Grrl Power #472 – Bring a spike to a sword fight
If martians busted in and started ray blasting everyone, they might not wait for Irradon to give permission to retaliate, but sapient animates, i.e. the intelligent swords, the chatty mirrors, even the castle full of servants who got changed into boudoirs and clocks and candlesticks, haven’t always been treated as well as they could have. There’s definitely an anthropomorphic bias as well as an organic one, at least among organic anthropomorphic beings, which is probably unsurprising.
Still, a bunch of artificial ass holes shooting explosive silver crap around the room are probably going to get their butts rocked with or without Icon’s blessing.
I’ve commented before that people with artificial limbs in comics get a lot of abuse. It’s like swords and bullets are attracted to them. If your entire body was expendable you’d probably fight a lot differently that those fragile meat tubes who care about having all of themselves attached to all of the rest of themselves at the end of the day. Not that Dabbler hasn’t fought her share of space robots and zombies and what not, but after getting told to knock it off with the lethal attacks since teaming up with Arc-SWAT, she may need a moment to reconfigure her macro bar.
Given the diversity of her abilities, she really needs a macro bar macro bar. She’s definitely not one of those lame FPS heroes who can only carry 2 guns and a sidearm. Actually I’ve thought about how to put Dabbler in a video game since she seems like she’d be well suited for a 1st or 3rd person shooter. I think the best option would be the weapon wheel. You know, hold down the reload button to see a list of weapons, use the thumbstick to select one (or your mouse, if you’re civilized) then release. It’s a good way to compress a menu of things when you have a limited number of buttons. I figure Dabbler could have one for her guns, one for her attack spells, one for her defense and healing stuff, etc. Of course the real challenge in making a video game with her would be resisting the temptation to load her down with a ton of abilities that don’t offer distinct function. If she has a rocket launcher, does she need a fireball spell? Well, maybe if the fireball can be charged by holding down the button for a longer DoT or bigger AoE and the rockets can home on on where you’re pointing the cursor, otherwise you’ve just made a rocket launcher with two different particle effects and more crap for the player to keep track of.
So if you missed it on the previous page, I co-wrote a chapter of Marion G. Harmon‘s new volume of Wearing the Cape, subtitled “Team-Ups & Crossovers.” Guess who Astra (the WtC protagonist) crosses over with? :D It’s just one section of the book, but this is a canon story for Sydney and co. Here’s a like to the kindle version. The paperback will be available in the coming weeks.
I’ve made a dedicated blog post for the book, in case anyone would like to comment on it in one place instead of across multiple comic posts, cause I imagine I’ll mention it a few more times. :)
This page colored by Keith.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon, as soon as I get up. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
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Jeez, is Dabbler gonna lose ANTHER swordfight?
ANOTHER. Grr….
Well honestly speaking… I don’t think she ever really actually trains trains in it. Just kind of swing a sword while thinking training I bet.
Per this page -> https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1355 Dabbler’s a 2 out of the super scale of 5 with a sword, so she’s actually quite good… she’s just not as good as Heavenly Sword was, at a 4. We saw her doing quite well with her acrobatic dodges and such against Vehemence… but her sword work is hardly one of her more powerful abilities.
Well put. Another point to bear in mind is that Dabbler was not countered by superior swordsmanship, rather she simply failed to penetrate the armour sufficiently. As did the rather strong-looking leader of the automita faction.
However the sword did not completely fail. Indicating that she may be able to overcome it by striking weak spots. Likewise, although she looks rather panicky over it, her shield managed to block the manikin’s counterattack. Plus she has a whole host of other powers, and skills, to draw upon even in the event that her swordsmanship is not up to scratch.
A railgun through the head might do the trick. If it were not for the risk of punching through a dozen other skyscrapers and their occupants too.
They both only penetrated the outer cover that might even just be a costume if not ablative armor. If what they cut thru was armor it was cheap easy to replace armor as opposed to difficult to repair automatons
If you look closer, you will see how deep both blades cut, and that’s well into the ‘arm’
I think she’s panicing because her shield didn’t block the knife. Between the sound effect and that the shield looks like shattering glass (particuarly at the point of impact) I reckon it’s packing an anti-magic shank.
If she’s lucky, her shield at least bought her enough time to evade.
Possibly it broke. But Sydney’s shield gets crazy paving type effects on it, when it is under attack. If this is following the same convention, I would say it has been highly stressed, but is not yet broken.
Nah Yorp, I’m putting my bits on Morti’s assessment. Why would a group sent to kill magic people NOT come armed with shield-busting weapons? A shieldbreaker is no good unless it pierces a shield in one go. If you come loaded with silver for weres, then you also come loaded with anti-magic for the mages and demons. And demon mages.
Of course, if it’s specifically an anti-magic shield breaker, it may not have any effect at all against Halo’s shield (which may not be magic in origin… we don’t know yet.)
Just because they may have come with shieldbusting weapons doesn’t mean such weapons will always work.
That’s just how Dabbler’s shield looks, It shows the same pattern when Maxima struck it and WOG is it’s almost as strong as Sydney’s. It’s just rated lower because of it’s size.
The pattern, yes. But there do appear to be bits broken off, in the middle. If that is the case, then Halo has problems too. Although spikes would not be able to reach her, on their own. But a shot could still do that. And repeated blows could make a hole large enough to enter the shield.
If she absolutely must fight with swords, she might as well break down, go to the Jedi Flea Market, and get herself a lightsaber. One of those things wouldn’t be stopped by a measly forearm . . .
Thank you for bringing a superior image of Foxy Love from Drawn Together to mind.
‘Jedi Flea Market’ – we have a winner!
+1 for auspicious line breaks. I now have the mental image of a Yoda-sized Force-wielding insect hopping all over a crowd of Human-sized enemies, leaving slash-and-dash carnage in its wake.
Yep. She thinks she’s better than she is.
Time to whip out the one-handed rail gun and start perforating things – while watching out for bunny rehab centers, of course.
Dabbler’s railgun is piercing damage to Max’s blunt object damage. Sydney could use lighthook to lift, turn or otherwise present vulnerable target spots on mannikins for the others to experiment with. This could get as unwatchable as making sausage pretty quick. If they were in a bar, it’d be time to take it outside. That would bring the PPO into play.
Don’t forget that we have seen it shooting through a mountain. And they are presently in a building in New York City. I think there would be quite a lot of scope for collateral damage. For many city blocks, in whatever direction she pointed it!
Even down would endanger railways, sewers and giant monster breeding grounds.
Dabbler needs to design a kinder, gentler railgun.
I don’t think she is fast enough to do that, before his next thrust.
*wags tail cautiously*
Indeed, if Max were to actually go to town, there’d be nothing left of wherever they are but a smoking crater. This is neither the time nor place to cut loose.
Great, now I have this running through my head:
https://youtu.be/ltrMfT4Qz5Y
in which the singer advises people to cut loose. (Hmm, now all we need is a hero or heroine able to break up fights by forcing all the bad guys, whether animated mannequins or not, to break into a musical dance number, a la The Mask.)
Thank you for posting the original :D
You want a hero who can make people break into spontaneous musical numbers? Say, maybe that’s what one of Sydney’s mystery orbs does! ☺
+1 spirit (sandworm free)
Probably. She only dabbles in swordfighting after all.
Dabbler.
Dabbler.
Please, just…lose the sword. It never ends well for you. Enchant your gun, it’s a nice gun.
