Grrl Power #427 – Utility euphoria
Sydney can jangle her way through a basic padlock or a front door, but certainly not in record time. She understands the mechanics of it. She watched a few youtube videos on the subject, then practiced on her own front door and a padlock she had. Not handcuffs though, because she’s never casually had access to them, and mechanically they’re different than a deadbolt. She should look in to that before too long probably.
As the stinger suggests, Sydney does own a number of utility belts. Her first one was really just a bandoleer with pouches, probably filled with various types of candy, hair ties, a magnifying glass, and a tape measure, because she was six. This is her first opportunity to build one with literally military grade hardware. (The proper use of the word literally.)
I haven’t been giving Anvil enough to do lately in the comic. She’s a Sergeant, so this seemed like something that could fall in her wheelhouse. It was either her or the QM we saw once at the beginning on the fight, and the boob hug joke wouldn’t play right with him. ( Y ) :)
Originally I had planned on drawing a lot more stuff on the table than I did, but (besides taking forever) I started running out of ideas because a lot of stuff she could potentially carry around would realistically be a small kit of some sort contained in a pouch or a box, not scattered all over the table – or, the sort of stuff Batman (for instance) would carry on his belt is basically the stuff of science fiction. His grappling hook is just not realistic. Batman is something like 6′ 2″, is dressed in full body armor, and carrying all the crap in his utility belt. Even given than his outfit and gear is bleeding edge materials, he’s still probably hauling around 225-250 lbs minimum. Ok, if someone spent 6 million dollars developing a grappling hook, they might be able to make one the size of a… I guess a liter of soda roughly describes the size as depicted in show, but someone maybe could make one with existing materials and tech that could haul that much weight. Ignore the fact that Bats regularly drag another person along with him, and ignore the problem of the grapple being shot into the side of buildings securely enough to hold that weight – sure usually you’d hook it over the edge of something or attach it on to a pipe or fire escape, but watch Batman TAS or Justice League and tell me he’s not firing that thing into rock and armored walls all the time.
So maybe I could buy the grapple with enough money dumped into it, but then he’s got a million batarangs, and not just what basically amounts to shurikens, but also ones that electrocute people, ones with explosives, ones that spray knockout gas, etc. Then he’s got a laser torch, a microscopic rebreather, gas mask, bat-bolas, bat cuffs, a thing that jams guns somehow (according to the Arkham games) flares, x-ray specs, etc. Some of that stuff is realistic, some of it isn’t. I guess I’m mostly doubting his ability to fit it all on his belt.
A-kon is this weekend, which is my usual local con haunt. I’ll be there Friday and Saturday. I don’t have a table, but I’ll be at some of the webcomic panels and maybe we can organize getting lunch or dinner one night. Details to come.
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Duct tape. It worked for Apollo 13.
If you can’t fix it with duct tape, you’re not using enough duct tape
Duct Tape and WD-40: used to hold something together or take something apart. Although I guess you could use that Predator laser chakram thingy in the corner to take stuff apart…
Or the PPO could take things apart.
The universe is comprised entirely of the 5 forces of the universe: Duct Tape, Superglue, Tin Foil, Zip Ties, and WD-40
You forgot 3 others…bailing wire, spit & a prayer (these last 2 are usually used in combination with each other, hence, no use of the Oxford Comma there).
Yes, but what if you want the things that result from the separation to be something other than slag metal and miscellaneous charred objects?
dont forget the martian with matt damon,, if a movie realy use duct tape its that one :)
Red Green “Duct Tape Forever” Should be in the running as well they know Duct Tape.
No Sydney, you can’t have everything…
Sure she can. If she can carry it
…and capable of using it. Correctly.
And this is when we find that one of the two inactives lets her make a dimensional pocket, and suddenly she CAN have everything. And souveneirs from the bad guys. And a stash of snacks and spare dice. And a safe place to keep her supply of radioactive capsicum.
Remember Syd’s reaction to Dabbler’s ‘hammerspace’ (equipment teleport device in her cyberarm)? If she finds out that Red or Green is a subspace pocket orb, imagine the grinding she’ll go through to get that sucker maxed out .
Brown and Green are the (currently) unknowns. Red is the PPO.
This is kind of a test, as there are so MANY things on there she won’t need. Actually, if this is “every day carry” there’s a website she should go to – everydaycarry.com For “field duty” it’ll vary by mission, and where they’re deploying too.
Also, I’m not seeing a tricorder.
She’s already got one.
Well, not really, but we don’t know what ALL the buttons on her wrist-comp-thingy do yet :)
That’s not a tricorder. the wrist device is a pipboy. (you just know that she’ll call her wrist phone/GPS/computer that eventually)
Cause they ain’t real. Mind you cutting edge technology has broken through the proof of principle. So we will have them in due course. Currently Deus could probably have his minions whip her one up. About the size of a phone booth.
Most of this is pretty standard or identifiable, but what’s the ring thing with the colors in it?
To me it looks like one of those elastic things that are used to make ponytails.
BC pills?
Yup, was just thinking that (but no, not the “British Columbia Pills”)
Either birth control pills or flints for a Zippo lighter. Neither seems like something you’d need to have on hand at all times however, so there’s probably at least a third (and fourth) option.
oh, as for panels 3 & 4 “and the fandom did rejoice, and lo many ships were launched”.
Flints aren’t typically in rainbow colours, are they? o_O
A pill pack for Sydney since shy has to take them these would be the emergency pack for the field if she looses the bottle.
Then it wouldn’t be on the table, it would be already in her kit or in her pocket, these are the useful items she has to pick from (she doesn’t get to take everything, even if she could carry them all)
Butane is a lot more reliable than Zippos, and I say that loving Zippos to death. Wound up swapping out the old school for a butane insert simply because if you forget to fill on a regular basis you’ve got a lighter that’s pretty much a bad firesteel. You can tuck a flint in there but frankly, unless you’ve got a personal lighter you’re in love with 3 minibics is a better use of space.
I agree with the Hutt. It’s definitely a birth control pill holder. Which makes me wonder if that’s standard equipment for the succubus …
Nah, Dabblers gets the industrial sized pills
“Good news! It’s actually a suppository…”
She’d probably enjoy that
I don’t think a succubus needs birth control
Not for her
It’s a Viewmaster reel.
Thanks for the nostalgia, but no. ViewMaster discs are flat and have exactly 14 images on them (7 stereoscopic pairs).
Sewing kit. One of those things that have yarn in every garish color of the rainbow except the one you need plus two needles (one to bend, one to loose), a few useless bits and bobs and a plastic box that will accidentally open and spill its contents once a month, crack after two, and otherwise waste a ton of space.
Nothing a real military unit would use, but it’s somewhat recognizable for the picture and you could argue that it makes you seem more approachable if you’re using it to help normal citizens.
If Ariana got her hands on it it probably also has a friendly slogan and an Arc-logo on it and they’re actually being paid to carry them.
Might actually be one of the cheapy, crappy ones specifically for visual recognition and they get a real military issue one?
In my head it was a “here’s a bunch of pills for use in the field, everything from aspirin to the antidote to 20 different kinds of poison.”
You never, never, keep poison in the same kit that you have medicine in…
… unless you envisage circumstances where you need to kill someone you are pretending to treat. So assassins might do that. But we would hope cops would not.
Other than the quibble of having two separate kits, that would be an enormously useful option. I track cutting edge technology, and there are some useful bits you could keep in the medicines one. For instance a laboratory on a postage stamp.
Just put a drop of blood on it and watch to see which of numerous dots changes colour. Then look up what the results mean. The one drop can test for 20 different diseases or conditions common to a region. Say malaria and dengue fever, in addition to world-wide problems like HIV.
In fairness, many antidotes are toxic. Note, there is no “Unless you need them” – several things only give you time which you can HOPEFULLY use to get to the antidote to the antidote.
Since the kit isn’t marked with a Red Cross like the first aid kit, I’m thinking more likely a chemical analysis kit.
I believe it’s “the antidote to 20 different kinds of poison,” based on the fact that “the antidote” doesn’t really work on its own as a lift item in this sentence.
Doh!
*pats around on desk, looking for glasses*
Blind as a bat without them, where are they?
Also, for many medicines the only difference between ‘useful for treating a problem’ and ‘will probably kill a person’ is dosage.
Knowing Sydney, she’d probably combine the antidotes to create a NEW type of poison
Everything is poison in the correct (incorrect?) quantity. Every. Thing.
The point of a poisoners kit though is to pick the ones that are deadly (or otherwise nasty) in minute quantity.
https://xkcd.com/1260/
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1260
Hey forget the pills , where is the most important item the 10ft pole? You cannot have a standard adventurers pack without the 10ft pole you know.
No, it’s the towel that you have to keep track of. 1,001 uses & there’s always somebody coming up with new uses, all over the galaxy.
;)
Get some USSR 1980’s military grade anti-radiation pills.
Syup, even with super powers, having extra gear is fun! Also, I can completely see her looking/’acquiring’ gear from foes, to go back to a comment you made a ways back about taking every magical item you can.
I wonder if this will inspire Halo to put more points into her Light Hook, so that she can do fine manipulation with it. Right now it looks a touch clunky for that.
Also yes, we need more Anvil! Well, we need more everyone, but I’d love to see what gadgets Anvil has to boos and compensate for her powers. I’m thinking she’ll pick up some flash bangs or tear gas, to trick enemies into punching blindly, like they did with V.
