Grrl Power #477 – Hossenstressor
Don’t fret too much about Kat, the Mannekillers are severely outnumbered at this point. Actually I don’t know what Dabbler is doing right now, I guess she’s sparring with the big one with the helmet, just behind what we can see in the last panel there, cause that’s easier to draw. Trust me though, it’s a spectacular battle probably.
These things came remarkably well equipped considering what would have happened if they’d been able to unload their weapons in there. Even just the first grenade would have sewn enormous chaos, but of course, we don’t know what the goal of this attack is yet.
Oh and by popular demand, I added Kat’s tail to the last page… dang it, I just realized you can’t see it on this page now. Well, her shirt was flying up on the last page and now it’s tucked back in. Bleh, well that’s an easy fix. Anyway, jackrabbit’s don’t have poofy cotton tails so much as flicky deer looking tails, and also I decided Kat hasn’t had the time to hem tailholes into all her pants yet, so it’s just poking out all awkwardly.
Be sure to check out Wearing the Cape: Team-Ups & Crossovers. Sydney’s first Crossover! I’ve made a dedicated blog post for the book, please comment there. If you got it already, there’s an updated Kindle version that fixes some weird text formatting stuff in Sydney’s chapter that was showing up on some readers, plus a minor edit for clarification. Also, the paperback is available now as well, at the same link as above.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
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Halo’s turn……
Does the PPO have an ‘inside voice’?
Big and round NO
Actually, only the “O” is round. The “N”, on the other hand, is linear/angular.
That is why N is considered Big. Hence Big and Round
It DOES have an ‘inside voice’ which results in inside becoming quickly and violently linked to outside.
And that voice cries out with the language of “Pew, pew!”
So a skunk that could use that orb would be known as [spoiler]Pepe Le Pew Pew[]spoiler]?
Grr… bad spoiler tag. I would fix it, but it wouldn’t matter now.
Inside voice or not, if she’s gonna PPO, she needs to do it right.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1608
I’ve always wanted to see this actually happen in the comic ><.
I don’t. Even if she were being mind-controlled, the deeds would haunt her, for the rest of her life. Let alone the consequences if she did go off the rails of her own volition.
Light-hook grabs bad guy, uh, manikin and throws it into the wall, HARD.
ground my good fellow, ground not wall sydney had a primer on why not to throw things into walls.
well, since they are underground anyway, as long as it’s not a support pillar it should be fine.
knowing the “comic” luck…
Not if the chamber has a barrel vault ceiling or other design with a similar reliance on load-bearing walls. (That said have we actually seen the ceiling of the chamber?)
Smashing walls is a “Bad Thing” regardless of whether they are underground.
We have. It is a Gothic vaulted ceiling. So would be at extreme risk if hit in the apex, but less so on a wall hit. Of course it is all in a New York city sky scraper. Setting fire to the lower floors would pose a massive risk to hundreds or thousands of people. And probably cause the chamber to collapse, in due course.
With the one underground escape tunnel, that Sydney knows of, already blocked off.
They are in the special visitors entrance. Everyone protected by the veil will walk in the front door of an innocuous building on a busy street. Max and Halo can’t use it as the public will spot them and start watching the door.
Not Underground. 2 pages ago showed that they are in a building above ground. They just go underground to get into it.
With a properly aimed PPO blast, any dungeon is “above ground”
Ah, hook it!
Ah, hook it!
Lighthook it real good!
If Sydney could try to catch 5 huge superheavy beams with her hentaiorb, couldn´t she try to inmobilize at once the 3 remaining M-Anakins?
At least until Maxima´s come back.
The orb is capable of lifting three people we saw that demonstrated with Harem, Peggy and Gwen, at the restaurant. Plus its tonnage capability is more than enough to manage the load.
Although they do seem to be full of many nasty little tricks. Plus are very fast. So they may also be strong too, or have some other means of overcoming it. But it certainly should be high on Halo’s list of priorities. If it works, the problem would be solved (for the moment). With the exception of one poisoned bunny.
Catching the torso is all that’s needed as they reassemble around it.
Their own anti magic palm spikes might be good weapons to use against them.
Indeed. Provided they turn out to be anti-magic, as Dabbler surmised (possibly with good reason, given her experience, capabilities and first hand examination). Failing that though, if they turn out just to be magically armour-piercing, then they can always be poked into the ground. Hard. Although the arm can try to retract them, if it is embedded deeply enough, that may not work.
Mmm, and folks have been asking what has Dabbler been up to. Looking at the above scene, and knowing what she was holding in her hand, I think she could have troubles of the spiky poisonous hand kind! Over and above whatever other opponent she may have engaged, before it decided to get her to unhand it.
Maybe that evil hand in hers may have tried to grope her, and she’s torn between letting it and slapping it down
The bummer of it is, the automaton first slipped Katrina a roofie, now he intends to rip her.
What I think about that, and I’ll quote someone else to express it, should be: “He’s nothin’ but a low-down, back-stabbing, larcenous, perverted worm! Hangin’s too good fer ‘im! Burnin’s too good fer him! He should be torn into itsy beetsy pieces & buried alive!”
XD
The hentaiorb should get long enough to catch every M-Anakin body and limb pieces.
