Grrl Power #429 – Snap judgements
I always imagined Pixel being anime-ish (though I realize she maybe looks like a 10 year old a little bit the way I wound up drawing her on this page) Still, it was a while before I thought about how Sydney might react to that. Not that Sydney literally looks like a cartoon, I mean, if this was a live action movie. I try and use slightly different art styles to make each character more recognizable, or at least that was the intent when I started the comic. Really it’s come down to most everyone getting drawn in a standard western comic style and then Sydney is considerably more manga influenced. Really Harem is supposed to look a bit more Disney Princess, Dabbler is supposed to be… evil manga chick, like the kind that smacks you with a riding crop and does the “Oooh ho ho ho!” laugh. Anyway, the point is that it did not escape Sydney’s notice that her and Pixel share more than a few attributes.
Specs is a cameo character courtesy of BrainBlow, (comments handle.) We haven’t seen the last of her or even all her abilities, but it made sense given her spectravision that they’d want her to take a gander at Sydney’s orbs.
Yes, Pixel and Specs should both have Who’s Who entries, but it’s the weekend after A-kon and I’m wiped out so I’ll get those added later today. Speaking of which, A-kon was fun. Fred Perry of Gold Digger didn’t make it this year and there was a disappointing webcomics showing because of some staff turnover behind the scenes, but overall it was enjoyable. I grabbed dinner with a few fans and we let our nerd flags fly a bit. I actually missed the con on Saturday though cause I was working on the comic. I really need to figure out a way t draw faster. :P
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Totally random thought, but as long as we’re also talking about the skill tree… What if the two unknown orbs have powers that, for whatever reason, require both of them to be used at the same time? It seems like something Sydney might miss trying out.
A very good point. We’re not sure what orbs she’s tried with what powers, in what combinations.
Granted, we’ve already seen that the known orbs seem to be able to work in whatever combination Sydney wants, so it would stand to reason that the remaining two are of similar nature, but until we know, it’s fun to speculate.
My other main theory is that one of the orbs produces breathable atmosphere, making it generally pointless on Earth.
I also seem to recall that a lot of people have speculated that one of the remaining is the power source for all the others, though given that it has its own branch of the skill tree, seems unlikely.
A skill line for a power source works too though. For instance a bigger battery or faster charging. Shielding from power-source-disrupting-powers. Maybe even a skill point for “adapter so I can charge things other than the orbs”. *charges phone while flying to work*
Seems a fair guess. But do not forget that Sydney has grown faint-headed, from lack of oxygen, during the Battle at the Steak House Car Park™. Which was verified to be the problem when she lowered her shield, briefly, at Maxima’s suggestion, and quickly recovered.
Had Halo grabbed the correct mystery orb, that may have fixed the problem. In which case, we can speculate on the other skills already unlocked on that orb. Given that they both have several. One might provide room-temperature warmth to the user (or all the occupants of the force field, if that is raised). The other might protect from radiation. Another might protect against poisons and/or biological agents.
One might be specifically for light based attacks (which I think we saw she has) and another for magical effect blocking (like with Kevin’s anger aura).
I think that would be a very cool power for one of the mystery orbs – the power to survive in different types of environments (even without the shield – like maybe different dots on the skill tree for those orbs represent different environments she can survive in – underwater, extreme heat, extreme cold, vaccuum of space, etc. Which would make that with a combination of the fly orb useful.
I doubt it–that seems too mundane and practical for the RPG-like elements that Sydney’s orbs seem to represent. They probably do have some sort of synergy with the other orbs, but so far, we haven’t seen any evidence of a unique combo effect from any other orbs, so I doubt that the remaining two have the same issue. Really and truly, the only thing I can think of is that Sydney’s remaining two orbs do something that Sydney would never have cause to notice. In all likelihood, the way the powers seem planned out so far, one of them would probably have to do with opposing super-powers, but that’s all I could really tell you. The other could be for environmental purposes, but it might not be.
I don’t think so Yorp. The reason being is that we have already seen her shield stop several things that those would fall under, ie radiation, and with all the unknown nodes to fill out, not to mention the fact that she doesn’t know all of the powers of the orbs that she can use, it is possible that her shield will stop just about everything. Most likely, if one of the orbs is for healing, we will say the green one (because green numbers are generally good numbers), then it would negate the need to block against any poisons or bio-agents that would slip past her shield.
I don’t think that one of them would provide breathable atmo for Sydney, it is too specialized, on top of the fact that she wouldn’t be able to fly if that were the case. Remember, she can only hold two orbs at the same time. More than likely, that kind of power would be something that would come from one of the connections with the shielding orb.
I am more than happy to run with any suggestion, and this was a good one. I expect that, if it turns out to be correct, one of the upgrades will be for hands-free operation. It is not like you need to direct them to control them directly for such operation. A default of “always on” is perfectly acceptable for protective items of that nature.
Claiming that one orb will not have a function because another orb has something which overlaps that is not definitive proof, I am afraid. Given that the orbs already do something of that sort. Namely the Fly Ball provides protection from buffeting, and other minor harmful effects of flight, whilst at the lower operational speeds. Something she would otherwise need to use the Shield orb for. Although that does become necessary at high speed.
Duplicating function as regards radiation, biological hazards, and the ilk would not be wasted. In fact they would be highly desirable. Halo would be the most desirable search and rescue asset on the planet!
She would be able to enter a deadly zone, bring victims within her shield (which would probably kill her, in due course, under the restrictions you propose) and grant them protection from the ongoing effects. Possibly curing them but, at a minimum, preventing any progression, until they can be turned over to specialists to give them conventional care.
Healing is one of the most frequent suggestions for the mystery orbs. Which would be good. Further they could also replicate the above capabilities, by curing, rather than protecting. With suitable upgrades to do more than simple trauma healing, of course. What closes an open wound will not necessarily be of any use to undo radiation damage, toxins or kill biological organisms.
The one thing which points away from that though is that Sydney herself has been injured a number of times. As have colleagues (notably Heatwave’s lost toe). Yet Halo has not used the orb to cure them. She is a veteran gamer. There is absolutely no way she will not have tested that option, in my opinion.
As we can see, on the next page, Sydney has clearly been doing some such things in-between pages. Otherwise she would try to call up the skill-tree, rather than reply that she has been unable to figure out how to do so.
Of course there could be a reason why Halo has not been able to heal. Which she may be able to overcome. I do not rule out good ideas. I just point out any problems that we know about already.
Also if what Dabbler is Drawing IS Halo’s Skill tree and if all of the colored in spots are the pre filled orbs plus the one she picked then it might be that the spots on the lines linking each orb are a sort of Duelcasting perk. Like if her Defender has a line to Lighthook the it could allow her to phase it in and out of her sheild.
Probably. And it is her skill tree. Here it is from Dave’s Deviant account:
https://davebarrack.deviantart.com/art/Halo-s-Skilltree-Wallpaper-01-428873707
Thanks for the link. This is a bit off topic, but while on Dave’s art page I also noticed that the spectrum gals lineup has more individuals in it than in the original. https://davebarrack.deviantart.com/art/Spectrum-Gals-mk2-563539506. It is worth another look.
Thanks for the heads-up.
Five girls of each colour? Sounds like super-heroine sardines to me.
Okay, at a guess, based on what we’ve seen so far, here’s my latest theory, which I will hold for something like three seconds. Maybe less. It would be longer, but I don’t really have the attention span for anything longer.
