Grrl Power #370 – R&R&RKO
I don’t usually revisit stuff like this, with everyone sitting around talking about the geokinetic and his gold stores, cause you guys already had at it in the comments on that page, but sometimes when I go back and re-read some of the previous pages it feels like there’s not a lot of transition from one scene to the next. Usually that’s fine. Scene’s over, move on, but sometimes the team would just be sitting around talking about what happened. Oh and don’t worry about Barberian’s shirt, there’s a better look at it on the next page.
The idea of being paid to show up at a club or other venue is weird. I mean, it makes sense, people are crazy for celebrities and the team members are the new hot ticket, but there are a lot of F-list celebrities like people who were on one season of some reality show who make a living doing little else. Some big celebs who only make rare appearances can get pretty crazy bucks for it. Given a little more time for the world to whip itself into a super hero craze, some of the team members could pull big dollars too, but it’s unlikely for Maxima to show up at a club, at least in a non-spontaneous endorsement sort of way. Giving a speech at a college or a women’s shelter is more her speed. I’m not sure Wednesday is a big club night in most places but I suppose when you get R&R you make the most of it.
Seneca’s candy today is Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses, those black and orange wrapped peanut butter taffy candies you (or at least I) only really ever see around Halloween. I don’t even know how many calories she ingests in a day.
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.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
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Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Now why doesn’t our little Barberian got a who’s who?
And I want to know where I can find a sweater like Dabbler’s, it looks comfortable with a good amount of sexy.
Hmmm actually looking at the outfit, I kind of think on dabbler its actually two different tops she combined to make the outfit. Which kind of makes sense, since she has the four arms.
Keyhole Sweater, if you wish to google for hundreds of examples of them
Hell no!
Hell yes!
I wanted to do one “hell no” and one “hell yes”. But the website did not like me linking both. They were both funny, but I had to opt for one or the other.
Rule 34. And 41.
People only get a mention if they have a speaking role in the current comic.
Which could be a problem if we ever get a team member who is deaf and communicates via sign language (or is a telepath and just thinks his words at other people).
i tihnk any sort of “communication” would work. verbal or not.
I doubt we’d see a deaf team member unless they had powers to compensate for that (or a blind one for that matter for similar reasons). Unlike the ridiculousness of the original Thundercats someone so physically handicapped simply wouldn’t be on an active combat team, just like they wouldn’t be in RL. They couldn’t hear shouted warnings or instructions or things like a wall behind them as it starts shifting to fall on them making them a detriment without again powers that basically provided them the ability to functionally hear.
Daredevil gets a lot of passes for example but in truth his blindness would be a big problem, many things have color identifiers to them such as indicator lights that he can’t see (and is why he had that ridiculously yellow and black costume originally in spite of supposedly being a STEALTH-focused character). It’d be way worse with a deaf character.
Well he have spoken and if he’s going to pop in now and then as Dabbler’s cushion/toy or barber then I think he should get one. There have been minor characters there after all before. Less confusion for people who wonder who he is too.
You ask a proficient knitter, after showing her the picture, to make you one.
hah! Was wondering if anyone else noticed dabbler’s lack-of-pants. XD
I did, but felt it insignificant. It’s Dabbler, after all.
Now, whether or not she’s wearing panties is a far more interesting question. One that only DaveB (or our imaginations) can answer.
In fairness I suspect the Barbarian can answer as well. You know, we can’t see both of his hands….
I noticed it a number of weeks ago, in the long-shot of the previous room. But it was only enough to suspect, rather than confirm it. It matched what I would assume she opted for. And the sweater is just conservative enough not to draw prudish eyes suspiciously to arouse Maxima or Arianna’s wrath.
My curiosity was mainly in her mindset. She may just be comfortable in being able to wear her normal form (the four armed purple ‘battle form’) whilst both unconsciously and naturally choosing her normal private wear gear.
Alternatively, she very carefully chose it, aiming to get away with far more than American and/or military culture would permit, simply by sliding it under the radar.
So it tickled me considering that possibility, during subsequent scenes. Realising that Dabbler would be chuckling, very quietly to herself, when Arianna was talking to the flyers about ‘not flapping their clams’.
Likewise I am pleased that, one way or another, Dabbler remained mindful of Sydney’s sensibilities. Maxima is prudish, so Dabbler likes teasing her. But Sydney is simply shy and, presumably, inexperienced.
So I like the fact that she is presently positioned to minimise any risk of embarrassing Sydney. Although the furniture tends to encourage that, I think that the talk will have reminded her, and her personal feng shui will be purposeful here.
We saw this behaviour when Dabbler averted Sydney’s gaze from the hypnoboobs. So she is a deeper character, than just the sexpot that she might otherwise be viewed as, superficially.
I find it really amazing how many videos people have posted where they’re out walking aound in nothing but really good body paint and noone notices.
I think everyone noticed that. It’s Dabbler, her being pantless doesn’t surprise me….Hmm although she could be wearing very very short hotpants but as thevoidcity said the question is more panties or no panties.
Here. It’s on Amazon for $40.
https://www.amazon.com/PattyBoutik-Womens-Keyhole-Sweater-Black/dp/B015QYRVW4/
Ooooo. *writes down on Christmas wishing list*
This is a fashion I would be very happy to see propagated.
I’m a little bit confused as to what point Leon is trying to make. Is he saying that they don’t need to worry about someone close to Golddigger being kidnapped because there isn’t anyone precious enough to make him give up that gold?
Well there are people who also have a lot of money and kidnapable relatives and who don’t have the ability to make the kidnapper acquainted with the molten core of the Earth if they piss them off.
With that amount of gold, “Golddigger” can pay off a hundred ransoms, and still have enough to live comfortably on.
I still go with my theory. Kidnappers usually aren’t satisfied if you just pay up once. But they should think twice about getting on the bad side of someone with that sort of power (both financial and superhuman).
I’m going to double down on DevilDan’s theory. Even if the kidnappers say something like “You’ll never find us”, Golddigger could just say (hopefully with some small proof) “Yeah, Arc-Swat paid me a visit to make sure that I don’t do anything like that with my gold supply. All I have to do is make one tearful call to them about having no choice about paying the ransom and you will have an entire U.S. superteam backed by considerable U.S. intelligence assets** headed up by *Points at Maxima picture* Miss Daisy-Cutter. However, if you return my girlfriend and PAY ME for the emotional turmoil I have suffered, I can find it in my heart to forget to sic The Justice Lords on your ass.”
