Grrl Power #320 – Don’t call it sidekick school
From what I understand about basic, you spend a fair amount of time learning about guns before you get to use them. Seems sensible enough. Sydney is joining mid stream here, so it’s a fair bet no one will hand her a loaded gun today.
Part of me didn’t want to roll out a bunch of new characters at this point if for no other reason that the more characters in the bank, the less screen time each one gets. This is obviously where Sydney would meet the other recruits though, so we’ll need to do introductions. Also I think they’re all generally entertaining. I’m just saying there were only so many Barkley episodes because the officers generally got the bulk of the dialog. There are actually only two of them that haven’t appeared in the comic to date though. Ren and the gal with the side cut. Blondie appeared way back when Harem yoinked all the boys’ shirts. Jiggawatt is the only one who got to show off at the press conference because her powers make for such a good show.
That’s Shawn the ex-Seal in the firing range, I realize he’s probably hard to recognize without his hat and seal shirt.
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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Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Since Halo is 5’0″, my guess is that Ren is about 6’8″
Like the avi, PM. :D
Thanks, I plan on keeping it for the next few days.
I appreciate the increasing number of well-rounded character-avatars here…
Yea, likewise. Mind you Plasma Mongoose is special. Having a regular turnaround of fresh faces. A walking gallery, albeit one with limited wall-space.
See, a case in point. A lovely new avatar.
But… one problem. You change one, you change them all. So the lack of permanence means that our comments loose their point of reference!
So in this case I shall, for the sake of posterity, refer to this as the Kitty look.
So, Sydney has already met with Max and Arianna. Why is Sydney not back at her store helping with new comic book day? Classes can wait…
cuz Arianna said she’s not allowed to leave the premises without this course, due to the fallout that’s already occurred from her speaking freely in front of reporters
No, Ari was talking about Media Awareness course, not Basic Training (unless they teach you which members of the media are okay to shoot in the kneecaps, or higher)
Arianna has no authority over Sydney. Arianna is a consultant and is not in Sydney’s chain of command.
Blondie’s first question to Sydney, “What’s with the bangs?”
Sydney’s first question to Blondie, “Can you take your shirt off again?”
Actually, that’s my first question to Dave. Can you take his shirt off again? Pleeeease?
You are implying that Sydney remembers anything more than THOSE ABS. She’d need to remember the face in addition to THOSE ABS to ask that question. Hell, even I, as a straight man who has reread the whole comic thrice in the past year, had trouble remembering his face due to the overbearing presence of THOSE ABS.
I admit, I read all of those thinking that was a woman rather than the blonde shirtlessmun.
Haha how do you know I didn’t post the comment thinking that too? :P
“His” – You
:P
Well-played :D
He’s barely got abs. Those obliques, though… mmm.
Someone needs to tell max that the best way to utilize harems capabilities is to use them against her. Make ALL of her go to the class. She’ll never ever ever want to return.
Note that we don’t know what OTHER jobs the rest of Harem’s duplicates have right now.
Let’s see,
1 has been assigned to “janitorial” duties,
#2 is on runner duty, with no porting restrictions,
#3 is doing her paperwork,
And the last is on down time, gotta have at least 1 fresh and ready to go.
I think one is currently out of action with a broken wrist. But since Max and Jiggawatt look to be back to normal I don’t know if Super-Medic! ™ was able to fix her up as well.
A broken wrist wouldn’t be enough to stop someone from auditing a new recruit class (they don’t do anything except make sure the tutor teaches them the things they need to be teaching them)
Sure, in a standard recruit class for normal people, but this could be danger room level “Wolvie’s playtime” for all we know.
She is not participating in the class, just observing it
If one was down with a broken wrist, she could just dematerialize it and materialize a new body until she had time to let the broken wrist recover.
If Harem “unports” the body with the broken wrist, it won’t heal. Any of her bodies “in storage” like that are effectively in stasis…No aging, no healing. She couldn’t start healing her wrist unless she leaves that body manifested.
How did you find that out? Word Of Dave or just your own theory?
Word of Dave. As always canon is only established once something appears in the comic. However it is consistent with everything we have seen of Harem, in comic and Dabbler’s science corners, to the degree that it would need a major re-write for it not to work that way. As such, it is safe to treat this as ‘hard canon’.
For example it is how each Harem can have different tattoos, hairstyles and even clothing. They always come out of storage exactly as they went in. As opposed to either duplicating one of the others, or creating a copy of a baseline unmodified version of her.
Net effect, if she is bleeding to death when she enters storage, she remains in that exact condition when she exits. Likewise if she is hungry, thirsty or even just sleepy.
So she is not resting, or healing, whilst in storage, but equally will not deteriorate.
Deal with injuries or re-dye my hair? That’s a toughie, oh wait, I like dyeing my hair and getting new tats.
Mmm, of the two alternatives, I think Harem’s is actually the better. The hair and tats being a nice added bonus, to the material advantages, over the alternative.
Bleeding to death and being put into storage will result in having no care and dying.
Being put into storage whilst hungry or thirsty, could, unseen, result in dying of starvation or dehydration.
Even if her telepathy allowed her to monitor the condition of her spares, it would still require that she always consumed five times as much supplies (including air,if that is in short supply) as any regular person. Even when she only had one body actually doing anything!
If Harem wants a body to rest up, she is far better keeping it in a hospital ward, where it can be properly monitored, and cared for. Preferably with Super Doc speeding recovery.
Being a teleporter, that is far easier for her to achieve than most folks. And she seems to be smart enough to ensure that she keeps Archon’s emergency room (or an adjacent room) as one of her carefully memorised locations. So that she can always send a body there, if there is a crisis. *
Of course food is not usually a problem for a teleporter, due to being able to pull similar tricks. But it does seem to be awfully wasteful to be using up supplies for a body which is cut off in limbo.