Anyway, here goes:
Blue: flight
This orb seems to be focused upon movement. It would highly logical to expect this orb, therefore, to be mostly built around movement. Judging from the skill tree art, it looks like there are four different improvement branches–one of them would logically center around speed, while another may well center around raw carrying capacity, or maneuvering capability. The other branches remain a mystery, although I expect one of them, which seems to be reliant upon an entire skill tree being filled out, will allow her to basically achieve FTL speeds, if not actually teleporting from one location to another (which would seem to be a requirement for long-distance travel), while another, which seems to require two levels to improve, will probably prove to be oriented around either high pressure environments (undersea movement, and/or digging through rock), or low-pressure environments, such as space. I judge it to be more likely to affect low-pressure environments, if not both, and suspect it will probably give her air to breath when the local atmosphere cannot. The fourth branch I am unsure about. Internally, the synergy skills with most of the abilities are not lit, although the energy beam IS lit, presumably allowing Sydney to do something like strafing runs…or, potentially, to allow her to somehow lock on to rapidly moving targets.
Red: Energy beams/offensive.
Judging from the tree here, I suspect we have two skill trees. One of them–the long one–likely corresponds to raw offensive power. The second one likely relates to what form the attack takes, dictating whether it is a beam, an energy sword, magic missiles, a ground-shock like Dabbler’s ice trick, or even a bolt spell of some kind. Presumably, there is one form that would form something like a wall of destruction, but that may require all of the skills to be filled. It is also possible that the round tree affects both attack form, and what elements it invokes–perhaps she can attack with electrical, entropic (ice), radiation-based, or other forms of attack as well. The isolated skill, again, likely lets you use the orb in radically different circumstances, allowing you to act as more than just a ranged combatant. The chosen synergy dot with the blue orb would seem to indicate that offensive options can be used while moving, or in some way that is related to motion, but that is all I can tell you. The internal dots continue to elude me in terms of potential meanings.
Purple/pink: Lighthook/manipulation
This orb appears to be focused around one’s ability to manipulate objects from a distance. Like the blue orb, it has four branches to its skill tree, however, unlike the blue orb, all four are already available. One of these abilities presumably controls how much weight can be lifted, while another presumably controls the range the lighthook can reach, and another would logically determine how much force the lighthook can exert upon objects within its grasp. The forth tree could indicate different forms the projection can take, or it could indicate different types of scale over which the tentacle can operate. To give you an idea why that is important, if you start fiddling around with microchips, anything beyond just ripping the old one out and putting a new one in rapidly gets you into manipulating the placement of individual molecules, which in fiction is something that is usually relegated to bad science fiction. Manipulations required to do surgery, or any number of other finicky tasks, are also similarly delicate and precise–if that is the last skill set, it would likely pay to invest in it quickly.
As for the singleton dot, I suspect that it would allow Sydney to do one of three things: either it allows her to use the lighthook as something other than a tentacle, or it allows her to use it to dampen outside influences on whatever she is grasping, or it allows her to use her tentacle inside what appears to be its inner safety zone. Either that, or it allows her to use the light hook like Byakuga’s flower blades.
Synergy here is only somewhat of a mystery–synergy with the blue orb would logically allow Sydney to bring others with her on her trips, while synergy with the red orb would likely let her give her energy attacks a kinetic component. Synergy with the yellow orb likely allows her to manipulate objects using her holographic projection, while synergy with the actual purple orb would let her manipulate her force field.
Yellow: Telepresence/projection/truesight
This one is trickiest to guess DaveB’s intentions on, since it seems to be by far the most flexible. However, I can make SOME guesses. This orb appears to center around remote projection of some description. Right now, all it can project is Sydney’s presence, and/or her senses, as well as give Sydney access to certain sets of sense that are not normally available to her (such as the true-sight function, which appears to give her magic-sight that functions as a superior version of Dabbler’s own sight). It has five sets of skill trees, plus the single double-link, and the oddball. I suspect that the mostly-filled tree represents Sydney’s ability to project an illusion of herself, and to make it appear to be doing something different, or holding something different, than what she herself is, while the doubleton represents her truesight function, although I don’t know what the second bubble does. The other tree, with only one dot, probably represents her ability to project her senses, and further dots likely allow her to project it without visible warnings, through ordinarily sense-dampening substances, and so on and so forth. One of the untapped trees likely lets her improve her own, direct senses, without the use of the illusion, while another probably allows her to project multiple illusions. The doubleton probably lets her change the appearance of her illusion, and I would guess that the singleton dot lets her see spells and powers as they are being used, such as Vehemence’s “everybody fight each other” design on the pavement.
In terms of synergy, the yellow orb probably allows other orbs’ powers to be used remotely, from the (or one of the) projection’s location, instead of Sydney’s actual location.
Green: ???/utility
The green orb’s function is as yet unknown, but judging by other super-powers out there, and by the fact that it’s green, I’m guessing it represents a utility tree–possibly the ability to access hammerspace, or to track items or people from a distance (or both). It has two skill trees, and a double-linked dot, of which the double-linked orb and one of the skill tree dots are lit. I have no idea what this means, but if it is a utility orb, one of them likely reflects her inventory and/or encumbrance capacity, and would thus logically allow her to carry much more stuff when she has it in her hand, possibly by shoving it all into hammerspace. Likewise, the unused skill tree likely has something to do with language, customs, etc, of the beings she encounters.
Logically, this orb, if it is utility, would have some very weird synergies with other orbs, which likely could not be easily predicted.
Orange: ???/Responsive
This is, I think, a responsive orb–its powers, like the green orb, would logically not emerge until or unless something happened to trigger them, and they would otherwise be unknown. The orb’s powers may activate whether Sydney is holding the orb or not (they would do little good, otherwise), but are probably more powerful, and easier to control, if she is holding the orb. They would also be so situational that Sydney would never find out what they did until she started being a superhero. Of the two skill trees, I would assume one to protect against poison and disease (the next will likely defend against radiation, high gravity, and Heaven knows what else), while the other, with only one dot, likely functions to provide her with some kind of enhanced luck ability, or some true oddball, like the ability to shrink, or grow, as circumstances demanded. The double-linked dot would likely give her either a healing factor, or the ability to communicate over long distances.
Synergistically, I have no idea how this would interact with the other orbs, except that the green orb and the orange orb, if I’ve understood their functions correctly, likely provide encyclopedia articles about the things Sydney “scans.”
Purple: Shields/defensive
This appears to be Sydney’s primary defensive power suite, and it seems somewhat less developed than the others. I have to suspect that it is not, but that it looks simpler on paper. It has two skill trees, a singleton, and a double-linked skill, which presumably takes two skill points to activate. I believe that the longer skill tree makes the forcefield stronger, which would make sense, while the trio of skill points would logically let her deflect some or all of the incoming attacks, as seems appropriate to her. The singleton likely lets her transform her shield from a sphere or hemisphere into straight or angled wall (angling the shield would improve its defensive abilities, but at the risk of leaving Sydney vulnerable to flanking), while the double-linked skill likely allows her to create her own personal shield that sort of overlays her like a second skin.
Combined with the lighthook, this orb probably allows her to shape her shield however she wishes, possibly doing so at a distance from herself. Combined with the red orb, she probably gets an edge to her shield, which allows her to use it to slice and/or dig more precisely than the beam allows.
If you look through the comic, you will see that the shield does already alter a lot, under different circumstances. Becoming more aerodynamic in fast flight, for example. Or confirming when it comes into contact with something. The most obvious example being the ground, where it forms a hemisphere, rather than a sphere. Plus it does have the “embigenner” icon, allowing it to become much larger.
The two rings of dots that you cant seem to understand are actually direct links between non-adjacent spheres in the tree.
Right now only the shield and flight are linked orbs.
The Outer of the 2 rings is made up of dots linking orbs 2 away from the current orb.
The inner ring is to made up of dots that link orbs that are 3 away from the current orb. B
Between the 2 rings, are 7 dots that activate the different wedges of the center circle. Im getting a definite Trivial Pursuit vibe from those. The two lit represent the orbs in the same rotational position, and those are also the two orbs that we have the most robust understanding of the features.
While Pixels, suggestion of learning if that’s the way the extended features are enabled, I think Sydney would be better off instead placing new dots into positions which would allow better inter-orb communication rather than extending her already strong flight skills.