She did win that one she had when she started channeling magic through her sword.
So basically she needs to use her sword like a big, pointy magic wand.
If these guys are golems or mandrakes or enchanted potatoes or something else without a defined anatomy, a sword might be more useful than a gun.
That depends on how centrally the automaton is constructed and the composition of its “shell”, among other factors. If it can block a sword with its armor, like this one did above, then something armor-piercing seems to be necessary.
I wonder how Corporal “Do Not Salute” Detrius’ crossbow would do against it.
Well, SERGEANT Detritus’ crossbow (a siege ballista, really) _is_ called the Piecemaker for a reason. :D It makes pieces of anything in front of (and oftentimes to the sides of) it. That’s the other thing. it’s not a discriminating weapon. I don’t think using it in an enclosed space like the Meeting hall is the best of ideas. :)
1) Just seeing if anyone was paying attention?
2) If they could get the automatons outside in an area where there was no one behind them, it might be doable.
Sergeant Detritus’ Piecemaker is more like the weapon they used to take down the door, honestly. A whole lot of force, flying wood, and enough friction to set all the pieces on fire.
Much as with Sergeant Schlock’s Plasma Cannon (or CAPT Murtagh’s AP pistol), the only safe place to stand when Detritus uses the Piecemaker’s “cluster munition*” is behind him. Several miles behind him.
*Detritus’s usual load isn’t a single bolt. It’s a bunch of arrows of the same approximate mass held together by thin wire. Often turns into a shrapnel-laced fireball between launch and the target.
Thank you my fellow travelers diskworld is awesome. Here is my thing on this one, why are they supprised that these things are tough? Someone went to the trouble of researching where the meeting would be, who would be there, and loaded them with special munitions designed to take them out. Maxima should be calling for backup because these things are designed to take out supernaturals not capes, tank killers are good at killing other tanks but suck at fighting jets. The same principal applies here.
Surprised that they resisted two presumably very powerful magical weapons casually.
Why? They quite clearly came prepared for magical weapons. Sure, these aren’t namby-pamby +1 flaming rapiers, but they just kicked the door down knowing full well that the most powerful group of magical creatures was behind the door. They would have known they couldn’t count completely on surprise.
Probably because they’re used to fighting things that aren’t so tough (at least not on Earth for Dabs).
Well. We know from Halo’s earlier scan that these automatons have “nodes” where the magic concentrates. Destroy those and the golems should fall; however, Halo hasn’t got the chance to tell her team-mates this.
Detritus’s Piecemaker would do well against pretty much anything.
Enchanted potatoes….magic fries. Now I’m hungry, damnit.
Dabbler is also an inventor, maybe she could build a sword that is ‘also a gun.’ (RWBY reference)
Bah, she would make a Squall gun-blade
Logically speaking, wouldn’t Cervantes’ be better? You can block and shoot people at the same time then.
Those were experimented-with in RL, but didn’t really catch on except in the ‘sword-bayonet’ sense….
It may do one day though. When fighting in ships surrounded by vacuum. Sword-like weapons would ensure that no stray missile attacks punctured the hull. Yet the ranged attacks could be used, by troops with appropriate engineering training, when firing at targets in areas (or directions) where a rupture is not a risk.
Not to mention, having a nice, aimable reaction-mass on-hand if you ever find yourself floating free.
In theory, yes. Both of those scenarios (and Anvildude’s) are perfectly valid reasons to have the respective weaponry available and trained.
In practice, it would almost certainly be more effective to use separate weapons for each – we can add the pistol to the curriculum of back-hand armaments, alongside the historical likes of the dagger or buckler. Combining sword and gun in a single body invariably requires so many engineering and design compromises that the weapon is severely handicapped in at least one if not both roles, especially when faced with a ‘single-use’ adversary.
Solid points, but do consider the continuing use of rifle and bayonet even today. There is a role for combined weapons. The time lost, in changing weapons, can be fatal. Most modern firefights take place at ranges at around 50 yards/meters. Hence rifles of types suited to those ranges tend to predominate in armies around the world.
But once ship-board fighting becomes important (which it will) then the dynamics will change. Then all the fighting is compartment by compartment. So, barring some long corridors or the occasional big room, all fighting is going to be at much closer quarters. And many ships will have very tight corridors and small compartments.
Hence this will be like tunnel fighting, in Vietnam. Where dagger and handgun were the optimal choices. But because the defenders have a great advantage, especially with booby traps, the easier option of using grenades tended to prevail. That will not be an option if trying to capture a ship (and if you are not you destroy it with heavy ship weaponry, you don’t board it).
So with dagger and handgun being the weapon of choice, there will be bound to be experiments in combining them.
Finally there is the additional complication of zero-g or micro gravity combat. You need one hand to hold on to something. So you can only hold the one weapon! Swapping weapons becomes not only far harder, but also becomes dangerous to you. Dropping a dagger, to switch to a pistol, will mean it is floating around you, and can end up poking you in the eye!
I’m sure there will be experiments in combining dagger and handgun, but I would not expect them to end up looking much like ‘conventional’ sword-guns (as if that’s a thing!). Perhaps a handgun with blade extending from the bottom of the grip, as a kamikaze holdout weapon.
As you say, very few spaceborne environments in the early decades would have large compartments with clear sightlines. In that sort of scenario, I would expect the uses for the pistol to be so rare that it wouldn’t be worth compromising the blade; better to have a dedicated sword, and a separate firearm that a few specialists in the squad can switch to prior to entering such large areas. Working as a squad allows an extent of cover, for the few seconds required to switch as required.
As development progresses we probably will see larger internal spaces, but we’re also likely to see increasing use of false gravity (probably inertial) which would negate the need to keep one hand braced – although it would screw up ballistic instincts learned in true gravity!
Another option would be to mount the firearm to the forearm of the boarding suit. That still gets you a quick ‘draw’ without occupying the hand, and it keeps the weight and engineering out of the sword. I won’t claim it as adding cut protection to the forearm, as I’d expect to see metal reinforcement strips included anyway for just that purpose.
At the end of the day, I doubt we’ll get a definite answer until it’s been tried in situ. And I would happily trade being proven wrong, if it means the rate of progress speeds up enough to see the answer in our lifetimes!
Oh I agree that artist conceptions and what turns out to be an effective combination, are not likely to overlap. Although there have been quite a few of the former, some better thought out than others. So there is a chance that one of them will have called it right.
Don’t forget that wherever there is simulated gravity (centrifugal being the limit of what we are likely to see in the lifetimes of anyone alive today), there will be some officer planning on a way to turn it off, at a time of maximum inconvenience to their enemies.
So the force properly trained and equipped for zero-g / microgravity will have an edge over those who neglect that.
I think your mounted weaponry idea is very likely to be tried. And could be successful. Although, just to play devil’s advocate, integrated weaponry does have its disadvantages too. A few that spring to mind:
• Difficulty in gaining access to the weapon (to deal with malfunctions/jams, maintain it, swap ammo types, etc)
• Increased risks to the operator (an ammo explosion is going to be contained inside their armour, guaranteeing a maimed or lost limb, at least).
• Greater maintenance costs. Engineers will have to be trained in both armour and weapon maintenance. Thus increasing training duration and cost. Separate items could be maintained by two different individuals, speeding turn-around time. The converse increases it.
