Grrl Power #435 – Fajita bombs
Hopefully you guys can tell what’s happening here. Panel 5/6 would definitely benefit from animation.
Sydney’s mishap brought to you by a true story. Before I explain though, I should make sure everyone is familiar was fajitas. Having lived in Texas for over 30 years I don’t want to take that for granted. I’m sure Tex-Mex exists in some form or another all over the US and even outside of it, though outside of Texas, the chance that it’s still called Tex-Mex drops precipitously. Sometimes labeled Southwestern or Mexican food, even though proper Tex-Mex bears only a passing resemblance to actual Mexican food.
Anyway, fajitas are seasoned and grilled meat, usually steak or chicken, sometimes shrimp, although in Sydney’s case here it’s portobello mushrooms, (especially good with chimichurri sauce) then cut into strips and served DiY style, basically build your own burrito with several side dishes containing some combination of rice, beans, lettuce, sour cream, cheese, guacamole, etc. The fajitas themselves, at least in every place in Texas I’ve had them at, are served on a broiling hot cast iron skillet along with onions, mushrooms, peppers or even squash. The skillet itself rests on a wooden plate designed specifically for the fajita skillet.
So here’s what I did – nearly the same thing as Sydney, but I caught myself before resting the back of my hand on the skillet. Instead I felt the heat from it and smartly thought to push it away from my hand. Except, like Sydney, the tortilla was covering my hand, so when I lowered my hand to push the wooden plate away, I didn’t see that I hadn’t lowered it far enough, and I wound up pressing the tip of my finger against the skillet and not the plate. About 1 second later, I yanked my hand away and threw my sour cream covered tortilla on to the back of the head of the person sitting in the booth behind me. It was embarrassing and startled them and everyone at my booth as well. But it was pretty funny once the throbbing in my finger subsided. Actually it was immediately funny, but it still hurt like a sumbitch. The team is in a private dining room so I thought I’d have Sydney lob her payload forward instead.
I’m not sure about Maxima’s shirt. I wanted to put her in something other than a black baby doll, but the open slots on the shoulders guarantees that bra straps will be seen. It doesn’t seem like a shirt she would wear in public, but besides dinner here she’ll probably keep her jacket on.
Oh and about the mini-comic – “Box social” is the funniest term I could find for a distaff counterpart to “sausage party.” Most of the other ones were predictably much more rude, but I think “box” is the funniest (and most nonsensical) euphemism for that business anyway.
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Mr. “Happily Married” had different thoughts in the boardroom:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/607
Of course, just about everyone thinks and says different things… except for Sydney I guess.
Big difference was Dabbs was hammering out lust power at high volume mere seconds before. Now she is toned down so personal morals are in control….somewhat.
He was under the influence of Dabbler’s magic back then. He can actually think freely now
It’s okay to window shop, so long as you don’t buy outside of your relationship’s means.
Just cuz you wanna doesn’t mean you’re gonna.
Zoeng, you mean everyone else in the room is straight and female. That’s a key detail.
Does he? I don’t remember the gender of his spouse being established…
We can infer it, from Zoeng’s dialogue, under the comic. He is clearly rejecting Dabbler’s proposal which, the way he phrased it, implies that he is a married heterosexual.
Whilst he could be a married homosexual, it would have been simpler, if that were the case, for him to say “I am gay”. Or, to be even more emphatic, “I am gay and married.” Whereas omitting the “gay” part does nothing to strengthen his case.
Archon clearly is an equal opportunities employer (see Peggy as an example, in being openly bisexual), despite the legacy of historical hang-ups in the US military. So I do not see that he would feel the need to hide this side of his lifestyle. For instance, if he were wary of the subject, he would not have even mentioned he was married.
First time hearing about “box social”. I’d always understood the female equivalent to a sausage fest to be a clam bake (which may or may not make your future listens of the same-named Elvis song more amusing).
Maybe ‘box social’ translates better in Xuriel’s native tongue.
Yea. Mind you, if you want to really understand it, you have to listen to Macbeth in the original Klingon.
Which ‘original Klingon’? The Puerto Rican’s in gold lame? or Dead Heavy Metaler’s with lobsters on their foreheads? o_O
Maybe Xuriel’s native tongue makes ‘box socials’ better…
We use to call it a “hen party.”
That’s because a “box social” was not originally the female equivalent, think of it like a ‘pot luck dinner’
How would Dabbler react to meeting someone with perfect self-control who could “turn off” all their tantric energy at will?
probably bored worried and interested all at once
You mean suck her (he) energy reserves out, or just ignore her magic abilities?
I think it would depend on how hungry she is. Normally, she’s probably find such a person a challenge (aka Maxima). Even the best challenges can become frustrating when your energy’s at an ebb, though.
Fortunately, Dabs has plenty of other sources of sexual energy nearby to draw from.
Good thing she’s also a Wrench Wench, so metaphorically dissecting such a person would be just as fascinating (but not as filling) as toying with them.
She’s likely encountered people who is asexual, or species that doesn’t derive pleasure from coplulation. I mean how do you react to encountering say a fish or snale, or other animal you have no intimate interests in?
You fiend! I shall not be caught within the depths of the TV Tropes, I am stronger then- OOH what’s that?
Yanks Rei back. Don’t do it! Don’t succumb to the dark side! Your brain will turn to mush and you will lose the ability to be original or enjoy stories ever again!!!
