Grrl Power #353 – The handyman’s secret weapon
I’m not sure I’d encourage the duct tape solution if I was Max, but then we didn’t see what happened between this page and the last. It is entirely possible Sydney dropped the ball (so to speak) 5 or 6 more times in the interstitial and arrived at this solution to expedite the actual flying test.
Oh, the last time a made a Street Fighter reference in the comic, quite a few people didn’t get it, so the short version is, there’s a guy named Guile in the game, on of his attacks is the Sonic Boom.
This page colored by Keith.
Whoops, the orbs weren’t arranged correctly originally, and Sydney wasn’t holding the force field orb. She is now. The flight orb gives her a deflector field that helps up to a certain speed, but she needs the force field orb to get over 150-200 mph.
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LOL, Sydney found 2nd gear!
Nope, she just found out how to release the parking brake.
Now, getting it out of second gear might be a problem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enqNl7tdLR4
That is what that statement reminded me of as. I just didn’t think to look on YouTube to find it.
I hope she doesn’t do what my uncle did once; Driving on the highway & messing around with the stick shift & accidentally “found” Reverse…
Exactly HOW could he ‘find’ the reverse? In most cars it’s impossible to get it into reverse unless the car is at a standstill, or close to it.
That wasn’t always true. In the older cars, it was possible. You’d tear the transmission up, though. Even in modern cars, it’s possible to shift into reverse, BUT… they have a safety mechanism built in. If you try to shift into reverse while moving forward, the safety prevents the gears from engaging (as if you put it in Neutral).
Manual Transmission. This was before this current generation was born, so I can’t fault them for thinking that cars were first invented with automatic transmissions.
And they’ll also never understand the unique relationship between a pencil and a cassette tape cartridge either…
I used to have a Gremlin with Three on the Tree. The clutch got discombobulated one time and I had to drive all the way home in 3rd gear, about 20 miles. Fortunately is was back roads, and there were only about 4 stop signs and no stop lights, so I just kind of kept rolling.
Then when I got home, it took me about 5 minutes to fix because the clutch linkage just kind of popped out.
I had a similar problem once but fortunately my kinda MacGyver uncle had taught me, just for fun, how to change gears without using the clutch ;)
Its called double clutching, which is amusing because you don’t use the clutch at all. You rev the engine and pop the trans into neutral, then rev again higher that the transmission rotating speed for the wheels. As the RPM’s fall off you will be able to shift into the next gear when the two speed match. Then you accelerate as normal until your next shift.
On my old truck with a mechanical clutch linkage, the link broke one day in traffic across town. Once I realized I couldn’t fix it in situ, I drove it home. I fortunately didn’t have a clutch interlock on the start, either, like these modern STD transmissions. the procedure was to pop into neutral while approaching a light. Once Stopped, turn off the engine. Put it in first, When the light turned green start the truck. The starter motor cranked the engine, which moved the truck forward because it was in gear (the clutch interlock prevents this). once the engine caught, you were already rolling forward, so you upshift and down shift from there. Repeat at every light and stop sign.
Double clutching and not using a clutch are two separate although related things.
Basically double clutching is using the clutch to put the trans in neutral, rev matching with the clutch engaged so the trans gears are all spinning at the right speed, then using the clutch a second time to put the car in the desired gear. It’s very similar to clutchless shifting as you can tell by the process, slightly slower of course but there’s more room for error in matching the revs and it places less stress on the gear engagement collars.
Cars used to have three control pedals for your feet. Accelerator, Brakes & Clutch…Figure it out from there.
I miss driving stick.
used to???? they still do, and if you can drive stick you can find great expensive used cars with all the goodies really cheap because not many people drive stick.
In my country, you take the driving test on manual.
I don’t know if it’s still true, but I’ve heard there are places in the US that have a designation on the driver’s license for whether or not you al allowed to drive a stick, and to get it you have to take the test using a stick.
I don’t believe it’s true with the standard license, but I know it’s true with a commercial – anywhere in the country. (And it’s not a designation that you’re allowed to drive a manual – it’s a restriction that you aren’t.) Probably because the manuals on commercial vehicles are considerably more complicated than those on your car.
