.
It’s not that the US is really prudish…It’s that the prudish element in our society are very outspoken about it.
Too loudly & too frequently for my tastes, for sure. But that’s one of the benefits/detriments that comes with Freedom of Speech…As long as what you say doesn’t directly lead to physical harm to people or causes property damage, then there’s nothing legally to be done about it.
It’s also unbalanced. You can get away with a joke about oral sex on a man easier than oral sex on a woman.
You probably get a lot worse on the Jeremy Kyle show in the UK
please dont remind me of that garbage
What does the middle jewelry piece represent?
It represents many loves, it is a symbol commonly linked with polyamoury.
Wait. What?
Ah, so it is.
Infinity symbol and heart symbol
Infinity = MANY MANY MANY
Heart = Love. Wub. Wubbie you.
So… putting it together, it means ‘Give us your money to get your girlfriend to put out’
LOL, isn’t that what most jewelry means?
+2
So many very very cynical people in this group…that’s not what it SHOULD represent.
you may want to check your link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_heart
An infinity symbol looped around a heart = “Forever in love”.
It also represents infinite love, as in being able to love more than one person at a time.
and yet no one notices that the loop that may be an oroborus (was that spelled right can’t remember off hand and it’s not in my dictionary) wraps or binds the heart so may be a different meaning sealed or bound love.
No, the Oroborus is the symbol of the serpent eating its own tail to form a circle, which is not relevant to the picture at hand. This is the infinity symbol. Perhaps it might be a Mobeus Strip, which amounts to the same thing.
I think it looks like a Möbius loop too.
So the three items are:
• The One Ring
• Eternal Polyamorous/polygamous Love*
• Endless Love (possibly even Karmic love, if you view it as love that persists from one reincarnation to another).
* Thanks Gramy Pashakitty for the heads up on the symbology. Given that it could easily be read as regular “eternal love”, it is good to know that there is intended for another meaning.
the one ring?
Didn’t Frodo throw that in to the fires on Mount Doom ?
He threw one that looked just like it in, yup (zoom in to confirm that it is JUST like it).
you sure?
https://imgur.com/gallery/qwtYNok
There is a reason why the concept of ‘best man’ was invented.
other then writing the speech, organizing the stag night, drowning the groom in booze, taking him to a strip show (not forgetting more booze), handcuffing him naked to a lamppost in the middle of nowhere. he’s expected to remember the ring
I think you forgot to leave the groom with more booze at the lamppost…
since he’s been handcuffed to the lamppost, he cant reach the booze, so since he cant drink it might as well take it with me
Nope, Frodo did not. I distinctly recall him deciding to claim and keep the damned thing.
Frodo later on quoting about the “Ring Burning” was due to his 3 way love tiff with Sam and Golum. What did he expect, when in the last 500 years did you see Golum clean under that loincloth.
Since nobody is willing to mention it. Let me be the first.
“One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them”
Oh nice catch! I totally missed the elvish writing on that ring.
we must throw this poster back in to the fiery chasm whence it came
Kudos on spotting it :)
*starts examining the third item of jewelry for hidden meaning*
Looks like a mobius ring, with diamonds, for that extra meaning. :)
Never-ending love + diamonds are forever.
i dont know if you picher someone wearing it it looks like an eye maybe it means “always watching you”
“Beware the diamond stalker!”
I prefer to do it with at least some light. I like to see what (or who) I’m doing…
That will teach you to date a Cthulhu cultist. You never quite know what is going to be under the robes :P
… why do I have on the feeling that there are people I should recognize (besides Harem and Sydney off course!) in the first panel? Especially the more cartoon-like tones… :-|
The girl with the goggles on her hoodie looks like the young cat woman from the Gotham show.
I believe they are called cosplayers.
Oh and the one near the superman poster is Ben from Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist and the other is the main character from Steven Universe.
I think the goatee guy with the blue hat is an artist cameo
That’s an impressive shield scoop. And done so smooth she caught the teleporter flat-footed. Gotta stay on your toes Daphne.
I’m finding this rather long play side run of Sydney catching Daphen unprepared, hilarious. From their first encounter to now. Halo’s like Paper to Harem’s Rock. And all in-comic-time just about 24 hours, caught Harem out three times. I hope this trend continues.
well now we know how paper covers rock. apparently in a translucent blue energy shield
Thanks for the early post… Or does daylight saving not apply to you?
Well In the UK we are already on Bristish Summer Time.
I’m backing up my regular posting time from 6am central US time to 5, cause why not?
Steven Universe cameo in panel 1. Meep!
On a side note: anyone else think Sydney’s smile goes too far in panel 4? I know it’s probably hard to emphasize her expression in profile but the smile just looks way too big…almost makes the jaw Looney Tuney.
not really. you nead to remember its the sean as Sydney remember it not what achely happened. what achely happened was probably more in line with Sydney trying to bring about a grate flood by drooling
omfg I didn’t even notice before I saw your comment and specifically looked…
And this is a common mistake. I hate drawing in this angle bc it’s next to impossible to get the features right )=
Looking Looney Tune-ish is appropriate for Sydney tho XD
Doesn’t look like a smile; her lips are normal. The line looks like it’s from a scratch, and I think she had an injury there; probably a bruise, but maybe a cut. Or the shadow of the arm of her glasses?
It is a visualisation, so cartoony is even more fair game, than normal for Sydney. I see it as being a very wolfish smile.
Yup, just a wolfish smile. Sydney generally gets to be more cartoonish than the usual cast, but everyone gets their share of wild expressions in this comic, even Arianna.
Oh sure. No problem with cartoony being used like the anime/manga super deformed for conveying certain moods and comedy.
Its just that you drew definite lips with a definite corner and then a line that kept going. Where as when Arianna super deformed her face art became simpler and lips/lipstick wasn’t drawn in a little bud in the middle of her mouth. All of Sydney’s face/head is drawn in her normal style except for this crazy line all the sudden.
Sorry, I don’t seem to have the words to describe why this is so odd looking to me (one who likes the use of super deformed for occasional joke moments normally).
You’ve combined normal and super-deformed styles in an odd way I don’t normally see I guess is the best I can do for now. Its jarringly odd. You rebel you.
It’s supposed to look impish, which was challenging to do from the side. Kind of pinched lips but a broad mouth.
Thank you. That’s similar to what Yorp saw so that’s good. Between his comment and the context of the panel something along either wolfish or impish makes sense.
But its good to have its true nature confirmed for future reference.
I mean no offense when I say it currently is something I can’t see even when pointed out. To me its like she has two mouths drawn in two different styles overlapping each other on a face that matches the normal close-up style. My own specialized version of Yorp’s “Uncanny Valley”?
I just keep expecting her to distend her jaw, now filled with razor fangs, and swallow Hiro’s head whole.
Looks like some people got it though. And this time Yorp was one of those who, somewhat, got it. Which is nice since I think the last Uncanny Valley, which worked for me that time, threw him.
Apparently me and Yorp’s aesthetic minds work sort of mirror opposites? (as opposed to true opposites or we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the art of the same comic at all)
I must confess that I found it unsettling. Until I made the connection. And the fact that it was clearly self-parodying, to show that this was a visualisation, then helped me to distance from the uneasy feeling, and accept it as a wolf-like caricature.
