Grrl Power #426 – It was inevitable that ship would sail
Another one of Sydney’s official unofficial powers. It’s a pretty useful ability, especially when combined with flying.
Sydney could fly around in a sandwich board saying that Max and Hiro are dating in front of News Street – a street I made up that’s like Wall Street but it’s a street with all the big newspapers and news stations – anyway, Sydney could do that and you still couldn’t blame her for for all the fictional pairings people would come up with. There’s people shipping Max and Anvil, Max and Dabbler, Dabbler and everyone else on the team (at the same time), Max and themselves, Sydney and themselves, Hiro and Stalwart, all 5 Harems with each other and then the cast of the Expendables, whatever. That’s why Arianna’s not really all that concerned about who done it – just the potential for an actual scandal.
This sort of thing will happen more and more now that they’re out. I haven’t really done much media stuff with them since the press conference. Just Max’s photo shoot and smattering in a few press types in the background when they go out and do stuff. I guess there were a few panels of people taking shots of them at the club too, but eventually there will be talk show and news interviews and the like.
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I notice that the dangling piece of hair in the middle of Arianna’s forehead changes direction from panel 1 to panel 5.
If you are going to flip the artwork to save time, you have to remember to change the asymmetrical parts afterwards. ;)
I noticed that too. But just put it down to being hair, and it moving around. Especially given that both Max and Arianna turned around. Then had the breeze of Halo’s dramatic exit, to swoosh it back into its former position.
I think you’re seeing a 3D effect in 2D. Look at the bottom comic, the hair was precisely vertical the whole time.
that and the curl magically went the other direction after the first panel. but still in the same place. look closely. the bottom point of the curl is facing her left the first time. Her right the rest.
Yup, it went from ‘Bizarro curl’ to ‘Superman curl’
She uses Liono’s hairstylist.
…Better than using Wolverine’s hairstylist…
Except Maxima’s hair doesn’t flip, so it’s not a panel flip here.
Not an entire panel flip, but Ari’s hair was flipped (that little bit of tucked hair also switched sides), but it’s not a big deal
…and if there’s any merchandising potential in endorsing or playing up certain pairings.
… then Arianna’s Scandal Playbook would include a guide for ship-teasing – how to balance innuendo with plausible deniability.
It likely does.
Oh no, oh no! I have just thought of a worst-case scenario, which might result from Halo’s actions.
Bother. I was intending to use spoiler to hide, rather than format it as quoted text.
*deep sigh*
It’s ok. Random speculation is not a spoiler, so you shouldn’t have thought to use a spoiler tag for them in any event.
I feel like Maxima would date a regular chubby guy. She probably only cares about the chemistry
I’d say that a truly worst case scenario would include Brad turning up after six months with a superpower. Meaning that they would either have to let him into the team or look forward to his rejection turning him into a villain.
And probably assuming that he was either Halos or Maximas archenemy. (he is, after all, versed in comiclore, just like Halo.)
The Anti-Halo? o_O
Frankly, I don’t believe Brad has the IQ, attention span, or dedication to stick at absolutely anything for six months – other than what he already does by default anyhow.
I’d give any get-fit program he tries about a week, maybe a fortnight tops. And then he’d be pounding on the door of whatever company he bought the program from, demanding a refund because it didn’t work. The guy is painfully self-delusional and needs a solid Gibbs-slap or three. .
I like Arianna’s dazzle print checked jacket. Hurts my eyes so good.
If you squint, you can see the optical illusion, and make out Albert Einstein’s face…
… honest.
Super sense of convenient timing…
Hey!
Did DaveB just reveal the function of one of those previously unknown orbs…Or what?
:P
Dun, dun, dun!
The Orb of Serendipity? That would explain how Sydney managed to stumble across the Orbs ‘by accident’. Then happen to get to the bank just before the publicity stunt kicks off. Plus we know that Sydney is lousy at lying, and tends to incautiously mention spoilers.
You might be on to something!
Stop that! Your random speculations are not spoilers!
I might be serendipitous. :-P
But not platypus.
