Grrl Power #327 – Ask a self evident question…
I’ve had this page in my head practically since I started the comic. Its tough to sit on them for that long, but it just made more sense to have it happen on the second day at the earliest. Granted, Sydney had to play along a little. I don’t mean she immediately understands what Maxima’s doing and rolls with it, I mean she specifically had to not get it in order for the gag to work, so I sort of poke fun at that with the “going to keep staring this direction” word bubble.
Normally Maxima doesn’t make a habit of pointing her gun at recruits, and obviously Sydney will be taught never to point a gun at anyone unless there’s a pretty good chance she’ll need to shoot them, but I thought I’d say that Max gets away with it because besides outranking everyone, her finger isn’t on the trigger naturally, and more importantly, her pistol is single shot break action and she doesn’t keep it loaded. With her speed, she can load it faster than most people can cock a hammer. She can even do it one handed, just let go of the gun in mid air and pop a bullet in the chamber before it has a chance to fall more than a centimeter.
There was no way to make this a single page comic. If I really had to I maybe could have cut 3 of the panels and maybe even combined the first two, but it would have lost something and still wouldn’t have fit on a single page, so it had to be a double. Unfortunately it put me two days behind and I’m not caught up yet because of A-kon, though fortunately I didn’t fall any further behind. I still have my buffer but I will probably never actually use up my buffer. That’s for like if I break my hand or something. Not that I have enough of a buffer to ride that out, I just don’t want to use it up if for no other reason than it would take me about 4 weeks to get an extra page ahead again. That’s why I haven’t updated the vote incentive yet this month. I do have two pieces that are half finished I could use but I’d like to have them a little further along before I post them.
I’m mostly pleased with the art on this page, (I could nitpick nearly all of it of course because artists are hyper self critical like that) so maybe it’s dumb, but my favorite panel is the one with the ballistics gel dummy. It just really looks like ballistics gel to me, especially with the old bullets and the spawled trails behind them.
The firing range BTW is in the basement, one level above the garage where the machine shop and the few ground vehicles the team uses are kept. Regular parking is in a proper parking garage next to the building
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Why were they doing stone paper scicors? What would have happened if Peggy won?
If Peggy won, she would be the one explaining it to Sydney
Yes but how? She doesn’t have some non-treatning finger that makes tanks go boom
I figure peggy would just talk…. max… well she just likes to blow stuff up..
Agreed.
And by the look of panel four, Peggy deliberately lost, sounds like it’s not the first time the have done this routine :D
Given Max’s speed, I expect she can win or loose at will. In “elite” rock paper scissors, they try to read the way the muscles are tensing up to predict what the other player will use (or so I’ve heard).
Max could just wait until they start forming their pick, and counter/fail to counter.
As far as the gun/finger of doom thing goes, I know Sydney not getting it is a part of the joke, but really, if i saw someone obliterate something by pointing at it, then they pointed at me, I’d be leaping for cover. Kind of failed your spot check there, Sydney.
To Dave, I want to say that ballistic gel target looks perfect, I immediately knew what it was. It’s hard to draw transparency like that, but you did a great job.
Do you have an idea how accurate Max is with her energy shots? Can she guide them? Do they automatically go exactly where she wants them even if she is pointing a little off? Are they locked to exactly the line her finger(s) are making?
I came to ask exactly this question.
so it’s rock-paper-scissors!!! I couldn’t figure it out on my own if my life depended on it ^^
Thank you captain! :)
(more like rock-paper-shotgun, huh? hur-durr)
Agreed – I figured Maxima was doing a downward swirl of her fist followed by pushing it down/forward. This made me think she was using some sort of military hand signal that Peggy understood. Jan-ken-pon makes SOOO much more sense.
Yeah. They had to drop the popular “Lizard” and “Spock” because everyone chooses “Spock”. Waaaaay too many ties.
I think it’s less Rock Paper Scissors, more “how big a boom should I make”, notice the numbers like a gauge?
Naa, strictly speaking it should be 3, 2, 1. But that is an integral part of rock, paper, scissors. Doing a count-down, before revealing the chosen gesture. Normally the hand would be held behind the back, whilst doing this, if doing a verbal count down.
However both opponents hands can also be held in plain sight, but in a neural position. Raising and lowering them, three times, before simultaneously revealing the choice. Which seems to be the way it was done here.
What are you, Australian? As far as I know rock paper scissors is always 1, 2, 3. (Or 1, 2, 3, shoot)
Excuse me, but I am curious.
Exactly what is it you think we Australians do with Rock, Paper Scissors and/or basic counting?
Since your toilets flush counter-clockwise… Of course, I could simply be generalized to the entire southern hemisphere.
I fail to see the connection.
…. And, on a side note, actually they don’t. Aussie toilets are shaped so that flushwater goes STRAIGHT down – and have been so for decades at least. .
I refuse to get on the Aussie teasing bandwagon. They are our colonial cousins and should be treated accordingly.
The fact that their toilets have to be modified, to conceal such otherwise bizarre behaviour, is something that we should discretely avoid.
Just like those deadly arse-biting spiders, which hide under the rim!
“I refuse to get on the Aussie teasing bandwagon.”
Same here: The US & Down Under have very similar origins, ya’ know. We started out with political & religious dissidents migrating in, but (in contrast with the Aussie Penal Colony) they came here willingly…At such time before they would have been sent elsewhere unwillingly.
;)
Well, most of them were willing…
… Lets quit now while we are ahead.
in contrast with the Aussie Penal Colony
Lil’ history lesson: England used Virginia as a penal colony long before it did Australia.
@ CanuckAmuck: Lil’ history lesson.
That’s because England recognized America’s independence in 1781, before Australia gained theirs in 1788. The king had to stop shipping their criminals over here by then…
Also, if England had been continuing to ship criminals over here between 1776 & 1781, they would’ve just been adding to the number of American Colonists fighting the Red Coats.
:P
Ooops, my bad. Australia achieved independence in 1986, not 1788. I misread & confused it with Australia Day, when 11 ships of the British Fleet brought in convicts…
“toilets allegedly flush” Sorry about the commission.
*It
The specious logic is that since your toilets flush backwards, then Australians would also do other things backwards. At this point, I have now wasted too much time on a lame joke.
Toilets do *NOT* flush “backwards” (counterclockwise) in Australia unless they have been designed to do so! I visited there for a few weeks to see friends, and indeed all modern buildings and renovated ones had toilets that go “straight down” like 7thsealord said.
But I visited some older buildings that had the original fixtures, and they have the same brand names that we have (like Crane and American Standard), and flush CLOCKWISE.