Sydney could catch one of the hands, and do the “Why are you hitting yourself” thing too. Maybe even scratch the red palms and break the spells.
The hentaiorb offers soooo many posibilities…
Can lighthook do a squeeze? Until small parts fall off?
I can see no reason why not.
As we have seen, small parts can still attack independently. What Halo can and should try first is to just lift them up with Hentacle, so they have no leverage and can’t do anything more destructive than blowing up or breaking out their internally mounted firearms and such. I’m only being facetious about their possible capabilities because even if they have those capabilities these are things they can also do while not being restrained by the Hentacle. And so an attempt at restraint is going to be the best first choice.
Agreed, on all points.
Whilst the PPO might work, it is a high-risk strategy, as Sydney is not practiced with it, so could easily harm friendlies, in this room or beyond. Likewise the manikins do have booby traps (albeit maybe not against super powers) and Maxima is not there to counter it if things go horribly wrong.
They might work when detached from their body, but it might use part of that body to do the controlling.
Some Golems need a parchment with a specific set of words placed in their head to come alive. Pop the head, take out the paper and destroy it could stop that kind. These ones might have similar.
Syd’s aura vision had the bodies connected with some sort of red, wire framed, skeleton to a glowing point. Go for the glow.
She might be able to have a closer look while one is against her bubble.
Clever idea.
Light hook grabs “badguy” and is used to beat on other “badguy”.
Well, this is the chance for halo to finally smack someone with their own limb while saying “stop hitting yourself”. I imagine it would be on her bucket list.
I wonder if this will be a time for the PPO?
Well there is a
OMINOUS HUMGLOW OF DOOM behind the Mannekiller in the last panel, but Syndey would be firing into the Council if she took the shot.Given most of the council seem to be too busy arguing with each other to actually DO anything, I’d say “Take the shot”. :-)
Also, here’s hoping Katrina dossn’t becomes the Grrlpower’s first redshirt/gwen Stacey. If that happens I shall be very sad (I understand the importance of such literary devices, but I shall still be upset).
They are doing the best thing they can do: Not trying to play into the enemies hand.
Each of the points raised thus far is valid a (except the last). While also giving us some exposition:
They could evactuate (naturally they have plans for that). It is just not certain if that would play into the enemies hands. Or if this whole meeting/sigil damage was just so all would be here for this assault.
The are confirming that they do have Security Meassures, but they are magic so they might just make it worse.
Just the “I told you we need mundane” guy is Captain Hindsight.
Technically he was Captain Foresight. What he is now though is Captain I-Told-You-So. Whilst that is a character flaw, he is somebody they should listen to in future, as he is not (if telling the truth) saying that with hindsight.
Any relation to Captain Neener-Neener?
Is Max back from digging herself out of the collapsed tunnel yet?
Doubt it, she may be fast, but she’s not from Australia
Doubt it. It was a powerful narrative device to make the fight interesting. DaveB wouldn’t just throw that away after a single page.
Nice ref. Schlock Mercenary I presume?
Lighthook seems safer (and can probably crush wood).
Orders from the field commander are “Incineration”. She can do incineration.
Incorrect, Maxima’s intent was clearly to do the incineration herself. Whereas Halo has been explicitly ordered (outside the rest room at the Steak House) not to use the PPO, until she has been trained with it. Plus Max’s comment was made prior to finding out that they were booby-trapped.
If Sydney does attempt to attack them, she could set fire to this whole room (and the office block beyond), or (also due to her lack of experience with the weapon) she might simply punch through the walls and/or floor and directly start the rest of the building burning (and kill lots of bunnies and orphans with the beam itself).
Plus if they do react* by self-destructing (or just have other hidden weaponry which explodes) then there could be mass casualties from the unevacuated council members.
* Not likely, as her tentacle did not trigger them earlier, so the PPO may not. But it is a possibility.
It would have to be poison.
Don’t worry Kat, I’m sure Dabbler keeps some universal panacea in her pocket dimension.
Dabbler: Oops, that one is for STD’s.
Kat: I’ve been poisoned, not infected.
Dabbler: Ok, first we see what you got nailed with. Hmm. Ah, it is just silver. This should lock up the silver in your blood and let your kidneys get it out of your system.
Kat: How long until it starts working?
Dabbler: The silver is already getting locked up, but your kidneys will need a few hours to get it all out of your system. Look out! [ Grabs Kat and pulls her down. Kat lands on her back with Dabbler lying on top of her. ] Ouch!
Kat: Are you okay? What happened?
Dabbler: Your playmate just stabbed me, but I do not react to silver the way you do. [ Manikin’s hand explodes in flames. ]
Kat: Guess so.
Batman usually carries a broad-spectrum poison antidote with him most of the time. There are very few cases when he can expect that poison is highly likely to be used (such as when he knows Poison Ivy is active, or to counter Joker’s Smiley Venom), in which case he’ll also carry specifically tailored antidotes. At the very least, Sydney should start considering to carry a broad-spectrum type because she’s already once seen an enemy get inside her shield & hit her.
Antivenoms tend to have to be very specific. Whilst there are ‘broad spectrum’ antivenoms they are actually made up by mixing together a bunch of other specific ones. And typically only for related venoms, such as for snakes. And even then they are region specific.