Looks like you typoed there. Let me fill in the missing letters:
” I’d love to see what gadgets Anvil has two boobs and compensate for her powers.”
Close, but it’s “Anvil has to boost” (admittedly, not as funny :()
I’m thinking just bring a sledgehammer, hit things with the sledgehammer, the kinetic energy reverberating up the handle charges her. Hit herself, it charges her, or if there’s some rule against that, throw the thing in the air and when it hits her in the head, it charges her, or if there’s some rule against THAT, hand it to Stalwart and have him go to town.
yeah, surprised they’re not already doing something.
Nothing works for a kinetic absorber like things with powerful knockback.
Apart from a sledgehammer, maybe handing Anvil a small, portable artillery unit for prepared battles would work?
I mean, she’s already got superstrength to some degree without kinetic absorbtion, and she could absorb the knockback like nobody’s business.
Odd suggestion: Her kit should have Heatpads. You know, the sort that’s just a bag of water until you click on a trigger inside of it that turns it into a semi-solid all the while being really warm?
For Sidney, something as simple as her fingers being a bit cold could significantly impact her dexterity with the orbs, which would affect her performance in the field.
It’s not water actually. It’s a gel with a melting point above room temperature. So it wants to solidify, and by clicking that trigger, it gives the gel something to solidify against, and it will quickly freeze. While freezing, heat is released.
And by boiling the pad, you melt the gel again, so you can repeat the process later
Thats not realy a gel. Its a salt solution (often Sodiumacetat) where the Salt is oversoluted. A small trigger can lead to the creation of a Crystal. This Crystal starts growing and heat is “generated”. To reverse the process you need to heat the Solution because Water can take much more Sodiumacetat if heated.
Oversoluted? New one for me. I just call it a supersaturated solution. When a liquid becomes a solid, heat is released, even as the average temperature stays the same. In many cases, a crystal forming from a supersaturated solution will also release energy during the formation. Now it is just a matter of capturing and using that heat in a productive way.
I feel she should also have icepacks for future possible injuries as well, maybe even a full med kit so she could assist in emergency treatment in the field.
Well, there is a reverse-Swiss box on the table
Unless Sydney has had (or will get) special field-medical training, she should not be allowed near the injured
Even Sidney could apply a compression bandage to stop bleeding.
Doesn’t Sydney have a blood-phobia? Or s that someone else (possibly a different webic entirely)
But Sydney would still need to pass a basic First-Aid course first (just like anyone else)
The one with blood-phobia was the guy with claws whom Sydney defeated back in the big brawl.
At least for his own blood…
Oh right, him
Haha thanks for pointing the medikit out. I am swiss and this is really funny because the colors are wrong. White cross on red ground is our national flag. Med-kits are red cross on white ground.
The similarities were deliberate
Many of the first aid kits I have have a high-contrast colour to be more visible in an emergency, either red (with white cross) or yellow (with black cross). The first aid kits at businesses I work at (have several clients and volunteer at local food bank) tend to be white-painted metal with red cross and lettering on it. There are all sorts of variations.
I’ve also seen green with white crosses.
I’ve got a green with black cross here somewhere, think it’s supposed to be a piece of field kit.
They are coded by blood type. The red ones are for iron-based like humans, and the green ones are for copper-based like Vulcans.
What about the blue ones? o_O
Royalty of course.
*rolls eyes Heavenward*
Which, of course, does confirm Sydney’s suspicions that Dabbler is royalty.
Over the last decade, the “home” kits have drifted pretty far from the official green background with white cross. (Yep, not red!) The red cross on a white background is the Red Cross organization.
There are a some others, also, including a caduceus (snakes on a staff) on an asterisk and a crescent moon (because it turns out after all the Crusades, the middle East wasn’t thrilled with the idea of a cross as “life saving”)
Given the military nature of ARC-Swat, having the proper red cross on white field on any of the team (since they’d all be combatants) may constitute a war crime
Not if it can be shown that they were assigned the role of non-combatant medic, and did not violate that.
I have a red one with a white cross.
Field-medic training and gear should be a high priority for her, I’d say. Her powers are well-suited to search-and-rescue, first aid under fire, and similar applications. Overwatch (not that one) to spot injured personnel, fly in, expand her bubble to cover the wounded, and get to work on the spot. Telepresence, lighthook, and shield would be useful searching through rubble for survivors. A small rescue/multitool would be good for the same reason. (For when she just needs to break a car window, not rip the roof off with the lighthook.)
Aside from that: Duct tape, obviously. Restraint zipties (though she really shouldn’t be unshielded near a baddie to use them, because she’s squishy without her bubble). Holdout weapon, in case someone gets inside the bubble again (possibly a stun gun and a baton–pepper spray/tear gas would be bad inside the shield). Light source. Notepad. Picks are a no-brainer–she knows how to use them and they’re basically zero-encumbrance. Maybe flares (dual-use, for signalling/marking and starting controlled fires). Chalk, for marking doors and such during searches. (Plain sidewalk chalk would do. It’s light, and you can color code with it.)
That’s probably as much as she should try to carry in her general kit. She could expand on it a bit as she goes with more specialized gear in separate kits she can add to the belt for specific types of missions.
Yes, good point: Sydney would be a better non-com (she is already a nincompoop :P) support and logistics than a full field combat-op (plus the way her mind works… most of the time, you don’t want to waste it being a grunt {nothing wrong with being a grunt mind} and she has already demonstrated an almost complete lack of gruntitudeness), assign her to a field squad, but keep her away from the actual battle-lines
Very much agree with this – while Sydney might someday be The Amazing Flying Brick (Uniform Sphere of Homogenous Density Version 1.0), her biggest asset at this time is her viewpoint / genre-savvy power. A close second is being the Utility Fielder who fills in the tactical holes in the field with her versatile-power-array spackle.
Having a character running about the field who excels at nothing but is competent at everything isn’t game changing all the time but is occasionally irreplaceable (I think Vehemence would agree). They also make excellent Combat Medics.
Halo = dime-store Batman? Hmmm…
Halo has at least one magnitude more capability than Batman, if not several. She is totally lacking experience though, but that is why she is going through basic training.
But there is (literally) a world of difference in their situations. Halo is a cop. Batman is a vigilante, who regularly commits crimes as serious as assault, illegal imprisonment and manslaughter. Not to mention finding the kidnapping and torture of suspects to be an acceptable practice.
True.
Do not forget, however, that Sydney will not just be fighting super-powered individuals. There will always be minions and even incidental criminals around. Just as much as Halo needs first aid training, she will also need good instruction in restraint techniques. It is absolutely central to a cop’s job.
Interestingly enough, despite me living in a very small village, there are three women here who used to be in security jobs of different types, such as prison officer. Two are of very petite stature. And look and behave in a meek or mild manner. Both are actually high ranked martial artists! One having multiple dans and used to be a martial arts instructor.
Being small does not prevent Sydney from being able to restrain villains. With appropriate training. And the tranq guns help for the moderately more dangerous individuals. At least up until the point where, as you very rightly say, Halo would be taking too great a risk. In which case the shield and tentacle then become her best options.
I had hoped very much during the first season of Heroes that Claire would go this route and that her Dad would realize that she *needed* this training – wicked nasty martial artist / weapons specialist (melee to firearms) who can do maneuvers no sane martial artist / weapons specialist would do as this would leave them with broken bones or torn muscles / ligaments.
Then the writer’s strike and, well…
Yeah, less said the better on that.
Akon, feh. I have NO IDEA who … well … anybody on their list is. You should be on it, for total definately sureitudes, you’re bigger (in my mind) than any of those nobodies. Probably because I grew out of anime around the time Ranma½ was in about the fourth season and meeting real Japanese culture in person cured me of any liking I might have had for it based on cartoons.
A-kon in the early days (years 10 or less) was a lot of fun. But…
1) Bigger con equals more people behaving badly, which leads to increased restrictions.
2) Bigger con leads to more emphasis on the party rather than the anime and the art and the good costumes and the funny moments (“WITH removable towel” and the late-night Hentai Fest with audience participation via dramatic reading of the sub-titles).
3) Bigger con means greater control by the US anime companies and less participation by the sub-titling / dubbing clubs, who generally pick better shows to work on than the Big Corporations.
4) Bigger con means worse “translation” of japanese culture, which leads to shattered expectations when one meets actual Japanese people.
I abandoned Project A-kon for AnimeFest ten years ago. Unfortunately, AnimeFest is now getting a bit too large for me to really enjoy myself (art show has been mostly *really* good the last few years, especially). Still having fun, but…
DaveB, any chance you might swing a forum at AnimeFest in August (shameless plug)?
Hentai Fest was canceled after A-kon 23 where it got too out of control (I heard the specific reasons and suffice to say they will not be repeated here)
Restrictions I HOPE tighten up cause I have heard from Staff at the Hilton Anatole, and they are not happy with some of the damages the idiots have done.
Newer people are in charge, as in a literal changing of the guard and they are testing some things this year.
Short-stature and not very fit (as of now). Even once she gets a little ripped thanks to all the training she goes through as well as the “cargo capacity” of her flight orb, I can’t imagine her carrying much. The versatility of her orbs also means she won’t need to carry everything.
… EXCEPT that she can only use two of her orbs at the same time; and absolutely none of them (so far) can be used to pick locks, stick stuff together, provide band-aids, fire specifically-coloured flares, make precise cuts in things, etc., etcetera.