Had Dave opted for his chibi version of Halo, it would have avoided the ‘uncanny valley’, as you say. Likewise if emphasising other cartoon-like features, such as bulging eyes.
However, I did actually like the result, myself, as it played on the whole ‘this really happened (not)’ vibe. You have the ‘this is real’ impression, then get unsettled, and only after you have looked again do you (hopefully) pick up the unreality of it.
But, if the wolfish angle is not picked up, I can see how the unsettling effect would be disturbing.
Personally, I thought it looked great, and I certainly caught the impish grin.
If there’s anything I find a bit jarring in your art style at times, it’s actually the more normal looking characters. It’s hard to say what the problem really is, but I do get some “uncanny valley” vibes.
I think it comes down to the fact that most comics have more stylised faces. Or go strictly realistic. Whereas Dave mix the two approaches. So Sydney is a particularly tricky,* because her base style is an anime one. Yet she is surrounded by characters using either traditional super-hero styles** or realistic portrayals. ***
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the artistic decision and the overall effect it has in the comic. But it does have the result that you are talking about, as a side-effect.
Especially when you factor in how very realistic many of the expressions are. Dave conveys very subtle visual clues and, as such, we get very used to both expecting and relying on those, in order to interpret a scene.
As regular readers, we have become conditioned to accepting Sydney’s face as being a real person, despite her anime style. But, on the occasions where there is something that clashes with our expectations of her, that takes her further away from a real face, then it causes the ‘uncanny valley’ effect to kick in.
Dave does seem to be drifting away from using chibis, so this could happen more often, when he is conveying a comic twist like this.
In this instance, I think applying full-blown caricature rules, and over-emphasise the changes, could have avoided that. Whereas Dave did a more subtle merging of the wolf-type look, as linked in my post above, with Sydney’s normal features.
The trouble being that her jaw line remained within the bounds of human norms, but were clearly wrong for our familiar Sydney. Ergo the feeling that ‘something is wrong’.
Had Dave made her smile much closer to a full-on snout (like the cartoon version) then it would have very much distanced her from the uncanny valley effect.
Not that I am advocating doing that mind. I am just knocking my observations around. I like the experimenting Dave is doing here, and am sure he will find good solutions to the constructive feedback we give him.
And, of course, the more Dave does this kind of thing, the more we get used to it, so lessening the chance of such problems occurring.
* But noting Dave’s comment about all characters sometimes getting the cartoon treatment.
** Sans sexist and unrealistic poses.
*** The above cameos have a cartoony feel overall, likely due to accommodate that some of them are cartoons, without it looking odd. But if you think of the Jonathan Creek cameo and General Faulk’s default look, they have a photo-real feel to them.
Oh? Is that part of her smile? I guess it would make her smile so Jokerish that I couldn’t see it as a smile. So my brain told me it was a strand of hair blowing across her lips form the other side of her face. That happens a lot in shows right?
OK, I give in. It must be some kind of freaky smile from Dave having a moment….
So freaky.
Math has something similar at the top of this comic https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/524
But then has has achieved the title of 12th level perv, so it comes easier for him.
Similar yup but somehow doesn’t trigger the same effect.
Might be because as a guy his lips were never drawn to the same level that Sydney’s are here. For me it would have worked better if her lips were either left as mostly simple lines or, as odd as it sounds, the lips continued farther along the grin though not necessarily all the way.
Wait, since the Harem copies are essentially the result of crazy fast teleportation and Harem can’t teleport through the shield, shouldn’t putting the shield up around harem either make that copy disappear or make all the others disappear?
IIRC, they are copies that she doesn’t interloper, not blinking images. It’s why she can dress them differently. I’d be more concerned about blocking the mind-link.
*Un-teleport
And have different tattoos for each duplicate
only if the shield interferes with quantum entangling
Well, it blocks the teleport, which I kinda equate to electron tunnelling. Those are really two different things so … *shrug*, we’ll find out.
They are not the result of crazy fast teleportation, they are just that – copies…
But that’s just the thing.
– If they are just copies, then were or what is the original ?
– Are they independend and just linked ? Should the shield not cut the link in that case ? And how do they share pretty much everything such as knowledge, sensory perception, … and not just thought ? And shouldn’t they gain some level of different character and independence after a time ?
– If they are mere projections, then how come they can teleport small amounts of matter such as clothes and a gun or two ? Also, depending on were the original is, shouldn’t the one in the shield or those outside the shield disappear / disintegrate leaving but clothing ?
– If it is a splitting into equal bodies, they should run out of sync if the shield would severe mental links. DaveB hinted as something among those line by saying that a single Harem is stronger then each of the five copies, but how does the warping / teleporting work than ? Is it a secondary power ?
– Both the splitting and warping could be explained through quantum superposition; slight differences in the quantum makeup just sufficient for additional corporial manifestations. Both splitting and warping would be caused by partly changing quantum spin, creating 5 places for the very same person to be, connected through something not too differenty of a miniature worm-hole like spacial distortion. Something like that however should not be able to be impeded by force fields since worm-holes would “go around” them. Then why can’t Harem teleport into Halos force field ? If is also is quantum based, it might work through a dimensional shift, but if it were it also would cut the “link” with the other Harems.
I am really looking forward to the next page, hoping it might bringt enlightenment of sorts.
Is there a betting pool whether Harem will un-link or un-multiply or not ?
Per DaveB, the strawberry blonde “farmer’s daughter” is the original. All of the others she’s added as the years have gone by, several years apart. She might continue to add more bodies but at the rate she’s going it will be a few years.
The shield will block teleport both ways, that’s already been demonstrated. If there were some form of block between the various Harems mentally, I think we would have already seen it but time will tell. As for the rest, to quote the noted author Wilson Bob Tucker: “Never let the facts get ion the way of a good story.”
Feel free to start a pool if you want. :)
Personally I think each of the bodies is permanent, not a projection. The tattoos and hairstyles persist. The shield allows communication through it (both verbally and when using the pip boy), so I think Harem will be able to still function with her group mind. The biggest problem would be trying to store one of her bodies, if the shield is in the way.
So if any of the outside bodies attempted to put the one we see in the shield into storage, I suspect it would fail. And I doubt she can store herself (or there would be the risk of her vanishing from existence if she did that when only one copy was out). So I think she can only store ‘one of her other bodies’.
I do not think that there is any significance to her ‘original’ body, other than sentimental value. Each version is exact and only tattooing tells them apart. They are all real. Each can store one of the other bodies (including the original one). Just not if the shield is in between them.
But it may not go that way, so I am looking forward to finding out how it pans out :)
i find the best way to think about it is one soul (for lack of a better word) in up to 5 body’s, if all of the soul is in one body its super powered up. i find its the best way to explain the power up when she stors a body the potun of her soul/power/essence that was powering that body is redistribute around the outer body’s. this also explains how each body has a separate existence as far as injerys and stilling is concerned
Most of this is conjecture and theories formed from what we have seen of harem’s abilities, had implied by the comic and by Dave and of course the science corner bits.