For instance placing a point linking forcefield and and the PPO should allow her to shoot though the field. right now when she uses the PPO she is a soft target, either on the ground or in the air. I think the dot linking for the forb and flight is why her shield streamlines when she is flying at speed.
Assuming I’m not barking up the wrong tree with any of this, that still leaves eight dots unaccounted for–the seven in the center circle, and then the very center dot. I believe those dots represent the orbs’ ability to affect things that they normally cannot affect, which would explain why Sydney did not get caught up in Vehemence’s spell attack against the rest of the team. The red center dot would likely allow her to attack things that are not, actually, real (either illusions or ghosts), while the pink center-orb would logically have the same effect. Yellow center would likely allow for dimensional cruising, while the other two yet remain mysteries. The very center-most orb probably allows for her ultimate power, and I have to admit to being curious as hell as to what it might be.
Woof!
Sydney did get caught up in Vehemence’s aggro aura. But only when she lowered the shield, moved close to him, then raised it, with him on the inside with her. We have seen that the shield is impervious to everything supernatural that has been thrown at it. Be it Maxima’s blast, laser attacks, or Harem’s attempt to teleport through it.
Which includes Vehemence’s aggro aura. Everyone outside of the shield was protected when Vehemence was inside it. Conversely Sydney then had to try fight off the urge to attack him, as she no longer had the force field between them.
The rest of your speculation, in the various comments above, is interesting. Some well-substantiated, and I think logical extensions of what we have observed (such as some of the PPO conclusions you draw), whilst others are far more speculative, but interesting, none-the-less.
Having plowed through the various posts, I can see your fandom is stronger than mine. :D
Nice work and reasonable speculation without making any unfounded assumptions (at least, from evidence and my point of view – I concede I’m not combing the archives to document the orbs fully and that I tend to over-speculate based on available information).
Ugg I clicked the wrong reply. My comments about the rings ended up in the discussion about the shield.
I think the 2 unknown orbs may have a delayed activation trigger based on how Sydney makes use of the orbs. Wouldn’t do to assign the orbs to a person who would misuse the powers of the orbs, now, would it?
What if the two unknown orb are designed to be the third or fourth orb held? Designed by a race more like Dabbler, with four arms? Halo would have to be held by Varia to reach full potential, if Varia’s power does let her share the orbs.
I’m hoping one of the unknown orbs de-powers other super-powered beings. That’d be an interesting twist and perhaps make all her new friends a little afraid of her…
Possibly, but the author has expressed an aversion to power-nullification abilities. As such there are none in this setting. Powers have to be cancelled by specific means, rather than simply have a one power negates anything capability. So fire counters ice and so on. I suspect that power-draining will fall under the same category.
They have? Any hints to where to look for that? Probably some author note I’ve forgotten, interesting though.
Pretty early on. Trouble is that it was not on a page which you might expect and was in reply to a reader’s comment, rather than in Dave’s blog. So it will not be easy to track down.
We have linked to it in the past, but the bigger the comic gets, the harder it is to find specific quotes like that. I just did a Google advanced search for it, and came up blank, I am afraid.
What you will find in-comic though, which supports this, is a couple of mentions of needing to use rock-paper-scissors tactics. To find a super who can easily overcome a foe, because of the way their powers interact.
This makes for the much more interesting challenge, for both author and readers, to find clever ways to defeat a powerful individual. Rather than whipping out a kryptonite that works against all supers.
I ended up doing an archive dive and came across this page which mostly covers it. I don’t recall reading it the first time though but it has a comment page so it must have been published normally ;)
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1881
Syd already tried that. During the initial interview she held them both at the same time, and said that nothing seemed to be happening.
I assumed the two orbs required a specific command to start. Like for example one orb can make golems of various numbers and sizes but requires Sydney to say something specific like “I summon thee, Fire golem.” Or possibly the power over animal life. I doubt Sydney tried going out to the nearest forest and tried commanding the animals or at least talking to them.
Sydney did go to the forest and say “I summon thee, Fire golem.” Or a very close variant. But only the once, given that she burnt it down!
I thought she was just trying out the orbs and just happened to use the PPO.
Yea, it was the PPO. But it has to be very deliberately invoked. Ok, it only requires intense mental effort, but we know Sydney. There is no way she would have tried activating it without some witty one-liner. And almost certainly something with a super-hero or role-playing game theme.
I could imagine Sydney in an anime style opening using her orbs to kick butt. She just plays Dragonball music in her head and imagines she is power beaming Freeza to death
I’ve said before: she has already held them both at the same time:
Grrl Power #90 – Grand Mal Willies
And as per comic: she knows when they are active (I assume they glow brighter when held), but there is no obvious effect.
And Dave will be laughing at us because he already know no only the powers produced, but the full skill tree behind them.
That does eliminate passive effects* which have an obvious result. But does still leave open active effects. Most of the orbs powers are of the latter nature. Flying, wielding the tentacle, projecting her image, firing the PPO, and raising her force field all require mental control to activate.
Likewise, even if just holding two particular orbs created an effect, if the result was not visible, or only worked under particular circumstances, then simply holding them will look like they do nothing. Take the earlier suggestion of allowing Halo to breathe normally.** As she was doing that anyhow, it had no apparent result. However try it again, whilst underwater, or in space, and she will realise the benefit.
Finally there remains the possibility, that the mystery orbs need to be used in conjunction with the other orbs. The Ctrl and Shift suggestion made earlier. Sydney has owned them for months now though. So she almost certainly has tried all combinations, given that she only has to test one colour in each hand to do that. But if it also requires mentally willing an appropriate result, the more obscure ones may still be on her “to test” list, for such combinations.
* Such as the Truesight. Sydney unmasked “Greeny” a.k.a. “Jeanie” accidentally, whilst just holding the orb.
** Although that was initially suggested as just needing a single mystery orb.
Has she ever mentioned attempting to press any of the sigils on the Mystery Balls?
She actually tried to use both mystery orbs at the same time waaaaaaay back on this page here.
I have a few different theories about the mystery orbs. My favorite one is that the green one is a healer orb, and the brown one is some kind of geomancer/geokenetic dealio that requires her to be barefoot and on dirt (I like this idea because shoes are total ass). I’ve also postulated that one of both of them need to be used in conjunction with another orb, or possibly can be used with all of the other non-mystery orbs. Possibly they act as boosters, or, maybe in the case of the ppo, change the attack type from fire to some other elemental type.
One of my big questions is, can she hold two orbs in one hand? Maybe it’s just because my best friend is a contact juggler with balls about that size, and he teaches me stuff sometimes, but I could definitely hold two of those at a time in one hand.
Re. your last. personally I always contend that she cannot, and will not be able to, hold more than two. Sydney is a very clever gamer and has been trying to do that for months and has failed. Which she explained in the interview. I expect that, after discovering them, Sydney was trying to hold two, in one hand, within the first half an hour of reaching the beach.
It is my belief that the author has set the limit carefully. It makes Sydney powerful, but gives her times when she will be unable to do something, because of that limit. Which will mean Halo will need to come up with a cunning solution. As opposed to being so overpowered, that no situation will ever challenge her.
Dave has come up with a cunning way that Halo can exceed the limit. But not without help.
I’m looking forward to when Varia and Sydney figure that trick out. :D
Now that Sydney is in a group with many. many people who have more analytical ability and scientific background than she does, some application of the scientific method on experimenting with the unknown orbs is pretty much a given. They are a resource which should be utilized, after all. And given the utility of the known orbs, this should be a fairly high priority. Especially since it wouldn’t take a lot of time to draw up a checklist of things to attempt.
You would then check off things which were tried and under what conditions, and let the list grow as people came up with new experiments. Such as Harem suggesting that Sydney smash her hand with a hammer. :-P
Was supposed to be a comma between the manys.
I must show solidarity and dislike Pixel. She … has pink hair… she is just copying Peggy and Harem.