Fopr the same reason, she obviously can;t rely overmuch on orb “cargo capacity”. That’s only good if she doesn’t need to do anything else. What if she needs to use other orbs? Also, there is the possibility that she might land in a situation where her orbs cannot or should not be used at all (a covert op, for one example).
It’s basically the same logic as equiipping combat pilots with parachutes, and providing lifeboats on ships. You have stuff like that Just In Case.
She can pick locks, if you replace pick with disintigrate…. PPO ftw!
I say Sydney can already pick locks. She goes to Home Depot and examines the wide assortment of door locks there and then she picks one of the locks to buy.
“groooan…”
I was certain that small gun looking thing was the gun from Men in Black. Got nervous all of a sudden.
On a different note, lockpicking is surprisingly easy, at least when it comes to padlocks. Doors are usually a bit more secure/robust.
I would think the PPO would take care of all her lockpicking needs.
Lighthook could easily just rip the door open too, but she probably wants them to mimimize property damage.
You usually want to keep the house intact when trying to pick a door
Sometimes, one needs to do that sort of thing QUIETLY.
You mean that Little Cricket gun Jay was giving?
yeah, that was sortof my first reaction too. Imagine that is actually what it is, but she thinks it’s a lockpicking gun?
Actually, it was called the Noisy cricket, but it could reduce a normal human into a red mist…
Knew it had something to do with a cricket (because it had one heck of a kick to it)
> … lockpicking is surprisingly easy …
When I was working in UK, USA and Canada, I was surprised how easily I could open the pin-tumbler locks in my house, just using the “bitch-picking” or “raking” methods.
However, now I am back in Finland, where people have been using ABLOY disc-tumbler locks for the last ~100 years. Just about every lock has disc tumblers, and the pin-tumbler locks are commonly found only in cars. The modern disc-tumbler lock is essentially unpickable, and local burglars have to find ways to bypass the lock.
Yupp, an friend who has lived in Australia and USA told me same thing about common Swedish locks after I complained that movies makes lockpicking to easy. What we called “normal houselock” last 40 years isnt what standard in USA. And the new door/locks like the one changed 6 years ago in my little apartment buildings in small village without much crime? Steel door and frame in wood covering, locking lugs on sides and what would be a really high security lock in USA. Guess there is a reason theifs most likely would go in thru the windows or choose somewhere else.
Also, I hope Sydney has the sense to pack the 1st Aid Kit.
Why would she do a dumb thing like that? It’s bulky and it rattles. Even though Sydney is the antithesis of stealthy, she probably thinks she all she has to do is crouch in the middle of a room to avoid being spotted.
It doesn’t rattle It’s fabric and plastic most of the time, not metal. most first aid kits are after all single use things, she will just exchange it for a new one back at base after use.
even if it’s one of those expanded kits, they also don’t rattle. My civilian mountaineering first aid kit contains needles, mirrors, knifes, fishing hooks, flint, fire steel and a small tent and still doesn’t rattle, i can throw it against a wall and it will not make a rattling or clanging sound. I sincerely doubt that a high-tech special forces unit will have a significantly worse and louder kit than i do…
It’s not in the least bit dumb. Dying, or having a friend / innocent bystander die, because she couldn’t treat injuries in an emergency. THAT is dumb.
There is military First Aid gear around now that is very lightweight and WILL most definitely save a life even if used by someone only semi-skilled.
Quick example from Google –
https://www.spservices.co.uk/item/Brand_TraumaFixMilitaryFieldDressing_23_0_3987_1.html
A kit that size (looks about 6″x6″x1″) is often what is called a “comfort kit” – It might have a few decent emergency things (wound compress, tape, scissors, tweezers, etc.) for the OMG!OMG!OMG! situations, but it’s value is for things like, stings, cuts, nausea pills, etc.
You learn a lot when you have to use one and find out you bought junk. :( (Update your first aid kit yearly! Make sure you know how to use it all! Pack for your environment!)
She is definetly going to use the crowbar. Either for Joker or Dr. Gordon Freeman
Or Crowbar (DC) or Wrecker (Marvel).
Better yet, right there in the middle of the table is a FUBAR. (long silver hammer with the yellow grips)
I have one myself, and I love it in ways that might not be legal.
The 194x Batman serial had an oxy/acetylene torch in his utility belt the second he needed it to be there.
Maybe *THAT* is his superpower. Hardware Clairvoyance. (Knows what he’d need, packs only that.)
Also…
I wanted to mention Anvil’s non-Newtonian boobs but I couldn’t figure out how to work it into the comment.
Super Preparedness.
Shark Repellent, Manta-Ray repellent, Barracuda Repellent… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJlHjf_E–4
As seen in the Twilight Zone episode ‘What You Need’.
Bat Female-villain repellent…
https://tinyurl.com/zexn7u7
Went to add that image to the bat-folder, and found already had it :P
It would not surprise me that those boobs are stronger than me
More bullet resistant than you.
Her boobs absorb kinetic energy, soooo…. Kinda really that!
How’d they “aquire” a Predator cutting disk that’s in the upper right corner??
Thanks to perspective, it’s a little tough to tell if that’s it for sure, but it could be close enough. Besides, it’s not that hard to get one. Danny Glover killed a predator, after all, and he was getting too old for that shit (hence why I don’t dispute Super Power Beat Down’s take on Wolverine vs. Predator). Handy things, though. Limited tracking ability since they aren’t necessarily a melee weapon.
https://dyn0.media.forbiddenplanet.com/products/1870541e0.jpg.jpg
Yeah.. but to get one you basically have to kill a Predator. Those guys aren’t easy to kill either mind you. You either or very good or you just luck out based off of the movies.
They are not that tough either, and it’s possible Dabbles picked up a few crates after visiting their planet
I pity the Predator that decides Maxima is the ultimate prey.
“Danny Glover killed a predator, after all…”
I love that last scene in the movie, after he escaped being roasted (but still was covered in white ash) & that dot-gov agent asked him what happened…Danny gave him the expression of “Lay off! I’ve seen $#i+ that would turn you white!”
…After all, Danny WAS white at that point…
;)
I am an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan,** so was sceptical about a Predator film without him in it. But rate Danny Glover highly, so was happy to check it out at the cinema. Predator 2 made it into my permanent collection, despite the original not making the grade. Danny’s performance was incredible throughout. Including his delivery in that final scene. Top world-class performance!
He, and the rest of the movie, should have received Oscar recognition. But you can’t expect that from such a racist organisation. I have ceased to rate the Oscars as being worthy of informing my opinion. ***
** Where he stays within the roles he is good at (he does play an awesome robot, after all). Including some of the comedy, such as in Twins. Plus I respect him for attempting roles that stretch him, even if a few have not been that successful.
*** And what is the deal with casting the heroine in Ghost In the Shell as a white girl!?!?
*tears hairs out in clumps*
Had that same reaction and posted it on the DCUO forums (main problem for me with her particular casting, is the nose), and the answer basically was, that just because it was set in a future Japan, the cast weren’t Japanese (plus she’s a cyborg so she could be anything she wanted)
I’m not going to argune about Hollywood’s nasty “white-washing” habits, because that I 100% agree that is what they tend to do.
I could be absolutely wrong but, in the case of ‘Ghost In The Shell’, there could be mitigating circumstances. The character Motoko does not (to my mind) look ethnic Japanese at all in the anime – being distinctively tall and (bluntly put) STACKED. So casting a non-Japanese in that particular role may not have been as heinous as some would have it, not if you wanted to maintain the right “look”.
I assure you that you can find Japanese who fit the role. If willing to look. And if you have a perfect actress, but who is a smaller cup size than the role demands, my preference would be to go with the actress as is, rather than turn to a different ethnic group!
When casting Lara Croft, and Angelina Jolie was undersized, they did not decide to go with a bigger-chested black actress. Rather Angelina just wore padding in the first movie, or had a bit of digital post production work done, where that was needed. Which was then considered less important in later movies.
As for the height, you are forgetting that the stereotypical shortness of Japanese people was a result of their diet. With more western diets, their average heights are comparable to the rest of the world. So there will be a big pool of taller actresses, if such is considered desirable.
But look at Tom Cruise if you think that height matters. Camera angles can make such problems vanish, if there is a clash between what the role needs and the actor’s physique.
The single most important aspect is the actor’s skill. And there are many good oriental actors. But Hollywood fails to give them (and other ethnic minorities) their fair share of roles (prominent or otherwise).
David Carradine did a good job in Kung Fu. But just think how much better it would have been with Bruce Lee? After all the part was actually created
for him!by him!!! (edited after fact checking, and feeling the accusations to be credible)As said, I could be absolutely wrong (and probably am, in the ‘big picture’ sense) but thought I would at least clarify some thoughts.
By “stacked”, I was not merely referring to boob size but overall physiognomy. LIkewise not just tall but distinctively so. The average height/weight of Japanese is now closing in fast on the West, but I assure you it is not there as yet.
Also, in the very specific examples you cite, these were all well-known / well-established actors being set up to fill specific roles. I am not so certain that the Hollywood machine would go to the same trouble to tailor an unknown for the same role.
A-N-D, thinking on the general subject some, I agree totally that Hollywood has been guilty of some horrendous cases of “white-washing” and downright racism.
But should we take from this that any role “established” as being of one race / ethnicity should ONLY ever be played by someone of that grouping? Samuel L Jackson playing Nick Fury (previously a white dude in the comics) in the ‘Marvel’ movies comes to mind. I’m sure there are a few others (probably not many, granted, but a few).
