Grrl Power #406 – Peanut gallery
Obviously there’s no way I could have a team of super ladies at a construction site without a bunch of construction workers doing what they do best. If this was a slightly darker comic, I could have had Max take offence, but it’s a fair bet she didn’t hear them.
Max, like all women (or just anyone who gets harassed on the street) has to continually decide whether to 1) confront and get called a humorless bitch behind her back, (or sometimes to her face if the guy in question has a real lack of self-preservation skills) 2) let it slide so as not to develop such a reputation or simply because engaging isn’t worth her time, 3) skulk away cause it’s not worth the confrontation, or 4) fire back and give as good as she gets. Max is obviously not a skulker. The big difference between her and most women is that it’s basically impossible for her to be remotely physically intimidated by a guy, and once she got her powers it understandably happened less and less to her within earshot. She used to confront people and get in their face, since cat calling from up on some scaffolding isn’t exactly an obstacle for her, but someone pointed out it was the equivalent of threatening a baby with a tank.
Now she usually either ignores it in a real “acknowledging your existence is beneath me” way, but sometimes she does like to fire back a few withering comments. The kind that tends to get the insecure sort of guys who do stuff like that angry and defensive. Again, not a problem for Max, but in the real world that sort of tactic can go awry. Well, it can go awry for Max as well. If she lays into a guy so hard he tries taking a swing at her, and he busts his hand on her face, a butt hurt loser like that might try to sue her for whatever he can come up with. Hurt feelings, lost wages, assault via tricking him into assaulting her. There’s probably a legal term for that, like “too much testosterone.”
Without meaning to, I put all the recruits in field dress and everyone else is basically ready for a picnic. Really, doing PR work like this on team time, they should all be in field dress, but 1) Arianna wants them to quickly establish their casual style and public personas, not that Max is heavily swayed by such arguments, but also 2) Max is obviously not a huge stickler for that stuff either. Yes, when enforcing those laws, she requires everyone to be in uniform, but the instructions for today were “stuff you’d paint your house in.” Also 3) I like numbered lists.
Edit: Well, I managed to misspell Ottawa, canoeing, and flotation. I don’t think that’s a record for me, but it’s close.
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“Obviously there’s no way I could have a team of super ladies at a construction site without a bunch of construction workers doing what they do best.”
Being convenient straw-misogynists?
Ya construction workers can be real jerks when it comes to women. I should know. My uncle is one. But I always liked the video of the construction workers seeing a woman walking by and the workers started complimenting her and stuff. I think it was a Australian snickers commercial.I found it kind of funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqgjTZQiySw
If what I’m seeing is the result of them being hungry, the very last thing I want to do is buy them a Snickers.
Yeah, they’re generating enough snickers amongst themselves as it is already…Until Sydney stepped in.
Yeah, they messed up by not having the men eat a snickers at the start of the advert.
That was hilarious!
my question is, how does making jokes imply hatred?
It’s not ‘straw’ if the things being said are sufficiently similar to what can be encountered in the real world. If anything, the trio of workers is better than most–they at least include a modicum of banter between themselves on top of the very typical catcalling remarks.
One could accuse them of being ‘stereotypical’, since all three seem to basically have the same personality in this regard, and none of them either objects to the comments or even declines to participate. (Of course, it’s likely that there’s more than three crewmen on a site that large, so it’s very possible that some of the other men just decided that sitting on the trailer and ogling the women doing their job better than they ever could hope to was not the best use of their time.) But they ain’t straw.
Besides. Is it really catcalling if the people in question don’t hear what you’re saying?
Yeah, for all that they’re being objectifying dicks, they’re being fairly respectful really – not letting them go about their work unogled, but at least unharassed, which is, you know, a step up at least. If not for the grabby hands motion, they probably would’ve gotten away with it. He made a right boob of it with that. I bet he feels a proper tit right now.
I’m not sure if it was being respectful or just not openly suicidal.
IMO, it’s not “catcalling” if the cat doesn’t hear you calling…
Cats come when you call? I have had cats for years and that’s news for me. :P
Cats respond when called, sometimes by coming, sometimes by looking at you like ‘you must be kidding’.
My ex-roommate’s cat was taught to respond to whistles. If you stood by an open door, he’d ignore you. If you then whistled he’d run out (if he felt like it). He never went through the door without the whistle.
Miner/construction worker here. This was 100% accurate, just at daytime TV levels. The crap my coworkers dribble is astounding if not repetitive and unimaginative.
Get them sounding off about the dirt boss or the camp food on the other hand and shit gets creative real quick
It’s a basic requirement to get the job..
Thank you for that wonderful morning laugh. (exit grinning)
Maxima has looked amazing in these last few pages, both the shading and the vantage point have really shown how much this comic has grown. Amazing work.
Although in this particular shot of Maxima, I had to look at it again – the “sparklies” in her skin and the thin wispy clouds behind her combined to make it seem like it was raining.
Not that I’m complaining as such – it’s just that I’ve spent A LOT of time recently playing with ENBs and various weather mods comparing and contrasting lighting effects and all of that nonsense for my particular machine and monitor setup. After a while, almost anything other than standard 4-color comic coloring starts to look a bit like rain.
Stray pencil mark – rain
Random attempts at shading – rain
A good artist’s use of shading, lighting effects, and perspective – rain
Begalund’s complete and total lack of artistic ability – we’ll just call that “rain” too, why don’t we ….
1) maxima’s boobs are in arms down position while her arms are up.
2) it’s totally not threatening a baby with a tank, considering that street harassment is a way that men exert their atharity and privilege over women’s bodies. Women can’t tell which men are rapists, so street harassment feels like rape threats, on a sliding scale of “ew leave me alone” to “call 911 now”.
It’s more like threatening an army on foot with tank.
3) I now want to see Maxima just silently turn around and stare down the cat callers like the bad ass she is. She doesn’t have to say or do anything, really. Just be big and gold and muscley and have that. Contemptuous look on her face.
An Army on foot can take out a tank. Even in WW II there were man-portable tank killers. Tanks have weaknesses and a smart and/or competent commander will exploit those.
But Max is more like a modern aircraft carrier and these guys are canoes. Literally her “wake” could destroy them.
She CAN’T legally destroy them and everyone knows that, so this is not the right comparison. True, the catcalling no longer holds any overtones of physical danger for her, but the rest of the unpleasantness is still there. All she can do about it is respond in kind, i.e. inflict social consequences (glower, insult, shame them on live TV, whatever).
I believe that Gamesman had it right with the aircraft carrier & canoe. After all, aircraft carriers can’t legally go that close to a canoe that they’re endangering them.
If you’re talking about international waters or a country that doesn’t have such (honestly, basic) safety laws (regardless of whether they’re policed)… then I see the same validity there.
You needed specialized equipment to take out a tank, and it was a team effort. One soldier vs. a tank is going to end up squished in one way or another. I stand by my description, though I might allow that the soldier is armed with an empty rifle and their bayonet.
These guys aren’t innocent by any stretch of the imagination but she can still crush them. Now, what sort of special equipment needed to take on Max is an interesting thought, but the tiny head brigade up there isn’t likely to be the ones who get their hands on it.
1 grenade to each track, followed by 1 or 2 more on/near the cannon barrel.
Tank not going to be doing much.
An old WWII movie had 1 man take out a tank with a tree, a helmet full of mud, and 1 grenade. I don’t remember if the pin was even pulled.
1) climb tree in tanks path.
2) quietly jump on tank as it passes.
3) cover all viewports with mud.
4) when they open the hatch to see what’s happening/ where they’re going yell GRENADE and drop it in the tank with pin.