**While I presume that neither Golddigger nor the kidnappers would know Arc-Swat’s resources, this would not be an unreasonable bluff.
As mentioned above, plus something I just thought of…
Depending on what TYPE of geomancer/geokenetic powers “Golddigger” has, the worst thing they could do is accept & take the ransom. THAT could be their fatal flaw…
Think about it this way – This guy can use his power to not only create a cave in near-melting rock at least 10 miles down, but then draw liquid gold from the core. So how would he do THAT? Did he go all the way down, or did he bring it to him? And if he brought it to him, how did he know WHAT he was pulling up…?
If his power is to not only move & control that which makes up our planet, but to SENSE where & what it is, he could simply pay the ransom, then use his power to track them back to their lair through the gold he’d just handed them (maybe put a little something in it to help with the tracking, maybe even a 1-5cm thick layer over some quartz). Then work out where his girlfriend is (I’d imagine he’d give her some sort of custom item he could sense if he had this power) then things can get a little messy…
as Daniel the Human says, “I maybe crazy, but I ain’t stupid”. You won’t catch ME messing with that guy’s family…
a few points
if someone was kidnaped he has archon to call on to help and another point that should comes up in kidnaping stories the ransom should never be more than a bounty. just imagine how many hired guns/mercenaries and assassins would go on a rescue mission for just 5 of those bars
plus it’s not cash the kidnaper can’t actually move the gold in a stealthy way getting the gold is not the same as keeping it. takeing that gold whould be the same as painting a bulls eye on your back
And… with modern technology and a suitably enthused superpower, putting GPS locators into any gold bars passed on to the kidnappers would be a cinch.
If they don’t know about the gold, just that he is rich then at most they will likely ask for millions in cash. Which won’t make a huge dent in the economy regarding the gold being circulated.
oh man i love those peanut butter kisses. my grandpa always had them stocked at his house and they are very fun to chew. yay Barberian is clothed and cognizant! it would kinda make sense why he’d join the Arc team, since he was the only one on the “villain” side who was able to resist the aggro-effect and surrender. he’s either naturally a pacifist (possible, since he’s a hair dresser, not exactly a violent career), or he has some resistance to mind control stuff.
i was thinking of something i learned in US history after hearing about the geokinetic guy last week. Black Friday 1869 there was a gold market disaster because some guys cornered the gold market and really hurt the economy with it. after that, there were laws put in place to make sure someone can’t legally do that sort of thing with gold anymore. but at this point, we don’t guarantee the dollar against the gold reserve, so it wouldn’t be as disastrous to currency. i don’t know if it’s possible to do an updated version of what they did in 1869. in trying to search current international gold laws, all i get are “how to corner the gold market” guides that mention it’s illegal and how you would have to bribe regulation agencies.
I actually don’t think it would do that much damage to the economy. It would be about like when we started refining aluminum: sure, a commodity went from valuable to merely being a useful industrial component, there were some market readjustments to this reality, some people got rich and others lost a fortune, but the average person didn’t have much take on it. It might not be fun, but probably not any worse than other bubbles bursting.
Yeah but we didn’t have entire countries who’s currency was backed by aluminum.
As of 2000 no country is one the gold standard. In 2000 France was 40% on the standard, but stopped. If the amount of gold was to jump to massively more than we currently have, it would end those damn “buy gold” ads on late night TV.
I’m willing to deal with some issues with parts of the economy that only effect a small number of people to make those go away.
don’t be offended, as i am purposefully being snarky… But:
If you don’t like watching those ads… then either turn the channel or even better yet, turn the TV OFF!.. :D
is dabbler bottomless?
She likes to think so.
I don’t have an upvote to give you, so here, have a comment.
Hiyoooooh!!
Yes, she is.
Or at least it looks very much like it here.
I disagree. I can see her bottom very clearly.
Whilst Dabbler has no pants on, she is very clearly possessing of bottom. And will probably give anyone passing more of an eye-full than they expect. Even with a leg crossed.
she’s a real Asset to the team and she enjoys displaying that fact for all to see.
besides she was a little Behind on her indecent exposure quota and had to make up for it in the End.
To out-pun that would be to sphincter a new low.
but let’s not get our panties twisted about it, an’ al(l)
Yeah, no reason to make asses of ourselves. Sure, the odd cheeky joke here & there is fine, butt going too far might cause some tight-ass to not be able to get a grip on it. Besides, don’t wanna hit apple-bottom too soon, I’m sure Dabbler will give us to throw more puns at without having to grope in the dark for more…
that was a set of puns set to rear its ugly head at some point in dealing with xurials derriere.
truly callipygian at that!
Ahh, I had to look that up. I thought you might be making a camel-toe prediction!
Probably best to avoid googling the latter term, whilst at work, if anyone is unfamiliar with it.
New guy getting all the luck. >:-(
I want to be Dabbler’s new couch!
No, she is wearing leggings
About the Barberian – did we ever find out exactly what sort of super powers he has?
Maybe he is able to cut the hair of otherwise invulnerable supers.
If so, Achilles might finally be able to give up that mullet if he wants to.
NEVER! Mullet Forever!
During the fight he was holding a piece of road, so at the very least he’s super strong
Apparently nothing that makes him confident enough, even with V’s mild violence aura, to take on Dabbler or purple sith lightning.
Yup. Combining that with his general physique, I think we can assume the usual combination of super strength and toughness. With other powers too. Possibly completely unrelated to the physical ones or his profession.
However, running with DevilDan‘s line he might also have hair growth and/or manipulation powers. He could use Jiggawatt’s hair to entangle herself. He might grow Leon’s into a huge afro.
Even now Barberian might be experimenting with granting Dabbler some pubic topiary! He is just glancing up to make sure that nobody else has noticed.
> pubic topiary
Please never say that again. *shudder*
Where is a super gardener when you need one? We have a bush here that needs trimming stat!!
or the nice power of generating his own wifi hotspot tied to the interweb because why does it have to be hair related powers?