Welcome to europe. Everyone drives stick
When I was learning how to drive, the instructor gave us this bit of advice: “When you take the test to get your license, do it in an automatic. That way there’s that many fewer things to go wrong and lose points over.” Mind you, when I did take the test, at one point the guy said to take a right, I was so nervous that I took a left instead, and ended up going the wrong way on a one-way street . . . and then passed the test anyway!
Thank God for understanding testers.
Some cars in the USA still have manual…But most cars manufactured now are automatic; there’s just not a lot of popularity for sticking nowadays. I was referring to the olden days, when the only transmission available was manual.
Does this mean that Max is a Cadillac and Sydney is a little Nash Rambler? Beep, beep….
Since those balls might be extraterrestrial, second gear can be FTL…
To quote Red Green: When you really need it to hold, you have to break out the Handyman’s Secret Weapon: duct tape!
when in doubt, duck-it
if you can’t fix it with duck-tape, then you’re not using enough duck-tape
If you can’t fix it with duct tape, it was never broken in the first place
Or WD40. Do not mix.
if it moves and shouldn’t use duct tape, if it doesn’t move and should then you use WD40, for all other problems Dynamite (as the size of an explosion increases the number of problems it is incapable of solving approaches zero.)
That’s true. If it weren’t for morals explosions would have given us world peace and solved food shortages long ago.
absolutely.
if there’s no one left alive then there is no one left to any problems in the first place.
You have been talking to the Lodge’s explosives enthusiast, Edgar Montrose, again? Not all of his advise is actionable, or even legal in many cases.
WD is nice, but I prefer PBBlaster followed my a light machine oil or liquid teflon at this point. WD is a degreaser which is not what you want for long term fixes. and PB does a better job at breaking up rusted parts.
WD 40 is pretty good for lubricating things, but it’s not to be taken internally; to lubricate yourself, a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster tops anything else.
Or a “Black Hole” from the Floating Vagabond.
Keep your stick on the ice.
So I guess the flight orb also gives her protection from friction?
Shield orb in the other hand is the way she did it before so most likely that is how she is doing it now.
Except that she isn’t holding it, so it can’t have been activated. All but one of the orbs is still orbiting Sydney’s head.
I just noticed that too. I suspect Dave forgot to put the shield one in her hand and will likely fix it later.
No, the Bubble-ball is clearly visible circling her had in panel three, and you can also clearly see a ‘windshield’ up in the same panel
It’s fixed now, with an additional comment added under the comic.
They were only going 100 in panel three, so you could have left the Forcefield ball in that panel
Betting that each of the speed sections acts in increasingly large changes in speed. the first allow sor easy reading below a few hundred, the second, mach 1 to maybe mach 10… beyond that, the third one takes over, multiplying the speed from mach 10 to something astronomical, though activating that kind of speed in atmosphere would be almost impossible.
Hmm, with the shield on she probably woudn’t need to worry about holding some athmosphere around her and/or cosmic rays… so… warp 6?
“Make it so.”
“. . . and engage!”
I wonder about her sense of direction though, She should bring dabbler with her if she does space travel via orb
I suspect if she brings Dabbler, she may end up… distracted.
No, no, no, light speed is too slow! We’re going to have to go right to… Ludicrous Speed!
Careful. You might go to plaid doing that.
and go flying through a control panel when you hit the brakes.
It was labeled “Never use” for a reason.
Air in shield might run out.
Maybe one of the unknown orbs creates breathable air? That would explain why she’s never been able to figure out what it does. If you’re already surrounded by perfectly good naturally-occurring air, its power would go completely unnoticed. And remember, she found the orbs while scuba diving – how do you think they got down there in the first place?
Or maybe an upgrade of the Force field orb would allow oxygen generation (or some more generic ‘life support’) within the shield.
Yeah I agree with this, and that we’re not looking at strictly linear measurement of speed, more like “zones” of speed. Also, since there appears to be a pie-slice in each one which is already filled, I presume that means that each prior circle of speed is contained within the first arc/slice of the following circle. So, all the speed gathered in circle one -> First arc of circle 2 -> All speed setting 1 & 2 -> first arc of circle 3, etc. So, when we’re looking at the arc colored in on the last circle, it’s only measuring the speed inclusive of the prior circles.