And if you were from Tasmania, would you be a thylacine? -_^
Not on porpoise.
[spoiler]
Well that joke fizzled.
But, in doing so, was funny. Thanks.
So relevant to nothing except shipping Harem, a thought experiment that took a dark turn… If Harem got pregnant would it kill the baby when she teleported since she can’t bring anyone else with her?
It would ultimately solve the question about at which point a baby is separate from it’s mother.
I think that Harem can’t take anyone with her because she can’t teleport more than her own weight plus 25%. According to Dabbler’s Science Corner, she maxes out at about 50 lbs more than her own weight.
Just how big a baby were you envisaging, that 50lbs would not be sufficient? Are you shipping Harem with the Hulk?
Does raise the question: What if Harem were to be fat (I know she can’t because of super, but what if).
Could she carry more with her if she had more body weight, or less?
I think she has specifically been said to not be able to teleport living things. Which means no babies, even if under her weight limit. And no plants, either. So no using teleportation to get her groceries home if they include milk (maybe?), eggs, fruits, and vegetables.
The matter of her own internally hosted microorganisms immediately came up, or course. No Word of Author on that, for what I think are obvious reasons. She of course has to be able to teleport them with her, because she’d probably be sick for weeks every time she teleported otherwise. But they are living, and so we have a discrepancy.
The only mention of that was a comment by the author, rather than in-comic. And even then he was umming and arring about that.
Since then we have seen whatshername (the Bostonian gestalt-forming were-velociraptor) teleporting with Harem, Possibly it may just be her gestalt overcoming both the weight limitation and the no-living things one. But only overcoming one is a simpler explanation than it negating two, so is somewhat more likely.
Varia’s power in gestalt with Harem is the ability to teleport under the exact same limitations as Harem, except she can’t make duplicates of herself since her power isn’t actually teleportation. So in gestalt with Harem, she just happens to be able to teleport herself, possibly involuntarily, with whichever Harem she’s touching.
Since she also apparently loses the power as soon as she lets go the only advantage that particular gestalt gives her is the ability to get somewhere quickly… one way. She’ll have to pick up a new power once she gets there. In a lot of ways she’s not really much more super powered than Shawn or Peggy is.
Well put.
Whilst your last is true, it is only so under the limited circumstances of when she is alone or in the presence of people unable to interact with her (such as Maxima or, say, a permanently intangible hero) or unwilling to do so (such as enemies).
Under other circumstances she is actually the most powerful super known to exist on the planet, in my opinion. Or will be, in due course, anyhow. With seven billion potential gestalt combinations, Varia is bound to replicate ever super power possible. Ok she has various limitations.
1) Identifying gestalt combinations. Varia is presently checking everyone in Archon. And can seek volunteers from the wider community too. Much like finding volunteers for existing emergency services duties (such as those for the UK coast guards)
2) Getting to the person needed for the gestalt to resolve any given crisis. Harem can teleport Varia to them.
3) The paired gestalt may need to travel to the crisis point. Archon will have helicopters, on standby, for anyone near the Archon building. Super fliers, other armed forces or public transportation, or combinations thereof, can be employed for those further afield.
4) Varia can only form one gestalt at a time. But in a group of people (heroes or non-heroes alike) she has as many powers, to choose from, as there are people present!
5) She may (or may not) need to keep in contact with her partner.
A bunch of disadvantages, true. But the near-limitless variety of powers more than offsets those. Especially as many of the problems can be mitigated by various means.
You know, that got me thinking. I wonder what she requires to gestalt with? Does the person have to be alive? Could it be just a piece of skin? If she drank some of their blood would she hold the gestalt until it was digested? That could make for an interesting story line, where she becomes an evil vampire super.
Harem hates questions like that. No matter what theories we might propose, there is only one way she can find out for sure. With gruesome risks. If you wish to spare her feelings, I advise avoiding the subject, if you bump into her at a convention.
Well, if she’s thought aout it much, she’s probably had surgery to prevent it. She probably would have/has had the surgery anyway, just to not have any accidents. Anyone who has “experimented” like she has is much better off with that level of certainty.