• Increases difficulty in having the unit fully operational. Failure of either removes the whole from the battle arena, for repair. Requiring either more spares or less individuals ready to fight. Contrast it to a unit without integrated weapons. If the armour fails, the individual does not have to draw a spare weapon as well.
This is compounded if either of the units is significantly more prone to failures than the other. Likely the gun. And as the armour is almost certainly going to be the more costly item (both to produce and in terms of using up limited storage capacity in spacecraft).
Of course the irony that many of these can be used against dual weapon types too, is not lost on me.
However a bayonet handgun (however it may be attached), can be separated, so does not suffer overly from any of the issues. Plus they are small items, so fare well in the last point I made. Finally, there are limits on how easily removable a weapon can be made , if it is embedded in armour (without compromising its protection).
The degree of integration is always something to bear in mind, not just for weaponry but also for ‘normal’ systems. I was envisaging something rather modular and external, for easy reloads and swapping-out of faulty parts – more like the hardpoint-mounted gun pod (to be) used by the F-35B and C, as opposed to the internal mounting of the equivalent gun in the F-35A. Not quite as much protection for the weaponry, but a lot more protection from the weaponry if things go wrong.
Yea, that would solve various of the issues.
Such weaponry has a weakness which would be minimised in shipboard fighting, so being a good suggestion for such circumstances. Namely that the user will be unable to raise the weapon to sight along it (or use a traditional sniper scope). So it is good for situations where you want to ‘fire from the waist’ (typical for close quarters fighting). Which is what will be typical in shipboard fighting.
The disadvantage though will be apparent when outside of that environment. Easily envisaged if one force decides to flank the enemy by going outside and moving along side (or on) the outer hull. Then any firing will benefit from being aimed.
To do that with a handgun just requires raising it up to head height, to sight along it. The integrated weapon cannot do that. Thus either loosing combat effectiveness in external boarding operations or requiring very expensive targeting equipment (visualise the Predator shoulder weapon, for an extreme example).
This is making the marine dependent on complex weaponry, with multiple points of failure. The tracking mechanism, the servos, power, and so on. Plus its effectiveness will be limited by how well a machine can pick out friend from foe, civilian from combatant.
Of course, once perfected, such weapons can give a super-human edge to combatants armed with them. In the interim phase though, where they are flawed, I think I would prefer to rely on my own judgement, rather than that of some technician in a lab, and the monkey assembling it, for the lowest bidder.
The degree of sighting tech required would largely depend on the mounting. For a basic ‘Buzz Lightyear’ configuration and little obstruction at the shoulder, it’s not too hard to get the forearm fairly close to the sightline of the same-side eye. Not quite as close as a handgun, granted, but potentially in the same range as an AK-47’s offset. For greater precision, there’s the current-tech option of an aligned laser pointer.
By the time we get to extra-hull operations, we’ve rather left behind the close and cramped conditions for which we wanted the blade and the quick switching in the first place. At which point, you may as well sheathe your weapon and unsling a ‘proper’ carbine.
Hang on, why’s it taken so long to spot this! Instead of carrying a blade and mounting a blaster, we can carry a blaster and mount (a) blade(s). I’ll let you be the one to show Sydney thesuit!
Heh, there is not much doubt that Sydney would be enthusiastic about that.
Yeah, it kills me, too. She’s such a showboat. I mean, she has a teleporter built into her arm and she wants to hit things with her sword? …sigh… She could just configure the teleporter to move her opponent straight to ARC-Aegis. And what does she use it for? Hammerspace.
Do. Not. Diss. Hammerspace.
Or parts of her opponents.
She does pretty decently with the sword when she remembers that she’s more of a Spellsword than a Fighter. :P
Please, like she’d limit herself to spellsword, she’s playing by 2nd edition rules and is a fighter/mage/cleric multiclass but without the weapon restrictions.
Fighter/mage/cleric/rogue/bard/artificer/expert/psion/succubus*/dopplegannger*/?*
* Monster HD/class
Is it a mogwai figure on her sword?
Mogwai? No
‘Figure’? Maayyybe, maybe not ;)
Technically it’s a phone charm.
“Phooone. Phooone. Brrrrrriiiiiing. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.”
You just brought up the (also known as the phone aliens). This makes me love you forever. +like googolplex factorial.
There was also a parody of that in an episode of the TV show, Drawn Together.
https://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/drawn-together-does-the-yip-yip-aliens/800117/
Okay so Dabbler successfully blocked that one right? Certainly apparent that thing managed to smash her barrier but at least seems she stopped the momentum. Because I am gonna be REALLY bummed if the next comic starts with her getting stabbed.
Really surprised Maxima let any more of these things get past the door for Icon and Dabbler to give a crack at.
Maybe there is a reason why Icon got on the “Who’s Who”, but Dabbles didn’t…
With all the details that go into making the comic, one has to expect that DaveB is sometimes going to miss one or more of them. This is probably one of those times.
Speaking of which, I just noticed one possible one that DaveB might have to retrocon. If all of this is a(n extensive) flashback. shouldn’t Sydney be wearing her collar here?
Grrr, let’s try that again, boys and girls, ladies and gentleworms: here“?
Maybe because Sydney only wears it when in uniform? o_O
Grr… stupid memory… now that you mention it, I seem to remember that somebody already gave that as a possible solution sometime when the collars were introduced into the comic. At least, I think I remember it now.
It is also entirely possible that one of the unknowns becomes a known rendering the communication collar moot point. But we have time before that would need to be explained anyway.
Whoops, forgot. It’s added.
Does this qualify as a “called it” moment? =OP
For a moment, I thought that was what happened in THIS comic. I thought for sure that poor old Dabbler had been run through! And not in the good way!! Fortunately though, she had a shield at the ready.
Would you like to take a stab at what’s going to happen?
“groooan…”
It’s looking more and more like Dabbler may be in more trouble than I thought.
As some of you have been saying, her shield definitely did not withstand that spike hit! I had to enlarge the page as much as my web browser would let me to see them, but there are what look like little shards flying from where the spike impacted! They are the same color as the shield too rather than than the purple of Dabbler, the black of her top, or the yellow of the laces.
It doesn’t look like our succubus got hit though . . . at least not yet. DaveB may be saving her actual injury for the next page. My suspicion is that just before Dabbler gets stabbed, Sydney’s light hook is going to grab the bad guy and smash him into the nearest wall a few dozen times.
In which case that is worrying. It would be a shame to loose her so young. Taken away from us, before her 188th birthday!
*stands a gloomy vigil*
Seriously though – this is a sign of the future for us.
In the near future (5 years TOPS) we will see military killbots like these automatons, and like them, fighting those killbots will be problematic.
Who says we have to wait that long?
There already are military killbots. They are called drones. Just no AI, at this point. Why would anyone make one in the shape of a human, anyway? No very efficient or fast.
A humanoid form is extremely useful if you’re looking at a generic robotic aid that has to do lots of things in a humano-centric environment. Also good if you’re looking to keep them hidden in crowds. Not so much for functionally-specific units like these – I’d expect something more akin to battlebots or daleks than golems…
Maybe they were animated by a mage with OCD and an old recipe that demanded anthropomorphic statues…
General speaking:
Legs beat chains/tires in terms of passable terrain. (there is no terrain you can’t pass with legs, that you can pass with chains/tires but the other way around there is)
2 legs Vs multiple pairs of legs: Weight and stability advantage goes to multiple legs. Speed potentially as well. This makes multi-leg automation the prefered weapon platform with better armor.