Honestly, I do not intend to sound like a dick about this. Prejudice is a loathsome thing, but I am mindful that, when fighting it, one has to be careful not to push too far into the opposite direction, so to speak. As a student of history, I can think of various instances where well-intentioned moves against injustice led to much worse injustices.
Do you not see the paradox? If you only cast white faces, how do you expect minorities to become famous? This is the kind of film where a talented oriental actress could have made her break. Ghost in the Shell is such a profound title that it will get big audience numbers, regardless of who is in the lead.
As to swapping over ethnicity, I would be fine with that if it happened both ways and all the time. If the casting agents rolled a dice to pick the ethnicity, that would work well. Trouble is the way it works at the moment, they would pick a 100 sided dice, that had 99 results which read “white”!
Dude, I see the paradox.
I also see another in potentia that I think you do not. If rules are set up that a character of a given (or implied?) ethnicity can ONLY be played by an actor of the same or similar ethnicity …. well, that slope looks kind of slippery to me.
… And with your last sentence, I am in 100% agreement.
I’m only going to weigh in a little bit on this, since nobody wants this to be a comment section where things are ruined forever, but I can certainly understand a preference for someone who is Japanese to play a Japanese government operative (my best idea for a term considering they handle espionage, cyber warfare, terrorism) named Motoko Kusanagi, especially when taking into account that the source material includes a lot of ethnic tensions due to refugees, who tend to get dumped into ghettos. The way politics tends to work, it’s like that kind of thing would still come up. It’d be like if Donald Trump had a biopic where he was played by Syrian or a Spaniard.
Plus, even if you think she needs to be curvier and taller, there’s padding, CGI, and the Scully Box(small platforms they use to make an actor look taller). That’s not including if they have any tall curvy actresses in Japan, which is something I tried to look up before getting…distracted.
I’ll be in my bunk.
For me, casting a non-Japanese actress as the lead in Ghost in the Shell is a tricky one. I can see potential in-story reasons for doing so, but there’s no on-screen evidence that the writers did so for those (or other valid) reasons rather than just getting a known name. The primary non-spoilery reason requires the assumption of an extra point of backstory/worldbuilding, with no way to tell whether it was lost in editing (before or after filming) or never existed in the first place. A secondary reason is less dependant on that extra point, but is spoilery for a fairly major plot twist – read it at your own risk, if you haven’t seen the film.
Her character is said to have been a refugee whose family were killed by terrorists as they tried to reach Japan, thus giving her motivation beyond simply her employment. Add in a side comment or background newsreel – doesn’t even need to be very much – about refugees fleeing the USA/Canada, and you have your connection. Her memories and much of her identity were lost in the attack, so it’d be less bother to replace them with ones suitable to her new culture than it would to try to replace the old ones and then learn over them. The tricky bit would be picking a believable reason for Americans/Canadians to be fleeing the country, that isn’t going to mortally offend the movie’s biggest target audience!
Caution: reference to major plot twist.
It also serves to dissociate her further from her true former life, as a Japanese subversive. Retain the face, or even just the physique, and there’s more chance of accidentally triggering a buried memory. Modify both, and you can reuse the brain with less chance of it remembering who it was.
Yea the latter is a good point.
Having gotten to see the movie at an IMAX cinema, I really enjoyed it. But the ethnicity issue kept niggling at me all the way through. The missed opportunity was such a crying shame.
A while back I got to rewatch Kung Fu, with David Carradine. And there they kept having scenes where he was referred to as a ‘half-breed’. I had to rewind it to confirm that is what they said, and that it was directed at this white guy.
The role was actually conceived specifically for Bruce Lee to play. And, all due respect to David, it would have been so much better with Bruce. An epic loss to world culture.
And Ghost in the Shell is equally defining, in its own genre. Whilst the actress did a good job, the role did not benefit from having a white face. Seeking justification for it, whilst worthy to explore, does not alter the fact that Hollywood felt it would make more money that way.
Yet Black Panther has shown the fallacy of that concept. Embrace ethnicity, celebrate culture. Don’t whitewash it.
I figure I’d put at least one gag item on the table. :)
Implying there is more than one? o_O
Well, despite dissing it, in Dave’s blog, there does appear to be a grapnel pistol…
or perhaps it is a harpoon gun for really small sharks? Or a drill with a weird bit?
If anything, this comic page shows that Anvil wants to put a “gag” on Dabbler…
And Dabbles is asking for it :D
Actually about half that has “learning potential” for Sydney written all over it. “Sure, you can pack the ‘Fu-Bar’ (long yellow one with the weird end) wrecking bar that WEIGHS ABOUT TEN POUNDS in your gear. We’re going on a run later today. In full pack…”
I’m surprised nobody noticed the binoculars from Empire Strikes Back. It was the first item on the table that hit my eyes…
I think you’re correct! The white thing above what appears to be a walkie-talkie looks like a set of macrobinoculars.
You can’t have done a very good search I am afraid. They have been mentioned three or four times already, on various pages of the comments.
Let’s see… Lock-picks, Crowbar, Rope, Duct Tape, First Aid Kit, Flashlight, Binoculars/telescope, knives (one regular knife and a swiss army knife), flare gun, collapsible umbrella, her meds, a flask of water, notepad(the list?) and pen(cil?), camera, and… a lighter. That feels like a solid utility belt for Sydney. It should cover her for most situations without being TOO heavy, and most of it is pretty straightforward as far as training goes.
Which of course pretty much guarantees I’m almost entirely wrong.
Binocuculars are almost useless with the telepresence ability.
Not wen you dont want to be seen
Thats why I said almost, they still have practical use, but she could always have Harem teleport in a disguise to match who they are spying on and then Sydney change and then send it over to spy. The thing also phases through solid matter, so she could place the telepreseance version inside a wall and just have her ear or eye poking out.
The image does yes, but what about the inner orb, which is projecting it? It shares properties in common with the tentacle. Both are visible inside their respective orbs, when not in use. Given that the tentacle is tangible, there is a good chance that the Telepresence Orb’s inner orb is likewise.
Not that it would prohibit the cunning tactic you are suggesting mind. But it would limit the ways it could be achieved. Halo would have to choose a spot carefully. Say a normal width wall where she could lean through, with the inner orb remaining on the far side, and only her head and shoulders phasing into the wall. Assuming the inner orb remains in the centre of her projection, say somewhere in her abdomen.
The ear is the most likely to succeed. Especially if Halo can find a bookshelf or other obstacle to position it behind. It might muffle the sound somewhat, but will make spotting the ear (and perhaps one of her bangs) hard to impossible.
The eye though is much more problematic. Because much of her face and hair would also need to phase through the surface. Compounded with the fact that she has to keep line of sight between whoever she is observing. Which works both ways, of course. Still Halo can practice regular concealment techniques, such as hiding in shadows or from angles that do not fall in observers lines of sight.
The biggest plus for the eye spy is that Sydney’s face is a lot easier to hide than her whole body. So the plan remains viable, despite its limitations.
We’ll have to wait for the comic to prove all this stuff obviously, but I’m sure that at some point Dabbler might become a little more lax on limited use of her tech by the team. Maybe a more advanced rebreather for Halo, also depending on what “X’s” invisibility is his power/ability or a tech suit. I can see Halo borrowing that to do some more advanced spying and that.
Anything is possible, sure. But Dabbler has made it clear it is not a runner on multiple occasions. And I see little story benefit from doing so. Star Trek the Next Generation became really boring when it degenerated into “now lets turn to Geordie to find out what technical solution he can improvise at short notice to solve this weeks otherwise insoluble crisis”.
Dave has put interesting limitations, on various characters and powers, for an insightful purpose. Whilst isolated exceptions to these make for interesting story developments,* permanently dropping them will risk making the team so powerful that regular super villains would pose no credible threat or challenge.
Dabbler has access to a wide selection of power groups. Namely magic, ultra technology and psionics. Plus can whip up gadgets on demand. If she chooses to start equipping team members with those, she can even turn the mundane humans into powerful supers!
Dabbler has seen how badly humanity treats even other groups of humans. I doubt she wants to contribute to the extinction of her own component species. Which is the path she could be laying the foundations for, by following your suggestions.
* Exceeding Halo’s two orb limit, by sharing the orbs with Varia, for example. Or Varia being able to break Harem’s inability to teleport team-mates.
It actually would be a two orb limit regardless. Holding hands only leaves one hand free. Still good for multi-tasking though.
Varia only needs to touch skin, if I remember correctly. Which means she could hold onto Halo’s wrist, and they’d be able to use three orbs. Or just lock bare arms, and be able to use four.
We do not know definitively yet, but that is one of the possibilities. Of which you correctly elucidate the implications.
G
Given that Sydney has the PPO, the last thing she needs is a flare gun. I wonder if she can see through binoculars when using telepresence, if they go with her? Would allow for serious recon aabilities.
Well her glasses go with her, so I’d assume the Binoculars would too.
Dunno, what if she wants to send up a flare without shooting down a plane?
Agreed. The PPO’s safeties make it hard for Sydney to use. And we know that she has had at least one serious whoops with it already. Whilst Halo certainly could emulate a flare gun, in an emergency, it is best to find a safer alternative for normal signalling.
I somehow think the flaregun may be a bit safer to use. We don’t want to accidentally shoot down overhead planes, as far as I know.
AND one gets flares in a variety of colours, which can be helpful for communicating things in a military outfit. As far as we know, the PPO does not as yet have that capability.
Well since we don’t know the effective range of the PPO, she could potentially take out cloaked alien ships in orbit. Hell, for all we know she might accidentally blow up the moon at some point, that or she carves her stores logo into it.