There also could be mitigating factors, such as the weight being the major factor, along with the “object” being unbroken by the teleportation (she’s not apparently able to teleport only part of something/someone). If this is the case she should be able to teleport small kids around in general (much to their disappointment when they get bigger). The baby might also get a variant of Varia’s power before birth just to follow along. The baby might also be considered “part” of her while the placenta and umbillical are connected.
Thing is, WOD is the only way we’ll find out around the comic, I highly doubt Harem is the type to want kids any time soon, if ever.
There are MANY easy ways to prevent female pregnancy, and I highly doubt any woman her age would go for the permanent surgery.
Especially when the doctor can just implant a tiny device and have it block the preggers for 5 years
Okay, I haven’t kept up with everything women can do to prevent pregnancy (not having ever needed to worry aout it) so I hadn’t thought aout things like that. Technically that “implant” could be considered surgery (an etremely minor one), but you were definitely right aout my thoughts.
When looking at the options, getting the full surgery has basically no listed side effects once healed, and lasts for a set amount of time (forever unless something strange happens). She might choose the near certainty of that over the side effects and “about three years” that could be any time from one and a half to five (assuming it’s an average or might be accelerated due to superness).
Besides, any hormone or surgery-based birth control is likely to affect Supers differently than regular people, given their enhanced health and physicality. Plus there’s a super-healer that’s worked on her, causing who knows what sort of interactions with whatever sort of birth control she’s using. She could be using a couple of different implants (maybe a different one or two on each body) just to be more certain. She’s also got five bodies, so who says she hasn’t tied the tubes of a couple because she “has a spare.”
Super pregnancy prevention must be quite the lucrative venture.
One other, option, is simply to not teleport whilst she is pregnant. This would not be easy, given how habitually she uses it. However good mums will give up smoking and drinking, to avoid risking harming their babies, until they are born.
Mostly I am unimpressed with Harem’s moral character. But she has demonstrated one redeeming feature. When Shadow Boxer was attempting to murder Halo, Harem exhibited what looked like genuine concern at being unable to help (as the force field was blocking her teleportation ability).
This shows that, despite her other flaws, Daphne may well have the empathy necessary to make a good mum. Hopefully not until she has matured more than at present. Whilst she might be intellectually and educationally more developed than other people her age, her emotional development does not seem to be as progressed.
Sometimes, pregnancy and motherhood is enough to ‘mature’ even the wildest girl
Does raise another query: if one of Daphne did get pregnant and have a child, would that mean the other four are aunt’s? o_O
Harem identifies as being a single person. As such she would not consider one body to be a mother and the others not. They are all her, so all are the mother, regardless of which one bore the baby.
Just recently we saw Harem handing Sydney a hammer, with one of her bodies, whilst the other remained present continuing their conversation. Daphne treats her bodies the same way we do our hands. We do not consider our left hand to be us, and the right hand to be somebody else. Nor does she with her bodies.
We now have the technology to fertilise eggs with pluripotent cells. Plus there is a technique which can potentially turn any cell into a pluripotent cell (as opposed to requiring stem cells). Thus I could have cells taken from my left paw, be treated to make them pluripotent, and have them used to fertilise an egg, which could be brought to term.
Should that happen I would not consider my left paw to be a father, and my right paw to be an uncle. I, in my entirety, would be a father.
Likewise for Daphne, in her situation. And the law would support her, as we do have a similar precedent. If a woman is medically unable to bear her own children, she can hire a surrogate to bear children using the donor’s eggs, rather than the surrogate’s. Legally the donor is considered the mother.*
The important point being that a woman does not have to physically bear her child, in order to be considered the mother.
* Although there can be grounds to challenge this, if the surrogate changes her mind. But such issues would not arise with Daphne, given that each of her bodies is controlled by just the one mind. Ignoring the possibility of schizophrenia, or the more weird problems that can occur in a super setting.
You seem the be mixing up a few things. Pluripotent cells are stemcells. They have full 48 chromosones.
