Grrl Power #328 – Six cylinder enthusiasm
Sydney recovered pretty quickly from the prior page there, but she’s not one to let trauma get in the way of a callback. It’s not often I throw in a pause panel even though I generally like humor pause beats. A good stare in reaction to someone doing or saying something stupid is usually pretty funny to me, but I tend to cram so much on a page that I never have space for them. In my head, this page and the next were all one scene, but as I started laying it out I realized I had to break it out to two pages which gave me a little extra space. This particular pause is brought to us courtesy of Maxima catching herself and remembering that Dabbler’s alien origins are still classified, and there’s a room full of recruits behind her. I actually almost forgot myself. I’m not sure at what point the people in Arc-SWAT are told. Sydney certainly wasn’t supposed to find out already. Harem knows and she’s only a corporal. Actually the rank of corporal makes some sense. By the time someone hits that rank you’ve mostly sorted out the chaff and the dropouts, and had time to make sure they’re not religiously zealotous or some sort of crazy Earth for humans type. I mean, if they’re on a team with supers they’re obviously ok with a little diversity.
The only thing that doesn’t play right on this page for me is that on the prior one, Sydney was giving this corner of the room a pretty good stare. Though I can tell you as someone with ADD, there have been moments where I’ve looked right past something cause I was concentrating on or expecting to see something else. That may not be ADD, that may just be the way brains work sometimes. Anyway, that’s my excuse. Sydney was looking for some poster or diagram that spelled out why they carry guns and ignored what looks at a glance like an engine block. Oh, and here’s a close up of the stickers on it cause I zoom in too much when I draw:
I’m not sure what those Predatorbusters represent since they obviously haven’t been shooting Predators with that thing. Or have they?
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Predatorr “kill” marks? So, it’s actually a giant light-gun for the arcade cabinet then?
Hah. That would be brilliant.
Sydney goes through all her training, comes out the other end and finally gets the chance:
Max: Ok Sydney, it is time. Tell Peggy to bring it down here
…
Syd: ooh!
Syd: What’s the cable for? To power the motors?
Syd: Why are we going to the lounge? Gun range is that way!
*It gets plugged in. Screen comes on*
Syd: Whaaaa?
No, I’m pretty sure it means they’ve been using drones as target practice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Atomics_MQ-1_Predator
Is it foreshadowing that General Atomics sounds like a Fallout pre-war company?
General Atomics and its parent, General Dynamics, are the inspirations for a lot of fictional aerospace and defense companies.
Let’s see: Eureka’s Global Dynamics and Fringe’s Massive Dynamic both come to mind right away.
My favorite general dynamics company is Electric Boat, whose motto is “We make Boats that Sink” they make Nuclear Subs.
Whoever came up with that slogan is a mad genious.
At least they also design them to float back up to the surface again, so that’s a plus.
Always about the Predator! Never about the Terminator!
Would it kill people to put “Human Casualties: 0.0” on there once in a while?
So, you want it to say “Humans: 0, Predators: 3”?
3 Predator heads, 5 Alien heads and 2 Arnold Schwarzenegger heads.
Whose kill-count would that be? Chuck Norris!?
Don’t insult Chuck Norris by saying he only would have a measly 3 predators, 5 aliens, and 2 arnolds on his wall.
Unless you mean ‘planets of…’ before those counts, in which case you’re still underestimating him, but he’ll probably spare you for your insolence.
Probably.
“Would it kill people to put “Human Casualties: 0.0″ on there once in a while?”
…Actually…No, it wouldn’t…
I knew I could count on someone to get it.
Always loved that mini-gun. Probably from the moment I read an advert in a old mag 20-25 yrs ago, selling a replica of it designed for paintball. “At 1000 rounds per minute, you could repaint your garage in seconds!” If only I’d had the £100 they were selling it for… I wouldn’t have had to spend six weekends with a brush and paint pots!
In a way, bayonets on a minigun might make some sort of twisted sense. Firing off bullets is designed for ranged combat, so the bayonets are for those (admittedly few) who might get in close regardless of the bullets.
O.o
This page is gold.
Indeed!
I started off with a belly laugh Sydney repeating her recently learned “bullet resistant” lessons from, um, super Edna Mode man? Then on the final panel when it seemed like Sydney was asking “Can I shoot the improbable chain-knives gun!?!?!?!”, it happened again!
I can relate. I enjoy shooting, both rifles and photography. Whether I’m on a shooting range or snapping pics at some historic site, I often find myself swapping lenses or rifles with other people. It’s just a natural thing to do, and the differences between firearms and cameras is becoming more and more blurred.
Mind if I shoot off a few shots from your chain-knife gun? I’ll let you take some shots using my 70-300 f2 lens. :)
Consitering that your lens costs about a 20th of what such a gun does(without the bayonets), only if you pay for the ammo.
https://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/2009/10/21/ge-m134-mini-gun-fully-transferable/
Still a lot of money. Even if the usual bullet costs way less than a dollar.
> It’s just a natural thing to do, and the differences between firearms and cameras is becoming more and more blurred
That sounds like a very bad thing.
So, you recon that Maxima might be waling into a trap? Would her clue be that the cameras appear blurred?
“This page is gold.”
Perfect followup comment to the “24 karat maniac” line on the previous page.
Yes. Yes, they absolutely *have* been shooting Predators with that thing. Many of them. Why wouldn’t they? :)
Bayonets on a minigun totally makes sense
Sure once you actually see it, but noone in their right mind would think of it before seeing it. Hell short of this crowd few could even carry that thing.
yeah, i can see it drilling into someone…
but doesn’t it shoot when it spins? or is that 2 separate triggers?
If I remember correctly the red safety switch at the back sets it spinning and the trigger fires.
ah, i see now.
thank you.
