Grrl Power #315 – The eyes have it
I guess Maxima made her save, which means she’s only 50% affected. It was the double whammy of the puppy dog eyes combined with Sydney asking if she got Max in trouble instead of being defensive or even contrite. Sydney will eventually bring the comic book day issue up again, but right now she’s got that feeling like just scrambled on to the boat after a shark she didn’t know was there brushed against her leg.
The answer to the question I posed under the previous page as to whether you’re a private on the first day of boot camp or the last was a resounding “it depends on what branch you’re in” So I think for Archon, Sydney will remain a recruit until she’s finished basic. Seeing characters advance is always fun.
If you missed it, Maxima makes a cameo in Superbitch. I guess in case the whole Archon thing doesn’t work out.
I am working on a new vote incentive, I know the current one is a bit stale.
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.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Curiosity question:
A few months ago I had a friend go through basic in a branch of the service. One of the stories he tells is that a Sgt walked through the room and say “Do pushups.” and walked by every few minutes to ensure he was keeping it up.
At what point do orders with the implied [until I say otherwise] become… not orders? Not sure how to phrase that.
Until doomsday?
Until lights out?
Until time for mess?
Until assembly is called?
Something else?
-Sgt walked through the room and said “Do pushups.”-
Oh, edit feature, how I miss thee.
That can be a little tricky, especially in boot. If he just said “I can go on” he Mostar likely would have move on to another form of physical exertion. Moore orders come with the unspoken
And. Now I want the edit feature.
Unspoken cause of within reason or do the best you can bacuse or in the event of failure or if you meet a dead end, come back for further instructions.
Also remove that last because, and I meant “can’t go on”
That means “Do them till I tell you to stop, which will be after you collapse exhausted and I mock you for being a weak little girly soldier wannabe.” Seriously, thats exactly what that order means. The sergeant didnt want to give a specific number in case your friend could handle that many, so its easier to just say do pushups and leave it at that.
Even worse is when the DI tells you to do 50 pushups, then after you’ve done about 30 of them, interrupts you to ask a question like “How old were you on your first birthday?”
“One, sir.”
“Very good. Continue.”
Reminder to self. Never enter the military. I will not survive basic training.
I had a friend whose army company was under this Major who was friends with a Major in charge of a ranger company. The army Major made a bet with the ranger Major that his company could do anything the other one could so they had to train for over 6 months after basic learning the ranger handbook, special forces maneuvers and all sorts of things. They weren’t being given any meat at meals and after a while he got so hungry for it that he went out, set a snare, and caught a rabbit. His sergeant smelled him cooking it behind the bunkhouse, told him not to do it again, and then split the rabbit with him because the sergeants were eating the same as the men.
They gave the troops dull bayonets so he spent hours sharpening it against the concrete floor until he could shave with it. The lieutenant found out he had a sharp one and asked where he got it. He said he was given an unusable tool so he fixed it. The lieutenant took it away (kept it for himself) and gave him another so he just started sharpening again.
The best one though is when they put them through interrogation resistance training, effectivly treating them like POW’s for a week. The colonel above the majors had heard about what was going on and decided to come see just how well trained they were. When he got back in his car to leave my friend (having escaped his bunkhouse and obtained a knife) popped up from his back seat and put the blade against his throat telling him he wanted to go get some real food. The colonel took him home, had his wife feed the man and took him back the next day.
Im not sure whether to compliment your friend on being the ballsyiest man i have ever heard of, or that you should keep an eye on him because he may be insane
I just remember a friend of mine who was in the Marines (I think it was the Marines at least) that during basic training, they’d go into this sealed building, they’d fill it with tear case and they’d stand there without gas masks on, while the drill instructor would bark questions at them and expect answers without them blinking or holding their breath so they’d get used to being able to operate during a gas attack.
I can’t even use eyedrops because I tear up when trying…
tear GAS, not tear case. Wtf autocorrect!?
I’m fond of the idea of calling them “autocowrecks“…
autoclobber
It’s done in all branches.
We soldiers did exactly the same thing, Pander.
I’m pretty sure that even the Air Force does it nowadays. I know for sure that Navy does (my pops is retired Navy, as is his father), so we can safely say that all branches (even the Coasties) gets gassed in Basic.
It’s a good thing, too, as the Iraqi insurgents were using some of their chemical warheads on our troops after the war.
I can’t even keep my eyes open for a picture for too long without getting all blinky and teary (I’m always yelling ‘take the picture quick’), and you guys are getting tear gassed casually.
If I got drafted I would definitely be thrown in the brig by day 3. I just would not be able to deal with stuff like that. I have an issue with authority figures in the first place and being told to do dumb shit or given bad tools would endear me to the process. Actually it would probably be day 2 cause I’m pretty sure I’d assault anyone trying to get me out of bed at 5 am.
There is a lot implied by tone and body language of the NCO giving the order. Additionally usually the soldiers know what they did and understand why and what they are being punished for… by your story it sounds like the whole plt or company was being punished.
“and walked by every few minutes to ensure he was keeping it up”
‘He just walked in and said: ‘Do pushups'” was how my friend told the story… but this is from the same guy who said he was mouthy (not insubordinate, BIG difference there), but his direct superiors didn’t mind so long as he took whatever punishment they set without complaining.
So it is likely he was being made to sweat on general principle instead of for a specific incident.
Actually the biggest part of basic training (even more than teaching fighting skills though that is important) is breaking down the person’s sense of self so that it can be rebuilt in the way the military wants it rebuilt. Some branches give very little or no meat in meals during basic because the lack of protein actually speeds up this process.
The default is until they say stop but they actually have to give a number something they know you can actually do. If we were in trouble and they said until the earth moves which they did a couple of times it was normally a slow pace at which they had us do the push ups to build body strength. Once you are out of basic though it is twenty not one more not one less states so in the regs or at least the army regs.
which reg. para. and number? just curious? have had to do hours of dying cockroaches before, and hours of front leaning rest. I have never seen or heard of this 20 and done reg?