And, for someone who ‘feels blinded and handicapped’ if unable to have all of her bodies active, imagine how much worse it would feel to continue to experience sensation from the bodies in storage? Bleeding, hungry, thirsty, but externally surrounded by nothing but a void.
Yuck.
* Mmm. That does make me wonder. Can an unconscious body, of hers, be teleported? It is her, and she only has the one mind. I will be interested to see how DaveB calls that one, whenever it eventually occurs.
For once I haven’t read all the comments. So, has anybody called a shout out to “Lethal Weapon” for panel 1?
Just as likely to be police academy. I know in at least one of the films tackleberry gets into a fancy shooting contest with some guys and spells out “have a nice day” with an automatic weapon. In all seriousness, it may be lethal weapon, and yes, someone linked the video on page 1, but there are a number of films where shooters do silly things like shoot shapes, words, and smiley faces into targets.
Linked to the clip, so yea. But what Traab says is true enough about it being fairly common.
My favourite version goes the other way though. Where the guys inspecting the targets showed all shots had missed, bar one. Which the hero contests, saying that there is no way he could have missed with any. So they re-inspect the target. And then indicate that every shot had passed through the same hole!
That was in an old black and white movie “Sergeant York”. In trying to find the name of it, though, I came across an account by the actual Sergeant York, which the movie was based on. Which goes to show that kind of shooting was second nature to him!
I should point out that the seven men he had under his command, he assigned to guarding the prisoners they had captured. That account above was him taking on thirty machine guns on his own!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York
Yeah people forget York they also forget Murphy and several others who earned through blood their honor. Sharpshooting is an art form it takes time and practice. But once you learn it you never lose it sort of like riding a bike a skill you will always have.York learned his in the back woods of Tennessee and as with all hillbilly and rednecks they tend to excel at put rounds on target.
No, most people remember Audie Murphy, most people believe Sergeant York is just a comic book character
Really most of the folks I tend to talk to specially the youngsters have no idea who either of them are. If I get it in the right age group they go yeah the actor to which I point out that the war movie he was in is based totally on his life story and he is staring in it. One would wonder how that effected his PTSD.
If it had an effect on his PTSD, it probably helped it. One of the major treatments for PTSD sufferers involves simply thinking about their experiences instead of repressing them.
I see Tibet but I don’t see the strap. Anyone else think it’s missing?
Correction “tubey” . Auto correct ruins everything.
I’ve never used it. Might make typos here and there, but my spelling’s good enough that I don’t need the assist.
alas, phone and tablets don’t give you that option.
Yeah… they do.
On android, go into the language and input settings, click the gear symbol next to your keyboard (Samsung Keyboard for me), and then click on Auto Replacement. There is an on/off switch. This will not stop it from suggesting the three most likely words, but will prevent it from autocorrecting everything you type.
It really doesn’t assist with anything. More auto-screw than auto-correct. I disabled it completely on my new phone because even after I’d checked the messages before hitting send without accepting any of the suggestions it still applied the suggestions anyhow. And fragged it all.
It may be missing from panel 2.
And the Ooblek/Oobleck spelling error on the last updates panel four has yet to be acknowledged.
Probably for the best if it is not as protective, in real life, as claimed. So the alternate version, which is actually better, in the GrrlPower version, would be better served with a variant name. Presumably the inspirational work, made by some gadgeteer, informed the makers of their version, enough that even the basic version was better. And they renamed it, from their initial concept, in acknowledgement of the fact.
Then a militarised version of that was created, but incorporating the changed spelling.
Sure its an alternate universe and it can totally be that way. I just got the feel that DaveB actually would want to spell it our universes way if he knew about it but didn’t see the message.
Ashley may have seen her put Tubey over his fabulous creation and decided the strap clashed with his design. It wouldn’t take him more than a minute to add military grade Velcro to the tube.
Also, removing the strap can prevent this sort of situation: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/171
Whoops, forgot it on that panel.
I think that she maybe have learned the lesson and maintain Tubey to her body with the orbs powers. The main reason for Tubey for been in the list was its strap
That is possible. But would probably require constant concentration. Which… is a bit of a problem for Sydney.
Just needs to add a couple of easy to reach quick release snaps to the strap. Or get one of those Mexican hats, a sombrero with the really tall brim and they can rotate inside a special hollow inside the extra thick brim.
I don’t think so. Does it take constant concentration for her to make them flote in circles arroud her head? Again, I don’t think so.
Clearly not, indeed. But that is their default behaviour. In fact the only other things we see them actively do are work to keep doing that. Try to separate them from her, or her from them, and they will resist. Plus move to return to their correct position. Which they do whether she is paying attention or not.
But they are responsive to her mental commands. So will do other things when she wants them to. But when she falls asleep, so do they.
All of which leads me to think that they are following simple behaviours (or programs). Other than when Halo is commanding them. Possibly she can tell them to “do the following, until I tell you otherwise”. In which case your suggestion is very workable.
But I can’t think of any behaviour which would suggest that she can. And Sydney does tend to prefer using her mental command of the orbs, in preference to their greater powers. So if she could program them, like that, I think she would have utilised the ability by now.
So, ‘in the balance of probability’ I think it most likely that Halo needs to concentrate. But will keep a close eye on possible repetitive or programmed behaviours. As I find your suggestion to be entirely plausible and credible. Just lacking in evidence, at the present time.