5) when everyone abandons the tank without grabbing their weapons first, capture them, and the intact tank
And the Russians had a tank that could be defeated by men with crowbars. The KV-2
I’ve always felt that the best way for a woman to handle that is to respond in kind, or to confront the guy, personally, but I can sort of understand why a lot of women would be reluctant. That said, I can’t really say that I’ve encountered any kind of harassment, sexual or otherwise, that registered enough to draw my attention for a long, long time.
Realistically, though, street harassment may be degrading and demeaning, but calling it rape threats is probably going a fair bit overboard, especially if the woman can just walk away from it. And I say this despite having some pretty damn broad views of what constitutes rape. I don’t believe that men have authority or privileges over a woman’s body unless she gives them to a man–taking that body by force, be it implied or actual, is pretty much the definition of rape, after all.
I will also point out that most construction sites are, by definition, fairly dangerous places, especially for those who don’t know how to be safe, and there are few things as eye-catching as major construction projects. If making sexist or otherwise jerkass comments can get people moving and keep them from wandering someplace that is likely to cause an instant lawsuit, than those comments may actually be warranted, and even useful. Even if the viewer is one of those people who likes to get up in a person’s face and confront them over such comments, it is unlikely that they will wander anyplace dangerous to do so.
Ha ha wow sexist construction workers sure are altruistic. And systemic sexism sure doesn’t exist.
“–taking that body by force, be it implied or actual, is pretty much the definition of rape, after all”
drugs=/=violence. does that mean drugs are not rape? i mean, its not if both are fully aware and agreeing on the said drug, but otherwise?
Violence can be looked at as any action taken against another without their consent- so tranqing someone is still violence. And Force is the same- it can be looked at as doing something to another person without their being able to prevent it- gently tying someone up while they’re sleeping isn’t really active or agressive, but it is forceful and violent (or can be, depending on their intentions).
On the other hand, if both parties are equally drugged (i.e. smashfaced drunk), and got there via their own decisions and funds and actions, and after-the-fact find that neither of them wanted what happened- is that rape?
either way, its not a “rape” without a “followup”.
if you don’t follow up the violence with “the act”, then its just assault at most.
as for what constitutes “violence”, i think it was solved when discussing Kevin’s power, and “intent” has nothing to do with it. if you are doing it gently, and the other person don’t resist, ITS NOT VIOLENCE!
Violence is something that causes harm, regardless of intent. You can have a violent or non-violent traffic accident, there is no such thing as a non-violent rape.
Whether you’re a Bill Cosby Rapist or a Bill Clinton rapist you are still a violent offender.
Clinton may or may not have had ‘sexual relations with that woman’, but it wasn’t rape
Same goes with Cosby: they have to prove that it was non-consensual, which they so far have failed to do so
Determining consent being the issue, especially in the case of people with fame or money, or power, for one simple reason: only an idiot is unaware that upsetting someone who can make your life miserable is a Bad Plan(tm). It’s much easier to nod your head, suffer what you have to, and then try to get on with your life as best you can. Which, unless I’m mistaken, counts as consent given under duress, and basically means that it wasn’t really consent at all.
Oh, wait does that mean I my preschool bullies, the government(For placing poles where I could walked up against), my non-existing exes and school(for forcing us to sit chairs that are bad for our bag) are all violent offenders, because if that is the case a lot more people than just construction workers can be charged.
Both violence and rape require physical contact and with a reason. The reason is that otherwise someone with enough fantasy or just a very offendable psyche can always result in 10 years of jail.
At least juricidal in the US It’s not rape, since that requires an actual sexual act or contact, which are both defined by a physical interaction of body parts.
For sexual assault there could be argued there is a threath here, but since they only say they would like to not to act on I think that’s hard to defend.
If neither party is legally qualified to give consent (both are drunk), generally it is not rape/sexual assault, unless it can be shown one exploited/over-powered the other. It would not be a violent act, just a very sloppy one. In the morning, when you wake up in the morning with roaring headaches, you look at each other, and say “Did we…” quick glance under the covers “Yeah, I think we did.” “I think I remember some of last night.” “I should clean up.” “Um, what’s your name again?” If there is no violent action after the fact, I would expect both people to mark it up to bad decisions.
Unfortunately, under the strict FBI definition of rape, if a man and a woman BOTH get shitfaced drunk and sleep together consensually, the man is guilty of rape. The woman is not.
“Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
Literally doesn’t say anything about the state of mind of the penetrator, or any mention of his consent being necessary. The act of rape simply requires penetration to have occurred, and the person on the receiving end to have not given lucid consent. In the scenario above, she was penetrated, she was too drunk to consent. The state of the male is considered completely irrelevant.He is literally guilty because he’s the one with the pokey-out bit.
Is the FBI definition the actual legal standard in any jurisdiction?
Or just for statistical purposes?
That were my first results too until I found the other parts of this definition like: (B) contact between the mouth and the penis, vulva, scrotum, or anus, (C) the penetration, however slight, of the vulva or penis or anus of another by any part of the body or any object, with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, or degrade any person or to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person. I have to admit that I suspect that penetrating penises won’t happen often though
“does that mean drugs are not rape?”
Drugs aren’t rape. Administering drugs against one’s will or without one’s knowledge (especially if the person giving the drugs in NOT a professional, licensed medical practitioner & the drugs are NOT for any legitimate medical purpose) is “Medical Assault.”
Depending on jurisdiction, being dosed this way legally removes the victim’s ability to give consent, thus any sexual activity afterwards would automatically be rape/sexual assault.
It’s not rape until the specific action is performed…Drugging may lead to an action of rape, but the drugging itself is not rape. As I said, drugs are not rape.
In any case, being denied any opportunity to grant or deny consent is the real benchmark between “consensual” or not. What determines the specific charge of rape hinges on consent.
If being denied an opportunity to consent or not, then it was “coerced.” If the coercion involves drugs or brute physical force, it’s still coercion. It’s the use of coercion that makes it illegal.
Correct. I have a presentation I made regarding sexual assault in a Canadian context. The big section was on consent: Explicit Consent, Implicit Consent, Denial of Consent and Legally Unrecognized Consent. This last part listed situations where consent would not be legally recognized even if given, in order words, any form of sexual activity would be sexual assault or a related offence.
1) A person who is impaired due to mental defect, disease, developmental deficiency or injury, to a level that the person can not understand the consequences of the actions that are being consented to, can not legally give consent. This counts for sexual activities and other activities too, like signing a contract.
2) A person who is impaired by the use of alcohol or other drugs, to a point where the person can not make rational decisions, can not legally consent. This holds whether the person is legally allowed to use those drugs or not, whether the drug in question is administered by the person under the influence or by someone else, including a medical doctor, and whether the drug is administered by choice or not of the person impaired. This holds for all sorts of things, not just sexual activity.
3) A person who has not yet reached the age of sexual consent can not legally give consent. The current age of sexual consent in Canada is 16 years of age. This age is determined according to the birthday, not just the birth year. If all parties of the sexual activity are close in age (less than 5 years for 14-15 year old, less than 2 year for 12-13 year old) and none of the other legal restrictions on consent hold, then there is no legal offence; mind you their parents may still have something to say about it.
4) Consent obtained under duress, as defined in the Criminal Code of Canada, which includes obtaining consent by the use of a criminal act, will not be legally recognized. The method of duress may also be liable for prosecution under the Criminal Code of Canada, depending on its specific nature.
