Grrl Power #324 – She should put all those answers on a shirt
So yeah, they missed something fairly obvious there, but they didn’t have much time to experiment. And when Sydney was saying “no whammy” she was hoping that Varia didn’t get feces-kinesis powers from her, projectile mucus, super miasma, or something else awful. Feces-kinesis would be a pretty awful power to have to fight against though. I’m pretty sure I’d surrender right away instead of facing some sort of poopocalypse.
Varia obviously answered some but not all questions about how her powers work, notably whether or not it’s always on when she’s touching someone and if it lasts after she breaks contact, but like I’ve said before, I’d like to get out of the habit of making sure everything gets explained right as it’s introduced. It’s fine to leave stuff for later, and that includes Vance’s introduction for the moment, what with the team leader popping in.
My original draft of panel 3 had Varia just saying “you’re adopted” and the girl with a surprised look on her face, but Xochitl isn’t a dick like that, so I changed it so she’s saying it to a kid who obviously already knows. That said, using her powers to tell if a child is related to their parents is trickier than telling if a brother and sister really are brother and sister since they would have fairly similar DNA, whereas their parents (hopefully) don’t. (Insert joke about the American deep south here. Or European royalty I guess.)
I’ll be at A-kon starting in the late morning. There’s not much going on Thursday, but I work with guest relations and help bus guests in from the airport and all that sort of stuff. The plans for a meetup this year besides trying to bump into each other at one of the webcomic panels is 8pm Friday in front of Media, which is a bar and grill in Atrium II (the main… well, atrium.) Follow me on Twitter if you aren’t already as it’s the easiest way to keep up while I’m at the con, assuming T-Mobile gets reception there. Sprint was mostly no bueno but I’ve switched now. I think I’m going to actually wear my battle pie chart shirt on Friday as the one Grrl Power shirt I have isn’t in good shape. I usually think about getting a new one made when it’s only 3 days to the next event when I’d want to wear it.
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The orbs expand to circle Varia – I think that does mean that Varia can use or control the orbs.
My Speculation:
The Gestalt power copies a portion/enough of Sydney’s DNA that the orbs recognize her as Sydney..
I don’t think they can go above the 2-orb limit – Remember the Power grid for Sydney – the center pie wedges have only 2 lit up – which (to me) implies only 2-at-time.
It could also simply exclude Varia from the effects of the orbs…
So Varia-Sydney can still only use 2 (right now)
I don’t think she can necessarily CONTROL the orbs, but can use one. Mainly because she can’t even detect them like Sydney can.
Sydney is tethered to the orbs.
Varia is tethered to Sydney, whos is tethered to the orbs :)
i do not think Sydney is “aware” of the orbs.
she has seen them, touched them, used them, so she knows they are there…
but
she has yet to notice they are moving differently now.
she also haven’t noticed the “lvlup vortex” until it was pointed out.
the orbs answer to her will, but she does not control them “directly”.
Actually Sydney DOES control them directly. She’s alreadt shown that she can do that – she did it in the initial demonstation to the General and Maxima, and did it again during the spar fight against Mathias.
Oh and she also did it when she took out Shadow Boxer.
And when she bonked Dabbler on the head.
And when she summoned the orbs to her outside of the bank, while she was hiding under the ambulance.
you are either an idiot or you do not read it whole.
which part of “the orbs answer to her will” do you not understand?
when she wishes for an orbs to do something, it reads it and acts accordingly.
but when she is not focused on any particular orb, it will ON ITS OWN return to the halo formation.
now more on it under the cowboyken’s post
Dude, dial it down.
Dude – I get that you’re frustrated, but please refrain from personal attacks. We (rightfully) take pride in the fact that this webcomic avoids the ugliness that so many other internet forums suffer from.
you are right, calling someone stupid is never a right thing to do.
“ignorant” fits much better.
She obviously controls them directly, idiot. And she IS aware of them. The only time she isnt is when she’s getting all ADHD. Which, considering it’s Sydney, is a lot of the time.
So Sydney has an excuse for being oblivious…
What’s yours, R?
And maybe you’re an asshat, R. Then again, anyone who has the imaginative username of…. R…. is probably not able to put to much thought into anything anyway – including their ass-hatty responses.
She’s able to control the movement of the orbs. It’s only been shown about a dozen times so far.
Moron.
… aaaaaand it’s gone
I would not worry too much about it. Everybody involved actually does care about debating. Anybody can have a bad day though. Or have the wrong buttons pushed. And, because we are good debaters, as a community, we know what buttons to push in return.
It is like a family squabble, during the festive season. It can blow up over nothing. In this case there was merit in both arguments, to some degree or other. That simply could not come to a compromise, once positions had been entrenched.
But, I am sure the community spirit will survive and we will do what families do. Tread gingerly until all the tensions have gone down!
Sometimes blowing off steam is even therapeutic. So no biggie.
The greatest strength, that the community has, though is that we are commentators because we enjoy discussing the issues. And the best result is when we realise something new ourselves.
And that only happens if being tolerant of the views of folks with a contradictory viewpoint. They are the ones who might be holding a gem of knowledge that will enlighten you. The ones who totally share your viewpoint cannot offer you anything new.
I think they just worded that very poorly.
Probably meant that maybe Sydney isn’t aware of where they are or what they are doing at all times. When not directly controlled or put in “rest mode” they go into a default behavior of orbiting while Sydney is focusing on other things.
But R is probably partially wrong cause they seem to respond to Sydney’s subconscious and she gets mental imagery/feelings when using some, maybe all, of them (like when she released the “safety” on the PPO). In time all of their features will probably be mentally controlled with sensory feedback being shown only the first few times she makes this leap form toggles to mind. The point of that being there was a good chance Sydney would sense if their power related operation altered significantly. (apparently didn’t work out that way though… just more fun to have her bumble into the realization later I guess. )
He could be partially right in that Sydney’s conscious mind doesn’t seem to get feedback on every little thing they are doing or she would have “felt it” when the link with Varia made them suddenly include her in their orbit. You’d notice if your hands suddenly started moving apart (well there are brain thingies where you wouldn’t but I’m gonna go ahead and call that abnormal) or if your forward momentum altered, etc… So feedback from non-power related things don’t seem to make it to conscious Sydney.
you call it “partially wrong” i call it “incomplete theory”
They’ve got to somehow be tied to her consciousness, or they’d have kept orbiting her head all night long instead of slowly dimming and falling when she went to sleep.
how many times do i have to repeat that they listen and answer to her will?
if her brain functions go below certain point, or if she ignores them long enough, they turn off.
Obviously you’re incorrect. They were ‘sleeping’ in Tubey….. because when she got to Archon, she had to poke them to wake them up.
Yet she was able to summon them to her from Maxima’s hands, while in Tubey, outside the bank, when she was hiding under the ambulance.
Look who has an incomplete theory now. Yes it’s you. Oh yes it’s you, you woogy little woogums.
i am pretty sure she jumped out from under the ambulance, snatched the tubey, and then went back under.
you prove nothing here.
I’m just astounded at both your stubbornness to the point of absurdity in this respect.
Bravo, woogums. Bravo, indeed. Because as we well know, Jedi are well known for their SUPER SPEED, rather than their ability to move things over to them. It’s all clear to me now. Luke didnt make his lightsaber fly over to him – he ran over to it by the emperor super-fast, grabbed it, ran back over to where he started, THEN started fighting with Darth Vader.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/373
She stayed under the ambulance, and the tube flew over to her. She never left from under the ambulance where the harmful sun could get at her.
“can we pretend that didn’t happen” – what didnt happen, her bout of superspeed? Is that the ‘jedi stuff’ they’re talking about?
Actually, better question to ask.
You’re not REALLY that dumb, are you? This is just you being a troll and acting stupid, right?
Oh yes… also the fact that Maxima at first wonders if Sydney is just a telekinetic and has been punking them the whole time.
Because as we know…. telekinetics don’t move things. Nonono, they are superfast instead.
Seriously… are you really this dumb? You’ve GOT to just be trolling, right?
Sometimes it is useful to adjust ones language to the person you are talking to. In this case that language might have been useful, when used on Pander, to making the first steps towards bridging the gap between you two.
Too late now maybe.
On the plus side, R’s lashing out at me for saying the unpardonable sin that Sydney is aware of the orbs, just because… she’s been shown about a dozen times to be aware of the orb…. does show he’s a troll, and his arguments are just troll-bait. If not just blatantly stupid.
Stupid in what way? Let’s see….
“if her brain functions go below certain point, or if she ignores them long enough, they turn off”
Where did R come up with this brilliant theory? Straight out of his heiney!
It’s not ‘if she ignores them enough or if her brain functions go below a certain point, they turn off.’ It’s ‘if she doesnt USE them for a while, they turn off.’ It has NOTHING to do with her brain function. She has ADHD. Her brain is going to constantly be buzzing with information – just not always the right information. The only person who’s brain seems to be going below a certain point is R.
“she has yet to notice they are moving differently now.”
What part of ADHD do you not understand. I mean… I know there are four whole letters there… and that might be taxing for you, but still…
“she also haven’t noticed the “lvlup vortex” until it was pointed out.”
She also forgot she could use the orbs when she was in the protective suit until she was reminded she can fly by Maxima. That doesnt mean she isnt aware of the orbs – it just means she has ADHD and forgets stuff a lot, and focuses on different things.
God you’re stupid.
“she has no special “awareness” when the orbs are in default behavior or “power off” mode.”
More information from R’s posterior. She was able to make the orbs come to her, even when she hadnt used them for a LONG TIME, back outside the bank when she summoned the orbs, INSIDE TUBEY, to her.
“does it make sense? sorry if my english isn’t the best.”
Your english is fine. Your logic is what’s not the best.
” It’s ‘if she doesnt USE them for a while, they turn off.”
how is that different from “if she ignores them”?
also, when she fell asleep the orbs have turned off pretty quickly.
the heavy suit example does not disprove my theory.
both reasons are valid and i don’t see why one would exclude the other.
why are you insulting unrelated people?
what did god do to you?!
“i am pretty sure she jumped out from under the ambulance, snatched the tubey, and then went back under.
you prove nothing here.”
“Your english is fine. Your logic is what’s not the best.”
i am sorry? you say there can only be one reason, you say that ADHD disprove my theory, but its MY logic logic is bad? even observer said it makes sense.
“how is that different from “if she ignores them”?”
Because not using them doesnt prevent her being able to make them move over to her, and doesnt prevent the tether. Her ignoring them doesnt change that they’re going to still be ‘doing their thing’ – because she ignores lots of stuff. You know… because of the ADHD.
“why are you insulting unrelated people?”