Sydney could probably go faster if she shaped her shield into an aerodynamic shape.
It is, can’t imagine a more aerodynamic shape than what we see in panel ten
For subsonic, the shield should be a teardrop shape, barely large enough around to contain Sydney.
Aerodynamics are different at supersonic speeds. I’m not sure exactly about the shape, but above Mach 1, the front of the shield would come to a point for the ideal supersonic shape.
except that Syd needs air and the shield is airtight so that’s a consideration as well.
Drop the shield and use Max’s protection. Smaller shape again.
Are the “ZMM”s ‘gear’ changes?
Panel four shows the change from the first circle (can barely make it out on the edge of the Florb) to the second, panel six shows the third circle activating and panel nine shows the fourth activating
Could we get a pre-bubble version of panel 7?
You mean, an image of just her face? You wanting to make an avatar out of her face?
Yess.
She can go supersonic (and possibly more), and that is kewl.
Now I’m wondering about how well Sydney can maneuver at that speed, AND how fast she can decelerate / stop. All these things will undoubtedly be dealt with under Max’s instruction.
Well, she has some sort of localized gravity when using the fly-ball, so it’s possible inertia might be less of an issue as well. At that point it becomes a matter of what can be done in terms of acceleration and her reaction time.
Have noticed something: either that roll of ducktape is extra small, or Sydney’s thumb is extra big o_O
She might have split it lengthwise off panel.
I once found a store selling small acks of duct tape. It was half the width, and instead of being wrapped around a circular core, it was wrapped around a 2″ wide strip of cardboard. It’s just a couple of meters in one pack, but they’re the perfect size to keep in my backpack when traveling. They’re even ‘airport safe’.
Where’d she get that duct tape anyway? Did they stop off at a tool shop on the way and pick up a roll? It looks far too big for her to have been carrying it on her person.
They were apparently hovering over Archon HQ based on what we saw on the wrist communicators screen back on the last page. I’m guessing one of them just went back inside for a moment to get it.
They were still over the roof when Syd tossed the roll away so she may have zipped off to grab it after the 3th time she dropped the ball.
Four digit base five speed counter?
Correction, 5 digit base 5. (Can’t see the other side of the orb, might be more pie chart numbers)
Except the one pie slice is always filled (the solid one) even when a lesser circle isn’t filled.
And when the next slice of the second pie filled in, the slices of the first pie didn’t clear, so it’s not like a digit rolling over.
it seems that the filled in wedge of the next higher gear is the sum of the totally filled in gears below it
Could be a reference to the machine from Forbidden Planet. It’s power output was measured this way by a whole row of meters, when the first meter filled, the second would start filling and so on. Same manufacturer? :-)
So the orbs were made by the Krell of Altir IV?
Possible, though they’ve been extinct a long time, those orbs must have been hanging around for ages waiting to be found.
Yeah, because the Krell had visited Earth (long before humanity gained sapience) & had collected a few examples of Earth fauna…Hence the tiger & monkey shown in the film. It’s possible the Krell left something behind too…
Good eye! I wasn’t sure anyone would get that reference.
It’s not a hint as to the origin of the orbs, but that’s some god damned classic sci-fi, so I thought I’d give it a nod. Plus the movie has a pre-Airplane Leslie Nielsen in it. It’s weird seeing him in a straight role, but he’s one of my favorite actors.
He’s excellent in that film, though not many people seem to know he’s in it. I’ve even show the film to people and they havn’t noticed untill I pointed it out.
Heck, I almost didn’t recognize Nielsen when I first saw Forbidden Planet…It took me a little while to remember where I heard his voice, before I confirmed it from the film credits.
Never watched Forbidden Planet. Here are two coins to downgrade my geek cred. Sorry.
Except that when one meter filled up & the next meter started moving, it showed power increasing by a factor of 10.
“10x10x10x10…Row after row, dial after dial.”
~Morbius
Anyone wanna bet that Max might find herself having to actually stretch a bit to keep ahead of Sydney during this? (Not saying that Syd’s near Max’s level just a lot CLOSER to Max’s level than most of the team.)