Its funny, on one hand I keep waiting for sydney to object to them telling her how to upgrade her orbs, but then I keep remembering, they dont have anything but guesses right now as to what any of the upgrade paths are for. So at least this way they will potentially learn something from these choices, and who knows? They might lead to better optimization than just going with an option that LOOKS like it might be the one she wants.
that’s the whole point; after all, Sydney is just as much guessing as anyone else is at this point; she didn’t even know that she has a “skill tree” until it popped up at the press conference. Sydney picked a point on the True Sight Orb because she thought it might show her what that grid actually meant in the first place.
… Weird. Comic isn’t showing up for me… I am on my iPhone right now…
Try forcing a refresh. On a PC you use F5 (and, if that is not sufficient, tell it to ignore the memory cache with CTRL-F5).
Absolutely no idea how you do that on a phone. Perhaps bang it on the side of the iBooth? Or ask the operator to reconnect you to the other party?
Why did no one go and get Sydney here med’s?
She could have gotten some from their medical staff, or someone could have gone back to her place and gotten them. Zephan, the doc, or Maxima should have realized that she need them.
She has her meds, they’ve just stopped working.
Looks like it. Running on only about 3 hours, plus a 1 hour…deep thought…probably doesn’t help…
I’ve seen Daniel the Human after a long Friday night/Saturday morning shift, he’s not at his best without an hour or 2’s sleep…
Yup. And I guess there is a limit to how many she is allowed to take, per day. She has just been burning the candle at both ends and basic training is pushing her beyond her normal limits.
I’m on a different drug but i find that while I can take additional meds if required the side effects are…. unpleasant. not sure about adderall, that may be different.
It’s not that they have ‘run out’, just that they are ‘no longer working’
It has always been my contention that the presence of fire and the humans lack of infra-red sensing, is was drove us to evolve intelligence. The dumb apes DIAF, the rest learn to use it.
No need to be insulting to other people.
I had a philosophical discussion, with Buffy, my dog, one winter. I wanted to know if she understood that I make fire. All too easy to assume that, but I wanted to know her views.
She managed to tell me that she does.
If Buffy is not being properly served, she will do a sniff. Which translates as “You are not tending to my needs, servant”. If she is hungry she will stand next to her food bowl and sniff. Likewise with her water bowl if thirsty (this is very rare, as I am attentive to how full it is, but I have been caught out a couple of times, albeit not for long). It is also the way she asks to be let out.
Standing by the fire (hot or cold) means nothing, by itself. If an animal is used to it being hot, that is where it will go when the temperature drops. But the first cold day that I did not light the fire, Buffy stood beside it and did her unmistakable sniff.
A very satisfying conclusion to a philosophical debate. Buffy may have a limited vocabulary, but she conveys her meaning fluently.
So who is the smarter? The servitor, or the one being waited on, paw and paw?
You have a DOG? Isn’t that slavery or something…?
Come to think of it, I’ve had pets, it IS slavery… And worse, you’re sad when they are gone….
It has been said that humans live as long as they do because it takes them so long to learn how to give unconditional love. A dog’s life is so short because they are born knowing how to do it.
Aww.
*wags tail lovingly*
Buffy is my friend and companion. She is never chained, nor put on a leash (unless required by a local bylaw, such as when in the nearest big city to me).
Further more she earns more than me! Which is not what would happen in a slavery situation.
I suppose I should explain that. I dislike most small dogs, because of irritating yapping, ankle-biting tendencies and being nose biters.* So, when some ex-pats had to leave the country, and were looking for someone to take on their ‘Yorkshire Terrier’ (as I was misinformed). I tried to wriggle out of it by claiming that I was too irresponsible to have a dog. And could not support one, in any event, having no income, nor social support, nor being anywhere near being able to take even an early pension.
So a consortium formed of local ex-pats, and her former owners, to pay Buffy’s bills. Which, for as long as it lasted, I continued to meticulously provide the receipts, to show that every penny was spent on her. Sadly that dried up, after a while. But, even so, Buffy’s average stipend, over the last ten years, considerably outweighs my non-existent income!
* Small dogs are one of the major causes leading to needing reconstructive nose surgery. Fortunately Buffy turned out to be a Jack Russel Terrier, which is at the top end of the small dogs size. So escaped my prejudice. Buffy herself is (unnervingly) quiet. And incredibly friendly, trustworthy** and does not bite.
** I can leave her alone, with my dinner on a plate, even at her own eye-level (or below), yet she has never had a single bite. Even if there is chicken, salami or other yummy stuff she likes!
nice shot sidndey! waitaminite…. she paid for that fajita… and her shot splattered all of over dabbler…
haha dabs got Sidney`s money shot all over her face!
Maxima needs a bra?
If she’s going to do anything remotely athletic without smacking herself in the face she does.
Love the name. All Hail Devlin Stone. And most certainly indeed. I can second that. Even the best sports bra or brassiere won’t keep everything motionless, it at least removes a lot of strain and stress on the chest.
Apparently she does: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1844
hmmm, if it was my skill tree, i think her skill set is enough strong for now, and put few skill point to true sight, because maybe there will be some option for – show description, but i think it will be high risk… so logically take that fly skill is better
Right now the goal isnt so much to make her stronger, its to try and figure out what the various upgrade paths do. They need to test their hypothesis in order to confirm them. They risk a few short term upgrades going to “waste” but long term they might eb able to figure out what everything does if things work how they think they will.