Besides, it’s been scientifically proven and demonstrated that the Coriolis force is not strong enough to make a toilet to go one way or another – even on the equator, where shyster locals will make you pay ten bucks to see their parlor trick of water going one way then the other on different sides of the equatorial “line”, in a bucket with a hole in the side. Spoiler: there’s a small, hidden vane inside, and they spin the bucket before putting it down making the water go in the direction they want it to.
wow, this comment about rock-paper-scissors sure derailed quickly. :’D
To clarify, since you live upside down, I assumed the backwards count that Yorp had put forth might make sense there.
Which is what Max did. 1, 2, 3, shoot (and Ted disappears)
About panel #12: Doesn’t the military teach people to keep their finger off the trigger at all times unless they’re actually going to fire their weapon?
it *IS* off the trigger: look closely: her index finger is fully stretched
Which, from the demonstration we just had, is arguably more dangerous! Depending on the size of the initial projectile, and whethrr it wouod clip the side of the gun for premature detonation.
I hope no one has a paper bag handy…
Actually, I read this as Max is demonstrating the vast difference between “actual lethality” & the “perceived lethality” of any apparent threat…Most particularly, notice how Sydney views Max’s gun as a greater perceived threat than what she knows about the greater actual threat of Max’s finger.
Notice how Max demonstrated the “actual threat” of her finger, but Sydney didn’t show any indication of the “perceived threat” when Max pointed it at her…Yet, when Max pointed her *gun* is when Sydney jumped for cover. This just indicates how a “perceived threat” can be more effective than an “actual threat.”
That would be good for Sydney to know on the field of battle…Which is someplace where Max does have some practical experience.
;)
Oh, wait… Upon closer inspection I notice that it isn’t on the trigger. Could we have that edit function now?
Her finger is off the trigger, the detail is just small enough for that fact to be missed. of course with a gun barrel that big and that close one can be forgiven missing that fact in Sydney’s case.
It doesn’t look like it is on the trigger?
No. Even without zooming, but looking carefully, you should be able to make out that the finger extends beyond the trigger guard. Confirmed by the fact that the guard is blocking our view of part of her finger.
As such it is pointing straight, and is not curved around the trigger. The guard is blocking her from accidentally touching the trigger.
Yes, but you have to look really carefully, because it does look like she has her finger on the trigger
Indeed, that is certainly the first impression, because of how much of the finger is visible in proximity to the trigger.
There’s a good bluff right there. Keep the finger off the trigger let the opponent think he/she has a split second advantage and BAM! Finger laser instead! BOOM
Yeah, I would have had the same reaction
I am within the first 5 people to comment? Sweet.
*awards ftknight a shiny bronze star*
Of course awards are only presented to those who actually make a meaningful comment, and resist the temptation to just say “First!” You did good.
I think Max enjoyed that WAAAY too much.
I think everyone would enjoy such a thing in her shoes
Well Sydney will definitely remember the explanation.
Sydney’s pants, and maybe her shoes, though… they might need changing.
And I think her gun needs a bayonet.
Actually, with the way the gun lines up with Sydney’s head, it kind of looked like there was one, for a moment. Sticking all the way through, and out the other side!
Although a rapid re-assessment makes it clear that the ‘bayonet’ it just the desk behind her head.
ONLY a Bayonet?
i wish i could remember whether it was a cheezy, “C” grade, straight-to-video sci-fi movie i saw, or if it was a commercial for something, but i remember seeing some video where the main character (i think??) had a snub-nosed .38 Police Special pistol with BOTH a telescopic sight, AND a bayonet…
Excellent point, pun half intended
I absolutely don’t get what’s going on panel 3…
Never mind, an other comment explained it.
So, if I’m correct: they carry guns because people know what to expect of guns, and therefor are more cautious? I don’t get it, otherwise.
Sydney’s actions and reaction in panels 9-15 explain it. a finger being pointed at you is not nearly as threatening or scary as looking down the barrel of a functional gun.
It’s because guns are scarier than a pointed finger, despite the significant difference in it’s output
As the others have said. Plus there is just a simple point of law. Police are required to make clear that they are armed and that the person being threatened is endangering their lives.*
In due course Sydney will be informed about the protocols, such as having to say “armed police, put down your weapon”. But, an intrinsic part of that is the necessity for that threat to be credible. Just pointing your finger, is not. Likewise Sydney’s Christmas tree ornaments.
Should Maxima (or Halo) actually have to kill a criminal, but failed to make it clear that their actions were endangering their own lives, then our heroes could be subjecting themselves to sanction for misconduct.* Possibly including having criminal charges filed against them.
* This is assuming there is time to do so, of course. If it is credible that any delay would result in loss of innocent lives, then this does not apply.
well seeing as it has been said they are under the military rather then police,, i am not sure they actualy have to play by the same set of rule,,, but its true that its easier to undertand you are armed when you point an actual weapon.
Gendarmes absolutely do have to play by the same rules. When they are acting in a policing role, they must obey civil laws and will be prosecuted by civilian courts if they infringe them. Should they be called upon to conduct a military operation, or there be no civilian involvement, then court martial and other military laws apply.
In grey areas in between the two, there will be legal arguments as to which jurisdiction applies. And each country, which uses gendarmes, will have specific legal guidelines, stipulating precise conditions under which laws apply, which help in such arbitration.
And there are similar rules for most countries in the world, when they utilise military forces in a policing role. The USA’s however are complicated by that comatose opossum, which prohibit certain of the armed forces from doing that, under normal circumstances.
Under US military law, a person can be prosecuted by civilian court for a particular crime, then get turned around to face military court for the exact same crime. The immunity to Double Jeopardy applies only to civilian law…Military law is a whole different animal to deal with.
UK law has been changed such that double-jeopardy can be overturned, and a retrial can be ordered. Something I do not approve of. Somebody could potentially spend their entire life, in one lengthy trial, after another, if the powers-that-be had a grudge against them.
That’s not really double jeopardy then if it’s civilian court THEN military court. It’s also not double jeopardy if one’s state court and the other is federal court.
A state prosecuting someone doesnt prevent the federal government from doing the same exact thing. Same for military court. Different set of rules, different ‘sovereign’ – no double jeopardy.
I should note that the rules can change in a state of emergency, or during wartime. As determined by each country’s legislation.
… And sometimes even in different subdivisions of said country (Provinces, States, etc.)
Rules Of Engagement or ROE say Escalation Of Force or EOF standards including verbal warning, physical wave off, show of weapon, warning shot in safe direction, before shooting at individual or vehicle in question (steps may be skipped if time not permitting /imminent threat)
Never publicly state ROE, remember your sensitive but not classified information briefs.
Somebody just shot those, on the firing range. See panel 6.
Armed and Dangerous takes a whole different meaning when the arm IS a weapon…
“Stop, or I’ll shoot” is beter with a gun than without.