Actually, I’d think Halo might be faster than Maxima. Which could lead to an interesting conversation:
“General, could you contact NORAD for me? It seems that I’ve lost track of Halo… and if they can keep up with Santa…”
Santa defies the laws of physics…He doesn’t even generate sonic booms.
O.o
He obviously uses wormhole technology and quantum states of being.
Magic physics! :)
nah time control powers, he’s not fast everything else is slowed.
I would LOVE the idea of Sydney either being as fast as, or faster than Maxima (but only with flight speed, not reaction speed or on foot)
Maybe with upgrades, but right now I’d be happy to see Max’s thought train go “Damn, faster than expected”
With upgrades would be cool too.
Boy she never ceases to surprise. I love the subtle references. :)
SONIC WOOB!!
I don’t care where the flat side of the B is. That says sonic WOOB.
Also, one of these characters is going to be revealed to have a SONIC WOMB. Any day now.
Except that ‘sonic’ is already on it’s side and so it’s ‘boom’ in the same orientation as sonic.
It’s two curved lines, not one line in a circle…
Dave, what program do you typeset in? ‘Cause I have hell doing things like that in PS.
The sound effect looks to be hand-drawn to me, you can tell by the tiny inconsistencies between O’s in the ‘font’.
Syd is a Three Stooges fan, so it probably is a Sonic WOOB WOOB WOOB!
I see what you did there…That was actually quite funny.
N’yuck, n’yuck.
This is kinda weird. When I was checking on the comic, after I finished reading it and looking at the author’s notes I looked at the advertisements on the right…it was an add for the Street Fighter comic sight. Of course when I go to comment It’s not there anymore.
I want to know how much of a nerd Maxima is! >_<
I’m pretty sure that when someone actually passes Mach 1, they don’t hear the sonic boom themselves. The boom is like, your wake. It’s all behind you. Max might have been able to hear it depending on where she was relative to Sydney, but all Sydney should have noticed, if anything, was a tremor as her aerodynamic situation changed.
You’re right that you can’t hear your own sonic boom, partly because it would just be a constant pressure increase, but mostly because if your ears were exposed directly to the air at those speeds, you wouldn’t be hearing anything for a very long time. That said, if you’re in a craft as it passes the sound barrier, you’ll know when it happens. The flight characteristics of an aircraft change drastically at supersonic speeds, and the transition is not a slow one. For Sydney, things might be a bit different, though. We already know that the force of something colliding with her shield does not feed back directly to her, so it’s difficult to say if she experiences turbulence or other effects of moving through the air. If she doesn’t get feedback through the orb, it’s still possible that she would be able to notice as she breaks the sound barrier, since her shockwave would distort light coming through the front of the shield. Honestly, I’m kind of curious what the maximum speeds these two can achieve in atmosphere actually is. I read an article by the author of xkcd where he considered what would happen if a baseball were to suddenly accelerate to an appreciable fraction of light speed as it was thrown by the pitcher. According to his research, if an object is moving fast enough and it contacts air, the forces are great enough to allow the air to fuse with the surface of the object, and ones that bounce off the surface move fast enough to fuse with other air molecules, so that if the aforementioned baseball were to reach such speeds, it would result in a large crater replacing the city that formerly held the ball park, and the batter would be ruled as having been hit by the ball, thereby allowing him to advance to first base (unfortunately nobody would be able to locate what’s left of him, so a lot of good it would do him). I wonder if Sydney or Max ever experience anything like that.
… Did she just drop a pretty much full roll of Duct Tape from a high place?
don’t worry it’ll fix whatever it hits. duct tape fixes everything!
hmmm. only if the thing it hits isn’t supposed to move, I believe. If she wanted to fix, say, a person, she should have dropped a bottle of WD40 on them :p
On the whole irresistible force meets unmovable object, have you seen what happens when you pour WD40 on duct tape. I mean, just wow… :p
Ummm… I’m pretty sure that if you dropped a can of WD40 on a moving person from that height, and it hits, they aren’t going to be moving anymore…
Indeed :p
eh mayby whats the terminal volatility of a can of wd-40 How big of a can how full was it. If its not the most aerodynamic bottle say this one.. https://www.staples.com/WD-40-131-Trigger-Spray-Bottle-12-oz/product_710287?akamai-feo=off and not very full it may just sting a bit,.