There is another way for Harem to make some money AND get exposure in the public’s eye. She needs to contact the BBC America channel and get cast into the next season of Orphan Black. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_Black
The show has an actress playing a set of clones. In this season the current group find out there there another group of clones out there (guess who they cast in that role). The two groups meet up and find some grand conspiracy that they have to go out and investigate. The producers could save a lot of money by being able to film the episodes live instead of having to digitally edit the scenes later.
While you save money on edits and such, the sheer Cost of making it worth Harem’s while to spend the time on their set would probably more than outweigh the monetary benefits for production. On the other hand having harem be part of the show certainly might draw in more viewers but again unless Harem’s willing to work for cheap compared to what her time is worth to other people, it would more than likely cost more to hire her than it would to simply hire a normal actress (possibly some twins or whatnot) and doing the edits.
I just realized that Halo and Harem both have a H on their collars.
So does Heatwave
for awhile there was quite the large number of H’s on the pages
Oh come on, whenever there’s any female supers, baring Sydney, there’s always a bunch of Hs on the page.
I’m talking about their BOOBS!
Harem: Could you maybe scream in the ear of one of my non-drunk bodies? Thanks.
Whoops, that should probably be ‘non-hung-over’ bodies. Sry.
Seeing as how her brains are entangled, I’m pretty sure all of her is drunk/hungover when a single one of her is
I don’t think it’s been explained how intoxicants affect her, plenty of theories but no actual answers. I smell a Dabbler’s SCIENCE!! Corner topic!
each body is mentally intertwined but physically distinct, Thus the drunky/hangover sensations one body experiences would be shared with the whole mind, the remaining harem bodies would therefore likely be impaired by the sensations but would have their own, perfectly unimpaired senses and such to rely on, thus they probably would not be vulnerable to the effects of bright light or loud noises unless it was the drunk harem body getting exposed to such. But they would all more than likely be a bit cranky and off of their game from the drunk one sharing the fallout.
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned that Harem is NINETEEN according to the cast page…
in all fairness you need to remember a lot of us like in countries were the drinking age is 18
Or 16, in plenty of places in Europe
Her life experiences multiply up though. I seem to recall Dave saying her first duplication was about age 13. So her effective mental (and emotional) age, assuming one new body a year, up to her current (apparent) limit would be:
13 + 6 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 = 37 years.
Physically, as l0wten indicates, most countries would consider 18 to be fully mature. Assuming this reflects world-wide medical opinions, then the extra years the States add (where applicable) should be considered to reflect mental or emotional maturity, rather than physical.
You got an extra six in there. That or you’re seeing an extra Harem.
Or never mind me, I am foople. X_X
Of course, legally, that might need establishing. You are correct to indicate her driving licence or other ID age.
Old enough to die for her country, but not to drink. If that is how it works out, in practice.
Except on base. Different rules apply.
not usually… up here in Bremerton, WA… nope 21+. but, when i was still active duty in the Navy, i know that down in San Diego where there is/was very easy access to Mexico, the on-base club permits 18+ drinking, as a way to help prevent soldiers from getting blotto in Mexico and getting thrown in jail where it is very hard to downright impossible to get them out in time for the Military to not get involved for things like being AWOL and/or Missing Ship’s Movement, etc… if you get drunk on-base, well, yeah you’ll still get in trouble, but not as bad as if you got thrown in jail in Mexico would have been.
active military on or off base drinking age was only if command wont officially hear about it even if over 25 and not beyond mild buzz (not that underage didn’t buy booze at the px or people come in drunk enough to smell)
That would get her even more yelling.
That gold guy will end up suuuuper dead super fast.
Also, I’m pretty sure you have to have a mining license or something. And there are probably shittons of taxes involved as well.
Sort of depends where he’s mining, doesn’t it? He can mine anywhere to get down to the mantle, and could do it without actually damaging the environment, since he can just put it back the way it was as he goes down. He may have just gone somewhere without mining laws to do it, or went out into international waters.
I’m pretty sure that there are mining laws for international waters as well. I mean there even is that whole thing about who gets the oil from Antarctica for example.
(Just checked. Yep, there are. Don’t know what they are yet, but they are mentioned in quite a few places).
For international waters it is very simple. Whoever mines it, owns it.
Usually some formal agreement will be signed between interested parties though, if more than one organisation is needed to extract the resource. For example, a multi-national corporation might make a deal with a nearby country, in order to have easy supply, or use of existing infrastructure (such as pipe-lines).But they do not have to, if they can operate solo.
There are not many regions which are international waters left now though. Given that ‘exclusive economic zones’ can extend out for hundreds of miles into the ocean. And unclaimed islands are being snapped up. Likewise countries have been ratifying international treaties for areas such as the Antarctic. Both of which, in the process, extend claims out into the surrounding oceans too.
Mining lisences are only needed when extracting minerals from sovereign territory. In other words, someone (nation or individual) has to own the land. Gold guy pulled hid gold from the earth’s molten core. Not even the most imperialist nation is arrogant enough to think they own any claim to that.
Don’t give them ideas!!
Who dares rob my kingdom! (that is far below sea level but is somehow dry)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_Man
Tell that to China. They feel that they can build artificial islands in the national boundaries of another country and that means they now own everything in 12 miles of the island even if its a part of the land area of another country.
Last I checked, a countries territory theoretically reaches down to the core. It used to reach up into space as well, but space-age treaties put an end to that.
If the team are as indiscreet as this, in public, then yea.
Likewise if the government fail to be convinced that he will keep to his modest spending patterns. Although some individuals, in power, might not be concerned, that is not the pertinent bit. If anyone, with access to black-ops, feels he is a national threat, his days are numbered!
The man has as much money as the whole rest of the planet. You don’t think he can afford superpowered security? If he wanted to, he could control the entire American political system.
The man also has the power to put a Volcano in the middle of any major city he so chooses, I’d be a bit more concerned about that. You really do not want to piss off a dude who can reenact Pompeii with your city……
Naa, nowhere near it. Gold is only a small (if key) part of the economy. Someone crunched the numbers on the previous comic and worked out that his ‘gold value’ would be less than the present super rich we already have.
And he has only cashed in a few bars, so he his disposable wealth is trivial. Especially if he manages to crash the value of gold, by letting Archon tell all and sundry about his swimming pool of gold.