Oh woogums, I’m just insulting you. No one else :)
“what did god do to you?!”
God unfortunately gave me a brain and the ability to think logically. I know – it must be scary for you, actually thinking that is.
“you prove nothing here”
Please check my other post where I insult you for your ignorance and obliviousness to the whole point of that ‘Jedi trick’ page, and what ‘jedi’ refers to.
“i am sorry? you say there can only be one reason,”
Nonono, I didnt say there can be only one reason for how a fictional person’s magical orbs work – I said you’re wrong because your stupid ideas are directly countered by stuff that has been spelled out in the comic multiple times, and yet you felt the need to call me an idiot and ignorant when I noticed them, and you didnt. Out of the blue.
You idiot.
“you say that ADHD disprove my theory, but its MY logic logic is bad”
Yes, your logic logic is bad bad. Why are we doubling doubling words words?
“even observer said it makes sense.”
Pretty sure he hasnt yet read that you think she supersped grabbed Tubey from under the ambulance then ran back under.
“you say that ADHD disprove my theory,”
Your theory was that Sydney is not aware of the orbs. I’ve pointed out /multiple/ times where she is. Any time that she’s seemed oblivious about anything can be attributed to her ADHD… because Sydney’s oblivious about a lot of stuff that your average person would not be. But she seems, in the fight, outside the bank, during the demonstration in Archon’s building, etc – to show that she knows exactly what’s going on with her orbs when she’s not off in ADHD-land.
she has to be aware of them or else she wouldnt get the correct orb without looking and going “that one”
plus if you think about it its like when you start tapping a pencil on the table typically you are aware of what your hand is doing but when you start tapping your pencil you hardly notice kind of that whole subconcious thing
Just the mental version of calling one of your faithful hounds by name. She has mentally named them all and when she truly wants one in her hand the orbs “hear” her command and come flying.
That alone would not prove the link gives her the kind of feedback your hand does. Her mental interaction with the controls of the PPO where information is described as going both ways is the kind of evidence you are looking for.
so, updated version goes like this.
she has no special “awareness” when the orbs are in default behavior or “power off” mode.
and when she wishes for “an” ball to move, a random ball will change its movement, also giving some sort of “xxx reporting in”.
with xxx being whatever orb responds.
that way she could take a quick mental look at the orbs, and pick the one with the right tag, or she can just call “the” ball, and the right one will answer.
does it make sense? sorry if my english isn’t the best.
Yes, that fits the evidence more closely.
We haven’t seen any action of the orbs that couldn’t have been a combination of a mental command (do be aware she can command them with desires conscious and subconscious and reflexive actions much farther down the food chain then fully conscious “Hey you, go there.” commands.) and the orbs A.I. making that ideas/imagery behind that command go smoothly.
However there IS mental feedback going on in some areas and that awareness is likely to grow. Especially if Sydney realizes that she can actively try to “feel out” what’s going on with the orbs. If she was a monk or a sage on a mountain I’m sure she would already have established more mental communion with them. So if she isn’t always aware of odd behaviors like that now she may be in the future.
Question is does her ADD help or hinder this? Maybe both at different times?
Actually, even when the orbs were supposedly ‘asleep’ she was able to summon them to fly over to her out of Maxima’s hands, while they were still in Tubey.
Jedi in the hizz-ouse?
Plus yeah – seems pretty clear that most of Sydney’s …. lack of awareness… is not from a back and forth of information from the orbs, but rather because of Sydney’s ADHD. She doesnt even notice stuff right in front of her sometimes. Or focuses on other stuff. Like palindromes. Or tape on the window. Or Scat-Man Batman.
alright then so if it was “jedi pull”.
does that disprove my theory?
first of all, we don’t actually ‘know’ if they fell asleep to begin with.
and if they were, remember that multiple times the distance has reached its limit.
that might have acted as a trigger to reactivate them.
but, while they are packed, they do not follow the “default behavior”.
she has no special PASSIVE awareness of the orbs, but she does get an answer when she is thinking of used one of them. she call, they respond.
does ADHD disprove my theory? why would it? is it unreasonable to say that both are true? was she distracted by something when she forgot to take the tubey from the car?
the way i see it is that so far, its you just saying “this one detail is not right therefore everything is wrong” as well as constantly calling me stupid, while what i am doing, is updating the theory, making it more precise, and explain why X happened.
also… double word? seriously? is that the best you can?
you say it was “spelled out multiple times”
give me links, exact quotes, as well as the number of the panel they are on.
if its true that it was outright said that i am wrong, then i would probably believe it and give up on the idea. but its you claiming that i am wrong, its you claiming that there is prove, so its your job to deliver the prove. Actual prove, not just things that “can’t explain therefore wrong”
“does that disprove my theory?”
Yep.
“first of all, we don’t actually ‘know’ if they fell asleep to begin with.”
Except for the fact that Syndey outright says ‘they sometimes fall asleep if I don’t use them for a while.’ Seriously, you need to maybe… actually read the comic that you’re commenting on before you start ragging on other people and calling them ignorant. You ignoramus.
“and if they were, remember that multiple times the distance has reached its limit.”
Actually no, the orbs are tethered to her where they simply can’t be far away from her beyond a certain point. That does not equate to ‘she is not aware of the orbs.’ One function of the orbs (the tethering) has nothing to do with the other (whether she is or is not aware of the orbs).
“that might have acted as a trigger to reactivate them.”
Except it did not. Because when she went to Archon HQ, the orbs were asleep – despite the fact that she summoned them to her about an hour beforehand outside of the bank.
“but, while they are packed, they do not follow the “default behavior””
Actually they do seem to follow default behavior – she’s been able to call an individal orb (The shield orb) out of Tubey when she barged into the Presidential meeting. Also seems like she must have known where the shield orb was in her tube to be able to quickly call it out like that – and you can’t just say ‘well she probably remembered the order in which the orbs went inside – because Sydney is not what one might call….. observant.
“she has no special PASSIVE awareness of the orbs,”
Her knowing the position of the orbs within tubey would seem to imply otherwise.
“does ADHD disprove my theory?”
It creates a credible reason why she would not always realize where the orbs were, OUTSIDE of your flawed theory. She doesnt always realize because she has ADHD and simply doesnt pay attention to thinks right in front of her face. When not having an ADHD bout, she seems to have an instinctual idea of where the orbs are located – including during her fight with Shadow Boxer, and when she barged into the meeting.
“is it unreasonable to say that both are true?”
Maybe if you didnt start your blabbing by calling me an idiot and ignorant, I’d give you more of the benefit of the doubt. But you’re the one winding up coming off as an ignorant idiot instead, especially when you say things like ‘she didnt summon the orbs when she was under the ambulance’ like you did afterwards.
“was she distracted by something when she forgot to take the tubey from the car?”
Yes. It’s called ADHD. That’s the whole GD point. She forgets obvious stuff.
“as well as constantly calling me stupid, ”
You do remember you’re the one who called me an idiot first, then ignorant when people called you out on it, right? God you’re stupid :) Or forgetful.
“also… double word? seriously? is that the best you can?”
Oh… I can definitely do better than that. I have a whole thesaurus of insulting monikers I can call you if you’d like? I just did the double word thing since… well… you were doubling your words. Focus now, k?
“give me links, exact quotes, as well as the number of the panel they are on.”
Or you could just actually read the comic and pay attention to what happens in it.
“if its true that it was outright said that i am wrong, then i would probably believe it and give up on the idea.”
Sure you will, Mr ‘she supersped out from under the ambulance to pull the tube away from superstrong, superfast Maxima’
how many times do i have to face palm with you?
1) yes she said it.
but pls try not to take things out of context.
what i meant is, that we don’t know if they were asleep AT THAT MOMENT.
you said yourself hour has passed, how long do you thing it takes for the.
2) and that cannot be a trigger?
3) and here you say it… an hour
4) by “default” i mean the “halo position”, you know, the thing they do when she is not actively using them, when they are awake.
and i said “cannot” cause i lacked a better word for something preventing it.
5) she put them there…
6) flawed… until now you’ve been saying “this part is incorrect therefore all wrong”
well, i guess that’s a progress.
“instinctual” you say. in what way, what she did cannot be done with my version?
and the balls moving as she wants them to does not disprove my theory either.
7) oh, so you say that i am wrong because you don’t like me…
cause that’s reasonable. i said it once, with correction later.
you keep doing it every single post.
i might have made a mistake with the jedi pull, but the entire post above is to explain that it does not disprove my theory, which you seemed to miss, when you were too busy commenting on every individual sentence, and sometimes half of it, to see how it all comes together.
8) ADHD makes her easy to distract, it is not a distraction itself.
9) look back at 7
10) you are aware that what you did there is a rather immature action?
and you may say that i did the same with the “god”, but its a bit different.
i did it as a joke to lighten the mood. you said something everyone does, so commenting on it shouldn’t be personal. You however made fun out of my mistake in writing, in what seemed like an attempt to humiliate me.
so i asked a question, but your response seemed rather proud.
so you are proud of making fun of someones poor English.
SO MUCH CREDIBILITY!
11) i did read the comic and i did pay attention, but you know, it has been a few years.
12) again, the entire point of my post, and again, even if i was wrong about the dash the jedi pull still proves nothing. it just makes me update my theory.
as by now you are probably the last person who doesn’t get it i will not bother with you any further, at least until Observer or someone else mature enough say something on the topic.
1) So you’d rather make up your own reasons, rather than use the reason which DaveB said in his own comic, from the main protagonist, about the orbs which she’d had for months already. Wow. I wasnt aware you write the comic.
2) Summoning the orbs was not a trigger because when she first opens the tube at Archon and removes the foam, the orbs don’t come out when she tries to make them come out until she TOUCHES them again. So no….. summoning the orbs was not a trigger. Even when ‘inactive’ – she was able to summon them.
3) You think an hour is a long time? Seriously? Then I guess between when she’s talking to her parents and when the fight happens, which seems to be almost an hour as well, the orbs deactivate again? NOPE. Wrong again.
4) Again, since you seem to be incapable of reading, she was able to use the orb and summon one out of the tube even when they were not in the ‘halo position’
5) And you think ADD-suffering Sydney remembers the order in which the orbs go into the tube? You do remember that she has ADD, right? Of course you don’t. You don’t pay attention to anything. You just blab on and on.
6) “flawed… until now you’ve been saying “this part is incorrect therefore all wrong””
Seriously, you’re so stupid that you’re making my brain ache. I’m saying you’re wrong because you’re saying things which are patently proven to NOT be true based on what’s already happened in the comic, and based on what the main protagonist has said, and based on what the author of the webcomic has written and shown on multiple occasions. Stop being a shmuck.