I must admit, even though I said ‘bottle’ in my head I was thinking of something like this.
And as Sydney seems to have used only used a ~20cm strip from an otherwise new roll of duct tape, before chucking it, I’m assuming the can (that’d be the word I meant, lol) to be, say, ~20ml short of full…
Yep. that’ll get whoever it hits moving perfectly :p
but they won’t have any problems… other people might have a problem with it but not the person hit with the WD40.
They were still above the Archon building roof so it wouldn’t fall far and no one should be below them.
It’s a myth that dropping light from a high building will cause massive damage when it hits the ground (or a person) because of terminal velocity, plus how long it actually takes for an object to REACH terminal velocity. Mythbusters did an episode on it with dropping stuff like a penny, a roll of toilet paper, a bullet, etc and Adam Savage even put his hand in the way to let the object hit him and it didn’t cause any injury (it just stung a little – it didnt even cause a mark). Plus I doubt that they’re higher than 1500 feet (the amount they need to be to even start to reach terminal velocity) since that would make the Archon building one of the tallest buildings on the planet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHxvMLoKRWg
but if your dropping light itself that’s going to be quite destructive just from the energy output alone, considering how much light would there have to be condensed into a space in order for it to be solid enough to hold and drop.
i can’t remember exactly which book it’s from, but I’m PRETTY SURE it was from John W. Campbell Jr. with his Arcot, Morey and Wade series of stories from way back in the ’50’s-ish… and if I’m remembering correctly, the stories had Venusian’s fighting a civil war, with one side using a HUGE flying-wing style of bomber that flies above the cloud cover to collect solar energy into itself, then literally CONDENSES IT into a LIQUID… which is then squirted out the bottom of the craft via it’s bomb-bays as liquid-light bombs… and YES, they were VERY destructive as the liquid fell thru the warmer layers of the Venusian atmosphere and started to sublimate back into the light it came from… instantaneously as a flash of light… and these three figured out how to improve the process to actually SOLIDIFY light!!
extremely bad science compared to today’s knowledge, true… but back then, it was awesome stuff… the implied and even overt racism and such was unfortunately par-for-the-course for stories written back then, but if you can overlook that, the stories were pretty good… I’ve got a couple of them, but I’m looking to complete the set…
All three (The Black Star Passes, Invaders from the Infinite, & Islands of Space) are posted on Project Gutenberg under Campbell, John W. I’d also like to recommend The Ultimate Weapon (also found there).
Pretty sure that light is never “solid” enough to have actual mass, since it’s both a particle and a wave at the same time.
Photon’s don’t have mass, but they do have momentum, which means they can transfer energy to objects they hit, which is how a solar sail works.
So while they arent solid, “dropping” enough of them onto something would release energy, but there are far more practical ways to create WMD’s. Like just dropping a honking great asteroid on the planet, big boom, much less effort.
oh i thought that was what the tiny textures were
Ok, a speedometer and a windshield ARE very good secondary powers for the flight orb to have.
I can think of another: Radar, or some other kind of alert to possible collisions.
OK, scratch the windshield as a secondary power. Dave seems to have changed the page between when I first saw it and when I could get home to comment on it. :P But having Radar? Still a good idea.
D’OH! Ok so from the author’s comments: It DOES have a deflector shield as a secondary power, but only up to a limited speed.
and the Radar effect could be done via a combo with the True-Sight orb… probably one of the un-filled skill-tree blips that she hasn’t learned yet?
Sydney could still send out her “dupe” to keep ahead of herself. She can see & hear through it, so could keep track of any obstacles at least as far as the range she can send the dupe…Which sort of raises the question “How far out can Sydney project her image?”
I’m wondering if the fly ball also increases Sydney’s reaction time when she’s flying so fast as a secondary power. Because I know that she went through a billboard, but that wasnt about reaction time – that was about her not paying attention to where she was going.