Get bitten in Australia and you can be given a general snake anti-venom. But if the snake turns out to have been imported from anywhere else in the world, then it will be totally useless. Needless to say it would have zero effect on scorpion stings, spider bites or any other poisonous critters, indigenous or otherwise.
Of course what you suggest is genre-appropriate, so it is possible that Machina industries has developed something like this. But it would require a super-chemist to have developed it, rather than getting it from real-world sources.
Although I seem to recall, when Sydney got her utility belt, Dave talking about a device for carrying a range of things, like antitoxins. So she could have samples of all the key regional ones, along with tear-gas neutralising stuff (fairly standard police issue) and the antidotes for the most likely terrorist agents too. Those things that can be whipped up by a competent chemist, using commonly available materials, in a garage laboratory, for example.
” But it would require a super-chemist to have developed it, rather than getting it from real-world sources.”
Well, when I mentioned the concept of such a “broad spectrum antidote,” I did cite my source as Batman…
:)
Even so, such an idea could be quite feasible in Grrl Power too. As you mentioned Machina Industries as an example, there are also plenty of other scientists who study super-powers in general; even if they can’t figure out how super-powers manifest or exist, there’s still bound to be some advancement in a wide range of practical science applications, derived just from the studies.
That’s the worst kind of back scratcher!
Nooo, tell me that there are not such things as bad back scratchers!
Mind you, I have heard rumours that there are bad back scratchees!.
I’ve got Family Guy’s Butt Scratcher in my head now.
Have you figured out yet how you were using it wrong?
It can be hard to control with just a beak. It got away from me and caught in my feathers.
So which is it? Did the Family Guy’s Butt Scratcher get inside your head, or in your feathers?
;)
First one, then the other.
Maybe its anti-ware venom leaving her human. We haven’t had an actual death yet in this comic and don’t think Dave is going to start now, so hopefully someone has the antidote if its something a little more severe.
Tailoring for extra appendages is tricky, but I suppose after a lifetime of dealing with transformational changes to clothing, they have a recommended supplier who knows how to align a discrete opening so a tail will pass through it during the transformation. He might even be able to supply trousers to the likes of V, so when they bulks up, they doesn’t rip their clothes but without having to wear something that looks like purple joggers.
I would NOT recommend to get V’s tailor.
The first thing those pants did when V bulked up, where to fall apart at ALL the seams, leaving him open to “Oh My”‘s of different intonation.
The only thing that saved this comic’s PG13 rating was V’s ability to invent new powers on the spot: Ka-Pants!
Seriously, V’s tailor does worse than the Hulk’s purple joggers.
That is what I said. Their tailor could help the likes of V, not his tailor helping them.
Careful re-reading shows that, indeed, read you wrong and should re-take kindergarten :-)
Sorry!
Reading comprehension is a skill that’s just as, if not more, important than the skill of reading itself…
;)
A skill can’t read itself, and more compression do not help, no matter if you just imported it.
Just saying.
Damn those imported compressors!
Use Machima Industries 100% American* compressors, for all your animated manikin and skill crushing needs.
* Subsystems, or whole components, may be made by wholly American owned countries. Actual Americans may not be employed in the manufacturing process. Failing to read the safety instructions may result in explosions.
But Kat is already in her were state :-(
Hopefully it’s not silver.
Believe what the wee birdie meant, was it forces her to return to her human state, and stay there, making her (more) vulnerable to conventional means
That’s the one. A room full of ordinary humans is easier to deal with.
Oh, OK, thx!
Well, maybe not. Recently Dr. McNinja turned King Radical into a vampire, mainly because it created additional vulnerabilities for radical that McNinja already knew how to handle.
:P
Dr. McNinja is still ongoing? I haven’t seen that in years… time for a return to everyone’s favorite wisecracking Irish ninja medical practitioner!
ahahahaha, ahahahahahaha!
It, um, may be ending soon…
Suppose, if you turn someone vampire at mid day in the middle of an open field with no cover, you should be safe.
Unless they are those sparkly Twilight ones.
Similar thing happened in “YAFGC”: a vampire lord moved in under Black Mountain while the resident lich was otherwise (pre)occupied, eventually Lewie returned and teleported said vamp lord to the top of a mountain at dawn, he just had enough time to realise what had happened, and where he was, and turn around to see the sun before he became Dust In The Wind :P
Kat is currently in “hare state”, not “were state”. (Or perhaps “hybrid state”? I don’t know if GrrlVerse were-critters can go full wolf/hare/what-have-you.)
Pet peeve of mine: “Were” (from “wer”) means “man”, so “were state” is “man state” (not to be confused with “manocracy”, although confusingly the Old English word “wer” was indeed used to refer to specifically male men …).
Which is why, technically, you can’t have a female werewolf, such a creature would be a wifwolf.
Actually it means ‘a human being shapechanged into an animal (typically a wolf)’. It only derives from the word for “man” it does not mean “man”. Words evolve into their current meaning because there is a need for them in that state. Trying to stop the use of a perfectly good word just makes conversation on that topic harder.
We get the same complaints about using ‘lycanthrope’ because of its origins. So the alternative options are scarce, or obscure, if avoiding these perfectly understandable words. It is far better to get over the peeve and embrace the common usage, than to try to hold the tide back, with your paws.
