Grrl Power #362 – Equipmental
Sydney is stumbling around verbally cause she keeps almost forgetting that not everyone knows that Dabbler isn’t human. To be honest I kind of keep forgetting it too, and it’s probably only a matter of time before I slip up in the comic. Now me personally, if I’m in a room full of superheroes and one of them says “By the way I’m actually an alien adventurer from a race that inspired your current cultural image of demons.” my reaction would probably be “Neat.” But in reality, that is a rather loaded revelation; extraterrestrial life, sapience, civilization, demons are real – sort of. The general populace would have a much harder time absorbing that, not to mention how crazy it would drive a great deal of the religious populace. Sure most people on the more casual side of the spectrum would shrug and think “Hey, cool, God is everywhere, right? Makes sense.” but of course to anyone fervently under the impression that humans are God’s favorite pet project, it could cause some violent cognitive dissonance. That’s why they haven’t revealed her origin to the general populace yet.
In fact Arianna and those in the know have a directive to never actually refer to Dabbler as a human so they can’t be caught in a lie later when she is revealed. It’s not that hard really. Given that we don’t live in a post-warp drive era society rife with aliens, how often do you have to describe someone as human in casual conversation? Though when dealing with Supers, the question of whether or not they are human will occasionally come up. That’s kind of a difficult question to answer, because first you have to define what a species is. Normally a species is defined as the largest group of individuals that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. (There are some problems with this since some life reproduces asexually but it works pretty well for higher order life) A horse and a donkey can interbreed and produce a mule, but mules are almost always infertile, hence horses and donkeys are different species. (They also have a different number of chromosomes which is pretty telling, but let’s stick with the interbreeding thing.) Supers and humans can easily interbreed and the result will either be a super or a human, (and they have the same number of chromosomes if anyone was wondering) so by that measure they’re the same species. But then things get problematic – Succubi can interbreed with humans and many other species, and the result is always a succubus, but they’re certainly not human. They just have crazy baby factories. (Dabbler will explain this in some detail eventually) Taking that in to account, someone could argue that Supers are a non-human species that happens to be capable of producing fertile offspring with humans. Who knows, maybe every Super has that as a super power?
So… yeah, not everyone knows Dabbler is a space vixen. Kind of digressed there.
For the record I don’t think armored socks of any kind would be remotely practical. Maxima is just saying that they would be physically possible to create, just to mollify Heatwave. Crap I just realized Achilles should be sitting next to her. I guess he dropped his Skittles too.
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Man, Dr. Skittles could take out the whole team. New Supervillain!
If this meeting is going to go on much longer, you should probably make a seating chart.
“Heh heh heh heh heh heeeeh. Fear the power you don’t even realize you’re under, as I make you all drop your skittles! Well, not just skittles, other candies too. And since you don’t actually know you’re all under my power, I guess that makes it a bit hard to fear me…….Ah stuff it, just keep dropping your F***ing skittles…”
Sadly, everyone always forgets that horses and donkeys can also produce a hinny (depending on whether you use a male horse+female donkey, or female donkey+male horse combo), which is different from a mule. Also, while “mostly” sterile, there’ve been a small number of mules that were fertile over the centuries humans have been breeding them.
The key threshold is whether the fertility is sufficient, with enough breeding pairs, to sustain a viable population. Too low and they are just isolated oddities, rather than a sub-species or intermediate species. Although evolution and/or selective breeding can keep trying to overcome that.
My favourite is the liger. Part lion and part tiger. Other than looking really cute, I just love one peculiar fact. The offspring are bigger than either parent species!
And there’s a reason for that fact.
First off, a liger is the result of a male lion and a tigress. (The reverse is called a tigon).
Apparently, due to male lions and tigresses being larger (on average) than the opposite sex of their respective species, the result when they are bred together is that the two ‘larger’ halves of the slight sexual dimorphism combine to make a ‘much larger’ whole. (Note: this applies to both male and female ligers — the parents are always
I know that’s not exactly the most understandable of explanations — scientifically, that is — but it’s a good enough explanation for most people. (If you want to know more, I suggest educating yourself in genetics. That’s beyond my area of interest though >_> ).
In a somewhat-related theory of mine, I believe that the myth of Heracles and the Nemean Lion could instead, in fact, be referring to a Liger. It would make more sense, given that it was supposedly of immense size — immense enough that people could attribute otherwise-mythical claims to its capabilities and still be believed at the time.
*sigh*
Wishing for an edit function, again.
“(Note: this applies to both male and female ligers — the parents are always a male lion and a tigress.)“
Tell me about it.
*sigh*
Check out my comment in this thread, time stamped 10:39 am, in reply to Hegas. It was meant to read:
You might be surprised.
I even went to the extent of testing the code in my usual sandbox. Which worked perfectly. Then somehow managed to end up with the raw link in my reply. Compounded by failing to do a thorough re-read before submitting.
Worst of all it changes the tone of the reply. Instead of being a teasing reply that remains in character, but which, via the photograph provides a cheeky wink, it instead implies that Hegas might be a dog! Really not what I was intending at all. But, fortunately remaining within the realm of joking, rather than offering insult. So I let sleeping dogs lie. Err no slur intended.
Needless to say I was rather frustrated that managed to slip though my error checking!
You forgot to mention that the reason ligers are so huge is that they lack the “growth inhibiting gene” that their parents have. This allows them to become utterly massive (growing about a pound a day), but it also axes their lifespan to a *maximum* of four years.
So yeah, ligers are big and pretty, but they have a lifespan equivalent to that of a mouse or hamster.
Curiosity led me to check on ligers, and it turns out that their lifespans are no worse than other big cats. The oldest on recent record passed away at 24 years old, in 1972.
As to size, Hercules was the largest known living cat in 2013. He weighed 922 lb., measured 131″ long & stood 49″ at the shoulder at that time. Definitely not a lap kitty.
But does HE know he’s not a lap kitty?
Does HE care? :D
I have fond memories (and photographs) of lion cubs sitting on my lap. They are every bit as fond of being stroked as other cats!
There are a number of advantages to having grown up in Africa. Ready access to such experiences being one of them.
There’s some cognitive dissonance with big cats acting like house cats, but they often do. Tigers will chase laser pointers, which causes those to be banned at some zoos.
Well, *a few* tigers will, but only if they’re in a mood to play. MOST tigers either ignore it, or look at you like “Dude, seriously?” So do the lions and jaguars. It’s the [i]smaller[/i] big cats (mountain lions, leopards, lynx) that will [i]usually[/i] chase the pointer.
I refer you to this video, from a big cat rescue organization:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3BHSt42L0Y
You’ll note that every single tiger seems to have ignored it. My guess is that they interpret it as being too small to waste energy chasing it. (If you have to spend more energy chasing it than you get from eating it, it’s not worthwhile prey.)
I think it was Larry Niven (in the context of referring to a Kzinti) who 1st expressed the idea that any warm-blooded creature larger than a mouse enjoys getting gentle scratches behind the ears.
:)
Now, before anyone tries anything suicidal like approaching a badger, or an adult lion, remember that an approaching Hoo-mon is almost *NEVER* seen through animals’ eyes as an opportunity to get some friendly “ear-scritches”…
…far – *FAR* more likely, they’ll be thinking either, “FLEE!”, or else, “SNACK TIME!”, depending on the species.
That sounds right. I remember the first time I read ringworld loving the image of a six foot tall, well muscled Warrior Cat purring while getting a scritch behind the ears.
The zoo near me had a liger. In fact, it could be the very same one you mention Pblade. They have it stuffed and mounted with a sign saying they don’t normally allow for a taxidermist, but this is a very special case and let me tell you, that liger was ENORMOUS! You don’t really think about it because both lions and tigers are huge, but really they are impressive.
Ok so serious question, (not serious serious though) on the rare occasion that a mule and hinny are both fertile, what happens if you interbreed them? I’m assuming some sort of time loop.
The world gets a reset :D
The reason for the sterility is the mismatch in the number of chromosomes. Horses have 64, whereas Donkeys have 62. Hybrids (Mules or Hinnys, in this instance) split the difference so these have 63. This is bad. If chromosomes do not pair off* you either end up with either one missing or one duplicated. In humans either option is the cause of many different diseases. Whilst these hybrids do not seem to be as prone to such problems as human populations, it is the cause of their sterility.