Although “Stop, or I’ll point my finger at you” van be much more disarming than a gun in the face, if you catch my drift…
I remember a DnD encounter where a wizard just pointed a finger at the oppenent and they surrendered. Nothing like seeing a hand shethed in green energy pointed at you to make you stop. (Finger of death)
“…but failed to make it clear that their actions were endangering their own lives…”
Yeah, exactly the way Max tried (multiple times!) to warn Vehemence how close he was getting to making Max kill him…
But it took li’l ‘ol Sydney (with help) to actually get him restrained & struggling to even breathe to get the point that he’s going to die if he didn’t surrender…
Guns are more intimidating than pew-pew fingers… okay. I figured it was more for situations where you don’t want to blow something up.
I was thinking that too, but it doesn’t have to be just one or the other. There can be several reasons for it at the same time.
My thoughts too.
Guns are (slightly) better than exploding beams of ‘supah’ for taking people alive.
At least we can somewhat treat some gunshot wounds…
Also rubber bullets are a thing. Still potentially lethal of course, but typically more possessed of stopping power than killing power. Regardless, Sydney’s best nonlethal takedown is constriction via the lighthook.
Having a bean bag up the pipe as well is also non lethal as we saw Harem pass one over to Duke Nukem look a like during the car park fight.
Not only that, Peggy had to knee cap some with her 9mm to keep them down rather than use her .50 which would have blown the leg off like Max trying to do it small scale.
Actually Maxima is conveying both, although your first point is the one being carried the more clearly. But if you are a cop, and your super attack is that destructive, then you need a more precise option available.
Perhaps, when Sydney takes a look at the range, and sees the massive destruction (and other targets shredded too), that point will be driven home too.
People can be skeptical about the power levels of super heroes, but the capabilities of guns are a universally known fact.
theres a quote from the discworld book, Monstrous regiment that it think goes into a similar philosophy.
[on the subject on the vampire, Maladict, carrying a sword which he confesses he has no training with].
‘I carry it for protection’
‘How can you protect yourself by carrying a sword if you don’t know how to use it?’
‘Not me, sir. Other people. They see the sword and don’t attack me,’ said Maladict patiently.
Yes, but if they did, lad, you wouldn’t be any good with it,’ said the sergeant.
No, sir. I’d probably settle for just ripping their heads off, sir. That’s what I mean by protection, sir. Theirs, not mine. And I’d get hell from the League if I did that, sir.”
Jackrum stared for a moment”well thought out” he muttered.
He he. And a very good point.
Not everyone watches TV, so there will be people who do not recognise her. Even years from now. But, if they see is wearing a gun, at her side, then they will have the usual respect due to an armed police officer.
Well-quoted. Excellent point.
Always love for a Pratchett quote or reference.
That’s when Max initiates the power finger-flick…
I would think the finger would be a bit worrisome when it is still warm from the super energy beam that Sydney JUST witnessed…
Many folks would take it as being threatening. I certainly would. But others do not. And we have examples of readers who were not, to prove the point.
Maxima is operating on the principle that the gun is very unlikely to be mistaken. Whereas the pointed finger can, fairly often, even with the demonstration. Ideally you want to get the message across all of the time. Most of the time is not good enough.
I wonder if this is an example of Sydney’s “comic knowledge” actually acting against her for once? Max is a “good guy”, a very experienced super heroine, and an authority figure all rolled into one. Perhaps to Sydney’s comic book learned mind it is virtually impossible for Max to intentionally fire off her blast in Sydney’s direction and nearly as unlikely to have an accident this far past her development of powers.
So her “comic book” mind handles reactions to things like glowy fingers and her regular U.S. civilian raised mind handles things like looking down the very large barrel of a gun.
All that plus she seems to find it very easy to bond with Maxima. She already appears to see her as a friend instead of a larger than life super being or a scary boss figure.
Soundly reasoned, and I totally agree.
Makes me wonder, though- Can Maxima de-pew without firing? She’s been shown to ‘charge up’ a blast- could she charge a tiny little destructo-sphere at the tip of a finger, that she’d be able to un-charge if it’s not necessary to fire? Because aside from the glowy-arm she threatened Vehemence with, she’s never been shown to not fire off an explosive shot she’s prepared to fire.
hmmm probably not 24 karat gold since it would be soft Sydney :P
Sydney should totally come up with a word for the proper color of Maxima’s skin color in revenge for this!
But Maxima can be soft.
True, hrm, I still vote in favor of name some kind of revenge though.
Yea Sydney was being pritty dense in that pannel.
Though it’s not even that unbelievable. I know I had spells where I just don’t see a point when it’s literally almost touching my nose
Her roleplay experience gives her a lot of powerstunt knowledge, however it doesn’t apparently include psychology.
pointy finger is a pointy finger ,people are just not used to it being nuke-scary.
Guns on the other hand are without a question scary. those things can KILL maaaaaan.
also, sydney has been surprisingly tame in this page.
“24 Karat maniac!” I died a little!
Need inhaler
It does have a powerful poetic punch to it.
Max didn’t mind, obviously figuring that it was a justifiable reaction under the circumstances.
at least it wasn’t 24 kakkarot maniac (rimshot)
Yeah, Max would have to get a few decades older before “Golden Oldie” would be appropriate…
So what happens when Varia touches more than one person at a time? Like in a football huddle, or a re-enactment of certain scene in “Eyes Wide Shut”? What if she is holding on to two of Harem’s bodies at once?
Personally I think she has to pick which one to form a gestalt with.
Harem is just the one person, despite having multiple bodies, and she will only form the one gestalt with Varia, as a result. No matter which body or bodies were involved.
Should both bodies choose to teleport (say to different destinations), Varia would need to decide which one to piggy back with. Should she fail to pick, a more grisly comic might have part of her going in each direction. But I do not think that likely here.
Although the possibility of it resulting in two whole Varia’s (one of which, incidentally would be stark naked), is entirely plausible.
Harem’s power does have that capability, so there is no reason why Varia could not do that Even with a single body teleport, for that matter, if done in the same way as Harem normally creates duplicates.
Plus there is a good chance that the duplication would persist even after Varia stopped the gestalt. Harem’s duplicates remain even when she is not teleporting (obviously). So that power is not needed to sustain them. That is only involved in moving or storing them.
Likewise Varia may well gain the telepathic bond, as that is due to quantum linking. Which again could be sustained without the teleportation power.
my guess is that she wouldn’t have a choice but would gain the power of whoever she came into contact with first even id the difference is only nano seconds you will always touch one slightly faster than the other
That is perfectly reasonable.
Mine though is a much easier mechanic for DaveB to handle. Note that we do not know, yet, if Varia has to maintain contact, in order for the power to work. Or whether it persists until she touches someone else. Or possibly (but less likely) that it lasts for some time. Let us ignore the latter, for this.