Hang on… we’re all talking about wind resistance, but we’re forgetting something obvious: how are Max’s glasses and hat staying on and intact? That kind of windspeed would disperse or shred apart most materials.
(Including her uniform, but this comic is definitely not X-rated, thank goodness.)
Seriously, how is Max keeping her hat on?
Max has 0 range telekinesis. It’s the same way the ambulance didn’t fall apart when she lifted it one handed.
Tactile Telekinesis.
Her powers are basicly Atomic Psychokenesis at the range of touch. her “Armor” also affects her clothing. It’s also how she lifted the ambulance after the “Robbery” and it didn’t come apart.
Why are you saying that that is a good thing? o_O
To me, the most funny thing in this page is Max flying by with arms crossed and a smirk. :D
This tells me not only that there a long way to go for Sydnay to out-fly Max, but also that Max is quite used to be flying at the actual speed…
Himmelherrgottsacklzementnocheins!!!
“there a” -> “there is a”, Sydnay -> Sydney.
Well, Maxima is one of the most powerful supers on the planet after all :)
Max probably is, but how used is she to flying behind somebody going over mach 1? Hiro can only do it going down, so I doubt he does that often, so she may very rarely have experienced a super human produced sonic boom. Given that the object flying at super sonic speed does not experience it’s own sonic boom.
So, in the above comic, Sydney will not be hearing the boom, but Maxima is eating it, at close quarters!
Her smirk may well come from anticipating turning the tables, in a moment. And not just for a laugh, but to drive home the point about the affect, on others, of being in the wake of a super-sonic flyer.
There is a slight problem with that though. In order for Sydney to experience the wake of a sonic boom she would need to let go of her shield orb or be hovering as max passes the sound barrier right next to her which would cause severe damage to her hearing and possibly her clothes too.
And considering her shield protected her from the sound of Max punching the Shield while everyone else was covering their ears, she might not even notice the “BOOM!!!”
we know that Achilles has taken a missile to the face ( as said in the ambulance scene)… possibly he was carried / thrown/launched by Max to intercept said missile while she went after the jet that launched it? that would imply probably SS speeds… while i think that Max may not have experienced many SUPERPOWER-induced sonic-booms that were not via something/someone like Vehemence, but i’ll hazard a guess she’s been both blasted BY, and blasted other planes WITH sonic booms as part of her military duties…
The biggest differences with that though is aircraft combat usually occurs at significant range, with missiles, so the sonic boom is rather less of a consideration. By the time you are close enough to hit their wake, hopefully their aircraft is a burning wreck, falling to the ground. Either that, or they are getting a taste of yours, in return and you are both manoeuvring to get another shot off.
Of course Tom Cruise gets to go cockpit to cockpit, with his foes, in Top Gun, but outside of Hollywood scenarios like that, dogfights are likely to be a lot less up close and personal than super on super fights. Mainly because there are things that (top) flying supers can do, which would be impossible for conventional aircraft.
dogfights are likely to be a lot less up close and personal than super on super fights
True, but at the other end of the spectrum, we learned through experience that you DO still need to put guns on your aircraft, just in case. The early Vietnam-era jet fighters had missiles only, and no guns… the belief was that at supersonic speeds, the fighters would be unable to turn fast enough to engage in dogfighting. (Just like on the ground, the faster you go, the wider your turn radius is.) It turned out that any dogfight quickly became subsonic as the pilots slowed down to try to get behind the enemy (the early heat-seeking missiles could only achieve lock from a narrow cone to the rear of the enemy; they didn’t have the all-aspect heat seekers that we do now.)
The first-generation missiles had horrible accuracy. The AIM-9A Sidewinder was rear-aspect only and easily distracted by the sun, and the AIM-4D Falcon was meant for slow-moving bombers, not the MiG-17 / MiG-19 / MiG-21 / J-5 / J-6 fighters being used by the enemy. It registered a grand total of 5 kills.
To make matters worse, although the AIM-7D Sparrow was somewhat better than the AIM-4D in terms of being able to engage enemy fighters at Beyond Visible Range (BVR), it too had disappointing combat performance because the rules of engagement required VISUAL confirmation of the target. Only about 15% of more than 600 Sparrows actually hit their target, and just over 9.5% got a kill.