I put the safety switch on it when I was drawing it, though there might be a non-flip cover thumb button on the regular handlheld model. My understanding of miniguns is they’re kind of like revolvers and the hammer drops every time the a chamber goes past, so while it’s cool to see them spin up, or be able to pre-spin them like in AvP2 (the video game) or TF2, that’s not mechanically how they work. That’s not to say you couldn’t probably build one to function like that (it seems largely unnecessary since the seem to be able to reach full speed almost instantly) but the normal minigun you pop off the side of a helicopter doesn’t work like that.
One valid reason for why they would modify a gatling/mini/chaingun like that to be able to rev up without firing would be the same reason they carry guns in the first place. Because noone who is not absolutely confident they are bullet proof is going to hear That thing rev up and aim their way and not reach for the skies (or make an expedious retreat)!
The rotating bayonets though? Genius. I dont care if it would jam up the motor to actually Use them on something, the image/idea is just so fricking awesome I’m going to have to use it for an rpg character sometime.
As far as jamming up the motor goes, it depends largely on what you stuck the bayonets into, of course. but given that the motor is able to spin up the barrel assembly as fast as it does, I doubt the motor would have much trouble. The moment of inertia (rotational momentum factor) of the barrel assembly would probably give it enough force to break small bones that manages to get in the way, so as long as you didn’t try to tear into anything not made of flesh & bone, you’d probably be fine. Since all of the firing actions are necessarily coupled to the rotation of the barrels, the weapon would probably still be able to fire, even if the rotation was slowed significantly. So, really, as far as I can tell, the only really good reasons for not putting bayonets on a minigun are that it would add to the already enormous mass of the weapon and that in most situations where you’d have a minigun, it’s pretty much a given that if you’re enemy has already closed to melee range, you’re pretty much screwed.
Might I recommend GURPS, with the Special Ops sourcebook?…
I’m not so sure about that. If my understanding is correct, the gun is ready to fire every time a chamber passes the hammer (similar to a revolver), but the de-linking mechanism (the device that takes the chain fed ammo and separates the individual cartriges for firing) runs independently. So while the hammer snaps on every chamber, the chamber does not always have a bullet loaded. This system would make sense because it would ensure a constant rate of fire when the weapon is firing which would make recoil compensation and aiming easier. If the weapon had to fire every time the firing mechanism came into position, then it would be very awkward when you start of stop firing: besides the strange recoil ramp up/down, the barrel would be accelerating, which would cause the rest of the weapon to twist the other way. Naturally this would make the weapon extremely difficult to fire (on top of it’s ridiculous weight). As I’ve never seen a minigun fired or taken one apart, I can’t claim to have the one and only true answer, but given the design goals for a minigun, it would seem inconsistent to choose the operating method you describe. Besides, having the various mechanisms operate separately allows each to be run independently when the weapon is in the shop for maintenance, making it that much easier to maintain and check alignment and timing of the parts together.
I’m pretty sure that miniguns actually work by magic and testosterone.
It still can spin after all the ammo is spent.
Miniguns usually have an extra motor for the spinning, so the power does not have to come frm recoil (like most automatic weapons).
Of course that must be very sharp byonettes to do anything against the person that resulted in you emptying that magazine.
well, in movies and some games you see it start to spin a few seconds before it fire so i get that.
but i was sure that it start firing automatically when it reaches a certain speed.
Minigun stages of fire.
Miniguns loads from the number one barrel which is the barrel on the left side of the gun as you face the rear. It is the left center.
Flip the switch, pull the trigger.
The minigun will start to spin the barrels.
Barrel rotates, barrel one will be loaded.
Barrel rotates, barrel one will have bolt close, barrel two will be loaded
Barrel rotates, barrel one will fire, barrel two will have bolt close, barrel three will be loaded.
Barrel rotates, barrel one will open it’s bolt and extract the fired shell, barrel two will fire, barrel three will close it’s bolt, barrel four will be loaded.
Barrel rotates, barrel one will be open to allow air to flow through it and cool the barrel, barrel two will open it’s bolt and extract the fired shell, barrel three will fire, barrel four will close it’s bolt, barrel five will be loaded.
Barrel rotates, barrel one will be open to allow air to flow through it to cool, barrel two will be open to allow air to flow through it to cool, barrel three will open is’t bolt and extract the fired shell, barrel four will fire, barrel five will close it’s bolt, barrel six will be loaded.
Barrel rotates, barrel one will be loaded, barrel two will be open to allow air to cool the barrel, barrel three will be open to allow air to cool the barrel, barrel four will will open it’s bolt to extract the fired shell, barrel five will fire, barrel six will close it’s bolt.
That is the firing timing cycle of a mingun.
When you release the trigger after firing a minigun, the barrels will spin to extract any fired/unfired ammunition to prevent a round from going off in a barrel.
Before you fire it again you will have to turn the safety switch back on before pressing the trigger.
I find your description to be nicely informative. I was previously unaware of the weapon extracting spent/unfired rounds after firing has stopped, but I realize it makes sense. If the weapon can discontinue the ammo feed when it’s spinning down so as to avoid loading new rounds while it extracts the old ones, though, I see no practical reason why the loading couldn’t be discontinued at any other time. This would allow the weapon to be spun up without loading or firing as is seen in various fictions. The weapon would still have a slight delay between pulling the (firing) trigger and actually discharging a round, as the first barrel to be loaded would have to rotated to the number three position before firing, but the delay would be less because the barrel is already in motion. Setting it up this way would also be beneficial because the handle/stock/body of the weapon would not necessarily be under counter torque from spinning up the barrel as the weapon starts to fire, which would make aiming easier for the first few shots. As far as the safety reengaging after you stop firing, I can only imagine that that must be specific to certain models of miniguns. It seems to me that many situations in which one might use a minigun would make the ability to stop firing and then resume firing (after adjusting aim or switching targets) quite valuable, so designing the weapon in a way that makes that difficult would be counter productive.
As I’ve stated in other posts, I have no direct experience with miniguns (or any firearms, for that matter), but I’ve done some considerable research on them and I’m familiar with the sorts of tactical advantages that firearms are often designed to exploit. As I often do, I’m merely stating how I think things aught to be, rather than how they are, so I hope that I haven’t given any offense by making claims counter to what others know to be true. Of course, I’m always receptive to new information (on which I might base later conjectures), so if you have experience with something like this, feel free to share it.