Sperm and egg cells have 24 (that combine to make a full cell).
What can be done, and this is probably what you are confused with, is purging an egg of it’s core (all DNA content), and implanting it with a specially treated Pluripotent cell’s core. This effectively turns the egg into a newly fertilized zygote, with the exact same DNA as the person who’s Pluripotent cell it was. The result is a clone of this person
Incorrect, it is the other way around. Stemcells are pluripotent. This is an important distinction because we now have the ability to create induced pluripotent cells.
These are cells, which, like stemcells, have the ability to become any kind of cell. But they can be created from cells other than stemells. Thus freeing us from the ethical burdens involved in harvesting stemcells for medical research and treatment.
I hope that you are not claiming that clones have no right to having a father? Do human rights only extend to humans who’s DNA has been randomly combined? Do you consider clones to be a product, rather than a person? Must they be raised by robots, in a laboratory or factory? Or are they entitled to grow up in a family environment?
“Incorrect, it is the other way around. Stemcells are pluripotent.”
Good point, my mistake.
Not commenting on the father thing, just saying that you can’t fertilize an egg with anything that’s not a sperm cell. There are a few steps you didn’t mention (or forgot, or whatever).
A clone created by implanting DNA in an egg is still a zygote, and still to grow in a womb. And of course, grows up in it’s own environment, and WILL be a different person than the donor (growing up has a gigantic impact on the kind of person someone becomes).
So while officially it’s a clone, it would probably be more accurate to call the result your identical twin (that happens to be several years younger than you).
It is an interesting thought though. If you had a clone, who WOULD be the father? Would you be the father, or would your biological father be the father (as your father would be the genetical father). Or mother, depending on your gender of course. Though mother potentially adds several individuals in the mix, namely the person who carries the clone as a baby, and the person who originally made the egg (mitochondria are inherited only from mother to child through eggs). Though all those extra individuals could be the same person of course
Yep, you are right, I was shorthanding and missed out a bunch of stuff. Although I did it lazily, making you perfectly correct to point out the gaps, I did keep it brief purposefully.
Namely it was the result, being able to create a child from cells in my left paw, that was important, as opposed to the details of the method. It just happened that I could invoke present day science, rather than magic, to achieve that.
In our society the father would legally be considered the person who raises the child. The complexities of the case would only rise if custody (or visitation) rights were being disputed. Under which circumstances it would be the character of the parties involved, and their means to provide for the child, which would have greater weight, than how much genetic material they shared.
It has a relevance, just not a great one. Mind you the first such case would be of cultural significance, but I do not think it would require a re-think of our current legal and ethical stances.
The more interesting problems rising from the points you make are regarding crime scene forensics and child support or inheritance claims (which may use DNA testing to support such). Twins cause problems in this area, but should cloning become an everyday, widespread process, then it will shift from being a rare to a commonplace issue.
Forensic analysis would have to take great care, to avoid miscarriages of justice. The crime aspects have already seen a lot of fiction exploring. Not so much the determination of parenthood, when a (known or unknown) clone is involved.
Yes, but if one Daphne gets a cold, do they all get a cold? Or, to get a little messier: if one had gall or kidney stones, would they all have gall or kidney stones?
You are forgetting, that they are still five separate individual bodies, even if they share the same mind and DNA
Getting a cold, or not, does not have bearing on whether she can be a mother. Likewise with gall or kidney stones. Only one would get a cold, but it could be passed on to other bodies in the same way as the disease can be transmitted between any other humans.
Kidney stones can develop for dietary reasons. So if they all share the same diet they may all develop kidney stones at about the same time. Alternatively if one tends to have a different diet (always being in uniform and eating Archon cafeteria food, for example) then that one may develop a kidney stone, whilst the others may not. Or, hopefully, vice versa, as we would hope Archon would take care to provide a healthy diet.
The same thing would apply for gall stones. But we should also consider that there is a genetic risk too. So all the Harems might develop gall stones, if her genes predispose her to such.