2 Legged automations trade that for mobilety, especially in enclosed spaces. (Armor isn’t exactly known for it’s bending properties to allow free movement)
This means for indoor fitghing you typically would go for a 2-legged design, a scaled down (aka mini-) multi-legged desing or our current options of chain-supported movement since we still such at legged automations.
As for humanoid forms: Arms/hands offer the most versality for such an automation. They can support the mobilety, offer a higher range of weapon movement as well as a broader set of available weapons. If inbuild weapons are damaged, battlebots/daleks are pretty much screwed. A humanoid golem/automation can simply grab another weapon or use the arms/hands itself as melee-weapons.
This moves the automation from a single point of failure (destroy weapon) to a 2-tiered system. While the arms may still be a single point of failure, you first have to deal with the weapon it is holding to get a clear shot at the arm and based on the designe, a cut arm that is still holding a weapon may still fire it somewhat controled.
Neo-Daleks are far more capable than any legged entity. They can hover over ALL terrain.
In terms of things we can realistically expect to achieve in the near future, however, Legs take it easily.
Dalek vs staircase. The epic showdown begins… and already has ended… Dang things don’t hover cause they can fly.
Most robots have trouble with steps or rough terrain, hovering takes more power than walking, & would make you more susceptible to anyone with wind powers
@Aleric
Umm, no. Several military drones have extensive AI. The intent being that the signal may get hijacked in a combat zone, so the AI takes over and identifies hostiles. They only show pilots controlling the craft so the public doesn’t freak out. We’ve had decades of rogue AI movies; the military doesn’t want to fight that kind of public resistance. There are also human-shaped drones, which are useful because human environs are built to suit… humans. However, admittedly these aren’t as developed as autonomous drones.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/us/pentagon-artificial-intelligence-terminator.html
DARPA started rolling out the public awareness campaign recently. Don’t be fooled, these machines have already gone on missions. I know because a relative works in the industry; they don’t discuss anything under NDA, so with this becoming public it’s apparently okay now.
Re: DaveB’s comment about those with artificial limbs getting a lot of abuse in comics, my own observation:
If a character in fiction is a robot/android/gynoid or similar artificial being, particularly if a) they’re a hero and b) can be repaired good as new, it’s extremely likely for them to be heavily damaged and or destroyed simply because they can “easily” be brought back. I’ve seen this a lot with DC’s Red Tornado and Marvel’s Vision. I’ve also seen it in other fictional franchises, such as in Astro City, or in anime.
Red Tornado? Vision? Just look at the history of the Metal Men!
Genos the demon cyborg from one punch man takes the icing on cake for abused cybernetics :P
Pretty sure he wasn’t a demon in season 1.
He gets the “demon” moniker shortly after joining the association.
And the only damageable component of the Metal Men are the responsometers in their heads. The rest of their bodies are solid metal of their type.
What about, somebody super-tough, kicking them in their vonneumannitalia?
I’d guess that unless the foot hits hard enough to go all the way up to the responsometers & damages that, then the only effect would be more comedic than harmful. In other words, they’d have to kick hard enough to shove the vonneumannitalia all the way up to pop out of their eye sockets…
O.O
While true, one has to remember that just because a limb can get easily replaced physically doesn’t mean it can get easily replaced financially or that the limb doesn’t have some sort of pain feedback to let the wearer know that it has been damaged.
“Easily” doesn’t meant”‘painlessly”
…which is why I added the stuff after the “and”.
What ‘and’? There is not one single ‘and’ in your prior post :P
It was just a backup to your post by the way
Oops, I meant “or”….
My posts this morning are being made by someone who had a migraine last night, which often has a negative impact on whatever intellectual abilities I may otherwise possess.
Personally know all about nasty migraines (was erroneously diagnosed with having a “Severe Neurological Migraine” instead of an actual stroke way back in ’90)
This reminds me of a character in the Wild Cards universe. Modular Man is/was (depending on how banged up he’s been by now) a completely autonomous android created as a prototype by Dr Travnicek, an ace, a tinkerer at the time.
As a marketing ploy MM is programed to be a hero, and given the weapons and equipment load out available he’s quite successful.
The ability to swap in spare parts makes MM next to immortal as long as Dr T keeps a stock of spares. Unfortunately being built by an ace tinkerer MM is not only unique, but he works on principles breaking just about all natural laws and no one but Dr T can replicate any of it.
When Dr T becomes unable and uninterested in maintaining MM the android is forced to confront the idea of death and disability. Still, forced by his programing MM is forced to continue to act like a hero, but now there is no longer any one capable of repairing any damages.
So for MM being a synthetic goes from being next to immortal to meaning that he will most likely be dead within a year or two.
Sounds like an extremely interesting character, but I’m surprised MM doesn’t have the knowledge of how to do at least some repairs and replacement on himself. As a highly sophisticated robot, I’m sure he’s got the memory space for such info.
Sounds like his creator is the kind of dick who would put ‘do not repair yourself’ in his programming.
MM and this topic now remind me of a fun mini-series Adam Warren wrote for Marvel called “Livewires”. It plays around with some parts of the Marvel mythos, focusing on robotics and high-tech black ops.
In the Marvel universe, there are robots made by SHIELD called Life Model Decoys. These are automatons that are externally and psychologically indistinguishable from normal human beings. SHIELD made them to protect people- for example, if an assassination attempt is up, replace the target with an LMD copy of the target. The LMD will behave as if it was the target perfectly while physically (to a certain but deep degree) being a dead ringer for them. There have been a number of LMDs in Marvel’s history, such as a time when Capt. America was being hidden and protected by SHIELD to the point of being hypnotized into thinking he’s just an average citizen with LMDs posing as his wife and son.
SHIELD isn’t the only one with access to this tech, and one such super-secret organization has developed some for their own clandestine operations and purposes. Livewires is the story about their black-op LMDs, particularly where the main character is a recently booted-up secret agent LMD who has yet to override her programming that makes her think and behave like an ordinary human being.
Anyway, these mecha are limited in number while undertaking very dangerous missions. While they’re pretty smart, strong, swift, etc. because of very advanced and sophisticated robot tech, they’re far from invulnerable and invincible. Through the story, you’ll see them take severe damage and losses. If being a robot in fiction means eventually getting trashed, then it’s a justified trope in their case.
I’d actually recommend the book- it’s well written and poignant in its own way. The worst that can be said about Livewires is that it’s “a good story looking for better characters”. If you can pick it up, do so.
And every so often, one or more LMDs rebels…
They seem self-aware enough that using them like that is of dubious morality.l
That’s actually one of the points of the book. I really recommend it.
Yeah, if you programme a machine with ‘artificial’ intelligence and self-awareness, how long before they become truly aware and a ‘true’ individual? Just look at Data and Vision or The Doctor
*Gasp*
The Doctor is a machine with AI?! I thought he was an alien from Gallifrey!
Oh, wait a minute. You must mean that guy who was out there stealing his name for a few years.
Dr Who’s real name was Emergency Medical Hologram? :-O
Yeah, there was a similar observation in the comic earlier, https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/748
Cyborg arms get chopped off with alarming regularity.
How many times does edward elric lose his robo arm? I know scar blows it up at least once. I think when he fought the butcher and got knocked out he got the arm removed, but not broken, I know in brotherhood he got his arm blown up in the final fight. Im also pretty sure there were times when it took damage but was still at least attached to his shoulder.