Occasionally petting the peeve is more fun though. :)
(Therianthropy, by the way.)
Sometimes there are consequences for petting a peeve…
https://consciouscat.net/2012/02/08/petting-aggression-in-cats-biting-the-hand-that-loves/
True. It is a useful therapy. :-D
I was the first to suggest that, in these forums, as it happens. Trouble is that it is an obscure term, that is unlikely to overcome popular usage, unless a major Hollywood blockbuster decides to adopt it.
I still place my vote for good, old fashioned zoanthropy. And being a Bloody Roar nerd. Very much that.
Just do not do it in public. Too many folks have smart phones these days. You might find video evidence being used against you.
I dunno why, but I find the fifth panner super cute.
sorry, meant sixth pannel
You mean the wobbly-knees panel? o_O
Yes, no idea why
Maybe because she looks like a small scared bunny
Scared bunny is panels five, seven and nine (specially nine with the curled lips and exposed teeth)
Yeah but those just look silly, while six is just cute, making me wish I could give a hug.
Agree with wanting to give her a hug, but we can’t see her face… oh, you are into legs
I would say that it reveals her frailty, in a way that we can all empathise with. We have all had our moments, when our knees felt wobbly, or have seen folks suffering from that. Be it through the ravages of alcohol, disease or just something transient. Having made that connection, it creates a desire to ease her suffering.
Because Bun-Bun Bigeyes.
I was distracted by the cute
Hang on, is that manequin smiling or did it always have a face like thet?
It’s all in the eyebrows. I remember mentioning something in the forums here before (re: Arianna’s frustration/anger with Sydney) about how eyebrows only need a slight change and the emotion is completely different.
Case in point, the small difference between the last two panels.
Nah, I think it’s the collar normally concealing the mouth
I’ve seen similar comments about how hard it is to put emotion in a skull without changing it and apparently it’s mostly to do with the angle it’s viewed at.
I have always thought every mannequin I’ve seen has had a look of smug self righteous, and this last panel confirms it.
More anecdotal evidence that the “cleansing is at hand” guy is behind this.
(Panel 2 here
If the new antagonist is the guy in panel 2 of that page, are the rest of the major antagonists going to be storyline threats in the order they appeared on that page?
I doubt it. It missed out the squirrel, and he has already made his appearance after Vehemence. Plus Deus is right at the end. Not to mention the ones in the middle panel actually being in this room.
Although that is not intended to dissuade speculation on the preacher antagonist himself, as he is a very fair villain being that he is likely to oppose the Council.
“ones in the middle panel actually being in this room”
What? Please provide references for that. I didn’t see it and others’ comments don’t seem to cover it (although I admit I only skim the comments).
Ahh it is because the comic has a lot of subtle detail sneaking in when other things are in the foreground. It has been mentioned, in comments, a number of times, but not in relation to today’s comic. However judge for yourself. You would need to adjust for artistic drift mind, as there has been a long time between the two pages.
Wait…what squirrel?
The one who was literally behind Vehemence. See his furry countenance and tremble! Even the mightiest of battlefield-destroying salvos was unable to harm him!
BOW DOWN BEFORE YOUR FUTURE OVERLORD!
Aha! So the Raccoon was a field agent monitoring the council meeting and is probably reporting back to high overlord squirrel even as we type? Suddenly it all makes sense!
Unless.. Someone else was manipulating the squirrel (DUN DUN DUNN)!
On a less crazed note, well spotted picking up those two in the council (I’d missed that, but then again I thought the diarrhoea sommelier reference was Syd talking to Max, so yeah..)
I will say this doesn’t stop the linear progression theory, it just means that Archon isn’t going up against a faction of the council YET.
Indeed. On all points. Except the less-crazed one!
Credit though should go to Duende Sociopata and Guesticus for the spotting. My only role was to verify that it looked highly plausible, and carry on disseminating the observation.
And whatever you do, don’t turn around.
Thanks, and yes, it is a relatively good match.
I feel like I’ve missed something, was the evil squirrel actually cannon?
Well, an evil squirrel would probably own a cannon. He would probably load it with exploding acorns.
And Dave’s grenades were probably loaded with needles, because he wrote.
“the first grenade would have sewn enormous chaos”
And welcome to homophone day hear at Grrl Power! so everyone raze you’re glass of ail and give a complement to awl of hour contributors.
I certainly will not toast national homophobic day! It would not even get a lightly-buttered scone from me.
I think you may have contused this comment with national Malaprop day.
National mountain top day? Sorry, I think I misheard you, you need to yodel that louder.
Keep in mind that the Evil Squirrel Overlord, in the grand tradition of Evil Overlords everywhere, doesn’t care anything about his minions except that they succeed in carrying out his orders. He’ll even use them for mere cannon fodder.
https://themetapicture.com/squirrel-in-a-cannon/
Maybe they’re all equally terrible puns.
You sound like you need a hand… oh wait.
The Mannekiller are definitely well-armed.
Is that an attempt to be humerus?
No no, the hand has phalanges, carpels and metacarpals. The humerus is in the arm.
Nudges you in the funny bone.