It’s not in any regulation, it’s just a “default” number, when a superior looks at you and says “drop.” Most people have heard the phrase “drop and give me 20,” but the number is strictly up to the superior.
May have been a brigade thing if someone said drop and give me it was 20 unless they noted otherwise. In basic it was until they got tired. Dying cockroach that brings back memories my shoulders and hips get sore just thinking about it. Learned to zone out while doing it made the muscle fatigue a bit easier to deal with. Paid just enough attention to react if the Drill grave an order.
Dying cockroach is you on your back with your arms and legs up in the air it is total isometrics for those that don’t understand what we are talking about the person on the ground looks like and in time sounds like a dying cockroach if it sounded like a person on their back in pain. Really does hurt after awhile since you have to hold you weight up for longer and longer times. You walk funny afterwards as well Mule kicks were my bane that and mountain climbers messes up back when i do them.
Was wondering what a ‘Dying cockroach’ was, we called that ‘dead ant’ :D
I think it’s “…until you receive your next order or passout.”
The inferred time to quit doing the push-ups, is “when I get tired.”, with the “I” referring to the drill sergeant, which further infers “until I get tired of monitoring you or I have better things to do with your time”, as recruits doing endless push-ups positively invigorates DI’s, cleans and presses their uniforms, and extends their life, or so the contract that all DI’s sign, with Satan, strictly stipulates.
So, your friend could possibly still be doing push-ups as we speak…
Did they switch back to push-ups? I thought the military had changed to having recruits perform 8-count body builders.
Back in my day, when my troops managed to “P” me off enough to make them do push ups my response when asked how long was “UNTIL I GET TIRED!”
I used that in 2013, i also bust a E-5 SGT to SPC as well… one of the other NCOs used a thing he called the 1-min pushup, they had to have 30sec desent and a 30 sec rise. he would tell them to do 10 and recover. most I ever saw someone complete was 5 reps.
In boot they have a specific limit of how many reps of a workout they can do during a specific portion of the training. Although there are ways around such as having them do max for push ups then max for sit ups then back to pushups. Also by ordering them back and forth between front lean and rest, and attention. After boot i’m not to sure since I stayed out of trouble (not as good an idea as it might sound) but a couple of specialists I knew once had to do monkey fuckers till they fell down
Whoa! Max looks fine in dress blues. Those appear to be like Marine dress blues too. She’d make an excellent Marine too. A one person platoon if you will. Does Archon-SWAT have it’s own style of uniforms? Are they independent of the other services in the Chain of Command?
It would make sense for them to have become designated a separate branch of the military, given they deal with situations not suited to the other existing branches.
No, that is Airforce dress uniform. Marines have that nearly black coat with the red piping.
It’s an ARC-specific uniform. The purple coat, gold buttons, white shirt, and black tie combo is unique.
Actually looks like Dave just got a couple details on the Air Force Dress Blues wrong, such as the trim (buttons & name tags are silver in the Air Force) and the shirt (it’s supposed to be light blue).
I see yeah he has her in Army Dress Blues. I am far more used to Army Dress Greens from my Color Guard competition days
It’s mostly a modified Air Force dress, with “decades of service rounded down” stripe on the cuff from the Navy cause I thought that was cool. Obviously it’s also dark purple and gold instead of blue and silver.
Considering that both General Faulk and Maxima are Air Force officers, it makes sense they would pick the same basic style at least for dress uniforms. The everyday uniforms seem a lot more comfortable and stylish than the old 1505s (khakis) I wore or even the blue uniforms I’ve seen.
At least it’s not as ridiculous as the Navy’s Camouflage work uniform. Since when do you need camouflage onboard ship?
more importantly, the only place the navy camos would actually provide camouflage is the one place you would absolutely NEED to be seen…
Mmm, in a survival situation yes. But I can see the logic in a wartime survival situation. The former you can get a fire going, flash something metallic in the sunlight or otherwise attract attention. However if you are sunk by the enemy, and make it to shore, you should be attempting to evade capture, circumstances permitting.
Presumably, if they sunk you, then they have the upper hand. Either being able to directly search for you, or call in other forces to do that. And you will not have the resources at your disposal to counter that. So the camouflage uniform would be one edge to keep you from becoming a POW.
Problem is the Navy camouflage is Blue and Grey. It blends in best with open ocean water. So now if you go overboard it is now harder to see you to find you before you drown.
In addition to being 3 blues and a grey, (in Digital patern) the under shirt is a dark blue so you would have to strip to bare chest if you want to seriously improve your ability to be seen.
also, your chances of making it to shore after a sinking are slim to none. outside of being on a small boat that was operating near the coast anyway. except when making a port call or strait transit, ships try to stay at least 15 miles from shore (which is the closest an open ocean vessel can be and still dump raw sewage. any closer and you have to store it onboard until you either get into port/anchorage or get back far enough.) Once your sunk, your only real option is to pray the rescue vessel is flying your nations flag.
Never got to wear any of my AF blue uniforms all that often. In my career field we usually wore either jungle fatigues or the various styles of camouflage uniforms authorized for our area of operation.
Aha Maxima, now see if you can resist mine!
*activates puppy dog eyes*
*cuteness +12*
Bear in mind, Sydney probably had a bonus for surprise.
Damned racial bonuses…
Activates Animal control officer mode.
+30 to resist puppy dog eyes.
The rank you wear in boot camp also depends on the job you will perform. When I joined the navy for the nuclear program I wore fireman (vice fireman recruit or fireman apprentice). I realize Archon is a newer branch but their job is complicated. People who will be filling very specific roles with high training requirements are likely to start at a higher rank. Just keep in mind they normally do not get authority or extra responsibility until after training even though they are being paid more.
—-
Look at that I managed not to double post!
Ya’ know, I’m thinking that Sydney might end up as a Warrant Officer. That’s the rank you give somebody who is in it more for their special skills and not a more general leader. They are frequently promoted from from NCOs, but sometimes directly recruited. For instance a lot of helicopter pilots in the Army are Flight Warrant Officers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrant_officer
Sydney isn’t that special in Archon.