As far as we have seen, a given harem body appears to be a distinct and persistent piece of matter seeing as while harem can un-port a body, it always reappears exactly in the condition it was in when it was un-ported, she cannot reform or alter the body and indeed all the customization she’s done to the different bodies has been done (and if desired would need to be undone) by conventional means. Moreover while intense stimuli to one body will superimpose that sensation or stimuli (like the need to get away from an angry Maxima) onto other harems we have seen that the physical effects thereof do not carry over, ie the cut received to one harem’s arm does not cause a physical effect on the others, so while her mind is apparently quantum-entangled, her bodies in general are not.
The way of seeing it that makes most sense to me is that harem is several bodies that all share a single mind. Because this mind “runs” on multiple brains, she is capable of processing multiple situations and the like with the same ease as a normal person processes a single situation. It would not seem entirely inaccurate to consider each harem as the fingers of a single hand, each has its own joints capable of bending or being manipulated towards individual tasks, trained to perform them alone or with great efficiency by working together as a team, much as my fingers are cooperating to type up this post in a speedy fashion.
Assuming this viewpoint is close enough to the author’s idea of her, harem being inside the shield will not cut off one harem from the other bodies for the same reason that the shield does not appear to cut into the streets when forming a bubble around Sydney while she is standing on the ground. Nor does it appear that the shield will cut into objects, let alone living beings, that happen to have some part or portion too close to the area where the bubble forms, ie since the shield did not leave shavings of Harem’s boots behind on the ground and instead scooped her up entirely.
Assuming further that the above holds true, it stands to reason that the entangled mind is either, and this is the most plausible idea to me, simply not something that extends through space, ie there’s no signal going from one harem, to the harem standing five feet to that harem’s left, instead the link joins all harems together in a singular harem-mind which does not exist physically and thus has no location. (the bodies do, which is why a body cannot be teleported in and out of the shield).
Alternatively, if there is some ongoing constant transmissions, then the shield in all probability lets this through for the same reason it lets people talk to Sydney and why they can hear Sydney back while the shield is up.
TLDR version: The shield will not sever or block the connection between harem’s bodies for the same reason it would not (as far as we have seen) sever other continuous objects that happen to have a part thereof occupy the same space as the borders of the bubble.
[reads through the whole thing]
Now, on the one hand, my inner editor is pointing out to me that Harem should be capitalized, since it’s a name here.
On the other hand, there’s part of me telling my inner editor to shut up, because that does not detract from your points.
This is the same part of me that defended Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, and their use of magic, by explaining how genetics could, theoretically, play a part in how magic is passed on, even how Hansel would be unable to be a witch himself, but could still pass it on to his children (Essentially, the theory boils down to the trait being passed on in the X-chromosome, and needing two to make it work at all, though boys will inherit the immunity to spells and curses, since that’s a passive ability and not something that can be turned on and off. Doesn’t even need to be two magic Xs, so long as one is a magic X, it will work. Since boys get an X from their mom, they can pass it on. Unless they only have boys, then the magic in their bloodline dies with them).
So, applause for putting in an insane amount of thinking to justify how powers and abilities someone else came up with might work! Good to know I’m not the only person in the world who will take the time to type a long explanation in a comment.
That is one of the major nice aspects of this comic:
They are close enough to actual reality and well reasoned enough so a reader can relate and come up with possible theories about how things might work, would turn out, or could end up.
This gives it substance and lifts the comic’s quality way beyond mainstream level.
A story not trying ones mind or / and animating the imagination would be but a waste of time, don’t you think ? ;-)
Well reasoned.
A couple of pages back I hypothesised that because the brains are quantumly linked then a bullet through one brain would cause all the other brains to suffer the same physical damage. A counter-argument to that point led me to compose a reply. Which I then dropped, to avoid the wall of text.
But, now that DaveB has said he is having to make decisions here, I am glad that I decided to save it, just in case. So I will repeat it here ‘as was’. Given it may provide some insight on how to avoid all her bodies dying, if that is not desired. Sadly I failed to find the original conversation, so it does read oddly, to start:
Yup, but if the brain does not demonstrate the properties I described it is not quantumly entangled. But, there is a convenient loophole that DaveB can employ if he wishes. And that is to say that the information is what is entangled, as opposed to the brains.
The only reason why I default to the the option I stated is that it flows more naturally from it being a side-effect of her bodies being duplicated. But that does not preclude the option of treating it the alternative way.
And there is even an argument which could support that. Namely that the limbs and other organs all operate in a non-entangled way. Ergo we do not have to assume that the physical parts of the brain do likewise.
Only the information flowing along them need do so.
Of course if that is the case, then a bullet through the brain will cause a big disruption in the information flow. So she would likely be knocked unconscious. And if the disruption is persistent (ie the information keeps flowing around the hole in that one brain), then it could leave her mind permanently incapacitated, for all her bodies.
Or it may go the other way. That brain dies. The rest are knocked unconsious. When she recovers and wakes up, the information starts flowing again. Quantum linked as always, and it is the healthy brains which are generating the information flow, so no damage need be imitated.
Then there is one of two possibilities at this point (especially if the ‘dead’ body has just been resuscitated), one is that the dead (or brain damaged) mind is severed from the group mind. It is no longer in a quantumly linked state so cannot share the consciousness.
The dead one remains dead. The brain damaged one gets to live life like a normal person (possibly capable of teleporting if the damage does not interfere with that).
The other possibility is rather freaky. In that the quantum linking of information, may continue, despite the injury. Providing the information is capable of getting into the brain. Allowing for zombie like control of a body that, potentially, has a non-functional brain. Or at least one badly enough damaged that the cognitive areas are not working. I imagine that it would still need the sensory input and autonomous functions (such as breathing) regions to work.
If brain activity can be considered a quantum field, it would mean for it’s harmonics to be unique – there can only be one such (active) brain. This would mean that every body is a node to the same mind and the brain simultaneously sender and receiver linked to and by the very same “tune”. If you damage the brain of one “copy”, said copy would loose its sync and either die of the injury or live on as a different person.
There is a character / type of super called “Platoon” that matches these characteristics safe for the fact that nobody does know how exactly he creates his copies. Also, he can’t teleport.
But why does everybody keep ignoring the warping / teleporting ?
You all consider this ability to be of entirely different origin ?
Personally I usually discuss them separately simply because each is very complex to consider individually. So posts get big. Doing both together compounds it even further.
They ARE linked however. But only in the origin story. Teleporting, but keeping the original, rather than disintegrating it, and rebuilding elsewhere, is what created Harem’s extra bodies. AND it is the rationale for how the brains were originally identical and hence quantum linked.*
It shows the merit of DaveB‘s concept that we do not need to query that, hence it does not often come up. It is plausible, within the super hero genre. Our only issues then come with discussing the results of that. And those discussions do not need to link the two subjects. Simply because the quantum linking does not require use of teleportation to work.
Theoretically Harem could (if she was allowed to carry living matter) take a small passenger with her. And could choose to replicate them in the same way that her own body was. That individual would then also have multiple bodies, and a quantumly linked mind (of their own, not linked to Harem). But would NOT have teleportation.
If you check back a few pages I suggested such could happen if Harem was carrying a baby and duplicated it. Even if Harem is prohibited from carrying living matter normally, I doubt that would also apply to her whilst pregnant. So that remains a very valid proposition, in my mind.
* Albeit that it is fuzzy on why only the brains are quantum linked, whilst the bodies clearly are not.