Peggy’s face in the mini-comic is just PERFECT!
i kinda wanna know what the joke was supposed to be and why she says it started as a joke….did they actually find a funtion for it?
I don’t know about you, but a minigun somehow looks more threatening with spinning blades of death strapped to the end
Right now some game developer is making that model for his/her game.
Oh, yeah. I totally want that for Fallout 3. They already have basic miniguns, and that monster would be icing on the cake.
Fallout 4 you mean. The crafting susyem would be perfect for this, the trailer showed bayonet options for normal rifles, and they still have 5 months to add it in.
Just have to make sure one of the devs reads this.
Fallout 3, I said, and Fallout 3 I meant. That is what I play, for now.
Though your idea for FO4’s advertised crafting system is worthy of consideration.
I agree Deathclaws and Supermutants beware!
Real fallout 3 professionals play the game entirely with the BB Gun.
Masochists, you mean?
Sorry, not my speed at all. My game is so heavily modded that any Lore-Nazi within 200 yards spontanously combusts.
…. On The Other Hand, there are mods that do amazing things with BB Guns. Versions that fire Mini-Nukes, for example.
Kind of already did: https://saintsrow.wikia.com/'Merica
True, ‘kind of’ though, as you say. Notably no mention of ammunition shortage issues (something that would be a very real problem in super fights). Which would be the only reason (for either weapon) for actually needing bayonets. Other than, possibly, keeping the noise down. Although there will still be screams.
But the most significant differences are that they just plonked a bayonet on it, along with every other weapon they could think of. Dwarfing it, as a result. Meaning:
• There is only the one.
• It does not attach to the mini-gun barrel.
• It fails to take advantage of the rotation.
• The bayonet adds little to the intimidation (or coolness).
Suddenly, Maximilian comes to mind. Dunno why…
It’s the new food processor for the kitchen. The blades do the slicing and dicing. The barrels are loaded with various spices like salt and pepper, and if you are making cookies then you can add things like cinnamon and ginger. It can go from pumpkin to pumpkin pie in 26 seconds.
I hate doing this, DB, but…
My inner pedant insists that you (at some point) correct the phrase “this page and the next where all one scene”.
Whoops, it’s fixed. :)
Oh gosh. Thank you both. This would have bugged me to no end, had it not been corrected before I saw it. I would have been conflicted between the impulse to point it out and the desire to not be a pest.
For some reason people think I’m trolling if I go around on the web correcting people’s spelling or grammar. What’s with that? I’m just trying to foster clear and unambiguous communication!
I mean, I don’t mind a little ambiguity if it’s intentional as is the case in a double entendre [or however you spell that awesome word], but when it’s just a matter of oversight, it’s a different thing.
I’m bad at spelling due to general ignorance and grammar usually due to general inattentiveness, but I don’t mind being corrected.
Me two.
it is too or also… :D
[Kosh] Yes.[/Kosh]
I am Yorp.
We hear you bark.
SPARTACUS: Nobody is going to get it now.
YORP: Yea, clearly it must have looked too much like a typo. But putting in a smiley would have detracted from the cause.
GROOT: I am Groot.
YORP: They probably won’t understand your barking either.
GROOT: We are Groot.
SPARTACUS: Yea, yea and I’m Spartacus.
I feel like Arc-SWAT needs a “Will it Blend?” show with this thing.
It slices! It dices! You can even cut a tin can with it… but you wouldn’t WANT to!
(Sorry. Weird Al flashback. That’s from one of his older songs, “Mr. Popeil”.)
But wait! There’s more! You can’t find it in any store! And if you order today, we’ll give you this Ginsu knife and a smokeless ashtray! Now how much would you pay?
Everyone, pls vote for Grll power at the top web comic.
Currently we are less than 20 votes behind stay still stay silent.
I am sure that we can make it back to the top 5 if we try!
How do we see how many votes we are behind by?
after you vote, if you press the logo in the top left corner of the page, you will be send to the main page.
and there you can see all the comic, ordered by the number of votes.
Click the page logo and scroll down to see how many votes each page got.
Awesome! Thanks guys! :)
No can do, I used my vote earlier today. The current SSSS was just way too enjoyably creepy.
i am pretty sure you can vote as many comics as you want, but only once each per machine?
and… ssss?
Stand Still, Stay Silent (Think Zombie Post-apocalypse in Scandinavia married with Ragnarok mythology)
Also I only have one machine right now.
yeah that’s the one i said we could beat… you know the feeling when you miss the obvious thing right in you face?
1 machine means you can vote each comic once, it is not total. you can still vote any comic you want, you just cant vote ssss today again, but no problem voting GP
Ah ok then learn something new everyday.
All I see is a super size salad shooter…. I bet that thing can chop a lot of salad…..
hence the term: Mini-Salad!
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I would feel nervous if everyone else was standing at the wall all stoic and serious-looking… It’s as if I’ve done something wrong… <— Did not take meds today.
Not sure if Syd would know the difference but they’re all at parade rest which means they’re all casually waiting.
I am now hoping they will Sydney gets to use the minigun in the near future.
If she does, it’ll be mounted on a vehicle or a tripod. She’s probably stronger than she looks; those boxes of comic books are heavier than most people realize, and she seems to be able to haul those around without much trouble. She could probably carry the minigun by itself, but not the full payload.
In Predator, that was a heavily modified GE M134 minigun, chambered for 7.62x51mm NATO standard ammunition. It was modified for handheld use with an M60 handguard assembly (installed backwards) and a rear pistol grip which is taken from normal (at the time) Minigun spade grips. The grips are attached to the weapon by a custom Y-frame with an M16-style carry handle that mounts to the weapon’s recoil absorbers. The weapon was powered by an electric cable hidden off camera and fired blank rounds to ease the recoil force; in addition, the rate of fire is substantially decreased from the normal 6,000 RPM to 1,250 RPM.