I still think Achilles should be a warrant officer, especially if he’s as old as they think he is in his bio. Just recently a draftee from Vietnam retired after 40+ years of service as a Chief Warrant Officer grade 5. You can’t even qualify for THAT rank unless you’ve been in 26 years to start.
All the super powered personnel in Archon would end up a warrant officers because of their specialities. Too many cooks problem results. So Max (I strongly suspect) flattened the bulge at the top. They are still a little heavy on brass among the oowered folks but they may need the rank to deal with stubborn individuals during operations. Which would also help explain why no warrants, only commissions.
There are all sorts of exceptions. “The President’s Own”, for example: “Unlike other Marine
Corps musical units, “The President’s Own” has no secondary combat role, and its members are exempt from all such training. “The President’s Own” musicians report to Washington fully trained to perform their primary duties in the accomplishment of the band’s unique musical mission.
Therefore, there is no requirement for “The President’s Own” musicians to undergo recruit training.
New members are instructed by the Assistant Drum Major in appropriate military and band-related subjects. ” They start out as Staff Sergeants. Medical doctors in the U.S. military are about the same: they become officers, with rank at least lieutenant. That’s why in MASH there are all sorts of military nincompoops ranked as lieutentants, captains and majors.
Well, the real reason is like Sydney, I don’t know how to military, and when you look at a chart like this: https://www.uscglightshipsailors.org/rank/Enlisted_Ranks_1.jpg Warrant Officer doesn’t appear on it.
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/images/rank_warrant.gif
There you go. All the rank insignia for Warrant Officers in the Army, Navy, and Marines.
See, that doesn’t help really, cause it doesn’t tell me where they fall within the overall rank structure. Does a Chief Warrant Officer outrank a Lieutenant or a Sergeant? Like does a W-anything outrank all E? Or do the W’s fit in somewhere between E-6 and E-7?
The more I learn about military ranks the more I feel like it’s just a big mess that was mostly inherited from centuries of prior military baggage, and no one can ever fix it because there are too many people who have invested their lives in the system.
Also the more I think about it, the more it seems that Arc-SWAT is such a peculiar branch with so many specialists in it that typical military ranks might not make the most sense. After all, most of the rank structure is for organizing divisions of like 20,000 people and Arc-SWAT will probably never have more than a few hundred in it. Right now there’s under 100 fieldables.
I’ll have to feel it out, and it’s obviously too late to change some things, but maybe I need to come up with my own rank progression for the team that makes sense for smaller units.
The Smallest Warrant officer outranks any E rank, any O outranks any E. W vs O ranks depends on where they land in Chain of Command. However position matters as well, you can be put in charge. Colin Powell once said act like you have the authority until someone tells you you don’t.
Small units and a law enforcement mandate might well make one look at the one service today that has that, …the Coast Guard. If that would offend too many AF sympathies, then, at the risk of imperial example, one might look ate the Excubitors :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excubitors
” excubiti, literally “those out of bed”, i.e. “sentinels””
“The Excubitors were founded by Emperor Leo I (reigned 457–474) circa 460 and numbered 300 men, …”
“Their high status is further illustrated by the fact that both officers and ordinary Excubitors were often sent for special missions by the emperors, including diplomatic assignments.”
I suggest the XCOM ranking system. You think I jest.
They have a max of 70 field units. The soldiers eventually get super powers.
Whatever rank you had outside of the branch means nothing.
You rank is equivalent to the training you have completed.
I would also find it funny so yes I jest.
It’s pretty straightforward, actually.
Any enlisted personnel (E1 thru E10) must take orders from any warrant officer (WO1 thru WO5).
Any enlisted personnel and any warrant officer must take orders from commissioned officers (O1 thru O10)… with one exception. A warrant officer can give orders to a commissioned officer if it has to do with the warrant officer’s field of specialty.
A good example is an Air Traffic Controller at an Air Force base. The traffic controller is a warrant officer (usually WO3). All Air Force pilots are O2 thru O6. Now, it’s a pretty bad idea to ignore the air traffic controller in the first place… but in this case, even if it wasn’t totally stupid not to follow his orders, the pilots have to take the Warrant Officer’s orders because it is within his specialty.
Here’s a list of Warrant Officer Specialties (WOMOS) for the Army:
https://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/warrant/WOgeninfo_mos.shtml
And here’s another list that includes Warrant Officers for the Marines:
https://www.usmchangout.com/military/branches/usmc/facts/mos/officer/#.VUtSw5NhOpg
I haven’t found one for the Navy yet, though I know there’s 30 WO specialties in the Navy, including boatswain, master mate, surgeon, chaplain, and carpenter;
P.S., in case you’re wondering why none of the Air Force pilots are O7 thru O10, it’s because once you reach O7, you’re too important to risk in combat.
Whoops. I said “Air Force base” and “Air Force pilots”… but I’ve already said that the Air Force doesn’t *have* Warrant Officers.
Just substitute “Marine base” and “Marine aviators”, and it’ll be fine. (Though the explanation about why there are no O7+ Air Force pilots is still correct.)
Obviously Master Chief from Halo (the video game, not Grrlpower) is either in the Navy or Coast Guard.
Actually, the Master Chief (whose full rank is Master Chief Petty Officer) is *definitely* in the Navy. It’s All There In The Manual… he’s a commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command.
I learned something new! Thanks!
Although…. it would be so epic if Master Chief was in the Coast Guard instead.
Almost forgot to mention. The Air Force no longer uses the warrant officer grade. That’s why it doesn’t appear on that chart that I linked to.
The USAF inherited warrant officer ranks from the Army in 1947, but their place in the Air Force structure was never made clear. When Congress authorized the creation of two new senior enlisted ranks in 1958, the Air Force concluded that the new ranks of Senior Master Sergeant (E-8) and Chief Master Sergeant (E-9) could fill all needs previously performed at the warrant officer level.