It’s more of a problem for countries that still keep their reserves in gold bullion.
I mean realistically, if that guy just mentions the possibility of dumping significant amounts of gold on the market, that would make entire contents of Fort Knox as valuable as tissue paper.
That would play merry chaos with the tresury bonds, since ability of American Goverment to pay their bills will be damaged, and since those things are pretty much a cornerstone of US and world economy, that would make 2008 look tame by comparison.
So, yeah, any goverment that has gold reserves would be very, very interested that this guy suffers fatal accident.
Yea.
There are a few things working in his favour mind:
• His track record, as having modest needs.
• His vested interest, in not dumping a lot of gold onto the market (it devalues his own fortune).
• The fact that he is an honest, tax-paying citizen
• If they mess up killing them, he could probably dump half of California into the ocean.
• Plus, most importantly, he is an invaluable world resource. He can extract things which could leap-frog many sectors of the economy. All on his own.
• Any nation, which has him on their side, need not worry about problems of shortages for any “Rare-Earth” minerals or other precious industrial or commercial metals.
• If they can encourage him to diversify mining interests, into other areas, it stops him stockpiling resources, which could destabilise the economy.
Most of those things tend to fall into broad categories of
• His track record, as having modest needs.
• His vested interest, in not dumping a lot of gold onto the market (it devalues his own fortune).
• The fact that he is an honest, tax-paying citizen
• If they can encourage him to diversify mining interests, into other areas, it stops him stockpiling resources, which could destabilise the economy.
That all is very true… but would be much more true if he was dead. Dead people have very modest requirements and are much less likely to decide to change their lifestyle, because for example they fell in love with a supermodel, or got a pet cause or something.
• Plus, most importantly, he is an invaluable world resource. He can extract things which could leap-frog many sectors of the economy. All on his own.
• Any nation, which has him on their side, need not worry about problems of shortages for any “Rare-Earth” minerals or other precious industrial or commercial metals.
• If they can encourage him to diversify mining interests, into other areas, it stops him stockpiling resources, which could destabilise the economy.
*That all is true, and, also, another reason to kill that guy ASAP. Because for any country he joins, there are 144 countries who do not want that other one to get the massive advantage.
• If they mess up killing them, he could probably dump half of California into the ocean.
Well that is a thing, I’ll give you that. But that’s why goverments have people who specialize in killing things and making it look like an accident. At least I assume they do.
Leon is a top-level programmer. He is very unlikely to be so imprecise as to describe 25 x 2 x 50 metres of gold as ’25 cubic meters of gold’. Especially as ‘2,500 cubic meters of gold’ is actually more impressive to drop into a conversation!
everyone makes math mistakes sometimes so he’s not perfect
I want to put up a picture in response to this but I can’t find it.
see now i want to see this pic but i carnt that is just so mainly unfunny
Or he could be implying that the vault is worth 1000 people, thus giving us a standard measurement of ‘one millivault’ that we can use in other similar hostage situations.
One cubit meter of gold is 42,500 lbs x 16 oz x $1100 = about $750 million.
The highest ransom paid that I could find was for Jorge and Juan Born in 1974 for $60 million, or $300 million today. This is $150 million/each. Leon is correct. No person has ever been ransomed for one millivault.
If you want to take out a kidnap and ransom insurance policy, it incorporates non-disclosure agreements. Insurance companies do not advertise how much they pay out.
There is no way to tell what the upper limit is that has already been paid out in random. Be it by insurance companies, employers, nations, relatives or individuals themselves (via lawyers or accountants, as may be the case).
One billion dollars, or your life? You can only keep the one. Which would you choose? Especially if worth several billions anyhow.
Two pages ago DaveB stated the guy as “having 531 tons of gold”. This page Leon says he has “25 cubic meters”. Well how much does 25 cubic meters of gold weigh?
Above I said that 1 cubic meter is 42,500 lbs or 21.25 tons. 21.25 x 25 = 531.25 tons.
So Leon got it right. I think what got you on the wrong track was the panel that showed the storage vault. the actual size of 25 cubic meters would be a block 2.93 meters (or a bit under 10 feet) on a side. The racks show considerably more than this. So either Dave overdid the volume for dramatic purposes or most of the gold in the vault belongs to other people and he is just storing it for them.
P.S. 25 cubic meters would get you roughly 2 solid gold classic VW buses.
I was just quoting the official dimensions of an Olympic swimming pool. Which has a volume of 2,500 cubic meters.
Still waiting for someone to call Maxima “Golden Globes”
Something tells me that phrase would be added to the list of Famous Last Words.
Too bad down in the gold vault (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1904) Zephan wasn’t standing next to Max when they were looking at the storage shelves and make the comment “Hey, nice rack!”
I just realized something… wouldn’t it utterly suck for Geo-Dude if he got amnesia or something and forgot where his stash was? (Or that he had one?)
Yeah, but he would probably just make another one.
Unless he forgot how to use his power too…
All he remembers is that he used to be able to do it… somehow. And that the vault, wherever it is, looked really pretty.
Then the bills start coming in and he’s all “how did I ever pay for this”.
Finding a gold bar, in his sock drawer, might give him a clue. ;-)
Failing that, he better hope he can convince somebody, with the relevant skills and/or cutting tools or super powers, that he really is the owner of the safe, on his bedroom wall, and that he just forgot the combination code. Then keep his fingers crossed that he has more than spare change in it (or his bank).
Not to fuel his Death Ray, Sydney. Gold is a very good conductor (of both heat and electricity) with a lot of properties that make it suitable for corrosive environments.
So not fueling it, but rather helping run at near super conductor levels, increasing output significantly…
Gold will react with a few things to create chemicals. Auric chloride, auric bromide, and auric iodide being three of the more common ones. They seem to be used in organic chemistry.
I guess a mad scientist could use that gold for his crazy biology experiments.
Sorry to tell you, but gold is a long way from chemically inert. The only chemically inert elements are the noble elements, in the far right column of the periodic table — the so-called noble gases. Gold actually is sufficiently reactive that it is often used as a catalyst for other reactions.It simply doesn’t oxidize readily, so it doesn’t tarnish much.