5) If a person is under the authority or under the care of another person then the person under authority or care can not legally consent to sexual activity with the person of authority or the caregiver, unless the sexual relationship existed prior to the relationship of authority. For example, if a husband and wife in an established relationship are both hired by the same company and the wife is promoted to a position where she has authority over her husband within the company; it is not an offence for them to continue to have a sexual relationship, even after her promotion.
Other jurisdictions include other concerns and acts under the criminal code in regards to rape.
Wait, so in at least Canada if you’re considered of limited mental faculties (i.e. retarded for those sufficiently old enough to remember when it was just a clinical term before being overused as an insult for those who weren’t) then even if you’re an adult and feeling those urges and want to have sex you can’t, or at least not unless it’s with someone similarly impaired, because otherwise your partner is automatically guilty of rape because they aren’t considered capable of being willing partners in sex?
To your “She can just walk away from it” bit, I reply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1XGPvbWn0A It only took the woman in this video ten minutes to actually get her stalker-y dude to finally break off following her–and for the rest of the time, as soon as she walked away from one guy, she got catcalled by the next..
The guy walking L.A. had a similar ‘experience’, although he was just wearing a cowboy hat and a leopard-skin speedo
Rape – perfoming sexual act on a person against their will.
How it is performed, by force or by disabling a person with drugs beforehand doesn’t matter.
However if sex is consensual it also does not matter how this consent was aquired. If you got smashed what follows is your own damn fault. Learn some self control.
Also, calling anything related to sex or sexuality being discussed within your earshot harassment is rather stupid. Just flip a bird if it’s bothering you.
Hmmmnnn… I don’t think you get it.
It’s not directly a rape threat, the guy might not mean it that way. However, the recipient of the unwanted attention can’t tell if the man has any intention to follow through with the stated interest in her body. Women are not psychic, we can’t tell the intent behind the words being said. And statistics say that we can’t take for granted that the jackass saying them is merely being rude. On some level, we have to take the threat presented seriously.
Women are treated as objects and decorations for men on a regular basis. If a women dresses nicely, it is assumed that she wants male attention. If she doesn’t care about her looks or is messy, she is considered a failure because she fIls to Be attractive to men. Men are given an authority over the value of the woman based on her body. Men presume the right and punish those who assert authority over their own bodies through slut shaming, fat shaming, thin shaming, general body shaming. This authority is so deeply entrenched in our culture that women will enforce it without thinking if they don’t take time to examine it themselves.
You’ve sure got a dim view of men and society.
“Not all men.” Just some.
But really, when you grow up having your ability to travel even short distances, your dress, your body and even your damn smile being regulated because rape is practically a force of nature that you have to avoid, one is only allowed a dim view of men. Just remember that 1 out of 3 women are survivors of sexual assault, and the idea that teaching me to not rape instead of trying to get girls to not make men horny ( as if we have control over that!) is really really new.
but really, this is far more complex than just having a dim view. I have a nuanced and detailed view of men that attempts to accept both the good and the bad while shying away from neither.
If you believe that every comment about your smile or clothes carry the threat of rape, simply because they are made by men, I think you actually do have a dim view of men.
Also, I have never heard it be 1 in 3 and quite frankly, if the number was that high I think society would be falling apart. As far as I know there is no type of crime that effects more than 10% of the population.
Unless you mean sexual assault to be including groping asses and making inappropiate comments. In which case the people who did that study would be devaluating the impact of the more serious sex crimes to artificially inflate their numbers. Which is disrespecful to the actual men and women who have suffered serious assaults.
Blaming women for “asking for it” is just as flawed a way of thinking as saying “well, maybe men simply don’t know rape is bad because no one ever told them”.
Also, since men and women are equal, it stands to reason that they are both equally capable of being awful human beings. It seems like a double standard to single men out in claiming that they are the only ones commiting rape and sexual assault when women are just as capable of doing so.
The restrictions on women’s actions and movements are real. No, not every compliment a woman receives is a rape threat, but street harassment makes women feel unsafe because we can’t tell just how far the man is going to take it. And yes, the numbers are high because sexual assault isn’t just rape at gun point.
Think about it this way: assault can be someone stabbing you, or shooting you with a gun, right? But so is landing a single punch, or grabbing/shoving someone. It’s a large category, as is sexual assault.
And men aren’t taught not to assault women. Case in point, one of the definitions or rape given above Excluded people who didn’t say “no.” But not saying no is not giving consent. And it doesn’t include non-violent situations where you can’t say no. Like if you desperately need a paycheck and your boss propositions you.
As for a society falling apart if the numbers of any crime were that high, well… You do remember that marital rape wasn’t even considered a possibility and only became a crime in all 50 states since 1993. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marital_rape_(United_States_law) Violence (in its many and varied forms)against women is in the foundation of society. Heck, I don’t even have to talk about women, what about Jim Crowe? Violence against queer men and women, the extremely high assault and murder rate on trans people? Wall Street making millions off of breaking the law?
You’re right that men and women have the chance to be equally as evil, but that doesn’t really effect anything that I’ve already said. I’ll even do you one further and point out that it’s slowly coming out that men experience rape at a far higher rate than previously thought, largely because of the the idea than “you can’t rape a guy, he always wants sex.” Which is really not true. If this is true about rape, and just rape, how can it not also be true of sexual assault?
But that doesn’t negate women’s experiences. It happens along side them.
In response some of your points.
Men actually are much more likely to be the victim of most kinds of violence than women. That doesn’t mean that men are right in fearing going out on the streets. Feeling unsafe does not grant you the right to make presumptions about people. If you treat innocent people differently because of your own fears, the fault lies with you.
Also, assualt is the threat and apparent means to apply of physical damage to somebody. Grabbing someone’s ass is battery. Catcalling is harassement. So, I’m asking you to proof with statistics that 1 in 3 women actually have suffered from sexual violence AND that this is a higher number than men have.
Saying that it isn’t in the law that you aren’t allowed to coerce a person to sex is factually wrong. If someone is mentally or physically incapable of saying “no” it is still considered rape https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/sexual-assault-overview.html. The paycheck one is also dubious, a boss is not allowed to legally withold pay from an employee without reason. So it would be illegal to do this in the first place. If a boss asks for sex in exchange for extra pay that the employee would not normally get as compensation for their work this would be prostitution and both parties would be at fault. It wouldn’t actually be rape though.
You seem to make the assumption that just because martial rape was legal, a large part of men took part in it. This paints men as rapists that are only held back by the law. Which I think is a rather dim look at men. Most men are actually decent people who love their wives and would rather not harm them. Television has popularised the image of all men from ancient history to about 60 years ago as women beaters. But the matter of fact is that the men from then and now are by and large the same. There are bad ones, but most of them are okay.
So, once again. How is all of this men’s fault? Why are men to blame? Why should they be taught not to rape? Why should women be justified in being afraid and not men?
would you kindly take that bigoted social marxist, professional-victimhood, back to tumblr. or whatever other insular, passive aggressive hugbox you are preaching this patriluminati conspiracy fiction from.
“It’s more like threatening an army on foot with tank.”
Or maybe even “threatening foot-soldiers with a jet-fighter’s strafing run.” Max CAN shoot beams out of her hands, ya’ know…
;)
” Women can’t tell which men are rapists, so street harassment feels like rape threats, on a sliding scale of “ew leave me alone” to “call 911 now”.”
Only for those who don’t do as some of the women in the Portland Mensa chapter do, …they regularly use their concealed carry permits. The difference in their behavior is interesting. Others cringe, while they walk by with their heads up and their eyes open, and no one messes with them!
More women should be armed. They need it more than men and are statisticaly less likely to misuse guns. Also I got to admit that I find girls with guns kinda hot.