He tears off his arm (or maybe it gets blown off?) and uses it to set a trap for Lanfan the first time they meet. His arm also gets damaged/crushed by another (cold-resistant) auto-mail the first time he visits Fort Briggs.
Based on the manga, off the top of my head:
1. First meeting with Scar. Scar destroys it.
2. Philosopher Stone Lab #5- because Winry accidentally left out a part, it becomes inoperable during his fight with Envy but it otherwise whole.
3. First meeting and fight with Greed. Greed smashes the crap out of the arm during the fight. This doesn’t really count because the arm still works.
4. First meeting and fight with Lan Fan. Lan Fan disables the arm with a thrown kunai severing the wires inside. Edward decides to break it off with alchemy in a plan to trap Lan Fan, reasoning that non-functioning automail is just dead weight.
5. The Elric brothers travel to Fort Briggs. Cold causes the arm to malfunction and lockup.
6. Final battle with Father. Fighting aboveground after Father had absorbed the Truth, Father unleashes an explosion that destroys the arm (while impaling the other, flesh-and-blood one against stone).
Those were the instances, IIRC, where the arm was heavily damaged and/or destroyed.
NOTE: Edward’s automail *leg* never gets damaged or destroyed- although it is replaced after the Scar fight along with the destroyed arm because of Edward’s growth in height.
1) Shouldn’t they first check to see if the automatons are sapient or not to see whether Icon should be able to speak for them or not? If I were a non-sapient automaton, I would protest!
2) The council isn’t going to let the Archonites have all the fun, are they?
3) Pretty sure this is the highest I’ve ever posted. (*Mind blown*) Wowsers!
If you were a non sapient automaton you wouldn’t have the capacity to protest.
Another example of humor wasted on the internet. *Sigh*
My work here is done.
Um, thanks?
Hey, if you really want to spoil something, get DaveB to meet up with a telepath so we can get the comic story ahead of time…
O.o
There is a precog on the case. We can get the story before Dave even thinks of it!
I think a telepath would be a superior choice in a case like this; in most fictions, a precog isn’t very reliable in that a vision of the future is hazy & hard to decypher, winding up ambiguously described. A telepath would be getting the words right from the horse’s mouth (in a manner of speaking) & be more accurate in reading actual thoughts.
Since DaveB has to think about it & it takes time to prep & post it, there’s still time for a telepath to report before DaveB posts it.
Perfect accuracy up to eight years in advance good enough for you?
😾
Eight years our time or Haloverse time? =OP
Ahh, good point. Make that one hundred and sixty years!
1) Well the “lethal or not” only applies to Max’s team. The council keeps it’s own SOP Im sure. As for the sapient or not thing. Isn’t that the reason he is saying “I’ll allow it” ? Declaration that going heavy is fine. Maybe he can tell at a glance what kind they are; or its simply not a concern to the council until the safety of the council is secured (who knows if they aren’t stuffed with explosives too and set to go off when they lose or get disabled or captured)
Typically automatons or golems are far harder to “end the existance of” anyway and far more durable. So catching one would far more require effort. Such as dismantling parts of them so they can’t keep going. Which requires heavy attacks. Heavy attacks which are umbrella’d for Max’s team under lethal ordnance. Since its really just a statement for Max’s team members (albiet i dont think she wants halo to try a ppo. Which given its solar connoations in the past. Would probably be a bad idea around supernaturals like vampy)
a beter question is.. why in this situation isn’t Max just going full tilt to protect the council. Now isn’t a good training time for team ups
I wonder if this is a case of “Superman is weak to Magic”- I mean, Max has lost to Dabbler before, and as far as we know, her powers are “scientific” in nature, as opposed to magical (despite the ears).
It’s possible that the automotons will actually be able to keep up with her somehow, or have something that can damage her- that blade looks like something out-of-the-ordinary, so it might be enchanted.
If they are strong enough to make her go full armor everything else will be weak.
His decision is an easy one. Non-sentient and he is not bothered about them. Sentient and they are attempting to kill him and his allies. They have made their choice to be enemies so, again, he is not bothered about reciprocating in kind.
Who here can predict the outcome of this fight?
Someone will win, someone will lose, or it will end up in a tie.
They’ll self destruct and make a portal
Rocks fall. Everyone dies.
At least we know that Sydney and Maxima will be safe.
Wow, Dave’s art’s improved….
Yeah, but it also means that the way DaveB drew those first few pages as a “flash forward” in time, wouldn’t that make those pages look as refined as his current pages? And from first showing Sydney arriving at Archon HQ until now, shouldn’t his art gradually improve up to this point? That would basically mean that DaveB would have to re-draw those first few pages at his current skill level, but then keep the early artwork the same since the end of the “flash forward” point.
There are only two pages which would need changing, to keep the art consistent. Because the game session is mostly fantasy and a different style, in its own right. So you only have the two pages ‘in the future’ which would be most convincing if they matched the art style, whatever it looks like by the time the comic has caught up to that date.
The rest of it is in the flashback, and the style would gradually evolve, as we have seen it. Such that the change would not stand out. Other than, of course, the transition to the flashback. But that has merit, in creating a visual distinction, rather than being a problem.
I predicted a 50/50 chance of either being over in no time, or lasting a very long time. Seems to be the later.
Me.
If that spike wasn’t lubricated properly, would it have gone
“SKANK” before trying to stab Dabbler?
Then she could be insulted while being assaulted.
You act like she would’ve been offended at being called a Skank.
You never know with Dabbler.
Drats, ninja’ed again.
If anything, she’d’ve been more offended by his* inability to get it up.
*I’m using male pronouns as gender neutral here for a better joke, even though it’s arguably rather incorrect.
I wouldn’t be too sure that Dabs would be insulted by that (or any other, for that matter) term. =OP
Wonder if Sydney has tried different settings on the PPO. She might have one that’s safe for indoor use. If not, say goodbye to the secret building.
Beyond that, I don’t know how many of the inhabitants inside would be all that safe either.
I feel like using anything resembling “the sun” (given her mini vision) is a good idea around supernaturals.
Considering prior to the Field Test with Maxi, the only other time she used it set fire to a wooded area, it’s highly unlikely she has been practicing fine-tuning (or we would have seen it during the Press Conference)
+1
From Calvin and Hobbes:
Calvin: Mom, can I have a flamethrower?
Mom: No!
Calvin: I promise I’ll only use it outside!
Mom:NO!
That’s a terrifying thought: what if Calvin had found the orbs (assuming they were somewhere that didn’t require snorkeling to retrieve)?
So that people in Sidney’s world don’t wake up screaming each night, we’ll assume the skill tree builtin has a ‘minimum’ skill tree for allowing the orbs to be discovered in the first place which has several filled-in circles on the “common sense” branch.
Sometimes it goes the other way!
To be fair. though, it seems like a bit of a different, somewhat closer to desperate situation than the one that the Archonites find themselves in..
Mom, can I have a PPO?
You want a pee pee? Oh, OK.
According to “inverse ninja”, they’ll be medium hard to fight, as there are more than one but less than many. So 10 pages or so should do it, and this page would be #2 in the fight.
But they are less ninja automatons & more para-military automatons. The inverse ninja effect doesn’t apply to them.
Now, since it seems that there’s only two of the Fashion Ninjas, each one of them should be fairly formidable.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1722
And we can see they’ve got a fairly high storm-trooper number to begin with. One storm trooper = coordinated enough to aim weapon down range, but not enough to hit unarmored rebels 20 feet away.