Rule 1: If you can expand your power set, do so. Power is nice, Diversity is more often useful.
Rule 2: You can’t surprise the villain with the power he’s already seen – buy new power stunts but trot them out when needed. I have a character I occasionally play that has a very long list of power tricks that the character has practiced and the GM has approved but which I’ve never actually used in public “in-game”. The GM is always amused when he can force me to use a “new” power in public to save the party.
Rule 3: Brute Force is Usually Useful but Occasionally Counterproductive. This agrees with your point about more power (brute force) not necessarily being needed.
Rule 4: When you’ve got nothing else you must spend points on, consider a Sense. Couldn’t agree more with you on this point.
“All you need is power, in as great a concentration as you can muster, and style. And in a pinch, style can slide.”
Xykon, OOTS. Villains really do have it easier sometimes.
Sydney needs to put a point in “Take guided tour on how to operate, and maintain your Starkiller weapons system®”.*
* SAFETY rule number one: Never aim the Starkiller® at a planet you are standing on.
* …especially if you have only a limited air supply.
Most likely a good thing Sydney hadn’t fully spiced up her dish, eh? Could have made things a bit more interesting ;)
I think he means “straight” (quotes included).
Had to do a triple take on panel 4, I thought it was something.. Naughty. >.>
Subliminal Dabbles-influence? o_O
As Maxima pointed out to Anvil back at the steak house, “Crumb Shelf.”
No, panel four is the suggestively placed mushrooms
My initial idea of the image was that it was a piece of fish sliced in cross section.
https://www.tridayajm.com/sites/default/files/kingfish-steak-belly-off.jpg
So, they’re really brain storming about the orbs now? While it would help if they were going off the actual thing, it seems Dabbler’s drawing is good enough. A quick question for Mr DaveB, I’m guessing they mean these point options? I think Daniel the Human had an idea about them, but can’t seem to find them right now.
Plus it’s 3am here & he’s trying to shut my internet down…
So that is why it stopped working? Hey, don’t do that! Other people use it too!
Daniel the Human’s PC had Windows 10 force itself onto it, ran for a while, had “stability issues”, then just decided not to start up. Powered up USB devices, but no other signs of life. I said it’s lost it’s spark & needs to be put out of it’s misery, but after chaining my to a pole he took it to the guys who built it for repairs. He’s waiting for their reply, but until then he’s stuck on a laptop which makes it hard for both of us to get online, since I can’t get on without him unlocking it…
…Something about “inappropriate websites” & “massive virus attacks”, leading to “supervised web activity”…
Shared porn watching can be much more pleasurable, so that is a good thing.
;-)
Naaa, daniel the Human doesn’t like to share like that, he’s got a metal baseball bat for when I try & see what he’s into. I don’t know if he’s into porn, but he wasn’t too happy when I asked what was going on in this vid involving these 2 girls & this cup they had…
Yes, it would be nice if they could work from the real thing, except Sydney doesn’t know how to bring it back (she has no idea what caused it to show up in the first place) and recording devices can’t even see it
Sydney should be grabbing her unknown balls right now that she is injured and it isn’t a papercut. Best of all she did this to herself, and didn’t get nega-knuckled.
Wait, so the only reason she hasn’t found out that one of the Mystery Orbs isn’t some sort of healing ball is because she hasn’t previously giving herself a self-inflicted injury greater than a paper-cut? o_O
Umm, wouldn’t the Noodle-to-the-eye count as self-inflicted? O_o
Indeed. It is unlikely that Sydney has not injured herself at all since being orbed, but it is plausible that any such injury has either been: below some ‘need to repair’ threshold, or painful/serious enough that she sought medical assistance rather than playing with her balls. The noodle incident is such a case.
Consider also, that if you unknown have amazeballs among a set that includes the Pew Pew Orb, would you really want to aim it at a painful injury to find out what it does?
Note that the orbs are highly responsive to Sydney’s intent. Mentally responding to her desires. The sole exception being the tether, which prevents them from going too far away from her. As such I do not think that a mental command “heal my injury” would result in amputation. If it does not have healing or regenerative abilities it would simply fail to respond. Even if amputation was one of its functions.
I agree that a healing orb might have a minimum degree of injury below which it will not activate (and clearly it may require Sydney to hold it to turn it on, in any event). I do not however find it credible that Halo would fail to consider using the orb, when injured. And the more serious the injury, the greater the pain she will be in, and the more the desire to cure it fast, rather than waiting until the super-doc is reached.
It is not like she has to make the choice of going to her medicine cabinet, to get her first aid kit. All it takes is a moment to call down the orb, and think “heal me”.
When Shadow Boxer hit her, he was aiming a blow with lethal intent. Her orb deflected the blade away, from her face, but she still got hit full-force with the rest of the attack. That will have caused considerable tissue damage. It genuinely did need the super-doc’s attention. And likely passed the threshold for any minimum damage (unless it is set to “you still have all your limbs, stop crying” mode).
If a mystery orb is a healing device, the only consistent reason I could find, for it failing to have worked to date, is if it refuses to respond to someone without medical training. Healing tissue damage (if that is all it does, such as with some types of regeneration) on a broken limb can cause the limb to be permanently and incurably crippled.
This would be a necessity for a device which was not intelligent, but which did have basic rules programmed into it. Of course being able to analyse a user, to find out their degree of medical knowledge, is probably an equally complex task to examining a patient, to determine if they have a broken limb (or other condition which would make some type of healing ill-advised).