Here’s a link I googled on the chemistry of gold, if interested. I find it fascinating, but then I have a background in chemistry. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228039844_The_Chemistry_of_Gold
Yea, I have a cousin who is allergic to gold. Most folks who say that are usually actually allergic to either the other compounds in gold jewellery or the alloys mixed into it. But she actually loves gold jewellery and wears it whenever she can, despite her adverse reactions. And the purer it is, the worse she reacts.
Per her claims of course. But I have no reason to doubt them, and have seen her skin react, when wearing something that was hallmarked as 24 carat gold (but have no particular skills to spot a fake).
Whoa, your cousin is a Corax?
No, she is older than me. But not old enough to found ancient Greek rhetoric.
Not quite what I was thinking.
Also certain types of Cybermen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberman
You mean the Primarch of the Raven Guard was a shapeshifter?
She could also be a Mokole.
“The only chemically inert elements are the noble elements”
They are helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), radon (Rn).
So if they are inert, how do you explain the existence of Kryptonite? :)
Poor understanding of elements and minerals by a cartoon writer desperate to put limits on an ubermensch?
Also, they’re not entirely chemically inert. They have all the orbitals needed filled, but they can be made to react. Especially the heavier ones.
Here’s one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon_tetrafluoride
The geomancer has the best reason in the world for never dumping his gold on the market: It would destroy its value and leave him with no means of income in future years.
Now, assuming he has already amassed a sizable fortune, this could be more tempting to him were he in the mood to pull a dick maneuver like that. But it was fairly heavily implied that in his conversations with Arc personnel that they deemed him to not be that kind of personality.
Yea olde “threaten the loved ones” plot only works if you put him in a position where he can’t contact Arc to help him out. Or where he can’t just have the Earth swallow up anyone he is sufficiently upset with.
Depending on exactly how his powers work he might be a fairly difficult person to isolate or threaten. Considering that his reach and fine tune control is capable of pulling huge masses of a specific element to him from 4,000 miles away, I don’t think he’d have much of a problem sinking into the Earth enclosed in a nice, roomy bubble and moving anywhere he wanted to go. Or locating his threatened loved ones by the 2mm bead of gold or some other element he had implanted in them subcutaneously. A bead made up of 3 different elements would be a nice, easily distinguishable “locator beacon” for his power to locate. A locator beacon which doesn’t broadcast for anyone but him, and so is not easily found by our hypothetical bad guys.
Geokinnetick man is stealing from people who own the mineral rights. Only mother nature can move those things arbitrarily without any legal repurcusions.
Not if he is mining it where nobody has the mineral rights, he is not.
And certainly not if he is the owner of them. It would be relatively cheap to buy up mineral rights somewhere that was considered not to have any prospect of valuable minerals. He of course though can just go 10, 20, 80 miles deep, until he finds gold, and extract it from there. Or go deeper, where it starts to become liquid, and suck it out, even from surrounding regions. All perfectly legally.
But that is just putting a ribbon on it. Such is probably not necessary, as international law does not recognise national claims (or the laws necessary to enforce them) without a treaty. And none cover the deep Earth.
Despite national law (in some countries, including the US) proclaiming that mineral claims extend to the centre of the Earth, even US national legal challenges have not consistently upheld anything below a couple of miles down. As a result of which, any deep mineral rights are most likely to be considered identacle to those in international waters. Namely such mineral resources fall to those who can gather them.
He has mined the gold. He is the owner.
You are correct Yorp .
Let’s say that when he started his little endeavor he owned a piece of land 20 m square with all rights included.
That would mean he would have full rights to look for gold on his property as long as he followed all relevant laws and ordnances.
And I am pretty sure some beauracrat was more than willing to give him the appropriate permit.
.
Why would one go for something as heavily monitored as gold if one could transmute substances or pull anything out of the earth?
This has come up from time to time in superhero role-playing games that I have played since the early eighties.
I always went for (or convinced my teammates to go for) rare earth elements.
They are generally worth far more than gold per unit volume, and nobody is looking for them to appear.
Combine this with another character who manufactures technical items and you don’t even need subterfuge in converting the metals to money. Just sell a product affordabley that should have been (but wasn’t) expensive to create.
If one is intending to be a law abiding tax-paying citizen. Which the geomancer has turned out to be. It is readily convertible at many high-street shops (with appropriate documentation to show legal ownership). So it is a good combination of being easy to transport and easy to convert into local currency.
It is why James Bond carries gold sovereigns after all! Good in any country in the world, with a bit of haggling.
Except some countries have issues including laws against private people having gold, other than in the form of jewelry in limited amounts (one country a few years ago robbed a guy who routinely traveled with gold on him saying it violated their laws).
Hence why James Bond needs to use a bit of haggling. He is a spy, he knows how to avoid legal entanglement, in the few countries with such laws. And those tend to be corrupt enough that the laws are, for most intents and purposes, ignored by locals. So are only used to entrap ignorant foreigners.
Whereas law-abiding folks check the law, before travelling, convert their gold to legal tender, and ensure they do not carry more than is permissible. Or use these cunning inventions called travellers cheques and credit cards. In the areas that accept such.
… And those countries with laws specifically against private gold ownership tend to have quite healthy black markets for dealing with exactly that.
People are just conditioned to think about the gold anytime this kind of issue/discussion comes up. They first think about gold, then followed by silver and platinum, because the idea that there are more precious metals by far just doesn’t occur to them because they aren’t discussed publicly (like palladium, way more precious than gold or platinum). If you used such powers to double the yearly availability of some of those elements not only would you end up quite wealthy even after depressing the value somewhat but you’d be vastly improving the economy due to the number of industries that use those elements ending up with vastly reduced costs in the production of those highly expensive items.
It’s a common failing of GM who’re rigidly against players having their characters get wealthy off their powers to create elements, they’ll immediately go on ‘oh you’ll hurt the economy’ when what they really mean is ‘oh you aren’t supposed to profit from your powers as a hero, you’re supposed to remain dirt poor unless you start wealthy’. So even though such powers would actually benefit the economy and public overall the GM will be quite punitive to a PC trying to do so. In the RPG module from the original Marvel Superhero game for the Second Secret Wars featuring the Beyonder the part where he turns an entire building into pure gold you end up with Spider-man being punished by losing karma if like in the comics he takes any discarded trash that’s been turned into gold (while meanwhile watching the US government handing a few dozen sold gold typewriters to the Kingpin, knowing he’s a criminal thug with hundreds if not thousands of deaths directly on his hands and threatening to arrest HIM for speaking against it).