I do not forget that she has five separate bodies. It is how one body can get pregnant whilst the others do not. But it is absolutely vital that she does not allow society to force just one of her bodies to be designated as the mother.
Of course having a cold or not has no bearing on her ability to be a mother, it was just an example that not everything that happens to one body automagically (love how that is now an actual word in the spell-checker :D) manifests in the others (symptoms maybe, but not the actual cause: case in point, Berry’s wrist)
Was thinking more how Daphne would view it, not the rest of the world, because she does view each body as having a separate personality, and would not be at all surprised if they each act a little differently
Let us suppose that were to happen. For argument sake the vanilla Harem gets pregnant by Deus. The hospital insists that she enter her name on the birth certificate, in such a way that the body is uniquely identified, They further note that the body has no distinguishing marks, in order to allow future verification.
Daphne mounts a legal challenge, but the courts rule against her. So now vanilla Harem is the only legal mum.
Years later, they have a car crash. Vanilla Daphne is mortally injured, and placed immediately into storage, in the hope that, at some time in the distant future, she can be re-summoned when the capability to save her is developed.
Meanwhile her daughter is in a critical state and vital decisions have to be made as to how she should be treated. But the other bodies would have no legal right as parents. She would have no say in her daughter’s life. Time would have to be wasted in tracking down Deus. And his idea of what is in their daughter’s best interests might be totally at odds to what Daphne wants!
Do remember that Harem is 19 years old.
She may have lived much more then that (multiple lives), but physically, she’s still only a teenager
The age of consent, in Texas, is 17.
There’s a slight difference between having sex, and having a baby
Yeah, a female body is ready to have a baby around the age of twelve (or is it younger these days? o_O)
So you are saying that Daphne is allowed to have sex, but not allowed to have a baby, at age 19? Or the other way around?
Unless there is something odd about how Texas implemented their age of consent laws, she should be legally entitled to make her own choice about either, being above the age in question.
She can choose to have sex or abstain. Likewise whether to use contraceptives and, if so, what method. Or even opt to have fertility treatment.
Err… I think he is saying the same as you did before:
I’m just saying that most woman don’t want a baby yet at 19. Or are emotionally ready for it
True enough, in a prosperous western society.
In my region, most girls age nineteen have two or three kids in tow. Which is reflected by an age of consent of fourteen.
That would imply she knows she’s pregnant/wants to be. Or she could be in a situation where she needs to teleport, or reflexively does so. There’s always the thought experiments on powers/real things with hard, given limits. That’s how we get rules lawyers like our Sydney.
Highest probability: teleporting in unplanned early pregnancy (if no working prevention). Given how often she teleports she would seriously need to plan to not do so to prevent any possible complications.
She also has the unique situation where she could give birth to Quintuplets+ with up to five different fathers, all concieved naturally. After which she would get most, if not all, of her bodies’ tubes tied, and probably ask for all relevant organs removed (except the fun ones).*
She could also have an indefinitly long pregnancy,
“What do you mean the kid’s mine? The last time I saw you was a decade ago, and the kid’s a neworn!”
“Well, I had that body in ‘storage’ since that day, preserving your little guys.* I only found out just before calling you.”
“But why so long?”
“I got infected in a super fight, real bad modified stuff. It took this long to come up with a cure, and then kept the body out in recovery. The docs noticed something after a while, and here we are. Congrats!”
*Labor pains X5, not even likely I needed to say this
**Using a timing that shouldn’t have any problem with her teleporting other living things, I mean she teleports all sorts of symbiotic intestinal bacteria and stuff no problem
You say “female pregnancy” as if we humans have any other kind… ;-P
well, let’s see, i’ve read of a few male pregnancies, as well as ‘test tube babies’, so…..
Fairly sure, that baby’s are considered part of the mother, just like any other parasite like tapeworms and stomach bacteria, and their weight gets added to that Daphne’s base weight limit (which means she wouldn’t be able to carry extra, and neither would the others)
Actually I have a bit of conjecture dealing with the two inactive orbs that Sydney has. Since the orbs seem to level up, maybe those two orbs aren’t actually leveled up to be able to use their powers yet. That would mean when she puts points in them they would then level up and activate with new power pools. That would in turn explain why they don’t yet seem to do anything, their active, but they have no actual filled pools so do nothing…
I have had similar thoughts, but the hypothesis needs a bit of refining. Given that the both the mystery orbs have already had skill points pre-selected. Two for the green orb and three for the brown.