So, they stopped commissioning new warrant officers in 1959, and most (but not all) of the existing Air Force warrant officers were promoted to the commissioned officer ranks, or to Senior Master Sergeant (E-9). The last active-duty Air Force warrant officer retired in 1980, and the last Air Force Reserve warrant officer retired in 1992.
(When they *did* have warrant officers, their rank insignia looked pretty much like the Navy’s, but with a paler shade of blue.)
Well, that’s because Warrant Officers aren’t enlisted ranks. Lieutenants and Colonels don’t appear on the enlisted ranks chart either.
Lieutenants on upward are Commissioned ranks, signed in by specific contract of employment. One of the minimum requirements is to hold a certified education degree at leas Bachelor’s or better (even if it’s in Basketweaving).
Enlisted ranks is where the Chief Petty Officers fit, under a general contract of employment & they had to work their way up the chain of command to get it. Frequently referred to as “NonCom ranks,” it’s simply a short way of saying “Non-Commisioned.”
The Warrant Officers ranks are the next step above CPO ranks, are still NonCom, but have authority to give Lawful Orders to even Commissioned Officers, as long as those Orders are within the boundaries of their Specialization.
I met a Major with an animal husbandry degree, I asked him if he ever planned to use that degree in the civilian world and he said no. It was the easiest degree he could get, and get commissioned. SMH
As one cursed with corrective lenses, I must say that I LOVE the askance glasses continuity between panels in this update. You can tell the right side fell off of Sydney’s ear in panel 3, and remains that way from that point onwards. It’s a subtle detail, something that many people wouldn’t think of or bother to include even if they had, so I thought it was worth a shout out.
Thanks. :) I just drew them that way cause I figured that’d happen if she smushed her face into the wall.
Panel 8 is making me laugh for all the wrong and naughty reasons…
That chair in the background almost looks like a big brown strap-on…
And Sidney is kneeling before Max…
And I am in the USAR, too…
BWAH-HAHAHAHAHA-HAW!!
It is wrong that I see that and it makes me laugh so…
bahahaha so I wasn’t the only one to notice that. Took me a bit to figure out it was a chair too.
…
Now I can’t un-see it.
Thanks for that :p
I noticed that too right away and had to do a double take. Glad I’m not the only one to think that.
You do realize that this is the internet?
Wait… we’re on the internet? I’ve been trying to get into the cyberweb for years and I’ve been on it the whole time! Hook me up with netmail and e-scape!
I have some old AOL sign up CDs I could mail to you. If you really want old school, I think I still have a floppy or two from Compuserve.
FYI, my historical artifact collection has a copy of MS DOS 1.0 on 5 1/4 inch floppy. 360K Single sided.
I have an XT – with a hard drive. 5 whole megabytes. It doesnt have anything as high tech as your ‘MS-DOS 1.0 though. It uses 86-DOS, for the 8086 processor on the XT.
I think it actually still runs.
But I don’t think I want to pay for this ‘internet’ thing – can you give me a Netzero disk instead?
Rule 34, man…Rule 34…
:/
Hmmm I don’t know, did the save work, I think only partially worked or failed.
Shoulda been: ‘Did i get you in twouble with the pwesident’ then Max wouldn’t have been able make that save roll
Nope. Then it is obvious that Sydney’s attempting to manipulate Max. I am willing to accept that Sydney has a significant amount of innocence left, especially for an adult, including being a virgin, and is actually miserable that she may have gotten Max in trouble. I think Max believes this as well, otherwise she wouldn’t even need to make a Save vs. Mental.
Recent pages have me believing he has turned in her V card…
I thought the page she was talking to Dabbler about succubi diets made Sydney’s V-Stats clear but I see it could probably be read both ways.
Yes. I could be read either way. I chose to read it as Sydney has not taken that final step yet, having way too many other fun distractions, and just wanting to wait until the right X-Man comes along.
I would have made her do push-ups just to help get her in better shape anyway.
Well, Max did say that training will take care of that…
I just.. can’t help myself…. Sydneys posterior looks mighty fine in panel 3 >.<
That’s not the face I would want to see attached to such a statement if it were about me. eeesh…
same to you, faceless creepy observer.
You know, what I thought? In a few years and with proper haircut, Sydney will be a cute girl.
Sydney is already a cute woman. She’s just petite, not a young girl who needs to grow up.
What the Frank Sinatra is wrong with her haircut? o_O
Specifics or never mention it again!
You drew Sydney with a nice butt in the 3rd frame. I like nice butts.
And you do not lie.
I can’t deny it
You other brothers can’t deny either.
When a girl walks in with an itty-bitty waist and a round thing in your face you get sprung.
I think I’m going to kill this ongoing joke at this point. :)
Actually, if someone outranks you, they *can* order you to do similar…and just will have to explain that order if questioned. I saw a nice, fresh LT order the Command Chief Master Sergeant to grab the trash from the aircraft…The Chief did it, then pulled out his cell, called *his* boss (Base commander), and handed the phone to the LT after a brief explanation…First time I’ve seen an officer snap to attention on a cell phone ;)
The old man was part of the good fairy brigade when he severed. The good fairy brigade is the group that runs systems and writes your order to either go in country or home. In country they are the bad fairy brigade home they are the good fairy. They also handled all the daily reports for the area.
They got a new captain that had been in country and thought they were just a bit to slack in the office. He lasted about two months before the colonel dropped the hammer on him because the good fairies stopped working as fast as they used to. To make matters worse they processed him right back in country cut his pay and did some other nasty things to him which they had to undo some of but not all of them.You don’t screw with the nerds running the system.
Right. That’s one of the two categories of people you don’t screw with in the military. The other, of course, being the supply clerks. You don’t mess with them, regardless of differences in rank, if you enjoy little perks like double-ply toilet paper.