Even in numbers, Stormtroopers can aim over distances…At least, if the target is big. Remember what Obi Wan Kenobi said when he & Luke found that Jawa Sandcrawler?
;)
Also, when Han, Obi & Luke were on the Deathstar to rescue Leia, Gov. Tarkin wanted them to get away, so they could find the rebel base…The Stormtroopers were under orders to avoid killing any of them.
At least Mythbusters taught us that it is impossible for normal humans to dodge Star Wars blaster shots. So we know that their missing is solely down to incompetent marksmanship. Except when shooting at lightsabre-armed Jedi. At which point their aim improves dramatically.
It must be the glowing lightsabres helping them to aim. Or all their target practice dummies have glowing weapons, and they cannot cope without such an aid.
Nah – the jedis subconsciously telekinetically attract the bolts in order to reflect them with the sabers.
Just as some heavy horses are stronger than “one horsepower”, I’d expect there’s stormtroopers with > 1 stormtrooper value. It’s not such a high threshold to overcome.
It does take the strongest though, as ‘one horsepower’ was actually specified as being greater than normal horse pulling strength. Simply because the innovator, defining it, wanted to preemptively silence any critics, who may get ‘average-looking’ (but above average strength) horses to publicly beat his machines, horse-power for horse-power.
His cunning plan worked. Attempts to do that, but with the very biggest horses, neither made a persuasive counter-argument to the worth of machines, nor did it affect sales. But it does leave us with the historical legacy, that one horsepower does not equal the strength of one (average) horse.
Did you know that there was also a smaller but related unit specified, although it didn’t get widely adopted?
1 horsepower = 3 ‘donkeypower’.
How many donkeypowers does one Shrekpower equal?
One to the power of puss-in-boots.
Except one to the power of anything is still one and I doubt donkey’s power would be equal to Shrek’s.
The stormtrooper unit may be intended as a small, usefully scaled unit. Counter examples would be the Farad, which is useful in most electronics only when prefixed milli- or micro-, or the Richter scale , which nearly always has a decimal place or two. Properly scaled measurement units are like miles or kilometers per hour for ground vehicles, which rarely need decimals or more than 3 digits.
I do not keep up with all the ins and outs of the Star Wars canon, but aren’t all stormtroopers identical clones? Whilst clones can have variability, it is to be expected that it will be far less than with the general population.
Perhaps they should have cloned someone who was a better shot than Fett?
you would think purpose made murder mannequins would go down easier. what with probably being purposely made for murdering the entire council probably after a bunch of them are wounded or killed by the purpose made kill-a-lot-of-em grenade’s
Never count on an opponent to be stupid or easily beat.
Don’t expect the enemy to cooperate in the creation of your dream engagement.
#47 of The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries
Makes me wonder if they are the same as The Seventy Maxims of Maxima’s Effective Mercenaries?
Not so, operating under the assumption that the attacking force has knowledge of the council’s capabilities and likely countermeasures; going down easy would mean the most formidable of the group would likely remain after the grenades, probably very, very pissed off and able to find the creator.
I would expect them to be tough, since they are probably trying to kill as many around the table as possible. The opening grenade was clearly meant to take out those with hyper allergies, but wouldn’t have touched those like Icon. It makes sense that they would then be built to go toe to toe with him.
+1
For a going second there I thougth the armour guy (am i rememberign right that he’s an enchanted armour?) was in cahoots with the golems.
Well I wonder if max saw what just happened, if not Dazzler might have to reveal that she has 2+ hearts, or a mechanical backup. Well unless Halo’s doing her support thing again and nabs it.
I might laugh in a bad way, if it turns out one of them isn’t a golem. and its the one that max knocks the block off of.
I kind of want Hal to just fly straight down while shielding onto one and crush it.
Also if there was ever a time for Max to go closer to full tilt now would be the time. Not really good to train up the team baattles. or pull a superman here. The council is in heavy danger. Those things are probably full of explosives. At least get Halo into the room and all the members in a bubble with the speed.
granted holding back habits die hard I suppose
What do you mean extra heart? Dabbler blocked that with her shield.
A shield that got SMASHed
Smash can also just mean it smashes into something. Not that it’s broken.
DaveB has said that Dabbler’s shield is just as strong as Sydney’s. Only localized.
Giving DaveB‘s penchant (hmm, always pronounced it “pon-shon” :shrug: ) for onomatopoeia’s, he would have come up with something ‘special’ if the blade got stopped other than ‘SMASH’, considering the blade is still intact
It might just be that to indicate all the force behind it which is what’s startling Dabbler? Or possibly the blade being jammed back into its slot.
I go by the visuals, and the shield looks intact, to me. Although it does have some scratching on it. Or maybe some crazy crocheting?. Possibly that is not a weapon, but an automatic knitting needle? Which makes sense, given they are manikins.
I predict they guy with the cross-shaped visor is actually the Lord High Tailor of the Knights Templar. The ultimate nemesis of Iron Cloth, the Archon tailor!
Those zig-zaging white lines are part of her top, not scratches
You are right. Although I can confirm what Ignoble says, that there are what appear to be small shards, in the middle (distinct from her top lacing).
Combine that with the onomatopoeia, which Guesticus pointed out, and I am shifting camp. Dabbler could be in real trouble!
Excuse me, sir. Do you have any grey penchant?
I am afraid that our penchant only comes with panache.
Oh, I don’t know if I can bear such a panachement!
Fun expressions from Dabbles, long may they continue (hint hint)
That last expression is adorable!
She’s likely made that face only three times in her life. First was when she lost her hand. Second was when she lost her eye. And now this third time when she’s about to lose her left breast.
Which actually says a few things about her fight with Heavenly Sword.
Dabbs really has an overconfidence problem when it comes to swords. Maybe she needs to switch fully over to mallets and hammers.
On the topic of control schemes, Final Fantasy XIV has an interesting one for the PS4 version called the “Hot Cross Bar.” Don’t know if it’s ever been used in other games.
Holding R2 maps 8 abilities to the d pad and regular buttons. L2 maps 8 different abilities to them. R1 swaps to secondary, tertiary, quaternary, etc bars for access to other 8+8 sets.
It’s really slick.
Sounds like someone in the design team remember what “modifier” keys are and that they can be combined. DBVX(1&2) uses something similar for the Super and Ultimate menus which map 4 different “moves” when the correct shoulder buttons are pressed.
Now if they really wanted to go the extra mile, holding R2 and L2 together could have pulled up a third menu of 8. Or even use them contextually. If one shoulder button is held first, then the other, you pull up a secondary menu off the first… thus allowing 4 sub-menu segments total.
Actually they did! R2->L2 and L2->R2 bring up another 8 each. Also double tapping R2 or L2 brings up yet another set.
Like I said, really slick.
Double tapping R2D2 means ‘no’. Double tapping C3PO means ‘serve the drinks’.
Why doesn’t Dabbler get a spot on the Who’s Who?
Probably an oversight on DaveB‘s part.
Or… horrifying foretelling :(
But nah, probably just tag-slippage (it wouldn’t be the first time)
Okay let get this straight. Is there just a talking suit of armor that’s the absolute authority on whether you’re allowed to destroy robots?
“Still, a bunch of artificial ass holes shooting explosive silver crap around the room are probably going to get their butts rocked with or without Icon’s blessing.”