Second to last panel the “How sure are we that…” is contextually incorrect unless you put the “WE” in quotes , capitalize it etc. This indicates the “we” is sarcastic-inclusive. (Wow who knew English Grammar allowed for such? :D)
Otherwise it should be just “You” instead of the “We” – even then the you should be inclusive-sarcastic. Maybe Y’all. or You all.
Grammar by Dwarf
Yeah she is being sarcastic, but I think putting quotes around it would make it sound like she’s really leaning into the word, which isn’t how I hear it in my head.
I always loved the phrase, “I think yours are bigger” as far as responding to cat-calling goes, especially since it’s ambiguous enough that the insecure can be told to “take it the other way numb-nuts”… Accurate considering who their cat-calling.
I am going to remember that line of yours and use it first chance I get. >.> It’s bloody EPIC.
It’s not actually a matter of grammar, as opposed to a pattern of social interaction. Sydney is establishing herself as “one of the boys,” and at the same time shutting down the sexist remarks, without provoking a confrontation. Had she been overtly sarcastic, it would have come across as confrontational, and would have required her to be a lot more intimidating.
Whether she’s being sarcastic or not, putting the “we” in quotes would make it a confrontational remark, and not a deflective remark. In which case, the workers would likely have a very different response–probably not a fight, but certainly a more defensive response. Since Sydney is approaching it as somebody who finds it funny, but would like to make sure the guys are aware that some of those girls can probably hear those comments, and might not appreciate them before they get pounded into paste, electrocuted, and then fried sunny side up, she gives the workers a way to shut up without losing face, as well as securing a place among them for future use.
“and would have required her to be a lot more intimidating.”
there is something i call “borrowed power”
when you lack your own…
well, maxima is right there, and it is a fair quesiton.
That is correct, and the borrowing of power actually has a number of various subtle permutations that most people never get to see. One example of these permutations lies with the court jesters of Medieval Europe–the jester had no actual power of his own, being little more than a clown, but the fact that he was hired and supported directly by the king (or lord) meant that he could be relied upon to be trustworthy in a way that other ministers could not. This meant that the court Jester typically had a fair amount of influence over royal policy–perhaps not quite as much as the royal ministers, but often fairly close the same level of influence. The jester’s power was entirely borrowed from the king, but it could be used to influence that same king’s actions.
This is actually part of a subject that has fascinated me for years–the expression of personal power in life and/or the workplace. It lies at the heart of literally every aspect of workplace politics and the majority of personal interactions we have with other people.
There are five (at least) formally recognized types of personal power, and, I am convinced, at least two other types that aren’t formally recognized, but that an observant person can see in action. Most people only run into two or three on a regular basis, and never really consciously think about even that much, but each type of power has a different kind of impact upon us, and gives its wielder a different type of power base. Since that power base is how most of us survive, it’s something we’re automatically programmed to try to expand, or at least to defend, at every opportunity–which explains why some people are such jerks to their friends, and others are jerks to everybody but their friends.
Three of these types of power derive from formal authority–the person in question has the ability to punish you (fire you, demote you, cancel your project, give you the absolute worst scut work imaginable, etc), the person in question has the ability to reward you (by giving you a raise, backing your plan, or some other means of reward), or they are just the person who you’re expected to answer to and obey (which basically translates to your boss, project leader, etc). Maxima, as the formal leader of ARCHON, has all three of these sorts of power, whereas Peggy, as the range instructor, has only the power of position to fall back upon in terms of formal power…and even that only applies on the firing range. The formal terms for these three power types are punishment, reward, and positional (or legitimate) power, by the way.
Aside from the three formal types, there are also two informal, personal types of power that are recognized: expertise, and respect. Expertise is the primary type of power Peggy exerts–everybody knows that she’s the group’s marksman, everybody knows that she knows how to shoot better than any of the other ARCHON members, and everybody knows that if they want to be able to hit their target, they really ought to listen to her. This is also why Peggy would generally be in on the planning sessions for ARC-SWAT teams–she’s the best expert in terms of long-range combat, camouflage, and general sneakiness that the group has, so she has a considerable knowledge base that the group can act upon. Perhaps more importantly, this is also Sydney’s primary (eventual) source of power, and explains why she got bumped up to corporal within a few months, despite her noted problems–she has the knowledge base–in the form of the comic books she sells, among other things–of super-hero combat that most of the rest of the team has simply never bothered to acquire. Maxima probably has more practical knowledge than Sydney, but because superpowered combat is so rare, Sydney’s theoretical knowledge is probably going to be much more extensive than Maxima’s…which is why Sydney would likely be not only included in planning, but probably fast-tracked to positions of greater responsibility within the team.
By contrast, the power of respect is simply the sort of power one gets by being honest, reliable, and trustworthy. This, if I understand things correctly, is Anvil’s source of power. Everybody knows she can be trusted, everybody knows they can rely on her, and everybody knows that she’s not going to abuse that trust. In other words, if she speaks, others will listen, if only because her opinion is expected to be honest, well thought out, and to examine the problem as fairly and objectively as she can. Supposedly this is the sort of power the mainstream media is supposed to exercise over the American public–they are supposed to be honest, factual, and objective, simply reporting news as it happens–but as the opinions of both liberals and conservatives attest, this is a very difficult sort of power to maintain, especially when it exists in conjunction with some of the other power types. A better example, perhaps, would be the pastor/reverend/priest of your church–this is somebody you most likely trust implicitly, and expect to be reliable, fair, and objective. Since he (or she) makes his (or her) living by being trustworthy, honest, etc, that’s probably a pretty fair expectation.
In addition to the five types of power mentioned above, there are a few types that I have observed that are not officially recognized. One of these types is friendliness–if somebody who is generally pretty nice, and whom you really rather like, asks something of you, you are generally inclined to do what they ask, if only because you expect that they would not ask if it weren’t really important. Bosses can rarely use this type of power, especially not if that’s all they try to use, but their subordinates often can, which is why so many offices and businesses have a boss, and then have another person who actually runs the place. Sydney is using this type of power in the comic strip above–she is creating a common ground, identifying herself as one of the workers, and then pointing out that while she doesn’t mind what they’re saying, some of the others might, and they might want to knock off the comments, lest the others hear them, and take offense. It’s not a threat, or any type of command–just a friendly warning, so they don’t get hurt later on. It will probably be significantly more effective because of that, since she has effectively broken past most of their defenses before delivering the warning, which allows them to listen to her without feeling like their own personal power is being reduced in the process.
Another unrecognized type of power is the power of connections–not what you know, or even what you can do, but who you know, and how much influence you can wield over them. This type generally comes from trading favors (or threats), and is often part of a complex web of favors and obligations that can be used surprisingly effectively, if not always quickly. In many ways, this is the type of power that most people think of when the word “politics” is used, but that is not the only place it shows up–we’ve likely all used it from time to time.
Finally, there is the power of sheer intimidation, which every member of ARCHON has in spades. Simply put, this is the very informal power to frighten somebody into doing what you want. You don’t actually have to have the power to back your threats up, so long as the person you are intimidating believes that you can back your threats up, which is what makes this distinct from the power to punish. There is generally a strong element of deception in intimidation, and an equally strong element of information warfare, which prevents the target(s) from knowing your weakness, and that you can be beaten–instead, you are presenting a front that states that your desires are inevitable, so they should stop fighting, and just do what they’re told, because nobody can stop you anyway. This is a large part of the basis of any government’s power (with expertise and legitimacy both running a close second), and is part of the reason why ARCHON exists. ARCHON is a statement to supervillains that the laws of the United States do apply to them, that they cannot get away with it, and that they will not be able to pull the kind of crap Magneto and others were always pulling in the comics (head of his own country or not, Magneto would probably have been up for the death penalty by now in the real world), and that the United States, and other countries, can and will impose the appropriate penalties upon the offenders. As long as this is coupled with legitimacy, respect, and expertise, ARCHON will be successful in its quest, although the natural tendency of people to push the envelope will mean that there will be plenty of battles. If ARCHON loses any one of the four pillars of its power, things are going to get much worse very quickly.