We do know that the PPO has a rating of three stars. Which is the same as Dabbler’s blaster ability. Given that her rail gun was designed to shoot satellites out of orbit, that gives a good upper bound to Halos range.
I say upper bound, because the star rating does not imply a like-for-like capability. It incorporates the overall versatility and usefulness of a power. The PPO has various skill upgrades already unlocked, even if Halo has been too cautious (after the forest burning incident) to experiment and discover what they are.
Therefore the PPO might have a fireball-like function. Or a cone attack (a.k.a. flamethrower) capability. Or possibly the ability to fire at multiple individual targets simultaneously. Whereas the rail gun has a dedicated purpose, which it is simply very good at. Implying that its range is likely to be greater than the PPO’s in order for their overall ratings to remain comparable.
Was it actually stated that Dabbles would be standing on the surface of the planet when shooting satellites? And how big of a planet? Or maybe simply a small moon
Actually, no. Strongly implied, yes. And nothing to indicate that the alternative possibilities were intended either.
That’s no moon…
Yeah, it’s Guy Gardner saying “good bye” :P
…and you might also consider what orbiting satellites may be up there too…
“That isn’t a moon…”
Doh!
tentiaorb is better for signaling in a reasonable world.
Just fling it up and wiggles it for the world to see… possibly as an arrow POINTING… OVER THERE!!!
She NEEDS a can of shark repellent.
She’s a scuba diver! It’s totally practical!
And Adam West would approve!
She was also talking earlier about having a small airtank, so provision for that seems advisable. Also, there is the respirator-thingy she just picked up from Deus’s company, so a pouch to stow that (and/or spare parts for it) seems a good idea as well.
Ball of string, maybe?
Possibly spare glasses. At least have some wipes for the glasses she wears, and for her Pip-Boy’s screen.
A water-proofed list of telephone numbers and/or comm frequencies for various people and places. For those time she is in some out-of-the-way place, and really needs help from a very specific direction.
Hurricane matches rather than a lighter, I suggest. Less weight, they will light pretty much anywhere and lighters can get broken.
Glow-sticks. Yes, I KNOW Sydney’s orbs can provide light, but Glow-Sticks would be useful for illuminating or marking places without Sydney having to stay next to them.
Most everyone carries wipes, they are called ‘shirts’ :P
….. Which tend to be LOUSY at cleaning lenses and most screens. Ask anyone who has actually tried – only slightly better than nothing, usually.
Depends on the material of the shirt, and how filthy you let it get, often clean glasses and laptop screens with a basic cloth (usually whatever this sweatshirt is made out of for the laptop, or a moleskin shirt for the glasses)
“I guess I’m mostly doubting his ability to fit it all on his belt.”
Heresy!
She needs to take the notepad for sure. It’s the most important equipment she will ever own. It’ll save her skin more times than she can mention. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having a nice sea mine…
Err, bad idea. Bad bad bad! That would make The List jealous. People who irritate it are never seen again!
No, The List is a secret, do you really want everyone to know about The List? That would be a bad idea
Actually police notebooks are a legal requirement for police officers, in the UK. By making notes it strengthens the quality of their evidence, in case defence lawyers attempt lines like “you deal with so many domestic abuse cases, how can you be sure of the facts, in this one amongst many”.
At which point the cop can whip out her notebook and read from it. Because they are timed, dated and kept indefinitely, they provide a chain of evidence which strongly identifies a particular incident. Allowing checking of the incidents before and after, in the event of any suggestion of evidence tampering.
So an official police notebook is indeed a good idea, I do concede. Especially as you indeed would not want Sydney to have to reference any note which she may have had to write in the List (say a car number plate). That would just open way too big a can of worms for the defence to explore!
After seeing all that gear,will Sydney be able to select what she wants or try carrying it ALL?
Let’s see if Halo has learnt from this incident.
What, no shark repellent? FAIL!
Do I have to start shipping Anvil with Ren?
No 10′ pole?
OMG! How come that did not leap out at me? I have been too long without gaming! Nooooo!
Mostly because 10′ poles don’t leap.
Unless they’re mimics.
Then they vault… ::coughs::
Right, back in the bad pun corner for me.
My recommendations for Sydney
1 lock picks get it out of the way
2 benoculers roof top observations before charging in
3 multi tool Gerber or lethermen
4 first aid kit for her or anyone she arrests
5 mace Syd needs a safe takedown
6 ducktape to hold her orbs in place if say her hands are broken
This is what I think whould be the mose use to Sydney given her power set
If her hands are broken, how is she going to use the duct tape? o_O
Sydney already has a safe(ish) takedown: she just needs to breathe on them (remember the Pepper-Bees?)
Sydney has a team that whould duck her hands for her and sydney dusent always eat spicy food so you can’t count on the bee’s
Any team that doesn’t arrange for her to be evac’ed out should be disbanded and reprimanded
And are you going o tell me, that Sydney wouldn’t eat something super spicy just before a mission so that she did have the Pepper-Bee’s? That’s like leaving behind half of your ammo
You’re assuming that everything will always go exactly right and as planned, which is NOT what this sort of equipment is used for.
Yeah, but if they are in a situation where they need to duct tape Sydney’s balls to her hands to keep her in the fight rather than arranging evac for her, then they are beyond screwed (note, the statement was referring to sing the duct tape to keep her balls in her hands, not simply having duct tape in her kit)
When I spot “duct tape … balls”, in a thread, my eyes start watering too much to make out any of the rest of it.
Part of the intent of wording it that way :D
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1852
Again, you assume that everything will always go exactly right and as planned.
Asserting that “so-and-so can never happen because she will be medivacked first” is the worst kind of complacency. Combat and emergency situations simply don’t go like that.
Never said that
If everything went exactly right and as planned, then Sydney would not get injured enough to require either her balls taped to her hands or require being medi-vacced at all
That’s also assuming she can’t just force them to stay in her hands mentally.
Sydney can indeed. But she is also ADHD, so is likely to become distracted. Plus she may need to focus her attention on actually using the orbs. Especially if she is pulling off a trick as complex as writing her shop advert with the lighthook.
Or stop from passing out from the pain OF HAVING TWO BROKEN HANDS!!!
That is why the multi-pill dispenser needs to have both hands-free operation and strong pain killers.
And no poison.
Only if she recently ate (in)appropriate foods
Note I am not including her pip boy and a smartphone on the list as I they arnt part of the utility belt. There are a lot of functions on a smartphone that can be useful such as camera and sound recorder that were take in in to account when picking stuff for the belt
She controls the orbs, so she didn’t actually NEED to tape them to her hands – that was so she wouldn’t get distracted and let them wander off.
#7. A bottle of the spicyest hot sauce available.
Better yet, a specially-blended pepper spray. If it’s hot enough for our heroine to use as a condiment, it’ll take out most of her opponents.
The spray can would need 2 settings, garnish and flambe.
Sydney does have a point with the lockpicks: when you have played enough games with characters who can pick pretty much anything, you are not going to pass up the chance to do it for reals
Hey, I see binoculars from Star Wars. I’ll be miffed if Syd does not choose them.
Still need calipers, who knows when you’ll randomly want to measure a recently acquired dust bunny.
jesus brain, how have you never before now noticed that all the characters collars (those that wear them) have the first letter of their code name on it? (well, except for dabble who has a buncha x’s because LOL SUCCUBUS)
Well, her name *is* Xuriel, so that may have also had an impact on her collar’s iconography.
As well as the “Truth in Ratings” laws.
“This super is rated XXX. No one under 18 years of age should be admitted or allowed to watch.”
If I were some low-powered member of the team (let’s say with some basic strength-and-toughness power set) here’s what my utility belt would have:
– Small roll of duct tape
– WD40
– A good lightweight multitool or two (yes, I know these are generally less effective than individual tools, but they still do most jobs you’d need in a hurry)
– First aid kit, containing gloves, dressings, gauze, tape, wipes, steristrips, epipen, salbutamol inhaler, aspirin, clopidogrel, oral antihistamines and steroids, triangular bandage, basic analgesia, sats probe, SAM splint, tourniquets, igel, wound glue (doubles as superglue if needed; the reverse is also true, with a certain risk of skin irritation). With another much larger bag where Harem can grab it quickly containing much more and heavier kit, including further airway devices, oxygen + masks, defibrillator, flyer-portable stretcher, cervical collar, KED, fluids, cannulas, giving sets, capillary blood glucose probe, insulin, glucogel, many further medications etc. Maybe even some o neg if Harem’s power would allow her to bring that.
– Phone
– Snacks
– Combat knife
– Small tazer
– Pen and notepad
What have I missed?
For a low power individual add rope and flashlight
Flashlight is good for everyone that doesn’t have nightvission
Or floty glow orbs
The orbs don’t glow THAT brightly. Just enough to make her a target in the dark. Heck, glow sticks glow brighter…
or a glowy light hook
What did you miss? The battery for said taser.
Getting in to EDC (Every Day Carry) territory here, but personally I see a utility belt as an extension of the same thing based on skills and work area.
For Sidney? It probably should include stuff for areas as Superpower police.
Good multitool (leatherman wave or similar), Headtorch (hands need to be free), 10 meter kevlar/aramid string, good pen and small notebook, handcuffs, her gun, small bottle of mace, taser, lockpicks, first aid, small roll of electrical tape, monocular (with thermal overlay), lighter, field charger for phone/wristcom, extra pills, single use flare, zipties.