Good guys judge the ethical consequences of their actions. Bad guys don’t.
The amount of money involved does not change the above. It just increases the scale of the consequences. Good or bad though they may be.
If you happen to be in a really poor region, and give children small change, unthinkingly, you can be causing serious harm. Especially if you live in the area, or visit it a lot (or are amongst others who do, such as tourists). Your idea of small change, could be more than his parents earn in a month!
Thus it becomes easier, for the family, to just send their children out to beg. Giving them that money is depriving the kids of a chance to go to school. And, once they are too old to look cute to passing tourists, they then have no marketable skills. Daughters might end up as prostitutes, for example.
Meanwhile the guy who mugs you, a decade later, might not either remember or thank you, for your unthinking kindness, when he was young.
Scale unthinking behaviour up, by increasing the money involved, and you can cause complications to the lives of more and more people.
One is going into the extremist side of things when they start insisting that every decision one makes has to be done based on what is ethical, particularly what someone ELSE thinks is ethical. Especially if their idea of ethical is that bizarrely only the bad guys get to profit or that it’s unethical for a hero to use their gifts to profit from them. Because last time I checked I haven’t seen anyone insisting it was unethical of Bill Gates to use his intelligence to become a billionaire because he should have remained poor, or for some poor kid who’s got exceptional athletic talent should throw it away rather than become a millionaire athlete because it would be ‘wrong’ of him to use that talent to profit himself.
Markets fluctuate all the time, and industries rise and fall for a variety of factors, someone with powers that would let them profit in those cases should be free to do so, since there’s no ethical dilemma in them doing what everyone else is trying to do.
Ahh, now you happen to bring up someone who has spent a lot of effort in ensuring that charity is focussed in sensible, sustainable ways. Through the Gates Foundation. I have only come across a few examples of their work. But was very impressed in each instance.
They were not ‘build another wing on a hospital and put up a plaque reminding future generations how generous we were’ type projects. Rather they were projects which were carefully targeted to alleviate the greatest amount of suffering in the most number of people. And each was carefully researched, to ensure there were no unintended consequences.
The kinds of money that the Gates Foundation can throw around could destabilise whole regions and even countries. Things which I have seen other charities do.
So if you are proud of how much money Gates made, also take pride in the consideration Bill and Melinda Gates show, when using that money. Money itself has no intrinsic merit. Only the things you do with it have worth.
Looking at your examples, I agree that it is right to use the abilities you have to get ahead. Likewise to use them to make money. Just so long as the process is not harming others.
In my family tree I have an ancestor who brought in more money, to his country, in one year, than the entire gross domestic profit of his country. He made more money than every other person, company and even the government itself, through taxes. Pretty good eh?
He also was one of the founders of the slave triangle. Ensuring that his country continued to make vast profits, for hundreds of years. Thanks to enslaving and working people to death. And their children. And their grandchildren.
I am not too proud of that money. Or the legacy it has left on the world, even to this day.
I noticed something odd about the uniforms. In panel 2 Vance’s uniform shows the standard ‘ARC SWAT’ logo. In panel 1 it looks more like ‘ARC 3WAY’. Has Dabbler been projecting illusions again?
It’s a little hard to read was printed on their backs thanks to the camo pattern, but the insignia on his shoulder in panel two does seem to be missing it’s star. I blame the unfortunate tininess of the image.
Wait. 5K each? And they told HER?!
They forgot to carry the “Harem”, didn’t they?
Does anybody know or have a fix for why the bottom two inches of the comic are tinted deep red for me?
Try refreshing and/or clearing your memory cache (for Chrome that involves hitting F5 and/or control-F5).
Failing that, or someone else’s suggestion, please advise your browser type, so others can offer more directed suggestions. Likewise any other symptoms that might give them a clue.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Harem underage?
Depends on local law. She’s 19 which is underage for drinking in most of the US (not that that little detail stopped many kids in my high school) but not necessarily everywhere in the US and not necessarily in other countries.
Imus 23 USC $158 and it bans the sale of or public possession of alcohol by persons under 21. It has been accepted by all 50 states, DC, all all territories except Perto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Note that it technically does not ban drinking by those under 21, just sale to and public possession by those under 21. Under the laws written it is perfectly legal for someone under 21 to drink in their own home.
When states accepted it they put their own spin on it. DC and seven states made it an outright ban (Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont). The other states allow under age drinking in some form. Ex: Texas allows it under parent supervision even in public. It’s perfectly legal for your parent to order a drink in a restaurant and then give it to you. (However many places may have personal policies against this because they don’t want to deal with the hassle of determining if that person is a parent and the trouble if they aren’t).
That is discussed in this thread above, and this thread, on the previous page of comments.
They are quite long though. You can search for “mental” or “emotional” or “37” if you want to skip to my assumptions about her effective age for legal purposes.
Is Barberian joining the team or is he just allowed to listen in on the conversation because Dabbler can wipe his memory later?
Not sure if anyone said this before me, but you forgot Harem in Who’s Who.
I think a lot of people, including Vance, are overthinking the issue with the geomancer. Has anyone ever heard of Melinda Gates or one of Warren Buffet’s kids being kidnapped? Their identities are actually public knowledge. Gold also makes a rather poor ransom material, even a few million dollars worth can’t be moved without the use of a vehicle, and his full stash is pretty much a stationary object in any reasonable timeframe. For that matter, the only reason Dabbler doesn’t have a swimming pool full of gold bars is that she hasn’t ever bothered to go get one from the asteroid belt. Also, nowhere has it been mentioned that the fact of the gold stash existing is secret, I suspect that the reason they are talking about it openly in front of the Barber-ian is that only the location and identity of the owner are not popular knowledge now, and they don’t know those details to give away.
I just realised how awkward the conversation must have gotten for Leon at the end there.
No one’s gonna pay him $5000 to go to a club, and based on how Harem worded it, it doesn’t sounds like she invited him.
Social faux pas, Harem. Tsk tsk.