““instinctual” you say. in what way, what she did cannot be done with my version?”
You do remember this argument was based on you calling me an idiot for saying she’s inherently aware of the orbs, right? On an instinctual level – which she only tends to ignore because of her ADHD? Your ‘theory’ (which is basically to say my idea is stupid) is /the exact opposite of this/ – so yes, arguing the exact opposite of ‘she has an instinctual grasp of the orbs existence’ does mean may saying it’s instinctual will not HELP YOUR ARGUMENT. God…so…. incredibly….dumb.
“and the balls moving as she wants them to does not disprove my theory either.”
Becauuuuuse…..?
7) “oh, so you say that i am wrong because you don’t like me…
cause that’s reasonable”
No, I say you’re wrong because you say things that are patently incorrect and ignorant.
I don’t like you because you’re a jerk who started calling me names. Totally different than why I say you’re wrong. If you were a pleasant person saying stupid stuff, I’d still say you were wrong – I just wouldnt point out that you’re also stupid.
8) ADHD is a distraction in and of itself. That’s…. pretty much the point of ADHD – it keeps her from being able to easily focus on something and pay attention.
9) At least you admit you made a mistake about the jedi pull. Now you just need to admit you made a mistake about everything else, and apologize for being an ass and calling me an idiot and ignorant.
I’m waiting.
10) You are aware that considering that I’m talking to someone who felt the need to start namecalling, that I don’t really care what you think? And you were not calling me an idiot as ‘a joke’ – you were calling me an idiot because you’re a misanthropic little jerk who goes into a nerd rage when someone points out that you said something incorrect, and can only lash out by namecalling.
I’d comment on the rest of #10, but it’s so poorly written that I can’t make heads nor tails of what you’re trying to say.
11) Then read it again so you can see what you’re wrong about if your memory is that poor.
12) I don’t think you even understand the entire point of your own post anymore.
So if Varia’s power when touching Sydney has to do with the orbs, that means that Varia’s touching Sydney puts her in a relationship with the orbs somehow, and that implies that Sydney’s dna somehow has information about the orbs, and not just that the orbs have information about her dna. In other words, the orbs are not just keyed to Sydney, but Sydney’s dna is somehow connected to the orbs.
Otherwise, if Varia’s power keys off Sydney’s dna, and Sydney’s dna has no built-in information on the orbs, then Varia’s power would not reference the orbs but something else, for example the ability to breath hot peppers or something.
So, taking the speculation further, was Sydney genetically meant to find the orbs? Or did the orbs alter her genes when she found them?
That would certainly explain why Sidney has learned any archeology at all, let alone take it seriously enough, AND learn to dive for them. It’s not sydney-typical focus.
…but then, maybe Sydney outgrown her need for meds once she got the orbs and she’s currently speeded by them. That would explain so many little things, including the predicted lowering of her tendency to be a loud mouth (understatement of the year).
Maybe the orbs recognize her by spicyness resistance — which is what Varia got.
I’m wondering that myself. Is there something in Sydney’s DNA thst allows her to bond with the orbs? And if so, why? Or its possible that in bonding with the orbs her DNA has been subtlety altered in a small but unique way thst allows Varia’s power to replicate it? Lots of story possibilities either way.
I view the Orbs as more advanced than Sydney. So I think the Orbs have info on Sydney’s DNA, but not the inverse. If that hold true, then Varia’s powers significantly alter her own DNA to match her Gestalt.
Imwith you on this, i think it allows her to use the orbs as well.
Well, obviously using the orbs and therefore increasing available Sydney powers to the point that she could stand toe to toe (even without special strategy) with just about anybody (cause now she can turtle plus two other interchangeable classic powers!) is the Holy Grail that every fan instinctively hopes for the main heroine just cause we are wrapped up in their dreams. But it might not be in the best interests of the comic writing wise.
Looks like you are planning to limit the risk of becoming overpowered, etc… by limiting the Disparate Duo to only two orbs. Presumably with each of them controlling one allowing, once they work on their team work/dancing, a greater finesse of control than Sydney could achieve alone. Nice one.
That’s pretty good but for the heck of it here are some alternative theories that are also less powerful and would probably not alter the dynamic of the group to terribly.
Theory 1: Tag Along (Back Seat Driver mode unlocked!)
Perhaps she could, as she did with Harems tag along vorp, merely gain the ability to be affected by Sydney’s orb’s powers the same way Sydney is? With some orbs this wouldn’t gain her much but with others it would provide some minor utility.
Flight: Fly with Sydney without having to “ride” Sydney…
Forcefield: Can now be centered on her (if that’s not a toggle already…) IF she can keep resonance after disengaging touch. Feel feedback from the field (if any).
PPO: No idea. Yet. (might help when we know what all the toggles on the orbs do… )
Telepresence and Truesight: Form an illusion through which she can see like Sydney does. See whatever Sydney sees with the Truesight. This actually may be the most useful one since two sets of eyes can be better for not missing important clues in a large scan and Varia can also report to another superior simultaneously as Sydney does increasing information flow at critical times.
Lighthook: Don’t have a great idea for this one but Dave’s usually better at that anyway.
Unknown: Unknown though maybe trying to use them in tandem with Sydney might help them figure out what the darn things do! XP
And more when Sydney unlocks more powers. This may seem very weak but in this case it would be to increase both Sydney’s and Varia’s sense of uniqueness. These minor upgrades would NOT encourage Sydney, or her superiors, to link with Varia into a semi-permanent little “mini team” within the team at all and would encourage Varia to be constantly trying new people and learning how to work with the entire teams triggered gestalt powers making her more interesting. The two orb theory might encourage this thinking a little since to make that work well they would have to train together a lot to get their dancing to sync on a level for combat and once they go through that would naturally gravitate towards working together a lot. Three orb usage would almost guarantee that they would naturally join like Siamese twins and if they didn’t any rational team leader would MAKE THEM join up a lot and train a lot to do so.
Personally I would also like it if she only had to touch people for her powers to work with them as opposed to the highly suggested hand holding thing if she can’t just hold onto the powers afterward for a bit of time and my suggestions reflect that desire.
_________________________________________________
Theory 2: Augmentation
Sydney holds and uses the orbs but Varia’s presence in the “link” alters how they work providing a power boost to some, control boost to others, and oddball things with one or two. (this would probably provide fan theorists to believe that the orbs are using their host/user as a power source and or computing power in some way which would explain why having two minds and bodies available would increase their output in some areas)
________________________________________________
Theory 3: The Living Third “Orb”
A relative of fan favorite theories from the last comment section. Varia gains a power based on whatever orb(s) Sydney is holding. If Varia has to maintain contact or has to come back to touch Sydney after a short time limit she basically becomes the “Third Orb” herself since she would always be in Sydney’s “orbit” so to speak. That would be more natural but it could also probably be swung that, Since Varia is bonding with the Orbs just about as much with Sydney at this point (maybe they have some genetic based tech in them as well?) she would be stuck in the area that way. One orb gives her a related power and two orbs gives her a power related to the appropriate upgraded “two orbs linked” power in Sydney’s skill tree. This might give Sydney a way to guess at what that upgrade does until she finds a way to communicate with the orbs better but wouldn’t be a total reveal since Varia’s powers are only related and sometimes that relationship isn’t obvious (like with Ren ).
I don’t actually like this one cause anything that smacks of “third orb” is probably overpowered and might encourage Sydney and Varia to be linked as a mini-team too much not allowing either to shine on their own. But since its not an actual “third orb” it allows Dave to right in appropriate, and or appropriately weak, powers for Varia and keep things from getting out of hand that way while still allowing for some quirky powers fun. It could be made to work and would probably please fans more than my more powered down ideas.
I prefer ideas that lead to Varia, Sydney and Maxima going, “Huh, well that was weird and could be very useful in SOME situations so maybe we will team up occasionally… ” but not very often. Save it as a fun little treat but not a mainstay.
Duuuude. Textwall much?
I’ve seen worse.
that doesn’t make this one any better.
How dare he comment on a comment board! And with pertinent, well thought out comments too! String him up!
Wait, nah. Get a grip. What he posted is well-written.
On the internet choices seem to be short comments where you then have to come back and spend several replies trying to explain what you meant in the first comment often getting so frustrated you feel like starting a flame war or long comments that nobody has the patience to read these days.
If you aren’t great at getting your meaning across in text on the fly, medium sized comments might as well be short comments. Long comments have the added benefit of making you write so long you can often realize where you went wrong higher up in your “text wall” before you submit.
Don’t get tons of replies but of those I do get I often enjoy them more. (though I like to believe that is also because I explained myself so well they just saw no reason to add anything to it)
Personally, rather than putting in line breaks, I would have written it as one post, then, before submitting, would have cut out the latter two sections and posted them each in their own post. Simply to make sure that I get all my points down in a short space of time. Without having responses coming up to one, before I have even finished the others.
Yours is just as readable, mind. But I suggest this from the ease of responding. Each person might find something of interest in one of the sections. However they could loose interest (or simply forget the point) by the time they get to the end.
And, for those who do want to respond, it is much simpler if they can just his the ‘reply’ button and start typing. Which only works if what they are responding to is clearly associated with their reply.
Whereas you are forcing folks to have to quote a section, or otherwise describe which bit they are talking about. All of which might discourage response.
Finally, as each part has a fundamentally different premise, it would deserve a thread of it’s own.
Huh, to me it felt like everything built on what came before and if I split it up then I would have to add more language linking things were as if its all together people could see I was referring to another part of the same post. I’m not entirely comfortable with posting multiple replies if I don’t have to. It just feels rude somehow to do it on purpose. And it can be taken the wrong way if you don’t word it right. (see earlier with Pander and R’s first interactions)
It is fair enough to do it whichever way you fancy. I was just airing my techniques, in case they were of use. We all have our own styles, which we might favour.
As regards the etiquette issue though, I decided to sleep on that, before replying. Not being much into forums, other than here, I only have a passing knowledge of the conventions. As regards to the social evolution of them, anyhow.
The wall of text aspect is one side of the equation. Clearly advocates championing that feel shorter posts are more sociable than longer ones. However that has already been addressed by others in this thread.
Whereas the other side usually is about spam. Particularly irritating if someone is just trying to clock up their number of posts, in order to build up their forum ranking, by posting for it’s own sake. Including repeating the same post, in multiple sections. Especially those not appropriate for the topic. Similarly for the horrors of mass-advertising.
As a result of the latter paragraph, I can well see how folks might have a general aversion to numerous posts. However that is not necessarily bad, in it’s own right.