Actually, thinking further on it. There is one behaviour that would support your contention. The ‘go to sleep’ command. When she puts them in Tubey, and tells them to stay there. But that still fits my hypothesis that they only have simple behaviours (aimed at staying in orbit above their user), plus will follow her orders.
And if that order is ‘go to sleep’, that is not necessarily a program, just them obeying a command. Notably, for the purposes of our discussion, it is not one which requires any concentration to maintain.
Dave/time will say
One problem with using the amazeballs to hold tubey up is : what to do with it when they’re out and about?
Besides they do tend to go into standby mode when in storage, and in doing so hold tubey in place rather than in orbit. The strap is a reason tubey’s on the list. It’s not the only reason.
It may be what you think, I acknowledge that. But, if they can follow her just right behind her back they may not need to be in stand by. And for what to do with Tubey… I don’t remember it been in the battle scenario. Besides, she could summon only the ones she need to her hands and the rest been in Tubey… though that would “cancel” the Halo nickname
Tubey was left in the restaurant, during the fight. And Halo was ecstatic, when she found Tubey, safe and well, in the rubble, afterwards.
Tubey needs an upgrade I suggest carbon fiber with kevlar might weigh a bit more but should be darn near indestructible. You can of course paint it orange to keep with easy to spot color for when you are digging it out of the collapsed building maybe add a tracking device to it as well and an audible alert to let the user know it’s location.
Tubey is already indestructible!
But only through super-luck. So it is probably wise to do the upgrades. And I like your other suggestions, all subject to weight considerations, of course. The tracker though should be one that only signals in response to a signal. Either a coded transmission or voice-recognition for Sydney calling a key-phrase.
Whilst the team do wear IFF transponders, I am guessing that such devices use something similar. The last thing you want to do is continually broadcast, so that enemy scans can detect your presence and even pinpoint your location!
Fine for Archon HQ’s security system to ping someone approaching a checkpoint ,to ensure they have a valid IFF. Similarly if a target of someone seeking a weapons lock on the battlefield. But, unless they detect a valid query, from a friendly source, they should remain quiet.
Apart from when confident that they are not facing foes who could exploit continuous transmission of course. Under those circumstances, always knowing where your own forces are is the better option.
I honestly can’t tell if that’s a W or a V on the rainbow choker. Hmm. I kind of favor a w, coupled with suggestions that she looks wolfish. Not sure what the suggested V could stand for, aside from Victory; that sounds a bit cliche, though. Hmmm…. Well, regardless, I like her design, though I’m not familiar with the character folks think she’s based on.
Ren certainly seems like a nice fellow. Certainly tall (as mentioned)! I have to wonder if Sydney’s standard reflexes didn’t kick in because she started a typical reaction then went “OMG GIANT!” or something. XD Either works with the pose.
Glad to see blondie from yesterday. He seems very “huh” today. I shall be calling him Nanashi until we learn his name. :) (And yes, I did think he was a girl until I checked the link in the comments. He was a pretty boy then, he is still one now with the improved art style. XD Oops on me. :) )
I vote “V” which I think in combo with the sort of tie dye looking rainbow of colors in the band stands for Vibrant ([of color] bright and striking. synonyms: vivid, bright, striking, brilliant, strong, rich, colorful, bold). So she may have light related powers or powers that as a side effect give off a heck of a light show. I haven’t gotten to the back pages of comments yet so have no clue as to what character she looks like to them.
Yeah, its surprising she didn’t attack him. Maybe having to fight V’s unnatural urge to pick a fight left a mark on her mind for a few days.
He looks like he has shrunk since the older picture. Positively tiny next to everyone around him today. I know he wasn’t one of the big guys but this seems smaller than he was meant to be?
she’s not the verifier, she’s not the vindicator, she’s not even the vibrator, you will be violated girly man. but really she could use any of those names with powers like lie detection or cause earthquakes/ sympathetic vibration to something she holds or take control by slipping a hand into the skin on a persons arm. as to syd she impact reset her responses at HQ earlier that day.
“she’s not the verifier, she’s not the vindicator, she’s not even the vibrator, you will be violated girly man.”
I saw the movie. Even though I was already an adult when I saw it, that guy made me afraid of clowns for the rest of my life…
Richard? Dick? Do I spy a looking for group reference? Awesome.
…or it’s just a reference to the fact that “Dick” is a somewhat nonsensical shortening of Richard in real life, just like shortening Adrian to “Ren” would be.
He’s actually talking about Richard M. Nixon. Why do you think they called him Tricky Dick?
No. Dick really is a nickname for Richard, been that way for a long time.
technically, richard = dick is due to visible punmanship, as far as I can figure, with rick looking like dick, and the rest of the name being hard, we see the possible connotations…
it’s from at least the 16th century, and it’s because of the way the original name Rikharthu can be pronounced; at least according to the dictionaries- rick, dick, and hick all come from the same word.
You’re right about basic. You get a weapon at the start, but you learning safety, basic info, and just getting use to having it for the first third of basic. It’s the second third that you learn to shoot it, and then you’ll learn more and about more specialist things in ACT (Advanced Combat Training).
So I have a question- what’s up with the difference between the color (custom?) choker/radio and the all-black ones some people seem to be wearing? Do the black ones designate people who don’t have powers or just haven’t decided on a codename yet or something?
Black = no codename yet. Per DaveB on page 1 of the comments.
Ah ok. Thank you then- I missed that.
Haha, I did the same thing. Never occurred to me that Blondie would be one of the ogled rather than one of the oglers.
…That was supposed to be a reply to another post. Whups.
Fun fact about the name Adrian; It means the dark man.
It comes from England and is a reference to General Hadrian, who built Hadrian’s Wall
Hadrian means “of Hadria” Hadria was a small village in Africia.