Well, if he’s in the company of supers, they’d probably just assume he’s one also.
What gets me is that it’s been established that Sydney is now making serious bank despite being a mere cadet/recruit. Assuming that powers are somehow entered into the equation, we can assume everyone else is making just as much as she is, with the exception of Harem, who outranks her, and thus presumably earns more. Do they pay Dabbler? I mean, I’m sure they wouldn’t have a problem with paying her, but does she care about money? Leon probably makes a shit ton of money too since you don’t want to piss off the IT guy.
Oops, didn’t finish. My point is this: considering their salaries, why would they even care about getting paid $5,000 or even $20,000 to make an appearance at a club? I don’t see the incentive.
Sydney would care, because she hasn’t gotten her first paycheck yet.
Also, under-the-table income that the government can’t touch is always good.
I honestly think that Leon might not feel shunned/excluded from this invite and will mention having something nerdy planned already, which will REALLY intrigue Sydney, tearing her between two awesome things.
Actually, she did. They gave her an advance on her first check, which means she wouldn’t get a check for her next pay period, but that one check was more than she’d made the previous year. Seeing as she was getting by before, she’s definitely not hurting for money now.
That advance was in check form, and I doubt Sydney has had time to duck by the bank yet today. Also, seeing as how busy Maxima said it was going to be tomorrow, a little “folding money” wouldn’t hurt until the check is deposited and clears.
Again, she wasn’t exactly destitute before, and wasn’t even expecting to get paid, so it’s not like she’s in desperate need for the money on that check. After all, if she really needed that money, she would’ve made time to duck by the bank, as you put it.
And besides, government checks don’t take that long to clear, and given the team’s resources, I’m pretty sure they could have the money made available to Sydney that day if they needed to. All it takes is an electronic transfer.
They are cops. Ones who are under intense media scrutiny. Even potentially corrupt ones will declare these earnings, unless they are really dumb.
Clearly Harem is already declaring hers (Arianna both knows and approves of it). So anyone who appears to be doing the same kind of activity, but declares nothing for tax purposes, yet has an equally lavish lifestyle, will be asking to loose their job and spend time testing the Arc-ages* prison cells.
Much more importantly though, they are heroes! They need to behave accordingly. And that is not just comic-book sensibilities. They are literally national heroes and role-models, as of last night. And are getting paid a heck of a lot, plus have loads of fringe benefits.
Sydney (and doubtless various other team members) will want to uphold those ideals, for their own sake. The rest will know their country and unit will expect the highest of standards, even if they might not be too fussed themselves.
Yes, Harem, I am looking at you!
* Nope can’t remember how to spell the correct version. And googling variants just gets all sorts of junk. There are lots of near-alternate names that prevent the right one popping up as suggested version.
Aeigis. Shield/armor of the gods if I recall right.
Greedy word. Eating more than its fair share of vowels, in one bite.
Guess it makes up for that extra O that keeps getting stuck in “lose”. ^_o
Actually it is an abbreviation. Deriving from loooooooooser!
Ever notice how many celebrities show up at fund raisers for way less than a million dollars? That’s because money’s money and it should be obvious from looking at how corporate executives and politicians keep demanding more money while doing less that making a lot of money at no point makes you go ‘eh it’s ONLY $5k it’s not worth it’, it tends to make them more likely to go ‘oh yes another $5k!’.
Ever notice how those are usually the types of celebrities that shouldn’t be celebrated?
Not relevant to the topic.
Actually, it’s pretty relevant since there are celebrities that will make appearances for no compensation. And do you think Clint Eastwood would make an amicable appearance at a Democratic event for any amount of money? Money isn’t a sole driving factor, and if it is, you’re not someone who should be celebrated.
I hope that the RNC didn’t actually pay Clint to argue with an empty chair. I would hope that sort of performance would be pro bono, or at least result in a cancelled check if they did agree to pay him.
Bang! Diamond cutter out of nowhere!
Even better, Harem can easily give herself a self-high five.
There was a cartoon series from the 1960s called The Super 6 created by the same people who did the Pink Panther cartoons.
The heroes are: Super Bwoing,Elevator Man,Super Scuba, Magneto Man,Granite Man and Captain Zammo(originally to be called Whammo but a certain toy company threatened legal action.)
Granite Man’s sidekick is a pigeon named Percival. Magneto Man had Cal,a kid with a computerized brain.Super Scuba’s helper is a mermaid named Bubbles and Captain Zammo’s helper is Private Hammo,who would take the brunt of the action for his captain!
So which ones would best personify the ARC SWAT team???
Ah, Mary Janes, good stuff, locally produced in Revere, MA., made by the same company that makes NECCO wafers, NECCO meaning New England Confectionery Company.
Did a job a couple years back at their factory. They had a problem with their cooling system, a series of tubes running back and forth over the conveyors, full of ammonia, to cool the candy indirectly. System got ruptured, and between it and the sprinklers that popped on, spilled something to the tune of ~30,000 gallons of ammonia and water in their factory. We were tasked with the clean up, but the levels of ammonia in the air were so high (under level B, full suit with an air tank and mask, we were permitted 250 ppm, it was over 1,000 ppm) we had to vent the rooms that were on the perimeter of the building for 16 hours before the levels dropped enough that we could enter far enough to drop a hose into the accumulated water/ammonia solution so that we could pump it out into our tankers, lowering the overall ppm’s enough that we could enter and actually start to squeegee product to the hose and clear out the building room by room.
Ended up getting 2 weeks of work out of that job, if memory serves I got something like 87 – 95 hours the first week thanks to a couple overnights, and 85 hours the second week.
where does the barberian have his left hand
Holding Dabbler’s lower lefty. Just as you can see Dabbler resting her upper right hand on his wrist.
He is a nice, civilised, guy, in polite company. Just suffering, a bit, from being repeatedly hit by a memory-hammer.
Shouldn’t Harem be in the Who’s Who?
Yep. Dave will probably pick it up and add her, in due course.
Wait…Zebrahawk is still hanging around! So, has he been drafted into the group as Dabbler’s…Uh…Support? How aware is he of his current surroundings?
Last time we saw Barberian , earlier in the morning, he was starting to remember his previous night with Dabbler. So got bonked on the head, again, with her amnesia spell! He seemed pretty out of it then.
