Grrl Power #355 – Aerial areal detour
Sydney’s wrist-com and choker… (I mean cool tactical throat mic that’s not sexualized at all, especially when Maxima confronted Arianna about it when they were originally proposed…) Anyway, they both have trackers in them, so it would be simple for Maxima to find her.
When you ask people what super power they’d like to have, I think the answer varies based on their demographics. Kids tends to want to fly, partially because that would be awesome and partially because they haven’t thought of more subtle and complex powers like probability manipulation that would let them clean up in Vegas or lotteries or whatever. Especially young males may give you the answer along the lines of “Be able to drive a tank” or “Have a dinosaur as a friend” because the concept of super powers may not be entirely clear to them, though both of those things would certainly be pretty sweet to a 6 year old. Adolescent males will as often as not answer “invisibility”… because they are adolescent males, though that may be an artifact of every generation before recent ones where unlimited access to seeing naked women is a few keystrokes away. “The internet in my head” might be a viable answer these days.
I have little insight into what females of any given age may answer beyond the usual popular choices of flight and, well, to be fair, invisibility still probably ranks highly, though perhaps not for as unrelentingly prurient reasons. A female friend of mine once answered the question with “invisibility” but it was so she could not be noticed… not like a thief, but so she could escape embarrassing social situations.
If I had to pick now, excluding any big universe altering power like one might find on the Infinity Gauntlet, I’d probably go with Harem’s power, so I could draw this comic faster, but also work on one or two other comics I have buzzing around in my head. (And still have time to play video games) That or some sort of skill copying powers like the Taskmaster. I’d go around conventions shaking the hands of all my favorite comic artists and writers. And maybe one guy who was a super successful commodities broker.
Update: Fixed Max’s missing hat logo and posted a wallpaper-ish sized version over at DA.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
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Soembody in the 320ish comments has probably already mentioned the missing insignia on Max’s hat on the panel before last, but hey. Better redundant than letting it go. :-D
Just posted the fixed image. CTRL+F5!
Did people mention Halo’s choker in the last panel? One of the yellow bars is white. Not much of a deal though.
That’s actually an artifact of the choker being light colored right there and also having the glow of the orb over it, but it does look white.
looks like it could be a lighting/shading thing with that one.
Looking forward to the media prep course. If Sydney has to make a speech,should she do her impression of Redd Foxx, Unless Arianna would go to the trouble of making sure garbage don’t come out of Sydney’s mouth???
Does she actually know who Redd Foxx is? Was it mentioned in an earlier page I missed? Seems to me between her age, her fixation on comics, and the truly staggering range of entertainment options available in the cable/internet/game-station age, that might be an antiquated cultural element she’s not likely to have run into.
I have always thought Constable Odo from Star Trek could have been FAR more powerful then he was portrayed. His species can shapeshift into practicality anything: solids, liquids, gasses, PLASMA! They coulis do it so well, Starfleet scanners couldn’t tell the difference.
I wonder if he could really go into plasma. I mean, that is a super heated form. While you can mimic a cold fire, is that the same as letting your molecules oxidize? And when did they form into a gas?
But you are totally right, they did not use the Changlings well at all as far as morphic abilities go.
Story-wise, the reason they gave for Odo not being able to do those things was that he didn’t grow up in changeling society, so he never learned how to perfectly shift his shape into other forms of matter or to perfectly mimic other beings. Production-wise, If he had had those full range of abilities, the show would probably have quickly devolved into fourteen minutes of exposition before they called on their wonder changeling who would shift into whatever was necessary to save the day, then they all go to Quark’s for drinks.
Though it’d be amusing for a scene of:
O’Brian: Blasted Cardies! This transverse conduit’s shot and I can’t get a spare for a week! And the Romulans need to dock!
*looks at Odo with puppydog eyes*
When I was a teen, my choice of super power was “control over gaseous molecules.” It allowed me to fly, to control the wind and create fire at will. (Ok, I was ripping apart complex molecules and oxidizing the remains, but whatever. I suppose it could, in theory, allow for short bursts of space flight…. )
Now, I totally want Harems ability. I could work two very different jobs, make art ( drawing and ceramics,more giant ass clay sculptures that need more than one person to make. Or maybe huge amounts of strength…) and play video games all at the same time. I would never be bored, always a little distracted but still getting all sorts of shit done. And the reading! And the traveling. Good god, I’d travel the world just so incould go there at will!
… Yup. Congrats, you have made flying no longer a prerequisite of any power that I have.
“control over gaseous molecules.” Aerokinisis I said the same thing basicly you are an airbender
You just want to be able to be the one who dealt it without smelting it. That’s not correct English except in that particular phrasing.
if you can do that and don’t take time to enjoy it you are doing something wrong
even superman says sometimes he would fly around just cause he could
time manipulation would be a very interesting power to have
Yeah, but things get nasty when it goes wrong.