I think Sydney probably makes the best medic/support unit out of the whole team with the shield thing even if she needs gear transported to her.
Spare battery/manual charger for her wrist bracer thing.
My first thought, seeing Dabbler show up, is that she might be able to create some ‘special’ gadgets exclusively fro Sydney’s Utility Belt.
For example: An Octopus Binding, the kind fo thing you throw at a fleeing enemy like a disk, then it attaches to the perp’s back and metal arms extend from it. Then metal arms wrap around the perp, binding his/her arms and legs, stopping them cold.
Or Instant Freeze Pellets that can be tossed on the ground to make it slick like ice.
Whould be really cool but dabbs whont Shea her teck TT_TT
Dabbler doesn’t share her toys. But Arc-Sparq could probably fashion up some fancy toys
Yeah, she doesn’t share her toys (unless it’s one of her ‘toys’ :wink: ), but that doesn’t mean she won’t help the Sparq-ies from developing new toys
Good ideas all, but I’m guessing there is probably a waiting list for that sort of gear. Almost evrybody would want it.
If she’s literally using ‘literally dreamed of’, does that mean she’s had a lucid dream where she is assembling a utility belt?
(As opposed to something she wanted to do.)
Yes
In fact, it wouldn’t even have to be a lucid dream.
“Of course, Sydney, I don’t need to remind YOU of the need to blood a khukuri once it has been unsheathed?” (Anvil totally not crossing fingers!)
This is not true I had an unkle who was a gerka and they use their khukuris for a lot of things including servile stuff like setting up a camp. They don’t need to bloud a knife evrytime they pull it
It’s a joke.
If they draw it in anger mind, the blood is near guaranteed. There are a vast number of applicants for each position. With a very strong desire to live up to the standards of the tradition. So the competition is intense and those few who win through are very very capable individuals.
If I was her I’d say: the med kit, the glow sticks, the smaller of the two flashlights, the lightest pair of bino’s there, the white binos which are probably night vision (thermal if she’s lucky), the duct tape, the electrical tape, the lockpicking tool, matches, taser gun, and the blade closest to the glowsticks. Oh and the rope, because even if you have a lighthook ropes are never not useful. Turn her into a sort of heavy recon, at least until she’s better trained to be able to waltz into the middle of a fight.
Also, carrying all that gear on exercises will also improve her strength and endurance pretty quickly.
To a certain extent, sure, but my choices were purposefully small and light, the whole kit wouldn’t weigh more than 10 pounds unless those are some damned heavy bino’s.
What would I pick from the table if I were Sydney:
– notepad and pen. Preferable in a waterproof bag.
– taser, as backup in case someone gets past the orbs.
– Maybe switch to a baton later once she has training. There are batons that you can use as crowbars by screwing an appropriate head/ends on it (ESP batons do) or other things.
– rope
– binoculars or other similar item (good suggestion)
– duck tape (good suggestion!), with something to cut it with
– leatherman-like tool (not pictured?) with knife
– first aid kit
– maybe the compass if she is going away from civilisation and has a chance of being lost.
Lacking:
– no headlamp? She of all people needs her hands free
– a whistle. Yes, seriously, a tiny one in case she’s stuck somewhere and her arm-computer is damaged and/or can’t use orbs.
– an extra pair of glasses/contacts
– handcuffs?
WTF is that doing there?
– throwing knives?
– DARTS?
– what the hack is that thing in the upper right corner?
– a shovel? What is she going to do, dig trenches?
NEVER underestimate the trenching tool. It’s your best goddamn friend in the world. Hole to take a shit? Check. Hole to sleep in that’s somewhat protected from the elements and stray bullets? Check. Highly effective melee weapon? Check. Hammer? Check. Frying pan? Check. Lever? Check. Extra reach? Check.
All completely true (and I’m not saying that a shovel is useless) except that she is unlikely to be doing camping. She’s police, she’ll be mostly operating in urban environments.
Why did I include the compass but not this? Because as long as she is powered she can use the PRO to dig. The orbs won’t help her find direction.
No I definitely agree with the compass, I’m saying you’re being unnecessarily harsh toward the trenching tool. Damn thing is one of the most useful things anyone can have with them if they’re stuck somewhere, right up there with a towel. Also the #1 rule for superheros is never rely wholly on your powers. There will ALWAYS be a macguffin that negates them.
No capes!
Sydney + Towel = Cape
More like:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1814, Panel #1: Sydney + multiple towels = Mummy
True but the logic of my selection is “What should she take from here that she’ll wear EVERY DAY?” If she’s going rural for whatever reason, bringing the shovel would be a good idea, yes. But otherwise it will just look silly on her.
Just look silly? Sydney is into anime. Most of these guys carry around a six foot long sword strapped to their back that probably weigh as much as they do. Sydney would probably look on having something equally awkward on her person as a requirement. (until she has actually tried carrying it for a few hours)
Most of the “guys” and gels on Sydney’s team will be carrying pistols or other weapons, as they already have. Only Dabbler is a very good sword-fighter, which is why she gets to be an exception. Maxima is going to limit the amount of silliness her team is going to get.
Again, I admit that the shovel would be useful if she was going to be outdoor for an extended amount of time (in which case, it should be a separate collection of gear that is part of her backpack). However, for day-to-day activity of hers in urban environments, it’s not going to be that useful and it will be an unwieldy burden.
I have just considered one aspect which has elevated the shovel side of the argument, in my mind. Halo is not just a regular cop, but one who will be working in the hazardous environments of super battles.
Even in this room I have a small shovel who’s sole purpose is to pick up hot coals, from inside my fireplace (or out of it as the case may be), in an emergency. And have needed it, when smoke was backing up, into the house. The problem could not be fixed, in the circumstances.
Meaning that I had to either shovel sand onto the coals, to dampen them. Or lift the coals out and dump them outside. Either of which needs a proper tool, rather than an improvised one. You cannot just hope that a convenient bit of metal will be lying around if you need such.
With things like fire, ice, acid, toxic waste, radioactive materials and the like being employed in super-battles, a small, folding, shovel could see a whole host of practical uses that a regular cop would never have a need for.
That’s a very good point.
No, sorry, that’s a very bad argument and I feel you are just trying to be contrary.
First, she has the pro. She can just wrap it into a flat if she really needs to.
Second, your anecdote does not apply to this situation.
Third, if she has toxic waste or radioactive material or other incredibly hazardous kit a small shovel is just not going to cut it. It would be like trying to put a fire by pissing on it. Yes, in certain situations that can work but firefighters don’t receive professional pissing training. Furthermore, if she is surrounded by that sort of stuff, she should be worrying about herself first.
I whould say sydney dusent need a light source her orbs glow and so do most of her powers
Good sujestion on the extra glass’s
Handcuffs I assume are one of mandatory anvil was talking about
Yes, but there might be good reason to light up a specific locale, so being able to drop a Glow-Stick to do that seems reasonable.
If there is a really good reason, Halo can always level up. The skill tree looked glowy even in the full light of the desert’s sun! And she can point her glowing level-up finger at any fine detail which might need illuminating. And probably accidentally tag something she does not want on the skill tree. Again.
Glowsticks are useful as trailmarkers, as well as providing light for others when you have to leave, flashlights would be able to provide more direct, clean, and possibly longer ranged light for any time she really needs to see around. Note the clean remark, all of her orb lights are colored, so if she needs to see something without a colored tinge none of those are gonna be useful.
Halo can just command the PPO, Green Mystery Orb and Fly Ball to clump together, into a touching formation, which forms a triangle. Keeping the other orbs well out of the way. Then vary the distance from the object being observed, until optimum visibility is achieved.
Red + Green + Blue light (in equal proportions) will allow her to make out the object in its proper colours. There will be some monochromaticisation towards the edges of the object, but the centre of illumination will be clean.
Not forgetting that Halo can precisely control the path that the formation takes. Thus allowing her to sweep over the entirety of an object, to examine any part in as much detail as she desires.
We don’t know if it has an illumination function and it would be wasteful to invest for that when a good headlamp is far cheaper and can still fit into her pocket.
It probably does not have that as a specific power. I was just playing with using the side effects. Rather like using the dial illumination function, on a watch, to locate a key-hole, if trying to unlock your front door. It is not intended for that purpose, but folks can make use of it, none the less.
I purposefully ignored the infrequency with which Halo has levelled. Likewise the fact that she may not be able to activate it on command. Given that it was mainly a tongue-in-cheek comment.
The orbs though do always provide a low level of illumination. Enough to gently light up Sydney’s bedroom, if you recall. So that is a capability that Halo will always have (barring contrived circumstances to prevent that, such as capturing them in a ball bag).
Not that other means of illumination do not provide their own uses, as various champions have pointed out. However Halo can replicate a number of the core uses for illumination. And she will never find her batteries running out. Not unless her orbs have some limit that we do not know about yet (beyond that implied by them taking naps).
The bedroom thing has reason to be artistic license (so we clearly see what’s going on). Yes, they’re not going to run out of batteries but you are assuming she has control about the intensity of light. It might be automatic, artistic license or just not under her precise control.
The thing is that using her power like this is not worthwhile, especially if she needs to use orbs to fight rather than illuminate. If the orbs work on what is useful, this is not a the most worthwhile power she can have. You are also ignoring the fact that the light is ambient and not directional.
A headlamp, plus spare batteries, that fits in her pocket is just so much of a simpler solution. There are powerful enough headlamps out there that they can double as a searchlight.