Consider the issue of repeating the same information, in a number of places. If the same question is being asked over and over, on a particular comic, that can get very irritating, to those who read all the comments.
So those who are answering the questions are actually being polite. In being helpful, to the questioner, by replying. Further they are performing a community service, in possibly heading off other folks getting annoyed. This despite the fact that it is repetitive posting.
That is just one example, but it goes to show that socially responsible behaviour should not be a slave to generalisations. Rather one should weigh the pros and cons. See if it is helping more than it is harming.
In the case of multiple posts, I think whether they are interesting, or not, is what is key. If it is entertaining, it is not rude.
@anifreik
He paragraphs both frequently and well, writing style is readable AND follows a logical sequence, spelling is OK, and grammar is entirely adequate.
On that basis, he can textwall all day as far as I’m concerned. If you don’t want to read all of it, then don’t. It really is that simple.
Can’t get powers past her skin, eh? Have you tried sticking your fingers in Maxima’s mouth? That might get past the problem.
Probably not since it’s actually the force field, but it still seems possible.
Or it could just be Maxima’s skin is immune to Varia’s touch-effect, sort of like how Rogue’s touch effect doesnt work on Colossus when he’s in organic steel skin mode.
It doesnt – feel free to read up on it :)
But its a lot simpler to just assume Maxima’s cell generated energy field is always “between” those cells genetic structure and Varia’s scans or whatever touch gives her.
It says Colossus doesn’t need food, water, or oxygen when transformed so maybe that metal body isn’t close enough to any kind of normal living thing for Rogue to get powers from. Closest Dave’s writing ever got to other comics level of crazy so far was V anyway.
Oh the idea of it being from a skin-tight force field like a Superman biomatrix is definitely a possibility. And it’s probably the right theory. Just saying there’s another theory as well :)
“…sort of like how Rogue’s touch effect doesnt work on Colossus when he’s in organic steel skin mode.
It doesnt – feel free to read up on it :)”
Except that it does. Go read Uncanny X-Men #208. Rogue grabs an armored Colossus as he is being pulled underground by Harry Leland’s power. Selene disintegrates her gloves. Rogue’s thought bubbles as her bare hands touch Colossus’ steel, but bare, elbow: “”Ah’m absorbing Peter’s power! My body’s turnin’ to STEEL! He’s become human– but Leland’s still draggin’ him down! If Ah don’t let go… … Ah’ll tear his arm out of its socket!!”
Even Chris Claremont evidently forgot this when he returned to X-Men and had Rogue hook up with Colossus. More fuel for my “Everything X-Men after the first Claremont run is fan-fiction” fire.
Doncha love inconsistency in comics? :)
It’s always so annoying when comic book writers forget about established ways different people’s powers work. Reminds me of Silver Age.
I tried sticking my fingers in Maxima’s mouth. Now I can only count to 8.
You forgot your toes…. 18 man… you can count to 18.
Unless… yknow… you stick your toes in her mouth. Which I guess could be some sort of weird kink/fetish or something.
Vore?
God I hope not. I was actually referring to toe-sucking..
Toe sucking? EeeeEEEeeew! *disgusted shiver*
I understand your issue. Here lick this instead.
*extends cloven hoof*
Good idea. One flaw.
Maxima’s force field surrounds her at a cellular level.
If that was the case, how could she taste food? o_O
Force fields can be lowered. I would view it like our autonomic systems. We know that Maxima can vary her abilities. And that they have a minimum level below which they cannot drop any further.
At the cellular level I visualise this as the cells being structurally enhanced, with integral force fields. In such a way that they do not interfere with normal functioning of the cell. Thus it can be left on all the time. This is the minimum level.
When the cell does not need to be interacting with anything else, such as taking on nourishment, it will be surrounded with a stronger force field. Likewise if under attack. Perhaps a slightly permeable one, to allow the cellular communication.
After all, just like Sydney needs to be able to see through her force field, in order to function effectively, cells need to know when they have to lower their shield, to get on with their job, or take on nourishment.
Which means Max maybe be able to learn to alter the field enough to let Varia get through and use her power.
Yup.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/376/comment-page-1
Speaking of Sidney’s powers – she should probably try to learn contact juggling! Her orbs are the right size, so she should be able to hold two in one hand. Or at least have a spare finger or three to use while using an orb. Might not need Varia to use three orbs. In fact those two mystery orbs might NEED to be in combination with a different orb to activate.
It depends. Meaby the orbs have a safty fiture and only a hold grip can activate them. But, certenly, having various orbs near the hands can be… handy
I believe it was already mentioned that she experimented with different methods of activating, and she found she could only use her hands and only one per hand at any given time. As Alekay suggests, regardless of their origin it’s likely an in-built safety mechanism to stop things getting out of hand.
literally
I looked at the page again and it did not specify “one per hand” – simply that ONLY hands worked. The balls are large enough for her hand size that attempting to hold two will feel very awkward without tons of practice. If Sidney has never attempted to learn juggling before, she might very well have not attempted “two in one hand” while experimenting.
The best thing to realise is that it is the intent of the author that she only use two. It makes the story more interesting.
Sydney is a born gamer. She has tried everything you are suggesting months ago, whether we have been shown it or not. She failed.
Two is the number she can use. One also, but not three. Three is a number she shalt not have.
That is for Varia.
I love your comments XD you always have the best things to say.
*wags tail happily*
What if this allows her to use the other two orbs? Not trying to be dumb here just thinking out loud.
That was actually my first thought. :) Maybe Varia can help figure out what the other two orbs do and Syd can start using them.
Varia: I am sensing the green orb allows the user to talk to animals. Wait, more specifically it allows the user to talk to birds. Wait, it is one specific type of bird. And that bird is… the dodo.
+1 :)
Don’t be silly. Even if dodos could talk, they’d have nothing to say.. cuz they’re dumb dodos. Obviously the bird that the orb lets you talk to is a passenger pigeon, who would have many important things to say.
Maybe Varia can ONLY use the two dormant orbs.
now THAT is an interesting thought~
I really like this power.
That Celtics shirt made me unreasonably happy.
Please dial down your happiness to more reasonable and appropriate levels of happy.
Thank you.
I noticed the expanded orbits of the orbs, but the jumping bewbs kidnapped my attention.
Also noticed that Peggy is looking very fine. Always appreciate more Peggy. Thanks, DaveB!
I concur, Peggy is more gorgeous every time :) I truly like how she looks.
Yay! I was hoping I would not have to go through all the comments, only to find nobody had found that worthy of commenting on.
I think Peggy’s face looks both more realistic and prettier there than she has ever been depicted before. Without it feeling that she has changed. Just that the moment captured her at her best.
I think Varia is not the only one who is gaining powers from others. Peggy has copied Sydney’s ‘Hug me’ aura!
I’m still holding out to hear why none of the SIX supposedly competent super hero police in the room noticed (or at least commented in this comic or any comic in the following 5 years worth of comics) about the orbs….
Seems like she might be a range extender? xD
In that she is extending other characters power range* from “Me only” to “Me and Varia”? Sure.
* Although gamers would normally use ‘range’ to describe how far the power can operate. As opposed to the subjects who can be involved in using it.
For those purposes we can only assume that Harem’s teleportation still has the usual limits on how far (or where) she can go. Given that no hint was provided to the contrary.
They also havent really ever said what range, if any, Sydney has in the first place, making ‘range extender’ a bit of a stretch (and one that we can’t really assume anyway).
Now that is something I had not considered. If, by trying to use her power on somebody who’s range is unknown, Varia can stretch her own range? She is a recursive hero, and may have no upper limits to her power!
It hasn’t stopped me before. In the past, I have speculated that Sydney could poke the moon with her tentacle, and draw a smiley face on it.
:-)
I really like how one can see the passage of time between panels by looking at the power orbs.
Oh, that’s cool.
Yup, I like it. Plus those orbs are pretty consistent. Flip to a random page and you will see the same behaviour there.
People are genetically 50% the same as their full siblings. They are also genetically 50% the same as each of their parents. So your commentary is wrong — a person tends to be exactly as related to their parents as they are their siblings. (The exception is identical twins, because they share 100% of their DNA.)
Actually, a person (usually – weird things happen more often than you think, but most of them cause natural abortions rather than viable humans) has exactly 50% of their chromosomes from each parent (if they’re a genetic male, they get less than half their genes from their male parent because the Y-chromosome is significantly smaller than the X).
For each chromosome you inherit from a given parent, your sibling has a 50% chance of having inherited a copy of that same chromosome and a 50% chance of having inherited a copy of its pair instead (though chunks of chromosome can get swapped back and forth between the two, so you might get a copy of the same genes despite inheriting a copy of the other chromosome).
The upshot of which is that two siblings can be anywhere from 100% identical (genetically) to not actually having inherited the same gene from the same parent at any point except where a parent has the same gene at both sites – and there they each inherited a different copy of it.
In fact, it’s possible for two full siblings to be less closely related, on a genetic level, than their parents were – if the parents each have gene A and gene B, then the kids could end up AA and BB…
So, yeah, siblings will, on average, share as much of their genome with each other as with each of their parents, but it’s much more variable how much they actually share.
Right. I was oversimplifying. You are *on average* 50% genetically the same as your siblings. You are exactly 50% the same as one of your parents (except that boys have their father’s Y chromosome 100% of the time and everyone has their mother’s mitochondrial DNA 100% of the time).
Averages are only meaningful for large quantities. Averages are not a useful predictor when comparing two people. And the Y chromosome and mitochondria have so few genes compared to the rest of the genome that their difference or similarity would be swamped by the rest of the genome. They are only useful if you can separate those genes from all the others and compare them.
Except that, given the way genes combine, it *is* appropriate and useful to bring in averages. The chances for each single gene to match is 50%. There are… *quick google search* estimated to be a bit less than 20 thousand genes. That’s more than enough for the laws of averages to kick in.
The accepted number vary up to 25.000, but it’s worthy to note that it refers to the genes capable to be translated into proteins, which is about 2% of the total.
Although a wide part of the remaining 98% seem to be inactive or duplicated, most of it is yet to be understood, there’s still a high number (over 50.000 according some sources) that accomplish vital functions other than to code proteins.
Informed opinion is shifting to accepting that the majority of it does do things. As you say we just do not understand it yet. Epigenetics being a field that is explaining much of it.
My suspicion is that evolution is a hoarder.
“Tails, yes yes, keep those. Stick them in that box there. I am sure we will find a use for them again!”
And every now and again it will get the box out, and poke around, to see if a use has arisen for it yet. Maybe if you put it on a different location… mmm
Well, that presumes your parents are 0% the same as each other. And since humans are 97% the same as chimpanzees, that is doubtful.