Other things worth noting:
• True Sight Orb (Yellow) – The mini-orb, which projects Halo’s illusionary duplicate is visible within the orb. Except for when the projection is in use. At which times the main orb is empty.
• Tentacle Orb (Pink) – The tentacle is visible within the orb. Except for when the tentacle is in use. At which times the main orb is empty.
• P.P.O. (Red) – Crackling energy is visible within the orb. Except for when the energy beam is being fired. When attacking the tank, it was replaced by a black cross, within a white cross.
• Fly Ball (Blue) – Clear, at all times.
• Force Field (Purple) – A pale cloud is visible within the orb, at all times. See the cloud visible, even with the force field raised, in comic #93.
• Mystery Orb (Brown) – A pale cloud is visible within the orb, at all times.
• Mystery Orb (Green) – A pale cloud is visible within the orb, at all times.
From which we can surmise:
Both the Mystery Orbs appear to be more closely related to the Forb, than any of the other orbs.
As the Forb’s appearance does not change, when it is active, theirs might not either. If their powers have no visible effect, they could have already been active. For instance either being permanently active, or turning on under specific circumstances.
One unexplained property of the orbs is their undetectable nature versus magic and even Dabbler’s advanced technology. If that is a property of one of the Mystery Orbs, it would explain why Sydney was unable to figure out that capability. Not having spells and being poor enough that she may not have owned equipment which would draw attention to that anomaly.
If I were to suppose that the orbs were meant to be a semi-technological singularity-style suit of what boils down to power armor, I would surmise the following:
One of the orbs would be designed for long-range communication, and/or the prevention of enemy communication. This would not be detectable until or unless something happened that involved long-ranged communication–such as Dabbler being contacted by her fellow succubi, for instance. For bonus plot points, every time Sydney tests that orb, she might be sending out signals that others could follow.
One of the orbs is essentially something like a computer, and either records or retrieves significant and/or relevant data. AS far as a super-power granting orb is concerned, Sydney’s life to date is not worthy of record, so she would not have seen any information on the matter. MAxima might be worthy of note, but Sydney does not appear to have attempted to use both orbs since she met Max, so this could very well be possible, even if Sydney did know how to use the orb.
One or both of the orbs is presumably useless unless certain circumstances are met–she may have to be in space, or she may have to be…well…given the presence of a level-up system like one would expect to find in most RPGs, it may make sense that she has a re-spawn orb, just in case she dies. Which would be both irritating, and a major pain in the ass. Not to mention just plain painful.
But this is just speculation.
From what we do know, all of the orbs *only* activate when they are in her hand – not in a remote way. That said, she does have remote control of their flight patterns around her, but that is all we know for know.
And, Sydney has held both unknown orbs in her hands at the same time:
Grrl Power #90
The only thing we do see is that the green orb has curved spirals, and the maroon/brown orb has angular patterns on them.
Finally, all the orbs, including the unknown orbs are part of that skill tree, and that every orb has potential connections to every other orb, meaning that there must be some effect that the unknown orbs have in relation to say, the PPO, or the shield.
Dave has mentioned, not only does he know what all the orbs do, he’s completely planned out the skill tree, completely labelled.
So I’m expecting there to be an effect. Even if it’s just slight.
… me and Sydney. Yes. I’d change my name to Scoville for her. Unfortunately, I doubt I’d pass her geek tests, she’s a bit TOO hardcore for me. I’m only a casual geek. I’m not worthy. :P
she only posed the geek test at someone who was declared to be the ultimate geek, she may not be interested in that for a romantic relationship; it’s like, if someone said someone was the absolute best at baking frozen pizzas, i might well challenge em to a bakeoff, i am a master at the perfect formerly-frozen pizza, as well as decent at the cutting of said pizza; that doesn’t mean i expect my future wife or girlfriend to have the same skillset, that would be boring
I personally think the green orb is for healing/regeneration, and the brown orb is the power source for all the orbs.