Speaking of which, humorous story from my years in the Air Force… I was talking to the supply clerk when two huge wooden crates were delivered to the commissary. One of them said “Officers Use Only”. He looked at me and said, “Are you as curious as I am?” Of course I was, so I helped him open the first crate… toilet paper, single ply. Then we went to the crate that said Officers Only, and opened it up… toilet paper, TRIPLE-ply.
At this point he just looked at me with a bemused expression on his face and quipped, “So it is true! You officers do all your paperwork in triplicate!”
…No job is finished until the paperwork is complete, after all…
I figured it was just Max slumming on a night off…
In D&D 3.5 (I wasn’t impressed with 4 and haven’t seen 5, so maybe things have changed), wouldn’t Maxima’s save vs. puppy dog eyes be a Will save? Those are almost always “Will negates”—half damage effects are usually Reflex saves and the occasional Fortitude save…
Of course, it might not be a D20 system game one is working from, but the D20 roll bouncing off Maxima’s head tends to imply it…
Having displayed my geek freak, I shall now, to everyone’s heartfelt thanks, retire to obscurity.
It’s probably a psychic power rather than a spell, so it’s Will Save (partial).
I never used the psionic power rules in any of the editions I played since psionics was originally added to D&D.
You didn’t miss much.
D&D4’s great virtue is consistency. Unfortunately, in a few specific points it is consistently bad, and saving throws is one of them. Earlier editions at least got saving throws right *sometimes*. And later in the life of the edition they decided to throw out big chunks of consistency, but only where it had been consistently good. (Still, it’s my favorite edition to date.)
What I saw of D&D5 before I completely gave up any hope for it was a consistent pattern of picking the worst of any prior edition with the exception of D&D4, which they were systematically avoiding similarity to, and then seeing if they could find some tweaks to make it more inconsistent. I dunno, it’s possible that they reversed course later…
D&D5 basically plays like 3rd Edition, but with much greater limitations on power. Overall, it reminds me of a D20 version of 2nd Edition that lacks the 8 million types of saving throws.
How the orbs chose Sydney. She made an amplified version of this face through her googles and they went ‘THIS ONE! MINE!’
Sidney actually looks to be in pretty good shape. Her endurance is probably ALREADY maxed out and she could move an over-sized Bomb suit even without the flight orb. And working in a comic book store means she is probably lifting heavy boxes regularly. (Paper is quite heavy)
Lack of pushups may be because she is doing them wrong. Wrong posture = pushups impossible.
In regards to Halo’s military uniform/super hero costume, I would keep it as close to the standard military garb as possible, simply to act as a constant reminder, to Sydney, that she is in the military, and should maintain military bearing while in the uniform. It is one of the reasons that they put recruits’ civilian clothing in storage until much later in the training cycle, when they have earned a weekend pass. All part of the mental indoctrination.
It feels so weird to me that phrases like “mental indoctrination” get thrown around like a good thing in a military context. Same with “breaking people down” or “reforming identities”. The psychology behind military training just really freaks me out in a lot of ways, it wouldn’t be acceptable anywhere else, and I question it’s appropriateness in a modern world where rank-and-file style tactics and operations are becoming increasingly rarer. It’s all urban warfare and counterterrorism now. I think that’s especially true in the context of superheroes, the whole point is that they have powerful individual abilities and applications, and people who can function independently, and adapt easily to changing situations.
There are books out there that can explain it better to you, but the need for military discipline around such weapons and skills as our military possesses is of huge importance. Most people can not understand it, unless they actually go through it. The military mindset is quite alien to the average American, which is a good thing. It means that we are doing our job. Mental indoctrination is not a good thing, or a bad thing, it is just another tool, and is used daily by parents, educators, religious leaders, mass media, etc… I think that the American military’s mental indoctrination methods work quite well, and the proof being that we are not living in a military-run country. As a matter of fact, most U.S. military would find such a reality damned insulting and shameful, as it would mean that somehow we failed to protect American freedom.
“Indoctrination” in this case is not about creating mindless zombies. It’s about producing a form of altruistic communal integration that creates a sense of solidarity and significance amongst its members.
I’m trying to not turn this into a wall of text, so I’ll summarize it like this: Service before self. Soldiers must be ready to accept potentially giving up their lives in the line of duty to complete the mission and protect one’s fellow service members. If you watch old World War II footage, all you see are faceless soldiers in black and white; but what you’ve got to remember is that these guys are friends, these guys know every detail about each other’s lives… what keeps you going is that you’re there to look after each other. And *that* is what the “indoctrination” is all about.
The other part of the “indoctrination” involves practicing with the weapons you’ll be using until proper weapon safety is an instinct, to the point that you don’t have to remember to do things like “Keep your finger off the trigger and outside the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot”… you’ll just do it, because it’s been drilled into you until it’s second nature. As the saying goes, “Friendly fire… isn’t friendly.”
Sydney can do one handed push ups forever!
. . . provided she’s got her other hand on the fly ball.
You mention Gynostar on the Superbitch site. Gynostar must be kaput. Hardly any updates and almost a month since the last one.
It isn’t necessarily kaput, Ray, just because the last update was a little less than three weeks ago.
If you read the comments, you’d find out that Rebecca’s LCD on her laptop is broken. So the most likely explanation is that her computer is in the shop being worked on, and she doesn’t have a backup she can use.
What no backup???? Irresponsible!
I know, right? I have a second computer (a 15-year-old Gateway that somebody gave me) that I keep just in case something happens to my main computer. It’s slow, but it can connect to the Internet so I can print out my work orders for the day, and that’s the most important thing.
There is a web serial I read that recently had an update (as in in the last few days) it’s previous update was well over a year ago the update schedule for web content is whatever the author decides, which is exactly as it should be (though I do have to admit over a year is a lil bit of a stretch lol)
What is it? I have over a dozen that I check every few months to see if they’ve reawakened.
Summer Camp, Nick Scipio
Warning NSFW writing, however the writing is definitely good enough that I have on many occasions skipped the sex scenes to read the story…..
D’awww! Maxima has a weakness – the Sydney puppy dog eyes!