Basically, his name means “the black guy”
And Gyron? Here is the Wikipedia link
Imagine a world where mad scientists are real. Where they have the financing and backing of mega corporations. And who plan to insinuate devices into the home, which can monitor and record everything that it’s occupants do, at all times.* Cunningly disguised as cute toys. And, through the services of an army of lawyers, ensure that it is all done legally.
Then realise that this is the world you are living in!
* With the current trend, probably also connecting all that to the internet. X-Box One, I am looking at you!
So there’s a real life Agatha Hetrodyne out there somewhere? Be still my beating heart.
Fortunately, there are ways to fight back against this living-room espionage. Less effort than learning to converse in Klingon.
One of the comments there made me laugh
And then sigh at the replier who attempted to mock that as paranoid conspiracy. Who clearly does not even follow current news stories which show that such things do happen. Sometimes without the consent of the manufacturer. Sometimes with their collusion, if only by covert court orders.
Whether it is likely that that particular device has been compromised, is another matter. But to assume that it has not shows ignorance. Such things can and do happen. And, even if it has not, that option, to turn it off, is controlled by software. As such hackers (private, corporate, criminal or state as the case may be) can find ways of bypassing it.
If you check out the precautions taken by top anti-spying companies, which specialise in countering such intrusions, you will find that they do not make such assumptions. Even with their state of the art means of checking their systems have not been compromised.
So how do they guarantee that, let us say, the webcam has not been hijacked? They put masking tape across it! Which is precisely what I do for the one device that I have which has that built in. And I do not plug any others in, unless I have a specific need.
And will check out any device I buy, to ensure that it does not have such a feature built into it.
Other folks are welcome to opt for convenience of voice recognition, on demand. And smartphones that leak personal data continuously. I don’t. As a simple matter of principle. It would not significantly improve my quality of life. But it does compromise my privacy and make me vulnerable to criminal activity.
Mind you, living in an area where I can point out neighbours, who I know to be active members of different Mafia families, does help me to focus my attention on the fact that they know how to exploit such weaknesses better than I would know how to counter them.
No paranoia required. Just common sense.
True. These days even the little power-on light is often controlled by software. If you want it truly, properly, turned off, you have to switch off at the wall or remove the battery.
And – I’m not trying to make you paranoid, really, but – when the “Internet of Things” really gets going, you’ll be surrounded by devices which can ‘phone home’. Any use of all this data by The Powers That Be will just be a fact of life, and so will the inevitable ‘security breaches’.
Happy days… ← sarcasm
you wanna make people paranoid consider Apple moved to putting fingerprint scanners in their iPhones. such scans are kept in a database with standard Apple security(remember all the times they’ve been hacked?).
Guess we found out what Harem’s punishment is, just have to wait and see what Dabbles’ is :P
I don’t know that there will be any for her. Harem deliberately attempted to incriminate a superior officer for ‘conduct unbecoming a gentlewoman’. Which is serious enough that, if Maxima did not apply her improvised punishment, along with this re-training, could have been treated as a court-martial offence.
Whereas Dabbler is not even a member of the military. She is a civilian consultant, who chose to be cheeky to a military officer. And ignored the orders of another civilian (Arianna, as regards not revealing her ‘battle form’).
I do not know what terms such consultants would be bound by. But imagine it is formed around a civilian contract, incorporating the American equivalent of being bound by the Official Secrets Act. Now if Dabbler was a normal US citizen, breaching a statuary enforceable non-disclosure agreement would be very serious.
But Dabbler is actually an alien. Which the government, and Archon, are fully aware of. So if they chose to punish her by the only means they have,* namely through the civilian courts, then her identity, and the conspiracy to cover it up, would be bound to be revealed.
Dabbler was being cheeky because she knew she could get away with it. Plus would the US government risk the wrath of a star-faring alien race, for punishing one of their number?
That said, Maxima uses non-standard punishment for a reason. Whilst she may not be able to do that for Dabbler, in the conventional sense (such as ordering her to peel potatoes for a week), I am sure she has some way to try and keep Dabbler in line.
Probably the worst that Maxima could do is order Archon personnel not to fraternise with Dabbler. Which would be the ultimate sanction for a succubus! But would be badly counter-productive, as it would simply drive her out into socialising with the civilian populace.
Which, as a civilian herself, she is perfectly entitled to do. Unless they declare her an illegal alien. But, as an officially acknowledged employee, they would not be able to do that.
* Please correct me if civilian contractors can fall under military jurisdiction, rather than being tried by civilian courts. This is an area of US law I am having to guess at, rather than speak with even partial informed knowledge.
Obviously whatever punishment dishes out to Dabbles wouldn’t be as ‘official’ as with Harem, but fairly sure she could come up with something, and something that Dabbles would agree with (not saying she would be happy with it, but fairly sure she would understand the reason)
Dabbles may be a civilian consultant contractor (or whatever her official position is), but she does like and respect Maxi, and would take whatever punishment Maxi feels she deserves (doesn’t mean she won’t do it again in the future, more likely because of her easygoing cheeky nature rather than deliberate insubordination)
True. Being part of any team does require co-operation, at some level or another. So Dabbler probably would not have signed up, if she were not willing to follow someone else’s orders. But, given the limited scope for sanctions, it will be interesting to see how Maxima handles it.
From her interactions with Sydney, we know that Maxima pays very close attention to how her subordinates respond to her guidance. So I am sure that she will have been assessing the effectiveness of her verbal sparring with Dabbler.
Of the top of my head, I get the impression that the more dominant, and aggressive, postures, tend to get the better results. And, having had that canon peek at Dabbler’s school-days, we get a glimpse as to why that may be a part of her psyche.