As such, if the orbs are not sapient, it may be necessary to inform them that the user is medically competent, by some means. Given that they can read her thoughts, this may be conveyed directly, by simply saying or thinking that. Or perhaps it requires a demonstration of her capabilities and can recognise when the task has been successfully completed.*
Or it may simply be pushing a particular sigil, at an appropriate time. “Are you medically qualified to treat this injury? Press if yes.” **
* We are just on the cusp of being able to do things like this with our own puny technology. It does require calibrating to identify what parts of someone’s brain are mapped to particular tasks mind. Advanced technology should be able to do that without assistance though.
Once you know that part, you could get a machine to indicate “a face has been successfully recognised” (in due course, I have not seen that specific example being done yet, but am confident that it is not far off). “I have successfully treated/cured someone” is much more complex, but so are the capabilities of the orbs, which we have already seen. That specific test is less complex than the host of potential variability in patients’ conditions.
** If it comes down to this option though, I totally agree with your fear about amputation. Unless the sigil can be translated, you do not want to push it! Such a test could only be performed safely on a laboratory animal. And I can see Sydney having real problems with that. Just consider her attitudes on her diet, to realise how she will view any cute animal suffering, especially if because of her.
“wheeze wheeze…”
“Come on recruit!!! That wall isn’t that high, TRY AGAIN!!!”
“puff pant *deep breath*…”
Goddammit, Dave, now I have to make fajitas for dinner.
Damn the fajitas, I’m looking at something else to be savored…
The Evil Squirrel Overlord desires your savoury essence!
No reason why we cant have both at the same time.
Maxima’s expression in panel 7 was adorable. It looks like she’s trying really hard not to grin like an idiot XD
Meant to mention her expression yesterday (and attempted to this morning), yes, her expression is delightful, but don’t believe she is suppressing a smile as don’t believe that she would find humour in someone elses pain (and certainly not Sydney’s)
I am picking up confounded and concerned. Although there is a twist to her lips, that could be a repressed smile.
She’s trying to stifle whatever reaction her face is trying to make.
Does this mean we’ll be getting a clean black and white version of Sydney’s power web, without any extra stuff on or around it? It would be nice to make it a template so we can all brainstorm and make out own guesses on the potential powers and post them here.
Black and white, no. Full colour yes.
Just for you.
This was created by a fan, but it is approved by the author. If there are any errors in it, he did not spot them. So it should be good for whatever analysing you have in mind.
Dave’s comment under that picture is “I will update the image as we find out what the holy lamas it unlocks.”
One of the unknown orbs summons lamas! Unless it was a typo, and it summons South American members of the camel family.
check sids curse at max’s speedy exit around bank event and reprocess please.
Thanks for this, my image editing skills are horrible when I tried to do it to the wallpaper he posted after the original reveal of the skill tree.
My pleasure. With full credit, and thanks, to wwjdtd for the hard work he put into creating that version, needless to say.
*wags tail earnestly*
The double lined specials that is referred to in this comic, is not marked as anything different in this fan made skill tree
Look again.
“Dot-Dash line = Wide Dual line on the original”
My bad! Thanks!
Max could be wearing a black bra so that the strap doesn’t show/looks like part of the shirt, the shirt could have it built in, she could be wearing a stick on or strapless bra, or she could be one of those supers that doesn’t need one. You think the female supers who wear spandex can have a bra on under that without lines showing?
I have burned myself on the table skillets. Not once, but twice…in the same night…
I always figured super heroes get super skin/muscles so boobs wouldn’t sag or move much. I mean if normal rules applied the first time a female super hero went offplanet they would either have their breasts, and a lot more, hit the floor or float and cause wardrobe malfunctions.
I can’t believe nobody has thought this yet, she just got burned on the back of her hand, she has two orbs with unknown effects, one of them could be healing, I think this might be a chekov’s gun situation.
I do believe the PPO already sort of qualifies as a Chekov’s gun…
;P
A Chekov’s Gun is something that is, usually in literature, only mentioned because it will be a part of the story on another chapter, or in this case page. The actual quote is,”A gun should not be noticed hanging on the wall in chapter one if it is not going to go off in chapter two.” or is similar to that.
So, the ‘Noodle incident’ didn’t count? She didn’t think to try either before during or after her examination by the Super Doc? After she had already mentioned during her initial interview about the possibility that one or the other was a healing orb?
That was early on in the story, no big fights at that point and it was her first day, this time might actually be a chekov’s gun. I think that the real reason for the ‘noodle incident’ was for comedic relief because of the eye patch and Sydnie yelling out how she wasn’t a pirate.
I really hope that one of those other branches off of the Fly orb counters G-force, or Sydney could be in real trouble if she pulls some negative G’s at high speed and passes out.
It would also seem logical that the orbs would have an automatic “Save Sydney” feature, should such occur.
Would the “Save Sydney” function restore her to the save location with everything she was carrying, for example, a kilo of gem diamond? Or nothing she was carrying, including clothing? Would the dead Sydney’s body cease to exist once the save function produces the restored Sydney?
Probably thinking more like the Restoration perk, Avoid Death, from Skyrim.
Gravity already has no hold on her when she is holding and using her flight orb
Correct. Although gravity and G-force are different things. You can pull G’s in a weightless environment just as easily as in a planetary gravity well.