Your way would make things very complicated if the first one touched moved away from her (depending on which of the above other options are also true). If they all drop away, one at a time, does she cycle, involuntarily, through different powers (assuming they release in the same order they attached)?
With mine it is pretty clear cut. If she can keep the power, after her gestalt partner breaks contact, she can simply choose not to make a new gestalt, with one of the other individuals. So can continue using the first power.
Should the other option apply though, and breaking contact breaks the gestalt, then Varia has to choose who’s power to use next. If she does not pick someone, then she does not suddenly change powers to something new. She simply has no gestalt power.
Note that a multi-person uncontrollable random power cycling is horrendously dangerous, for the other people. Only one of them (the one forming the gestalt) is immune to her power. The rest will be fried, electrocuted or frozen, should any of her new powers have such effects.
Also note the implications for Varia walking through any crowd of people. Or even being in any room with more than one person. Humans do tend to bump into each other, and tread on other people’s extremities all the time.
*curls tail up, safely under body*
“What if she is holding on to two of Harem’s bodies at once?”
Math suddenly appears.
Oh my gosh! Why does the ballistic gel dummy have underwear? Why are they shooting at his imaginary genitalia!? ಠ_ಠ
cause a lot of the ladies in this organization have had to deal with men that are suffering from near-lethal levels of testosterone poisoning? that or someone in supply and Maintenance has a cracked sense of humor.
or is a manhating misandrist
and quit with the toxic masculinity BS please.
I just noticed that to. Awesome.
It’s missing sunglasses though (well all the new dummies, once the range has been cleaned out, and everything replaced
Ah, so we shoot at the underpants! Got it! :P
For some reason, I thought of this – https://dribibu.xs4all.nl/index.php/comics?pic=dilbert19921211
It is, obviously, Math’s jock strap. Peggy put it there, and had Math watch as she put two rounds through it, in order to make the point that Math may want to control his urges a wee bit more. This happened some time ago, and the jock strap was simply left in place as a warning to others to treat all of the ladies with respect.
+1
You win a No-Prize
I think it’s because the women understand the intimidation factor that’s linked with their choice of target…Most men are more intimidated by a threat to the groin than they would be for a threat of sucking chest wound.
Hands up who snickered at the small object hitting Arianna in the head?
/raises hand/
Icing is all i bave to say.
*puts hand up*
Loved Arianna’s expression!
Count me in.
Granted, Max’s ‘pistol’ is about as small as you can make her handcannon of choice, barring Dabbler making up something out of Tinkertech-reinforced materials. (I’m guessing that’s a 12 gauge)
Actually ..577 Tyrannosaur
It is one of the seven ways to defeat the evil squirrel overlord!
Even with superpowers I wouldn’t want a gun in my face.
Remember: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/316
This is Achilles she’s pointing that gun at. Who is completely and utterly invincible. Even HE stops for a moment when that thing is shoved in his face
That might be more a testament to his acting ability.
His body may be immune to injury, but his mind is not necessarily immune to intimidation…
The man blocked a sword with his open eye! He stood in the path of a railgun and roasted marshmallows in Maxima’s blastwave. He has no fear. He is, however, a stuntman, and presumably he can at least act a bit.
He did? *looks at self* I…don’t seem roasted… *looks at self again*
:P
During the fight in the “cah pahk,” he was mentally prepared for it to the point where he knew that he could deliberately take that action.
In the ambulance, Max drew her gun suddenly…Not to mention that Achilles in the ambulance was still in disguise & trying to deny that he was Achillies.
Even without considering his invulnerability, Achillies was more aware then about what Max’s gun can do than Sydney knows even now in the shooting range. That’s not a piddling little .38 Special, she carries…It’s a pistol engineered for Maxima Impact.
Arianna’s expression just makes this comic for me.
You just KNOW she’s thinking “Can you guys refrain from blowing something up for like, 5 minutes? Is that too much to ask?”
She’s probably wondering if it was the ’24 Karat Maniac’ again, or the rookie, and wondering how many pieces are going to need to be cleaned up :D
This page took me a disappointingly long time to get. I couldn’t tell it was rock paper scissors at the start, and then i was just as oblivious as Sydney about getting an explodey finger pointing.
Which is good, that perfectly illustrates Maxima’s lesson. Sydney might have been slow on the uptake, but she sure will remember it.
I like to read through the comic in one flow, and had a similar, ‘not quite sure what is going on here’ feeling, as you did, for the starting bit. But did not stop to analyse it so just proceeded with ‘Maxima and Peggy are deciding something, or giving hand signal orders’ and just went on.
The page flowed easily enough, given that the correct intent was within that assumption. And, once I had stopped laughing at the conclusion, I came back to unpick that panel on it’s own. So not as clear as would be ideal, I agree.
DaveB could have done it as a two panel instead. But this is already a double-pager, so it is fair enough trying to compress that bit, to avoid pushing it even more.
Also note Sydney’s instinctive response is to dive for cover and grab the shield orb. Apparently her system reboot worked.
She didn’t activate the shield though.
So it’s not complete
I think she has, there is a hint of ‘bubble edge’ in the top-left corner of said panel. It must be enclosing the table (legs and all).
Well damn you’re right.
Good spotted
I second the motion.
This gives us important information about just how flexible Sydney’s shield is. She can use it in a confined space.
Further, no way did she have time to be poking icons to set the size. So we now know that it automatically copes with that itself. Presumably it goes for the default ‘Halo’ size, when not confined, and adapts in smaller spaces. Of course, we know that for it to get bigger, she has to find the right glyph to poke.
Whether or not it is enclosing the table (/screen) or not though, I cannot say. Although either is possible, I think it is more likely deformed on the far side of it, from previous behaviour we have observed.
Why table? I was going by the ‘overturn’ on the previous panel.
And, since the shield always encloses Sydney, it would have to deform hugely to not enclose the table as well, since she has her right hand clasped around one edge.
Ahh, thanks, I had not picked up on the sound effect being her getting a table from off-screen. But was having trouble figuring out where the table leg fitted into the screen hypothesis. :-D
Yea, but I have no problem with that. It is wholly consistent with it shaping itself under her feet as she walks around. If it were solid, she would have to do the hamster-in-a-ball thing, to move around. And a close up (somewhere) does clearly show her walking around, on the ground. No hovering or rolling involved.
So clearly it is, where her feet are touching, behaving more like flexible plastic, which she is treading on. Allowing the pressure of her step to be transmitted through the highly deformed (non-rigid) shield, to let her push off from the ground to take her pace.
Do not point this out to the villains though, especially not the Eventual Evicerator! If he were to bury himself in the ground, he could poke her foot, as she walked overhead. That might be uncomfortable.
Likewise well spotted YuffieK, as regards having the orb in hand.
Heh, looks like Sydney does get to miss the point sometimes. And more than once.
I was thinking more along the lines of:
Guns are predictable (sort of).