First off I have not gainsaid any of the illumination, fire-starting or other accessory suggestions. They all have merits. I am simply pointing out that some of the needs are lessened because Halo has capabilities which no normal human does.
Not at all. I have a single LED on my continuous power supply, that gives me enough light to walk around the room, even in a blackout in the middle of the night.
Sydney’s bedroom had a certain amount of ambient light, from her similar sources, and (presumably) some degree of external light. But, even taking that into account, any one of Halo’s orbs is way bigger than my LED and can be seen to illuminate objects much more brightly than mine.
Possibly Halo may find out that she can mentally control the level of illumination, you make a good point, which I had not considered. *Adds that to “List of things for Halo to test”* But the reason for my not thinking about it, is the level of illumination remains consistent pretty much all the time (barring a negligible degree of artistic licence).
Pick a page of the comic at random. If any orb is near an object (usually Halo’s hair), you will see that it is being illuminated. Even in full daylight or a brightly-lit room or corridor. The glow just stands out more in darkness, rather than being made to glow more brightly.
They seem to provide ambient light, not directional and definitely not enough for a searchlight. You can get very powerful headlamps today that can vary between low-power and 500-luman which is pretty powerful.
There are many suppliers that have flashlights rated in the mid-thousand lumen range. There are some that even claim to be OVER 9000!
Shovels are standard issue equipment actually. Great for survival.
Those fold up shovels also have a bladed edge, so you can use them as axe
So they are great for all kinds of things. Digging holes for a fire, cutting wood for a fire, digging a hole to poop in (that’s very important when surviving somewhere), digging for food (roots are often the most edible part of a plant)
See my other reply above.
I do agree with your previous reply. Bud do not forget that although their primary role is police, their secondary role is national defence. And a super-powered invasion could come without warning. So things which are invaluable to military personnel should be considered, if not necessarily with as much weight as for their day-to-day role.
Those ‘throwing knives’ look more like climbing crampons (the things you stick into the mountain or cracks to secure a rope to)
Crampons are strap-on spike-treads for boots, for ice climbing and mountaineering. Do you mean pitons? No, those are nothing like pitons. https://www.google.com/search?q=climbing+piton&tbm=isch
(Google has just taught me that “piton” in latin languages is the same as “python” in english: https://www.google.com/search?q=piton&tbm=isch )
Yes, pitons (knew the description and usage, but wasn’t too sure of the name)
I thought crampons were what Sydney was suffering from in her bathroom the other day.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1635
The items in the kit though look too uncomfortable to be tampons.
I dunno, those green things with the cords coming out of them looks pretty chill, stretched out between the axe and the thing-I’m-assuming-is-a-flare-gun up there on the left.
Or maybe those are candles…?
Really thin champagne poppers?
Seriously, what the hell are they? Military people? Some help here? :D
Almost certainly glow sticks, given that the table has various similar things grouped together and they are next to the flare gun. In my non-military opinion.
Guesticus – if you’re looking at the black spikes on the middle-right, I’m pretty sure those are kunai. They started out as gardening tools (think small trowel / dirt-mover), and got adapted for use as weapons when some medieval Japanese farmers went into the assassination business to keep food on the table (as said farmers, being farmers, didn’t have any actual weapons). Then they got wrapped into the whole “ninja” mythos, which keeps portraying them as dedicated weapons (instead of things you use because you’re not allowed to own weapons).
There was a ninja game (“Tenchu” or something) that had a realistic view on ‘utility belts’: before each mission, you had to select a limited number of items take with you, and each throwing knife counted as one item so you couldn’t take fifty million like Batsie does (you could pick up replacements along the way, or retrieve the ones you missed with, if they stuck in a wall or the ground and you could get to them)
Was indeed Tenchu. Man, I loved that game and most of the sequels.
Yeah, had two or three of them, until they moved to PS3 or something
Eventually they went to the handheld thing, and that’s where I lost them, never having owned one of those.
Am still disappointed over that.
Maybe it was the handheld they went to, knew it was a system didn’t have
Mythbusters tested Batman’s grappling hook.
…And?
The grappling hook sticking into the wall was Busted. Jamie was able to build a motorized ascender rig that fit on his forearm, but he did not include a reverse gear so had to cut the rope to get back down. On the same episode, Kari, Grant and Tori declared the phone booth quick change Confirmed but using a rope to assist in a tight turn in you car was Busted as the rope/steel cable kept snapping.
How many times did Batsie ever use his grappling hook to go down? It was always used for him to go up, so having a reverse gear (guessing you don’t mean the retractor used to lift him up after firing the grapple) would be superfluous and un-needed
The Mythbuster ascender rig WAS something that Jamie came up with pretty much on the fly, and he said himself that further improvement was entirely possible.
Which means it wasn’t a bust (other than the ‘sticking in a wall’ part)
Hmm, the Cast page lists Anvil as a 1st Lieutenant, did she get demoted? Not that I object to her in this role, mind you, I think she and Peggy are my favorite characters in the strip.
Ignore the ranks on the cast list. They are obsolete and will (eventually) be replaced. Go by the insignia in the current comics (the early ones pre-dated Dave getting advice from those in the know).
half the stuff I would pick from there (9 items with both duct tap (duct tap is magic duct tape is life) and rope (never go adventuring without it!) on the list) would fit better in a survivalist styled camping kit just for its usefulness as doubling as a weapon- YAY FOR CREATIVITY!
personal choices:
-flare gun (flares to the face hurt and aren’t good for sight and if ever in another mass super brawl launch one flare skyward might surprise some without interrupting anyone that knows who has the flares)
-duct tape
-upper left grenades (look like flashbangs, always useful for crowd control but can easily be replaced)
-duct tape
-glow sticks (in case no batteries in flashlight)
-duct tape
-heavy duty flashlight (doubles as a weapon)
-rope (rope is always useful!)
-a bladed tool (combat knife if small but if big then might as well choice a kukri all can be very useful including making lock picking unimportant by removing the door’s hinges or a hammer on the pommel)
-duct tape
-canteen (I assume the silvery thing is one. water, stay hydrated)
-and of course that first aid kit
-oh and duct tape
Don’t forget duct tape
No, glow sticks are more useful for finding out what is down a hole (or how far the hole descends), the glow doesn’t extend very far, certainly not enough to use as an alternative torch
But yeah, second the call for the heavy duty torch, the ones made out of steel, not the modern plastic and rubber, also, have it one with the widest beam you got, can’t stand those tiny laser-lights that barely show anything unless it is directly in the path and no bigger than a 50c piece: if you are looking for someone, you want to see them before they can track the bouncing light and shoot you (plus, as you said, they can be used as a weapon, nice solid ones can be used more than once and still be used as a torch)
Couple things. 1) duct tape is useful but not that important. 2) pretty sure flares are burning phosphorous, so that isn’t going to hurt so much as literally (proper use) melt a person’s face, maybe not a super… maybe. 3) a tactical knife or hunting knife is really as big as you need (especially if it has a sawblade somewhere) 4) you forgot binoculars or something similar
HERETIC!
Gather the firewood, hammer in the post, and duct tape Kyair217 to it.
I have the marshmallows, hot dogs(non canine variety), and bacon.
Bet he thinks duct tape is pretty important now. Now we’ll see the violence inherent in the system!
Wait, come back! It was a joke!
Depends on what you’re up to. Plenty of bushcrafters swear by the utility of big chopper knives in the woods, and they’re definitely useful in the tropics. It’s an acquired taste though, personally I find 5″ tends to be the cut off for good blade control, and after that it can get pretty unwieldy. Didn’t stop me from buying a Condor Moonshiner to experiment with though.
Don’t sell modern plastics short, depending on what material we’re talking they can be plenty tough. I don’t see too many made out of actual steel anymore, most of what I’ve run across is aluminum or plastic. If you want something that will light up a room there’s plenty of 100+ lumen lights out there that will do just that. I’m sure Archon gets all the military discounts from Surefire.
One thing she absolutely needs to have is pepper spray.
It’s basically capsaicin, so she already has built up some immunity to it, so she could use it even indoors.
And it could be used as a portable hot sauce dispencer. :D
Sydney: Hmm, not bad. Could do with a little more kick, mind you.
Peggy: Put that down! That is not breath spray!
Just Ace use to use a modified pepper spray to give hot dogs an extra ‘kick’ when he was a kid (see “TMI-comic.com” for why he, and his sister, could be related to Sydney :D)
Who else is thinking “pepper spray grenade”, for Halo? Given her aforementioned capsaicin immunity.
You mean, like a smoke grenade, but releasing pepper spray ‘gas’?
Yup. Handy for those ‘completely surrounded by villains in a room’ situations.
Yup, and she can breathe it in as an extra breath weapon for anyone who still gets too close :D
Pepper spray grenade? As in, a cloud of pepper spray?
As we’ve seen before, not even Sydney’s eyes are immune to that…
Darn it, I was hoping nobody would notice that flaw in my plan :-D
However she can squeeze her eyes shut, and hope that gives her some protection. If it does, she will definitely fare better than her foes. Part of any pepper spray kit includes an antidote for washing eyes off. So Sydney could treat herself, whilst her foes would probably be incapacitated.
Wasn’t that Sydney’s eye coming into direct contact with a liquid form? Or maybe it was simply being smacked in the eyeball by a piece of spaghetti (Sydney has the same vulnerabilities as most everyone else who is not Achilles)
Okay, so a question:
What’s the time gap between the current issue and the profile stats? According to Dave, Anvil is a sergeant, but her profile lists her as a first lieutenant, so she’s moving up some ranks and becoming a commissioned officer at some point.