True dat; I honestly confused her with Peggy at first.
Pixel’s eyes.. irritate me : /
+10
You have every right to that.
What the Hael is wrong with her eyes? o_O
I think Pixie’s reaction is based on knowing that it’s like Specs is akin to “looking right through you,” or “seeing all of your secrets.”
I don’t like Pixel just because she’s wearing, what’cha call ’em… capris! Capris are ass.
That’s fairly capricious of you >_>
NO. BAD GUESTICUS.
Only a three-quarter-hearted attempt at humor.
Is Pixel from somewhere else? She kinda sorta maybe seems familiar to me
She has appeared previously in the comic. If I can find the page, I’ll post it here.
Oh, right, during one of the views of the conference slash lecture room, she was one of the unknown faces
But she seems kinda more familiar than that (but probably wrong, usually am)
Found it, and yes, that looks like her in the auditorium: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1873
Now I want a high resolution version of the older pages as well. No, scratch that. I’ve wanted that since before I chipped in with the Patreon.
So what’s with the “They told me you were weird”? She saw Sydney’s “Who is Varia’s dad” betting pool herself, and shouldn’t need anyone else’s opinion.
It is a linguistic defence mechanism. Making an accusation, but shifting the accuser to a nebulous “they”.
Which shows poor character. I don’t like her.
*looks up to Sydney, with a loyal expression, seeking some sign of approval*
And Pixel is sitting next to Gwen, so we know that they know each other. But do they know that we know that they know?
She greets Sidney with an “Hola”, so she’s Hispanic… and she goes after artifacts which means she explores…
She’s Dora the Explorer, all grown up!
….for certain values of “up.”
Lol.
Certainly can’t be worse than the ‘official’ grown-up Dora (who traded in her Boots for a hat)
Sydney doesn’t like Pixel cuz she’s stealing her shorstack niche and just oozes manga/anime with her main character colored hair and too-big eyes huh? Tsk-tsk
Both Sydney and Pixel are short, but neither of them is a shortstack.
My personal reading is that Sydney was hoping Pixel was shorter than her. Freeing her up from the embarrassment of being the shortest on the team. So was crushed to find that even the short Pixel was taller than her. And had ‘cuter’ big round eyes.*
* Judging by how anime generally likes making eyes the size of dinner plates. Which I just find unappealing. Dave manages to get it just right with Sydney though. Just enough size increase to bring out the cuteness, without getting in to bug-eyed-monster territory.
May I commend the Youtube search string “mamamoo 1cm eng sub” for Sydney (and anyone else who wants to stress about height? ;) )
One thing that will occur to Arc-Light: Sydney is not the first owner of the Amazeballs. They have already been leveled-up several times. It’s probably up to Super-powered Archaeology to tell us more.
“…Super-powered Archaeology…”
Or someone with Post-Cognition powers…Presuming they could get any reading at all.
;)
Well, it’s pretty much by definition that Sydney isn’t the first owner, since she found them rather than made them (although, on consideration that’s making an unconfirmed assumption as well).
It’s possible that Sydney’s original experimentation with the orbs prior to the start of the comic explains why some power-ups are active.
It’s also possible that those powers are the “base powers” that require very little effort to activate and anyone could have used those abilities as long as they had a link to the orbs.
However, your theory has some appeal to it. Might make for an interesting story somewhere along the line.
Eggs don’t necessarily have an owner. But they do have a mother.
However, if it had been Sydney’s experimentation that set the existing levels in the orbs, she wouldn’t have been so surprised at when the power-assignment mandala appeared after the news conference, and she would already have had experience setting the orbs in place.
Her surprise at the appearance of the mandala, and the fact that she discovered she couldn’t reset one of her ‘points’ make it essentially impossible that she had engaged in any sort of point-assignment before the start of the comic.
Again, an assumption. One might not be able to assign the base values on the trees.
And the “owner’s manual” of the mandala may not be “point assignment” but rather “you’ve figured out these things”.
There may be an element of “The Greatest American Hero” going on with Sydney and her orbs.
Not stating this as a categorical fact, mind you. Just keeping an open mind about them.
I should have noticed the internal space on the balls was larger then the external dimension.
Arrrrrrg.
Eventually it may come out that there was a dead body down there where she found them. Clearly the previous owner died there, where she found them — “off the keys.” Since there is clearly no other way to separate from them aside from death, Syney will surely be Halo, even as an old lady. That also means one day WAY down the road, she will have to pick a successor to link with the orbs after she dies, so they don’t fall into the wrong hands. Random thought.
Sydney has picked a successor. Sydney Scoville III.
By reasonable deduction, if there was the dead body of one of Sydney’s descendants in that shipwreck, it would have to involve some kind of mishap with time travel & substandard prophylactics…
Who said it was a descendant? Could be an ancestor, or someone not even related to humans, like a dolphin
And if we are going to bring up time travel, maybe it is Sydney’s bones under the coral
A dolphin with super powered orbs?
I see what you did there. : D
What makes you think even death can separate them? They could continue floating around her bones until the end of days. Or she gets reincarnated.
I can see others coming forth to see if they can get selected as replacements like the sword in the stone.
Unless there’s some natural (such as fossilization) or artificial (such as cryogenics) preservation going on, then even her bones would eventually break down into their components molecules & feed the environment…Orbs would (most likely) detach themselves from her by then, if not sooner.
Reincarnation wouldn’t suffice; Sydney’s soul would be reborn into a new body. Resurrection might work, as that involves using the same corpse, though.
Also, last time I heard about it, the sword in the stone didn’t require someone to die, before selecting a new owner…
;)
They settle down even when she goes to sleep. I don’t think that death would see them aimless circling for all eternity.
Maybe the previous owner was a member of an interstellar law-&-order agency called the ‘Rainbow Orbs Corps’?
^_^
A.K.A. “Spectrum”.
Captain Scarlet (Captain Black was cooler though :P)
Agreed
Office dress shirt + shoulder holster harness = oddly appealing.
I’m weird.
I bet you had the hots for Scully?
Seconded.
I think that “…it did not escape Sydney’s notice that her and Pixel share…” should be “…it did not escape Sydney’s notice that she and Pixel share…”. Just precise grammar nitpicking.
Hey, you forgot to flash your Grammar Police badge! Flash, then correct!
Bill Barnicke would be ashamed (he owes me money, you know). :D
Sorry to ask but “Oooh ho ho ho”? Really is that a thing now???
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoblewomansLaugh
NOOOO!
What are you worried about, Yorp? You’re past your first year by now, aren’t you?
:P
You care if an infant dies, don’t you?
+1
Only in Japanese anime…
So pray tell, what must I do to get my own character cameo?
Being a Patreon for a start
It is the reward for the top tier of patrons. You can see the details using the Patreon button, which you can find below the “Who’s Who” and voting panels. Or by clicking on this link.
Has anyone surmised or postulated that unknown #1 is ‘shift’ and unknown #2 is ‘ctrl’?
Then shouldn’t there also be another orb that functions as ‘alt’?
Alt? Isn’t that was Sydny is. :D
Frankly I’m more worried about Del than any of those…
Could there be more orbs than just the ones Sydny has found?
Don’t forget meta. https://foldoc.org/double%20bucky
I never forget Meta.
Sydney, new rule. Do not touch three orbs simultaneously. Not even with Varia’s help. If you use CTRL+ALT+DEL, you might accidentally start deleting your processes. Don’t forget the whoops with the skill pick!
For the end of the world spell… press ctrl+alt+del… twice.
I seem to remember a certain game voice-over about that.
meh… I’m partial to Snake Plissken’s “Code 666”
Need to draw faster? Try using crayons. :D
Pixel is more tomboy than Sydney, with the bare feet, leather jacket, and toothpick, thus adding to her cute factor. Not that that might be the main, or even part of the reason for Sydney’s dislike. Back when I associated with my sisters, I witnessed similar behaviors from them. So, this is not an inaccurate behavior.