Sorta gives new meaning to that old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” Adds a whole bunch of new levels to the meaning.
Um, dude, as someone who wears glasses, just so you know, unless Maxima had a pair of special goggle sunglasses made up expressly for Sydney, she’s been flying blind for quite awhile now. You can’t just substitute sunglasses for prescription glasses and expect to see. My distance glasses have that transition stuff in ’em to darken in sunlight just so I don’t have to be constantly changing from prescription sunglasses to prescription regular glasses. (I have computer glasses too.)
Sydney’s been stated to be farsighted, so it does work. Basically, she can see at these distances without glasses normally, she just wears glasses for shorter distances. (I’m assuming something in the under 10 feet range or similar.)
She couldn’t read a book (or probably her wrist-comp…) in her current glasses, but she can see to fly.
Just so.
Plus Archon has a “Q” department. Likely with super staff or at the very least the top in the range of automated fabrication technology. Whipping up something to Sydney’s prescription would be a trivial matter.
There is even the low tech solution. I can pick up off the shelf sunglasses anytime I need them, simply by popping into a shop that has racks of pre-made prescription glasses. They either ask you for your prescription details, or just do it by trial and error, until you have a pair that you can see with fine.
I am going to go for the former, once I have an up to date examination. Waaay cheaper than getting them custom made from an opticians. By a couple of orders of magnitude!
This is Archon. The department would have to start with an Arc. Something like Archimedes.
It does Arc-Spark.
Actually, DaveB stated that Sydney’s glasses were for reading only. Check the first page of this comment section, looking for the first or second comment that I made similar to yours, to see DaveB’s official response.
I may not be representative of other women (because really, broad brush there), but here’s my picks:
Flight would be cool, for sure, but has never been (on it’s own) my choice for super power.
Top two, depending on mood/day would be shape-shifting (which brings flight back in, because who doesn’t want to be a pteranodon for a while? Only boring people, that’s who) and teleportation. Speak to animals would also be fabulous.
Woof woof woof woof.
Aaaawwwwwk!
*soars off magnificently on thermals*
Show-off!
“Signals the antiaircraft batteries to open fire”.
Is Arianna’s press training going to involve turning Sydney’s choker into a shock collar?
That will escalate Syd’s language at an exponential rate.
Escalating Sydney’s language may not be a good idea. She’s already capable of going “over the top” in that way.
But beware! There was a particularly crappy movie that played on that trope. The guy cloned himself so he could meet both work and life obligations, then the cone cloned himself for similar reasons plus I think general laziness, and etc. The clones kept getting dumber and dumber…
Yea, my clones would be no more inclined to do boring chores than I am! I would want robotic minions for that stuff. But would like the ability to jack in and sense the world from their point of view. Expanding my consciousness and processing capability to allow me to follow all my minions everywhere. I have no problem with watching others doing work for me.
:-D
Plus, of course, I would want clone bodies (and robotic ones, plus non-clone bodies too) under my direct control, for the fun stuff. Enough to explore every planet in several galaxies simultaneously.
I don’t think small. More than that would be boring. You would learn too much, too fast, and have little room for future surprises and interest. But would be able to turn your hand to planetary and, eventually, solar sculpting, plus other astronomical artistic endeavours. Once you have made sure you will not be destroying anything of scientific interest, in the process.
I forget which storylines they’re in, but EGS has a couple of good ones: Nanase and Susan can summon semi-autonomous doubles/fairies. Since those things aren’t really alive, more like temporary magical constructs that get cues from their subconscious, both Nanase and Susan have used the constructs for chores.
I thought Michael Keaton was pretty good at playing all those different characters.
That wouldn’t apply to Harem, since she only has the one mind. She can remain entertained with a few of her selves while also doing the boring paperwork with another. The problem only appears when the clones are independent.
My super power wish is Immortality, yes with the capital “I”, has been since I was 8 and understood the concept. I would forget more than could ever be learned, probably grow distant from humanity, and would certainly suffer a lot of loss and age related BS (unless youth came with it). Buuuuut I’m pretty close to those as it stands already.
Reminds me of the Astro City mini-series where Samaritan is counting up the seconds he spends “flying” as opposed to “mid-air antics” or Point A->B travel.
I’m an old City of Heroes player and I’ve asked myself what power from the game I’d most like. Flight is right up there. Even Hover (think: Walking-to-running speed flight) would be great. But if it came down to it, I’d most like the basic characteristics of a Level 1 CoH character even without any powers.