Still works as a response to CptNerd‘s comment.
Clearly I missed, if you found my comment humus. :-(
No beans about it, eh?
The Mannekillers are definitely well-armed.
Not quite as well-armed as Dabbler.
Did one of the readers suggest ‘Mannekillers’?
Fairly sure that is all on DaveB
So is the leader a Manekingpin?
Maybe his name is Tom Automaton?
Manequeenpin.
Womaneqeenpin, please.
No, if you’d been keeping up with the news, there’s a state university (I forget which one specifically) that advocates for students to make up their own gender-identification pronouns. The consequences of how a lot of documents will have to be re-written are obvious…
If you’re going to identify as a queen you’re identifying as female or, at the very least, transvestite. If you’re not cool with that, pick a different title.
Womanequeenpin it is.
Maybe this will be the moment when Clover reveal herself. Is she a werewolf like her father, or something else?
Yeah, she’s a were-badger: slow to action, but when provoked, the world gets covered in the black censor-boxes
Whoa, keep your pants on!
Was thinking more for the violence, but that seems to be how the world is now: censor the sexy, but show the violence in surround-sound 3D 50 feet high
Maybe she’s a were-Honey Badger? The color is right and the attitude would be too. Prepare you asses Mannekillers they are about to be shredded. (you thought I was going to say something else didn’t you)
Doc? What are you doing away from Atlanta?
from the adventures of Kate Daniels, right?
You know any other were-honeybadgers? =P
Well I know Honey Badger from our community. So maybe.
Yay a reference to Doolittle, best cup of tea I ever h—– zzzzzzz
Wow, I’m kinda surprised the drugs overcome the amount of sugar in his tea.
*steepled fingers*
*nods*
Actually, the name is a combination of Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo, and the Honey Badger, both of which were hot memes at the time, and served as an update of my original name, Badgers!
Hmm. Good guess.
Sad but true. The sexy would be far more educational and interesting than watching all the gore, which can lead to far more harmful places.
Better to be desensitized to boobs and bulges than to people being mowed down.
Look how calm she’s sitting. I know from experience that people who remain calm during most of time, when they get angry, you run to the hills!
Zack Tilly, like in that episode of The Simpsons when the Italian ‘Mob’ faced off against the Asian Triad, and that one little guy wasn’t doing anything
NOOOO!! You can’t go all “Walking Dead” and kill off Kat because she has shown personal growth!!!
Or do you want the only survivor to be Glenn? Who kept surviving because others died in his place?
It seems that this comic is mentioned in the Lady Spectra webcomic….!
https://ladyspectra.thecomicseries.com
Yeah, the creator mentioned that last comic :D
Most humanoid critters with tails don’t have holes in their seats, they tend to be cut low at the back, because the last thing you want is for this to happen! :eek:
So instead of a neckline, they have a tailline?
Yups, a butt-cleavage
So if you have a really low tailline, you don’t need to take off your pants when you go to the bathroom?
Tails are usually a base-of-the-spine type of thing. Low-rise pants (and panties) are sufficient for most, unless it’s a thick tail (e.g. reptilian, maybe).
Yup, was going to reply how they are still high enough to keep everything else sufficiently covered, but then the internet connection went down for several hours :(
Probably goblins burrowing through a cable. You really aught to do something about that. Even with the One Ring destroyed, they will be rebuilding their numbers. All they need is a leader to rally around, and Hobbiton could find itself being invaded!
It happens often at this time of the year
Poor Katrina!
I really hope that in this universe weres have innate poison resistance.
Also hope that’s just general poison not some sort of were-specific poison, though considering they were attacking all sorts of creatures, general poison would be the way to go (not to mention they already opened with silver grenades)
There are allkinds of poison. This could be cyanide or nightshade with ease. If it would be my plan, they sould be paked with acid.
Let’s hope it’s not 1080 poison (or sodium monofluoroacetate)
Yikes, good point. That stuff’s anti-herbivore.
Still being used over here
Yeah, but if Kat’s like most therianthropes in sci-fi/fantasy novels, she’d be highly resistant or even immune to most poisons. Even if they’re not immune to it (with the exception of silver nitrate), their metabolism would neutralize it a lot faster.
Depending on the dosage, she will still be vulnerable until she does metabolize it
Well, the Mannequins have 5 claws. One poison per claw, perhaps?
Clever thought. Quicksilver for the lycans, holy water for the undead, cyanide for the mundanes, etc.
Silver nitrate.
Thanks for adding Katrina’s tail, on the last page, DaveB. Nice touch in not having custom clothing yet.
+1 Thank you.
So, is it Halo’s turn?
Maybe she was holding an action?
Maybe. These mannequins seemed to be made to kill supernatural creatures, so I am just waiting for Halo to say “Let me handle this while you guys sit in a corner.” Also, the council is bickering whether or not to leave during an attack. Are they that incompetent? Is it going to be revealed that there is a whole other monster faction that hates the council because they are this stupid?
How are they being stupid? Leaving during an attack is an entirely valid and intelligent thing to do. Many of these beings are many times older, wiser, and objectively intelligent than you or I. Calling them blatantly stupid is extremely short-sighted. Every point they brought up was very valid.