It bypasses her armor!
Sydney is about to learn a very important lesson for any recruit. Never volunteer your weaknesses to someone who’s going to be dishing out punishments.
Lesson number two (which is usually lesson number one for most people) never volunteer.
As Archon is a new branch, you are probably better off creating your own “service” rules for the wearing of “awards”. By allowing members of Archon flexibility in what decorations they wear, you can easily “wave away” any discrepancies from one day to another. However, there are several different types of “awards”, and the rules vary by service and type as well as the type of uniform (there are usually several levels of “uniform”, from “field” to “formal dress”).
Types include “individual decorations”, “unit awards”, “campaign and service medals”, “skill badges”, and appurtenances such as “foreign awards”, braids, and brassards. Depending upon the service, some are worn on the right side of the wearer, while most are worn on the left.
For instance, according to the : “Ribbons are mandatory. All ribbons and devices must be worn.” All ribbons are placed on the left side of the wearer centered “resting on (but not over) edge of welt pocket between the left and right edges”. Some occupation badges are worn on the right.
The Army (my service) wears unit awards on the right and individual award ribbons and badges on the left. But most are worn above the pocket. There are upper practical limits to the number that can be displayed. From what I can tell, most of the other services wear all ribbons on the left, which is why they are worn “down”.
As for whether they would get “ribbons” for TBotPL: It’s not the duration of the fight that matters. It’s the nature of the event. A campaign ribbon is for the entirety of a particular conflict. Vietnam had 30 DoD officially designated campaigns, but only one “Vietnam Service Medal” AKA “campaign” ribbon. You received a “campaign star” to go on the ribbon for each designated campaign you participated in. (In 2010 the list of campaigns for all services was consolidated down into 18. So they are subject to review and consolidation after the fact.)
So Archon could have an “Atypical Conflict” ribbon and award campaign stars for subsequent awards for noteworthy battles.
Archon is going to have to come up with their own method of determining what is worthy of recognition. This is important from both a morale and a public relations standpoint (i.e. “victories” for the press and public to justify Archon’s existence). Is a “battle royale” such as “The Battle of the Parking Lot” (TBotPL) going to be the norm or the exception? Is a “campaign” going to be however long it takes from determination of an “atypical crime” requiring an Archon response and resolution of the incident, or capture of all associated villains, or some other criteria (bearing in mind that not all “resolutions” necessarily entail the capture or incarceration of someone)? What if an alien claims “diplomatic immunity”? Consider “TBotPL”: not everyone was apprehended. That alone provides a reasonable basis for a “campaign” to bring the escaped fugitives to justice. OTOH, after determining to lay the entire blame upon Vehemence, the incident might be considered “resolved” with his capture.
Different emergency relief missions would typically be awarded a single “Humanitarian Relief” medal, with clusters for subsequent awards.
Regardless of whether a ribbon is awarded for “TBotPL”, Sidney should get an award for valor. Moving from the safety of her Force Field to enclosing Vehemence inside it to cut him off from his aura of power spell, and thus placing her “all too vulnerable non-super self” in imminent peril, was noteworthy. It goes beyond what is normally expected in the performance of one’s duties. It could be coupled with a promotion from “recruit” to “private” for “initiative”, followed immediately by a demotion for disobeying a direct order of a superior officer. Both recognition and discipline.
I love the picture in that link. That guy looks like the biggest academy plebe that could be designed by Air Force scientists.
Is it bad that I’m already trying to think of a callsign for that guy?
I normally have an excellent memory, but I’m very bad at remembering names unless I interact with that person on a regular basis. So I fall back on the old Air Force practice where everybody gets a callsign. In this case, I always invent a callsign based on the person’s real name (either first or last name), like “Spider” Webb or “Micro” Chip.
Though in the Air Force, our callsigns were a little more creative, and not always based on the person’s real name. They fall into four categories:
(1) Based on your name (like Lt. “Kanga” Rew),
(2) based on a physical trait or the lack thereof; one of our female pilots was given the callsign “Mounds” (because as the commercial says, “real Almond Joy’s got nuts, Mounds don’t”),
(3) based on a personality trait, like SLAW, which is an acronym for Shops Like A Woman,
(4) or based on something you did, like ROTOR (Ran Off The Only Runway)
Oh, and *never* ask for a specific callsign. You won’t get it. One pilot, after watching Top Gun, practically begged to be called Iceman. We decided he wasn’t cool enough to be Ice. Welcome to the squadron, Snowcone.
Isnt Iceman the one who dies?
No, you’re thinking of Goose (Maverick’s RIO), who hits the cockpit and breaks his neck when he and Maverick have to eject. I think. Either that, or the impact with the cockpit knocked him unconscious (concussions suck) and he drowned in the water.
Coincidentally, his death was based on something that happened in real life; it is something that could only have happened in a flat spin. Normally the canopy would have been jettisoned and blown backwards by the airflow, so the ejection path was clear. However, in a flat spin situation, this did not happen – the canopy remained in approximately the same position relative to the aircraft. This caused several injuries and at least one death.
After that incident, they made changes to ensure that it couldn’t happen again. The canopy was modified so that the bolts holding the plexiglass to the metal actually explode, shattering the canopy instead of jettisoning it. There was also a delay added to the sequence to make sure you didn’t get showered with broken plexiglass; 0.4 seconds after the canopy shatters, the RIO is ejected, then after another 0.4 seconds the pilot is ejected.
In case you were wondering, RIO = Radar Intercept Officer. The movie called Goose a WSO (Weapons Status Officer), often pronounced “Wizzo”. The two terms (RIO and WSO) are pretty much interchangeable, but the “normal” term is RIO.
The best nickname I’ve seen used was for the commander in charge of a Special Forces unit; Capt. “Die” Young, given to her by the troops under her command.
https://www.troopsofdoomcomic.com/2011/09/02/die-young/
…Go figure…
The other thing is that there is an exact order to the ribbons which must be maintained in any uniform they are worn. The Navy (my service) had them outlined and we had several chiefs and LTs that had damn near memorized the order for them and kept a book on them in cases of questioning. This is usually why people who have a large number or ribbons get them permanently mounted to one grid while those of us who have only a few (I had 6 myself after four years) just got ribbon rows and slid our ribbons onto those so they were straight.