I have no idea what on earth made you think Harem’s copies are the result of her teleporting really fast all the time. This has been explained explicitly: She has five bodies, and can also teleport. I have literally no idea what made you think she maintains them all by constantly teleporting.
I just realized something. If she was following the GPS with her shield up, that means that radio waves can pass through as well.
Then again, she had her shield up during pretty much the whole fight yesterday, and she still communicated with her teammates, so we already knew that. If others have said it before, sorry about the repetition.
At least we got a resolution to the oft repeated questions “where’s her car?” and “how did she get home?” The only question is if the car is still there. I don’t know how similar American parking is to Norwegian, but even if there was free parking, she might have overstayed the usual one or two hours and gotten it impounded.
the bank would have bean closed for the rest of the day so i doubt they needed the space
The car is probably still surrounded by “CRIME SCENE – DO NOT CROSS” yellow tape. The cops will want to determine what the bad guys drove.
Cop 1: Detective, yeah I just finished running all the plates. 7 cars belong to employee’s. 12 belong to identified customers. Of the rest, there is a car owned by Archon (I am assuming that Lt. Col Leander came in that one) and the other one belongs to a Sydney Scoville Jr., but she is not on the list of customers. Did we get ID’s on the bad buys from Archon yet?
Detective: Scoville is the Crazy Girl who managed to join Archon yesterday. So, did our bank robbers walk here? Hmm, check with the transit system. There is a bus stop right over there.
Somehow, I’d be REALLY surprised if Maxima drove to the bank. She wasn’t in on this little ploy, so she probably flew into the area and walked in.
And now you have me wondering if this is Maxima’s bank, and if not, why she was here…
No, that is the one the “robbers” came in, but the cops don’t know that.
Ariana wanted her to open an account for direct deposit.
Archon had not yet gone public, although everything was settled to do the press conference in the afternoon. They were probably under general orders to try to stay a bit low key until the press was gathered up…That’s usually the way military works in real life.
But then, Arianna pulled a fast one by arranging for a “contracted security check” at the bank & made sure that Maxima was going to be “running an errand there” at just that same time. Max didn’t know about the security check going on, but figured out that something underhanded was going on.
+1
(Although I did chuckle at the concept of a 6’1″ shiny gold-skinned elf-eared purple-haired Amazon being considered ‘low profile’. But do appreciate that adding ‘flying’ does worsen that, so am not quibbling the gist of the comment.)
Sydney was at the bank to drop off a deposit for the comic shop of which she is a partial owner. This implies that she and Joel have a joint business account of some sort there, and one or the other of them likely visits that location every day or so. For that reason, Sydney’s car would be filed under ‘identified customer’, and would be exceptional only for the fact that she was seen leaving the scene in Maxima’s custody.
The cops didn’t get her identification before she flew off with Max.
The cops aren’t the ones who would need to identify her. That falls on the bank and their security… who, as said, see her coming in to do a business deposit every couple of days.
WoG is that the shield works on an energy threshold system. Things like light and sound are allowed in until they approach dangerous levels, then they get cut off. It’s why Max was audible to the crowd over the sound of her explosion, and how the shield blocked Hex’s light beams.
Wait, is she /allowed/ to kidnap other teammates!?
Is she allowed? Probably not.
Will she do it anyway? Probably yes.
Good point.
Also, she’s putting Harem at risk of being dropped if anything goes wrong. This would seem to be reckless at least.
I’m discounting the fact that Harem could ‘port herself to just above the nearest swimming pool 8-)
The military can’t have it both ways. Halo is late and has been ordered to report promptly. She is just carrying out her orders to the best of her ability.
However there is very little risk of Harem being dropped here. The force field is all-encompassing and impenetrable, even to Harem. Unless Sydney turns it off in mid-air. But that is like saying a helicopter is dangerous if you turn off the engine in mid-air. Yes, it is. So, don’t do it.
The military is also big on procedure, so I hear. Taking one of your colleagues flying without even asking approval is going to be noted. Although Maxima herself didn’t set a good example here!
And “it’s dangerous, so don’t do it” might be OK in some places, but there are lots of laws, regulations and licensing to contend with for many, many things less dangerous than flying. Just for example (and on topic), the law is starting to take note of privately-owned drones.
True.
And I approve that they are cracking down on that. Drones are a wonderful new tool. But society needs to be more proactive in areas of innovation. Nano-particles are one area that we have no regulation in, and will suffer an asbestosis like crisis in due course as a result. Drones though do at least though have legal frameworks put in place (in some countries).
What they have not done yet is to implement improvements in defences at sensitive sites, high-security instillations or airports. Our means of government does rather require that we have an airliner crash before safety procedures are modified. Which is a damned fool way of governing.
Teleporting above a swimming pool should work under such circumstances, but the idea that Harem could wind up in a lengthy fall brings up some questions: When she teleports, does she still retain any momentum? So far, we haven’t seen her ‘port from any position other than standing or walking. What if she’s falling? Does her speed & direction of motion teleport with her?
Nightcrawler of the X-Men retains speed of motion through a teleport, but he can re-orient his direction of travel at will through the teleport. At one point I saw him (in a comic) falling when he teleported & he changed his direction from “down” to “sideways,” but his destination point was mere inches above the ground. Granted, it was a “rough & tumble” kind of landing, but at least he didn’t “splat.”
Another trick that might work in his case (& Harem’s too, if she can at least change her direction) would be to wait until almost hitting ground, then teleport to redirect himself upwards…Then when gravity slows him to a stop at the apex, just teleport to the ground…Without any leftover momentum.
There’s still a lot Dave hasn’t revealed about her teleportation power, but this is an issue I’d like to see cleared up.
I loved how Portal put those kinds of effects into practice. It is something that folks who can use mini wormholes need to take into account too. So Portal Girl, from the battle at the Steak House car park, needs to make such considerations as well.
This is something I’ve often wondered about. Can continuous (or near continuous) teleporting give the teleporter a limited form of flight?
Anyone who has played a teleporter in City of Heroes knows that this does not work. Unless you have a variety of teleport which does NOT carry the user’s momentum through the teleport. Teleportation is usually assumed to be near-instantaneous*, so it does not matter how frequently you teleport, the body will remain in the real world all (or practically all) of the time.
As such it will always be subject to the pull of gravity. And you will fall at normal rates. The City of Heroes game mechanics had to allow a brief hover capability, to negate this effect. So that teleporters had a moment to orient themselves, before plummeting. If choosing to travel in the air, anyhow. I found it to be the least enjoyable travel power in the game, despite that additional feature.
Of course, if momentum is NOT maintained via a teleport, then your suggestion would work perfectly. One who could use it many times per second (without suffering some disorientation as a result), would be able to simulate hovering with ease. Or flying, for that matter, by slightly varying the arrival point in the direction of travel.
Even a teleporter who could not pull off that kind of frequency would still be able to use air-travel. But they would need to jump to a considerable height, to allow time for themselves to re-orient and choose their next spot. That can be damned tricky if you have poor visibility or distractions. This is similar to the problem that City of Heroes teleporters had, if you consider lag to be a distraction.
For a real-world style teleporter, the latter technique would be pretty dangerous, under anything other than ideal circumstances, unless sticking to very high altitudes.
* Even the Star Trek rule that it is limited by the speed of light does not negate this statement, when talking about station-keeping use.