You miss the fact that we do not express all the genes we carry. That is why traits can skip a generation. Both parents can have black hair. But their children might be blonde. Look up the family tree and you will find the grandparents who do too.
“Law of Averages”
Given the sheer number of genes, the chances that one sibling is genetically identical or oposite to another is practically nonexistant. In fact, the number of genes is so high, even a divergence by 1% would be exceptionally unlikely. For all intends and purposes, it’s safe to say siblings are 50% related.
Except that we don’t usually mix and match genes. We mix and match chromosomes. There are only 23 pairs of chromosomes (22 if you discount the sex chromosome). That’s still a lot though, so the chances of siblings (other than identical twins) getting exactly the same set of autosomes from each parent is about 0.00000000000057%.
Anyway, the real point here is that the comment about her powers showing an identity between siblings easier than between parents and children is misinformed. Anything that reacts to the relatedness of siblings (other than identical twins) ought to react just about the same to the relatedness of parents and children.
Yea.
@Mike: “Anyway, the real point here is that the comment about her powers showing an identity between siblings easier than between parents and children is misinformed. Anything that reacts to the relatedness of siblings (other than identical twins) ought to react just about the same to the relatedness of parents and children.”
Also, you cannot possibly check if two people are closely related by scanning only one of them.
(Even the black child of white parents – if you don’t know the parents are white and they aren’t there to look at.)
Hey, the reply button is working for me again!
Is it just me, or is Sydney missing a finger in the panels where she is holding Varia’s hand?
Ha! :) It really seems so. Good catch.
So if Varia’s power is specifically orb-related, then this raises some possibilities.
1) Sydney would not have given Varia a power before she encountered the orbs.
1a) Varia’s power is more limited than she thinks it is.
1b) Sydney was always some kind of blank slate waiting for a power to come to her, and Varia wouldn’t have been able to get a power from a blank slate.
1c) Sydney was particularly fated to get the orbs, and Varia wouldn’t have been able to interact with them if they weren’t there.
2) Varia would have gotten a different power from Sydney before she encountered the orbs.
2a) The orbs have changed Sydney’s DNA, to “attune” her to the orbs somehow.
2b) Varia’s power is not just based on genetics, but has some innate intelligence that causes it to seek synergy with others by whatever means.
3) Varia’s power when she touches Sydney is to generically make anything above her head veer wide, and it isn’t specifically related to the orbs at all.
Ah, I think we were typing out the same logic a the same time, in different comment threads.
And this is why I started going by Scotto. In 3rd grade class (double home room) I had there were so many Scotts that the teachers appended a letter from the first seat to the back. Scott A, Scott B and so on. I was Scott O. There was a Scott T. In that class there was only one boy not named Scott. There were 5-6 Karens and a smattering of Heathers but… just not as insane.
heh heh heh
Scottayyyy!
Scotto!
Scotteee!
Scottteee!
Scottby… :(
As a kid named Brian in the 90’s, I very much understand.
I had a class with two girls with the same first middle and last names. Had to call them tall Lorrie & short Lorrie.
Not Red Lorrie and Yellow Lorrie?
with a fringe on top?
WAIT!
nope…
that’s a surrey…
I’m personally expecting one of anything out of column 2 there. Considering DaveB has applied a bit more logic and common sense than is usually explained in superhero comics, it’s likely to be something scientific or quasi-scientific.
Hence, because of that, 1, 1b and 1c seem less likely because the comic looks like it’s trying to run on less ephemeral terms than that.
or
4) Sydney’s powers are there and the Orbs are the expression of them that is visible, and Varia is getting something related.
Or maybe, hah hah, it’s because Sydney is screwy?
5) The ORBS changed in some way, possibly just by recording the data, to now respond to Sydney’s unique nature as their significant symbiotic other and by copying some of that Sydneyness Varia has confused them enough to share something of that bond. The power “muggle” Sydney would have granted Varia is so off the wall that in addition to the orbs trying to partly bond with her, Varia’s weak “cluesence”, if she even has one, is muddied enough that she didn’t catch on in the brief moment allotted.
2b) – Is interesting. If the power, will and intelligence is all coming from Varia it suggests that with enough experience and maybe seeking out some kind of meditative guru/hypnosis/whatever Varia could alter the way her power works. Same might go for a lot of natural supers.
6) Varia is a shapechanger. One with some extra-sensory perception. Which allows her to examine a target, and choose a way to alter her shape (using a very complex decision-making routine).
For kid above she shapechanged into an ice form. With Vance it was into a metal body. And from Ren into living lightning.
For both Harem and Halo it examined them and discovered that they had a power which functioned due to making a distinction between “me and not me”. “Me” can do certain things and be affected by the powers. “Not me” cannot access them, and is affected in other ways.
So, for those targets, she simply shapechanged the bit that those powers look at to check “is this me?”
If Varia walks through an appropriately tuned impostor detector, which looks at that same critical part, it will register Halo as “Sydney” when she walks though. Then, when Varia follows her, the scanner will declare her to be “Sydney” too.
Harem’s power recognises Varia as “Daphne”, so she can tag along with her teleport. Likewise the orbs see Varia as “Sydney”.
That’s a good one. I like it since it reminds me of the “powershifter” arguments I was making the last couple of updates.
However it would be darned dicey around Harem’s powers. “Merely” convincing Harem’s powers that Varia is Harem increased Harem’s mass limit? Since Varia would be hitchhiking a ride with a power that wasn’t set up to handle her body she would run huge risk of some kind of “The Fly” type scene or if Dave was in a more queersome mood she might be altered to fit the existing template. Her mass and energies altered into a Harem which could be dangerous to the original Harem since her mind may not have “matured” power wise enough to handle the extra link load…
Shifting to interface intelligently with another powers. Worrisome but OK I guess.
FOOLING somebodies powers into an identity crisis. Somebody like Harem? Damn that sounds dangerous!
None of this alters that I think that is the most original theory of the day and a damn fun one. (so far… gots some reading to do… )
Halo’s orbs surrounded the both of them when they were in contact, as opposed to them only being around Halo beforehand. I’d say it’s fairly obvious that Varia’s gestalt with Halo is being able to use the orbs. With some clever positioning they could run four orbs at once, since Varia never explicitly stated she needed to make contact with her hands.
I’ll let the lot of you think about all the kinky positions they can get into to accomplish this.
Bum to bum they faced each other, drew their swords, and shot each other.
Wait. How does one face each other if they’re standing bum to bum?
Super heroines with super-flexible spines?
Note I don’t have a problem with drawing their swords and shooting each other…
https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/12/124617/1845454-gun_sword_by_pest3r.jpg
Of course she can’t get a powah from Syd! Syd’s an anime character, while the rest of the world are human!
Except when they are having a strong emotional reaction or comedy moment then any of them might go anime. I think Maxima went powerpuffgrrl once. Perhaps they all got a bit of it in ’em.
Don’t you know, Varia? Ice puns must, by law, be said in an Austrian accent!
(PS: Queen.)
Stands to attention.
One thing that slightly bothers me in this comic is how sydney can stroll up to professional superheroes, say “hey, here’s an obvious way you can use your powers better” and they go “huh, never thought of that.” It’s one thing to leverage people’s abilities creatively on the fly in a fight – that’s legit – but Varia seems to have had her abilities for some time now, and uses them professionally. She’s training to use them in combat and has a very well-funded government think-tank backing her, and *no one* has thought of this yet?
She might be training to use them and be part of Archon, but remember everyone present bar Harem is still going through training, so I imagine creative power usage is still not quite in their books, with priority in survivability and weapons training and so forth.
Besides, there are a couple of other factors that makes Sydney the most likely one to be coming up with this.
A) She’s meant to be the audience’s focal point, if not necessarily protagonist, and it’s easier to have her think of these things so they don’t all happen off camera.
B) She’s ADD/ADHD. Her mind goes absolutely everywhere at once so she gets a big mess of ideas, and little things like that can be amongst them more often than people focussing on other ideas.
C) Assuming that Varia does in fact have some research team working on decoding her powers, testing whether or not she can use it based on cells or other gathered material is likely taking a back seat. It’s near redundant with fellow hero characters as, to work as a team, they likely would be willing to shake hands and help out. Using her powers to combat other villains makes civilian powers a no-go due to their careful handing of power usage as well as it likely being in breach of the law to use civilian samples without constant consent forms. Using her powers drawn from villains is once again a little pointless, because if she’s fighting the villain a great many will need to make contact to fight her in the first place, and once they are in the position to extract some of their DNA, they’re already incarcerated.
Sadly, anyone who ever donated blood has already signed a consent form giving away their rights to their blood and dna for testing and any other use the Red Cross want to use it for. There is a limit, but giving a blood sample to a government organization for “experimentation” isn’t outside the limit.
I would like to point out something that has been becoming more and more common in the comments. ADHD is NOT a power up. ADHD is usually an impairment for the people suffering it.
The inability to keep focused usually difficult to catch and process ideas. It’s common to suffer slower mental process, dysfunctional memory, difficulty to make decisions and emotional instability as well.
Medication and support allows people to have a normal daily life performance, but again it’s not something you are blessed with.
Contrary to what movies like Rain Man or Mercury Rising could make you think, brain dysfunctions are NOT usually paired with awesome abilities. For instance has been estimated that savant skills happen in perhaps 1 in 10 autistic person, the other 90% have no rewards at all.
Even if her ADHD were giving Sydney in particular some kind of enhanced mental process, something we can’t just assume, that would be very atypical.
(Thank you for writing this.)
Any well-read person who comes here knows these issues. Even more so for those who have encountered it first hand or have it (or ADD) themselves. Which includes a big chunk of the population. The negatives have a huge publicity machine working for them.
So, to redress the balance, we have to push the positives heavily. But, it does no harm to mention the negatives. Especially as we might, otherwise, risk giving the less well read a false impression.
Have a think on the following though.
Society is ravaged by a condition which causes it’s suffers to have blinding headaches. Certain areas such individual go to cause them acute pain on their face.
Such environments also cause them to begin behaving in erratic, unpredictable fashions. Causing delusions and altered states of consciousness, which can take months or even years of therapy to cure!
Fortunately science has come up with a genetic cure, which can eliminate the condition. A monumental effort is put into cure every sufferer in society. Which, in due course succeeds. And society rejoices!
The Mole People have just wiped out the proto-eye from their gene pool.
Unless you recognise and give voice to something that lies in the shades of grey it will only be treated as a problem to be eliminated. Whereas if there is something of merit in it, and society can understand and appreciate it, then the focus can shift.