On the other hand, I am a pretty quick, and pretty accurate judge of character, and have a pretty good idea if I like/dislike/am indifferent to a person by the time I have shaken his/her hand. Sometimes, even I can’t put a finger on what triggered the decision, but it usually becomes clear, later, what it is that I detected.
I call “instant dislike = yuri subplot”
I wonder if Sydney will doubt Pixel’s abilities to the point that Pixel puts in for a transfer..!?
ARCLight CO:Pixel I got your message and WHY do you want a transfer to Antarctica???
Pixel:I just want a nice,normal excursion away from the weirdos here (meaning Sydney) and make that transfer permanent!
Guess the penguins in speedoes will come as a shock for Pixel then
Pen-Pen, no!
Somebody says secret base in Antarctica, and what I remember about penguins is:
“They crossed them… with piranha?!?“
^_^
Also, try to avoid any penguin who answers to the name of Gunter. He likes to take things.
Sorry, I will have to veto that transfer. I can’t have Pixel stumbling across my Antarctic base, and making Sydney jealous!
Antarctic base? Do you have cold-proof paws as a super power?
All us wolf-descendants do actually. Buffy, my Jack Russell Terrier (a.k.a. Parsons Terrier, in the USA), and I often go out for relatively long walks in deep snow. The only time she baulks at snow is when it is so deep that it goes over her head! And even then she has tried jumping through a snow-drift, like humans dive through an incoming wave, at the beach.
Wolf and dog paws have suitable insulation and a clever trick with the circulatory system, which routes a lot of blood vessels through the paw, to keep it warm. Wolves are better at it mind. Me? I use booties.
:-P
Clarification: Most people still do refer to that breed as the Jack Russell Terrier.
I’ve never heard it referred to as anything other than “Jack Russel Terrier”, not even by the Westminster Kennel Club dog shows…
DO NOT GO TO THE FOLLOWING MENTIONED SITE. I googled it, and it comes up with a warning that it may be hacked. So investigate that issue first, if you wish to check it out.
When I was first asked to look after Buffy, I looked up reputable-sounding sites to get specific care advice, for her breed. One was the RSPCA, another a UK breeders website and the last the “Parson’s Terrier Association of North America” (this being the site which now has the warning I mention above).
The latter indicated that it was the name that Jack Russell Terriers were known by in America. Due to the fact that the breed was originated by Parson Jack Russell.
Thanks though, for the feedback that Jack Russell is in common usage though. That saves me having to translate it again. :-)
I’ve never before heard the term ‘Parsons Terrier.’ Which Google tells me is simply Parson Terrier.
https://www.canidae.com/blog/2013/07/difference-between-parson-jack-russell-and-russell-terrier/
I pretty much despise true breeds. Not for themselves, most dogs are wonderful. But for what they represent: Humanity breeding dogs into in-bred, neurotic, and often physically damaged shapes for their own amusement. Mutts are where it’s at. Hybrid vigor, and all that.
When I originally looked up the names, over five years ago, it pre-dated the A.K.C. recognising Parson Terrier as a breed. Hence there had been no need to distinguish the animals as belonging to one breed or another.
And, even today, none of those are recognised in the UK as official breeds. I think in part because Parson Jack Russell deliberately chose not to register the breed. I infer that he probably had the same feelings, as you and I, on the matter.
None-the-less, despite her age, Buffy could serve as the poster girl for a Jack Russell Terrier association.
This winter we went for a walk up to our village shop. Which takes twenty minutes, at a brisk pace, in good weather. Buffy was fine all the way up, and in the shop. But on the return trip was lagging behind, and exhibiting problems with her paws.
At this point I recalled that we had walked through running water (from a burst water main), early in our outing. Immediately I made that connection, I realised that the water will have negated her blood vessels’ warming ability, in her paws. Further it would put her at risk of frost-bite!
So I unzipped my jacket and picked her up. Buffy briefly wriggled at this. She absolutely loves walking, and prefers to make her own way past obstacles, rather than have me pick her up. However she realised that she was in trouble, and trusts me, so only made a token protest, then co-operated.
Holding her close to my chest, I zipped up my (Antarctic rated) jacket, keeping her head sticking out of the neck, next to mine. Allowing my body warmth to stop frostbite setting in. Buffy settled in for the ride and was curiously looking around her. Enjoying seeing the familiar route, all snow covered, but from a higher vantage point than normal.
The only other traffic we saw, given the blizzard-like conditions, was a snow plough. The operators of which were bemused, at the sight they saw, when looking at us. One being totally confused. His companion though was laughing his head off, seeing two heads sticking out of one coat!
…And, here, my step-father’s little dog runs back inside if the grass is wet, and won’t venture outside if it is snowing…
He’s not really much suited to life as a rural dog–almost got himself taken by an owl, last summer, & didn’t even notice…
Our chihuahua was nearly taken by an owl once: He certainly noticed.
After that, whenever he heard an owl’s cry on the radio or TV, he’d take shelter under a chair…
If Pixel had any real pull in the military, she’d have Sydney transferred to Antarctica…
Talk about missing that left turn at Albuquerque…https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1646, panel 4.
The new characters are quite visually appealing. Looking forward to seeing their power sets and personalities in more detail.
Congrats, BrainBlow!
How did Sydney not spaz on the detail that the balls are bigger on the inside…?
Look above. Sydney measures things. She probably already observed that. But got too distracted to mention it, when talking about them.
I’m not seeing that. Sure, she measures height and eye size… Measuring the inside of a solid sphere independently of its exterior? That’s a neat trick, which I might try with a properly tuned light source and a number of careful measurements – why I expect specs there is prepared to comment on dimensions.
Fair enough.
As for freaking out? That was the final frame of the page…
DR. WHO reference!! I get it! ^_^
I’ve might’ve mentioned this before,but does ARC have a special division for those with a criminal record or background(i.e. ties to the various world mafias)or those serving in military jails?!?!?
Who can imagine Sydney in charge of a Dirty Dozen-type team???
Arc-Dark is the black ops arm of Archon. It would not be surprising if some of them had criminal records, somewhere in the world. Possibly under one alias or another. And maybe whilst in service to their country.
They (and Arc-Light, the intelligence branch) are bound to have criminal contacts of various sorts.
The thought of Halo as a Dirty Dozen sergeant would be frightening. But, although I can see her trying to bluff it, I think she would be highly unsuited to the role. She tries to project a tough tom-boy image (see her sizing up Pixel, above), when she is not pranking around. But underneath she has a host of insecurities, and is really soft hearted.
The Dirty Dozen included several murderers, rapists and similar, in their ranks. They would see through Sydney’s front pretty fast, and would take advantage of her, at the first possible opportunity. Whilst Halo has the power to counter that, if she is fighting her own team, the job is not getting done.
Instead of murderers and rapists,they would be four teenage girls,unless there’s no age restriction for ARC enlistment?!?
Girl#1-A tough looking type from the wrong side of the tracks,has powers similar to Sydney’s orbs and Harem.Currently on probation.
Girl#2-New Age devotee,kind of shy and withdrawn.Has New Age based powers.Also on probation.
Girl#3-Transgendered Native American blessed with divine goddess powers,that came with a price and that price gives her a suspicious looking bulge between her legs(!!) Sent to ARC on a court order.
Girl#4-Magical Girl wannabe type! Possessing powers of said magical girl. Sentenced to either enlist in Archon or spend the next forty years on a chain gang!!!!
The two are on probation,so they tell Peggy that they can NOT carry or use firearms unless Arianna has that probation temporarily waived?!?!?
Your idea for girl 3 is… kinda offensive-sounding, to be honest.
Perhaps, but not entirely out of character for a Native American. Most Native American tribes have long been far more tolerant of gender variance than other societies.
I suggest you read this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-Spirit
I am missing the significance of the “FNGM” ‘sound effect’? Googling it just gets one, highly inappropriate, acronym.