The gun itself weighs 41 pounds (~18.5 kilograms), and that isn’t even including the weight of the ammunition or the battery pack that drives the motors. The recoil is another 190 pounds (~86 kilograms). Do you honestly think anyone without super-strength would be able to fire that thing without a proper weapons mount?
Yes, Sydney. Her tentacle can lift a car, so she has the necessary capability, and then some. How practical it would be to use that, is another matter. Her PPO is probably better for most purposes. And I think she will need a lot of practice to use it in an effective manner.
The most likely circumstances I could see her using it, without that, would be either for spectacular intimidation or as an emergency improvisation, against something that is not bothered by her other capabilities.
Say a fire elemental-like villain. Who was trying to tear up a petrol station. She could not risk approaching, in the event that the whole thing blew up. So would be out of effective range of her pistol (and let us assume beyond the reach of the tentacle*). But a mini-gun could safely engage at that distance.
Which is where training would be vital, of course, if trying to hit the target, before it got close enough to the petrol station, that the risk of collateral damage became too great. But, at some point, the petrol station will be taken out by it anyhow, so Halo would then be free to let rip.
* It may be able to reach the Moon, for all we know. But, equally, it may be quite limited.
Aiming would still be an issue. Even with miniguns, you want to be able to point it in at least the general direction of your target, which is much more difficult to do when you’re not directly behind the weapon. Sure, you could still “walk your shots into the target”, but then you risk even more collateral damage.
Whether or not she can compensate for torque and recoil depends on how the lighthook works and how she attaches it to the gun (multiple points of contact would be best). Torque is going to make the entire gun try to rotate in the same direction as the barrels, and the recoil is more than four times the weight of the gun itself.
Picture someone trying to do a complete 360 degree loop on a swingset. Now picture the entire minigun trying to do that. Scary thought, isn’t it? I’m 99% sure that the lighthook does not work like a chain (unless Sydney wants it to), but if it did… it would be a lethal threat to friend and foe alike.
Point is, she’d probably still want the lighthook to hold it in several places, not just one (for safety’s sake, if nothing else.)
If I were Maxima, I would have giggled and answered “You can shoot that if you show me you’re able to carry it.”
I mean, that thing is as big as Sydney and is probably almost as heavy as her, so no chance she can even move it, right?
“…as big as sydney-”
At LEAST 3 times!!
There’s some perspective warping going on. That handle is still hand sized.
i based my estimate on the pipe which is in the guns shadow.
i tryed to picture how big would sydney be while holding it the pipe piece…
but that would mean the “knifes” are also quite huge…
some very powerful wizard must have cast “enlarge” on it.
That “pipe” is an allen wrench used to tighten socket head screws when assembling/disassembling the weapon. It’s only a couple of inches long (depending on size).
@Victor: How does she carry it? With the hentorb, of course!
She’d use a light hook.
And then we find out that one of the Mystery Orbs provides Sydney with Super-Alien level strength, so that not only can Sydney lift the Mini-slicer, she can fire it with just one hand!!!
I would forsee, in that case, the lighthook coming out ..l
She could lift it with the lighthook. Probably fire with it too; that brings up the idea of equipment specifically made to be used by it.
She could quite feasibly use the Lighthook to substitute for one of those Articulation Harnesses that are in use even now in the real world.
Not just lifting the thing that”s the issue, it’s being strong and coordinated enough to safely POINT the damn thing, whilst it is firing. Without, I should add, scaring the bejeezus out of everyone within 400 yards.
I would love to see Sydney trying to handle the thing. But only if I could do so from a long way away.
…And from behind…
… the bullet proof glass, in the viewing slit, of a reinforced concrete bunker.
… on the other side of a hill.
…composed of nearly pure granite.
She would just pick it up with her lighthook. Thus terrifying Maxima and everyone else within a 20 mile radius.
You can vote once per day for EACH comic.
“Started” as a joke. Yikes!
Wait’ll you hear the punchline for that joke…
It’s to deliver cutting remarks that’ll definitely leave an impression on you.
You certainly would make your points.
…In a post-humorous way.
I gotta hand it to you Yorp; you are definitely an exception to this rule:
https://acidsquirrel.com/post/77519
Ok, small quibble. The barrels on a minigun spin counter clockwise as you look at the front. So the bayonets won’t actually cut anything. Their cutting edges are facing the wrong way.
you are assuming its a standard one.
I have severe doubts about every single make and model of minigun spinning in the same direction.
All minguns from the m-134 up to the GAU-8 Avenger flown in the A-10 Warthog all spin the same way. The Russian guns however, some spin clockwise, some spin counter clockwise
It’s a custom build, so maybe it spins both ways.
Sorry.
Now that I heard the firing order, (which I’d pretty much assumed, already,) it would make a lot of sense for the barrels to roll away from the operator.
So, you’re saying this one spits the casings out in an upward arc on the opposite side from the operator, and waves hot, open breeches in his face? Possibly with the oddball casing catching and being thrown almost straight up?
Whatever floats your boat. ;)
It’s a Left Handed Minigun.
Some of us prefer firing that way, you know!
Perfect! I always prefer to fire high ROF area suppression weaponry with my non dominant hand.
What? i dont need to hit you at that point.
I just need you and your friends to keep your heads down while your being flanked.
Perfect for and ADD genius like Syd.
Whack-a-mole with an M-60 i can understand. Whack-a-mole with a minigun? … er mah gerd all that ammo to hump….
That being said … Unless the ammo is stored in Dabbler’s extra dimensional space i fail to see the how value of this in an assault capacity overcomes the absolute pain in the ass it is to carry around and operate in a combat environment.
Just picture their happy faces using it though. Priceless.
That’s what the Bayonettes are for, duh.
ah. yes. The glory Is in the struggle after all …
dabs made that mod while she assembled it as her version of halo’s weapon training basics before explaining what happened to the blender, 5 extra m-16’s, and a radio. what she needed something better than a 16 to show her skill.