Leaving is an option, and sound. They didn’t live this long or come this far by not playing it safe.
However, leaving might force them into a trap and thus into the enemy’s hands.
Staying to fight is an option, less sound but not out of the realm of possibility. You don’t send in things to fight bears unless you’re reasonably sure they’re packing slugs that can kill said bears. Which these definitely are. So them staying might ALSO be part of the enemy’s plan.
Even the most intelligent and experienced can only do so much without information. The problem with a council is that there’s conflicting points of view and experience, but it can only move when it agrees. Mitigating individual excellence and skill in these matters.
Or DaveB could be playing them up as ‘argumentative buffoons’ to make the named characters look better put-together.
He’s not saying they’re stupid for wanting to leave. He’s saying they’re stupid for bickering about it, when they should be already leaving (or staying. Whichever. But they need to make a snappy decision and stick by it.)
Exactly. Ingsol said that usually these species would be at each others throats but here they are “working” together for coexistence. We do not see this. The only thing the council is concerned about seemes to be hiding to avoid genocide, that is understandable.
However! There is a fight literally right in front of them and instead of having protocol for this type of situation and leaving with armed escort (magic wielders, strong werewolves, or someone with a gun) to safety, they are arguing about if they should leave and blaming others for not having the correct security. If many of them have lived for such a long time and not come up with simple evacuation plans then they are, by my definition, stupid. From what we have seen so far, I do not have a high opinion on the Twilight Council.
By the way, in this situation, probably better to leave to the outside where there are multiple ways to escape compared to the two narrow corridors where they could be trapped. Max accidentally caused the tunnel to collapse and all it takes is one more destroyed hallway before trapping them in the building with the magic exploding dummies.
With an attack like this any standard escape route might be compromised. Likewise any routine contingency plans they have could also have been countered.
I would opt for a different route. Knock a hole through a non-structural wall and evacuate down a less predictable route. Making use of the wild card, of the supers, to ensure the route is safe, as the manikins do not seem to have been tailored to cope with them. Using another to ‘hold off the attackers, long enough for the evacuation to be completed’.
Well, they are proving Heinlein’s statement that a committee is an organism with six or more legs and no brain.
Or an alternate version, that the intelligence of a committee is the average intelligence of its members divided by the number of members.
Like all governments (and groups of people greater than one)
Manymany years ago – in a book from First Comics, so you can tell how manymany years – i ran across a line that has stood me in good stead in comment columns ever since.
It’s not really applicable here, but her “I’m not picky” reminded me – that line was “If you’re too proud to run, step aside for a man who isn’t!”
In the modern form, the phrase is something like: “An EOD Sergeant on the run outranks a five-star general.”
Um just so you know, Wolfsbainice implies it kills wolfsbane, which is hilarious.
Though being stabbed with weed killers probably isn’t much better.
For a bunch of 1950s B-movie horror monsters, that council is not exactly leaping into action.
Its a council. They do not step into action by definition
a Council is the definition of a Life form with multiple limbs, and no brain.
https://onsizzle.com/i/never-underestimate-the-power-of-stupid-people-in-large-groups-3821395
;)
That was a committee, if I remember correctly. Same principle holds though.
Terry Pratchett (GNU) Once wrote that ” the IQ of a mob is the IQ of its most stupid member divided by the number of mobsters” I think a similar principle is paralyzing the council here.
I can only go by what I do. And if I’m sitting a meeting, bored off my butt, and then something INTERESTING happens, and it’s trying to kill me… that’s an EXCUSE to go full 8-ball.
An evil monkey causes fighting to break out between three ethnic factions, using tanks, mortars and heavy weaponry, killing numerous people. All by biting one schoolgirl, and tugging her scarf.
New comic plot? Nope real-life breaking news.
You’ve got to be kidding. Except you are not… world is an insane place.
Do not taunt the dynamite monkey.
*Shoots the monkey*
You are not picky Katrina, but those claws are prickly.
Auch. Bad joke, Yorp. Bad Joke. No chew bone tonight
Is it just me, or does it seem a little odd to anyone else that Clover is still sitting there so quietly at the table. Even her father is on the move by now, assuming that silhouette behind her is Gregor!
I am suspicious!
Personally suspicious that Gregor seems to be heading the wrong way!
Have you not read Clover’s “Who’s Who?” entry?
“Sigh. If I gotta…”. KA-FANG! KA-CLAW! KA-BUTTKICK!
(Just a prediction.)
Clover is a goth emo girl. She is not sitting there quietly. Clover is sighing, strategically, to ensure that any observers are aware she is pointedly sitting there, fed up at all the ruckus going on around her.
No, bad puppy! Goth’s are not Emo, nor are they emu’s, unless they are were-emu’s
Oh heavens! That’s the second most frightening were form I can think of!
(For those playing at home a were-cassowary is the most frightening, this link (promoting funding to stop them going extinct refers to them as “Australia’s favourite prehistoric death monster” (and that’s an understatement).
Poppy socks! Both the Moa and Haast’s Eagle are more terrifying
The Cassowary might be scary, but the thigh bone of the moa was taller than a man, and the Haast’s Eagle were designed to prey on them (you think those giant eagles in LoTR was just fantasy? they were modelled on scaled down versions of the Haast’s Eagle)
Personally would have gone with “Stab, Stab, Stabbity, Stab, Stabbed” in panel Stab
5-hit combo!