Anything less intimidating than a pit fiend, or demon lord, would be fairly inconsequential.
Disapproval from someone you like slash or respect can be worse than facing a thousand Demon Lord Pit Fiends
Very true. That is where Maxima has excelled with Sydney.
And I don’t think she has a serious problem with Dabbler. The fact that she can get away with things, that soldiers cannot, could cause resentment. But military personnel are well used to there not being a level playing field. And they know that Dabbler is a civilian, so different rules would apply to her.
Playing up the banter side is a sensible way to go. That allows Dabbler and Maxima to keep testing each other’s boundaries. Whilst still coming to grips with the issues at stake. And those are social ones, underpinning it, even if it could impact discipline and thereby morale.
Perhaps, in the end, it will be resolved by Maxima becoming less prudish, rather than Dabbler giving in, due to being punished?
If by “a fair amount of time” you mean about 20 minutes spent on the rules of the range and safety* prior to your first live fire on the range, you’d be correct. I was shocked (shocked, I say!) by the lack of gun safety, because I’d been taught to shoot by my grandfathers who practiced excellent gun safety and passed those lessons on to me as a matter of course. One of my squad members even flicked over to 3 round burst and the only response from the closest Sgt on the range line was “Put that back on single shot. Bet that surprised you!” I was the one who was surprised, by the lack of concern over what was a deliberate rules violation. And I know it was deliberate because he told me later that he’d done it on purpose just to see what the 3 round burst was like. Maybe that qualified him as having “initiative”, I dunno.
* And yeah, we did spend a lot of time before that learning to disassemble and reassemble, name all the parts, apply “sports”, etc. But that isn’t gun safety.
As in ‘attach supports’, such as bipods?
slap pull observe release tap squeeze also known as immediate action or basic misfire correction
Ahh, cool. Thanks.
*scribbles down a note*
Things soldiers do with their …
• rifle
• ‘gun’
• girlfriend
Sorry, doubtless a very tired joke in military circles. But it does rather spring to mind when you first come across it.
“THIS is my rifle (slap weapon), this is my GUN (grab crotch), this one’s for KILLING (slap weapon again), this one’s for FUN (crotch again).”
Know it, live it.
Basic misfire correction can clearly have dual purpose utility. But, if that fails to resolve the problem, do not try to go further and disassemble your gun. Just seek the assistance of a fertility specialist.
However if a squadmate seems to only think with his and has trouble controlling it (himself), ‘disassembling’ his ‘gun’ may be required.
+1
well how long does it take for a drill to explain four simple rules followed by if you break them i am now allowed to beat you to death.
That would be range controls job the Drills are all armed and normally behind you. If you screw up you get a warning screw up the wrong way and it is not a warning. I held no illusions that my Drill Sargent’s wouldn’t shed a tear dropping anyone of us. If they felt their or our lives were in danger they would do the deed.
Ah. The average IQ of a new recruit is quite low (90-ish), and most of them are 18-year-olds controlled by their hormones. Of course, that was back in the 80’s and 90’s. Not sure how the standard is now. I remember watching in wonder as other young men, who were taking the military entrance tests, would struggle with the test portions right up to the point that the tester said, “Time!”, when I had finished within ten minutes and had to wait quietly for 50 more. So, in answer to your question; a long, long time, with lots and lots of repetition.
You might want to have Jiggawatt yell her “HI SYDNEY” line just to show she’s still recovering from the fight. I’m sure ARC SWAT has special Doctors who are supers as well so permanent physical damage (which would be the case with Jiggawatts hearing after that fight) is reparable, but it would still take time to recover…
Check out the spikey nature of Jiggawatt’s speech bubble tail. She is speaking over-loudly. If not actually shouting. Presumably she is ‘hard of hearing’ at the moment, but clearly not too bad. Otherwise it would be pointless (and dangerous) to assign her to training.
But that is the beauty of having Super Doc at Archon HQ. Any recoverable injury need only remain for as long as it is plot-convenient. Everything else she can speed up as much as is necessary (to suit the script).
They all got prompt attention and had a night’s sleep. We know, from a comment by DaveB, that Heatwave’s foot injury might not be curable. And one of Harem’s bodies might well be injured seriously enough to be hospitalised for some time.
Beyond those cases though, everybody is enough on the road to recovery that they are fit for (at the very least) light duties. JIggawatt being the demonstration of this (along with Maxima and Sydney herself).
And Maxima’s nose-resetting has laid the foundations for longer-lasting recovery times, if Dave needs that for a storyline. Simply delay getting the victim to Super Doc. In Maxima’s case it was more time-critical than most, because she clearly heals faster than normal, even without the doc’s help. But it does establish the principle that Super Doc’s powers have their limits.
I just noticed the Doc Brown reference for Jiggawatt’s name. Nice.
Kind of a reference, I guess. Pertinent anyhow, whether or not it was specifically intended. So nicely pointed out.
actually it IS a reference to Doc Brown… Take a look at her Cast entry, it specifically says ” it IS spelled correctly because that’s how Doc Brown said it” you can’t get much more of a direct reference than that!…
He he. Yup, pretty much incontrovertible. Well, at least I did acknowledge that it may have been intended. Kudos for PatrickW having figured it out, and to you, for having remembered.