I wish we could Like comments like these.
Bravo Draconis, bravo.
“everybody knows they can rely on her, and everybody knows that she’s not going to abuse that trust”
sooooo, weakness or inability is also power.
Very nicely put. And once again, Sydney’s genre-savvy power saves the day.
Sydney probably thinks of herself as “one the guys” at some idiosynchratic level while simultaneously being very female in her own self image. This one panel does a wonderful job of displaying that concept.
It is not a case of “Sydney establishing herself as one of the boys”, she is not joining in, she is simply giving them a friendly warning
She’s joining in by laughing. Self inclusion can soften the blow of a rebuke and make people less defensive about it. Probably what Dave was doing.
Yup, but not establishing herself as one of the boys, even if she tends to look ‘boyish’ at times :p
I think she was using the “we” as just a slipping in there sort of thing. If she had said “you” then it would have made them aware they were being “spied on” by an outsider, but by saying “we”, it hits them as in someone is here with us and made the remark, not someone spying on them made the remark.
Yes, this
It shouldn’t be a problem for Maxima if a butt hurt loser took a swing at her as she could just step aside with her superspeed. The lady can catch a bullet you know. That would be sweet thing to see by the way, rhe loser stumbling around confused and realising that he has made a even bigger fool of himself. In fact it would hurt him more than if he crushed his hand against Maxima. Yeah, I’m a bit of a shameless sadist sometimes.
or to hurt his pride, take the hits and be completely still with a disinterested look on her face. He’ll hurt himself, its like punching a steel wall.
Or gently nudge him into a freshly painted wall.
Somehow, I doubt she’d even notice she was getting punched, unless she actually sees it happening…
“Son of an eel waxer.”
So long as there was reasonable evidence that the guy threw the punch (as opposed to Max literally head-butting his fist), a lawsuit would not only be futile, but also probably result in the guy getting counter-sued by Arianna for a frivolous suit. Cash-strapped government bodies might opt to settle out of court, but Arianna would likely view the entire thing as an opportunity for free publicity–humiliating the would-be litigant in court would be a great way to scare off other potential nuisance litigants.
Arianna would simply love that and laugh like a supervillain when she heard the news.
Well… She IS a Lawyer… What’s the difference, other than she’s on Archon’s payroll?? :D
She uses her powers for good?
A necesary evil.
That’s actually important. As soon you’re not part of an independent lawyers firm you’re officially a jurist and not a lawyer anymore.
Thinking of that little comment at the bottom of the comic, I have seen videos of tigers living as house pets; they act pretty much like a house cat, a 600 pound house cat, but still behaving like a house cat. I have even seen one (but can’t find it now) of a tiger hanging out in someone’s backyard with children running around her, but she only really reacts when one of the four-year-olds accidentally steps on her tail; even then she just back hands the child to get him off her tail then just tends to her bruised tail; the child gets ignored when he is not longer running on her tail.
Yes, but do those tigers have frigging laser beams attached to their heads…?
I don’t know if tigers have laser beams, but sharks do…
https://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_587_19-surreal-images-and-their-mind-blowing-explanations/
Ah! Get out of the water! Run for the hills!
https://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/shark-week/videos/air-jaws-sharks-of-south-africa/
Well, shit! Sharks can go airborne! We’re boned…
(Ooops! First link, go to entry #6 on page 2)
I guess someone would be happy then… :p
3rd panel: Yeah, Brook WOULD be the one dumb enough to cut twice then measure once.
She’s not really dumb. I do imagine, however, that her core body temperature is higher than the average person- and brain chemistry just doesn’t work as well at elevated temperatures- think about how straight you were thinking last time you had a fever, and then imagine if you had to think like that all the time for years.
I looked at that as a lack of experience, rather than actual stupidity. This whole experience may be a planned learning experience for the team by the brass – “Put the team in the field and have them figure out how to use their powers constructively.”
At a construction site is a bit literal, I grant you…
The cast bio for Heatwave has this to say: She comes across as a bit of a dimwit at times, but she simply processes information in a different order a lot of the time, making it seem like she’s missed something obvious.
At some point the photos of the work will go online and someone, somewhere will go ballistic bout having images of a black person doing work while apparently bound in chains.
No doubt. Of course you and I are smart enough to see she’s not “bound in chains.” She’s just spreading the load of the sled she’s pulling.
I’m Cybertronian, still learning about Earth, & even I know that won’t stop some people. Like those stupid parents who take their little kids to Deadpool because they wanted to see a Superhero movie, only to whinge, bitch & complain about how it’s not child safe…
I tried watching it, but froze up soon after he starts dating. I keep asking Daniel the Human why, but he just keeps chuckling…
“…only to whinge, bitch & complain about how it’s not child safe.”
Even though the movie was officially Rated as such & the parent ignored it. You’d think that parents should be a bit more…attentive…about the raising of their own children, wouldn’t you?
:-/
Very many are, however some others just like to not be responsible…
This is one of the problems with the recent trend of “shaming” a kid in public view…It’s the parent’s fault for not guiding their children any better, but shifting the blame to a kid who hasn’t yet fully grown & developed their own personalities…They learn through experience mostly, but proper guidance is also a key point.
Well, in some parts of the world, it is actually illegal for a parent to discipline their child, they literally can not touch the little brat when they start getting out of hand
This is true, I live in New Zealand and they’ve passed something popularized as “The Anti-Smacking Bill”. It’s designed to stop child abuse, but does provide an excuse if you do have to use physical pain to get your point across: the action you are/were trying to prevent was life-threatening. And, unfortunately, it hasn’t stopped child abuse. Because if you want to, they can’t stop you.
Kiwi here as well :D
Ever since that moronic Bill went through (she may have had the best intentions in making it, but it only made things worse) kids have grown up in a climate of “no one can touch me” both figuratively and literally, not even the police can do anything in most cases, which means you have at least one full generation of super-brats who believe they can do anything they want because no-one can discipline them, and kids that may have been steered into being a productive member of society have become self-entitled adult shits, and those who were being abused before are still being abused but now even the police can’t step in and stop the abusers
Meanwhile, racists will post the same image with captions along the lines of, “This is how they ALL should be.”
Perhaps someone should point out that it looks more like she turned the chain into a fashion accessory? It looks like a boa… made out of a 50 lb chain
If anyone could make it work it would be Anvil.
Steel cable and chain evening dress?
Oh yeah, I like the sound of that.
Ottawa sounds good place to be and work in. But what heroes live in Ottawa ?.
Most likely – a lot of the people who worked at CFB Uplands are still living there.
Ottawa has a Comicon event. Maybe Sydney can meet up with them there once they settle in.
https://www.ottawacomiccon.com/en/our-guests/
Spinnerette has met some Canadian Superheroes (and a Superdouche)
Answer: Alpha Flight
https://marvel.com/universe/Alpha_Flight
There are others, but this is just an example.
Except, they are from Ontario, not Ottawa
I believe Ottawa is the capitol city of Ontario. So unless they are out in the real boonies all the time they would have a city address in Ottawa. Jut checked the wiki, Ottawa isn’t the capitol, but is the second-largest city in Ontario.