If you shoot somebody (and you’re a decent shot), you can choose what kind of damage you want to inflict. Shooting somebody in the leg is non-lethal damage usually.
With super powers it’s not so clear cut. Unless you have a super power that is specificaly intended to incapacitate, trying to finely regulate your own power is probably a pain in the ass.
Max can probably snap normal human bones at her minimum strenght setting, so giving her a gun that can be used to intimidate and incapacitate makes a lot of sense.. same with Sydney and her PPO.
Not exactly though.
People who know their powers through and through have even more control over the kind of damage they inflict with it.
Like Maxima, she can scale that finger bang all the way up from low to high, everything in between.
And she can clearly hold people without having to worry about snapping them in half (she carried a flailing Sydney while flying for example), so she has full control over her powers.
She could probably blow off someone’s little toe without harming anything else about them
Dunno, what if that WAS her lowest power blast setting?
She could fly over, amputate your toe, and fly back
Heh. Good counter. I think ChaosSepher is making a sound point though too. And there are plenty of circumstances where Maxima might not want to do that.
Not least of which is that it is requiring bumping up both her speed and her flight, to do that so quickly. Which means shifting power out of her other attributes, including defence. Quick or not, she would be breaking cover. Which means that she would be exposed, whilst having low defence.
So the gun does still give her tactical options.
We have seen in several instances of her using her particle blasts that she can produce a rather wide variety of effects with it, from the pencil-thin kinetic beam we see here, the wide area (but quite directed) blasts when her roomate in the past woke her up with a bag… on to the flashbang effect she used during the big brawl to give her team a tactical edge (and also ground “budget halo” for a bit, without notably harming the woman in the process despite her proximity.. energy barrier not withstanding). Of course let’s not forget the sand to glass blasts she apparently used while testing sydney’s barrier at the range And finally there was the implosion beast which first Melted the tank, then formed some kind of delayed effect that culminated into what is probably the single biggest hexplosion we have had in the comic thus far.
Ergo, given that Maxima can fine tune just how much energy she puts into her blast power total, as well as seemingly fine tune how her particle blasts express that power into physical effects… Yeah, I’d be sincerely surprised if she doesnt have the ability to dole out non-lethal partypopper type blasts if she has to, of course given her superspeed on demand coupled with strength and so on… there would be rather few situations where she’d need to use her blast power to incapacitate someone where a finger-flick will do just as fine.
Also, the main use of the gun is probably intimidation + the ability to fire special rounds like theoretical sedatives, tracker darts or what have you or, perhaps, to deal with things somehow immune to her energy blasts.
There is always that last to consider. And having specialized loads available for the gun is also an excellent point.
…
We carry guns because… they freak people out?
Whilst superpowers… freak people out.
I don’t get it.
People are trained to respond the same way to a gun pressed in their face. They’ll take a step back. It’s intimidating, even when you don’t know what the person holding the gun is capable off.
While Maxima pointing her finger in your face is not as intimidating, atleast not untill you see what that actually means.
Villains who have never seen Maxima would only be slightly confused if she pointed at them while yelling ‘FREEZE’
No no. Sydney KNOWS what that finger can do, but reacts nonchalantly to it. Even from Maxima, a finger does NOT elicit a primal fear response in the same way that a gun does. Having a pistol out tells a crimibal you’re prepared to use lethal force in a way that pointing a finger that can vaporize at them does not.
She has to demonstrate the power. She doesn’t have to demonstrate the gun.
+1
And, even having demonstrated the power, peoples’ brains are conditioned to respond to a pointing finger as a gesture.
Likewise, as we are used to seeing kids playing cops and robbers, by pointing a finger and pretending that it is a gun, we still view that as being non-threatening.
For most people, at a purely instinctive level, guns need no explanation.
On a second note, especially where the PPO and Max’s power beams are considered, there are times you might need something with a little LESS firepower, when you don’t WANT to turn a tank into molten confetti. (Not questioning Max’s self control, but how far down CAN she turn her dial if she’s trying to NOT overkill)
yes. dialing down is always an issue., reminds me of Numair in Tamora Pierce’s Tortall series, who despite/due to being (one of) the worlds most powerful mages has to put candleflames out by hand, as otherwise he explodes the candle. and the sideboard. and…
Love the rock-paper-scissors on this one, and would love to know what Peggy what have done or said if she had lost.
Peggy did lose, on purpose (Rock beats Scissors)
oh yeah, idiot me. they were playing for who would get to explain, not for who got out of it.
I rephrase my musing, to ‘would love to know what Peggy what have done or said if she had won.’
(I also assume that Peggy and Maxima chose their stances simultaneously, rather than Peggy having chosen scissors with the knowledge that Maxima would opt for rock. but i may be mistaken)
Peggy is fully aware of Maxima’s capabilities. With Maxima’s dial up to full, her reflexes are such that she can see, and grab, a bullet in flight. She can observe the world in slow motion, just like Ren can.
But, even at her minimum setting, Maxima still has super human reflexes, and the perceptions that go with it.
Peggy knew damned well that, by doing rock, paper, scissors, in the open, Maxima would win. That will be a party trick of hers, no doubt. Hence the wry smiles, from both of them.
Normal folks would just do the ‘go ahead’ gesture. But they were having a little private joke.
Peggy would have had no option, but to explain it verbally. A lesson which (especially with Sydney) might not sink in.
Her best option would be to pick the nearest super with a non-threatening means of attacking. Had Maxima left the room, before Sydney asked that question, I imagine she would have turned to Varia, and gotten her to demonstrate the pointing bit. Taking on her lightning form, would do the trick.
Peggy could have then done the gun part herself.
She would not allow a recruit to point a gun at someone, needless to say. Whereas Peggy would ensure that the gun was safe, before she demonstrated. Something we can be sure Maxima was fully aware of too.
Mind you Maxima has one other perk. Even if her gun does go off, inadvertently, she can just lean forwards and pick the bullet out of the air, before any harm is done.
You want to bet Sydney’s cute little nose that Maxi is that fast? Or that her reaction time is? o_O
Thought you liked Sydney :(
I would be willing to bet, but not based on one thing alone. Maxima’s precautions are multi-layered:
• The gun is too unwieldy for anyone without super strength to use. Plus it uses Tyrannosaur ammunition in a hand gun. Nobody ekse is going to accidentally load that.
• Maxima never loads the gun, other than whilst firing it.* This ensures that there is next to no chance Maxima will have a round in it.
• I have confidence that Maxima’s gun safety is sufficiently practised such that she will, as a matter of routine, check the weapon is empty, whenever strapping it on.
• I would expect the safety to be on. And, in any event, Maxima’s finger is off the trigger.