So, once the enemy got within gun range, HE had a gun, and you did not. He was also more maneuverable than you. The only thing you had going for you was that the F-4 was more durable and faster in a straight line. The F-4 is pretty much an example of the power of brute force versus aerodynamics (the engines generated so much thrust that it could take off with a full load of fuel and just under 10 metric tons of weaponry), so you could (maybe) outrun him before he was able to shoot you down.
As you might expect, they very quickly started putting guns on the fighters, although ammo capacity is pretty limited. For example, the F-16 has just 940 rounds for its M61A1 Vulcan, which has a rate of fire of 6,000 rounds per minute… if it didn’t have a burst controller, it’d burn through its ammo in just a few seconds.
“It turned out that any dogfight quickly became subsonic as the pilots slowed down to try to get behind the enemy.”
Yep. Air combat is basically a race to see who can get into a certain position last.
In an amusing twist, the resulting speed rips the cloths from their bodies. *@_@*
Wait till the next deviant art update. :p
Heh, heh, heh. I did not think of that.
it’s nice to dream…
Heh heh, MPHD. I love it.
For the degree I could play Street fighter 2, Guile was my go-to guy for taking the longest to lose. :)
And then there’s the modded version that I saw at my local arcade (back when arcades were still a big thing). Theirs was equipped with an aftermarket chip that removed the “refire delay” on the special moves. Also, the Sonic Boom zigzagged up and down, making it harder to avoid. You could beat the entire game by playing as Guile and spamming the Sonic Boom. In the hands of a fast player, the game never even had time to finish the sound effect.
“Sonic sonic sonic sonic sonic sonic sonic sonic K.O.”…
Ah… Rainbow Edition. And every other edition in between for that matter.
Also, tempted to play Guile’s theme for that last panel. ‘Cause, well, Guile’s theme goes with everything…
Rainbow Edition? That’s what it was? Oh, wait… that IS what it was! I remember now!
Hey, it’s been about 20 years since I saw it in the arcade, and about 10 years since we even HAD an arcade. I’m allowed to need a reminder. ;)
Since you mentioned Guile’s theme, enjoy… https://youtu.be/4qwKCQ4M2Nw
I like this one a bit more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHMcG5hBXkY
And now I’m listening to both non-stop. ^^;
That is indeed the version I was going to post.
Long live Smooth McGroove.
Long live Charl.
Hmmm so the unlock given it is a vision related orb maybe allows her to see detailed information on her orbs?
If so, cool and quite interesting.
Also, I see her possibly learning new stuff with orbs the hard way.
Okay, there are 3 circles, and she’s only fully filled one of them, and the second only has one triangle filled before getting to Mach 1. I wonder if the speedometer is incremental or exponential based on the triangles? Because if it’s exponential, Sydney’s likely able to fly insanely fast.
And I’m also assuming that her fly orb has a LOT of upgrades left.
FIVE circles!!
5 circles, first is full and second is filling the first time we see them. Next time, two are full, the third is filling. When she hits sonic, the fourth has just started filling (fifth is grayed out, and corresponds to the upgrade tree. Flight orb has 4/5 in one chain.)
Dave, any way you’re going to be at New York Comic Con?
DaveB
Last panel. Wallpaper.
Make it so.
Please.
Yup Sydney’s face in that panel is absolutely perfect.
I predict it won’t be long before someone turns that face into an avatar pic…
Maxima failed her spot check in panel 2, and Halo was a bad girl! A falling roll of duct tape might not pose a particularly high threat, but it is a bad habit and an anti-social thing to do. Slovenly practices like that could lead to her dropping something more dangerous, at a later date, without a thought.
Given Sydney’s distractable nature, her best precaution, against another public relations problem, is to practice best behaviour, even when she is not likely to be observed. That way, if it turns out that the flying traffic copter is filming her sometime, without her noticing, she will be commended for conscientious behaviour. Rather than being condemned, for failing as a role model.
I’m also picturing her being led along by Max while sulking over being unable to remove the tape
“Why is she stuck in hover mode?”
“Duct tape is pretty strong I guess?”