There are no known cases of male hybrids being fertile. As such it is not possible to breed these hybrid to one another.
Although with modern techniques it is possible to artificially create offspring without a male being involved, in humans. These same techniques could be adapted, but you would face the hurdle of two parents each with 63 chromosomes.
So I suspect that there would still be serious fertility problems. Likewise there could be chronic disease issues too, but my gene-fu is too lacking to make informed speculation. Either way the population would not remain sustainable without artificial intervention. Be it repeating the process each generation, or making a permanent tweak to the chromosomes.
However interbreeding can and does take place, but only succeeding very rarely. In each case it has been with a female hybrid and a male from one of the base species (ie horse or donkey). These, of course, need names. Which are:
Mule mother + donkey father = Donkule or Jule
Mule mother + horse father = Hule
Hule mother + donkey father = Dragon Foal (only one such known, which was in China)
Hule mother + horse father = … (none reported)
* Layman’s term, rather than the scientific one or a more detailed explanation. Loosely speaking though the chromosomes from each parent are having difficulty being matched up with the corresponding one on the other side. The rare successful offspring do this by sheer luck. The rest are unviable because the chromosomes they are attempting to pair off are for the wrong things (say trying to match up hair colour with length of leg).
Apologies, I typed “Hule” instead of “Hinny” in a couple of places. It should have read as follows:
Imagine the oddities we could get if animals were as resilient in hybridization as plants. There’s a few plants that can cross not only species barriers, but genus (Heucherella) and if I’m not mistaken one or to specifics that cross family.
but that’s a great list, I didn’t know about the Dragon Foal, thanks for the tip off! ^.^
From what I know … there are NO recorded instances in history of a fertile MALE mule ever existing. The very few fertile mules to ever be born have been female.
Through google, I just read that there’s been one recorded instance of a female mule and a hinny producing a filly foal.
Then again, it was in China, and China doesnt really have a good track record for giving out honest information.
Interesting to know, if true. Which it may well be.
My research, to corroborate a single comment, is rarely going to be more in depth than what I can turn up on the first page of a google search. Although, in that instance, I did collate the information from three separate informed sources, including one run by genetic researchers and scientists.
But there are always bound to be some things which fall outside even informed knowledge. I would be interested to find out scientific explanation for that birth. Although it may just be the very boring one that the chances of male fertility are extremely low, but not impossible. Hence why there were no previous recorded instances. Or perhaps it is that particular hybrid (and gender) combination, which lessened the infertility issues?
Did your source hint if any fertility treatments were applied? Some of my research indicated that recent advances in genetics were starting to impact on hybrid breeding, by improving fertility.
And, if it strayed into areas prohibited in other countries (for instance stem cell research in the USA), China has less inhibitions about letting ethical issues get in the way of their science. Plus that would also explain why they might not work to publicise it heavily, if they feared international criticism for whatever techniques they used.
China (and this isnt against Chinese people, just how the Chinese government operates in general) has very few inhibitions about letting FACTS get in the way of what they publicize also, if you recall with the outbreak of avian flu and other outbreaks which they claimed were far lower than they actually were.
Faked research is unfortunately an endemic problem in China – especially when it comes to falsified and plagiarized scientific results (almost an entire third of all scientific researchers at the six leading institutions in China have admitted to plagiarism, falsification and fabrication of experiments and results), which tends to make people pretty skeptical of claims by Chinese scientific community. So I take claims that they did breed a foal from a mule and a hinny with a grain of salt, especially since it hasn’t been reproduced elsewhere (as far as I have seen in my internet searching).
It sort of reminds me of Rocky 4 where the Russians were claiming that Drago was from an all natural russian training regimen, when it was actually from steroids and genetic cocktails :)
Frank Quitely, but the Chinese aren’t the only ones to ‘fudge’ facts
Dabbler has another technique she uses to disguise that she is an alien. She has a special perfume that hides her normal scent and makes her smell like a human. It is called “Eau de Humanity!”.
7 lashes for punning.
You mean 7 lashes for pun-ishment.
Oh the groaning!
Rereading the page and the comments makes me regret that I’m almost immune to the effects of coffeine (I get some sour esophagus after a few liters of coffee).
Girl Genius used that joke a few days ago…
Oh, also, it’s good to have that little clarification in the description about Dabbler being a “demon”. I was actually wondering about this not long ago. It makes much more sense this way than if she was an “actual” demon.
So succubi need to have lots of sex to survive. They also can, apperantly, get pregnant from pretty much anything male. That seems like it could get inconvenient very quickly. I’ll make the assumption that, as an advanced race, they have developed some form of contraceptive measures.
My question is, are they physical (condoms), medical (the pill), magical, or something else?
Just how diverse can the results be?
I mean, chickens and elephants can both technically err… Let’s not finish that sentence. But what would the results look like?
pretty sure they don’t get pregnant unless they want to.
but i may be wrong…
aaaand then you have to ask about under aged succubi.
well, they don’t actually have to perform themselves, it happening somewhere around should be enough i think.
Dyson spheres. All that ‘dark matter’ astronomers calculate is out there is actually Dyson spheres. They have spread throughout all the visible galaxies that way. No need to use birth control, they just have babies. Lots and lots of them!
Or, another alternative to your, reasonable, suggestions, is that they can naturally choose when to be fertile.
” Dyson spheres. All that ‘dark matter’ astronomers calculate is out there is actually Dyson spheres.”
Experiments to find dark matter here on Earth keep turning up nothing, even though it is theoretically much more common than regular matter. Occam’s Razor would start to suggest that your idea may be more likely. The Fermi Paradox is answered simply by understanding how very primitive we are to the Dyson Sphere level civilizations populating the Universe, and assuming we are unaware of them by way of a “Prime Directive” type ban on contacting us.
Given the proposed scale of Dyson spheres, they would probably take large amounts of time to build, during which time they’d actually amplify the detectiblility of the star they’d be anchored around, unless they happened to be build up from initial ringworlds that were always edge on to the observer, (in this case, our solar system), or viewed from the solar polar positions, so that we were not seeing any significant reflection from the interior surface of the ring.
We may currently be observing things that are Dyson spheres under construction. For example, if you see a star with a large nebula around it, that stellar dust might be the construction materials being shepherded into position. But until somebody tests the observations, versus the hypothesis, we would not realise that.
You mean, like this?
Ooh, I was being unwittingly topical. Mind you I should have picked that up in my researching. Clearly I have been lax of late. Thanks.
I think it’s already spawned its own web-comic:
[https://dord.horse/post/131159440377]
I think it’s…yes, I believe it actually is a comic.
Pretty funny too.
;)
There’s a hypothesis (that I forget the name of) under study which says that Einstein didn’t get it quite right, and provides an alternate formulation which explains the motion of stars in galaxies without dark matter or dark energy.
Unfortunately this alternate hypothesis also fails to fit the evidence at the scale of galactic superclusters – and currently doesn’t have a “because” clause. It just stops at “things behave this way” where Newton’s and Einstein’s theories attempted to say why.
That would also depend on their reproductive cycle and process. They may not be fertile as frequently as human women. Of more concern would be Iccubus males getting other creatures pregnant with ‘Cubi’ (borrowing the term from DMFA). And again assuming there isn’t also a fertility period for the males. Would explain where “changeling” myths come from for the GrrlPower reality.
I wouldn’t use the human (and close primate relatives) reproductive cycle as a guide, as it’s rather quick even for earth animals.
Dave has said that Succubi in this universe can get by on other people sexual energy alone. Though they would probably be weaker and require more time gathering it.
Hyu-mons don’t have to be constantly eating to survive, so it’s possible that Succubae can also go without having to be constantly feeding on the sexual energy (Dabbles needed a ‘top-up’ because she used a lot more energy during that fight than she normally uses)
My version of Succubi have to take steps to get pregnant, it never happens by accident (though it could potentially happen if 3rd parties interfere)
A 3rd party? Such as a curious Sydney? Or a troublemaking Harem? ;)
Bull semen can be purchased so no doubt other animal types can also.
Just how far can a prank go?
A sucubus getting pregnant with a duck billed platypus…
Thus the Daveb speaks, and so it shall be. Thanks for the answer.
According to what I’ve read, two creatures are different species if they don’t mate, reproduce, and have fertile offspring *in the wild*, without human intervention. There are quite a few pairs of species that are separate species only because of geographical barriers, or even more subtle things – such as fireflies who don’t cross-mate ONLY because they have different patterns of mating-signal flashes, but if scientists fake that out there’s no problem.