I managed to do that with a teleporting character in city of Heroes, when it was still going. I’d just aim my ‘port way up in the air, high enough that I could keep teleporting before I fell to the ground.
I forgot to add: when I was getting close to my destination, I’d still be pretty high up in the air, but would make my last ‘port to a rooftop. From there, I’d ‘port to ground level.
BTW, the character I was playing that way was based from my current avatar & name. You can probably imagine how much fun I had with a teleporting ninja…
:D
I disliked teleporting so much I only had the one character with that. Sadly turned out to be the one I logged on with when they assigned global handles though. And I otherwise enjoyed the way the power sets played, so much that he became one of my main characters.
Whilst I could manage mid-air teleporting ok, I do have a low-speed internet connection. So lag could get really bad in crowded areas. Which is pretty nasty if you happen to be flying over nasty mobs or a giant monster, and gravity does it’s work!
I think I eventually opted to give him the full hover capability to counteract that. Which is also something I did for my super-speeders (or gave them combat jumping). Any of those options, only used one extra power slot, so never harmed the overall build. But added huge quality of life.
Sometimes, in CoH or other games, I built for power, going for good synergy in the power sets to optimise that. But that one was one designed for a character concept instead. I already had a knight character, when a group of friends decided to make a knight-themed super group.
I did not fancy replicating my previous concept, so followed the basic principles laid down. Namely that the character must have a melee weapon and armour (which only needed a costume and so did not impact on power choices). At that point I had not made a blaster yet, so decided to go that route, and the super group specifically did not want to restrict players choice of architype.
Hence Sir Merlin was born. I felt that, of the blaster melee weapons, the icy sword fitted the image of a knight’s weapon better than any of the others. But disliked the other ice set that could be matched with that (I never went for any which had a top tier power that totally exhausted the character), so went for the fire set to give a fire/ice theme.
To make the armour more than just token though, I gave him every secondary power that I could squeeze in to boost that, without impacting his blaster offence. Likewise slotting them pretty heavily. Not a particularly sound concept if building to maximise group efficiency, in theory. But it turned out to play awesomely well!
Fire was fast and damaging. The odd icy attack compensated for those mobs which were fire-resistant. And had a good mix of single-target and area of effect, so allowed strong tactical play. Plus the sword was a nice finisher* (for pose purposes rather than real power).
Not to mention that the armour both allowed him to close safely to do that, and made him surprisingly resilient for a squishy. Letting me to play him more aggressively than an average blaster, without it causing hassle for healers or tanks.
* He also was built as maximum height and huge build. Odd for a blaster, but great for a knight. And awesome for making the icy sword finisher look COOOOL.
@MidnightDStroyer:
That’s a question that’s been bugging me. If she does always match her momentum to the new location, she can always get out of falling (and can do other cool things like porting into a moving vehicle). Very handy, but arguably too powerful for the story.
Nightcrawler’s solution is a sort of compromise which makes his teleporting seem less over-powered (but still laughs in the face of conservation of momentum).
If she can’t do any of that, then in addition to the falling thing, there is another wrinkle: she’s porting about on a rotating planet. This means a jump of any significant distance would find her travelling at a different speed to her destination – an instant form of the Coriolis Effect.
A quick example: a jump at the latitude of Dallas to a place 40km to the north would have her arrive with a mismatch of 1.6 metres per second – enough to make her fall over if she wasn’t ready for it.
</geek zone>
The planet is also moving through space at over 69,000 MPH. That’s gonna leave a mark…
MAN OVERBOARD!
News Reporter: “Today the world mourns the loss of Mark. He was a fine fellow, but got left behind, as the world moved on.”
I noticed that the store windows have one large poster when you look at them from the outside and two small posters when you look at them from the inside (see last panel of previous comic). That is a very engaging effect. Are they using holographic technology, or some sort of dimensional portal effect? This just adds to my theory that there is something more than meets the eye to Sydney’s partner Jo-El.
The store has two windows on either side of the door, each window has two posters in it. They’re standing close enough to the door that you can’t see the other poster in each adjacent window.
I also freely admit that my grasp of pespective and #D space is still pretty amateurish. Looking at the 3rd panel again, those posters probably are too big.
Not necessarily. They could be display copies just for stores. Or probably banners.
I think you are misunderstanding Dave’s comment. A poster will not be bigger when viewed from one side of a window, to when seen from the other.
These however are clearly partly printed on special plastic which is transparent one way, but can carry a printed image looked at the other way. Dave probably just did not realise that Joel got special experimental stock, which allowed this. ;-)
Actually they use that sort of thing for some of the ads on the outside of busses. I find them annoying, but if it helps keep public transit affordable then I won’t complain too loudly.
I love everything about this comic.
I had to take 5 separate laugh breaks while reading this one.
Why would she need a car at all now? Flying should be faster (no pesky traffic jams), it is free and she can carry more in her forcefield than can fit in her car.
Flying isn’t the continuous laugh riot it’s cracked up to be.
Sydney should get a pilot’s license if she is going to be flying
in controlled areas.
She’s heavier than a couple of Canadian Geese, and you know
what they can do to aircraft.
i was reading a fanfic once and it was brought up that flyers needed pilots licences not becose it would help them fly better but so that they would know what other people in the sky are doing
Very true. I wonder if Harem had been on the verge of saying “Wait, you are not meant to fly until you have been certified!”
Although, by now I am sure folks in Archon would have heard of her encounter with Bear, the traffic reporter, in his helicopter. That was several hours ago. In which case, you would have expected Maxima to pass on the message. But, then again, perhaps Harem was about to do just that, before being scooped up. :-D
you whould think they whould have heard about it but harem asks how sydney got to work.
though if i was writing the law i would have it as being you need a licence to fly over the say 30 feet. over that and you could be interfering with helicopters ect. and wile over a populated area you must stick to the road speed you would be limited to on the ground. at least thats how it whould be for civilian archon would have exceptions just like cops do for speeding
FAA Flight Regulations.
Thinking speed would need to be an important factor as well.
Supers going Mach 3.5 at 30 feet above the ground (or ON the ground) in a built-up area is probably a thing to be actively discouraged in most cases.
that way if they hit anything the destruction should be inline with whatever a city has plans to deal with
There are already existing laws in America that are meant to prevent “mach-speed travel” under a certain altitude. It’s the sonic boom, ya’ know…
i was just thinking if you fly into something at 30 mph you would do the same kind of damage a car would do aka the type of damage people know how to fix
if Sydney for example hit a street light at 30 mph that’s a broken light that needs fixing if she hits it at 200mph then that’s flying death shrapnel bonceing down a pedestrian filled sidewalk
If only so she an get some lessons on navigating while flying ^_~
Random thought, if Sydney wanted to, she could do her version of an invisible car ala Wonder Woman.
:-D
Yea, and I could totally see her doing that, once it hit her that she could. It would be irresistible. Not to mention that she had been wearing the Wonder Woman logo, for four years, so must really identify with her by now!