Had to google. Have to agree.
What Halo forgets, is she came second :p
Halo never comes second, in my book.
I know it isn’t the actual sound effect in the panel, but in my head the sound when Specs activates her ability is that “FFASH” a flare makes when you light it.
Nnnnnooooo, I didn’t know you were at A-kon. Darn it, I would have loved to see the author of this awesome comic :(
Keep an eye open next year, DaveB is a regular. Likewise if you check out his comments, during convention season. He does make announcements in advance, and even arrange meet-ups. Although A-kon tends to be the only one he has had time for, in the past.
“given her spectravision that they’d want her to take a gander at Sydney’s orbs.”
Wouldn’t mind gandering at a lot of their orbs. Sorry, but you walked into that one.
I’d like to see Dabbler’s skeletal structure…
Later on down the road, we find out the pixel is the true betrayer, and Harem was just pretendin’. It is inevitable.
Oooh!
*glares at Pixel angrily*
Hey! No baiting the puppy!!
*waves a steak under Yorp’s nose* Who’sa good puppy? YOU’RE a good puppy! Yesyouare!
*wags tail happily*
Sorry, but on duty here.
*keeps glaring at Pixel, but backs off, as only suspicious*
oh hey, your number one at topwebcomics now. how have begun gloating?
He’s regularly been at the top there for like two years now. It’s more uncommon for him NOT to be at the top.
No need to be modest. Specs is doing her bit to keep the interest up. Cool characters and intriguing new power-sets catch the readers’ imaginations.
But true enough about keeping the top spot, more often than not. Dave does a consistently great job.
I still have a feeling those orbs are more then they appear to be, something they won’t have expected.
Absolutely, when the winged unicorns hatch, we will all say they are totes amazeballs!
Whew !!!, for a minute there i though you were going to say “when Monkeys fly out of my Butt…”
…that we’d all say they are totes amazeballs!
:D
Dude you comment was rude. :(
How was that rude? o_O
Sorry, I was not intending to be offensive. I was just agreeing with your idea, and offering a comedic example. The ending just being a quote from the comic itself.
As usual, I love Sydney’s expressions. The sulky curling of her lip in panel 5. The awesome mother and daughter pose in panel 6, accompanied by the lower-caps trick indicating Sydney is whispering to Maxima. Capped off by her companionable look, when saying “Her I like”, in the final panel.
Awww. Reached the end of the archive again. No more next page until some other time.
Boo.
So I’ll be back some other time.
.
p.s. Yorp-thing… quit flooding every page with your comments (and that ridiculous avatar). Find something better to do with your life… or at least with a sizeable portion of it.
Dude…getting personal, not so cool. :(
Yorp had been M.I.A. for a couple months, he needs to catch up
yorp is the unofficial mascot of GRRLcomments. he HAS to be in every comments… ALL OF THEM!
says the person who apparently binge-reads the whole archive multiple times then complains that it hasn’t updated yet…
i’m hoping that SotiCoto is just pulling your/our chain, and helpfully notes that the sarcasm didn’t quite come across the way they might have intended it to come across… IF that IS what he intended… if he really was annoyed at Yorp for posting a lot, then, sorry dude, sucks to be you if you can’t handle his post count…
Agreed. To me it reads more like sarcasm, and SotiCoto just forgot the smiley face at the end.
… Sydney, if you are not going to believe Maximas answer, why did you even ask? It makes you look disingenuous, in addition to the territorial attitude and pettiness you were already pulling off.
Yeah, Sydney was just incredibly rude today.
Seconded. Less-than impressive, to me.
Sydney is just being, well, Sydney
I will say that certain of Sydney’s ‘quirks’ make her not-my-favourite character.
Not my LEAST favourite, either, but it shades more in that direction. :)
Which answer? Sydney only asked one question
The one at the bottom. Talking heads under the comic. :)
Oh right, that one
Don’t see her as being ‘disingenuous’, she is replying how a lot of the commenters have replied: in disbelief at Maxi’s claim, if anything, she feels that Maxi is being ‘disingenuous’ with her glib answer
There is nothing glib about saying that she would not express a specific negative emotion.
Point one: It is possible to experience a negative emotion, such as envy, anger or jealousy, and then not expressing that emotion in such a way as to hurt other people. It is entirely possible to have such a negative emotion, and admit that that is how you are feeling, and accept that emotion, but still not accepting it as an excuse to be unpleasant to other people.
Point two: Feeling a negative emotion is not a sufficient excuse to be mean to others. Even if their appearance makes you feel one of the above emotions, even if they are competent in some way you would like to be competent, even if there are people who like them who you want to like only you… the object of your dislike has committed no action to hurt you, they have done no wrong.
If you take an action to hurt them, if you do them wrong, your anger, jealousy or envy is just not enough excuse, because that is wrong.
If someone asks “do you possess the minimum amount of politeness required in our society, which is to say, do you avoid attacking innocents without provocation?”, and the one asked answers “Yes”, there is nothing glib about that, nothing inherently insincere.
It is the appropriate response.
That wasn’t the question, and Maxi’s answer was glib because she knows the likelihood of another ‘gold-plated gladiatrix’ showing up is extremely low
Exasperated Max in panel 6 is kinda cute…
Hey, I thought Max didn’t like it when people were running out checking out women’s orbs!
Stretching the joke a little? Maybe? Okay, I’ll just leave that there and be on my way.
Gods I hate Sydney. Why do I keep finding awesome comics with such irritating main characters.(Forever empowered by the fact that they are the main guy.)
Who said that Sydney is the ‘Main Character’? She is simply the one being focused on because this is her flashback (the real main character is Noel)
I’m entertained by how people seem to think that Sydney is being extremely horrible here. The only thing she is doing is A. being more obvious than people usually are, and B. being more honest about it.
People do this shit ALL THE TIME. We meet a person, we measure them, and we decide right then and there if we like them. Sometimes our opinion changes, but usually it doesn’t. In my experience women are extremely bad for this, but men do it to.
And then usually we pretend to like the person, when we’d really like to toss them out a window.
So here Sydney is just being literal, and honest. Which that honesty is frankly better than the rest of people who smile in a friendly manner while holding a knife behind their back.
And if anyone says “I don’t do that!”, I put a 99% probability that they are lying – possibly without awareness they are lying (I find it incredibly disturbing how completely unaware of themselves the majority of people are – they do things without even realizing they do them, or don’t have a sniff of an idea why they do the things they do).
This is clearly one of those interesting Marmite pages. Which polarise one bunch of folks to love it, yet another group to hate it. You cleverly pinpoint a key tipping point that is underlying how opinion can go either way.
Marmite is the superior! Accept no foul alternatives!! :P
As Eric said, Sydney is doing nothing less than anyone else does (including others in the comic itself), only difference with Pixel is she is being a bit for upfront and obvious about it, but people tend to hate that which shows themselves in a bad light
How is that better? In your day to day life, do you SERIOUSLY think it would be better if everyone wore their hearts on their sleeves about their preconceptions about you? No, that would be freaking awful! Try working in retail for a while if you want the demo version.
No one wants to have their day be filled by people who go around openly being an asshole to you for no goddamn reason! That shit is toxic!
“Honesty”? No, it’s called being an ASSHOLE. It’s not “lying” to keep a straight face, it’s simple damn common decency.
Sidney isn’t exactly a moral role model.
First off, yes, Sydney is being unacceptably rude, by the norms of our society. But that is because our society lies, all the time. Not all societies have to work that way. Personally I would prefer to go to a shop where the assistant told me the truth, if I needed their opinion on something. However I do appreciate your point that it could easily be taken too far and be very unpleasant. Pixel is obviously not happy here, for example.