But “species” is fundamentally an imposed concept, and there are several ways it breaks down. One is of course with humans: EVERYTHING we do involves human intervention. Or what if species A and B don’t cross-breed, but both of them cross-breed with C? (Feel free to insert more intermediate steps in that if you like – it happens, see “ring species”.) All dogs, bears, weasels, and a number of other species have a common ancestor, while all cats, hyenas, mongooses and a number of other species have a different common ancestor – and those two ancestors not only were the same species (whatever it was), but theoretically could have been siblings.
(And then there are the things that don’t have sexual reproduction.)
And after all that well-reasoned argument, do you know what question popped up in my brain after reading this? “Hmm, I wonder what the plural of mongoose is?”
Mongeese.
(Okay it’s usually mongooses but mongeese is also considered correct.)
I prefer mongeeses.
Cause funny.
nah, it just goes to show that Sarnothi are becoming more open about their presence here…and their bad habits with pluralizing…
…More likely because Engrish funny.
I think of this whenever I see the word “February” spelled out…
Wait, how do you pronounce February? o_O
Because to me, it is spelt as it sounds: Feh-Brew-Airy (or Feb-Rue-Airy)
For me it is more like: Feb-your-ee
Wait, what? o_O
Heh, I do not pretend that I always have good enunciation. It is sloppy, but that is the way I tend to say it. Whether or not it is just me, or if that was a local habit, in my corner of the South East of England, I have no idea.
In the past I have even been picked up on saying “pronounciation” instead of “pronunciation”, ironically enough.
Pronounciation seems right to me
Didn’t mean to criticize, was just wondering where that pronunciation* came from
*that seems like ‘pro nun citation’ to me o_O
The problem with pronounciation is that, the act of speaking is a verb…
The plural of Moose is Meese.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umlBrQoG6xk
Speaking of plurals, here’s a moment with Allan Sherman.
LOL
I come here for the comics, but stay for the comments & videos… :P
Partially (quasi-?, semi-?) related to plurals, I’ve found the Victor Borge version of Phonetic Puncuation to be enlightening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bpIbdZhrzA
Any means of speaking, which requires a hankie, to clean up afterwards, should be avoided. This is why I have never attempted to learn Welsh.
What about, Flemish? Certainly clears your lungs :P
“According to what I’ve read, two creatures are different species if they don’t mate, reproduce, and have fertile offspring”
seems like a flawed or incomplete definition, if attempting alone is a requirement.
so basically if you too dogs, are too far, they are not the same species, because they have no chance of ever even trying.
also, any looser too weak to be alpha will also be left out.
on the other hand… i don’t actually know how to say it so lets skip that part.
“capable of (reliably?) producing a fertile offspring” should be all the that should be required. anything before it is redundant.
“(And then there are the things that don’t have sexual reproduction.)”
I have trouble in conceptualizing how freakingly dull their lives must be…
Semi-common knowledge, easy enough to check. Kevlar is bullet resistant, but not knife proof, cuts like cloth.
Beat me to it!
But yeah. Kevlar socks ain’t gonna help against stabby things.
Kevlar sails for ships have to be cut with powersaws. While you can cut it with a knife the time/ effort for a single layer simple weave would make it impractical. What most people DON’T know is that what makes Kevlar vests bullet resistant (not proof) isn’t the strength of the fiber, but the weave of the cloth. Each layer has multiple thicknesses if thread wrapped around each other in a way that reinforces each fiber, and at any point it is 4-6 threads thick. According to one book I read (it was fiction, I don’t know how true it is) a glass knife, which have an edge only one molecule thick, can PUNCTURE a Kevlar vest with a hard enough swing, but cutting would require sawing with a lot of pressure.
It’s a similar issue with Chainmail. It is extraordinarily difficult to slash through chainmail, but you can get through it with a good stab. The issue with knives isn’t that they cut better, but more that they have enormously more momentum than a bullet due to a human’s weight being behind it. Bullets hit the vest and their impact is spread to a large area while they expend all their momentum, but a human is still pushing on the knife when it hits the vest. Bulletproof vests aren’t built to handle that much force, just like how they’re ineffective against high caliber rifle shots or point blank fire.
> a glass knife, which have an edge only one molecule thick, can PUNCTURE a Kevlar vest with a hard enough swing, but cutting would require sawing with a lot of pressure.
That was Snow Crash, wasn’t it? Great book.
Actually, kevlar isn’t so good at stopping stabs from even regular knives — the knife point pushes the threads aside, creating a window that it can slide through without having to cut many of the threads. It’s a problem for prison guards, because they can get shanked with a homemade stabbing tool.
If you want to see something cut-resistant, check out Cut-Tex PRO. The salesguy (who is also the CEO) has a *lot* of confidence in his product! For stabbing and blunt impact, check out their executive protection vests.
Note: I’m not affiliated with the company.
Please recall the Whole page Dave spent on the topic of bullet resistant vs bullet proof.
In case it doesn’t come through as a link above https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1735
Yea, knife resistant may be enough to save Brook loosing another toe, next time. Even against a puncturing hit.
It is worth bearing in mind that, as a flyer, her most likely knife danger will be one thrown up at her, from the ground. Unless it has turned enough to be all but harmless, it will be a pointy attack, which is what kelvar is weakest against. But the knife will be fighting against the force of gravity, and thus have lost a lot of energy, by the time it reaches Heatwave. Especially considering it does have to make it through her shoes first!
So regular kelvar socks may make the difference in such circumstances. And her super-enhanced ones, provided by Ashley (as stipulated by Maxima above), would help to extend that to providing her resistance against attacks similarly boosted by super means. Say a knife thrown by super strength.
One other thing to consider is that currently manufactured kelvar socks appear to be reasonably comfortable (looking at pictures of them anyhow). But Heatwave, as a flyer, may be perfectly happy to put up with some discomfort, in order to avoid a repeat of her injury. Or worse. As per her final reply.
Currently we can buy insoles, for things like odour protection. Normally these lie in between the shoe and the sock. Whilst that particular position is of little use, it shows that shoe design can handle the addition of an extra layer. Albeit a thin one. So Heatwave could upgrade her super-kelvar 2.0 socks to having a (thin) layer of oobtek. Ie. positioning it in between the sock and her foot.
The combination of Iron-Cloth’s power encouraging the strands of kelvar not to part so easily, with the oobtek layer behind to cushion the blow, and spread out some of the energy, will further enhance the resistance. All of which is consistent with Maxima’s reply.
Nothing wrong with magic enhanced socks though. Do permanent spells exist is this world?
Check out the ‘Naileater’ insole concept, thin flexible steel plate that goes in a work boot (or bout any shoe) that gives you a chance at NOT impaling your foot if you step on a nail masquerading as a caltrop.
Pungi Stick would be a better analogy…
Punji, you mean. It’s a “J”, not a “G”. (Sorry, my OCD is working overtime again.)
Maybe the stick just became pungent :P
It probably *would* be pungent, if you think about it. One of the things they did was to smear the punji sticks with dung, to try to ensure an infection if the trap itself didn’t kill you immediately.
Kevlar does not stop piercing weapons like knives.
They will be super-enhanced kevlar 2.0 though. If you check Maxima’s comment, she stipulated that they would be made by Ashley, the super-tailor.
I wouldn’t be too sure of that, this guy shows off an impressive suit which they actually use knives on…
yes but they don’t STAB the kevlar…. kevlar will resist slashing especially if its a thick pad like what they were slashing…..not sure how well it’dd hold up to a sword too….but yeah for a knife slash thats fine….still go through it if you stabbed it though.
If you want to see something cut-resistant, check out Cut-Tex PRO. The salesguy (who is also the CEO) has a *lot* of confidence in his product! For stabbing and blunt impact, check out their executive protection vests. The video shows a guy stabbing him, multiple times, hard, and it doing absolutely nothing.
I don’t know for sure, but I think the stuff is kevlar soaked in liquid nanoarmor. with a layer of Cut-Tex over it.
Is no one going to point out that Maximas grandstanding alomst lost them everything against Vehemnce.
She could have taken him out, one shot style but was more concerned with showing he superiority, just like with the press interview / powers display in the desert. In other words, Maxima needs to stop waving her dick around to show off how big it is.