Now the aim becomes to control the negatives, reducing any problems, but trying to do so in such a way that what positives there are are retained.
My apologies for failing to do the proper research on the subject. I’m personally not one with the condition, so in this instance I will submit to the explanations here. However, let me explain my thinking on the subject; I know a lot of the time the issues that come out of it are unapologetically negative, but I also know that in certain circumstances the brain can attempt to fix some of these problems on its own.
I have Asperger’s Syndrome, and over the course of the last six years approximately my brain has worked to reformat areas, make new paths to account for the physical flaws in my brain that caused it, post-diagnosis. Since I’ve seen first-hand how psychological mutations can attempt to modify themselves, I reasoned that it may be possible for Sydney to have done something similar.
As plausible a hypothesis as many we get here. And no need to apologise. You based your comments on the character as you perceived her, which is, in turn due to how she is portrayed. Like most fictional heroes she is a larger-than life character. Who does emphasise the positives.
Whilst the negatives are not debilitating for Sydney, they are not ignored. And there are subtle clues that she works hard to keep them under control. Not to mention dialogue that refers to the same.
Just to set your mind at ease, on the off chance that you might have thought that I was alluding to you, with my ‘less well read’ remark, please be assured that I was not. We have a number of kids who read these comments. Some of whom will not be aware of such issues.
Why Sydney is the one with ideas about using superpowers creatively:
D) she reads superhero comic books and plays superhero role-playing games professionally. Maxima and the computer guy, combined, might be able to match her for genre-savvy, but leave those two out (and keep Harem from using her clones to cheat) and I’d bet on Sydney to outdo any four of the others.
I think that after a suitable training/development period for Sydney, she should be put to work on enhancing the others’ training programs. And one thing I’d like to see some attention to is low/b>-level stuff. “Maxima, you throw big explosions really nice. How are you at little fireballs? See these three matches lined up here? Light the middle one. Just the middle one.”
For that matter, get them playing superhero role-playing games – as each other, various enemies they’ve encountered, etc., sometimes as the superheroes and sometimes as the supervillains. And if they ever get a “that should/shouldn’t have worked” situation, there’s at least a possibility they can go out to their testing range and try it…
Now where’s the edit button? One little < mark..
We actually know almost nothing about Varia’s experience, testing at ARC and training for sure. She might be only a bit less green than Sydney at ARC anyway. The only advantage we know of is that she had it since childhood. We don’t know if she was encouraged or very actively discouraged from playing with it. And maybe having it from childhood is the reason why she doesn’t think very outside the box about it. I’m sure when you are learning martial arts your trainer has to break some of your bad habits with how you use your body or react to stimuli and here you are thinking, “I’ve been using my body my whole life but apparently I’ve been doing it wrong… ” Same thing.
If she tells Maxima a very basic way to use her powerset more efficiently in general situations now thaaat would be a bit odd. Hopefully she has a lot more time in as a super and more time seeing Max’s strategies up close before that happens.
This is true. There are multiple reasonable explanations why Varia might not have thought this up on her own. I don’t mind any specific instance of this, but it’s a pervasive pattern in the story. It even spells it out right on Sidney’s cast page:
“Sydney’s knowledge of superhero fiction has repeatedly proven to be valuable to the team, as she seems to be better at coming up with power stunts than the power’s owner in many cases.”
This… really frustrates me. It smacks of “the protagonist is the only character who employs critical thinking skills.” If you or I could spend a full hour thinking about someone’s powers, and come up with a clever way to use those powers, I think it’s safe to say a person who *actually has* those powers in real life would come up with it too. Admittedly, you’re right if a person is unmotivated and not at all interested in exploring their powers (as appears to be the case with several cast members), they might not. However, a legitimately competent character will have thought of all the low-hanging fruit for their powers, and a competent military organization will have done so for all their superhuman assets.
Yup.
Although it is a tough judgement call to make. What is obvious to one person is not obvious to another.
One other factor to consider is that, until yesterday, the existence of super powers was not officially acknowledged. Yes, society was generally becoming aware of them. But if the courts do not recognise them, and orthodox clergy are hostile to any that do not appear saintly in nature, and so on, then talking about powers can be risky.
Even if only to job prospects, should your potential employer think you are a crackpot. Or believes you, but is fearful of the unknown.
For these, and other reasons, supers might be wary discussing their powers with others. So, lacking feedback, they would be limited to their own reasoning. And, also, may not be that curious. “Yea, I can do that, but really I am more interested in playing hockey.”
For us, as super hero fans, that seems alien. For a hockey fanatic (or hardcore music lover or whatever), who is not into our scene? They just have different priorities in life.
Archon will still try to recruit them though. And then they find themselves being challenged to look at their capabilities.
After all, if Varia (like Sydney) was wary of exposure, yet she only gained her powers whilst holding somebody else’s hand, she would have far less scope for practice, experimentation and use of her powers, than we might imagine. Even if that appealed to her.
That must have been Dave looking to the future (he wrote that cast page up a long time ago) cause this is the first time I’ve seen her suggest something good that would seriously alter the workings of another supers power that they hadn’t already thought of (and possibly dismissed) themselves? (I’m open to the possibility but I don’t remember a moment like that before now… )
Perhaps Dave thought she would do this with the new recruits who, for reasons me and later Yorp have started to spell out (and so many more I’m sure), are likely to need the help. This is the first time I remember her coming up with anything for another in the group that I would consider a “power stunt”.
That might have been Dave’s original plan and he may get to that with the new recruits soon ( somewhat legitimately if they are green for combat I think) but hasn’t the way this has actually expressed itself in comic been Sydney being a “Power Susser”, an assessor of new unknown super powers, and coming up for strategy to deal with unexpected and unusual powers.
so yeah, she seem to get some kind of link to the orbs that way, but you guys all missed the obvious there: the power she get from Sidney is most probably fireproof tastebuds!
Minor detail adjustment:
According to the cast page, Peggy is a 1st Lt. If that’s true, she should have a silver bar instead of two gold bars. If she’s been promoted to Captain, it would need to be two silver bars.
I was wondering about insignia. Your post prompted me to look them up.
So, Maxima, Peggy, and Super Hiro all have army officer ranks, which makes sense given their background. Mr Amorphous also appears to be a 1st Lt.
The rest, though, I can’t identify – I guess Archon has their own ranking system. If so, should the Army transfers get new insignia? Or is Archon using the same insignia for officers as the Army and Navy? That’d make sense.
So, I guess that makes all the other characters “enlisted”? If so, I’m going to speculate on their ranking system:
Jiggawat: [Circle] – perhaps this is “no rank/insignia yet”?
Halo: [V] private (or, judging by Maxima’s dialogue when she stormed into the President meeting, “Recruit”)
Harem: [Double V] Recruit First Class (her behavior probably keeps her a low rank)
[V with a diamond]
Math, Achilles, (+Stalwart? his looks the same, but rendered differently)
Heatwave
[Bar with a Star] – this might be an officer rank above Lt? Or an enlisted rank? If it’s enlisted, I’d *assume* it’s higher than “V with a diamond”, except they obviously don’t completely trust Dabbler so I’m not sure where they want her in the chain of command. I’m going with “highest enlisted rank we’ve seen” for my guess.
Anvil
Dabbler
Thoughts?
Looking at the cast page, the enlisted rankings named indicates either Army or Marine enlisted ranking structure, since Corporal doesn’t exist for Air Force or Navy. No one is listed as above Corporal on the enlisted side making confirmation of what structure is being used speculation. That said, the insignia attached doesn’t make sense and conflict with some of the rankings named in cast member descriptions. Hell, the “V” doesn’t exist in the enlisted ranks as the Army, Air Force, and Marines use the inverted “V” for their ranks. The Bar and Star is an officer rank in the Navy associated with Admirals, which is equivalent to Generals in sister services; it’s doubtful that this is the intended rank for the cast members that have it.
The recruit/cadet title is likely for people new to the service with recruit for enlisted and cadet for officer, though this is unconfirmed. It should be noted that persons in training don’t normally have a rank insignia associated barring special circumstances. Dave may be trying to come up with his own in order to differentiate Archon and have it be recognized as a sister branch. The officer ranking structure makes sense, since the only service that has a different officer naming scheme is the Navy, though they retain the same insignia.
As for the civilians, they don’t get ranks. They may have titles and responsibilities that are synonymous with certain ranks, but they generally have no official ranks or insignia as they are considered contract personnel.
In all honesty, the cast page needs to be updated and the ranking structure needs clarification. Enlisted side will be in doubt until otherwise noted. To sum it up, don’t trust the attached insignia on the cast page as it’s likely incorrect, misleading, and/or outdated.
Correct. Likewise ignore the ranks shown (and even mentioned in dialogue) early on in the comic.
Once Dave attracted a pool of military readers, they soon advised him on more realistic ranks. Which took into account: the age of the individual, their background and implied experience, plus the purpose that Dave had in mind for their role.
The latter being a critical difference, to normal expectations, necessitated by the presence of supers, and their distribution within society. And, of course, the way that the USA responded, in forming Archon.
DaveB
Suh, ah am deeply offended. Pistols at dawn! Choose yoah second. :D
Ah have no need of ah second, suh, as ah whill be presunt.
For some reason, reading what you just wrote made me think of Foghorn Leghorn.
I know a very distinguished gentleman, from the south, who looks like he could have stepped right out of a Kentucky Fried Chicken poster. I, of course, do not pretend that the resemblance is not there, so address him directly as “Colonel”.
Ok, I admit I often cannot remember his name. But who could when all your brain keeps saying is “OMG it’s Colonel Sanders!”
“I reahly do not hunderstand whaay ya think ah loohk laahk Colonel Sanders?”
didnt ya mamma learn ya nothin about the lawd. if a mahn smacks ya ya suposta tirn ya otha cheek
Get over it guys if it weren’t occasionally true we wouldn’t have so many people with summer teeth down here.
Especially since Sydney’s orbs are not Sydney… There’s about the same reason “at work”(?) as for Max.
Test, test, can I reply to someone??? Ngrrrrff :-(
If yes, it was because I forgot to allow JS for grrlpowercomic.com again. If not, I have no idea why. Anyway, the post above this one or its parent post was meant to be a reply to yorp’s first comment in this https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1751/comment-page-1#comment-347291 sub-thread.
Yes, very good point. The fact that Halo’s power source derives from external artefacts could well be throwing out her clue divination, all on it’s own.
It would require that her power acquisition capability and her intuition function on a slightly different basis mind. As the former still worked, even though the latter failed. But they are extremely different capabilities, so that is perfectly reasonable.