It is possible that the fly ball protects against that already. We know that it prevents wind buffeting and other nuisances of low-speed flight. Plus it grants immunity to vertigo.
This is definitely something that Halo needs to test.
Are you going to be the one to suggest it to her? o_O
Good luck brave puppy, will have a fresh batch of Yorpie Snacks for your recovery
I think Sydney would love the thought of doing loop the loops! Which is the easiest way to test this (under appropriate supervision of Max, to ensure it is done correctly and in case she blacks out).
If the Fly Ball does grant protection, I am sure I would get a hug!
Whereas, if it does not, well, Sydney will need someone there to hold the sick bag, or, as the case may be, stay by her side, and ensure she is safe, until she regains consciousness. I have broad enough shoulders to take any subsequent repercussions, for making the suggestion. And having someone there, to vent at, would help my patient to recover.
Finally learning whether or not she can take high-G turns could, in the future, save Halo’s life!
So I would be happy to be there, either way.
*gives tail a few decisive swishes, ending with a confident flourish*
I and very surprised Sydney didn’t launch into one of her famous profanity strings. She burns her hand and all Dave gives us is “YAAA!” ???
You pointed out a prime example of “missed opportunity” there, especially considering that DaveB still has plenty of open space for a word balloon in that panel. Maybe he can come up with something to “edit in” before the comic makes it to the Print edition?
;)
#Spicy
This really feels like one of those “Don’t mind me as I construct a situation in which to reveal the hero’s new power” situations. Not that I’m saying it’s bad, it’s just exceedingly trope-y. Of course, I feel like the seeds were probably planted waaaay back when Halo wondered if she had any “bad” powers, like Wolverine’s healing, that would only work if she was in a crappy situation. I kind of expect Max to have an epiphany calling back to that moment and suggest Halo test her unknown orbs for a healing power.
Again: Noodle Incident!!!!
Sydney’s not exactly known for being on the ball (proverbially and literally) when she’s panicked. She probably has never thought to try it. But right now, while they’re focused on learning about Syd’s orbs, is the perfect time for someone to chime in with a “Hey, now’s our chance to test those unknown orbs.”
I mean she has such a ridiculously diverse suite of powers, clearly somehow based on JRPG logic, I would actually be surprised if she DOESN’T have some kind of Cure spell.
I am with Guesticus on the former part of your reply. Sydney survived a back-stab from Shadow Boxer, precisely because she did not panic! And we have seen her calmly saving the entire team, in the middle of a raging battle. By virtue of her mind jumping to every aspect of a situation, analysing multiple options, and coming up with solutions that nobody else could.
Plus the ongoing pain would continually nag at her to find a way to stop it! Therefore I consider there to be zero chance that:
Rather she will have studied it from many angles. Possibly Sydney has thought of a good reason not to do it. Maybe being afraid to cause more harm (whilst presumably having some good rationale for why this may be the case)? But not to have thought of it at all, despite being in pain and otherwise routinely using the orbs, continuously, for many varied uses? No way.
As to your last, that I do agree upon. It was one of the first thoughts that sprung into my mind on learning of the mystery orbs.
Sorry about taking your name in vain. For some reason, I had nothing stored in my memory about your handle. An absolute blank.
I see where the title of “Fajita Bomb” comes from, but i was expecting more of an audible “explosion” as a result from eating fajitas…for some reason…Before I actually read the page.
I’m not disappointed though…
The problem with a healing orb is that it would react to bring her back to her natural biological state, even if there was a pretty set minimum damage limit to allow normal wear an tear, when activated it would naturally repair the damage, but also wipe out any medication she’s on, which could be a very bad thing, given how she acts as her mess wear off.
she has already indicated that her meds are wearing off. This would be an oppotune time to go for a medkit, or perhaps the orange ball. why orange and not green you might wonder? I think green is life support. The orange has smudges inside that remind me of the shield orb. The green is more uniform green like the fly orb.
Oh and the center point that she spends should be the green orb one for the same reason. I think the center point activities a lower start state of the primary function.
Right, but consider this. Unless the orb knows and adjusts for helpful medication, it would treat Adderall like alcohol or any other drug, essentially restoring the mental states Sydney takes drugs to avoid during a tresses out situation that’s dangerous enough that she needed healing
Why should a healing orb work that way? The orbs already have a bunch of built-in safety features, and were obviously CREATED by someone. What kind of person has advanced enough technology to create superpower-giving orbs that act like computers without knowing what BENEFICIAL DRUGS are?
I agree.
Playing devils advocate though, it is possible for an advanced society, with magic-like technology (or just magic) not to have gone down the path of developing drugs at all. Consider that some civilisations never used the wheel for transpiration, as an example.* And that is from human society. Aliens may just think so differently that the concept would be impossible for them to come to by themselves.
Thus it is entirely plausible that a society’s mentality might simply not turn to pharmaceuticals as a field. Or, even if it did, religious prohibitions (or some other social taboo) could have discouraged any attempts to develop the field. Finally, and most simply, their other capabilities might have rendered them useless. It takes a massive investment to develop new drugs, and bring them to market. If every village already has resident healing mages (for example) it would not be cost-effective.
But even without a pharmaceutical industry, our most primitive societies used herbal medicine, and that practice persists to this day. Further we are continuously being exposed to outside elements which can alter our biochemistry. Hence why I agree with your conclusions, overall.