Most of them probably know better than to criticise the commanding officer in an open meeting. Maxima will get feedback in a more discreet way.
Besides which, as she pointed out, their analysis is complicated by Vehemence’s aggro aura. And Maxima was bearing the full brunt of that, without Sydney’s shield to block it. Even trying to compensate for it could account for her being less aggressive than a situation warranted. And failing to resist it will throw her judgement out the other way.
So criticisms based on aggressiveness should be avoided. They were not in full control of their own faculties.
Fair enough
She would probably receive critique from higher up in the command chain, both on things she did right, and things she did wrong and things she could have done better (taking into account 20/20 hindsight). The supers under her has or will be debriefed bu higher ups as well probably and that taken into account regarding Maxima’s performance. This being a unique group, they would not necessarily have the exact same reporting structure as current military structures but would probably be borrowing a lot of rules and regs form them
Except they didn’t know about Vehemence until he revealed himself.
Plus every battle is also training. They need to find out what works and what doesn’t. They can’t rely on Max being there for every fight. What if there’s another big battle and Max busy somewhere else? They’d be ill-prepared because they’d let Max one-shot every fight.
Maxima could have taken him out with one shot only if it was an instantly fatal shot. She was trying to keep the fight non-lethal.
Why does it seem like everyone expects powerful characters to just immediately or nearly so result to max-power, overkill lethal level attacks on opponents when they’re heroes and have a ‘killing is a last resort and likely not even then’ policy? Maxima and the rest are required to avoid using lethal force unless absolutely necessary, for a variety of reasons including moral ones, since ruthlessly killing opponents is NOT good public relations.
People (generally, not like we don’t have idiots who support police brutality because they live in a fantasy land that THEY would never have to worry about being victims of it) don’t feel particularly safe when the people that are supposed to protect them are brutal thugs who readily kill anyone that opposes them. The government wants public support behind the government-sponsored supers and that requires good public relations so you want them seeing the heroes acting as heroes, protecting the public, minimizing property damage, and making every effort to take criminals alive so that the courts can deal with what their punishment should be for their crime(s).
Because everyone wants to imagine themselves with that power and getting drunk off of it. The fantasy of letting loose, while the reality is much different.
The recent fiascos with cops lately (I don’t want to get into an argument about the ethical and political ramifications. Just using them as as an example.) show that people in reality fear lethal force and rightly so. But in fantasy people want to just let loose because of frustrations and the like. And this webcomic is every part at least partly fantasy.
Note though that there is a feedback from our fictional entertainment which does impact on the real world.
For example the FBI have observed that criminal culture amongst mafia and mafia-wannabies changes to mimic popular entertainment. Noticeably altering after the release of the Godfather movies and the Sopranos, as examples. With turns of phrase, manner of dress and other behaviour being mimicked.
Note that this is not to be confused with the ‘video games cause violence’ arguments. I am talking about attitudes and behaviour, rather than increasing criminality.
Although it does serve to glamorise such activities and, for the impressionable, make a life of crime more appealing. Thus helping individuals to be proud of being in a gang, for example. Even if it is not, in itself, going to push a law-abiding kid into wanting to be a gangster when they grow up. Other social factors have a far bigger contribution.
Similarly the behaviour of heroes and anti-heroes can help to shape morality. The likes of Dirty Harry being one example. But super heroes can take a concept and magnify it to epic proportions. So Super Man exemplifies good behaviour and selflessly protecting humanity. Using super powers to protect people from crime.
Whereas Batman champions another solution. Dangling villains off of buildings, to interrogate them. Similarly to how other anti-heroes will also beat up a suspect, to get them to confess. Do I think such movies will turn a decent cop into a corrupt one? No. But for those who are heading that way anyhow, it allows them to ease their own conscience. After all they are behaving like a beloved super-hero!
So it does not surprise me when I see things like waterboarding and rendition. If a culture is steeped in icons which promote and exemplify using torture for the public good, then the populace become desensitised to it. And are thereby more accepting, when someone in authority says ‘we must do this to protect the public’.
I prefer comics which have heroes who serve as positive role-models. And am glad that Girl Power distances itself from the vigilante behaviour common in the rest of the genre.
> For example the FBI have observed that criminal culture amongst mafia and mafia-wannabies changes to mimic popular entertainment. Noticeably altering after the release of the Godfather movies and the Sopranos, as examples. With turns of phrase, manner of dress and other behaviour being mimicked.
I wonder if that could be exploited? Deliberately plant some element in popular culture depictions of the mafia that would make it easier to locate / capture real Mafia if they copied it, but it wouldn’t be obvious that it would have that effect. I don’t know what it might be…maybe starting a trend where suits all have to come from a particular real-life tailor, and then monitoring that tailor?
Responsible film and TV program makers do actually do similar things to this. Either omitting a vital action, when depicting a criminal act, or showing something that will help the authorities capture them.
Whilst it may break knowledgeable professionals sense of disbelief, whilst watching their story, the real world benefits of perpetrating such urban myths are tangible, so are well worth alienating a small minority. Criminals do get caught, due to not fact checking things that Hollywood shows them.
I am currently having difficulty avoiding massaging my ego, by citing examples. A number spring readily to mind. But to do so would be counter-productive, especially in a comic portraying cops in a heroic fashion. Some things are better left unsaid.
Kinda like what ‘Burn Notice’ used to do: the main character would often talk about how to set explosions and stuff, but they would always leave some vital information out so idiots watching won’t actually be able to make a bomb out of toilet paper and cat pee
Well, the biggest example of Hollywood induced criminal stupidity is holding your gun sideways while shooting. Stupid criminals do it a lot. Thanks, Hollywood!
Oh right, like how Macgyver always left one piece out of the dangerous things he did. Yeah, point granted.
Heatwave looks different. I think the less-volume hair does not suit her.
Dude, some slack. She probably went to that meeting straight from the infirmary after having the knife pulled from her freaking foot. I’d understand the urge to skip the volumizer that morning since standing in soapy water with fresh stitches hurts like fucking hell (and I know that from experience).
Actually, she was shown in the shower with a plastic bag over her foot to keep it dry. I’ve used the same technique for a cast on a broken wrist. Don’t know why I added that part…
You probably added the part about Brooke being seen in the shower to point out that her hair might still be a bit damp or wet & explain why she’s displaying less hair volume now?
Huggability 11 (on a scale of 1 to 10).
Gah, this got linked to the wrong comment somehow!
Keep moving on. Nothing to see here.
Are you taking it into account that her appearance actually changes slightly when powered up? I can’t find the reference off-hand, but she supposedly gains height, among other things.
My assumption on Dabbler was that anyone in Archon knew what she was. So, everyone in that room would know.
Outside that her true nature is classified, and kept that way. When she was called in to talk to Sydney during that meeting, Sydney hadn’t signed on to Archon yet, so she would have been treated as a civilian – a potential recruit, yes, but either side could have decided she wasn’t joining at that point and there was no need to compromise security just because she might join.
But here, while discussing battle tactics and capabilities a secret of that nature just gets in the way. Everyone’s signed on to the non-disclosure agreements and would be ‘trusted’ with at least the minimum backstory to understand generally what she’s capable of.
We know that Halo’s fellow recruits are not privy to the secret, as Maxima managed to convey that to Halo, when talking on the firing range. So Sydney realises she has to continue to be discreet around them. The rest of Arc-SWAT may or may not be in the loop. From an operational point of view it would make sense to have all permanent members up to speed.
But the more people who know a secret the less secure it is. And there would be (or will be) serious ramifications world-wide, should it get out. Which means the powers that be would certainly prefer it to be kept on a strictly need-to-know basis.
Where it actually ended up, between the extremes of ‘all non-cadets’ and just those we know to be in the loop, we can only guess.
An important thing to remember is that they did not deliberately reveal to Sydney that Dabbler is not human. At least, not until *after* Syd saw through Dabbler’s illusions and they had to explain to her why this oversexed woman suddenly turned into a four-armed, four-horned, long-eared purple Max-annoyer.
(No, the rhythm of that description is not an accident.)
So she’s a four horned, four armed, lying purple people beater? Eh, sure seems strange to me. (I’ll cue the sad trombone music on my way out)
*THUD!*
“What was that?!”
“I think Ignoble just fell out of his chair from laughing so hard.”
And as she has admitted herself, is technically ‘one eyed’.