So why are Varia’s “R’s” arbitrarily Boston-ified? Ah-terial Spray, Buellah…
She grew up in Boston. It said so 2 or 3 pages ago or so.
Crank‘s point is, why is it arbitrary instead of all the time, DaveB said he would be toning it down because people would complain about not understanding what she is saying (well, that’s not the real reason, but he did say he was toning it down to just a few instances of use)
One thing about people with strong accents is that some can dial it down, if they concentrate. Not everyone can. But Varia is obviously adaptable.
Because she grew up in Boston… sorry, pardon me.
Bahstahn.
Normally I would be yelling “Called it!” but, like Dave said, this outcome was obvious.
So she mentions finding out through Arterial Spray. This suggests to me that she knows when a power unlocks and it is in some way temporally linked to touching someone, otherwise she would just always have it unlocked and wouldn’t feel it unlock.
The question becomes how long after no longer touching them does the effect fade.
I’m picturing the 2 of them, back-to-back, arms linked at the elbows, all 4 hands full of Orbs…
…Varia bouncing up-&-down…
…& I still can’t get past the inconsistent part of Varia’s speech:
“Whoever … safety feature” – (Panel_1, 3rd_WordBalloon)
“…another supah…” – (the very next Panel)
…I could go on-&-on…
In my ear, her use of R’s keeps flip-flopping between “Bostonian” / “Mid-Atlantic”, as though she can’t keep it straight.
DaveB has my sympathy, because writing consistently in an accent that’s unlike your own is a daunting task.
Unless…
…Perhaps she’s a “mole”, who lacks proper training in keeping her cover-persona consistent???!?
…or maybe she-&-Max set this up beforehand, to test Syd’s ability to spot such inconsistencies?
D’OH!!!?!
I meant to say “(the very next WordBalloon)”, sorry.
DaveB said he would be toning down the usage, otherwise too many people would be complaining (guess he didn’t foresee the complaints happening anyway)
Dial it up Dave! Give it to them with both barrels!
how long before they notice that the spheres are orbiting both of them do you think?
I suspect Max will bring it to their attention.
“It’s fine to leave stuff for later, and that includes Vance’s introduction for the moment, what with the team leader popping in.” -DaveB
I suspect at a later scene entirely. Maybe much later.
I’m telling you, Vance’s power is he’s pretty. So very pretty. Varia wasnt turning into steel. She was turning into a living mirror. So Vance can see himself in it. Because he’s soooo soo legolassy pretty. :)
Lol. Vanity mirror mode.
He he. That had me laughing out loud. Sooo true.
AaaaaaaAAAAAAaaH! So that’s his combat power! It all makes sense now.
He’s just too pretty for God to let him die. (and presumably he would always heal back to beautiful cause God wouldn’t want anyone messing up His good works… ) He’s Pretty Boy Wolverine! Once he gets some claws and a garish outfit Sydney can marry him!
You have no idea – and currently, neither do I…
still waiting and hoping…
Looks like orbs is the clear winner, but I’ll put a pfennig down on Varia now being able to eat spicy food that would kill lesser mortals.
By the way, Elsa wasnt a princess. She is the queen. Her sister, Anna, is the princess.
For the first bit Elsa was a princess. She didn’t become queen till Triton sank her parent’s boat.
Yeah, yeah,only fan speculation the ship was the same one Ariel explored in Little Mermaid. But my wife is a huge fan of Disney movies and I love teasing her about Triton murdering Anna and Elsa’s parents.
Maybe Ursula shipwrecked ’em.
And the moral of the story is… never trust an octopus-woman based on a RL drag queen. She’ll sink your ship and kill your parents. (seriously I didnt know that – I learned about that on a Nostalgia Critic review of The Little Mermaid)
Oh hey… wait… Ursula’s sorta a queen too in that respect! :)
Maybe the ones on that reality show Drag Race might. Some of them have their corsets on too tight…
Oh, I had always known that drag racing was a niche activity. But I did not know that it was so closely intertwined with such an exotic life-style choice too!
I have never watched it mind, but I guess that it must have pretty extravagant pre-race build ups, compared to formula one racing? Where you just get the girls in bikinis wandering around.
So drag racers themselves are probably really flamboyant characters too, I am guessing.
*whistles innocently, whilst sauntering off*
Meh, she was a princess for maybe two minutes max, then queen for the rest of the movie :)
Oh…. by the way, little easter egg. Tangled’s Flynn Rider and Rapunzel have a cameo in Frozen.
So does Cinderella and Tiana from Princess and the Pea. They’re all guests at the party.
You know if you took out the “Jump Jump” then it would appear that Varia’s “orbs” were starting to lift up and join the halo around Sydney. That’s it! While touching Varia she becomes an eighth Orb –unknown power apparently.
apparently from the run of the comments, Varia has actually tried this with Dabbler, and what she got was …
LITERALLY HYPNOTIC!
8&9?
I agree with the theory that Varia’s gestalt with Halo produces a link to the orbs, since the orbs orbits expanded & Dave’s no whammy explanation defines that Halo is hoping for a non-sucky power. (as opposed to no hitty the Varia with my orbs I guess.) [“no whammy” is a phrase shouted during a gameshow Press Your Luck when the player takes a spin on a roulette like wheel.] As for whether or not the gestalt would increase the number of orbs usable at one time sorta depends on if the gestalt can be started/maintained without use of hands or whether or not orb usage can be done without hands. I wonder if Sydney’s belief of usability is based on her misconceived notions. After all she does have enough control over the orbs to call them to her hands & to strike somebody with them. If orb usage is simply based on having enough available processing power perhaps 2 heads is better than one?
I wonder if with Varia gestalted with Harem whether Harem’s teleport transport limit is increased for nonliving gear?
My pet theory is that the orb set is a star faring race’s equivalent to a personal scale transport device, more like an fighter(or exploration vessel?). I suspect the level up grid is some sort of engineering control which uses some ultra rare or elements/fabricated compounds to repair/upgrade the “modular system” of the orbs. Thus it shows when enough material is ready to fix/upgrade the setup.
I suspect the orbs are multi-dimensional. (based on the scanning shown earlier in this series.)
If my reasoning above is valid I suspect one of the unknown orbs is some sort of life support device. what I wonder if the yellow ball (telepresense) includes some sort of navigation or if such a feature is within the other undefined orb.
I’m guessing that the PPO is some sort of plasma jacketed anti-matter stream.
I’m guessing Maxima’s skin is some sort of Tungsten carbide alloy. (In a few reserves fake gold bricks have been found. They were tungsten carbide with a coating of gold. They weighted just as much as the others and were found out when a drill test was done on one of them. The test bit broke in the process.)
Perhaps, but tungsten carbide is dull grey. There is also Titanium Nitride, which is also very hard, and its natural colour is… gold!
• Tungsten carbide 15.6 g/cm³
• Gold density: 19.30 g/cm³
• Titanium Nitride density: 5.22 g/cm³
The fact that an alloy of tungsten carbide was specified, means that the fraudsters could match the weight to volume ratio of gold exactly. Cogswerth‘s technique can fool Archemedes. Especially when you bear in mind that destructive analysis is only used as a last resort, when dealing with precious items.
Whereas titanium nitride would be instantly recognisable as fake the instant one was picked up. No scales even needed!
I should have done the research first and confirmed it.
I remember seeing gold tone tungsten carbide bits.
So now I ask myself what did I see then? And what is this Titanium nitride?
One internet surf later…
Confirms tungsten carbide is grey & can’t find any “credible” source posting news articles about counterfeit gold bars. (the rueters online “paper” has the most neutral article discussing it but few details. I’m not sure I am allowed to post links here. According to the rueters article the fake bar was off a few grams and did use some gold and failed to account for the coating properly.)
Titanium nitride is used as a coating to drill bits. (internet check from only one source.) I assumed the metal though out the bits were the same as the coating too.
(Cogswerth goes over to his tool pile and looks as his drill bits kinda gold looking but the box doesn’t describe the bits’ material.) Yep now I know where I saw them. I bought a box of ’em a long time ago. Too bad I didn’t have all the packaging still.
Anyways the Tungsten carbide has a hardness rating past sapphire. And a coating of Titanium nitride is often put on drill bits as a coating to triple most bits longevity of use. That gold looking titanium nitride has a Vickers harness rating of 2400. While Diamond has a value of 10000 the hardest carbon steel on that chart has a value of 180. (That Vickers chart has maths I don’t want to remember in it.)
Perhaps this metal skin of maxima’s is made of the stuff? (of course the suspension of disbelief must be upheld. How does transformed to metal person/metallic skin still move without metal fatigue causing the metal to snap apart…?)
I am very excited.
Orb use requires empty hands.
Varia’s power requires (maintained?) skin-to-skin contact.
Thus, to use 4 orbs rather than just 2 (or 3, with Varia holding Sydney’s wrist):
Backless tops.
Not all combat situations require going back to back, so I recommend string bikini tops instead. Unless that renders Math completely ineffective – it’s a trade off we may have to suffer with.
It’s sorta cute when guys try to think up theories. It inevitably ends in ‘girls in bikinis’
Isn’t it wonderful?
The world would be better if we celebrated that. Lets have one massive party! Guys in trunks and girls in bikinis, of course.
I’ve seen more than a few men who probably should not be wearing trunks, and quite a few women who should not be wearing bikinis, but let’s go with that. :)
Party time!
*puts the music on, and starts dancing*
Yabber dabber do!
Maybe we’re looking at a piggyback situation.
Would she get a different power with each orb that Sydney holds? What if she holds two?
Now THAT’S a thought. I’m guessing “no”, as it would add a lot of powers to the fray, making her even more complicated than she already is, but cool thought.
The thing I’m wondering about is Varia’s interaction with Harem’s power. Okay, she can tag along for the ride. But Harem can merge bodies by teleporting them together. Now one might think that Varia would just ride to the merged body and appear beside it, but what if she were pulled into the mix?
What if Varia were to try tagging along with a merged Harem who was using the teleport to split? Harem gets weaker as she splits, could the result be two or more extremely frail Varias?
Finally, Harem is currently down to four bodies: One got a broken arm in the fight yesterday and, from what I understand, Harem “un-teleported” her, neither merging her with any other body nor manifesting her separately, until she can get medical attention. What if Varia tagged along with a Harem who un-teleported?
First one is that they don’t teleport together to merge. Harem just sends one to “storage” (somehow) and whether she teleports in another one before that is complete or not is inconsequential.
I think she’d have tried that right off since it might double her powers for the team instantly. Since she can only teleport she would just go with the “new” Harem and materialize holding the clones hand with her original destroyed. (hope she hasn’t lost her soul… )
The last one is a good question. (minus the merging thing… ) I think it would be damned irresponsible to try but who knows. If she lived maybe she would have traveled to another dimension and gain powers from the trip or at least new otherworldly “friends”
Or just been in stasis and when she reappears won’t realize any time has passed.