Littering? Might be they are directly over the building and it lands on the helipad
Reckless disregard of public safety. Very bad.
Dock her a weeks pay? Or did they prearrange a safe spot to drop it between strips?
She is indeed still over the Archon building as one can still the edge of the roof in panel two. And seeing as they probably had to take time for Sydney to get the tape, they might have had someone come to the roof to retrieve the tape as well.
I think Max likes watching people enjoy their powers. She may not be much for showing it, but that smile says “You amuse me. We must drink tea more often”
I think Sydney has a special place in Maxima’s heart. Who else in the entire world could have done an anaconda on her and gotten away with it?
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1847
I love how much thought you put into this comic and its fantasy elements.
Sydney:When I reach 88 miles,you’re gonna see some serious shit!
Maxima’s eyes widen a bit.
Okay, so I get who Guile is now, but who is “Ryu”?
.
.
.
Just kidding. Don’t kill me.
OK, no killing. But in penance, you must drink one whole bottle of
Let’s see if that worked…
Nope. *sigh* “Ring of Fire” Seen here https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/192
I don’t know, but he’s probably not as cool as Dan.
NOBODY is as cool as Dan.
I love the look on Max’s face.
Hell, I just love how Maxima is secretly eternally amused by Sydney.
Somehow I see Maxima looking at Sydney as that off-beat, bouncey little sister she never got to have. You know, the absolutely crazy one that, despite her obvious insanity, means well and always finds a way to make you crack up.
The best part is that Halo is smart enough to catch on to everything with just the right amount of nudging. And what more could a CO want in a newbie? If it was on the table for whatever reason, nothing on earth would make Maxima want to trade in Sydney. She makes Maxima laugh, even if sometimes it’s only on the inside, and that’s worth all the tea in China.
Well put! :)
Sydney has a way of putting the Human back into Human Resources…
So that’s what he was saying! =)
Ok i assume it’s not really the problem for Halo… But – does she has a required secondary power to handle “That sudden stop in the end”?
Since I’m assuming the Flight Orb is basically Controlled Gravity, I’m also assuming it comes equipped with it’s own version of an Inertial Compensator.
Plus the forb has seems to protect against inertia judging from Sydney’s hair, so it would also protect against sudden stops. The fly orb may very well do the same
One thing I’d worry about with Sydney is that she may be able to go that fast, but unlike Max, her reaction speeds are still human. While she’s still currently within the range that fighter pilots can be trained for, they a) have training and b) a whole hell of a lot of equipment. I’m reminded of DC’s second Ray, who was frequently noted at being able to match the Flashes for speed, but not reaction time, so he’d frequently overshoot.
She did knocked down that billboard on her way home…
But you know, maybe her ADD (ADHD?) is bigger concern than slow reaction time…
I think I would be taping the force field one rather than flight. Letting go of force field while over Mach 1 would have some pretty messy consequences.
If Sydney lets go of the orbs at Mach it might be bad. Serious injuries would result from aerodynamic forces alone. It wold be spiffy if the orb had a built in “cant let go” feature above a certain speed. Given that she as already let go at altitude that probably isn’t going to happen.
Serious Injury as in “turning yourself into a pick mist over the city”?
*PINK mist*
Sydney seems to let go only when she’s doing something else…. High fives, putting on her earpiece, etc. I doubt she would accidentally let go of the orb while flying at supersonic speed any more than she would accidentally jump out of her car while driving, or accidentally removal her breathing apparatus while scuba diving
Alright, let’s see if there’s a new Grrl Power comic. Damn, Daniel the Human won’t be home for ages, can’t get on net without him. Ah well, least I got this… *Pulls out mobile phone, loads up page.* OK, “Never noticed those before…If they’re some sort of power output or speedometer…” Eh, what you talking about girl? *Looks, but can’t see anything* ARGH…
*Daniel the Human gets home* Letmeonthenet I need to seeeeeee… “Alright, alright, go, go…” *Gets on net, loads page…* Finally, come on, come on… *Can barely see orb circles* ARGH! “Why not download it then look?” ………shutup…. *downloads then views* Finally…Least I can see them fairly well…not 100%, but at least it’s something… TT_TT