I did remember – which was why I commented on the difference between a potential recruit and a recruit – she was exposed to the secret as a potential recruit, so they didn’t need to tell her once she became a real recruit.
Re: Dave’s comment “The general populace would have a much harder time absorbing that, not to mention how crazy it would drive a great deal of the religious populace. Sure most people on the more casual side of the spectrum would shrug and think “Hey, cool, God is everywhere, right? Makes sense.” but of course to anyone fervently under the impression that humans are God’s favorite pet project, it could cause some violent cognitive dissonance. That’s why they haven’t revealed her origin to the general populace yet.” This is a plot point in Arthur C. Clarke’s book Childhood’s End, from 1953.
I propose that from now on, we use “dropped his/her Skittles” as a euphemism for the artist forgetting to draw a character.
All in favor say “aye”.
Nay. I love a running gag!
*spots a passing car, and runs after it*
The thing is, I really kind of actually see Achilles eating skittles during a meeting. Can’t kill him, can’t hurt him, feckers probably immortal as well so locking him up would seem like a vacation, and firing him would probably just get him a job in hollywood as THE premier stunt double.
He HAS a job as a stunt double. Many people on the team do things on the side, and in his character bio it’s stated that he’s driven cars into piles of explosives for movie stunts.
Jiggawatt’s a bit off there, Dabbler didn’t take down Vehemence. While she sedated him after Sydney talked him into surrendering and letting her sleep spell work Vehemence was definitely a team effort and Sydney with her planning was what really defeated him if anything by working out what was needed to force him to surrender and getting Maxima to listen to her and go along with the plan. All Dabbler did was apply restraints to what amounted to an already defeated foe.
It was a team effort. But the most pivotal point of the battle was Sydney disrupting the aggro aura, and allowing everybody an opportunity to snap out of it. Once they realised that was happening, then they could try to oppose it.
And it was also an act of selfless heroism. Sydney gave up her only means of defence, by trapping herself inside the shield with a homicidal super maniac! Ok she was counting on the empathy that Vehemence had shown towards her, on preventing him from killing her. But that was still one hell of a risk to take.
Admittedly I am hugely biassed. And it was undoubtedly a team victory. Halo could not have done it alone, or even with just one or two of the big guns helping her. But I still feel that she is entitled to paint an arch-villain silhouette on the side of her orbs. Everyone else got the assist on that one.
“…by trapping herself inside the shield with a homicidal super maniac!”
Yeah, I seem to remember the phrase “Please don’t kill me” at about that time…https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1572
:)
But I agree that, if it wasn’t for Sydney, Vehemence would’ve wiped the floor with everybody (after smearing the floor with Max) & walked away laughing…Yet, if it wasn’t for everybody working as a team, Sydney wouldn’t have been able to stop him either.
Huggability 11 (on a scale of 1 to 10).
She MIGHT have done it solo if Vehemece hadn’t dropped his agro-aura, she was lining up the PPO to swap with the Truesight Orb. Like she thinks, it could potentially cut through his neck like a light saber. That said, that would be pretty fatal…
…Maybe the arm pinning Maxima then?
And what would happen if the PPO beam didn’t stop at the Bubble but bounced around inside?
Bit like what happened to one of the Legion of Super-Heroes potential recruits: she helped distract the bad guy by becoming a greasy smear (not by her choice) :(
I think existence of supers is already good enough to make some fanatic religious sects to act. Especially after the fight. I expect a group like anti-mutant factions( I forgot the name) from Marvel appear most of them will be harmless protesting openly groups but i bet there will be a couple if not more aggressive ones like actually bothering supers or attacking super villians in plain sight etc. Some will even try to set-up arc squads and sue them which will give Arianna more headache :P
That would be the “Friends of Humanity”, also the “Purifiers” have taken part. The purifiers are the religious sect and have the cooler costumes.
There’s also the other side of that same coin, in a manner of speaking; there’s also likely to be some religious cult-like factions willing to worship supers as gods or avatars of gods.
The Church of Sydney is growing.
Hmpf. We Cybertronians don’t get worshiped as Gods. Alright, there are those who like some of our tech, but not us…
…Well, certainly not ME. Daniel the Human should WORSHIP ME, not throw magnets at me… :C
Heatwave’s a bit bitter I see. Understandable.
Ok just going to preface this comment by saying it is completely off topic, if you want my opinion the comic looks like a good debrief so far but I wouldn’t know enough for that to be accurate.
So I was rereading the interview (of Sydney) recently and one of the panels show Zephan with a magic sword. It also mentions that he is a demonologist and a veteran adventurer who went around dealing with magic and supers for years before the comic started. Now this is just an idea but can you imagine a prequel/offshoot/side-comic where Zephan is the main character? He could go on all sorts of crazy adventures before the government even has the idea to create the ARC. Heck he could even get his first macguffin from a Chinese antique store (as he mentions they are the step mother of all origins).
It’d be interesting, but it wasn’t so long ago that DaveB was only doing one comic page a week. Making him do a whole other comic as well might be asking him to take a little to much at this point.
Even worse is that it would preclude him working on “Girl Power, After Dark”! Nice though many of the other spin-off comics could be, I would still vote for the one that shows the girls with their kit off. And the guys, to keep the whole community engaged.
No no , first spinoff needs to be Demon High !
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1698
Definitely Demon High. Or some more flashbacks to Demon High.
If the most emphasis in Demon High focuses on Dabbler & her “Uses of Tantric Power” classes, then that could easily be linked with Grrl Power After Dark…
:P
YES that exactly , best of both worlds .
We might stll need to clone DaveB to get it though.
The problem with cloning Dave is that for one thing, the clone would start as a fetus & grow normally through time; we’d have to wait a couple of decades or so for the new Dave to start working on it.
For another thing, the clone would also have to have a very closely-matched brain & memory in order to do the same things that the original Dave can do; so far, we don’t have brain-taping technology.
Hey, Dabbler, get on that, willya?
Iron socks, Goku’s and Piccolo’s latest weight training addition.
Not Iron, ….Iron has a density of 8. You want Titanium chain mail socks, or chain mail socks and other armor of one of the new alloys like the 20%Mg20%Be10%Li30%Ti20%Sc, at a density of 2.6 and as strong as high strength Steel, …or even just a 90%Be10%Li, at a density of 1.5.
You are misunderstanding the point.
They want the weight. It’s for resistance training. Carrying an extra few pounds in their socks all the time will make them work harder, and get stronger. Goku and Piccolo have been known to wear several hundred pounds worth of weighted gear on a regular basis – they’ve been even been known to use magical weighted gear weighing in the order of tones for intense training.
The only argument that you should be making is that iron isn’t dense enough.
You want to see impossible weight training check out Naruto, one of the secondary characters has what looks like small bars of metal on his legs he wears all the time both for training and as a limiter. When he removes them in his first big fight and drops them from about 15′ up they crater the solid stone floor below like a meteorite hit or a wrecking ball, so they had to weigh more than is possible for existing matter to manage (plus they miss the obvious, when he kicks someone they SHOULD be sent flying or crippled being hit by a few thousand pound mass moving at bullet-level speeds and he should collapse any floor he walks on).
Another good example of using weights as resistance training was shown by Samurai Jack; Jack Learns to Jump Good.
https://www.watchcartoononline.com/samurai-jack-episode-14
Yes, Achilles definitely needs to be standing next to the person asking about armored socks.
Heh, looks like you have similar flight characteristics to Heatwave.
I gotta say last panel, Heatwave/Brooks face looks… off? I imagine that face is hard to make on paper but i can’t say it looks right… it looks good but something just doesn’t look right about it. I love this comic don’t get me wrong… Ahh now i see what’s wrong. The lips overlap the line. there is no break between the mouth and the line. Hopefully you guys can see what i’m talking about but maybe i’m being nitpicky.
Also I will say that Brook’s mini response made me think ‘There’s a knife in my boot!’ a la Woody from Toy Story.
Someone’s poisoned the water cooler!
That’s because she is pouting
Agreed. That expression looks wholly accurate and natural to me. The lips are simply being drawn in.
It is the reverse of what is happening to Maxima’s lips in panel 4. With her mouth open, we are seeing more of the lip, than in a neutral expression. Albeit that, as I mentioned in replying to DaveB‘s critique request, I think the lower lip there is fuller than even that would account for.
…not that Kevlar would protect much against a knife…
Given the choice of cotton or kevlar, I know which I would bring to a knife fight.