According to the start of the flashback, it’s a couple months (about three), and we are currently on day three (or is it day four?) of Sydney’s recruitment slash orientation slash origin story (remember, Maxi called her ‘Corporal’ just before the flashback started)
Oh, you’re right. Well, maybe they’re a lot more liberal with the promotions within ArcSWAT? Or it’s possible that they have fewer ranks in their world. When I was looking at military ranks, this system popped for a video game:
https://wiki.erepublik.com/index.php/Military_rank
You’ve got:
Recruit
Private
Corporal
Sergeant
Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Commander
Lt. Colonel
Colonel
General
And more beyond that, with each rank having 4 tiers. If we eliminate the tiers though, Halo would be going up one rank from Private to Corporal, and Anvil would also promote one rank from Sergeant to Lieutenant. That’s still a quick promotion for Halo, but Anvil’s could have already been in the works at the time of the flashback.
Actually, Sydney would be going up two ranks, from Recruit to Private to Corporal
Corporal is E-4, so that is a 3 rank jump.
Ron did say to ignore the tiers, so unless there is something either before or after ‘Private’, it’s two ranks from Recruit
Recruit e-1
Private e-2
Private 1st class/ Lance corporal e-3
Corporal e-4
E-2 is when you leave basic.
E-3 is when you start showing your competence.
E-4 is when you start being given a little command training.
E-5 you become a nco.
I feel like some part of “ignore tiers” and the fact that this is a rank system based on a video game was difficult for you to understand. It has the tiniest base on reality. I shared it because it allowed Sydney to promote to corporal in a matter of months, which would be far less unrealistic than if the system were based on real world military ranks.
Duly noted. It is unlikely that General Faulk will approve the change to video game ranks mind. Quite a lot of work has been done in standardising grades within the various branches of the armed forces. Not to mention across all N.A.T.O. nations. So Archon will probably want to conform to the existing standards.
Halo would be keen on it mind, especially if she could level up by playing on Call of Duty.
Military rank has a base 10 ranks for ALL services.
E 1-10 though only 1 holder of E-10 status per branch.
O 1-10.
A few branches may still have warrants which have either 4 or 5 levels.
https://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004604.html
Handy though it may have been in popping up, when you needed it, there are better sources than a video game.
… I’m well aware of the other resources. I said that this came up as part of the search result, and I mentioned it because it’s a lot more simplified than the actual military ranks, and would allow for Sydney to become a corporal a lot less unrealistically.
The cast page is a little out of date, DaveB has been changing his mind about those things
I thought she was introduced as a Major a at the press conference and listed as such on the cast page until just now. I was probably mistaken.
No, fairly sure Hiro was introduced at the conference as a Major
Yeah, Hiro’s a major, and second highest rank, next to Maxima. That part’s been consistent. I was just confused on Anvil’s rank because I was sure she was supposed to a commissioned officer.
So, sometime in the next couple months, we can assume Anvil does something exceptional in the field and gets herself breveted from E-5 (Sergeant) to O-2 (1st Lieutenant), which allows her to skip the senior NCO ranks and 2nd Lieutenant as well.
And Sydney jumps from E-1 (Private, Recruit) to E-4 (Corporal) at the same time.
I smell a team-up…
Nope.
The early ranks depicted in the comic (including the flashback) are due to be corrected, at some time in the future. Dave received advice on what would be more realistic ranks for the members respective ages, roles and experience. He decided to take it, and added the various instances of incorrect ranks being depicted, or mentioned, to his ‘to do’ list.
Awww…
but I like brevet-officers…
*pouts*
S: “I’ll take this that and those…not three probably bounce against my butt when I’m running. That gets annoying”
D: “OH? I kinda like that.”
A: “I thought you left.”
D: “Tell her about my equipment belt.”
A: “Nope. She’s not old enough…well even if she is, she’s not old enough.”
S: “Oh that! I want five of those breath fresheners!”
A: “Sydney, that’s Pepper Spray. Military Strength!”
D: “Imagine the kiss after using that…hmm gives me an idea. Sydney use that stuff and if you can offer to kiss the first man who gets in here.”
A: “That’s likely going to be Math…umm. Go ahead Sydney.”
S: “GASP CACK! ARRRGHHH! I Had tonsils…where are my tonsils…ohhhh the Endorphins. I can see colors and time!”
We do not use hallucinogens as propellants in pepper spray. Sometimes combustible propellants are used, like propane and butane, but that should not displace so much oxygen to cause hallucinations.
Endorphins are natural painkillers that your brain releases. They work the same as morphine
I wonder when Sydney will get a custom made “tube” for those orbs. One with like 7 slots for them so she can quickly get a specific orb out of it, and doesn’t have to take them all out if the one she wants happens to be in the middle of the tube.
How is that better than just floating them above her head though?
Stealth.
And abandon Tubey?
Are you trying to make us cry?
No, Tubey is for special appearances and off-duty stuff, she would do with having a combat-bandolier like Dasky14 described
Tubey levels to Tubey-with-a-bandolier-strap!
Almost like having a second utility belt.
Indeed. And we must remember that Tubey has comic sidekick invulnerability. Despite, most likely, being made of cardboard, Tubey was able to survive the total destruction of the Steak House unscathed! Ceiling falling down on it notwithstanding.
Or perhaps its long association with the orbs has allowed their mystical auras to rub off on it. And it genuinely is an invulnerable artefact now!
It is informed, possibly insightful, speculation. Plus I use a shotgun approach and make many suggestions, over time. One, or more, may be right. I am allowed to hide them in spoilers!
Waaahhh!!! *throws toys out of pram*
A key part of being a genius is keeping track of every hypothesis.
Can’t imagine too many go for the baton. It would generally break easier than most of them can punch, and is among the larger items, not to mention less useful for anything besides combat.
This isn’t the gear for everyone, this is the gear chosen for Sydney, and she just has to pick the few to cram into her Utility Belt
Minimum adventuring/superheroing gear:
-Duct tape is a must. A whole roll might be cumbersome, but at least a few dozen feet of it wound up tight.
-Rope or cord. 50ft is standard, and with modern materials that can be light and compact while keeping enough strength.
-A knife. Never go anywhere without a knife. Ideally bring at least three, one of which is solid enough to chop barriers or saw wood, one of which is well concealed, and one of which doubles as a screwdriver and pliers and such.
-A light source. Flashlights are good, but you want one that’s both bright and lightweight, possibly with color filters for communication and not ruining your night vision. Glowsticks are also good for different reasons.
-A flare gun. Thousands of uses in the life of a superhero, from signalling for aid all the way to lighting people on fire.
-The aforementioned lockpicks. Breaking through doors is easier for you than for some people, but you will often want to reduce property damage or get in quietly, and keys are never as conveniently placed as video games might lead you to believe.
-First aid kit. And the training to use it well. Ideally one that was customized by the experts on base, and which you have specific training with, to minimize delay in the field.
-Spyglass, opera glasses, or compact binoculars.
-chalk. lots of uses, tiny little weight.
-A smartphone. Yes, you have those super advanced communicator bracers, but you should always have a backup comm, and this comes with an extra flashlight, gps, notebook, alarm clock, etc. Generally turned off, ideally stored in a Faraday cage when you don’t need it, to ensure that your insecure civilian technology doesn’t become a liability.
If you’re heading away from civilization, add:
-tiny solar charger for phone, flashlight, etc.
-at least one canteen (the encumbrance will be well worth it)
-two days MREs
-folding shovel/entrenching tool
-small bottle of pure capsaicin
Additional useful weaponry (for maximum versatility, not offensive power):
-pepper spray
-taser
-collapsible baton
-zip ties (saves time and rope)
-smoke and/or tear gas grenades (extra effective when you have a bubble shield
Do not bother with:
-grappling hook. Yeah it’s cool, but there is no purpose for which it is superior to your tentacle or flight orbs.
-that crowbar. Your heaviest knife will serve for the purpose if there’s a task for which superpowers aren’t appropriate.
-throwing knives. We know you aren’t proficient with them, and you’re getting a sidearm anyway; don’t waste weight on heavy blades you’re just going to throw away.
-hammers, axes, etc. Why are these in the utility belt options? Oh, right, some people here have super strength and can just ignore encumbrance.
-knives which have no purpose outside of combat, like that kukri. You really, really don’t want to be in a knife fight. If you find yourself in one anyway, a sturdy tool knife will serve fine.
-the big heavy flashlights. Yes, they can serve as a baton in a pinch. You know what? You could bring a real tactical baton and a little LED flashlight for less weight and less volume, and they would both be better at their task than a combination of the two. Take something you can hold easily with two fingers or your teeth instead.
-too many grenades. at some point you’re not gaining any more flexibility and you’re adding a lot more junk to carry. Stop well before that point.
-too many knives. See above. I love knives, but I would never carry more than five of them and at least three of those would be tiny.
Also extremely useful, especially for Sydney: A head mounted flashlight
This is of course for urban deployment. If they ever go into the wild, you should add a foldable shovel (all in one axe, hammer, shovel, toilet), a big flashlight, and a machete.
Tiny LED flashlights light up shit all, and their primary function is to alert the quarry to where you are while they are still well hidden (they could be standing within a foot of the beam and they won’t show up, but they can follow the beam back to you and end you)
Sydney would benefit quite a bit from the extra leverage the crowbar gives, at least until/unless the lighthook gains more fine motor control.