An advanced society should have some mechanism, to allow for such changes (be they from drugs, pollution, diet, et al.) when they are conducting healing. And the the orb creator(s) do appear to have the mentality where such precautions would be both considered and taken.
* The South and Central American civilisations did have the wheel, but only used them for relatively inconsequential things, like toys.
I Completely disagree, for a couple of reasons.
First off, consider the unspoken idea that you have a device that can identify the difference between harmful and unharmful chemicals in its hosts system. To do this would require an immense store of very specific knowledge about the host the chemicals and all thier interactions and side effects. Consider all the side effects of adderral, Most medicine is simply a way of lightly poisoning yourself in a way that has the side effect you want, as well as a host of other effects.
Unless the orbs were specifically designed to interface with humans, as well as collect information about them it’s unlikely that it could tell the difference between positive and negative chemicals.
It is more likely that rather than the orbs collecting vast amounts of information, then deriving the proper response to each individual chemical, the orbs take the base dna of compatible creatures and run a simulation, a computational clone of the organisms natural growth without outside interference, then compares it to the hosts current state and establishes a baseline by comparing the two. Once the host deviates from that baseline too much, the orbs act to bring it closer to the genetic ideal.
That system would be much more robust and compatible with a multitude of host species, without the requirement of needing an exhaustive library of all possible chemicals and interactions the host could possibly consume deliberately and accidentally.
The argument is about the scope of near omniscience that the orbs creators would need to include the ability to identify poison from medicine.
vs a device which is designed to maintain somewhat of a homeostasis. From a design standpoint, simply using a healing device to reverse large deviations in health that occur over short time frames would be easier than a machine that has perfect knowledge of the creatures biochemisty and consumptive habits.
Again, How does the orb identify harmful drugs, vs helpful drugs; it likely can’t.
But it would likely note sudden sharp deviations in health and correct them, either back to the state before the deviation, or toward the genetic ideal. In the latter’s case that would prompt a flush of non native chemicals from the hosts system. In Sydney’s case, restoring her natural brain chemistry.
Adroitly argued, and highly plausible, so conceded. Not that is to say it is the only possibility. The orbs could have specifically been made for use by humans, given that they were found on Earth. Perhaps a time-cop, from the future, lost them. Or visitors from an alternate Earth (same biochemistry, but different history). Or aliens, gods, et al. made them for humanity.
Then, of course, we must not ignore the fact that the comic is set in a super-universe. If something requires god-like omniscience, to be able to achieve, there are beings which fit the bill. Or, failing that, can simulate it via magic or devices.
A culture advanced enough to include such vital things directly in their own bodies; where they can’t be lost, or forgotten, and are right where you need them immediately as needed.
Now that Maxima has been officially ‘outed’ as straight I can ask this. How would she react to a woman (not Dabbler) hitting on her? She would turn her down I assume, but would she be less belligerent than when a man does? Would she be flattered? Flustered? Polite?
Maxima has big chip on her shoulder because she has been incessantly hit upon by men. Catch her in the wrong way (that reminds her too much of one or more of the prior incidents) and it could trigger the same kind of response
See how abrupt Maxima was when Hiro did his “removing the pants” gesture to try and convey “debriefing”. If a woman (let us say a senator or congresswoman) abused her position of power (such as when deciding on Archon’s budget) and made a pass, expecting that Maxima could not refuse her, I think that would provoke outrage.
But, ignoring the abuse of power side, men and women tend to behave differently in romantic situations. So I do not think that is likely to happen.
So without her pet peeve being involved, I think Maxima will just politely turn the woman down. Flustered is a possibility. See her in the photo studio for an example. Maxima was very much out of her comfort zone. Flattered, sure, if it was a woman she respected, or found admirable The end of panel 1 shows that Max is not an emotionless robot.
All in my personal opinion, of course.
I don’t think the chip on her shoulder is so much the quantity of would-be suitors so much as it is the lack of quality. Pretty much all the pick-up lines and move put on Max have been physical-related (Dab’s invisi-grope, the construction workers boob-heft hand motions, etc). But given her traumatic transformation, I don’t think Max considers it to be HER body so much as it is the golden body that she moulted into. Ergo, anybody hitting on her on a physical level is going to get a rude brush-off at best because they’re hitting on Maxima, not Maximillia Leander.
Which is a bit of a shame, because it seems that Dabbler has something of a crush on Max that goes beyond the basic “I wonder what her passion tastes like” curiosity. If only she would try to woo the lady beneath the classified/unknown not-gold skin.
Well thought out.
We have though seen Maxima clearly liking the sight of shirt-less Hiro (or one of the male heroes, anyhow), when she was whispering, in confidence, to Sydney. So I think Maxima’s tendencies would be more to the male human, than the female demon, side of the demographic. But do not preclude that possibility. You did offer plausible logic.
Not, regarding my comments, that we are likely to see a Maxima-Hiro thing, despite the rumours. Because he is her subordinate, and it would be inappropriate for either of them, be it to make advances, or to enter into a relationship.
The UK’s only female captain of a warship sadly lost her command because of failing to respect that. It is interesting to note that (in the Royal Navy) it is not strictly forbidden. It must simply not risk interfering in the operational effectiveness of the unit. Which was deemed to have happened, in her case.
As such, she was simply reassigned, rather than punished. But loosing her command, especially given her role-model position, must have been hell for her, by itself!