No, but it doesn’t hurt politically to let him (and my apologies if Icon prefers “neutral or feminine pronouns) give his o.k., especially knowing that he’s probably going to give it anyway.
If they were alive, you’d want to capture. If they are mindless figures, then you aren’t worried so much.
Does the term ‘lethal force’ mean anything against an opponent who isn’t alive to start with?
“If they were alive, you’d want to capture.”
Even if they aren’t alive, Maxima would probably want them intact as possible for examination. However, the higher priority is to deprive of them of any capability to harm either the Council members or any of the Archonites.
RE: Dabbler in a game. She’d probably play like an old school WoW screen. Just filled with macro bars.
If WoW is ‘old school’, what is EQ1? Pre-Cambrian? o_O
That reminds me of a discussions with one of my younger (ok, so they’re all younger, but that’s beside the point) co-workers about Joe Theisman’s (a former QB for the Washington Redskins during the 1980’s who had a horrifying leg break during a game against the New York Giants[IIRC]) injury, which he (that is, my co-worker) considered to be part of the classic era of American football.
“even the castle full of servants who got changed into boudoirs”
Um, what, hey, how? Clocks and candlesticks, I could understand, but how would a boudoir just suddenly pop up in the middle of a building without requiring some moving of stuff that was where the boudoir was created?
DaveB obviously meant to add ‘furniture’ after ‘boudoir’
Interestingly enough, ‘boudoir’ originally meant ‘sulking place’, not bedroom
For teenagers, it can mean both. ☺
He probably meant ‘wardrobe’ (as in Lion and witch).
Well, if people can encounter a gazebo…
Please, do not mention the gazebo encounter ever again.
well, at least he doesn’t want to attack the Darkness.
Not unless and until the Darkness attacks me or someone else.
I’d be VERY careful about using any sort of truly destructive force on those mannequins. Whoever sent them has already shown that they’re capable of using explosive devices in a crowded room. More than likely, there are bombs with much greater yields in the mannequins cores. In the event of mission failure…
If they were going to do that, then why not simply have them rush in and detonate?
Why throw away an expensive tool for no reason?
It really depends on the goals of the mission. Despite the explosive entrance, I don’t think killing is the endgame here. Too many powerful beings at this meeting for that to succeed.
“Given the diversity of her abilities, she really needs a macro bar macro bar. She’s definitely not one of those lame FPS heroes who can only carry 2 guns and a sidearm. Actually I’ve thought about how to put Dabbler in a video game since she seems like she’d be well suited for a 1st or 3rd person shooter. I think the best option would be the weapon wheel. You know, hold down the reload button to see a list of weapons, use the thumbstick to select one (or your mouse, if you’re civilized) then release. ”
MDK 2 lets you control Max. The 6 Limbed Dog. He quadro-wields. Of course his weapon menu is not the best.
The game Outcast also has the Hero with a “Botomless Backpack” kind of item. Could easily be combined. To create Dabblers weapon use.
The Crisis Series might also be worth a look. The nanosuits offer a wide array of abilities.
@page:
So that swat armor is not actually there to protect them, but to hide what they really are?
I think prototype or infamous type of game would fit for a character like dabbler. Alternatively game could give her a restriction that she can only use teleporter at save points or her ship might have crashed on earth and she might need to recollect her weapons from crates.
Am I the only one here who thought of the first Robocop film when that bad guy produced his spike? I mean, it even came from the same place – more or less – that Robo’s did.
And to think, DaveB used the word “shank” to describe it coming out . . . ☺
Close, but Murphy’s spike came from the back of his hand, not his palm
More like the Raston Warrior that decimated all of those Cybermen in The Five Doctors, then?
I thought they resembled the puppets from Naruto. I forget the name, but the guy from the desert who uses puppets. Same spikes anyway.
Panel 4, that awkward moment when Max realized she put her foot in her mouth in a big way.
Not so, the not-SWAT-bots attacked first, she was simply telling herself, vocally, that she can hit them harder than she would against a squishy meat-sack
In what way? While it may have been politically helpful to wait for Icon’s judgment, the circumstances pretty much made it a foregone conclusion that he would allow it.
I think Max was going to start the beatdown anyway. I think Icon was more speaking to the other council races, to let them know it was OK to join of they wanted.
While I agree, it’s good for political appearances that she seeks his approval. After all, it is the Council’s house and they were the likely targets. Furthermore, it’s unlikely he’s going to call for restraint when that increases the chances that the automatons successfully harm someone.
Politic, yes. But a battlefield (and one where you are under surprise attack, at that) is not the place to lead by committee.
A lieutenant-colonel apex superheroine, in motion, outranks everyone.
My response had nothing to do with leading by committee or with rank. Even if the castle doesn’t have official sovereign territory status, the assault was against Council members on their property. Thus, they should be the ones to decide what level of force should be used against the attackers, not Maxima- which brings us to her politic, polite, and political decision to defer to their judgment in this matter. That doesn’t negate that other decisions, such as how the Archonites should counterattack, indeed fall under her purview.
Not unreasonable.
*keeps in motion*
*GASP* Does that mean you have St. Elmo’s fire burning inside of you?
I don’ts understands.
:-(
“Gonna be your man[1] in motion, all I need is a pair[2] of wheels” is a line from the song St. Elmo’s Fire, which also contains the line “I can feel St. Elmo’s Fire burnin’ in me”.
[1] Although in this case it would be “dog”…
[2] with more than just pair of wheels, but maybe he or she already had three and just needed one more?
And, as it may be obvious, I forgot to close the anchor tag.
Ahh, now I recognise it. :-)
*keeps tail in motion*
*supernatural killing death mannequins THAT WERE SENT TO KILL A ROOM FULL OF WEREWOLVES, VAMPIRES AND OTHER ASSORTED MONSTERS.
Let’s not forget that part, kinda puts what they should be capable of in perspective.
Annnnnnd then dabbler jumps in fright as max puts her fist through its chest, and applies a tiny bit of boom on the inside.
In Icon’s Who’s Who entry, it should be ‘automAtons’, with an A (Though technically the plural is automata).
Maybe the correct spelling is autoBOTon, in tribute to a certain race of Cybertronians.
Okay… that arm positioning from the Silver Knight there is messing with me. I feel like the bending of the arm and the rotation of the hand/wrist is just off…
Correction- from Icon the sapient automation.
Perhaps his joints are set up differently from humans to throw off those trained to swordfight humans.
automoton*
My suggestion would be to first get Sydney in view of the room but still outside. Then have her do the multi-grab of some of the murder-bots like her move back in the restaurant https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1242. (The Playtex lighthook. It lifts and separates!)
She can just hold them in the air while other people beat on them for a while. Dabbler could do the same with her mummy grenades if she gets a chance. If they are primed with internal bombs, the wrapping may also help minimize the explosions.
They have guns, bombs, remember? We don’t want to give them a raised vantage point to use to kill more folks from. And even if Sydney was able tograb them in a way that immobilized them, it would probably turn out that they have some other hidden weapons like that spike.
Best to smash them up fast and be done with it like Maxima’s doing.
Wait. . . I thought bedrooms WERE ‘sulking places’. Don’t you try to fool me, go to YOUR ROOM and stay there!