Sometimes its really funny to think about the fact that Sydney is here because she gave a 7-10 split followed by a tongue-slam to Mr. Amorphous, who really should not have let that happen, and should have been able to stop the attempt.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/241
The difference is, Mr A was pretending to be just some wannabe bank robber, and no-one was expecting The Mightay Halo to be doing her banking, he had to ‘play along’ to reveal that it was all a badly thought out publicity stunt (and then face the Wrath of Ari)
Tongue-fu is a highly unpredictable martial art, that is very hard to counter. But, beyond that, remember that he had to be cautious not to provoke Maxima into having to act with extreme force! He was aware that she had been kept out of the loop. Although Mr Amorphous is perfectly safe from being punched, he is completely vulnerable to an energy blast.
So if he responded in too aggressive a way, it could have had fatal consequences, for himself. And with the ferocity of Sydney’s assault, he was not exactly given the time to come up with a safer compromise. As he commented, later, his instincts are to use his powers. Which he was prohibited from doing, to avoid giving the game away.
So he was actually less capable than an average person would have been in that situation. Where they might have been able to go with some kind of immediate counter, his first thought was to use his power. Then waste time forcing himself to be non-stretchy.
Plus it really was not worth risking dying for a publicity stunt. All in all his actions were very consistent with the constraints that he faced.
But, even knowing all that, it is still ironic and very funny. :-)
I thought she was there because of the behaviour of Tubey, from https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/224 onwards and particularly https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/370 and as stated in https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/457
Mmm, interesting way of putting it. The behaviour of the orbs (inside the tube) being what gave Sydney away. It could make conspiracy theorists think that they had an agenda.
Which they may well do, so I love that way of looking at it! :-D
But, even though that may be true, there are other ways of looking at it, which would not imply an intelligent decision to push Sydney into joining Archon (not that I am saying that was your intent).
More importantly though, the proximate cause was actually the page prior to the first one you listed. That was the moment that Sydney became a hero. Deciding, quite literally, to take a stand.
We get to see her thoughts, and she has very clearly made the decision. So, even though she initially chose a physical attack routine, she had already committed herself, knowing that she was likely to reveal herself as a hero.
She was unaware of Maxima’s presence, when deciding this. And was taking on two armed robbers. So clearly she was prepared to, and expecting to have to, make open use of the orbs. Made absolutely unequivocal, by her thought bubble. So, as such, Sydney made no attempt to hide tubey/the orbs, or stop them from behaving suspiciously.
To the contrary, she was probably (consciously or not) getting ready to whip them out. Hence them trying to get into position.
So, yes, all the comics you linked are the ones that gave Sydney away. But those scenes are the result of her decision, prior to that, as opposed to being the cause. Although, you are perfectly correct in pointing out that had she managed to conceal them, she may have been able to retain her anonymity (as a super) albeit still being hailed as a hero (for standing up against armed robbers).
That was not her intent though. She was accepting the risk of exposure, along with the risk to her life.
Had Sydney chickened out, and not decided to risk all, then she could have stayed quietly next to Susie News, and Maxima would have resolved the entire situation by herself.
The conclusion of that alternate time-line being that Sydney might be watching Susie News reporting on Maxima, the press conference and the big battle. Susie could still have gotten her break from being an intern, just with Maxima’s aid. However Sydney would be watching it all from her TV at home. And wondering when she would build up the courage to come out as a super.
But perhaps, having failed in her defining moment, deciding that she lacked the courage to actually fight villains. So might instead stay safely in the private sector. Paying advertising fees in order to get short slots on local TV, where she could use her light-hook writing to promote her store.
Which might generate some interest, for the novelty of being a super, who owns a comic book store. But not that much of a buzz, given that all the world’s attention is focussed on the exciting super heroes, who are protecting the country from super villains, and working just down the road, from her, at Archon!
Is it me or is the perspective on Harem’s table a bit wonky?
To me at first it looks like it’s a board on the bench behind her that you miss-layered. And with the legs the way they are she’s sitting on the edge of the bench and I doubt there is enough room for her to sit back enough to put her self behind that table.
Seeing how that’s the only table thing, just figured it was like a portable thing-who’s-correct-name-escapes-me-right-now :(
Plus, like everyone else, she is sitting on the desk rather then the seats
Definitely wonky. It appears to be bisecting her midsection, cutting her body in half. It also seems to have no visible support and yet seems to support the weight of her crossed arms.
Remember kids, be careful when teleporting into classrooms. Somebody may have moved the desks around since you were last there!
Plans within plans, I say. Yeah, she wants to knock Daphne down some, but it also helps that Daphne can immediately notify her if a Sidney moment or occurrence is getting out of hand.
Talking about Sydney being issued a sidearm but having to drop her Bubble to use it: what if one of her upgrades allows her to partially drop the Bubble, or open up little ‘windows’ (like the Droidekas from “A Phantom Nuisance”?)
That is possible, down the line.
It’s more likely that Sydney is being put through basic firearm training right now for the same reason that Azarin is: not because they are expected to employ them, but to ensure they are capable should the need arise (and having more options is a good thing in itself). Plus, the same skills and rules can be applied to their own ranged-attack powers.
Your last point is a very good one. And may well be why Sydney got pushed straight onto this course. That is something that Maxima was extremely concerned about. So backing up the successful Gwen Stacy talk, from yesterday, with immediate reinforcement by firearms safety training now, shows a suitably prioritised schedule.
KP duty, to instil discipline for lapses of protocol, in the presence of the president, may be important. But ensuring Sydney does not get bored, doing so, and start playing with the PPO, is way more so.
It’s also easier to put everyone through the same basic training, and then split them up for anything specifically needed/ wanted once you have a better idea of what those specifics actually are.
There’s probably also a certain amount of “This is how things are done, so this is how we are doing them.”
“Everyone goes through the same basic training” may also help reinforce a sense of camaraderie, and do something to help defuse any resentment over the new recruit being bumped straight onto to the press conference.