Sounds more likely they were simply looking for any excuse to get rid of her, or at least remove her from her well-earned position (“It’s bad enough they let women onto our boats in he first place, but to have one in command of one? NEVER!!!!”)
Plausible. I suspect a lot of them just can’t get over the whole “it is bad luck to have a woman on board” thing.
It is my belief that Maxima and company are making a major tactical mistake.
They should be suggesting Sydney work on the Forb, so as to increase her protection and her ability to protect others.
Going by the skill tree, she ha 1 more level of protection available.
Then she has a 3 point tree with trail away, and 2 single pointers to enable.
That would be a good tactical path to follow.
Have you considered that Maxima might be factoring that she could have to take down Halo, if she goes rogue? So far the shield has taken everything Max has thrown at it. If it gets upgraded, even her most powerful attacks might not scratch it!
Plus Sydney’s flight capability is right up there with modern military aircraft. Although the best can easily outperform her, at top speed. So upgrading has immediate tactical advantage.
But finding out more about the fundamental nature of the orbs really is a high priority. If they turn out to be the artefacts of an evil god, for example, the last thing you want to do is make them indestructible!
They have chosen their target advisedly. Her flight speed is known. So getting an extra point in that gives them a very good feel for what a one point increase does. Going from Mach 4 to Mach 5 seems likely. But it may turn out to jump to Mach 10, for example.
More importantly is finding out the significance of new branches. And if it is the granting of a new mode of travel (say inter-dimensionally, or going intangible, so Halo is not slowed by atmosphere or walls) that can have vastly more strategic value.
HALO: (Standing in front of Pearly Gates, on top of white clouds) Hi, we were just testing out these orbs. Err… is this Heaven?
GOD: Yes, and I am God.
HALO: (Inhaling) ..,
PEGGY: (Jumping forwards and placing her hand over Sydney’s mouth) Sydney is very pleased to meet you, and has nothing else to say!
They haven’t fully tested the Florb yet, they stopped because they had reached their destination so Mach 4 may not be it’s current max and her current level may actually allow her to fly faster than Maxi already
Personally, before they make Sydney spend a point in Flight, they need to have her do more controlled tests, including aerobatics (Sydney would love a chance at the X-Men Danger Room, the original version before the holo-deck was incorporated)
No, but such testing will be easy to do. Having made the decision where to put the skill point, they will, if they are wise, ensure to do speed tests at the first available opportunity. Further I would be happy to assume that such is done off-screen. The fact that Maxima did not say “you topped out at 400 mph” should not require us to have to go through flight testing again, just to put a definitive cap on it.
However, adding aerobatics into the mix does make it more interesting for the story (and would allow G-Force testing), so I commend your subsequent suggestion, from that point of view. I can see that it may well inspire DaveB‘s creative juices.
A subtlety that I failed to point out before is that speed is a simple measurement. Whereas protective capability is more complex. Potentially much more, if you consider the range of things the Forb protects against. But even our tank armour and infantry helmets/protective jackets have to be rated in complex terms. Eg “must be able to withstand penetration from a bullet fired by an M16 from 300 metres”.
Let us assume that Mach 4 remains definitive, after testing.* Later Halo puts her skill point into this slot. Then finds out she tops out at Mach 5. It is then reasonable to assume that each point probably equates to granting a Mach number increase in flight speed. Whereas if it turns out to be, let us change it to Mach 8, then it is likely to be a doubling in Mach speed for each skill point. So presumably a single point would have granted subsonic capability only.
The difference between those two results can grant significant insight into Halo’s potential future power.
* And ignore the fact that Mach 4 is not a speed. However it can be turned into one by knowing the altitude and ambient temperature. So that slight complexity is easily accounted for.
I think the dialog in that page (plus Dave’s comment) is pretty clear about match 4 being her top speed: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1856
Could you be recalling when they flew to the test field for the press conference?
*issues good memory award*
And yet I just came back from the bedroom without my glasses, the very thing I went to get.
DON’T WORRY, I WILL JUST TALK LOUDER, SO YOU CAN HEAR ME OK.
Yes, was talking about the flight to the test field
There is the possibility that one of the non shield strength trees would allow her to better carry passengers.
Plus the ability to shield her team members from a nuke is nothing to sneeze at.
Granted. And, personally, I go for defence, when upgrading characters, myself. So I am not knocking your suggesting. Getting to spend the next skill point is improved if you stay alive, after all! But Archon have got solid logic for the choice they made, despite the advantages that a defence upgrade can grant.
OOH Quick Sydney grab the mystery orbs! check the healz! you could go from tank to paladin! RANK UP!
Now would be the time to grab the unknown orbs. Find out if one of them is a healer…
And that is what I get for not reading the thread above mine… *sighs*
Heh. Don’t worry, it has been mentioned a gazillion times already, so even the one above was not a scoop.
No point pointing out Sydney already has had an opportunity within the last day or so to test if one of the Mystery Orbs had any sort of healing ability, as no one bloody well checks the comments section unless it’s to put their own spin on something that as been mentioned several times already!!!!
It can be argued that she has had MULTIPLE oppurtunities to check for healing ability.
If Sydney has healing ability, wouldn’t she, effectively, become assistant or associate to Dr. Chevapravatdumrong? That should be an acrimonious working relationship.
If it works on other people and maybe animals, I mean.
I see that Sydney is doing a good job keeping up her long-running streak of accidental self-harm.
So that is why they keep telling me that the plate is hot (well, duh!): Just to avoid this kind of situation.