The flash forward that started the whole comic established that she’s still driving several months from now.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/60
looking at that the comic shop will be geting a major upgrade before long them stairs are definitely not in the current shop
I thought maybe they’d get a space in the civilian section of the Archon building itself, alongside the “Luftwaffles” and Sydney’s new favorite spicy food diner. That was at least my favorite theory for Sydney’s “one condition” when she joined. However, then she wouldn’t need to drive between her two jobs as she does in that page. Are we sure that the RPG game is at work? Or maybe her meeting with her fellow superheroes is at some other place?
well the next frame is her leaving a place with joel behind a counter
Hmm. I didn’t even notice the guy, or think it was Joel. Dave’s drawing style has changed so much since then. Of course, that could also explain any inconsistency in the layout of the store. But in those pages, I don’t see a comic book anywhere.
The Flight / Forcefield combo has its uses, definitely, but it would tend to attract a lot of attention and possibly would not be the ideal way to carry certain items around. A big-@$$ stack of comics or paperwork, for example?
Plus, one can keep or “store” a heckuva lot of extra junk in a car. AND one can sleep on the back seat, if having a slow day. AND it has a sound system for playing music.
Great as Sydney’s orbs are, they can do none of those things – at least at this stage.
And for that we have yet to establish she cannot fly with the car in the FF bubble with just a little “embiggener” action. Hehe. She could end up being their fast attack shuttle for the non flyers in the group with a couple of seats mounted in a rollcage. The again a Hummer would add things like air conditioning…
I’m very strongly reminded of the famed ‘Dumpster Of Doom’ that one group came up with in a superhero rpg.
Basically, the group had several members, but only one of them could fly. When their first big emergency came up, they “borrowed” a conveniently-placed empty garbage dumpster. Most of the group rode in that, whilst the flyer (who also had super-strength) carried the dumpster to the destination.
It worked so well that the party kept using the idea and, over the life of the campaign, even made a number of improvements to their dumpster. By the end, the ‘Dumpster Of Doom’ had acquired a padded interior with safety belts, built-in parachutes, kevlar armor, a roll cage, flotation gear, a radio and even a sealable self-contained environment.
Well, we have seen that Archon is amiable to this kind of thinking, with the ferrying of the press-corps around, by air, in their coaches.
So, is Selina Kyle looking to steal the orbs? Is that why she’s scoping out the comic shop? If it is supposed to be Camren Bicondova, then I don’t believe that she is a comic book fan; I’ve seen her acting and interviews, although she appears capable of reading both pages simultaneously. I would be more willing to believe a fan doing some excellent cosplay.
Jewelry sales spiked by almost 50 percent!
Did anyone have a close look at the people in the first panel ?
– Has the black jacket brown hair guy pointed ears ?
– What caught the attention of the deranged looking UFO cappy guy ?
– There are at leas two with hair-cuts reminding me of wolverine ( and elvis presley ).
– Why does the black haired guy with the very long face look so familiar ?
– Did anyone notice Halo 0.3 in yesterdays outfit on the left ?
… ;-)
well we definitely seen halo 0.3 as you put it we had a thred on if it was a guy or a girl
… i didn’t know you meant her / him, but I certainly see your point …
Dave, kind of a SUPR SRSS QUESTJIN:
Harem can’t teleport INTO Sidney’s shield. That then means she can’t teleport OUT of it as well, right?
But then the serious one: Wouldn’t the shield then also basically sever Harem’s mental connection(for lack of a better term) to the clone in the shield?
i would say no the light-hook is controlled by Sydney thoughts and that operate outside the shield. if it dusent stop sydneys mental link to the light hook why would it stop harems link to harem
You have a point. However, it is clear that even though each orb has separate functions, in some contexts they work as a unit. A unit that now may include Sydney herself, since they’re tethered to her. However, Harem has no such connection to them. I’m not sure that Sydney’s ability to control the lighthook outside her shield has any bearing on what Harem might be able to do
true enough in its self but that any energy flows out is enough to say we dont know for certen until dave makes an answer cannon
These questions and more discussed in the very next page. :)
stop teasing me you vile tempter
:-D
+10 to DaveB’s evil genius score.
Heh. So many answers in one comic.
And I love Sydney assuring us, through the fourth wall, that the Super Hiro scene was canon!
“I reject your reality, and substitute my own!”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/672
My god, that’s Dr. Katz’s son… Ben? Pannel 1!!
Looks probable.
Guess what show I watched in its entirety while I drew the last few pages. :)
Now we find out the bank had sydneys car towed because it was left there all day. Most places frown on people parking their car in their lot then leaving. And so the epic adventure of “Dude, Where’s My Car?” Super Edition starts off. Meanwhile back at the ranch, Maxima is turning all sorts of interesting colors waiting for sydney to arrive. What do you get mixing red with gold? Find out next time on… GRRL POWER!!!!
max has blue bloud so it whould be gold and blue and i think it was already shown somewhere max blushes green
She blushes red, for reasons that are not (from memory) canonically explained. But DaveB does make a comment about this, pointing out that green makes her look seasick instead. I don’t remember where in the story this occurs, so will not trawl through 300 odd pages to find said page.
I want angry Maxima to slowly turn the purple colour of her hair.
Well argued.
I love your choice of avatar, by the way.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1508
Ok I am a bit confused…
How can Sydney remembering a discussion about lasers and forcefields when this is all a flashback to a few months before she had the discussion?
Sydney argues against forcefields vs light ( https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/55 )
And then drives into work as a superhero ( https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/60 )
Beginning a Flashback that goes back “A few Months”
After the big Showdown, Sydney has an epiphany about lasers
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1630
I thought this was meaning we were back to real time
Even though the comic seems to imply it was all on the same day, one has to assume that several months passed sometime between her initial meeting with Maxima and the day of press Conference (I assume for Sydney’s training)
But then, we learn that it DID all happen just ‘yesterday’
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1654
she is not remembering a discussion about lasers and forcefields the one were she calls dabler is the first time then she is using her previous confusion on the subject to gain an advantage in a game in the fucher before the flashback
We are still in the flashback.
The flashback has only been a day and a half now in flashback world time
No, Maxima took her from the scene at the bank straight to Head Quarters and not too long after they got Sydney signed up they had a Press Conference. The Bank Stunt was viral publicity for the upcoming Press Conference which they apparently thought would work better if they didn’t let it fester (I’m not a publicist so lets say that worked better for the exact message Arianna had planned). Sydney’s discover was a total surprise but they tried to work it into existing plans rather than postpone or leave her out of it. *shrugs* It was funnier that way.
After the big showdown she is not remembering the discussion at the gaming table and bringing it to Dabbler’s attention. She is remembering a moment where her transparent shield blocked laser/laser like beams in the big showdown and in her ADD way suddenly deciding she has to discuss the “science” of it with Dabbler immediately that night after the fight. Its the first time the thought has occurred to her. The “present” time scene, at the beginning of the comic, is where she is using what she learned in the flashback timeline to give her GM a good lawyering for SCIENCE!
No one has to assume anything about her training period. She was initially told to stay out of the big brawl by Maxima because Sydney had, at that time, no training and no super power combat experience.