Wouldn’t you want to spin the barrels opposite of the rifling, so the forces counter each other somewhat?
Not really, no. Since the barrel that’s firing is offset from the axis on which the barrels rotate, it wouldn’t have very much effect on the rotation. Also, it would require the gunsmith to reverse the direction of the rifling when making a left-handed minigun, which is expensive and confusing. As a point though, they could be matched to the rotation: we can’t see the rifling so we can’t be sure.
As for Mark’s original quibble and other’s responses to it: if you look closely at the gun as pictured, you will see that it has a handle on the top extending on the far side, to the left if you face the same direction as the weapon. With the secondary handle on that side, the gun can only be handled correctly if fired from a right-handed firing position. If we assume that the weapon is not designed to fling spent cartriges at it’s operator or collect them, and we also assume that the barrel on top is the one that fires, then Mark’s assumption regarding the spin direction of the barrel assembly is valid.
With Dabbler’s help, it wouldn’t be that hard to take that little step over to case-less ammo, so collecting or deflecting brass would be unnecessary.
Arc-SPARQ would probably be able to do it. I would be very surprised if they did not have a gadgeteer.
Could Sydney even lift that giant pea-shooter? o_O
the lighthook can for her
Whether or not the Lighthook could hold it stably whilst firing is another story.
the lighthook is ALMIGHTY hehe
It’s mighty, mi-tay!
Oh and the red covered switch is the main power, then you pull the trigger. After you release the trigger, you will need to operate the switch again before you can shoot on most miniguns. At least on the Dillon Aeros that are modified this way.
oh GODDESS
this is HILARIOUS RIGHT THERE
i don’t care where you from that’s funny right there hehe
Sydney would probably not able to even depress the trigger, much less to lift or aim that monster.
.. not that would stop her from trying..
lighthoook orb is your best friend for THOSE situations hehe
I’m not sure how you would come to such a conclusion, Andarvi.
Firstly, as has been mentioned by several others, this minigun of a relatively typical size, for a minigun.
Secondly, the size of the weapon has no bearing on the amount of pressure required to pull the trigger. I can see how a person might think it would if they’d only ever considered the firing mechanisms for revolvers, where the force of the trigger pull is used to cock the hammer. In all automatic weapons (and indeed, the majority of modern semi-automatic weapons), however, the energy to cock the hammer is provided by the action of the weapon, which is usually powered from the discharge of the previous round. In the case of a weapon that was fully emptied and then reloaded, the user is usually required to work the action once after putting in new ammo, though some weapons will hold the bolt back after the last round is fired so you don’t have to.
Thirdly, regardless of the mechanism of a weapon’s action, the amount of force that needs to be applied by the firing pin in order to initiate the discharge of the cartridge is more of less the same across all conventional weapons. The size of the gun and the size of the bullet are not important in this regard, as the actual detonation is initiated by a small quantity of mercury fulminate (or a comparably sensitive contact explosive) located just behind the wall of the cartrige. If there were any factors that would affect the amount of force, they would be the thickness of the cartridge wall and that alloy composition thereof. Since miniguns don’t fire very large bullets (they use standard rifle ammo or slightly larger) even if pulling the trigger did require enough force to cock the hammer, that wouldn’t be any more than you’d need for a regular rifle of similar design (which would also not be very different from a revolver).
Finally, and most importantly, the trigger is not mechanically connected to the firing mechanism in a minigun. The trigger is just a piece of plastic or metal with a button behind it. The details of starting the spinning and loading and beginning to fire are handled by the electronics in the weapon. It would, therefore, require no more strength to pull the trigger (once the safety was off) than it would to squeeze a tube of toothpaste.
Naturally, lifting and aiming a weapon of that size is another matter entirely. It’s totally fair to speculate as to whether or not Sydney would be able lift and operate the weapon (with and without using her powers), but suggesting that she would be unable to pull the trigger is simply ridiculous. The only plausible scenarios in which a person would be physically unable to pull the trigger of a weapon like this would be ones in which their hand did not function (if it was amputated, if the muscles had atrophed from being in a coma, or if an injury had reduced the range of motion to the point that her fingers couldn’t curl around the trigger). I suppose a case could be made if the person in question was an anthropomorphized animal and did not posses human-like hands or if the prospective operator was literally a baby (or had baby hands). As I said in the beginning, I’m really not sure how you could possibly come to the conclusion that Sydney would be unable “to even depress the trigger”, as you put it. Such a notion is ridiculous. Even if it was suggested in jest, I still can’t approve. To suggest such physical weakness would be akin to comparing her combat prowess to that of a common earthworm. Even if she is one of the least physically strong superheroes I know of (not the least, though: that goes to Mecha-Maid of Spinnerette), it’s simply ludicrous to suggest that she would be unable to perform a feat that even the very weakest human being (that can still function without aid [ie. discounting cripples and amputees] ) could perform with no trouble. As a joke, it has passed the point of being a mildly humorous exaggeration and gone far into the realm of just being insulting. If it was your intention to state that as a joke, I pity your lack of restraint. If you meant it literally, I pity your lack of knowledge. In either case, I’d like you to know that I’ve had to hold back considerably in my criticism, lest I make a complete ass of myself and get myself banned from the comments area. If I saw your face, I would strongly consider slapping you; such is the power of my scorn that you would say what you did and not correct it immediately.
It is a perspective thing. To some of us it looks like that is Godzilla’s sidearm.
Even if it were, though, the only thing under that trigger is a switch, so it’s not going to be hard to pull.
Do I get to be pedantic too? It’s neither a universal nor a global threat. It is a globally recognized threat. I think a global threat would mean something that threatens the whole planet, wouldn’t it?
Though as a non-native speaker maybe I should shut up ^^
You don’t believe a weapon like that in Sydney’s hands wouldn’t be a threat to the entire planet? Nay, the entire star system? o_O
Wait, you are a non-native? What planet do you hail from? o_O
No you’re right, they should be saying “universally recognized threat” or “as a threat” but it makes sense in shorthand the way they’re saying it.