Anyone else getting a Christy Mack vibe off the girl on the left?
I’m all for kink, but the whole choker thing being a part of a government issued uniform kinda rubs me the wrong way… it feels too much like the government putting collars on attack dogs, to be honest…
Some of us are perfectly comfortable with collars. :-P
Leashes on the other hand are just a sign of irresponsible humans. Barring guide dogs, of course. The rest though are just indicative of individuals who have failed to learn how to properly communicate and coordinate with their canine partners.
Mind you, not as irresponsible as those who neither train nor use a leash. But those should just be put down.
The bald apes, that is.
Ok. Maybe a bit harsh. But they definitely need more than just a smack with a newspaper!
Have to say, if you think THOSE collars are a problem, then ….
https://dribibu.xs4all.nl/index.php/comics?pic=dilbert19940227
A throat mic (or neck mic) is not that unusual, and may be a better practical choice for potentially noisy environments (better at excluding environmental sounds) where you might need your hands free. If your first associations on seeing them are kink and studded collars, well…
Next time there is an armed offenders callout shown on your local news, take a look (if you can) at their necks, in a lot of cases you will see a neck-band of some kind, two guesses what they are (and your first guess was a stupid one not deserving of an answer)
I guess it’s like in Halo (The game!) when you have a sizable platoon of marines you always end up babysitting them and trying to keep ahead of them so they won’t get all killed by Covenant.
“I’m a fan of your work.”
Uhm… What work, exactly?
Oh not much. Defeating super villains, saving the life of America’s most powerful super hero, stopping America’s official super organisation from being ruinously defeated on it’s first day.
You know, same old, same old.
Black collars, ARC-Dark?
Nice thought. But, although attention has not really been drawn to it, arc dark will handle things like black opps. Covert operations, possibly including industrial espionage, sabotage and assassinations. So they really would not want to be identifiable at all.
The black collars just indicate someone who has not chosen (or been assigned) a call-sign.
I am guessing Velociraptor and Blondie are probably ticked off at Sydney because she got to go to the team dinner, despite having been in the organisation less time than them. Plus Giggawatt and Harem have probably been going on about how exiting the fight was. And now here comes Halo, who got to be at the middle of all the action. Without having to sit through even a single hour of recruit training!
They are probably wondering who gets to ask her out first :D
Val on the left side Blondie on the right and we see what happens.
I don’t know if they ar that ticked off. The valkyrie’s (?) body language is fairly relaxed and open, I think it’s the combination of dark eyebrows and a full lower lip that looks a bit petulant, and blondie just looks like he is feeling a little defensive.
Then again, I can be terrible at reading people.
Naa, that is probably a fair reading. Mine is probably biassed because (other than Giggawatt) the group comes across as surly. But Harem is the only unmistakable one. Blondie’s crossed arms are classic defensive pose mind. Likewise the expression cannot be described as better than ‘guarded’. So is definitely not on the friendly and open side of things.
Velociraptor probably throws me because of her ‘bad-girl’ image. Whilst that may sound like a bit of a harsh judgement, to anyone used to such looks, I am less so. Plus if you take a normal mental image of a serving female soldier, then apply the differences in her look, that makes her come across very much as counter-culture.
No more so than Peggy mind. But how you dress and look does very much influence first impressions.
So the ‘slight petulance’ you refer to, became magnified by the presence of a ‘counter-culture’ look.
And possibly it might be justified. Even in a relaxed unit like this, the majority of members (think the quartermaster from the armoury, for instance) are from regular military backgrounds. So there would be a certain institutional antipathy to such non-regulation looks. When used to the standards of other branches of the military, anyhow.
As such, anybody who opts for a more extreme look, will need to overcome some degree of alienation. Be it with more conservative team-mates, or when liaising with other police, military personnel or the general public.
Possibly they might do it just as a matter of principle. Which is fine. Or possibly they really are counter-culture at heart. In which case she will have had to quickly master the art of holding a neutral look, to avoid conservative drill-sergeants from feeling she had an insubordinate look.
So she has a stylish image. But one that has some cultural baggage, that comes with it. Which can get her judged more harshly, on first impression, than might be fair.
Aside from the haircut Velociraptor seems actually normal for a woman in the military. Tats can be a way of feeling included. You and your group all get the same or similar tats. And attitude can also be a way of approaching the hostile world every vet knows is out there. Plus as recent events have shown women are still facing an uphill battle for total acceptance in the military so some attitude is probably a reaction to that. Women have to be even better to be considered equals. Not to say ARC is in any way like this but it only takes a couple of bad apples to taint the barrel.
Yea, I keep an eye on progress, or lack of it, in armed forces around the world. The USA does seem to be having a tough transition. What with high levels of rape, and women having to use a buddy system to go to the loos. But it is improving, if gradually.
No where bad as the Indonesian army mind. Their female recruits have to undergo a virginity test. Witnessed note, by male officers! A test which has little or no medical credibility.
Meanwhile these self-same observing officers, have the gall to pretend that, rather than getting their jollies this way, they are actually preserving the morality of the army. They are the biggest bunch of hypocritical perverts I have come across in my life!
“as it would simply drive her out into socialising with the civilian populace.
Which, as a civilian herself, she is perfectly entitled to do. Unless they declare her an illegal alien. But, as an officially acknowledged employee, they would not be able to do that.”