If we are really, really, lucky we are about to see some choice moments from her power testing and training in the coming months of updates of the comic. Which is arguably my favorite part of such stories. My only regret is missing her first moments playing with them on her own etc… but clearly Dave loves flashbacks so I assume all will slowly be revealed for our delayed gratification! ^0^
So timeline is:
Gaming scene ->That’s right I’m a superheroine-> And then a flashback spanning only a day and a half so far of fairly consecutive time with no gaps longer than so many hours (not days, weeks or months) which we are still in (no trips to the “present” timeline with the gaming scene have occurred)
Hope that helps! ^_^
I like to think of the first few pages as a flash forward. :)
IF I give you that can I call the “Villains Page” a Flash Sideways? (Œ¦þ
Well, it’s your comic, so you’re the one with the remote control in hand…
;)
Wow, Ben Catz, Sylena Kyle and an adult(?) Steven Universe.
Heh, also a blonde girl wearing a Wondergirl shirt that Sydney wore the day before.
I think the jury is still out on whether or not that’s a girl, it could be a cosplayer quoting rule 63 “For every given male character, there is a female version of that character, and vice versa”
“The Might Halo”? Bit of a misspelling there, perhaps?
Whoops, fixed.
I’m guessing Harem can indeed teleport outside of the shield. Her teleportation involves unmaking body and making it somewhere else; it can work by sight or familiarity, but one of the exceptions to her range is that she can always teleport next to another of her bodies. Unless all 5 of her are in the shield, she can probably teleport out.
The her that is in the shield might be cut off from the ones that are outside of it though. We’ll have to wait and see – this is the first time that part of Harem has been inside of the bubble.
We can appreciate the further irony done to that sign via the fact that Halo took a bite out of it. Hopefully it doesn’t become a landmark: ‘First piece of the city destroyed by the flying swear factory’. (Or whatever moniker the media gives her)
Assuming that Sydney is found (or admits) to being the culprit, of course. There are probably a few other supers around who could have dunnit. Possibly a few NON-supers, if they had a ladder and the right tools.
i can neither confirm nor deny that a sorority might have recently borrowed a ladder from me.
I can neither confirm nor deny you had a ladder to borrow.
maybe she was drunk
I would post a pic, but all the drinking and flying pics all have a witch.
but i did find this
https://i.imgur.com/zcIaMjY.jpg
Now that I think of it, someone who has Sydney’s foul mouth is at a distinct advantage when behind a force field…
I’m going to guess that long face white eyes in the background in panel one is now Syd’s arch enemy and that her superfan who will be kidnapped is just in the front there in panel one… same shirt and everything…
Also, why has no one made a grab at the power balls yet? I am curious to see if they can be taken. As we know, their path can be redirected (Math kicked one into Syd’s shin) but Maxima couldn’t move the tube they were in — so what happens when someone tries to grab one and run. The mob circus their would have been a excellent place to try – one mob scene + ADHD owner = Snatch and run good times… Are the balls a set – do they stop working if one is removed or destroyed, could Syd let one of the members of the team use one in an emergency – could she strategically give one to the Teleportress and use it remotely… I’ll tell ya – I’m more interested in the properties of those fictional orbs than I am in most real life stuff… also, I want a set – even if they don’t work… https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/676
Actually Match kicked her shin into the path of an orb.
You are changing his name from Math?
No, just a typo. :P
As a Martial artist its not a horrible nick for him though.
In that case, “Match” would have to be sidekick to a hero named “Game.” After a super-brawl, they could say, “Well, that’s “Game & Match.”
;)
You forgot their jackal mascot ‘Set’.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/838
I didn’t get it the first time or second or third read through either, now I do… so, now, can the orb’s be redirected when they are flying about in a wild orbit around Syd? We do know they can be used for blocking, https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1286, and hitting, https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1290, and based on the blocking power, which I had forgotten about, redirection seems unlikely – but what if they are just hanging around being a halo in a non-combat situation – here’s hoping there is an extended Archon testing-the-orbs arc…
…You’re asking a TELEPORTER for directions, Sydney?
W-e-l-l, the teleporter has to know where the place IS, after all. ;)
Also, the teleporter knows how to set the pip boy.
Harem: “Well, I can’t see that far. You can’t get there from here.”
The street looks a little different but the surroundings are as open and green looking as I remember. Kind of a nice open part of the city really. Wonder if when she is done training with the PPO is she will lightly “burn” some directions onto the city she can see from up high but won’t be very obvious from below?
So did she simply abandon her arm device or is she charging it somehow (retractable charge cord?). Seems like something Max can dress her down about now that her being late gives her an opening to mess with the raw recruit a little.
According to the comments Dave has drawn other shows/comic’s characters lining up to bask in Sydney and Harem’s awesomeness. I don’t have TV anymore of any kind so am woefully behind on references. (probably would be anyway really) Is the blonde gal in the black hoodie, black jeans and goggles anybody? She looks like she is somebody?
Talking about references should I read the in permanent hiatus comic her store seems to be named after? Or is that just a random similarity in name?
A good team for Harem to be on with two people able to counter her movement a little. (not like anywhere close to well but its something)
When she got dressed we saw the arm device on her right arm under the sleeve. In later pages her right forearm is slightly thicker than her left arm if you look close. We never did see if she got it charged, or if she even found out how to plug it in yet.
What if Harem being in the shield cuts her off from her other bodies? And if so will it be permanent?
I don’t think it will. I think Dave would be showing a huger freak out or her fainting if that were the case.
The shield seems to allow some energies/materials of a non-hazardous level to cross back and forth. How it determines that would seem to require either an advanced A.I. or combining an in built A.I. with somehow using Sydney’s own mind to shore up the blanks of what should be allowed in. Like Sydney wants to use her Pip boy arm band device. It transmits and receives signals through the shield. The shield allows it cause it can tell that Sydney has designated the device as “friendly” AND the energy won’t obviously threaten Sydney. IF the device received signals in the form of giant fire ball based Morse code then the shield would have to draw the line! (which leaves Sydney open to attack by devices using low power transmissions with dangers she doesn’t know about. Like if someone rigged the arm device with explosives which could be signaled from outside. The signal itself isn’t dangerous so the shield lets it in…) So while Harem’s mental “entanglement” thingie might be low powered enough for the shield to allow a designated “friendly” to perform it the level of energy she causes when forming clones/teleporting is too much even for a friendly? (maybe a designated non-friendly could also attack Sydney with a low energy attack by piggybacking it at the same time a friendly person or device is sending the same type of energy through the shield? Cause blocking one of two very similar energies/signals while leaving the other alone would be hella versatile!)
But if so no it won’t be permanent cause it just doesn’t feel like the right time for that kind of upset.
If she is affected it will likely be Platinum Harem and the rest of the Harem network will be blind from each other until the shield is down and then they’ll sync back up and info dump each other
Maybe it would just dampen the link down to the point where all they can tell is that she’s not dead? But no info.
Would be interesting if a villain managed to separate one long enough if she would develop some individual personality because of having separate experiences (where as now they are just faking being different mostly).
We don’t know if the link represents an energy based “Overmind” that has its own thinking and memory abilities or if its the meat brains that do the memory and thinking and the link just lets them do it in tandem but so far I’ve only heard, in comic, about the meat brains doing the work and the energy link just providing intercommunication channels between the meat. If its the later then the main group and the separated Harem’s may not share memories until one with the memories actively recalls it for the other’s to record which may not make the same type of memory as the initial one made actively if remotely.
Can a meat mind even record multiple existences at once, it wasn’t evolved to do so. Maybe they trickle complete memories between each other during sleep cycles but otherwise just communicate needed/requested information as needed/requested?