You can fall any distance and never die (always have a hit point left). You heal back to completely healthy in a matter of minutes. You can casually vault chain link fences and run like an Olympic sprinter, only continuously, not for 100 meters. We’ll set aside going up levels or the part where you can teleport to the nearest hospital when you’re killed and come out perfectly healthy.
I liked the flying. But I loved the super-jump. The whole leaping over tall buildings, in a single bound thing just felt so immediate and visceral. Anytime when I had a break from play, that was one of the fixes that I would start missing first, and draw me back for some more bouncing around.
Plus I missed the meditation grove in my base. You could hear the wind whistling in the trees (a nice artifice due to the camp fire sound effects) and it made for a perfect place to chill out, at the end of a day ridding the world of villainy.
Thanks for the wallpaper DaveB!
I currently have it set covering the whole monitor, so it is centred on Sydney and Maxima, but misses out the majority of the canyon walls. In due course I will switch to the pillar-box view instead, as I am sure that will work well too.
Seconded :)
A great page, a great last panel and a great wallpaper. Thank you!
I just thought of what is about to happen next in the image. They needed someone in the air to take that picture, so Syd and Max are about to run smack into ‘The Filmer” https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/91
I would love to have the super power to visulize the butterfly affect. To be able to see the repercussion of any choice or action would make like soooo easy. Also would be badass in a fight. Sets pencil on ground and takes 3 steps to the right, beats superman. Win!
Ooo, double page. :D
There would always be five minutes to spare if I could fly, too.
When it comes to powers, I’ve always liked the idea of telekinesis, especially if it could get to a point where you could move stuff without it looking like you had to know where the objects are. For example, if you’re tapping away on your phone or reading a book and someone’s annoying you, it would be possible to clock someone over the head with something without even looking up. Plus I think it would be a good power to freak someone out with.
As for the ones in Grrl Power, Harem’s power is my favourite simply because flight has never interested me very much as a super power. Super strength would be fun as well, simply to prove people wrong when they say that something is too heavy.
Polymorph, with clothes disappearing and reappearing when I turn back to human. It provides mobility(bird, fish, cheetah), senses(eagle eye, dogs nose), stealth(be an actual fly on the wall), combat ability(bear, shark), and fun(all of the above).
And if you are careful about where you change, you can hide your power.
If you’re good enough at shape-shifting, you can dispense with clothes entirely.
Gonna go with the high-speed regenerative healing/immortality bit just because it would be really interesting to hang around a few centuries and see things change, especially if you’re of a scientist-bent because every new answer just leaves new questions to be answered.
The cuteness! I can’t handle the cuteness!! Oh, Max…
Thinker power. Always a Thinker power.
Tattletale, Coil, even fucking Contessa. In terms of potential benefits for the world those are the ones I would go with.
Maybe, maybe, also Tinker, but that’s either insanely dangerous or almost useless. Either the tech can be duplicated and shared (dangerous as fuck for anything truly game changing) or you’re seriously limited in your effect on the world.
Close third are mind powers to heal people and help them move forward in their development.
As for more physical and/or combat oriented stuff: see SFP for how well that works out.
But sure, flying would be nice.
I always flop back and forth between short range teleportation (like night crawler ), telekinesis, and shape changing (like mystique) but if I could only pick one, being 5ft nothing, I would go with telekinesis
There was an NPR piece awhile back about a guy who limits it to two choices when he asks the question:
1: Flight. Top speed up to 1,000 mph (a squib, in my opinion). You can carry what you could lift normally. No harm from the flight speed, but no protection against adverse weather as-such.
2: Invisibility. Just physical invisibility, so you can still be heard, found with sonar, trigger pressure pads and so forth. You can carry whatever you can carry normally, but if you pick something up, you have to re-activate the power.
One thing is that neither power is really great at fighting street crime. Flight just makes you more of a target for bullets, and invisibility doesn’t make you dangerous unless you’re already pretty bad-ass as a fighter.
But a flyer would make a damn good search-and-rescue type, able to cover large areas or get up sheer mountainsides easily; an invisible person would be awesome at fighting white-collar crime and political shenanigans, just by eavesdropping (and recording) all those back-room meetings, and making them public domain.
I don’t know if it ever happened in-universe, but the one person Sue Storm could not sneak up on would be Daredevil. He navigates by sonar (Toph-style seismic waves?). She would ‘look’ like anyone else in the room to him. Also, he has enhanced hearing. Regardless of whatever mask a hero was wearing he has got to know who most of the other supers are just by hearing their voice, if has ever met them before or heard them via phone, TV, radio etc.
I’ve always wanted teleportation, and especially the power to make ‘gates’ so I can take people along with me. Given the shenanigans one can do with a portal gun as a power, it would also be incredibly fun.
When I was a kid I always wanted to have telekinesis, which comes with flight too of course, but I wanted to be able to turn my school into a giant crater with my mind.