You’ll notice most games don’t actually say 5hit for visual clarity. Usually it’s 5combo or 5beats but my favourite, for no clear reason, is 5rengi.
Shouldn’t that be 4rengi? o_O
Inflation.
Not a fan of the Rules of Acquisition then? o_O
Well 102 does have relevance, but inflation determines how much you get for your latinum. Which is fueled by 37, thus becoming inevitable.
The banning of usury would lessen this, of course, but that is amongst the dogma of a different faith.
So ‘4rengi’ will eventually become ‘5rengi’. Still 183.
It’s kind of hard not too! Poor li’l bunny . . .
*Lower lip wobbling*
So he eventually gave up on Sydney? Cool! That means The Mighty Halo should be able to come to the assistance of Hurricane Katrina!
Thank you, sir!
Watch Sydney get a hairball trying to naϊvely suck out the poison.
Kinky, and on the first date as well
I am trying to pick apart the alt text (“Hossenstressor”). I got the second half, easy enough, but what’s the first half?
It’s a pun on “hossenfesser” (spelled “hasenpfeffer” in German) which is a German stew made from marinated rabbit or hare.
There’s a Bugs Bunny cartoon with Bugs and Yosemite Sam, where Sam is the Royal Chef and the King is demanding hossenfeffer. Bugs is the only rabbit to be had, and comedy ensues.
Thanks, that makes sense, and I have seen the BB episode. But the spelling used here is not what I have seen before.
Congratulations. You’ve successfully out-ninja’d a ninja.
:-(
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Yosemite+Sam+makes+hassenfeffer
These enemies are a bit adaptive, even if they aren’t up to fighting supers. I am guessing they are either thinking golems or perhaps remote controlled. Either way, there’s some intelligence at work.
Or alternatively Action Man and Barbie were caught up in a time acceleration bubble and they are the result of countless generations of natural evolution.
In fairness, it probably was kind of sloppy under the circumstances for Kat to hold onto that arm in the way she did. Surely she had already seen a great big spike come shooting out of a palm? The mannequins hand is right at her back! It could have gotten her with either the spike or the poison.
Still it’s kind of hard to get just exactly the right grip on something in the middle of a brawl like that and she obviously didn’t think it would still be able to attack her once it was separated from the Mannekiller.
Also, since comic panels are a thing, we don’t know the timing on that. She might still be on the downswing from her attack. Could literally be within the same second.
Don’t add to the backstabbing she has already endured, how was she to know that the limbs could still function while detached? Just because she saw them reform does not mean they do a Thing and move on their own
I do not mean to add insult to injury and I like Kat oodles, but what I said here is every bit as true as what you and Komm said, Guesticus.
So there. ☺
Was just teasing ya :D
called it. i knew the backstabbing would happen
Although she was clawed (fingernailed?) rather than stabbed. =OP
Ok, ok, I missed the sound effects. Goes to corner.
someone mash the suspicious bloody hand on the mannequin head (let us see if the print is acting like emeth on the head of a golem. defeating a original golem find emeth remove the e.)
so if you remove the e, does the golem get high?
I was waiting for someone to say that. :)
Having said that, though… In Hebrew, emeth (more properly “emet”) is a 3-letter word that means “truth”. Golems are said to have this inscribed somewhere on their bodies, usually on the head. But if you rub off the first letter, it becomes “met”… meaning “dead”, killing the golem.
(Just a little “The More You Know”.)
Not to be confused with Emmet. Although Sydney would be most welcome in Cornwall.
But is she welcome back in the future?
I would love Doc to take us, and see how well we raise Sydney Scoville 3rd and siblings.
You have already failed at parenting them. Everyone knows kings can’t have siblings without mass bloodshed.
Bureaucrats… Typical.
Looks like Gregor is ready to pounce behind that chair.
Also, why does he look he’s hiding in the shadows while he’s out in the open?
He is not taking an active part in the current comic. Shading him lets people know he is still around, but does not clutter up the page layout. People expect highlighted characters to contribute to the story, so we can expect a fully drawn and partly speaking Clover to take part in the next exciting episode! Same Grrl time. Same Grrl channel!
+1
I get the impression that Clover has been spending time (1) being moody and disaffected, and (2) observing and making tactical calculations. I expect the next thing to happen to be a furry claw come from behind Kat, close over the top of the Mannekiller’s head, and crush it. Physically destroying the focus of the animating enchantment and putting that one down permanently.
Leg fur pattern +1 cuteness on rabbit were!, all we need now is a gadget epxy
All in all, Katrina could be referred to as “Lepus in Boots.” Not at all related to the famous feline with a similar title…
I suspect maybe Sydney’s about to find out what one of those two ‘unknown’ orbs do, or another ‘mode’ on the known 5 orbs. We’ve seen they have lots of writing, and some of the glyphs seem to buttons. Right now, except for the tentactorb, HALO’s basically an armored assault copter, unsuitable for “delicate” indoor combat. She needs a kinder, gentler way of kickin butt.
omg Sydney use your lighthook on these dang mannequins! like can’t she lasso all of them? they aren’t super strong.