Oh, okay, thank you
I came up with this before reading the commentary. But in my head if Max had heard them it would go something like this (to the tune of Three Blind Mice).
Three dead men, three dead men
See how they die, see how they die
They cat-called the super heroine
She took offense and did them in
A fitting end for such a sin
Three dead men
Such a lovely poetic little jingle… :P
and the part where a hero considers “death” a fair punishment for words, that aren’t even directly agressice… ure these words express how they mostly care for their looks (the part where they can laze around was skipped), but that doesn’t suddenly make them mass rapists…
although looking at it purely for poetic value… nah, still bad.
what’s even poetic about it, other that repetition?
I like this!
That was meant in humor, but the agency is trying to deal with a current public relations situation. They have already been in the news for the big restaurant fight that caused wanton destruction. (If it had been a Chinese restaurant, it would have been wonton destruction.) They are trying to restore their image as public servants and not a public threat or menace. Punching out a guy for a simple snide comment would push their already shaky image from police force to Storm Troopers.
“(If it had been a Chinese restaurant, it would have been wonton destruction.)”
If it had been a Bar & Grill, it would’ve been alcohol abuse.
I recon Sydney handled this in the best way possible, publicity wise. While it would be hilarious to see some of the ways Super Hero & Heroines could deal with such…commentators, sometimes it’s just more fun to let them know the potential consequences & let the yellow & brown body excretions flow…
To thise who liked it: thank you so much!
To those who didn’t or are over analyzing this: I’m sorry you feel the way you do about a little diddy I came up with about 5 seconds after reading the comic and was meant only as a joke. No I did not consider the socio-political aspects or implications of a parody nursery rhyme.
Nor should you.
Funny kicks pc’s @$$
I heard of one case where some construction workers made some non politically correct comments, only to find out that the woman was their new foreman.
Maxima is a military officer, and the military takes a dim view of officers doing things that would badly reflect on the service. Her best approach would be, after hearing an especially egregious remark, a contemptuous stare followed by the one-handed rock crush.
I think a one hand crush of two testicle sized rocks would be more effective.
In that case, Max could just use thumb-and-forefinger crush.
Forefinger? You mean pointer finger? Max could easily do that using her little/pinky finger, & considering that seems to be the weakest finger, that would be a it more scary I recon… }:D
Like, popping a grape?
Yes…Squish like grape…that’s it exactly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3lQSxNdr3c
:D
Now I’m stuck on the phrase “boob heft.”
Waiting for something like the issues Leela from Futurama has with anyone making any sort of nose jokes.
Nope. Her pet peeve is eye jokes.
An aside to what some people are saying, its not really cat-calling though is it?
With cat-calling guys are actually shouting out ‘compliments’/rude come-on’s, which thankfully now a days is unacceptable. With the comment about super hearing, I would guess these guys are just talking amoung themselves (while on break, or supervising for ‘reasons?’), admiring the super… view… If they are talking at a reasonable level and not making a scene, I would just file it under ‘crude, but nothing actually wrong with it’.
Just because the target doesn’t hear it doesn’t make it not a cat-call, they know it because of how all three reacted to Sydney’s comment
I disagree. As inappropriate as the comments were, the rest of their dialogue indicates it was simply banter between them. Their facial expressions show no sign of them trying to be loud enough to hear. One guy didn’t (at least on-panel) actively/directly participate (something several commenters overlooked). Adding to my ‘banter’ “argument”, they also appear to be having smoko, which is a social time (y’know, where you chat about stuff with your colleagues). Lastly (because I doubt I care enough about the discussion to look back here) their reaction, whilst (in my opinion) definitely one of sudden realisation/fear, could be completely understandable when they realise that a conversation intended to be private was not only overheard by an outsider, but may have also been overheard by someone who can physically mess them up and has presented themselves as a fairly brutal adversary (the news conference.
All that said… I don’t approve of what they said, but I also don’t believe that it was intended – by them – to be directly malicious let alone heard by anyone else.
It wasn’t ‘just friendly smoko banter’, as they were making derogatory comments about several female Supers
If they were just talking about some woman they saw at the local strip-joint, then that would be ‘harmless banter’, but they weren’t
This statement of course begs the question of why it’s harmless banter when it’s about a woman at at strip-joint, but bad derogatory comments when it’s about a female super.
Because in a strip-joint, that is her job and she is dressing and acting to get those comments, it is bad and derogatory towards someone simply walking down the road or doing their job (man or woman) other than as a stripper or ‘street walker’, it is about appropriate comments and behaviour in the appropriate location
What did they say that was derogatory? Hell nothing they have said or done is any worse than the things both the male and female supers we have seen do. Hell I would say that Math and Harem are worse about it then either of those guys were and we just treat it as fun banter/shenanigans. Can’t help but feel that there is a double standard here.
The question is: If you are having a private conversation, should you still have to police yourself?
Or, to phrase it differently:
https://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0229
Look at the last panel, they knew what they said was inappropriate
The reason it was okay for Math, Harem and Dabbles is because they included the ‘target’ in the banter, and the ‘target’ had the chance and opportunity to respond in a likewise manner
Hanging around with your mates making comments about each other like ‘shirt lifter’ or their penis is like a 2B pencil without the lead is fine, but directing those same comments towards someone else not in the group is not okay
So you’re saying that people do have to self-police themselves for inappropriate speech in a private conversation.
Yes, if, what they are saying, even amongst ‘mates’ in a ‘private conversation’, could be deemed offensive by the target of the conversation
Remember, they weren’t just talking about women in general, but specific women, women who were actually helping them with their jobs
Women who were not identified in the conversation itself nor in any gestures or actions we could see (the boob heft being the sole exception).
Of course, it seems to me that if I take your words just slightly out of the context I’m generously applying to them… you’re saying it’s fine to bully someone as long as they’re chatting with you.
What I’ve tried to do a number of times in this whole mess of comments is point out the factor of “context” both physical and otherwise.
I don’t really agree with Guesticus here (I’m not considering a simple yes and no question, honestly). But I want to point out that a conversation held in public and earshot of other people, unless you whisper, will never actually be private. Others will hear what you say whether they want to or not.
We’re talking about a world with supers. Even whispering should (according to this particular comment thread) be considered the same as talking loudly in public, even if it’s in the private of your own home when you’re the only one in the building and you’re simply muttering to yourself.
Hay Dave. I’m not sure, (it has been a while since my last phyisics class,) but I am fairly sure that steel is non-ferrous. Anybody out there know any better?
Depends on the steel. Certain stainless steels have enough chromium and other stuff in them that their crystalline structure becomes disordered- so much so that they no longer exhibit ferromagnetism, despite being mostly “ferro”- that is, iron.
However, rebar is more likely a mild steel, which is basically just elemental iron and elemental carbon alloyed together- with maybe a little bit of molybdenum in there for properties sake- and since it’s mostly iron, it’s well ferromagnetic, and can easily be affected by magnets.
My experience is rebar is magnetic, as the day laborers would often use magnets to clear floor slabs of scrap metal, including nubs of rebar and anchor bolts. Sometimes before sweeping, more often after.
Theoretically speaking, if you have a field that is strong enough, EVERYTHING is magnetic (since everything is made of electrically charged particles like atoms and their components, etc…) but i don’t know if things would survive/maintain structural integrity when exposed to such a strong magnetic field.
Not just theoretically speaking. “Diamagnetic levitation” as it is called has been physically performed at my alma mater.
The effect was first proved in 1939, but then forgotten about until 1993, again going mostly unnoticed.