Green has two ‘function’ trees that zigzag, meaning though it’s a direct progression from one to the next to the next, the effects are not just a straight improvement of a single aspect. Healing various problems (poison, disease, radiation, curses, etc.) fits the bill pretty well. Having two similar trees might represent personal benefits versus helping others, or it might be single-target versus area effect.
The brown orb is the only one that has the ‘always on’ enhancement slotted (the one visible on the counterclockwise edge of each orb’s progression on the skilltree pic, #181). The two ‘function’ trees for brown then translate as boosting power generation and power storage. While I suppose it *could* be a nondetection ball, it seems unlikely that just a single dot in a single ‘function’ tree would be able to block Dabbler’s magic scans.
I usually consider healing unlikely, as that is easy to test, and Sydney is a veteran gamer. Simply make a small cut and attempt to activate the healing power.
But, on the other paw, we must consider the extreme reaction Halo exhibited towards the mere mention of a paper-cut. The theory might not have been as simple for her to implement.
However, if Sydney had been unable to self-inflict an injury, for testing purposes, I feel that it would just make her impatient for an opportunity to come along. And she has had several of those, from her eye patch, through to the painful and unsightly bruise on her face.
Each of which required the doc to heal. The fact that Halo never even attempted this says to me that she has already tried such testing before, with no result. Given her gaming background, and powerful insights, already demonstrated, I do not find it credible that Sydney would not have thought of this.
However one other possibility remains open. We know that the PPO has a safety device, which makes it difficult to use. This mirrors safety precautions in our society, with firearms (such as needing a permit, and the safety catch). Because of the potential for causing great harm (by intent or incompetence) we likewise have laws which prevent practising as a physician, without a licence.
So perhaps the orb will not allow its power to be used, unless the controller demonstrates a sufficient degree of medical knowledge. Attending a combat medical training course may be sufficient, in this regard.
All said though, it would seem strange that a user would be able to access a powerful weapon more readily than healing capabilities.
We know that the PPO has a safety device, which makes it difficult to use. This mirrors safety precautions in our society, with firearms (such as needing a permit, and the safety catch).
Is this confirmed? I know it makes sense, but I had thought it was just my own speculation?
“Shooting an energy bolt is like being hit by lightning, but not painful” – As per mini-comic at the bottom of the page. Technically mini-comics are not necessarily canon. But, if you exclude the obviously zany ones, I find they are entirely consistent with the story and other canon, such as pronouncements by the author.
However, in this case, the following page reiterates that, in graphic form. We can see that Sydney has to both exert great effort and enter a transcendental state, in order to fire the PPO. Way, way more sophisticated a safety mechanism than anything our technology can produce,
Incidentally the sepia-double page is still my all-time favourite, in the comic.
If I correctly recall, when shooting the tank Syd literally said that the PPO was harder to trigger than the others, and she herself speculate that it could be a safety measure.
Don’t forget that one mystery orb already has two skill dots illuminated, and the other has three. Perhaps the initial dot is for blocking technological scans, and the second magical? Meaning either could still potentially be a non-detection ball.
Perhaps the third dot blocks psionic detection? Depending on which orb is which, that may, or may not, have already been unlocked.
AAAACK! Forgot to add spoiler bookends.
Feel free to not put spoiler tags around your own random speculations. They are not spoilers! All you do is make work for yourself when posting, and then more work for other if they want to read what you have incorrectly hidden in the spoiler tags. So, why bother?
Spoilers can be used for other things. Hiding the punchline of a joke. Concealing a surprise twist. Improving the aesthetic appeal of a comment. Or even playing a game…
Go on, you know you want to! Ok, pick a door, but only the one, so that you can go on to play the next part:
Door number 1: A year’s supply of Ramen noodles.