Gee, and everybody thought “Arm-Fall-Off Boy” was a useless superhero! That may be, but these guys turned that power into a villainy benefit!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm-Fall-Off-Boy
Talk about throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.
This didn’t stick.
There is somebody who needs to develop the enhancement ‘affects others’.
Maxima (& a few other as well) are strong enough that they could make it apply to others…
O.o
I have to doubt that Dabbler is fighting the big helmet guy. Last we saw him he was pounding Sydney’s shield, while Sydney was ignoring him (but did mention she’d be with him shortly).
So I guess Sydney is smacking that one around.
I don’t see Dabbler fighting anyone at the moment. As for Katrina, the helmet of the mannequin she is fighting appears in the second and fourth panel of the previous strip and it isn’t that of the cross-faced helm mannequin.
Think back to what Dabbler was holding, the last time we saw her. She may have more on her hands than she thought.
Wait, how does the arm move if it isn’t attached to the head?
…
Right, magic. Duh.
Bluetooth? (and blue arms, and blue legs…)
And Sydney has the blue ball >_>
If so, it would derive from runic magic. Bluetooth was named after Harold Bluetooth.
That… smells like a monkey-licking urban legend to me
This sounds totally made up.
QI taught me it, so it must be true!
:-P
As if I would lie!
I take it they’re referring to the existence of Bluetooth himself, rather than the naming of the technology.
And now is anyone else imaging a new James Bond archvillain named “Bluetooth” (Goldfinger’s long-lost third cousin twice removed).
He must have some serious dental problems if he’s so far out as to be “twice removed”…
Nope, they are referring to the name of the technological device. If you check the first link it explains it in detail. The second link simply corroborates it. Just to be thorough* however I did check Snopes, when the magic words ‘urban legend’ were invoked.
* Otherwise Duende Sociopata will beat me with a big stick. He even makes me fact-check QI!!!
Besides the technological device, however, your link also contains the following:
Thus, it is possible that’s what they were referring to.
No. It specifically names the person who promoted it as a name for the technology, in both articles, and, in the more detailed one, explains the process by which that became first a holding name then the official name for the technology. The section you quote is just detailing the history that inspired his and their choice.
AND it also gives the above quote, which even you admit in the last sentence of your response. Since they don’t specifically mention what they are in doubt about, it is conceivably possible that they are referring to the existence of Bluetooth. I admit I could be wrong about that, but when weighing the possibility of whether they’re doubting a claim that has a great amount of documentary support versus a 10th century legend, I’d have to say that while the former is still possible, the latter seems far more probable. However, only they would know for certain, so instead of continuing the discussion, the best approach seems to be to await a definitive statement from one or both of them as to which they were referring.
Oh, and unless my browser is hiding part of the first article, it mentions neither Kardach nor Bluetooth.
Furthermore, a source that I do not have the time or resources to verify claims that Scandinavian languages did not distinguish between “black” and “blue” back then (see the comments section).
The article mentions him seven times. Plus the article is so clear on the point that it is about the technology I can only assume you are not reading the same one as me. So I have checked that my link above is to the correct article, which it is. Ergo here is the link again, just to make sure you look at the right one:
https://gizmodo.com/bluetooth-is-named-after-a-medieval-king-who-may-have-h-1671450657
Note that the article is in a science and technology website, so the piece is quite clearly about the technology, as it would be nonsensical for it to be otherwise. The headline being self-explanatory:
But other key bits include:
:P
I usually would not bite so easily, but this trivial looked funny :)
James Kardach’s original 1998 presentation confirms the relation with the King in a… err… creative way (slide 8): https://www.ieee802.org/11/Tutorial/90538S-WPAN-Bluetooth-Tutorial.pdf
About Kardach’s authoring I found two, and only two, sources. One allegedly by Kardach’s himself: https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1269737&page_number=1
“[Sven Mathesson] had read this book (which at a later date he gave me a copy) called the Longships by Frans G. Bengtsson […] In this book a couple of Danish warriors travel the world looking for adventure, and the king during this time was Harald Bluetooth […] Harald had united Denmark and Christianized the Danes! It occurred to me that this would make a good codename for the program.”
and the other allegedly by Kardach’s at the time coworker, Sven Mattisson: https://www.ericssonhistory.com/changing-the-world/Anecdotes/The-history-of-Bluetooth-/
“I had given Jim the English translation of Frans G. Bengtsson’s The Long Ships and he was fascinated by the man described as its hero’s father-in-law, Harald Blåtand […] So we began to talk about Bluetooth […] We had engaged consultants to dream up a suitable name but nobody had come up with anything as good as Bluetooth.”
I would say: probably
The rune logo is more tricky, there’s no reference until it materialized in the Wikipedia article in 2004 (and up to date it remains without a valid source). Since then everybody else seems to refer to Wikipedia. The Bluetooth SIG itself claims it, though (scroll down a bit): https://www.bluetooth.com/~/media/meetthenewblue/index#all-jump
I would say: maybe
I think we may have gotten off easy. They could have named the wireless protocol after this Danish king: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigurd_Snake-in-the-Eye
I don’t know if I would like to wear a set of ‘Snake in the Eye’ headphones.