It took my uni making a viral video of a levitating frog before it became something resembling “public knowledge”
In their own words:
The frog survived and suffered no ill effects. Because the frog is lifted by the diamagnetic moment of it’s internal water it is lifted homogeneously over it’s entire body, so no trouble to “maintain structural integrity” as you put it.
(Though an inhomogeneous field would subject you to destructive tidal forces ‘as normal’; If Jiggers can create a strong enough field distortion, there will be tearing!)
Steel is definitely ferrous, in fact it is pretty much the definition of a “ferrous metal”, being mostly iron (the element) with trace amounts of carbon (up to 3.5%, above that is “cast iron”) plus other allying elements.
A few grades of stainless steel are non-magnetic, and stainless is also described as “non ferrous” even though most grades are predominantly iron with nickel and chromium added to make it rust resistant.
Why is Dabbler missing a prime opportunity to mix it up with the construction fellows? Also, she’s missing some prime opportunities for Get Max to say… Bingo.
i don’t think Dabbler’s there…possibly for those exact reasons… :p
Dabbler is off camera with the rest of the crew. All 15 of them.
All Max has to do is ask to borrow a quarter, bend it in half in front of them and hand it back.
She could always flip it 30 feet in the air and shoot a hole through it…
That would be Vandalizing Government Property, ya’ know…
I like Sydney’s solution to the problem. No threats, no intimidation but still getting the “do you really want to say those things around super powered women” idea across. Almost socially graceful that
Zack Tilly
Beautifully executed indeed…
…And now those 3 are realizing they could be too… }:D
What Vera seems to be doing reminds me of the Quantum Locking form of magnetic levitation (ferris or not is irrelevant)
however using Quantum Locking magnetic fields as its disadvantages (can only go so far off a surface before losing stability and falling back to the stable height if not just falling completely). For a character, say…they can only get to about 20feet off a surface, this would also mean only getting 20feet off the ground they are using at best before skimming along the sides of buildings in a magnetic juggling act.
So.. was I the only one who saw the Captain Dan reference or did I just imagine it when he references “Enforcing those laws”?
OH, Way To Go, Sydney … I mean Halo!!! (She’s on duty.)
Halo should get a second (or third?) job as a Teacher … she’s making those guys THINK!
Sigh.
There needs to be a limit on emasculating guys.
Since when does a guy have to be “insecure” to ogle an attractive woman and make comments about it?
How is it a BAD thing, for a guy to be telling another guy, “wow that woman is HOT ! I’d sure like to jump her bones…”
Given that none of those guys were making rude noises or whatnot within the women’s hearing (so far as they knew), I personally dont think they were doing anything wrong.
if any reader DOES, then let me give you a reality check:
you are saying that it is wrong for a man to be attracted to a woman. it’s something shameful, and must be hidden away and kept secret.
To which I say, get your PeeCee crap the $#@! out of here.
As long as that same man would respond well to being asked to take his shirt off cause women want to see his “assets” then no harm. otherwise, he has no business saying those things.
None of the men in the comic went that far and I’m quite certain that they’d take that as an invitation to banter, joke and maybe even do just that.
As I pointed out up the comment stream a bit and as Phil said, that was a private conversation that was not intended to be heard or even live past its end, and their reaction when Sydney interrupts can certainly be interpreted as them realising that maybe they weren’t out of earshot.
I know for certain that plenty of women feel that the same type of conversation is fine to have about men (or other women, I’ve seen plenty).
There’s a lot of “this is wrong” comments here… but the majority of them take it entirely out of context and in doing so, even ignore that there’s more than just men doing this kind of thing in the (real) world.
Overall, I sort of wonder where the blinder (think equestrian) factory is that so many commenters are taking things out of context (whether by a little or by a lot) rather than looking at the evidence presented and calculating face-value from there…
Typical internet *grin*
Oh, I can assure most of the men who make this kind of comments would be flattered to conceive the information anybody makes this kind of comment about them.
I didn’t find this comic and the comments emasculating. More like a in my opinion rather mild joke about some stereotypes about male construction workers. Wich is fine by me as a male, I can take some jokes at my expense, especialy as I get the impression that Barrak only intended this as a friendly parody rather than a attack on my masculinity.
Frankly no one here has realy said anything of those things you talk about.
https://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/always-contextualize
Godsdammit, HMTL fail. The shame of it.
Well, mostly it’s just a joke anyway.
And then it’s not actually what they did, but where and with what language. The latter being at least somewhat demeaning after all and the former being, even if it was amongst themselves, out in public.
And mostly, as I said, they didn’t make themselves out to be bad people or someone to be chastised and punished. They just made themselves pretty much the butt of their own jokes.
You know… I think you missed a golden opportunity to have Sydney holding the telepresence orb.
That orb is the biggest secret of all her powers, so Maxima and the others have almost certainly drilled into her not to use it gratuitously.
Hmm.. I think just the Truesight portion of it. She used it in the Big Villian Battle, after all.
Telepresence isn’t classified. Only the Truesight portion is. There is no danger of the telepresence part being known since it is nothing more than a hologram with viewing capabilities.
Actually it is, I just this week did an archive binge and the press conference Sydney distinctly stated on camera that the abilities of the yellow, *reddish brown*, and green ones were classified. and the earlier meeting they told Sydney that it would be classified and only the obvious powers would be made public (light hook, levitation, PPO, and forcefield)
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
The comments section is a cesspool!
Nah! It’s more like a sewage processing plant! After all, how else do you account for all these commenters stirring … stuff?
You calling this a cesspool?
Boy, do you have a nice and naïve view on the internet!
+65536! Geek points for knowing what that represents.
That’s an interesting viewpoint. In contrast I seem to see things almost the opposite of how you do. I enjoy the comments section of Grrl Power for it’s general lack of flame wars and minimal trolling as compared to much of the rest of the internet. For the most part, folks here tend to have civil thoughtful discussions even about controversial subjects.
I do miss Yorp’s take on things though. Yorp usually manages to cut through the dross and shine a light on the heart of whatever matter is under discussion.
I’m getting really annoyed by some of the comments here. The construction workers in the comic are NOT catcalling – they’re gossiping, and what they’re saying is standard fare from either gender in that kind of situation, and comparatively tame to boot.
There is a big difference between saying “So-and-so has a nice rack” to a friend, and screaming “SHOW US YOUR TITS!” at a passerby.
I also intensely dislike how it’s implied to be a bad thing here when some guy does it, and yet when any of the girls do it it’s taken as par for the course or played for laughs. The double standard is pissing me off.
As far as ‘stereotypical construction worker comments’ go, what they’re chuckling about is INCREDIBLY tame. Are they objectifying the girls? Yeah, a bit. But they aren’t really being crass about it. Seems like pretty typical chum banter to me, especially “I would be surprised if she wasn’t repelled by you.” So yeah, I agree Splodge.
It is still considered bad form/rude to do so within ear shot/sight range of the person/people you are talking about.
Maybe I’m just weird(there is statistical evidence to back up these claims), but isn’t it like polite to only talk about people if they’re in ear shot.
It’s mostly from the self defense perspective, but still.
Attraction is what it is. When I was a young man and worked one summer as a landscaper, planting trees and such at various office complexes which were expanding or had just been built, we would go shirtless. One of the draws of the job was the opportunity to make money while working on the summer tan.
We noticed that one office in particular would always have a large number of women office workers gathered about as we were on that side of the building. Doing, I have no doubt at all, exactly what those construction workers were doing: Drooling over our hot, young, half naked bodies and chatting amongst themselves.