Here are a few good names for some ARCHON specific ribbons that would be individual, unit, or skill awards:
Individual:
SPAM – Super Powered Achievement Medal – A formal award, awarded to individuals at the discretion of their command, for the recognition of going above and beyond the call of duty amongst supers. (Similar Navy medal, NAM – Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal)
Unit
TTAP (The T Tap) – Tactical Training Award for Perfection – Awarded to a unit for achieving an overall evaluation score of 95 or higher. (Basically, if the government wants to test everyone, they come up with a test and evaluate them, and if they did really well, everyone gets a ribbon. In the navy, on certain awards, if it was given to the ship and everyone on board, the ship would also get to paint the ribbon on the ship as a show of pride. Not sure about shore branches, but I don’t see why they couldn’t paint the ribbon on a building or something.)
Skill
The PMac – Projectile Mastery (Created)- Awarded for mastery of self created projectiles (fireballs, lasers, ice shards, etc) hitting targets to achieve a certain score.
The PMaf – Projectile Master (Found) – Awarded for master of found projectiles (rocks, guns, knives, etc) hitting targets to achieve a certain score.
(these are similar to the Pistol and Rifle Mastery ribbons one can achieve in the military, where a person has to pass a much more rigorous test than just general qualifications.)
I can come up with quite a few more if necessary, but the better ones would be the Operation medals, which would be named after any planned operations towards a goal. For instance, I have Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom from my 4 years in because I actively took part in those operations.
As DOD any branch AWARD can transfer, a prior service Marine if he joins the Army wear his awards on his new uniform. Only state (NG) awards don’t transfer.
Lower left corner squere looks a bit unfortunate. Appears as if our golden skinned heroine poped her breaches and whiped out a big black rod… heheh :)
Geez. No matter how many times I read and re-read this comic today, I start cracking up laughing at Maxima’s initial reaction to the puppy dog eyes. Every single time now.
Hey dave, you can give an image of Sydney puppy dog eyes ? :) I think can make a good avatar :)
Amusing toght normal military trai ing would have limed use to super. The differences in abilities compared to nomals would make any traning have to be custom design to that super power.
what a them of supers would ned is diciplin and theam work.
Ok. I found the last two panels of this comic unnerving. Remember. THIS Sydney, right here, in a matter of seconds, took down a guy who had three things she did not.
1.) Military training.
2.) Super Powers.
3.) A GUN.
In addition, he was at least a good head taller, and twice her size, and he had just pistol whipped her beforehand. Considering he had military training, he should have known exactly how much force to use to render her unconscious without doing permanent harm. IT DIDN’T WORK! It just served to piss her off. Furthermore, if Maxima didn’t have armor plated skin, Sydney might have taken her down too when she got peeled off Mr. Bank Robber #1. Note that this is while she can maybe do ten pushups, girly style.
Can you imagine what kind of a monster she would be if she gains enough upper body strength to do real pushups with ease?
The scariest part? Maxima intends to make it happen!
You can’t actually knock someone unconscious without doing permanent damage. If they are out for more than half a second, THERE IS BRAIN DAMAGE.
The trope you see in movies where they knock someone out who wakes up at a later (plot convinient) moment and just goes back to doing whatever is pure bullcrap.
Also remember that Amorphous wasn’t trying to harm her.
He HAD a gun, but would never have used it, so that’s irrelivant (Sydney didn’t care in the moment, because she’s Sydney)
He could have EASELY stopped her throw simply by stretching his tongue, which would render her entire throw pointless. But he had to stay in character as civilian, so he went with the throw.
And you are also missing 1 very important thing: Maxima made no effort to stop Sydney’s fist BECAUSE she is armor plated. In the event of her being squishy aswel, she would have simply handled it different (with Sydney’s arms folded behind her back).
Not just that, it seems to me that she actually used her face to stop Sydney. Look at the panel again (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/251). She took off her glasses right before ‘getting hit’. She knew her face was going to be in the way.
Finally: Maxima doesn’t intent to just take her current personality and give it real strenght. She’s going to train her in militairy dicipline first. The strenght comes after that
We have had some very informative comments about the rules for military commendations. These are for actions the top brass like to see on the front page of the newspaper (remember those?) What does the military do for those people who do things that are not normally reported in the news? What recognition is given in the espionage service where someone decrypts a code or breaks into an enemy network (or an office) to retrieve sensitive information? What about the ‘Seal Team Six’ style operations where in some foreign land a group of individuals who are not officially there do something that never officially happened?
Lastly, are drone pilots eligible for the same awards that hands-on pilots get awarded?
I daresay that one way of recognizing such acheivments would be via special notations in that person’s file. They might not get to wear a medal or anything, but absolutely anyone who looks at that file gets to see it.
As I understand it, drone pilots are not eligible for the same awards as hands-on pilots. But the valid point has been made that there will be times when a drone operator deserves special recognition, as with any other member of the service. So I beleive there are at least a couple for them.
In the Film “The Hunted(2003) ” Benicio Del Toro character early in the movie is given an award in the shadows after a mission. He can wear it on his uniform, but he can never tell the story behind the medal, because it is secret. From people I’ve worked with this is very accurate to how Special troops recieve awards.
I can’t speak to every highly classified service, but I do know of 2 unclassified examples that I can refer you to. Other services have similar traditions.
https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic_heritage/memorial_wall/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_Memorial_Wall
There is a periodic ceremony at a certain agency in which, once the details of the missions in question have been declassified, the families (and the honorees themselves, if still alive) are brought forward to receive their medals and hear about the missions and their impact. The whole thing is done with great ceremony and respect and is incredibly moving
My Dad had a Unit Citation ribbon that was classified for 10 years after he retired. His unit (NavSecGru SupRad) cracked a NVA radio code that allowed our guys to know what was coming down the Ho Chi Minh Trail down to the bullet and cup of rice. They weren’t allowed to do anything with/about it, but they knew every shipment Charley sent.