So, is it just me, or is it Sydney’s left hand that’s burned, except it’s the right hand in panel six? Or am I missing a thumb and mistaking a pinky somewhere?
Panel 5/6 I guess I should say :)
It’s not just you. It looks odd to me too.
Good call, the close up is a right hand. It is not simply that the thumb is off-panel, as we can see where it should be positioned, supporting the food, underneath. Which would be in plain sight.
Clearly it should have been a left hand close up though, as we can see the burn mark in the subsequent panel.
*awards dugoth a virtual Easter egg*
Well done on being the fist to spot that.
This page brings up a possible flaw in Dabbler’s disguise ability. Say they were out on a mission on a rainy day and she does a face-plant into a mud puddle like Sydney did on the obstacle course. Would her ‘invisible’ horns and arms, now covered in mud, show up to the naked eye, or does the glamor spell keep them hidden regardless of their condition?
In a more mundane setting, if she is wearing a hooded sweatshirt and pulls the hood up over her head, are there bumps showing where the top and side horns are?
A sophisticated spell should adjust for these things. Whether Dabblers does we can only speculate upon though.
It seems likely that Succubi have been around for millennia and probably account for our folklore about such. So I would imagine that, given such a long time, they have developed the spells (/practiced the racial ability) to the degree that such is taken into account. This is supported by Dabbler’s pride at the power of Succubus illusions. Which becomes even more impressive when you realise just how many other races she knows about, in the galaxy.
And we have seen that Succubi do have a schooling system, which Dabbler did attend.
I think some sort of “nothing to see here, keep going” is part of her glamour, given that the guys at the club didn’t notice a thing: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1929
Or maybe it was for some other reason.
Several possibilities here.
I lean toward the idea that her glamour has two parts: one ‘holographic’ to fool mundane cameras and the like (bends light, modifies sounds, etc), and the other fools the mind, so that most folks will reconcile any minor breaks (hence why her shirts don’t seem to have extra arm holes and such.
So, if I am correct, someone standing close enough to her to be affected by the mind whammy would not see hoodie bumps or muddy horns (or hoof tracks in mud), but someone watching on a live broadcast from far enough away might (assuming she hasn’t hacked the appropriate network).
Of course anyone standing that close and observing her is likely to be somewhat distracted anyway.
DaveB constructive feedback again. All the colours are looking great in this page. And Maxima is looking as lovely and shiny as once more. I guess that the loss of lustre, on the previous page, was probably due to the background optical illusion effect, that was discussed regarding Pixel.
The one criticism on this page is very minor, but I think worth mentioning. Panel 5 shows Sydney’s hand. with the proximity warning. But I feel that the panel below it is simply too small to convey the intent clearly. I say this because I was just looking for missed details, and only then realised that you showed Sydney’s hand actually touching the hot surface.
This may sound silly, but the “SIZZLE” effect is so big, in that tiny space, that it is the only thing which has been catching my attention. Effectively my brain was treating that the same as it would as a plain panel, with just the word in it. Because only the back of the hand was visible, it was not being picked up as a hand, but just background (like we would see sky outdoors).
The reason why this is trivial, is because your intent was conveyed by the word, even though the picture failed to register. That thin letterbox panel would need to be taller, to show enough of Sydney’s hand to properly visually convey the scene.
I do realise that it would be impossible to condense panel 5 itself though, to allow the lower panel to be bigger. Panel 5 conveys a wealth of very important information, none of which could be condensed or eliminated. So I mention it purely if it is of use for your future panel composition.
Personally, I’m thinking here is our chance to see if one of her unknown orbs can heal and/or alleviate pain.
As distinct from the several other injuries she’s sustained since joining ARC-SWAT? And ghod alone knows how many other injuries before that?
Max’s expression in the last panel is priceless! xD
This page (and several others in this comic) remind me of the best description of ADD/ADHD I’ve ever come up with.
Imagine you are in a room in which every square inch is covered in television screens. Walls, floor, ceiling, everything. They all display something different and they’re all at full volume. One of the screens will randomly tell you to pay attention to a specific other screen and answer questions about it. But which screen is giving the orders changes randomly as does which screen you should be paying attention to. Also at times multiple screens will tell you to pay attention to multiple other screens and start asking you questions about them. All the while the channels on the screens are changing randomly.
Medications like Adderall, Ritalin, etc allow us to turn some of the screens off. Or at the very least, turn down the volume.
This also why those of us with ADD/ADHD tend to hyperfocus on our interests so easily. We focus on one screen and fuckall to the rest of them.
It’s really the only bonus. Unless you just enjoy the effects of Adderall, which I know some people both with and without ADHA do. But I can tune out the world and get shit done, to the point where many times I’ve had co-workers get my attention and then tell me that they had spoken to me several times across a minute or so and I just ignored them.
When I’m not “in the groove” my productivity is probably just as irregular as the average person these days. I was originally going to say it would be worse, because I’d get distracted so easily. But then I remembered that everyone is constantly distracted these days by their email, phones (cell and desk), texts, Facebook, Twitter, Brexit, web comics, etc.
Aaaand there was a closing italics behind “get shit done” that would have made the post look a lot more readable. If I’d done it right. Help me, edit feature, you’re our only hope!
And I put “everyone” in italics also, which is why the italics ended after that word.
Sandboxes are a good alternative to an edit feature.
Edit feature can’t come to the phone right now.