Wouldn’t it be smarter to bring a gun or at least a knife?
Smarter, but not on the list of choices. And illegal in civilised countries.
Fortunately quarterstaffs are not illegal. And I habitually carry one. So I would have the upper paw, under most circumstances.
Failing that, or a suitable improvised object being to hand, an expeditious retreat would be wisest. But my martial arts training is sufficient to attempt a knife disarm, if no other options are available.
I’m sure having a decent set of predator-evolved teeth doesn’t hurt you in a fight either. Under most circumstances, that’s probably as good as a knife.
:-)
Hmmm…I think a better view of predator-evolved teeth would be shown in pictures 3 & 4:
https://acidsquirrel.com/post/84644
Especially pic #4…That’s nightmare fuel for me…
Joker’s pet dog? o_O
kevlar fibre does fine against knifes; if it is woven for that purpose. Bullet proof vests tend not to work well against knives because they are designed to tangle bullets, not protect against sharp edeges. Spectra is a better fabric for protecting against cutting weapons (on par with chainmail), but like kevlar it tends to feel like canvas. Carbon fibre however is almost as good and can be woven to feel like silk. If they used carbon fibre socks they could certainly feel comfortable and they would offer some protection against cutting. No idea if they would breath nicely though.
“By the way I’m actually an alien adventurer from a race that inspired your current cultural image of demons.”
Hang on hang on hang on. Is Dabbler a forward scout for (or possibly related to, horror of horrors) Karellen?
It’s a supers universe. They’d beat the pants off the Overmind and allow humans to continue our selfish individualistic ways. :D
Text made me think – Could Harem get pregnant? If so, would only one of her show or would they all? Would there be 5 babies? Or just one she could vorp from body to body? You know, that’s one thing you almost never see happen with female superheroes – childbirth. The only one I can think of who definitely had kids after developing powers is Elastigirl from The Incredibles. There were a few super-powered mommas on Heroes, but it’s implied they came into their powers more recently, possibly after having kids. Granted, I don’t read a lot of traditional comics (i.e. DC/Marvel), so maybe it’s more common than I think?
@_@ oh man that makes my head hurt
Sue Storm has had one or two, and I think some of the mutants from the same universe have had some.
Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) is pregnant in the comics now. It is an underused trope, though.
Again? She already had a kid (with the best Super-nanny ever, one with a cute and cuddly tail :D)
That was Jessica Jones.
Oh right, Drew was the original (liked her more than Jones actually, can’t believe made that mistake :()
Wait, who knocked her up? o_O
Roger Rabbit?
Oh, wait, that was Jessica Rabbit. Sorry, I did not mean to frame him.
He does make a good looking water colour though :P
Since they can get tattooed, dressed, and made up with make up differently, I would wager the pregnancy would only show on one, while all five would display morning sickness and the like. For ease of simplicity, I would also say her existence would get locked in place as a body’s natural response to protect the child. No poofing her away.
Yes, each Harem is physically separate from each other, it is only their mind that is connected (or just a single mind in five bodies, can’t quite remember the full details about that part)
Single mind. Also injured bodies are kept unteleported, so not “out” while they heal. I guess she would protect the unborn by keeping that body unteleported for Months.
Single mind. Also injured bodies are kept unteleported, so not “out” while they heal. I guess she would protect the unborn by keeping that body unteleported for Months.
Except, while that body is in ‘storage’, the baby won’ be developing, or developing wrong, so seriously not something they would be experimenting with (but, could see some evil nasty scientist type who would kidnap all five and do such experiments, making sure there was no way for any of her to escape unassisted for the duration. yeah, read too many Doujinshi :()
Yea, Guesticus is right. Whilst you are correct, in as much as some characters (for instance Drizzt Do’urden’s panther companion) are portrayed in the manner you describe, where their body can heal, if left on the alternate plane they reside in, rather than exerting themselves, whilst summoned to ‘the real world’, that is not how Harem’s power works.
Although Harem may refer to it as ‘unsummoning’ or ‘unteleporting’, because the process does actually require using her teleportation power, it does not have the result that may be implied, if you associate it with the types of character I mentioned above. Rather she is taking the body out of our normal time and space and storing it.*
It is canon that she does not heal. Further Harem’s body remains in exactly the same state, when removed from storage, as going in. Be that hungry, bleeding or exhausted.
So Guesticus is accurate in saying that Harem will avoid putting the pregnant body into storage. Every day that is done is one more day that the birth will be delayed!* Barring dealing with some emergency, of course. Such as keeping it out of harm’s way during a battle. Or if there is some medical complication, and she wants to stop it from deteriorating, at least long enough to ensure that Super Doc is briefed on the situation and ready to help cure it.
In fact, it is possible that Harem might develop a Dr McCoy paranoia for her baby and avoid teleporting with the pregnant body. Whilst theory would indicate that teleporting with it should be perfectly safe, she may, very reasonably, choose not to take any risks with her baby’s life!
* We, being used to the physical world, might be reflexively envisaging an actual storage place, such as a closet, or a featureless limbo. But if completely removed from three dimensional space she would (by inference rather than canon) be somewhere that lacked dimension. Unless DaveB chose to depict it abstractly, Harem would not actually have a body anywhere at all.
Fortunately, in also lacking the time dimension too, the body in storage does not have to cope with issues such as feeling like being in a sensory-deprivation tank. Which is about as close as we can physically get to envisaging what it might be like to experience an existence without a body or dimensions.
Being frozen in time means that there is no sensory information to receive and no mechanism for it to be processed. Harem’s body ‘in storage’ would not even be conscious, or able to think, due to this. So, should sleeping gas knock out all her bodies in the real world, the body in storage could not be sitting there, coming up with a cunning plan on what to do when the rest of her bodies regain consciousness.
New analysis (highlighted for the benefit of those who might otherwise skip over the above being repeated by me, yet again)
* Although it may be handy, if wanting to avoid the baby being born at Christmas, or on the same birthday as Harem herself, or another member of her immediate family. Those of us who suffer from one or the other knows it diminishes the special feel to the day, if it is shared with other celebrations. And, even worse, from the kid’s perspective, reduces the potential for gifts!
** We have previously discussed Anne McCaffery’s teleporting dragon’s ability to do this. But I do not think anyone has described the unteleporting process as being effectively teleporting to a future self.
Minmax’s sword in Goblins is the closest I’ve seen to ‘teleporting to future self’. (It only exists while he holds it – if he lets go of it, it disappears until he grabs it again.)
And Dr McCoy is perfectly reasonable in distrusting the Transporters in Star Trek. They break any continuity of self test ever made, sooner or later – which means that what’s really happening is that they’re killing you and making a copy someplace else.
How did they manage to enlist Dabbler in the military? Why do they even allow her to be part of the military?
She’s alien in pretty much every definition of the word. No one knows who she owns her allegiance to. Or even the sociocultural differences from where she comes from. She withholds technological, biological and religious secrets with her.
She seems to have too many liberties considering that. Being part of the defense force of a country.
What if she go rogue? What if she is part of an invading force? She owns no loyalty to any country in this world. It’s not possible to do a background check on her. They trust that much that Maxima will be able to stop her if she has some ulterior motives? There’s simply too many “what ifs” and unknown factors about her. They should at least keep tabs on her at all times.
Or maybe the world has reached the comic book point of “it he is strong he must know what he is doing. Let’s give him a hotline to the white house and every time the world is in peril let’s pray that he will save it by the kindness of his heart”? I believe superman has that setup going for him for some time already.
“She seems to have too many liberties considering that. Being part of the defense force of a country.”
Military contractors, like Dabbler, are a current part of US defenses, and often work in intimate proximity to Marines and Army units. It allows flexibility without increasing authorized force levels for a Service. This is especially useful, politically, when someone in the political hierarchy cannot afford, politically, to admit to voters who may be against more US military capabilities that they had to increase US capabilities. Dabbler’s contract seems to be a step further, but not a large one.
She hasn’t been enlisted, she is still a civilian and most likely can leave when ever she wants (because basically, how are they going to stop her?)
If she wants to do anything, how are they going to stop her? That’s the problem.
So you are suggesting that they should turn down the opportunity to interact with a member of an alien civilisation, plus study her behaviour and observe the super-technology and magical abilities of an alien race?
Seriously?