Yeah, it is understandable of course. And I think in a comic, keeping word count low, is a priority. I just like to be a language nazi sometimes ;)
Actually the sentence is right. Words have multiple meanings that are selected by context.
“Universal” in an astronomical context means “related to the Universe”, but in daily life means “applicable to all people”.
A “universal food” can be one that everybody eat or one that everybody can digest. A “universal expression” cab be one that everybody use or one that everybody can understand.
A “threat” could be “something likely to cause damage ” or “an expression of an intention to inflict damage”.
So in this context Maxima’s “universal threat” is meant to be a menace of bodily harm that all people can uderstand.
Maxima’s expression is syntactically, semantically and grammatically right and unmistakably communicate her intention.
BTW, in my opinion by choosing the unrelated interpretation Sydney is not being pedantic, she is being a jerk and she is being wrong. Maxima is just being too patient.
NotFred is right. The use of the phrase “universal threat” to mean “a threat that is rocognisable anywhere in the universe”, is grammatically and logically sound, given that the context is taken into consideration. Similar can be said for the phrase “global threat”, though this meaning of “global” is used far less often. The phrase “galactic threat”, however, is more ambiguous, as the word “galactic” is almost never used to mean “recognised throughout the galaxy”. The phrase “galactic threat” would be taken in most contexts to mean either “a threat to this galaxy” or “a threat on such a scale as to affect entire galaxies”.
I have to disagree with NotFred’s chosen interpretation though. While it’s true that Max’s statement is syntactically, semantically and grammatically correct and it does mean, as you put it, “a menace of bodily harm that all people can understand”, Sydney’s question is equally valid. She isn’t necessarily questioning whether “universal” is meant to include all people or just the people in the universe, but rather questioning whether or not the gesture of pointing a gun would, in fact, be recognizable by anyone to mean a threat of bodily harm. In the same way that a smile indicates happiness or contentment to you and me but signals aggression in monkeys and most other mammals, it is entirely possible that while pointing a gun-shaped object at someone indicates a threat of harm to you and me, it could mean something totally different to an intelligent being that was brought up in an environment either completely devoid of gun-shaped objects or where gun-shaped objects were not used as weapons. If a gun-shaped object is pointed by one gorrilla-faced squid-monster (or Octocong) at another, it may, for example, indicate a desire to procreate. Or it could be a request for clarification. The point is that the only reason we consider gun-shaped things to be universally threatening is that the only intelligent beings we’ve ever had to point guns at are bylaterally symetric endoskeletal vertibrate bipeds with primary gripping appendages that make gun-shaped objects particularly convenient to point weapons at people with. Even within our own race, it is conceivable that a gun would not be recognized, as is typically the case when a fictitious character travels back in time to before firearms were invented. So it makes sense that Sydney would question whether the gesture would be recognizable as a threat to anyone, or only the people whose existence the general populous is aware of (Since she already knows about Dabler, whose existence [or nature, rather] the general populous is not aware of).
people – noun
1. human beings in general or considered collectively.
“the earthquake killed 30,000 people”
2. the men, women, and children of a particular nation, community, or ethnic group.
“the native peoples of Canada”
* bolds are mine
….annnnd the early “send” is mine too :(
“People” by definition exclude all not human beings, but your are right about people than don´t know about guns.
Anyway I still think that the scope was clearly implicit in this context.
Y’know … I’d be willing to bet that someone did work on those ‘bayonets’. And that it’ll puree anything that manages to get close enough. I’d also be willing to bet that at least one of those ‘predators’ got close enough. “Yeah, man, I hosed down two of the bastards, but the third one flanked me and got in. Betcha he thought I couldn’t do anything when I was out of bullets!!”
“And that it’ll puree anything that manages to get close enough.”
Anything on this side of Achilles, maybe…
Gun question: could a super strength hero (max, for example) one hand the gun of glory in the last panel? Lifting it is no problem, I’m just wondering if holding it just by the handle would cause the weight of the barrel to snap it in two. Or, since she lifted an ambulance without ripping it into pieces, would her power cover the gun as well?
maxima has a zero range telekinesis, so yes she can.
she could probably lift it with a single finger.
As R said, Maxima is a zero-range (gotta touch it to work) telekinesis user, so she’d probably be fine, but pure strength types would either bend or just break it. Unless you rig it to be fired 1 handed, grip further down the body of it, a loop to hold it in place on the arm to prevent it swaying or moving in general, THEN a super-strength could fire it 1 handed. Then rig up a 2nd, cause you’ll have you’re other hand free…
You have to figure just about any super with superstrength beyond a certain point generates some sort of reinforcing field to any objects they lift. It’s been speculated that Post Crisis Superman extended his own personal energy field to any object he lifted and flew with or was in contact with. It would be the same field that made him bullet resistant and allowed him to fly. It would also explain how he could lift and carry something as fragile as an aluminum framed airplane without ripping it in half or how he could catch a falling Lois Lane just before she hit the ground without her splattering all over his arms. It would be something a super like Superman or Maxima would do pretty much subconsciously, and any object, or person, they were in contact with and acting on would have a degree or their invulnerability. Which would solve the “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex” problem. Or Woman of Steel, Man of Kleenex, in Maxima’s case.
That brings up an interesting thought.
If you have super strength, and a field you instinctively wrap around anything you’re carrying.
Do you “shoot” yourself in the “back” of the field when you fire a gun, and what would that feel like?
I wouldn’t think so. The field would extend to the structure of the gun, all the moving parts and the barrel and bore. So the bullet would still travel down an open bore and not smack into the inside of her energy field. But the structure of the chamber, barrel and rifling would be reinforced, so a gun like Maxima’s break action single shot could probably fire ammunition loaded beyond the guns normal tolerance without blowing up. But only when Max fired it. Of course even a hot loaded Magnum pistol round wouldn’t come close to what Maxima can do with her energy blasts, but it might give her a ranged precision strike option if she needed it.