Note though that Sydney did accommodate her reaction, in whispering the part that could offend her even more. “I don’t like her” is spoken quietly to Maxima. Telling her is actually important, as Maxima is her boss and needs to know team dynamics, in order to minimise personality clashes.*
Although I do appreciate that whispering about somebody, in their presence, is rude. You are right to say Sydney is not a good role model, from that point of view. However genuinely honest people are actually easy to get along with. Once you have gotten used to the perceived rudeness.** You never have to second-guess what their feelings are.
Everybody needs someone in their lives who will be honest to them. Even if it risks harming their relationship. “You are becoming an alcoholic.” “You need to wash and use deodorant more often.”
Yes there are more subtle ways of saying things. But often subtle hints can be missed. Ideally folks should couch things in a more diplomatic way. Unfortunately not everyone has such talents.
Sydney is an awful liar, and it shows in many ways. I like that about her.
* Do bear in mind that Sydney is just as likely to be joking here, in a deadpan manner, and may turn out to get on, like a house on fire, with Pixel. If that is what Sydney is doing, then the lower-case “whispering” should actually be read as being said in sotto voce, allowing Pixel to hear it, and be in on the joke. This is actually the way I interpreted it, on my first read. It feels right.
** How dare you not lie to me! You must not assess me, when observing me. You must pretend to like me, even if you do not.
There’s a difference between “someone being honest” and someone being an asshole.
Why would I give a crap about what some stranger “honestly” thinks of me? Why would it make my life better for people to bother me by blatantly stating that they don’t like my face?
“I’m just being honest” is the excuse of assholes (and dishonest people with anger management issues) who can’t simply admit to being dipshits with no sense of decency.
Sydney has not yet shown signs of being an arsehole towards Pixel: she met her, sized her up (like every one does) although in this case, literally, and then told her superior officer that she didn’t like her, possibly to prevent any future interactions with Pixel
Rude? Not really, she did tell Maxi quietly, if she had said it so the whole room could hear her, then it would be rude
Being an arsehole? Not even close
I totally agree with your sentiments, in the way that you expressed them. Sydney has been rude, and although we differ on just how rude we think she was, rudeness can provoke a strong antipathy. So I fully understand your feelings here. Likewise Pixel’s as expressed in her own comment.
One thing you mentioned though made me appreciate another angle at play here.
Whilst this is true for our conversation about politeness in general society, we have a somewhat different situation here. They are not strangers. They are comrades in arms. Whether or not they have met each other before, they are now tied together. Archon is only a relatively small branch of the military, and its members are likely to work with each other, sooner or later.
Which means that their lives may be in the hands of someone they only know in passing. Pixel might find herself having to watch Sydney’s back, or vice versa.
Possibly Sydney is just being thoughtless here. Which does not put her in a good light. However, we know that Sydney’s mind jumps all over the place and makes many connections. If she has watched enough prison or war movies, Sydney will know that folks who routinely have their lives put in other peoples hands need to be able to size others up. Sometimes only having the one chance.
So in her mind, Sydney might just be giving Pixel a poke, just to see how she reacts. The polite masks of every day life conceal peoples’ true nature. But rattle the cage a little, and you may be able to provoke an unguarded response. Which could allow you vital insight as to their character.
One thing none of us have considered is how protective Halo has been of the secret of her orbs. And we suspect she is hiding something too. Pixel is an artefact expert, who will be examining Sydney and her orbs. Something Sydney has, literally, been having nightmares about for months!
Whether or not she consciously realises it, that will be causing her some emotional stress at the moment. And may explain the antipathy she felt, from the outset.
Has Sydney managed to overcome those qualms enough to trust Pixel as a comrade? Or is she still a stranger?
I hardly think it qualifies as “decency” to refuse to tell someone what’s on your mind, so that they can be aware of the biases that are influencing your interactions with them. If Sidney is experiencing resentment toward someone who resembles her but is slightly taller and cuter, she could have disclaimed that to Pixel, who would then not need to wonder why Sidney has a hard time treating her properly as a person (and could instead just have a mental label of “person who irrationally dislikes me” on Sidney, so she would know not to take anything Sidney says or does too personally). Given that Sidney has trouble with socialization, confessing the truth privately to her CO is a fairly reasonable runner-up to that preferable course. But in either case, if you’re going to TRY to spare a person’s feelings by not telling them how you don’t like your face, then you’d better damn well SUCCEED, because if they can detect any signs of your repressed distaste for them, you’ve only made it worse than if you’d flat-out said it to their face.
Additionally, she’s apparently basing her dislike on the fact that this person is more ‘anime’ than her, or slightly taller, or stuff like that.
That’s what we get.
It’s all very nice and good to say ‘Honesty is great’, but there’s this thing where one wonders ‘why in this case?’ Going to Maxima and saying ‘Based on a few shallow observations of how this person looks, I have taken a personal disliking to her’…this isn’t helpful.
Had she a good reason to dislike on first sight – something in how Pixel acts, for example – maybe there’d be a case for going to her superior and stating ‘I don’t like her, please don’t have us work together’. Here? Maxima might be right to answer ‘You don’t like her because of how she looks? You’re not a baby, and (hopefully) you know enough not to judge based on appearances. Suck it up..’ <- there's some honest, straightforward talk as well.
Folks often cannot say themselves why they do not like someone else. If asked to, what they say might not be the deep-rooted cause.
In this case I think there is more to it than you have accounted for. Sydney has a long-standing fear of being whisked off to a laboratory, to be studied. Yet here she is, standing in front of an artefact expert, who intends to study her.
Sydney is sleep-deprived and suffering from emotional exhaustion. So she may not consciously be thinking about this. But her subconscious mind is probably screaming right now!
I disagree with the idea that being an asshole to people is “honest”.
At any time, there is more than one force driving us. If you and I are co-workers, and I dislike you, choosing to be unpleasant to you, or choosing to be polite, are both reactions to internal stimuli.
The first, a straightforward expression of my dislike.
The second, my desire to avoid hostility, my desire to not make my interactions with you more unpleasant, the desire to establish myself as polite person to be polite to, the desire to be likeable, the desire not to be seen as petty, the desire not to be seen as someone to be wary of.
If I am toxic at you, and begin open hostility with you, that is not more honest to my inner workings than not being toxic at you – it just means my desire to be openly mean won out over my desire for politeness and dignity.
And, if APersonAmI let the toxicity won out… well, I wouldn’t want to spend time with such a Me, so how could I expect other people to do so?
Of course, this only applies to people who respect you for not being horrible to them. If someone opens hostility to you without provocation, there is no reason to respect them or be polite to them… yet another thing I don’t want people to think of me, yet another thing making the non-toxic option equally honest.
I don’t see that Sydney is being openly hostile here, myself. Yes she is openly sizing up Pixel. That in itself is not hostile though. Given that she may have concluded “I like her”. I think Pixel sums it up better as “weird” (i.e. deviating from social norms).
You may have just missed that Sydney’s comment is in lower case, rather than the block caps everyone normally speaks in. Which could be interpreted as either a quiet whisper to Maxima or a soto voce joke, that everybody would be in on.
But I do concede that the tone of the mini-comic, underneath, tends to point towards the former option. Rude yes. However openly hostile, no.
To me the most striking resemblance is of a child whispering to her mother. Which I just find cute.
I still hold that rudeness is not inherently more honest than politeness, and I more often see honesty in the context of an excuse to hurt and insult others than in the genuine attempt to inform and help others.
However, on a second read, my comment strikes me as slightly tone-deaf. I agree with you that Sydney’s actions are not those of open hostility, nor are they disparaging or attempting to hurt Pixel’s dignity.
Instead, I see here an open expression of dislike, possibly not intentionally aimed at pixel. Thanks for pointing that out, Yorp. You are a good dog.
*wags tail enthusiastically*
My pleasure, kind person.
Actually, I tend to think that rudeness is more honest than politeness; after all, you can learn that an honest asshole is showing you that they are an asshole. Good way to learn something significant about someone as a “first impression,” as you can decide whether or not to continue associating with them & not waste a lot of time trying to “decipher” their real personalities.