That last also seems to be changing, at least for enlisting in the military. There have been many illegal aliens hired by DoD as civilians. Most prominent were the Peenemunde Team, immediately after WW2. This was to get them out of Germany, and out of easy reach of NKVD kidnappers, since that kidnapping was happening to individuals throughout the 4 occupation zones. Von Braun and about 200 others were given temporary contracts, with an OSS minder whenever they traveled outside Army compounds, to smooth any problems caused by a local LEO. Those border county LEOs were brought into security awareness when it became obvious that our former ally had used a support aparrat in Mexican territory to move info on the Manhattan Engineering District back to the USSR. They were *not* being told about anyone brought back here, though, ….so, ….minders. Since our first rocket testing sites at White Sands were also near the Border, security was going to be an issue.
So whats the rule on who gets the cool neck mic’s Ren and the blond have just plain black bands while Syd Jiggy Harrem and Tat girl have color logo ones.
No call-sign = no cool neck mic. Once they have gone through that rite of passage, they earn their personalised one.
Tat girl has done something cool enough to earn a call-sign. Her logo appears to be a “V”, which is probably the initial letter of her call-sign. And the rainbow pattern it has (along with the multi-coloured feathers she is wearing) may be giving clues as to the nature of that coolness.
Perhaps she is “Variation” (if a shape-shifter) or “Variegation” if her powers are colour related. Maybe just some play on “Variety”. But let us say she earnt her name by scaring the s**t out of everyone and turning into a Velociraptor.
That would easily be cool enough for everyone to acknowledge her right to that call sign!
Doubtless the assigning of a name is a bit of an event, as a result. Hence the scene where Sydney gets to choose hers, with input from the rest of the team. Although it also served to act as her introduction, there was a big element of the right of passage and being accepted into the team.
Again, another reason why I feel that there might be some resentment towards Sydney. She is powerful, and showy enough, that she was able to fast-track the process. Whereas others are still either pondering theirs, or not powerful or stylish enough to have done something noteworthy for a hero name.
“Should I go for Androgynous Boy, Androgynous Girl or just plain Androgynous?”
“What about the Mighty Androgynous?”
“Will you quit your Halo worship and give me decent advice ‘Tall Boy’!”
Velociraptors were the size of chickens. (ARRRGH, FLEE IN TERROR)
Yea, but for a century brontosauruses did not exist in our world. Now they do. Again. Such things change, over time, and usage trumps obsolete definitions anyhow. A billion people call the big ones velociraptors, versus a handful of pedantic fossils calling them obscurenonfrighteningnameisuars.
The committee for making up names (actually I happen to know it’s likely name, but, think that one is more suitable, so have re-named them) should just concede defeat on this one. Hollywood has a better publicity machine than they can afford.
The little one can be renamed dinkyturkeysizeraptor.
You win this round. I’ll instruct my agents to stand down. For now.
Phew.
*mops forehead with back of paw*
Not that I sweat, of course, but I had been panting heavily, in anxiety.
Dude!!! I’m a 6’8 black guy named Adrian!!!! This is totally going to be my cosplay after he gets to flex powers. This is one of the coolest things ever to me ^_^
Awesome! :-D
I had similar luck myself.
*wags tail, happily*
In other news… Darkning is a thing.
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Physicist_Finds_Mysterious_Anti_electron_Clouds_Inside_Thunderstorm_999.html
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1415
I… I was only kidding about DaveB having inside knowledge about real super heroes. But…
When you’re at a shooting range you attach your targets to a bit of stiff backing, like cardboard. Otherwise you end up with a flopping shredded mess.
i’m going to guess Ren and the PO’d looking blonde haven’t earned code names yet which is why there collars are black
*places a shiny silver star on xero‘s shirt*
I feel like the far left girl could have been an extra from battlefield earth.
Poor V! I think she has a very pretty face. Even if her physique is not to my personal ideal, I would not compare her to any of the options in that film. Given that the choices are between bedraggled human survivors, who look like they have been dragged through a mine backwards (probably for that reason). Versus giant disfigured aliens, that needed extensive prosthetic work for humans to be able to play.
Hey Dave, just to make sure:
You know this is nothing at all like basic to begin with, right? :) Basic is an 8-week “anti-vacation” that has you semi-isolated from the rest of the world while they work you over and stress-test you.
Also, first day at the range is the day I first fired a weapon. Unless you are learning how to break the gun down, there is literally only so much you can go over in the way of safety. For a Combo refresher training that included breaking the gun down and cleaning it, that was a half-day course followed by the rest of the day on the range shooting. (Note: This is post-basic training, a pre-deployment refresher course for those of us who don’t normally have weapons issued in the states)
Heh, the gal on the far left is totally Jack (ME3) before getting tatted up!
“Richards are nicknamed Dick, so figure that one out.”
What? I don’t get it. What point/joke is he trying to make?
“Dick” is short for “Richard. Dick Grayson (the first Robin)’s proper name, for example, is Richard Grayson. There’s no apparent reason this should be the case; “Rich”, for example, is much more intuitive. Ren was basically saying that the short form of his name is not so strange when compared with the things people do with even very common names like Richard.
I know that Dick is short for Richard. I just didn’t see his point. Not sure why I didn’t see his point, since it seems clear this time around, but that’s the second time this has happened, so I guess I just wasn’t that smart last year. Or maybe I was sleep-deprived. I seem to remember staying up very late on my first archive binge of this, so that may very well have been the case.
His name is “Adrian”, the second syllable of which is “rian”. Which kinda sounds like “Ren”, but does not make much sense when you treat it as a strict abbreviation. As Sydney pointed out.
So he was just citing an example that is even more extreme than his own.
My best mate is “Gary” but I will often refer to him as “Gaz”.
In return he abbreviates “Your Princely Highness” to something far too informal and casual!
Yeah, like I said, I did get it by that point.
I just noticed that Vance looks like an anime girl on this page. I actually kinda like it.