Indeed, the Post-Crisis Superman found that his super-strength was easier to use on great weight when he flies, as compared to if he’s standing on the ground to lift it.
Superman (and Supergirl and Power Girl) have what’s called a ‘Kryptonian Biomatrix’ – it’s what’s responsible for their invulnerability, as well as their ability to fly fast with people without the wind sheer killing the passenger (or shredding their own clothes). It also can be used around massive objects so that the object doesnt collapse under its own mass or break when picked up, and is the reason if they try to pick something massively heavy up while standing on the ground, they don’t just go into the ground. :)
Superboy doesnt have this ability, but instead has Tactile Telekinesis (which is pretty much the same as Maxima’s Zero-Point TK, except Superboy’s is a lot more active apparently than Maxima’s, which seems more subconscious unless DaveB decides it’s not).
Clearly Maxima does have some conscious control of it, manifesting in her ability to shift it from one power (including attributes) to another. Which does leave her able to develop further stunts with it. Such as learning how to turn any large object, she picks up, into an invulnerable shield for hostages.
If Maxima worked with the Archon super-tailor* he could provide her a cape,** which she could concertina out, like a magician pulling out an endless line of hankies. Et voila one always available area of effect shield. Ok, she does have to remain in contact with it. But it still gives her one ore capability, in her tool box.
* in looking up his name, Ashley/ Iron cloth (courtesy of my broken memory for names), it struck me that he is more than just a tailor. Respectable enough though that is, especially with his capabilities. Ashley is also their super armourer. Albeit one specialised in armour, rather than weapons.
Although he certainly has the capability to provide useful concealed weapons capability. Just be sure to ask his permission, before blowing your nose, on one of his hankies!
** Sticks out tongue at Edna Mode. Meep, meep, pfffllllllbt!
Easily fixed, make it a forearm-carried gun.
The carry handle is practically a harness you put your arm through, and you have the firing/safety always within hand’s reach. Only hard to do anything else with it;)
You can’t tell me Max wouldn’t like the idea, or any gun-nut.
It’s not only about strength, balance (and, therefore, stability) is important too. For something like that, vital even.
Sydney can fly “in a very irritating way”, perfectly orbiting a point within her own body.
Sydney can form her lighthook into a well written sign, or a pointing finger, with mental ease. She can use that same lighthook to quickly snatch three girls from their meals, (and give a decent seat for the one she thinks she can trust,) and throw a large Anvil squarely at a target from off-axis.
If anyone in that room can just pick that thing up and fire it, it’d be Maxima, followed by Sydney.
I’d not want to be anywhere NEAR the field of engagement, however. Downrange, uprange, buried deep UNDER the range… I suspect drilling the concept of fire lanes into Sydney’s head will be a priority. She’ll catch on in the first instance, (and the first head-bump against a table,) but just to be safe, I suspect DRILLING the concept of fire lanes into Sydney’s head will be a priority.
This is where you use Achilles, before the recruits are used to his aggravating invulnerability. Have him act the part of ‘absent-minded newby to the training range’ in clothes loaded with blood packets, and act in ways that almost guarantee he gets hit at some point in the training- then he’d be all ‘AAUGHHH!!!’ and fall over based on how he was shot.
The recruits would get some discipline scared into them, and you’d be able to nicely see how different people respond in that sort of situation. It would also be a good introduction to Achilles.
Sounds like a good plan, only thing I can think of is you might wanna do a psychological (Woo! big word!!) assessment (Woo! another one!!) of the recruits, make sure it’s not gonna mind-rape-level scar them. Last thing they want is for something like that to turn a promising asset into a gibbering mess…
And Achilles himself would get a kick out of it, too, I think. Probably ham the whole thing up to Shatner-esque levels.
The answer to your question is not simple. As has been previously stated, in Maxima’s case, in this comic universe, there would be no problem. As your question was more specifically targeted to question the structural properties of the weapon, simply saying that Maxima could do it seems insufficient. That said, the strength of guns varies greatly with a variety of factors including the gun’s design parameters and the specific model of gun right down to the specific impurities that were in that batch of material prior to the gun’s crafting. The impression I’ve gotten is that this particular gun was not drawn with a specific make & model of gun in mind, but rather drawn with several pictures of similar guns used as references. If that is the case, then the only person who can answer your question completely and accurately would be DaveB, since it is his fictional world that this gun resides in. Speaking generally about miniguns, though, it is obvious that they were never meant to be held that way. If I had designed it though, I would have made sure that either handle could support the entire weight of the gun and probably at least 20-30% extra besides, so that users could (if they so chose) hang the gun by it’s handle or mount it on a turret. If the principles of design carry over into the world of firearms, then chances are that some manufacturers build them strong, while others build them only barely strong enough to be used in exactly the intended fashion. If that is the case then for some miniguns it would be perfectly reasonable to expect it to put up with being handled that way, while in the cases of other guns, it would be difficult to swing the barrel in a complete circle without breaking it, even when holding it as intended. So again, it really comes back to whatever DaveB says. I doubt there are more than a handful of people on the planet, if that many. who have handled enough different kinds of minigun to say for sure if most of them are overbuilt or underbuilt, and I find it highly unlikely that one of them would show up here and comment about it, so you’ll likely not see a perfect answer that applies in the real world. But that doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to get an answer out of DaveB as to whether this particular gun is overbuilt or not.
that minigun made me think of saints row.
That presidential gun with the flamethrower in the middle?
…. the bayonete mini gun needs a flamethrower….
I so hope this is a case of chekhov’s gun.
Chekhov’s Gatling Gun of Slashy Doom?
For those of you wondering why the gun is there, Max DID say that she was heading off to her photo shoot. Her in that coat and holding that gun would make a hell of a picture.
While shaking “the governators” hand…
…With a caption that reads, “He came back.”
Just to keep that from being missed, it should be spelled “He came bach.”
Also, Max will start loading the gun if that photographer starts to get “too familiar” with her…
She could turn the “photo shoot” into a “photographer shoot” quite easily.