Ok, they are going to be paranoid as hell about all the points you mention. But the opportunities that they can exploit to gain insight into the character of the aliens and try to catch up to the magical and technological advantages they have, would massively outweigh any arguments to the contrary.
Not turn down, but at least not allow her to waltz around our planet unsupervised, since she has the potential to be extremely dangerous. Who knows what (or who) she is doing when off duty.
It would be the same as allowing a foreigner with an extremely destructive weapon enter your country. You simply don’t. Or at lest take the appropriate precautions so he cannot cause harm to you, even if he wanted.
Now imagine allowing an alien with an ungodly amount of super power in your planet?
The difference being that with the level of power you are proposing she could destroy it without even setting foot on her planet. As could the fleet of ships from her home planet(s).
But, without interacting with her, there is no way to find out anything. No clues as to her power levels, or capabilities, or those of each of the alien species she is descended from, or what galactic culture is like, or how warlike the governments might be. Or whether there are already aliens on the planet. Or if not, why not.
And if they want her co-operation, she is strong willed enough to ensure it is on her grounds. She likes interacting with lots of people and having the opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of life. Which you cannot do much of stuck in a closet on the international space station. That being pretty much the only practical alternative, if you refuse to let her set foot on the planet!
Plus you are failing to consider one other aspect. The USA have gained Dabbler as an ally, and all the potential advances they might learn from her. Whereas Russia, China and all other rivals and enemies do not have access to her.
Ok, it may turn out like Montezuma II and Cortés, but they have Hobson’s choice. If they do not seize the opportunity there is no way to learn any information, or close the technological and magical gap. And without any viable intelligence they will be totally helpless against invasion by a technomagically advanced civilisation. With or without one extra soldier on the ground.
That is why they have one of their top super-agents tasked with following her around everywhere. Check every scene you see Dabbler in. X is there all the time. Even in the shower!
Mind you, you can only see X when Halo is holding her True-Sight orb.
To be fair, I completely forgot about that guy. Or at least what was his mission.
I suppose that solves a lot of issues.
Even if you ignore X, she has been “paired up” with Maxima, probably since her arrival. Give it a certain amount of time where she does not go all crazy on the world and Maxima can then make the point that having to stay with supers is just as safe as locked up in some secret warehouse dedicated to keeping her locked up –and cheaper since you get to make Dabbler work for room and board. She does not share her tech but you want to bet there are measures made to peek over her shoulder anytime it gets used.
Yup, she works alongside Agatha (or Digit or whatever the grease-monkey’s name is)
You do realize that all of your arguments apply to EVERYONE on the team right? Without a mind-reader (and then of course there’s the issue of how well you can trust HIM) it’s impossible to say who any of the members are really loyal to (heck just look at Harem, they trust her yet we know she’s giving information to someone who shouldn’t be getting it). They have as much reason to distrust everyone on the team as they do Dabbler, so as long as she’s showing as much usefulness and loyalty as the rest they aren’t going to have any more problems with whether or not they can trust her as they can Maxima.
Actually, even in the real world you can’t be 100% sure that, when you enlist someone and put a gun on his hand, he wont cause problems. But there are ways to be “surer” (don’t know if it’s a word) about someone intentions, by checking if he has criminal records, or violent behavior for example. But even then there is no guarantees.
In Dabbler’s case, you can’t be sure about anything about her. You can’t just take her word.
But just as Yorp pointed, they don’t completely trust her either. That’s why X is watching her at all times.
The same could be said of Thor or Superman or any number of other superheroes who come from other planets. Why do pseudo-government agencies like the Avengers or the Justice League allow these non-humans into their ranks? Mind you, Thor and Supes at least look human, but if it’s all about appearances, then Maxima would have the same problem. She might actually be human, but she certainly doesn’t look it. I’d say she’s certainly earned the trust of her employers many times over, however, and the same is true of Thor and Superman, so that seems to be what counts.
I’m not actually sure if Kevlar socks would be any more effective against knives than regular socks would.
I mean, Kevlar’s great at stopping ballistic attacks, but against sharp objects, it splits just like any other cloth.There’s a reason why stab-resistant vests and bullet-resistant vests are separate things.
Incorrect.
Albeit that this is not a scientific trial, it is a reasonable demonstration to counter your argument.
Mind you one thing that tickled me is a very subtle point. The subliminal use of the product they are using as the safety wear. And very sensibly so, when working with exposed razor blades.
Well I don’t know about stabbing I haven’t seen much on that with these, but cut gloves are a thing and they’re not stiff or uncomfortable so I think socks of the same knitted Kevlar material would work.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S7KHYBI?psc=1
Is it me or is Hiro’s face kinda long? Isn’t he usually more squared-off?
You are not alone. DaveB himself feels that too (see his second comment in the linked thread).
YOu covered Dabbler’s boob window with a word balloon!
Boo! Poor form! :P
You can see them peeking out in all their purpley glory from below Hiro’s bubble in panel five :D
Good catch!
I guess my main complaint is that for any other character I wouldn’t care, but the sexpot succubus getting censored by dialog is just wrong. ;)
+1
Plus nice avatar too. Alghough I guess that part comes naturally to you. Interesting to see that you are into both My Little Pony and guns. I can see how you have been drawn to reading this comic!
OPINION POLL (for all readers)
Which sleepover storyline would you prefer to see?
A) At Sydney’s flat, featuring a My Little Pony plushy fight.
B) At Peggy’s quarters, seeing her favourite guns and private gun range.
C) At Dabbler’s home, helping Sydney overcome her nudity shyness.
D) Peggy and Dabbler showing off their favourite guns, and other toys, then having Sydney join in the fun with the nude My Little Pony plushy fight!
D!
E; All of the above. :D
And I was going to complain about the bad word balloon in panel one. No one puts Dabbler’s Glories behind a mass of words. ;)
Except DaveB, or he won’t draw them at all :P
I don’t know if anyone else has pointed it out, but as professional law enforcement I can attest that Kevlar is not stab proof. You lose all illusions on that the first time you see a pencil go through a vest. There are a number of different levels of stab-resistant vest inserts used in the correctional field that could theoretically be added to Heatwave’s shoes. They still wouldn’t be stab proof, especially at the superhuman brawl level(and would probably look like clown shoes), but it’s better than nothing I guess.
Several have. There is a distinction to be made mind. Namely stab versus cut. It is good at preventing the latter, if not the former. The former is more deadly, so is normally of the greater concern. But the latter is actually the more common, when you examine accident and emergency statistics.
Note though that the feet, lacking any vital internal organs, would mean that pointy attacks would not pose the threat of immediate death. So, without that factor to consider, being poked with a piercing attack is actually less damaging than a cut, with a slashing weapon. Those can more easily sever veins and arteries, for instance. Which would be the greater risk of mortality in foot injuries.
So I would consider even regular kevlar to be of use to Heatwave. Not to mention that it will give her some psychological help in overcoming the trauma.
And, better than that, Ashley could even turn a cotton sock into protective wear. His super-enhanced kevlar would actually be more than just a placebo for Heatwave.
I think another concern about protective gear for Heatwave would be whether any material that touched her skin could stand up well against heat. She may need Nomex not Kevlar socks.
But then, she can still create her heat aura without immediately sending her clothing up in flames. So she must have something like Max’s zero-range protective shield that kept her from losing her clothes (and hat) while flying at Mach 3. I guess any wardrobe malfunctions will need to be reserved for the ‘Arc After Dark’ project.
I think what Heatwave is really trying to say is “Couldn’t you have saved my toe? Why were you just standing around watching when you could have been in there saving the team from injuries that could have been prevented if you just acted instead of watched.” :p
I think what Heatwave is really trying to say is “Couldn’t you have saved my toe? Why were you just standing around watching when you could have been in there saving the team from injuries that could have been prevented if you just acted instead of watched.” :p
Yep! Brook is a victim of the writer’s dramatic plotting.
> Sydney is stumbling around verbally cause she keeps almost forgetting that not everyone knows that Dabbler isn’t human.
Wouldn’t everyone in that room know that already, as Dabbler isn’t wearing her disguise?
As far as most of the world know, thanks to the announcement at the press-conference, Dabbler is a shape-changer, who can assume a ‘battle-form’.
And, be honest now, if you had had the option of assuming the form of a beautiful (or handsome), exotic, body, complete with fully-functional extra limbs, wouldn’t you like to use it as often as you could? When in the company of people who would not find that bizarre, needless to say.