Unfortunately someone bitched about it and the owner laid down a new ‘must wear shirts’ rule. For that site only, since while he was a profane bastard of a Brit transplant he still wasn’t a complete asshole.
I agree, especially given this team’s penchant for ogling their OWN male heroes as a group. As far as we’ve seen, Math does like looking, and a bit more, but most-if-not-all of the female team indulges. To the point of mass-messaging their colleagues to warn of a shirtless event, and almost-accidentally groping Achilles on several occasions.
…Just wanna say that Sydney is my hero with that little moment. ♥♥♥
Mine too.
It was a (from my perspective) a well considered, fairly neutral, unagressive, politically (and socially) acceptable way of not only curbing the questionable (read my other comments on this page for context on that word) behaviour but also bringing about a change in the way they were thinking which could have a lasting positive impact that has the potential to impact other people the men come in contact with (including future generations).
(((Now how is THAT for a run-on sentence! Maybe I’ll check back in a year or two to see if someone suggested a better way of phrasing that… but no promises.)))
This may have been said earlier (Monday?), but I think there should be more hard hats on display. Sure, Achilles, Maxima and Hiro can pretty much shrug off any impacts. So can Stalwart, Halo and Anvil if they prepare properly, but everybody else can be awfully vulnerable to impacts, so Heatwave, Varia, Harem, etc. should be wearing proper protective gear (bullet-
proofresistant vests optional).Anvil does not need a hard hat.
If something falls and hits her, she just gets stronger.
After getting out of a hole, depending on what falls.
Heatwave probably burns things reflexively, and Harem likely just teleports out of the way. As for the rest, yeah, probably.
Thinking of Heatwave on set, she could make a welded rebar web instead of just tying the various parts together with wire to form the rebar net. Normally, the iron workers in this situation would lay a set of parallel reinforcing bars across the area to be filled with concrete, then lay another set running at right angles to the first. Once that is done, they go along, tying each connection where one rod lies on top of the rod below with a stiff wire. Instead of using wires, heatwave could just reach down wrap her hand around the point of contact and heat it up until to the two rods join together permanently.
True, but considering she’s not the sharpest blade in the drawer, who’s going to pay for the parts used in her training? Gotta make sure she doesn’t completely melt the metal, or even just enough to warp/bend/ruin the whole segment done so far…
Mind you, she does seem to have ruined a few lengths, maybe they could start her practicing on those…
While Heatwave may not seem smart, she picks up on things others miss like.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/413
In that example the “Seriously” wasn’t because they didn’t notice that. It’s because it took her that long to notice it.
…Or maybe even the fact she picked up on it AT ALL!!
Actually, no, that would be bad. Heating metal enough to weeld can weaken it if not done right. Unless she has a lot of welding experience (and a team of folks setting up the grid) she’s good just cutting it to size.
Absolutely right.
You also want a bit of give (just a teeny bit, mind you) in the rebar joining so the concrete fills more evenly and with fewer air gaps. A vibration rod is usually used with welded reinforcement, in my experience, so ties can also reduce the need for the rod onsite (unless, of course, the plans call for one – and there’s yet another set of stories).
In addition, ties are fast and good welding takes time. Time is money on a job site, so unless the specs or best practices call for something, less is more.
Once saw a group of steelworkers tie 150′ length of 18-bar foundation reinforcement, verticals and corner bars and elevating braces, in 30 minutes. Foundation was 28″ deep and 36″ wide, so pretty spatious, but still pretty amazing. I suppose a very competent group of welders could pull that off, but welders are pretty well paid compared to basic steelworkers.
I get the heavy beam lifting. They destroyed the bridge, the help rebuild the bridge, community outreach. But why is heatwave basically being a blowtorch while 3 guys sit around doing nothing? She can’t cut the metal any faster than a skilled construction worker with the right tool could, yea? Not to mention she’s ditzy enough to cut them the wrong lengths. Is it just a “this is the job you are qualified for” thing? Or just an excuse to draw heatwave thing?
They didn’t destroy the bridge, they slowed down its construction by destroying parts yet to be used when the fight entered the area, as well as using a pillar like a pepper grinder on a super powered villain charged up by violence…
As for Heatwave playing blowtorch, they probably THOUGHT she could do the job right, only to apparently be proven wrong…
With Max probably being able to fly and carry a girder, she could always drop one in line right in front of the men and then fly in and say “Excuse me!” and proceed to take to its proper location. Especially after Sydney just finished her little statement with the men.
Why not just fire off a loaded shotgun behind the men? Then, after they jump, chamber another round, say “excuse me” and walk off.
…..yeeeahhhh. I shouldn’t have started reading the comments. I knew from the start that it would be a shitstorm of bickering and arguing. -.- But, hey, now that I’m here, I’ll chip in my two cents. I’ve worked construction, and never did the catcalling, or sexual talking that seems to be thought prevalent. Helps being non-sexual. I just don’t notice people that way. (hate the phrase asexual. VERY wrong in the sense of what it is commonly meant these days.)
Bah! Hardly a shitstorm in here! This is a pillow fight at best.
You should have seen some discussions I ran into in both comment sections and forums. Not to mention usenet groups.
Or maybe you’re better off not having seen them. Some I’d rather not have myself as well.
I get the impression that people are rather calm and reasonable people with a sense of humor in these comments. Shitstorm is when lazy cowards throw insults at eachothers since they don’t know whar the term “discussion” means. This is clearly not the case here.
Seems to me, that most commentators have been courteous and respectful about their differing opinions on the matter, no ‘bickering’ or ‘arguing’
How dare you impune this fine forum. Here is your rail, sir, and good day to you!
No seriously, welcome and well met.
This group is actually fairly awesome. By far the best mannered of any forum I’ve been on and very well read and clever and able to disagree without being disagreeable. What I think you’re seeing is readers very involved and entertained by Dave’s World, to the point of that world provoking thought and commentary.
Put another way, how many comments does Garfield provoke each day? :)
Actually, that’s sort of an interesting question – how many comments *does* a nationally syndicated strip gather daily?
I’ll just leave this here since it seems apropos and amusing. https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AO50/selsun-blue-full-and-thick-construction
I’m gonna be shipping Varia and Jiggawatt now, I think.
I know the gestalt power only works when Xochitl touches someone and I would certainly be hanging on for dear life too if I were up in the air with someone like that, but Varia looks like she’s having far too much fun in that first panel. I contend that they did not actually need to be flying to do their work but that Varia used it as an excuse to get a little closer to the other woman.
Are Jiggs’ lips really that ‘plump’ that Var’s feather is actually partially obscured by the top lip? o_O
Is that third construction worker the guy from panels 2-5 of Comic #185 after a shave?
Good question, but doubt it: remember, he turned down being a job ripping off of safe doors because of the possibility of Maxi being on the other side of the door, ain’t no way he would have let the other two carry on like that
Door ripper was a “large” muscular individual, commenter is a tall skinny dude.
Perhaps Door Rippers source of power was in his beard? When he shaved it he lost his supermuscles.
Methinks that Heatwave would have been right at home on Tool Time with Tim Taylor. Al would probably want to call in the day she guest starred though. Tim had plenty of injury causing accidents as it but with a superpowered Brook there to help him, it’s possible the entire studio would have been destroyed.
It’s neat that you checked with all women before you spoke for them. Bravo for you! You earned your white armor.
Considering all the ogling and objectifying Sydney engages in towards her male teammates, it would be the height of hypocrisy for her to actually be offended here. That said, messing with gullible civilians is an ancient and honorable tradition amongst all branches of the military…
Misspellings. I just thought it was an attempt at giving them accents. I’m a terrible speller anyway.