• Maxima put her reflexes/speed up to maximum.* Given that the odds of a bullet coming out of the gun, factoring the above contingencies, is vanishingly small, I do consider this a more than adequate back-up. Maxima would be aware of the gun firing, and will likely be able to react, before the gun even leaves the barrel!
* As confirmed by DaveB.
A gun still halves Sydneys power,i am not sure the intimidation effect would be worth that
Although not having any actual guntraining myself, I’d like to suggest that it is propably better to use both hands when handling a gun. Especially for someone with Sydneys rather petite stature.
So she would have no free hand to hold an orb.
Well, unless Dabbler manages to embed one orb in the pistol grip or something.
I was trained in Karate, and I was taught to shoot.
I KNOW the “ideal” stance for holding a handgun is both hands on the gun, toes pointing toward the target. Similar to how a boxer faces an opponent.
I hold my firearm in my leading hand, in what amounts to a pretty typical “fighting” stance, (but with the leading arm fully extended).
It works for me.
Incidentally, my rear hand is above my belt when I shoot. Just as I was taught you never to drop your hands unless you’re aiming for, or deflecting a blow to, the groin or leg.
Another good reason to EVENTUALLY (looks around nervously for naysayers) learn to shoot with the tentacle.
Now I’m wondering if the lighthook can form a bladder and straw arrangement capable of shooting spitwads, gravel, bowline balls, or whatever?
it has already been proven quite adept at using anvil as a ballistic projectile from on high while Sydney herself was on the ground. I’m fairly sure the thing has some level of assistance built in to translate what Sydney wants to happen into the exact actions the tentacle takes to make it happen.
Otherwise, well, think of how much time it takes a person to learn how to use a limb, or master the use of some articulated tool to that end, Sydney has had the lighthook for a few years at most and she’s already using it as good or better than she does her human limbs, if we assume for a moment that her human limbs could pull even half of the tricks the lighthook does
What? You mean is just squiggles around stiffening some parts while others stay soft like rope until its formed mechanical assists like a catapult or something? Baby Lantern powers?
Shape of a bellows or balloon. I’m picturing it sucking up a snow ball and a big gulp of air, extruding a nice tube to improve aiming, and then foofing that ball out of there like whatever it was those big bugs were coughing up in Starship Troopers. I think it’s possible, and the science of topology might explain it. Wish I knew that one.
@Andorxor
The intimidation factor, versus a pointed finger (or a funny-looking orb) has been made as obvious as possible..
Furthermore, as has been said a number of times already, simply KNOWING what a gun can do and how to handle it correctly is going to be essential for Sydney. She may never actually use “her” gun in combat (if she is phenomenally lucky), but there will be both friendlies and hostiles who willm abnd sge has to know how to eeal with that
And finally, what if she has to battle a super who can somehow neutralize her orbs, or is somehow immune to their effects? You might say that is unlikely, but one thing that comes across very clearly is that even the most powerful supers can be taken down by odd power combos and creative use thereof. That last-resort additional option could make all the differance at some point.
Goddam typos-
Line 7 – “hostiles who willm abnd sge has to know how to eeal with that” should read “hostiles who will, and she has to know how to deal with that”
Whew! I’m glad you cleared that up. I habitually fell asleep in my language classes for Gibberish.
:P
So, basically, guns are used for threats. Why this is more scary than someone who can blow up a tank, I don’t know. Maybe we all have a fear that the gun will go off even if you don’t hit the trigger? Maybe because guns are threatening without having to demonstrate their power? Maybe because a gun can be threatening without it looking like a crazy super who will use their powers on anyone?
That and as Sydney just demonstrated even after seeing what the finger can do she didn’t connect it toanything but the mundane. People recognize pointing as, well, pointing. They don’t usually but 2 & 2 together.
Yeah, was just going to say, that even though Sydney had just seen what that finger can do, she still didn’t see it as a threat when it was making her go crosseyed
And it was even still GLOWING!
I’m now wondering about possible “super” bank robberies, where the villain doesn’t have powers but pretends he does:
Xresses up in spandex and a cape. Walks into bank, up to teller, makes a gin shape sith his hand.
“Hand over all the cash you have. You really don’t want this going off in your face!”
*Dresses*
Problem with making a ‘gun shape with his hand’, he will be treated as though it is real and be taken down hard
Yup. The cops have every much as right to shoot him dead, as if he were holding a real gun. Assuming the surrounding circumstances would justify killing.
So long as it looks like a gun, and they have no credible reason to suppose it is not, then they have to treat it as being a clear and present danger.
Which is why, in the UK, toy guns are required to unmistakeably look like toy guns. Even from a distance. Shops are not allowed to sell realistic looking replica guns to the general public. Film crews, I am sure have an exemption. But not to folks who might give it to kids, as a gift, and put their lives at risk.
As has been proven time and again it unfortunately does not prevent LEOs shooting dead kids playing with florescent plastic toys that are mistaken as a firearm by said LOEs as stated under oath. Then again a pop tart with a bite taken out of it was mistaken as a lethal firearm so there is that to worry about.
It significantly reduces the risk though.
There will always be circumstances where body language alone conveys ‘threat’ to a cop, even if they cannot clearly make out the weapon. But if they are suitably positioned, to clearly see the ‘gun’, then luminous, clearly toy-shaped, plastic allows them to immediately realise the situation.
Is there any justification in arguing to keep something which DOES kill children, simply because the alternative is not guaranteed to avoid it, but merely reduce the frequency?
Also please bear in mind one other perk. If folks grow up with toy guns always looking like toy guns, they will (arguably) be less likely to treat real guns like toys. Ok it may not have a huge difference in the amount of irresponsible behaviour, but even a slight improvement is not bad for a free side effect.
And how long before we start seeing luminous, clearly toy shaped, plastic-coated real guns?
We didn’t in the UK. But there again we are not as weird as gun lovers in the USA. Although quite why a manufacturer would want to endanger the lives of children, in such a way, I fail to see. Do you think your law makers would be happy with a company doing that?
Alternatively, if you were implying that individuals will camouflage their weapons that way, I think the courts would view such very poorly, when it comes to sentencing them. And they will have an even worse time in jail. Even criminals do not like folks who deliberately endanger the lives of children.
Plus it would be a pretty stupid thing to do, if trying to hold up a bank. Nobody would take them seriously. They would have to alert the neighbourhood by firing a shot, to prove the gun was real. So what would be gained? Is a cop searching them going to figure a luminous gun, that weighs as much as a real gun, is just a toy?
Sheesh! Any more, even a picture of a gun on a T-Shirt is worth suspending kids from school.
Go figure…
maybe that Pop-Tart was Peanut Butter?
If a person committing a robbery tells the victim they have a weapon and is caught, that person is prosecuted with the charge of armed robbery even if no weapon exists. This is due to the level of response law enforcement needs to put up to deal with the assumed level of threat. The same goes with mailing an envelope of baby powder to someone and enclosing a note saying it is Anthrax.