Personally I want Harem to panic a bit & it would show a bit more of Sydney’s battle & it would be a better opportunity to find out if it did sever Harem’s mental link with herselves outside of battle than in the middle of a battle. And if it is permanent then we could learn if that single harem can grow other bodies like the original harem & could make multiple cells of Harems
IF it was permanent would probably mean it was total cut off. And if it was a total cut off I think it would be lethal. Not to mention since some sort of vital energy related to her super powers is shared between them this could cripple the remainder till they regenerated that part of their energy being. Remember that putting bodies into “storage” (basically destroying all but the “information” of them) gives energy back to the other Harems till their is only one really strong one.
This actually reinforces the idea that she has some sort of energy being/overmind/whatever separate from the physical and these bodies are just puppets for it to inhabit and use. Clearly the meat minds are performing the actual thinking/calculations so maybe Overwill is a better way to say it than Overmind?
At any rate severing a part of this from the whole wold be like lopping off an arm. If the arm can function on its own as an individual completely cut off from the whole (starfish) than cool but neither group would instantly regain the energy part of themselves necessary to make and inhabit more bodies. Only time would tell if the two, now separate, groups could regenerate that part of themselves. IF they can regenerate the energy being part of them it would probably take as long as it took Harem to develop the ability to make additional clones in the first place (she started off only being able to make one clone right?). If this is something Harem can regenerate it suggests she would have gained more clones as she aged ANYWAY. Since all parts would continue to age along the same lines as the original it really wouldn’t pay to do this as a form of reproduction. You would just end up with smaller splinter groups who took a part of the originals lifespan to regenerate the ability to make the same number of clones as the original with the sad fact that the different groups wouldn’t be able to communicate. I don’t see any benefit to anyone but a scientist looking to study how it all works. Certainly none to Harem!
Just look at the bodynapping as a new and novel experience, Harem. You will experience a new means of travel (which no one else in the world has experienced), you get a new perspective on the area (which could lead you to a new power application), you will learn if shielding affects your quantum entanglement (which if it does will be a new experience for you) plus you can show the new Grrl the ropes and satisfy Max that Sydney is on her way and on task.
eat her right….with fava beans and a nice chianti?
(do not do when on antipsycotics, you can’t eat liver)
Or beans or red wine. I just recently had that joke explained to me, it’s a reference to the fact that he’s off his meds.
Interesting, I had not appreciated that.
Not going to lie, the Hiro joke made me crack up.
Considering what Hiro is “singing” there in panel 4, I think I should point out that “sclick” is the female-gender equivalent to the male-gender “fap.” Of course, using “fap” is still common either way & it would allow DaveB to avoid rewriting the lyrics to keep the rhyme.
;)
I thought it was Shlick.
Also if Sydney has uterus, but will Fap… Oh i see Rule 34 already XD
“…they might as well be in another time space continuum…”
Same here. The results are also similar if I put something in a specific spot because I don’t want to forget it & then forget where I put it–It’s just as lost as any other item I can’t locate; that’s a habit I picked up from my mom.
Harem cannot teleport out of the shield, directly. However, she can put that body into storage, then pull it out of storage at some later time (a few seconds?) and effectively “teleport’.
Harem should still be in contact, 5-way, with her other selves. Quantum entanglement defines action/reaction bypassing intervening distance. The connection, therefore, does not pass “through” the shield.
The GPS works through the shield, because the shield only blocks AMPLITUDE, not EM signal altogether. Otherwise, Sydney could not see. If enough light gets through for her to navigate, there will be enough radio signal.
The shield works in both directions, currently. We have already established that fact with Vehemence’s aura not being able to pass through.
I didn’t think about that, but if she could unteleport it, it would make sense she could re-teleport it in another location, depending on how the shield works really. I’ll have to figure out how that works exactly.
not neciceraly perhaps she could unteleport but the energy that then goes back in to the other harems could be stuck inside the shield until Sydney lowers it.
Like trapping her soul in a bottle? (or in this case soul shard) Spooky for her.
Wonder if it would ebb away slowly at a lower amplitude? Allowing eventual freedom of enough energy to reclone/teleport that body. So all Sydney could do was slow her down by so many minutes/hours/whatever helps Dave. ;)
it could end up being a stress factor that boosts harems power
I wouldn’t think the Harem’s quantum-entangled mind would suffer anything more than “uncomfortable silence” from the body inside Sydney’s shield. It does, after all, have its own fully functional brain & personality embedded in the gray matter. There just wouldn’t be any “shared awareness” transmitted to/from that brain.
In this thread we are talking about the body inside the shield itself and the energy that possibly is invested in it by the collective. She gets stronger as she unteleports bodies suggesting energy is invested in them until they are unteleported.
In that case, I’d conjecture that the Harem inside the shield would be the (physically) weakest of them right now…No support energy for her relative strength level, then she would physically be at her weakest. From the Word of Dave, when all 5 bodies are manifested, she’s the same as a fit 19 year old female.
From the perspective of her 4 bodies outside the shield, if she recombines them into a single body, she’d be missing the energy support from the body inside the shield…She could not get to her full “combined” strength level.
Just as the perceptions & point-of-view of the trapped Harem would be cut off from the others, so would the physical benefits be deprecated by the loss of the 5th body.
Actually I had been all this time seeing the “teleport” as uncreate-create without pause.
Ie, un-create (store) from anywhere and create (un-store) at anywhere, any of her bodies is her only power, doing it instantly (with virtual no “storing” time) implements the “teleporting”.
Since she was unable to “teleport” into the shield it must put the inside space out of her “reach”. But if the body inside the shield is still “in contact” she likely would be able to un-create it, and so “teleporting” outside.
I gave this some thought in the comments of last comic (or the one before) but I hypothesized that an “unteleported” harem is stored in a pocket dimension (where time does not pass appreciably compared to our dimension.) While all harems have access to the pocket dimension, and therefore can pull another Harem from storage, the shield could still block unteleporting by preventing dimensional travel.
Harem would not even be aware of the existence of the pocket dimension, since her time visiting there could be best measured in units of Planck time.
I have speculated on many versions of Harem’s power. The one I am most comfortable with though is when I think of her like a Star Trek transporter. In that setting the person being teleported can have their pattern stored in a ‘pattern-buffer’. Which is a physical machine, that can store the pattern within it.
So, in my way of thinking, Harem’s body acts like the pattern buffer. Aesthetically this is like when she originally created the body, from her own. I particularly like this approach as it uses concepts that readers will be familiar from a widely known source.
So it makes it much more intuitive for folks in our world-wide culture to figure out the details.
The result being, for this situation, that the Harem body above could not be stored. The only means of getting that body to another one, in order for it to be stored, is to pass through the force field. Which, exactly as per Star Trek, is impenetrable to teleport.
Whereas any of the external bodies can still store any of the others. For most intents and purposes it does not matter which one has done that. Given that when Harem brings them out of storage, she does so by teleporting them to wherever needed. However it can make a difference in some situations, such as the above.
Or, potentially, if a body is totally disintegrated. But anything short of that should not pose a problem, as one of the external Harem’s could always extract the pattern from the pattern buffer, in a dead or dying body, if they act quickly enough to prevent any deterioration. Shock from injury or death could cause problems. But none that cannot be overcome for script writing purposes.