Sure but you can still have a secondary depression chamber if you want. “Sulking Place” is a far more general term than “Bedroom”
Must make Maxima uncomfortable to have so many points away from defense for any length of time since she tends to only use superior Speed for really short bursts. I kinda think she must have had a different philosophy once and somebody used it to pierce her armor in a damn scary way.
It could just be that the way her particular super speed works is very, very uncomfortable to use at all in the first place so she uses it as little as possible.
The field she generates throughout her body seems to protect her from most rapid, harmful, changes caused by her use of powers. (think it was generated by each cell too?) So maybe it protects her from speed by trying to individually move every part of her and this somehow causes something like motion sickness because those parts of her inner ears movement are being influenced by the fields that are basically sweeping her body along in whatever general direction she wants to go and if those bits were allowed to shift as much as they normally would in relation to her crazy speed (at the higher levels) it would actually damage them?
That would be a bugger to fight with. Could explain a lot of sour moods.
How on Earth did Armour Guy even draw that sword, his arm isn’t long enough
Hollow armor construct whose sword is a part of him can probably not only chose to move in some unnatural ways but somewhat independently?
Also maybe the sheath opens from the side after it is unfastened a bit at the top which he could do as a part of it?
Magic?
Swordspace.
Telescoping arm.
Folding sword.
My congratulations to the Small Bears of the City of Winds for winning the (two countries of the) World Series. It looks like the second BTTF movie was off by only one year.
Based on their current statistics, I would also like to congratulate the Chicago citizens of 2124 for their next win.
It is nice to see the curse lifted. And may they learn their lesson and not turn away their four-legged fans, in future!
He he. I am starting to get the impression that Dabbler should not have brought a sword to a gunfight!
Or a shield to a spike fight.
I’d think a shield would be a good thing to bring to a spike fight. Dabbler may have supernatural & alien as part of her nature, but she’s still primarily a “squishy bloodbag.” But instead of a sword, Dabbler could probably make good use of a strong Dispel Magic incantation (if it can be tightly targeted, of course. Not good to make any of the Council Members worry).
“I’d think a shield would be a good thing to bring to a spike fight.”
That depends on the shield and the spike. Didn’t help much in this case.
Must be nice to have a bracer that can take sword hits like that.
It also helps to not be made of flesh, because both swords went through the bracer and into the arm
If Dabbles survives this, she is going to have to find someone to give her proper sword training
What sort of sword training would help against an opponent who can withstand two swords buried halfway through on of its arms?
Is Sensei Inuyasha available?
Any sort of training, specifically where she doesn’t get disarmed and disarmed (again)
Her being disarmed in this case has nothing to do with bad swordssuccubiship (for those who thought I was going to write “swordsmanship, hah to you!), but with her sword being stuck in her opponents arm. Except for using some other sort of weapon or striking with the flat of the blade (in which case it’s probably better to just use some other sort of weapon), how do you see training helping her to avoid such a situation.
Good point. Err… edge. Wait… no… her edge was not good enough! Um… what was the point?
Wasn’t meaning in this case specifically, and the second ‘disarm’ was to indicate how she only has three fleshy hands left
It doesn’t matter the how, this is the second sword fight, in a row, where she lost her sword and came inches away from serious injury, proper training may teach her that swordfights are deadly (as if her hand and eye shouldn’t have already taught her that by now, but maybe having a cybernetic boob may finally get through to her)
While I agree with you somewhat, I think she has a problem that no amount of lessons in sword handling would solve. Sure, they might have helped against Heavenly Sword, but not at all in the fight above (although attacking using a motion that allowed the automaton to block both her and Icon’s attacks at the same time was probably poor tactics). Rather, I think she suffers from poor threat assessment of danger and/or an addiction to danger. Even in her battle with Heavenly Sword, she wasn’t willing to bring out the heavy weaponry until after her opponent drew first blood.
Are we gonna get to see Maxima bust out her hand cannon? I so want to see her put a very large hole in one of those things….
That may be a bit excessive if she and her allies can pound these things into the dirt quickly. She wouldn’t want to risk having her shot go through the baddie and then hit a Council person . . . er, monster.
I’m now wondering about that Icon. I wonder what he does with himself when he’s not attending Council meetings or fighting Creepy Evil Mannequins? What does his Veil produced disguise look like? What kind of day job does he have? For that matter, what kind of personality does he have? It’s a bit of a shame that Sydney didn’t use some of her time before the meeting started getting to know him, especially since he’s the only one we’ve seen so far pitch in and help fight back.
Hmmm! Now that I think about it, maybe he doesn’t have a Veil disguise! Maybe he spends his time as one of those suits of armor you see standing around castles and the like as decorations? ☺
Add “Under the Veil: The Daily Lives of Monsters” to the spin-off list.
I think we can all agree that street mimes have to be non-speaking aliens in disguise. They are too creepy and annoying to be humans.
“What kind of day job does he have?”
Well, he could make a fine display at the local museum…
Could work at a renaissance fair if he doesn’t have a disguise, or if the disguise is just that there’s a person inside him.
I hear he’s actually a fun guy who likes to go out dancing.
*sniff*
So sad!
That poor plant, deprived of life-giving water, locked away inside the cruel prison, to dehydrate and die alone, with not even a butterfly to appreciate its beauty and spread its pollen.
*blows nose on hankie*
You would have to take it up with the complant department.
A mutual friend, Dave, went in person.
*breaks down, sobbing*
I know just the guy… well, worm, to avenge him.
I believe the ones attacking the council are non-sentient automatons while Icon, the one representing them in the council, is a sentient automaton. That is why he is okay with using lethal force.
In the second to the last panel, Why did you use the Onomatopoeia “SHANK” instead of using “SNIKT”?
Because the hidden blade isn’t vorpal.
I also hope it’s not yorpal. It would be concerning to have such a traitor in our midst.
He’s not just your pal, but the pal of many people here.
I wouldn’t much like that spike if it were Yorp-al, either. Granted, our Yorp knows how to emphasize a point, but that’s the only similarity.
Indeed, I would use a singularity.
The trick being to confine the destruction to just the baddies. But folding space, around them, can do that nicely.
Just one singular(ity) sensation?
Yup, quite a thrilling combination that.
Then I’ll just take it as a matter of chorus that you know where I got that line.
The Space Opera: A Skirmish Line
Babylon 5: Hold the line
Because a shank is a homemade knife. The sort you see being made and used by the prisoners in a jail.
Plus, Wolverine might have a copyright on “SNIKT”. =OP
and when he eats someone else’s lunch it’s *SNAKT*
And when he has a sweet tooth, he breaks himself off a piece of that *Snikt* *Snakt* bar.
Let me rephrase! The sort you see being made and used by the prisoners in a movie or TV show about a jail.
Sorry. The other way seemed to imply I thought you’d been locked up somewhere. 😟
I’d like to sha… um, thank you very much for that explanation.
I think he would be ok with “lethal” force because they are, or at least appear to be, part of an attempt to murder Council members and they have no way of knowing what other deadly surprises the automatons might have in store. That tends to elicit a “stop them whatever it takes” response.
This is why I prefer HE rounds for this kinda problem. Yes they make’em in personal firearm size look it up.
What, no SHE rounds? =OP
Considering the long, cylindrical shape that most rounds have, you’d feel comfortable with referring to them with a female pronoun?…
;)
If they’re SUPER High Explosive then sure. Personally though, the only inanimate objects I assign gender to are cars. They’re all dicks.
Well, I hear they do have surgery for that nowadays.