Door number 2: A goat. Nothing special about it. This is just padding, to avoid spoiler clues.
Door number 3: A vintage Delorian, complete with garbage power unit adaptation!
If you want to, you can stick with that. Or you can swap it for one of the following two doors. But no peeking, until you have decided:
Door A: *you transform into a ring-tailed lemur*
Door B: You have found a gateway to the GrrlPowerVerse! *a tinkling noise sounds as it closes*
Am I the only one who ships Sydney and Max? Albeit not so much in a romantic sense as a Little Sister / Big Sister sense.
Nope, lot of people have that view: either Big slash Little Sister (although that’s more of a Dabbles and Sydney pairing) or Mother slash Daughter
Max is full blown Big sister…. Plus Max looks to Sydney as a project, a super with insane levels of power(with also a huge amount of growth room too, that level up chart is very empty), one that Max can shape into an ideal sidekick/team member…….
The term you’re looking for is aide de camp, I think–somebody who acts effectively as an assistant/gofer/etc. Or, alternatively, as an effective squad leader. Either way, Max strikes me as somebody who’d very quickly understand the importance of somebody who has spent a great deal of time “researching” what is effectively the only tactical/combat manuals in existence for combat with and between supers, which means she would see Sydney as a serious asset on multiple levels, even if she only had a relatively minor power or array of powers.
Why are people attacking Ari? People (real people in the real world) wear jackets like that, and she is looking gaunt? She has spent most of the last couple days dealing, not only with Archon as a whole, but Sydney in particular, that would stress out anyone, triply so for a PR
witchpersonAhh of course, that explains the make up…. shes trying to hide the lines under her eyes after all the sleep loss Sydney has already casued
not to mention any injuries from her fight with suzie
Sydney could fly around with a sandwich board depicting a live video of Maxima and HIro having sex…and they would STILL ship Maxima with other people!
i ship myself with all of the female members of archon
Death by snu snu. If your time has come it is the only way to go!
Sounds like we have a candidate for love potion number 9. But you do know those things always go wrong, right? First you make up a vat of the stuff, then spill it. Only to find that the catnip ingredient has all the local kitties lapping it up.
Sure you would get your wish and have the headline “MAN KILLED BY PUSSIES”, but that ain’t a nice way to go!
An out of control lady with superstrength, in a certain position, could get you comically castrated.
Guys…. take a closer look, Ari has 2 bits of curled hair :)
Her hair does change direction though: the superman curl starts off as a Bizarro-curl in panel one
Doesn’t that mean the first was the original, and the ones in panels 5 and 8 were the Bizarro curls?
No, because panels five and eight are in the shape of an ‘S’, panel one is reversed, thus, Bizarro-curl
Interesting Halo skill-tree hypothesis.
Sorry, I was up late and rereading the archive. One of my other personalities (the really, really smart one) took one look at the tree and made a bunch of conclusions, and dropped that post on impulse.
Sydney should never play poker.
Especially since she’d likely start staring at the pictures in her hand, imagining the other players as: Maxima, Queen of Spades; Hiro, Jack of Spades; Harem, Five of Hearts; Dabbler, Queen of Hearts; and Math, Ace of Clubs.
I like Max’s new hair due. It seems to suit her more than the spread over the shoulders hair. just saying.
I have found a curry that even Sydney could not eat!
Pretty sure that, for Sydney, if it isn’t hot enough to at least qualify as paint stripper, then it definitely is NOT curry.
To be fair, the biggest shipper of Dabbler and the rest of the team at the same time is… Dabbler.
In the public’s defense, Dabbler ships everyone on the team with Dabbler too.
Is anyone gonna mention how you can see Sydney’s bra below her shirt in the 3rd to last panel?
Tbh I think a better Duress code would be mentioning “that office party on Saturday” or something, because then you could work in code for what you know of the people holding you captive
Examples:
“you’re bringing the nachos, right?” – “bring people to deal with fire/heat”
“make sure you bring some of that special spicy dip you do” – “bring fire”
“we just need trail mix” – “Bring a mixed bag, I have no idea what they’re packing”