;)
I’m sorry, for a moment I thought I was on the Strong Female Protagonist forums.
I’ll be on my way…
I don’t do that.
go to grrl power #94 rotate 1st panel 90deg counter clockwise ,look at where the rays of light converge,this is where sydney found the orbs,and does the white object resemble the head of a marble statue incassed in coral with doc brown sunglasses across the forehead ,so the orbs or skilltree can be seen with possible instructions
Where the rays of light converge is the Flight Orb sticking out of a torn sack.
Ouch! That sounds painful!! Heard about a guy who ripped one of his testicles out by playing with a sander and then stapled his sack with actual staples
I’m going to go way out on a limb here and assume that anyone who managed to remove one of their own testicles via ‘playing with a sander’ and then stapled it closed was on one or more substances which made the pain of both of those operations far less than it would have been for a sober person.
I mean, just trying to conceive of mixing nudity and power tools boggles the mind. I hope he was wearing his eye protection!
Nope… actually, in the version I heard, it wasn’t a sander, it was a conveyor belt. He was the only person at work while everyone else was at lunch break. He decided to use it for, um, “self-stimulation”, and his testicle got caught on the seam where the two ends of the belt are stitched together.
He stapled it back on (ouch) and went back to work, and ended up going to the hospital a few days later with a badly-infected scrotum (because the staples weren’t stainless steel, and they rusted), demanding to see a male doctor that handled “men’s problems”.
Somehow, I don’t think worker’s comp covers this kind of injury, though.
Knew it was some of a belt (should have specified it was a belt sander, but even that would be a bit much)
He used the belt for the same reason certain women against the corner of a washing machine or dryer
Okay… so…
Why is it that “specs” can see something, when dabblers spells all turned up blank, when even the light refuses to be “seen” by detection?
Because Specs isn’t using a spell but changing the light spectrum, maybe you would believe her if someone used an infra-red light or one of those lights used to see how much semen is in the typical hotel?
The orbs may only be a mental projection. Now don’t get your knickers in a twist, if you recall that they can be seen on TV, that could still be conceivable if the projection has a global reach and accommodates remote and/or recorded viewing.
But that is just one possibility, amongst several. Another is that the orbs are blocking all scanning whilst allowing “approved images” to be picked up. Want to look at it in the X-ray spectrum? Nope, I reject your reality and substitute my own.
Another is that they may simply be more fundamentally real than the rest of reality. If we look at a chair, we think that it is solid. But most of it is empty space. There are lots of atoms whizzing around inside mind, which interact with the ones in our empty space bodies, to give the illusion of solidity. The orbs though may not be built up of teeny things orbiting around (that is their greater gig after all).
If their basic structure is different to ours, then light may well behave differently with when interacting with the orbs. We know that light is simultaneously a wave and a particle. Perhaps it also has a third property, that we fail to observe most of the time, because it only becomes apparent when interacting with something like orb-matter.
One bit of circumstantial evidence, which could support this concept, is that it would help to explain how Maxima failed to move them. They are simply more solid than the rest of reality. The only way they can be moved is under their own power. They will follow their owner (and the planet that they are on, as it moves through space) and their owner’s mental commands, but nothing much short of a black hole may be able to deflect their course.
How can they be simply a mental projection? Both Dabbles and Math (and Shadowy McCrushednuts :P) have had physical contact with them, and Maxi has held Tubey
Did they? Or did they just think that? It is a philosophical point, but at the end of the day everything we perceive is our brain telling us we have sensed it.
Sometimes that does not correspond with reality. We are only used to that with people suffering delusions or hallucinations. But hypnotic suggestions can do something similar. And super-powered mental projections could be indistinguishable from real life. Even including pain and bleeding, as part of the sensations.
There is no spoon.
Well, Dabbles got bonked on the head (from above so she couldn’t have seen it) by one of Sydney’s balls hard enough for her to bite her forked tongue, and Math got punched in the face by a ball he wasn’t expecting
And how do you explain Shadowy McCrushednuts? Sydney was apparently down, blind, and facing the other way when the 7-10 split happened
Sydney need not have anything to do with it. She clearly would be the focus of the projection. But, as she does not appear to have super-powers herself, the source would likely be external to her. Let us pick an extra-dimensional being, as an example. Unable to physically interact with our dimension, it could be creating the mental projection as a way of exploring or studying this universe.
The entirety of the effects could be mental suggestions.
Or, alternatively, the orbs may just have their appearance created that way, and the remainder of the effects are manifestations of other mental powers. Telekinesis for the tentacle and any physical interactions (such as you have pointed out), pyrokinesis for the PPO (which is just a specialised version of telekinesis).
In fact both the flight and the shield could likewise be replicated with that. Whilst the truesight would be accomplished by a powerful ESP effect. Finally Halo’s projected image would utilise the same mental projection that creates the appearance of the orbs.
Actually, more like Clairvoyance/Clairaudience.
ESP is a way of “sensing” something with none of the physical senses being used, whereas the TrueSight Orb uses a different ability that’s capable of shifting “point of view” as being somewhere other than the user’s body as the “center of perception.”
It’s also different than Precognition & Post-Cognition in that the user’s viewpoint shifts through time, either the future or past, respectively, if not shifting the perspective through space.
Clairvoyance/Clairaudience is what would cover Sydney’s ability to sense through her projected image. But that is all those two abilities cover. The ability to see/hear something at a distance (including beyond a wall, for example, which would otherwise block both).
However true sight does not do the above. It allows the unmasking of illusions, shapechanged beings, intangible supernatural entities and otherwise seeing things in their true form. Folklore describes individuals with such capability as having “the sight” or a “third eye”.
Whereas parapsychologists, seeking to rationalise such as a mental, rather than magical, capability, attempt to explain such as being an extra sensory perception (ie ESP).
Finally “second sight” is a similar term which can encompass the above, but tends more towards the precognition side of things. Something that is also associated with ESP, simply because the term extra sensory perception is so broad. Given that it was coined to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, and clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation as precognition or retrocognition.
“There is no spoon.
The only thing that bends is the mind…
;)
Assume that Sidney’s powers involve TK (I feel safe in assuming that, because Flight and Force Field).
If she externalizes the orbs, they could appear as Glowing Orbs (TM). They truly exist but only so long as she “realizes” the rationalization that her powers come from the orbs. They are, in essence, because she believes they are, which reinfoices her belief, and the Ouroboros Justificaria commences.
Personally, I agree with you that they are manifest independent of Sydney, but you did ask. :D
It all depends on how Specs’ power works.
For instance, maybe Specs’ power isn’t magical (thus can defeat antimagic), but rather psychic or even the result of actual entities sharing their ‘natural’ senses with her.
One thought that occurred to me is that maybe the orbs were designed to be undetectable… by a race that does not see in the spectrum we consider “visible light”.
In any case, looking forward to how the orbs read on other methods such as Ground Penetrating Radar and ultrasound.
I started reading this comic on Sunday. I’ve read the archives twice. I am so unspeakably disappointed to be caught up. :|
I have never felt so connected to a comic character. I mean, okay, so I had an ulcer a few years ago, so I can’t do the spicy so well (I’m back up to doing habaneros though! :D), but otherwise, Sydney is me. I’m ADHD, I love comics and all that nerdy stuff, we’re both tomboys – okay admittedly I have several cup sizes on her… but I have zero control over that, I’d much rather still be an A cup…
Also, you write women very well for someone who has man tackle.
Nice name, striking avatar and a deep affinity to Sydney. You are most welcome in this community!
Pixel is short, like Sydney.
Pixel has relatively large eyes, like Sydney.
Pixel has some experience with artefacts, sort-of like Sydney.
But can Pixel swear like Sydney?
… or tolerate as much ‘heat’ in her food?
No?
Don’t worry, Sydney, you’re still special.
^_^
+1