Possibly he may have remained out of it for much of the day, recovering. Or he may have snapped out of it fairly quickly. In which case, it is reasonable that someone may have sounded him out, for recruitment. Possibly as a civilian contractor. Or maybe just seeing if he wanted to work in the food court (as a regular civilian, rather than in the employ of Archon).
Presumably though, for either option, in a hair-dressing capacity. And that could have progressed fast, given that a hairdresser would not need as high a clearance as Sydney did.
Right now? Your guess is as good as mine. But he is neither drooling, nor being used as a foot-stool, which are hopeful signs. Possibly back to a passable semblance of normality though. Given the fairly normal social situation we are seeing.
You know how it is a bit off sometimes however? When you have a semi-naked, four armed, purple alien girl, on your lap. There is always a bit of an uncomfortable pause, at sometime in the conversation.
anyone else think this cant end well
What, Halo, alcohol, a super-hero intrigued general public, a venue large enough to fly in and camera-equipped smartphones, all in close proximity?
*sits up on hind legs, and raises paws in air, like a conductor leading a choir*
*gestures in time to the words*
All together now…
What could possibly go wrong?
Yorp is the one who said it. When it all goes to hell just remember that….
Getting paid huge stacks just to show up somewhere would be the dream!
That would be a nightmare for me!
Indicating far too high a level of fame to be able to properly enjoy life. And, the most likely way I might have gotten there, would also introduce a potential threat to my life, in the process. Over and above those usually associated with fame, that is.
But girls? Meeting, and winning them over, does become a lot easier, with tons of fame and money …
I guess beggars can’t be choosers.
I honestly would not seek out that life though. And
woulddo take steps to actively avoid it. A modest level of fame, where you could only earn modest appearance fees, at specialist venues, would be far better to aim for. Enough fame and money to get some viable perks. But not so much that you are likely to get stalker fans, loss of privacy and/or media intrusion into daily life.It wouldn’t really change my life thst much, really. I already have to be super paranoid for my safety when I go out, especially in Portland. (Long story.) And I spend most of my time indoors and by myself, so the attention would be nice for once.
But the money! The money would be the best part! I could afford to hire protection, and still have more than enough to spare on myself! ^3^
If you already have the hassles that go with it, then there is no doubt. Get so much you can swim in it!
That’s one of my all time fantasies! $_$
Arianna and Max stare at the screen
“Ok. We can spin this somehow.. but I have to ask. How exactly did Sidney disable a biker with a plushy, tweezers, and a beer bottle”
*continue watching as a biker curls up next to his motorcycle, crying*
*sigh* Sydney, not Sidney
ROFL. She could do it too, I feel confident. No orbs needed!
Remembering how she took out Mr. Amorphous . . . er, that one bank robber, I think you may be right.
DaveB: In panel 3, Seneca’s cheek doesn’t look quite right. Instead of looking like she is chewing on a mouthful of food, it looks like she has a large pustule that hasn’t come to a head. Perhaps if the lump was made about half the size, was more of a gently-sloped lump instead of a golf ball shape, and brought down lower in the cheek, that might make it look a little more realistic. Of course, if she IS actually pouching a giant jaw breaker, then, BRAVO Seneca! BRA-VO!
I had not consciously noticed it, but that was feeling off, in just the way you described.
However, I think that I probably accepted it as ok, as she may simply have shifted the chewy yummines enough to be able to talk. Effectively she is pouching it, until done speaking.
I feel sad for Barberian. I like him. And it is nice seeing him in their social circle. Especially with the irony of having been on the opposite sides, of a potentially deadly battle, the previous evening.
So, I don’t want to see him getting hurt. Doubly so, as he clearly is a sensitive guy, from how he managed to get roped into the situation last night. Mainly because friends wanted him to go along, and he was too nice to turn them down. Despite it clearly not being his thing.
Unlike the majority, on that battlefield, the aggro aura was obviously barely affecting him. He demonstrably is a nice person.
But, there is not much prospect for him to be able to continue enjoying his present, enviable, position, long term. Yet he does not strike me as the kind of guy who just wants to carve notches into his bed-post.
Even with the (very) mixed blessing of the memory-hammer, to help numb the pain, I think he is still going to be hurting, in the near future.
I agree, but he may yet get to join the team, so it’s possible that he won’t simply be shoved out the door once he’s recovered from what he and Dabbler did last night. It would probably be the end of his chances of being her significant other, though. She did say back on hammer page that she avoided getting recharges from teammates since they’d be “useless” the next day.
Even so, it may be that Dabbler just isn’t his type, really. It could easily be that he’s actually gay and only went to bed with her because she seduced him with her hypnotic body parts and/or a spell.
Naa, I don’t find that credible. Maxima has no special mental defences. She was just as vulnerable to Vehemence’s aggro aura as Arianna was. And Dabbler has related powers (in several aspects). She clearly wants Maxima. Dabbler has the power to compel her. But has chosen not to.
And she could have had Sydney, for a snack, when she was captured by Dabbler’s hypnoboobs.
Yet likewise did not take advantage of the situation.
Dabbler is using her powers to enhance her attractiveness. But is not abusing that to override individuals gender preferences (in both those examples, and the situation you are proposing) or to turn dislike (in Maxima’s case) into desire. Even though she can.
If there is an initial element of desire though, Dabbler will enhance that. All based on what we have seen so far, of course.
He’s a hairdresser by trade, if I recall correctly. Powers aside, that is probably one skillset that Archon currently lacks. At the very least, there is the potential here for him to acquire a set of steady customers. ;)
Oh my god! The look in Maxima’s face in the last panel! That’s MY favorite Maxima face thus far..!
Unfortunately, Omar wasn’t there to add to his anger album.
That last one makes me wonder if there are underground super fight clubs.
Have there been any actual super villains? With or without deathrays. Or have they all been criminals with powers?
I know I may be in a minority here, but I vastly prefer Jiggawatt’s silver hair to her gold hair. I’m still gonna be reading, but you did ask for opinions, so…
In all honesty, I do too. Neither do I think anyone would mistake her for some other superhero either.
Even so, it is possible that Marvel’s lawyers might not agree with me and you cannot blame DaveB for wanting to give her a more unique look.