A case in point from Marvel’s She-Hulk that helps support your statement; it wasn’t long after Jennifer Walters gained her Hulk-powers that she decided to STAY in that form & gave up her original human form altogether.
Never realised that her retaining the emerald hue was a choice on her behalf, always just figured she embraced it rather than hide like her cousin
As quite a few people did not pick up on it (or have since forgotten, if they did), this is the scene, where we can infer that the recruits are not in the loop about Dabbler. Sydney though did get what Maxima was implying, judging by her behaviour at the time and since. Including panel 2 above.
I figure the general policy about Dabbler is that the recruits won’t be told until after they’ve all passed basic training…No sense in giving them that kind of sensitive info if they fail & get sent back to the civilian sector.
;)
Two thoughts on equipment:
First, there exists (in our world at least) the tech to project a Heads Up Display directly into someone’s retina. It involves a low power lasers, and while the idea of shining a laser into your eyes bothers some people, the radiation hitting the back of your eye is actually less than you get from an old style CRT monitor. The company that has the patent on the tech is working on next generation oculars for Apache helicopter pilots. Full color, better than 1080p definition, images track with you as you move your head, and can be anything from an inset image floating in your view to completely taking over your vision and anything in between, including enhanced reality overlay. The company is promising a civilian version, but they say it won’t be cheap.
A Google Glass-like arrangement with that tech would be amazing, and a lot less fragile than tactical sunglasses.
The other thing is kevlar socks — that’s completely feasible, and something like that already exists as gloves. They feel like knitted/crocheted gloves made out of heavy gauge nylon filaments. They won’t stop bullets, but you can catch a knife blade in your hands while wearing them, and not be cut.
Okay, is “Grays and Greens” a City of Heroes reference, or was that not the only MMO to use that color coding for weaklings?
Every one I have played used that. Ok, only four, but it seems pretty standard. Of course City of Heroes is the only one that matters.
Long may their astral capes continue to flutter over Atlas Park.
*sniffles*
Actually that is a very common way for video games that have an open format to let you know how hard something you will fight will be. Red – DANGER run away is above your level, Yellow Very tough is higher level than you but you might be able to kill it, Green is your level and you will still get a fair amount of experience from it. Grey you don’t get experience from this why are you bothering you mass murder
Spill a toast my friends for City of Heroes, a game lost to the woes of economics… Zand is no more. Ah well I play DDO now and some of the under dark critters are close enough to Rikti to get my fix. But I still miss that character configurator.
They should release the character creator as a stand-alone program. I could spend hours just fiddling with costumes and stuff.
Check out “Black Desert Online”, you could easily spend a day or two playing with the creator
So is Dabbler always in her normal form around the Arc offices if nobody knows of her true form? Like, for instance, do the recruits in the auditorium see her as is or in her human form?
The “Official Story” (as far as everyone-who-does-not-need-to-know is concerned) is, this is a “battle-form”, used in combat. It’s worn around headquarters to get her team-mates familiar with it, so they don’t mistake her for an enemy. To those who can handle the truth (such as the upper ranks, & we, the audience), this allows her to relax in her natural form, without expending magical energy on her “glamoured”-form, & without blowing her cover-story.
Well, one commentator has suggested that. And it is workable if her illusions are mental ones. That way she could select who saw what. Those who are in on the secret could see her normal self. Everyone else would see her blonde form.
The thing that would support this possibility is the fact that she uses mental powers to scan a subject and find their idealised woman. So the two powers would be of a similar nature.
But a problem with that is mental illusions would not show up on cameras or CCTV. So she would be quickly unmasked by base security staff or on television.
However that does not preclude the possibility suggested. On account of Dabbler’s huge range of powers. We know that she uses both mental powers and spells. And many of her capabilities overlap (mostly in the area of acquiring sexual partners). So redundancy in this area is possible too.
Therefore Dabbler could take note of any areas which have CCTV (presumably security checkpoints, corridors and high-security areas, such as the armoury) and ensure that she uses her optical illusions in those areas. And always when outdoors or otherwise around the smartphone equipped general public.
But the rest of the time, such as in here, she could just use her mental illusions.
All that is quite complex reasoning though. So Occam’s razor pushes me to thinking it more likely that everyone sees the same illusion all of the time. In which case they are seeing her in her ‘battle-form’ at the moment. And are not bothered, because that was explained at the press conference.
Thanks, DMC_Run & Yorp, I forgot about her mental illusions and the press conference “battle form” spin. And, yet, this also made me wonder are they really mental illusions or tricks of the pheromone variety? You know, the whole electro-chemical function of the brain and body and all…..
An entirely plausible possibility. And would work on the riff that Succubi will be masters of pheromone control anyhow. So this would just be a variant on that. I would go so far as to say credible. And not beyond the bounds of possibility that Dabbler has all three versions!
Yup. People forget how powerful the sense of smell is until they walk into the perfume aisle at the mall.
Re, the Author’s: “…to anyone fervently under the impression that humans are God’s favorite pet project, it could cause some violent cognitive dissonance.”
—I’m reminded of a friend of mine, who wrote a song some years back, in which some aliens discuss this point with “hoo-mons”:
“…I know we’re not perfect,
But I think we’re best!
I mean, God chose us
(over all the rest),
To send down his Son, to be Born-&-Raised-
-&-Killed-&-Raised, so we’d be Saved!”
That’s when the Leader of the Green Men said,
“Earthling Child! You’re Spiritually DEAD!
Of all the worlds in endless space,
Yours was the first God =HAD= to save!
You’ve a brilliant brain, but a simple soul!
You put useless parts before the Whole!
& Human Pride is what’s behind your Pain!”
Heatwave could get a cyber-toe, or at least a prosthetic one, and if the cyber-toe had been done well enough it could be disguised to look human
“Could it shoot lasers?! You should totally get one that shoots tricking lasers!”
Fricking Lasers.
And html took away the Channeling Sydney’s voice in brackets…
Avoid using the angled brackets. The square ones are safe for such purposes though.
[Thinking fondly of characters and friends, lost in the ether that used to be Paragon City]
Small question : if ” Succubi can interbreed with humans and many other species, and the result is always a succubus” how then is Dabbler not a true Succubus but rather – – “She has a complex heritage, suffice to say she is roughly 1/2 succubus, 1/3 doppleganger, and 1/6 some unidentified alien species.” Please tell me you are going to go into this and soon because now I am dead curious is she the “fertile mule” so to speak?!?!
Very good question. DaveB mentioned ‘crazy baby factories’ above, so that complicates things beyond the realm of natural genetics. Which would make sense as dealing not just with leaping species boundaries but biosphere boundaries.
Even when you have species that have comparable metabolisms (eg oxygen nitrogen breathing), bilateral symmetry and
a matching number oflimbs [counts Dabblers and reconsiders], sensory organs and internal organs, you still have issues such as whether they even use DNA or, if they do, have the same number of chromosomes or even use the same alphabet?Plus we know that legend indicates that Succubus have a male counterpart, namely Incubus. But does that match what Dabbler’s species has? Or are they all female. The latter option would certainly make it easier to understand how they get alien DNA to the baby factory, to kick off the process.
Female succubus clearly would have a way to handle alien DNA. But alien females (in this case including humans) would not have that mechanism. Not unless the Incubus had some means of making their DNA compatible. But they do have magic at their disposal, in addition to super science. So there are many options.
In fact, not to be pedantic or to show off my knowledge of science fiction movies or anything*, but that was exactly the difficulty the scientists faced in the Avatar program. The Na’vi cell nucleus does not use nucleic acids to encode genetic information. So, the process of bonding human DNA with whatever the Na’vi use instead of DNA to create the Avatars, was an extremely difficult challenge, according to supplemental information (which is canon, btw, just not explained in the movie.)
* I lied. It was totally to show off my knowledge of science fiction movies. ;-)
50%-100% are succubi.
5%- 49% count as succubi.
<5% just …. sucks
In that everyone’s been talking about what happens when people and things have little ones, here is something I found for whenever Sydney snags Leon (or Wolverine, or whoever) and they start having kids. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the Batman booster seat.
https://www.kidsembrace.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/b/a/batfronth1500.jpg
am going to say this I like heat waves new look/face she looks way better than the first time we saw her I say keep the look and keep up the great work the story is still rocking brother
Well said.