Please don’t make light of the Anthrax thing. The US military has lost track of a number of packages in the civilian mail and package streams containing viable spores. Oh, and the white powder? That is just an inert filler to make handling the spores in small quantities easier.
“your weapons aren’t just for show, but they do need to show”
https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-05-24
having something instantly recognizable as a weapon is a badge of authority.
well, no; in most cases it’s a badge of ‘power’, rather than ‘authority’.
To symbolise authority the power would have had to come from an authorised source (which, in this specific instance can be argued for as Maxima is government sanctioned*) but as a general statement a weapon doesn’t always reflect authority
Of course, a person might use said weapon to argue that their power, or symbol thereof, means they have authority but that is another argument.
* whether the government has inherent authority is of course another question/argument.
Many apologies if that came off a bit snippy.
(Am up to my ears in early medieval law-codes at the moment, and trying to figure out how their promulgators, scribes and readers represent and create authority. Forgot to change my academic reasoning hat for my internet comments one…)
No prob. I’ve seen MUCH worse-“toned” responses because some guy’s didn’t have enough sugar.
That said, just WHY are you up to your auditory sensors in medieval law?
I’m glad to say its because its what they pay me to do :D
I’m a postdoctoral researcher in early medieval history with specialties in the history of the book and the history of ‘barbarian’ law. I’m currently working on a research project on the production and use of mansucripts of the Lombard laws in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries. Mainly, I focus on how the books were produced and how the scribes laid the text out on the page to facilitate reader access to the laws (were they royal propaganda, actually used in lawcourrts or intended for the study of the law in a scholastic setting? answer: yes (probably)). As a second area of focus I look at the content of (some of) the laws themselves, although mostly as case-studies to explore the methods of book-production in fine detail.
The laws themselves date to the seventh and eight centuries, so I am looking at their continued use some three or four hundred years later. One of my key areas of interest at the moment is how these later manuscripts incorporate expressions of royal authority dating back to the seventh century or so, and what that might mean to its readers.
So, why am I researching: long story short, if you don’t leave school there keeps being more and more of it :p
Fascinating stuff.
‘badge’ might be the wrong word… ‘element’ of authority perhaps?
my point being, an American police officer who is not carrying a sidearm is arguably out of uniform.
A plainclothes detective who has a badge, but not a sidearm, is difficult to believe when he threatens to kill you.
and nations which disarm their police officers as a matter of policy produce lawmen who are adorable, but impossible to take seriously.
na, i was fine with ‘badge’ I knew exactly what you meant there, my issue was with the word authority. Material objects have a symbolic axis, as much as a physical. Consider the weapons effect, where people act more aggresively doing the same, unrelated task when wepaons are present. Even if it is just mounted on the wall as a piece of art. Hence one of the main arguments for unarmed police, i guess: if even a sheathed weapon is going to make the police and suspect act more violently, then at that point it is better not to have it there.
But I can see where you are coming from. if you grew up in an area where the police are armed, then unarmed police are going to seem to be missing something. In that instance, the gun is integral to the idea of the police.
For myself, having grown up in an area with mostly unarmed police (the UK), armed police seem like policeman/woman + gun. And, as you can probably tell from the angle of my argument, the presence of the gun, for me, reduces the amount of authority that being a member of the police otherwise bestowed on the person.
I mostly agree with you, but as an American, I come at it from the opposite perspective.
To me, a uniformed (american) police officer, carrying his standard sidearm, is instantly recognizable as a walking message.
the message says something like “The people and government of this jurisdiction trust THIS OFFICER to keep and enforce the peace. If this officer decides that keeping the peace requires that he shoot and kill you, we will almost certainly back him up afterwards”
Whereas an unarmed (UK) Police officer sends a very different message to me. something like
“THIS OFFICER is forbidden from doing anything useful that might actually keep the peace. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have suffered when killing or disabling this officer in order to prevent him from reporting your crime”
that just shows american mentality that the only useful thing you can is kill things.
yeah, i think its pretty much a case of familiarisation and tradition. Be very interesting to go back, say a century or so, tamper a bit and then see how the US develoepd without armed police, just as it would be interesting to do the opposite to the UK.
Of course, If I had a timemachine I’d probably have other priorities to focus on :D
America did start off from the beginning with an armed police force moving through the streets, they wore red coats.
And they were under orders directly from the king to violate the very selfsame King’s Laws concerning Colonial Charters. When the law enforcement authority itself violently breaks the law, what other responses are viable?
Yep. Nothing at all to prevent you attacking that policeman.
Well, apart from the baton, CS spray & Tazer, vest camera (increasingly), the proper armed police on the other end of the radio, and the likelihood of getting locked away until your children have died of old age.
</sarc>
Tazer -> Taser. I should check these things!
I always thought “Tazer” was a brand name, while “T.A.S.E.R.” is the acronym for the general class of weapon. (Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle, for those who might not know; it’s a reference to an extremely racist boys’ adventure book from a few decades back, in which the hero invents an electrical projection device that can dial from “stun” to “lethal”.)
Whereas some Brits find the reverse to be the case.
Sadly this attitude is true for pretty much anywhere else in the world where the gun makes right and it is okay to shoot and kill people. Sadly Canada’s police services are spiraling down the same hole that those south of us are floundering in.
It’s not necessarily a hole.
I will agree that setting up a situation where it’s the UNIFORM that engenders the respect, above and beyond any equipment they might also have, is a better situation overall, but simply allowing trusted public officials to carry lethal self-defense weapons isn’t going to cause more violent crimes to take place (and that’s from either side of the ‘law’).
Consider, if you will, that British citizens were allowed to own firearms, with little more than proof of ID and the proper age. (I won’t get into why America does that, as that’s more a feature of our history and tradition than of modern events). In this Britain, any criminal on the streets could very easily, and almost likely, either have a firearm on him, or have ‘backup’ which is armed- even long-arms, set up as overwatch from a nearby building. And they’re just as likely to have good aim and firearms training as that police officer. Same, even, with large knives, only in that case the criminal with the knife is more likely to have experience with the blade than the officer.
Now, tasers and pepper spray are certainly effective nonlethal takedowns even against firearms-wielding criminals, but both suffer from a certain lack of range. Police are visible, and the criminals are more likely to know the police are coming, and be able to recognize them, than the police will be able to immediately recognize the criminals- in a situation where the criminals open fire on the officers from, say, 100 or 200 feet away, an officer armed with purely nonlethal weapons is completely unable to return fire, allowing the criminal (who is now more afraid and desperate due to the presence of law enforcement) essentially free reign in that area, until their armed backup arrives. If, however the Officers are themselves armed, they can immediately either kill the armed assailant (because they’re trained that, when the situation demands a gun, it demands a killshot- or perhaps better to say that guns are only acceptable when the situation has advanced enough to require a killshot) or at the very least keep the assailant’s attention on the trained and armoured officers instead of the civilians.