I want to “like” this comment. Why can’t I “like” this comment?!
Also who else thinks that would make a great vote incentive?
Dave did say he was working on a couple. You might not be the first one to have had that thought.
“…Max DID say that she was heading off to her photo shoot.”
With the caveat that every photo Max doesn’t like will be lined up against the wall & shot.
If Sydney had been modeled on Kate Bush, it would be a rubberband gun for a rubberband girl.
Rubber band gun you say…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2535224/Thats-got-hurt-Student-designs-85-machine-gun-fires-14-RUBBER-BANDS-second.html
Meh, I think I would hold out for the belt-fed version. And get a big stockpile of them. Reloading that model, by hand, looks way to fiddly, to be fun.
Finally a gun that’s good for something besides killing people. This one looks like it could chop up a head of lettuce in no time.
Salad Shooter!
… Or be just the thing for cutting back weeds in the backyard.
As that name’s come up a couple times, that is now the semi-official name of that gun.
LOL well, you have to get up pretty early in the morning to be original in this comment section and I needed my beauty sleep. :-P (or have the entire morning to read the comments obsessively before commenting)
I view it more as ‘great minds think alike’ rather than ‘lack of originality’.
Still, ya’ gotta admit that ARCSwat is all set if Groot ever goes rogue.
I want the mini gun to have its own character tab. Is that weird?
Already does, though only at TvTropes.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChekhovsGun
[i]This poster is not responsible for any lost time, jobs, sanity, weight, food, of small children that result from one being absorbed by the only known magic the human world has yet discovered.[/i]
BK, there is a difference between “a” and “the”.
a character tab is a tab for the specific character. a trope does not count.
Always when I see bullet proof I think of waterproof. As in, ‘this item will not suffer negative side effects from being submerged in bullets’.
English is weird.
People are weird.
Put English and People together and you have a misunderstanding. Because we call English People British.
:-D
Just do not make the mistake of calling British people English. Because that could get you a punch on the nose, if you say it to the wrong person, at a bad time.
I am thinking the predator symbols stand for the number of NSA drones they have had to shoot down cause they are nosy bastards lol.
Why waste bullets? Maxi could just fly up, waggle her finger (to indicate ‘naughty-naughty’) at the camera lens, then clap her hands (with the drone between them)
Fun for Max, maybe, but that’s no fun for anyone else..
Zomg I totally snarfed my cereal when I saw the predator busters on the gun. Know how hard it is to get oatmeal out of your nose? Well, *I* do. Still, worth it! :)
Everytime I see the word snarf I think of Snarf!
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://www.cartoonpics.net/data/media/83/snarf_thundercats.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.cartoonpics.net/r-thundercats-83-snarf-thundercats-3985.htm&h=1184&w=1024&tbnid=-3ab-4VQL23LsM:&zoom=1&docid=CuaL6WdtJjnBWM&ei=cbWCVei6BsSgNu-8gZAJ&tbm=isch&ved=0CDsQMygJMAk
So, you get “Sight beyond sight” when you see that word?
for me, it’s Pinky and The Brain…
I shall name it “Eugene”!
https://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Eugene
Too bad Brick isn’t here too!
As for me, I’ll call him George.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArNz8U7tgU4
What? A weapon such as that, with all of that multiple phallic-symbolism & you’d expect me to give it a girl’s name?
“Oh, sure, I know I am a louse. But I’m a live louse!”
I get the predator kill marks but before reading the comments I interpreted them as pictures of syd; that they had labeled to gun with warnings to keep it away from her. The predators hair and silhouette ends up looking a lot like her.
Wait, what? o_O
Hey Sydney! Did you hear what Giuseppe just called you?
Are you thinking of this page? https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/135
I think a cap gun would be more Sdyney’s speed…! :D
A spud-gun
Sydney could be a danger while just pointing her fingers and pretending to shoot.
Then again,what about a sling shot?
I can think of 5 ways of killing someone with a slingshot off the top of my head. Imagine that in Sydney’s hands
Far too many years ago when I was still in the U.S. Army after being in the field a little too long I mounted a bayonet on my M60 machinegun. This looks almost as practical. :)
As impractical as it looks, it actually can be surprisingly effective.
Grrl Power is back in the Top 5 again. Must have been my vote! :)
Just remember, if you ever utilize a minigun, you are required by law to state that you, “aint got time tah bleed”
“You got time to duck?”
Oh MAH GERD! OH MAH GERD! OH MAH GERD!
DAVE! How much do I have to donate to get a character inserted in with a walk-on role that gets to shoot that at some point?!
No, seriously, name your price! I’m practically throwing money at you!
Hah, not sure. There’s the usual cameo level over at Patreon, but I dunno how I’d do a smaller insert. Maybe once I get caught up I’ll be able to figure something out. Once this scene wraps up I’m not sure when we’ll get back to the firing range, though Sydney will have to qualify eventually.
Wait. That minigun has a JOYSTICK! Who the sam hill has hands big enough to use that joystick?! This weapon has to be used by someone in power armor, or a physical giant.
Not a joystick, just a grip shaped to be held easier. Mind you, you would get a lot of joy if you stick it in & start it spinnin’…
Perspective makes it look much bigger than normal (sounds kinda Freudian, that).
Freud had a completely different idea about the word “joystick”…
Freud had a completely different idea about a lot of words.
If that thing also SHOOTS bayonets, it’ll be absolutely perfect
Why not Flaming Chainsaws instead?
I hear someone modded a FPS game to include a minigun that fires exactly that.
Stahp, please! I practically want to hump it already!
You & Harem both…
…Or would that be “all 6 of you & Harem?”
*Directs a water squirter on A Gray Phantom*
Bad human! No humping guns in public!
Suddenly reminded of that one time The Punisher got hold of a gun that shot bullets that turned into small swords…
It was probably a flechette gun. Instead of shooting bullets, it’s a multiple load of sharp metal slivers.
No, it was a gun. A gun that shoots swords.
https://i.imgur.com/JEouc5b.jpg