I think that is likely.
I’ve always felt Harem’s “stasis” involves being stored as information in another layer of the multiverse.
Apparently, one of her powers is foresight. How else would she know the Elsapocalypse was coming clear back in 2010? Actually, the dating is still rather nebulous between the start of the comic and the “forward a few months” from the prologue. Barring prescience, the Elsa comment would date it at 2014 at the earliest (as it’s spring or summer and the movie came out Holiday 2013).
How things happen in OUR universe is not necessarily canon in the GrrlPower-verse. Movies may or may not have released in the same time frame.
That plus didn’t Dave leave himself an out by not stating a definite date for where the comic is set “in comic”?
Hollywood spends hundreds of millions on movies. They can easily afford to hire supers to assist in their script writing.
Precognitive ones could do the trick. As could those who tapped into alternate realities, where some things had been discovered earlier. Then there are time travellers. Those who might make a pact with the dark powers, for insight. And those who might be inspired by higher powers.
Aliens could have returned Elvis with knowledge of advanced entertainment techniques. Princess Elsa could have magically come to the Archon world and told her story. Or there might be a super who specifically has enhanced writing capabilities (imagine Shakespeare but with real talent). And so on.
By the way the comic started in 2011. Panel 2. Bottom right corner.
Remember Grrl Power has clues embedded all over the place, if you look carefully enough.
I was a little confused when varias hair and.. other assets whent all over the place. First i said to myself “Whoa they grew… nice” but then i rememberd occums rasor.
Shes just jumping to see if she could fly XD
You cut it to the simplest explanation indeed.
Dave, I love your comic and I’m going to say this with the kindest heart.
Making Sydney being always the (unjustifiably) smarter one is becoming a bit repetitive and unappealing.
It’s just my opinion and you could say me that I’m not obliged to read the comic. I would be fine if so.
I just felt you could use a well intended feedback.
Keep the good work up.
She’s not the “smarter one,” she’s the one who thinks sideways. She sees what others miss. She approaches problems from different angles. That doesn’t actually mean smarter.
She thinks oddly.
They do better at “normal” thinking on average and Sydney does better at going to all the thought places most people think are too silly to contemplate, are scared to contemplate, or both. Her all over the place focus combined with nerdy willingness to believe seems to demand it even to her detriment at times.
She’s been wrong and will continue to be wrong about so many things. This is just the area where she has a higher chance to shine. (she’s put enough time into thinking convoluted fan thoughts about these things for years she really aught to )
She’s superhero smart. Don’t forget she said on the previous page she said she had “So. Many. Questions.” so when Xochitl preempted most of the ones that Sydney was going to ask, she went a little smarmy and asked one she had that wasn’t already covered.
But if that answer isn’t satisfactory, don’t worry, she does some dumb stuff in the next few pages. :)
Well, I guess that it all boils down to personal preferences in the end.
Thank you for answer, I really appreciate it :)
She’s not the smartest one by far. She’s the one who’s the most genre-savvy and ‘superhero-based’ smart – which sort of makes sense, since her whole life is about comic books, and her profession is all about selling comic books.
Pretty sure the SMARTEST one is probably Dabbler, followed by Leon.
I appreciate what you are saying there NotFred because… it is getting close for me too.
But not quite there. For a couple of reasons. Albeit maybe not the ones intended.
In the previous comic, I had a hit of what you are feeling when she simultaneously said “gestalt power”. This bordered on the protagonist having ESP and knowing things before it was possible to do so.
However, when you examine it, there is justification. Sydney is just smarter than me. All the clues were there to see. She simply spotted them, and drew the conclusions a lot faster than I did.
Of course it would be nice if she got them wrong on occasion, to show us that she is working ‘on the balance of probabilities’. And, no matter how good you are, if you are using partial information and having to fill in too many blanks, sometimes you will call it wrong.
In particular though we must appreciate that this is a defining characteristic of Sydney. Very much like Sherlock Holme’s deductive reasoning. Whilst he has his way of showing off his thought process, and pointing out the subtle clues, Sydney does not waste her time. She just blurts out the answer.
But we have seen the whole process spelled out in a page, during the battle.
Whereas, on this page, I did not even need to use any of the above reasoning. The only thing that Sydney pointed out is a pretty obvious thing (for any gamer nerd). So manifest that for anyone not to have thought of it seems… mmm…. well it makes me put less credence on Varia’s deductive reasoning.
To have lived her adult life with these capabilities and not consider that, does not reflect well on her. But, here I have to try and be objective. Just because it leaps out to gamer type minds does not mean that an average member of the public would go there. Unlimited time to do so or not.
This feels like a cop-out. Her powers don’t work with the main characters so I don’t have to think up something.
That being said, I DO see the orbs changing their flight pattern.
Less a cop out, to avoid thinking, and more “I have thought this through in meticulous detail, and once you have too, you will see the light.”
Seriously. Just read through the comments and you will see how deeply it has been thought out.
I have a question. Is Maxima going to be instructing these cadets, or just addressing them? I ask, because in most training done in the armed forces, it was/is done by a senior NCO. A chief or a sergeant, probably above e-4 or 5.
Clue number one: They are standing next to a firing range.
Clue number two: Final panel, look over Maxima’s shoulder.
Providing Peggy has moderately good teaching skills, she is more than qualified to train them for any weapon skills. Mind you, I should also mention
Clue number three: Ren was expecting a sergeant
So Peggy might just be there to give demonstrations complimenting the sergeant’s instruction. Or she could be passing through to get in her daily practice.
If Varia’s powers work with hair, she could be the heir to the throne of the greatest Flash villain of all, MR. ORIGINALITY! Check him out: https://www.writeups.org/fiche.php?id=411. That’s a gimmick, brother.
Feces-kinesis would be awesome, you’d never have to wipe and you’d never get constipated. Then again you’d have to hold someone’s hand while going to the bathroom and that might get weird fast.
You would also be able to get some of the more difficult toilets to flush. And if you went to work in agriculture you could probably make a shit-load of money.
Sounds like you are a fan.
I think I see what you did there :)
That’s true. It would make mucking the stables (where the work keeps “piling up”) much easier.
And you could not only gather up unwanted feces and sell it as fertilizer but if you drove slowly past nature areas and large ditches you could use your power to summon all the particles of feces in the area to refill the truck and deliver to the next customer without having to stop to load or haggle prices with another livestock farmer. Free fertilizer to you and you pass (some) of the savings on to them. You’d crush the competition.
And don’t even get me started on how much easier it would be for you to make those self fertilizing plantable/biodegradable plant pots made out of dried, processed and pressure formed feces. You’d be a King of Industry with a huge shit eating smile on your face all the time! (er… not because you actually… )
I’m wondering what happens if Varia touches two people at once? does she get combo powers?
Say She touches Math and Dabbler at the same time…results?
What if she’s touching Sydney who’s holding the PPO and Dabbler at the same time? Would Varia be able to blast a PPOooooooooooooh?
What if Varia touches a Power thief someone who can steal part or in whole super powers from targets and then touches a few villains supers? when she breaks touch with PT would she retain some of the stolen powers in part? (which could be cool, but would give Varia a definite ROGUE feel–)
As for her variable accent problems? Easily explained that she unconsciously borrows some portion of the “touched’s” mind too and this can imprint on the weaker mind (touched or touchee/toucher) in minor ways. Which would show up in variations of their natural speech patterns (and it should fade in time too.)
Varia’s early dating would have been rife with comedy situations… Varia’s Mom looks up as the Porch Glows vilently green and Pink…”Damn, I told mah daughtah to stop seeing that Murphy Boy…He’s nothing but trouble.”
Sydney needs to ask Varia if she’s touched Dabbler- in response Varia just blushes…a whole body blush. Somewhere in a room far away MATH perks up, his Ecchi Sense tingling.
Here’s my take on what you said :)
“I’m wondering what happens if Varia touches two people at once? does she get combo powers?”
Really good question. I’m guessing yes :)
“Say She touches Math and Dabbler at the same time…results?”
An orgy spontaneously occurs.
“What if she’s touching Sydney who’s holding the PPO and Dabbler at the same time? ”
An orgy plus wanton destruction spontaneously occurs.
“Would Varia be able to blast a PPOooooooooooooh?”
HEY! Stop that! Only say that if you’re hip!
And …. I’m going to assume yes, assuming it’s as difficult for her as it is for Sydney?
“What if Varia touches a Power thief someone who can steal part or in whole super powers from targets and then touches a few villains supers?”
I remember someone asking that about ‘what happens if Rogue and Leech touched. Though what happened was Leech just prevents Rogue’s powers from working, since his power isnt based on touch.
With Varia and a power thief, maybe both of them will spontaneously get the same power, or maybe both of them will spontaneously lose all their powers temporarily.
“As for her variable accent problems?”
Great, get the entire city of Boston angry at you for calling their accent a problem. You’re never gonna get any clam chowdah at this rate. :)
“Easily explained that she unconsciously borrows some portion of the “touched’s” mind too and this can imprint on the weaker mind (touched or touchee/toucher) in minor ways”
Seriously though, there’s been nothing to show that she borrows any of the other person’s mind. She just gains a power with every person she touches. It’s not a rogue thing apparently.
“Varia’s early dating would have been rife with comedy situations… Varia’s Mom looks up as the Porch Glows vilently green and Pink…”Damn, I told mah daughtah to stop seeing that Murphy Boy…He’s nothing but trouble.”
+1 for you sir…. +1.
Though… they wouldnt necessarily be holding hands. Or maybe it’s just skin to skin contact. bow chicka wow wow.
“Sydney needs to ask Varia if she’s touched Dabbler- in response Varia just blushes…a whole body blush. Somewhere in a room far away MATH perks up, his Ecchi Sense tingling.”
*points back to the orgy comment*
Now that is a great idea. Ending with that is an awesome way to encourage folks to go back and read a long post in detail! Even better than standing in a bikini and pointing up at it!
*takes off hat to you*
Pretty sure wearing a bikini is the worst way for a woman to get guys to pay attention to what she’s saying, actually. If the woman’s particularly attractive, as are most supers, I’m pretty sure they wouldnt even realize the woman is talking. :)
Do we have the tech to get messages to scroll across optic fiber displays woven into bikini tops now?
I’m pretty sure Google is probably working on that.
Boob Tube, “This tool can teach.”
Booble?
That’s an internet search engine. Actually that’s EVERY internet search engine….