This is, of course, assuming a society that already has guns and firearms training everywhere. Of course, in a society like modern Britain, real guns are a rarity in civilian hands, and there aren’t publicly available training locations for criminals to practice their accuracy and speed. In that situation, not having armed officers is the better call, not only for the respect issue I mentioned earlier, but also because it means there’s less chance of a firearm from a downed officer ending up in the hands of criminals.
In Canada, guns are more prevalent (hunters and proximity to America) and therefore it makes a little more sense that officers would be more commonly armed. Even if they have much more impressive uniforms.
Another relevant part of that same page: “not everybody is smart enough to know that a weapon the size of a house is actually a weapon.”
Excellently-quotable line.
I also liked “But I don’t want to get shot just because I didn’t believe anyone could be dumber than you.”
Schlock Mercenary is a great strip.
Is it just me or does max seem to be leaning the 4th wall a little in panel 4.
Possible, but panel five could show that she spotted the dummy to be her test subject
No I was trying to show her glancing to her right so when I 180 the next panel, the motion tracks through.
stupid question: is it a custom gun Max is wielding or a real model i can see online?
Custom based on a real round that they do make handguns for.
Well rifles anyway.
Sortoff:
https://davebarrack.deviantart.com/art/Rex-Machina-254074351
Found a typo easter egg:
Pannel 2:
“But isn’t it unnecessary equipment for those of us can cut tanks to ribbons”
Missing a ‘who’ between ‘us can’
Also, ’24 Karat Maniac’ is supposed to only have one ‘i’ :D
Whoops, I’ll get both of those fixed.
It’s fixed. That’s why I should never write anything in illustrator. Last night I changed Sydney’s line from “you crazy maniac person” to “you 24 karat maniac” and I managed to misspell one of the 4 words I retyped. I’m almost surprised I didn’t misspell 24.
Hey, at least you avoided “carrot”. Otherwise Bugs Bunny would have had to pop into the scene!
The nice thing about easter eggs is for them to count as fan service, with searching and commenting “the little things” actually improving the experience of your comic ! ;-)
Yorp: Bugs Bunny has demonstrated the ability to pop up just about everywhere, what with the many comics, shows and films of his. Since this appears to be among his power, along with immortality, invulnerability and a wicked sense of humor, you never know when its gonna happen. This IS a super power comic after all …
i don’t think that qualify as an “easter egg”.
“…those of us who can…” would seem to be proper.
It is our custom is that Dave does not make mistakes. He however does provide occasional ‘specials’ for those who like to proof read. Purely for entertainment purposes. Using that rationale, it does actually match the definition for “Easer Egg”, as used by internet savvy folks.
You’re quite the “water bowl half-full” type, aren’t you?
Yup, I just lap it up. :-)
*wags tail happily*
…Which makes the bowl entirely empty…
*refills bowl to top*
*fills up second bowl and offers it to MidnightDStroyer*
the cup is neither half full, nor half empty. it is full. it just happens to be filled partially with just oxygen and breathable gases.
(also, if you have been in the process of filling the glass, it could be said to be half full, and if in the process of emptying it, half empty, as the process itself denotes which of the two the glass actually is at that point) [but I digress]
They carry guns for the same reason not every soldier carries only a grenade launcher. Some times you need something with point accuracy and not something that takes out “that guy and everyone around him” [see the appropriate Mk19 grenade launcher meme]. While there is a place for BIG BADA BOOM, there is also a place for Snake Eyes style “shoot them through the eyehole in the armored face mask”.
No, they carry guns because guns are recognizable as a ‘surrender or else’ whereas someone pointing their finger (or holding a Christmas bauble) is not
one reason does not invalidate the other.
True dat.
Thank you, Dave, for such a delightfully funny way to start a Monday! Multiple literal LOLs!
You’re welcome. :)
DaveB actually remembered that there should be Shawn’s protective glasses and ear protector somewhere from all the way back of this panel, so why not put them on that table ?
I am impressed. ;-)
What I don’t get though is what that single boot is doing there, and where the rest of Varia went.
As for Maxima’s demonstration,I first thought it was about many powers being to extreme for … minor interventions, and Syndey not getting how dangerous that actually makes someone.
That it actually was about psychology is just brilliant for it would probably be true.
That is Sydney’s boot, and Varia went –> thataway
Varia should probably have been visible in the long shot in panel 7, but she went where everyone goes when I already have too much to draw on any given page. She just slowly backed out of the scene and is standing in a corner that doesn’t happed to be shown on this page along with the other recruits. :)
I took it as the recruits “in the know” have seen this or a variant lecture and learned to step away from the firing line especially when Max has her weapon holstered. Varia stepped out of the immediate boomcinity.
I guess if the indestructible girl with the death ray fingers wanted people to feel a threat to their lives by her unarmed presence she should have gotten herself brown skin instead of gold. #Iwentthere
maybe a sex change too while she’s at it
Yes, those are definitely things that are more intimidating than the ability to fly, shoot fireballs and crush a tank between your thighs. High melanin content and penises.
Is that the Sydney Jailbird with Suzie & Arianna?
Who?
No, that’s the ‘Will Smith’ reporter
Yeah the one she suggested would so be going to Sydney jail.
Oh right, they still accept penal inmates in Australia :P
I have to admit, I still have serious gun envy.
Maxima’s gun is just frigging AWESOME!
I want one. Don’t care if it’s too much gun for my everyday use. : )
Apparently it has an 80lb trigger pull just so that no one else can fire it.
…good answer
and now I’m seeing syd look up the gun to max and say “megatron? is that you?” why you brought that to mind I don’t know.
Side note on the page comments and voting: I would readily vote to see a blank page if asked nicely.
Idle thought. Since Xochitl can’t acquire powers from touching Sydney, and Sydney has the two power orbs, green and amber, which do nothing when she touches them….
what if Sydney CAN give or receive powers, but ONLY when using her two ‘spare’ power orbs?
Perhaps ‘amber’ transmits power, and ‘green’ recieves it. So Sydney holds one of those orbs, then hands the other to a nearby friend.
if Sydney holds amber, then whatever power orb she holds in her second hand gets transmitted to her friend.
If Sydney holds green, then any superpowers her friend has are copied over to sydney.
She didn’t notice the orbs changed orbits.
go back to that panel and look how the orbs behave.
Max also should be making the point that in comparison, guns can be considered less lethal than even her small finger shot there. If the objective is to apprehend, then scraping what’s left of them into a doggie bag doesn’t count.
.. OR if the objective is to leave enough of the target that it can be analyzed / identified WITHOUT resorting to forensic reassembly..