So I was checking all the online comics I like for updates and for some reason I wondered what day of the week it was (I’m on holiday and had lost track) I move the mouse down and it show’s “Wednesday, May 06, 2015”.
The next thing I think is: “Wow its Wednesday already?? I’m wasting so much time. I should really OhGrrlPowerUpdatesTomorrow!! Woo! I’ll do that!”
….
I’m not sure if that means I’m really relaxed or if it means I’ve unlocked a new skill in the Procrastination skill tree… New Skill Unlocked! “Waiting for someone else to do something. (Full skill description and details not yet added)”
Well, that tells me a little about what part of the world you live in. It’s still May 05 over here. (In fact, I live in the same time zone as DaveB. I live in the same state as DaveB, and for over six years I probably lived less than 90 minutes away from DaveB. Or maybe not, because that was way before he started writing Grrl Power.)
Yeah I’m over in Thailand teaching English. Schools here will open again around the 16 …. it is so weird knowing I’ll be going back to work soon and NOT feeling a cold dead hatred for it…. honestly this is the first job I’ve ever had that does not make me want to burn every trace of humanity from the cosmos…. maybe I’ve been brainwashed…
*laughs* What a coincidence. One of my best friends online is from Thailand, and she lives here in America teaching English to Thai immigrants.
Sounds like the kids won you over to the Light side.
I should have asked this days ago…. but what is a ‘theiss room’? I never heard of it, and my google skills have not helped on figuring out this mystery.
Perhaps is a reference to this guy – https://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/William_Ware_Theiss and Sydney will be getting fitted for her uniform…
also Klonk is my favorite sound effect – i use it daily…
Commenters have discussed this on the first page of comments…It doesn’t mean you have to read ALL the comments, just skim through looking for the name “Theiss.” It’s a person’s name.
That still doesnt explain what a ‘Theiss Room’ is by saying Theiss is a person :)
The room is named after the dude.
And it probably is where they start the process of getting Sydney proper uniforms .
You do understand though my confusion right? Naming it after some guy named William Theiss is one thing. Saying ‘go the Theiss room’ as if everyone should understand what that means though… that just doesnt make sense.
Go to the changing rooms.
Go to the equipment room.
Go to the uniform fitting room.
Go to room 12-B upstairs.
Stuff like that… that makes sense. Saying ‘go to theiss room’ and no one asking ‘what is a theiss room’ – that just doesnt make sense to me. If someone told me to go to the theiss room, I’d ask ‘what’s a theiss room’ because that is NOT a common thing to say. It’s like saying, Get into the Sulu and drive downtown…. if Sulu was the nickname for some car, and you don’t explain what Sulu is… I’m going to be looking for an aging gay star trek actor to carry me downtown.
He was known for creating scanty and/or revealing costumes for female characters in the original Trek series. I think this is Dave’s way of raising the expectations and/or blood pressure of those of his readers who got the very inside joke. (I had to look up the name myself)
You can kind of guess he has a ‘thing’ for these sort of Trek costumes from the Orion Slave Dabbler in this comic https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/660
(and if you were THIS close on a Dabbler-themed comic, couldn’t you fudge the numbering system a little to make it comic number 666?)
1) it just seems odd to use a name like Theiss for a military facility, which most people would not know of being a costume designer.
2) it doesnt make sense that no one would have asked ‘what’s a theiss room’ at least
3) Dabbler’s number is not 666. It’s 69.
“Spoooooooon!”
Theiss room?
Thesis room. For you to present your defense in a military court.
The point of not telling the recruit how many to do is to make them go until muscle failure. If you have two recruits together doing push-ups and one can do 100 without stopping while the other can only do three you want them both to improve so you make them continue until their arms give out. If you make 100 do only 20 he/she will not even feel them and the recruit will not receive “corrective training “.
When you talk about the service awards don’t forget about the little oakleaf clusters that go through them for repeats. Most awards get a ribbon only once (so a fruit salad on any given chest should have no repeaters) with bronze oakleafs showing the second, third, fourth. I never got above a repeat count of 3 (Air Force ROTC) so did not catch if it went to silver at five etc. Anyone?
Some awards use oakleaf clusters; others 5-pointed stars. They are specific to the award (you don’t mix clusters and stars on the same ribbon). 5 bronze of either type are replaced by a silver. As 4 silver represent 21 instances of the award, there aren’t any other colors. Pretty sure they would find a different medal to award for your 22nd.
“… I can only do ten … girly style.” She should do push-ups one-handed with the blue orb.
Ah, the puppy-dog eyes, bane of angry authority figures everywhere. And in Sydney’s case, so adorable it could qualify as a lethal weapon. :)
Fortunately for Maxima, the Military Officer prestige class gets some pretty ridiculous bonuses to will saves vs. puppy dog eyes.
Nope only the Recruit instructor on gives that bonus.
So next she gets issued her uniform and basic kit which should include BCGs (Birth Control Glasses) Which are the S9 series. Can’t wait to see her in those, ugliest glasses on the planet. Here is a like to them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GI_glasses
I really doubt Arch has any of those anywhere in the building.
Especially when you consider that supers are almost perfect specimens with few if any physical flaws.
Just means they will have to get them through the supply chain, the military is picky about their eye wear has to be able to stand up to combat.
Then Archon needs to find a new supplier. About every pair of the tactical HUD glasses got trashed or knocked loose in the first five minutes of yesterday’s fight. They may need to change their definition of ‘impact resistant’ for this branch of the military based on who they are likely to go up against.
I would have been doomed at ‘face in the corner, bemoaning my screw up’.
Good characterization, there; not what I would have expected before this page.
any minute now…
Those sweet puppy dog eyes! I would just pick her up and forgive her ANYTHING.