As far as physical powers go, I’d go with the Windrunner powerset: power over gravity and pressure (Where flying really is falling with style). Powers also come with accelerated healing, slightly boosted strength, a fairy companion who transforms into a weapon that can cut anything, and a pretty lightshow.
But the really money is at omniscience. Or intellectus, (as defined by the Dresden Files) the ability to know anything without the burden of knowing everything all at once.
Alternatively, I’d settle for the ability to find anything. I can find my lost keys, find a good investment, find love, find the right things to say… Which is basically intellectus (or Contessa’s checkmate power) just framed differently.
Teleportation would also be nice, especially if it’s the Pernese style that can go between times or a type that’s instantaneous and is safe to use / doesn’t have any problems with displaced air.
Wouldn’t Sydney’s shield thingy stop the tracker from working?
Sydney’s shield only blocks things that are harmful. the radio waves from her headset and tracker aren’t strong enough so it doesn’t cause the shield to activate.
Given my own personal problems, I would have to go with Regeneration/Ultra Healing right now…. But after that it would be Teleportation. I hate to fly and I’m scared of heights.
When I was five and my kindergarten teacher asked us what superpower we wanted (or something like that, it was a long while back), I said I wanted wings…not Angel from X-Men feather-wings, nor even dragon wings or anything “cool” like that, but transparent fairy wings, like dragonflies and Tinkerbell. I was teased mercilessly for it; most of my male peers wanted super-strength/invincibility, but I don’t remember what my female peers preferred.
Nowadays, my superpower tastes have changed. If I have to go with something supernatural, then Garnet’s Future Vision from Steven Universe seems pretty handy; however, my normal power set involves a hero who was injected with nanites that grant standard cyborg powers (i.e. moderately increased physical attributes/senses, perfect memory recall, uberhacking, self-repair) but, more importantly, allow a certain degree of energy manipulation (think a flightless Green Lantern, or perhaps Sydney’s Lighthook and shield crossed with Starfire’s energy blasts [but still no flying]). It’s a character concept/power set I’ve put a lot of thought into over the years, and I usually start off with some variant of this character whenever I start writing in a new universe.
Steven Universe fan-high five! Also, look up Bionic Man sometime.
sounds a bit like the premise of Jake 2.0 to be honest, just with slightly different power sets.
I like the power of the character Nick Campbell from Super Powereds, the ability to manipulate luck. I’d grab that one for myself.
ok,, best power,, comic awareness,, not to be confused with cosmic awareness.
if you dont know what it is,, google it :)
Heh, mine would be the reverse of that. Given the premise is that the comic character gains the power you propose. I would prefer to gain the power to breach the 4th wall, from this side. It would be fun to hang with Sydney. When lethal stuff was not going on. But that is the perk of being able to control the power, you only go into a frame that is fun and survivable.
This page does not look particularly safe for anyone without flight and/or shields.
Same as it’s always been: Full Manifestation of Detailed Thought.
Limiter: must strike a certain handsign or such first as a precaution to wandering imagination/dreamscapes.
OK, if I had to have a super power, other than flying, in would to be………color change. Being able to change the color of things I touch at will. Just think of the mischief you could cause by just casually walking around in a parking lot!
My top picks are super speed (get things done faster, because I suck at multitasking, and go anywhere because I can’t drive), shape-shift because I’m jealous of cats, and invisibility — because I have social anxiety and stress/crowd-related claustrophobia. Also, I’d like to people watch without being noticed, lol.
That last panel is amazing!
You can download it in big, if you want.
Hurray!
Strongly reminded of this: https://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1154
Now I am picturing supers on vacation, the flyers skimming about a canyon, the stetchers and such pulling a spider-man (or water ski behind some flyers), the heavies tossing the indestructibles into the air to cannon ball the ground like living shot puts.
On the what powers you’d want.
Heh, as a child I always said either (flight) or else (vampire powers): as I was always greedy and never wanted just one power.
A trend that continues today for wanting a power that is actually a bunch of powers like: Quantum Distortion and Manipulation.
I always wanted telepathy/psionics when I was younger. Nowadays, I’d like biophysical manipulation. Healing anyone? I am getting too old for eating french fries, lets just correct that…
Power? Shapechanging. This goes back quite a ways, even before puberty, where I’d tell myself stories and draw pictures to go with them, in this case of spy who could change shape using a special oil they’d rub over their body and then literally mold themselves into this new shap, usually something like the woman in the black bikini in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
Just found this. Sydney’s ‘poster tube’ also applies here:
https://acidsquirrel.com/post/83505
I thought about it and my choice would be to have absolute control over my cellular structure. My cells would be like nanobots, able to repair, replace or alter tissue as needed.