Grrl Power #481 – It’s basically just another kind of magic
I’m really bad about featuring new characters on a page without naming them. It’s on the next page so I’ll just tell you her name is Krona. That way you guys don’t have to refer to her as “hacking girl” in the comments.
I’m also really bad about controlling the firehose of new characters, but Krona is… I’m not going to say she’s the last one for a while, but it’s winding down. At least everyone seemed to like Clover and Ellie. :D
So yeah, Krona’s power is reality hacking, which, as suggested in the page title is really just another kind of magic. Instead of pentagrams though, her sigil happens to looks more like a soundboard. And instead of having to memorize complex spells before hand, she can just pull it up and start fiddling with the wires. Kind of like remapping a shader flowchart. This makes it significantly easier for her than most mages to alter things that already exist – unlock doors, change the color of a car, etc – but significantly harder for her to create things out of nothing, like fireballs. Still, she has some macros set up to do more complicated tasks, so it’s not like she can’t create things out of thin air, but outside of those shortcuts it takes her a while to do it.
Also, she’s not actually a mage. She’s also not a super, as you can tell from her physique. Actually no one knows how she does what she does, and she’s the only one who can do it to anyone’s knowledge, which is why she’s sitting all my her lonesome behind her banner.
Do grenade launcher rounds have a manual operation mode you may be asking yourself? These ones do, so don’t worry about it. :)
Be sure to check out Wearing the Cape: Team-Ups & Crossovers. Sydney’s first Crossover! I’ve made a dedicated blog post for it, please comment there.
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Krona and Sydney appear to have some things in common. Being short is one, also Krona’s Reality Hacking, …. what do you call it?…., controler reminds me of Halo’s skill tree.
Really? Krona’s reality hacking reminded me of Gwen’s scanning.
Also reminiscent of V’s aggro-aura. I seems like that’s how magical processes manifest themselves in the Grrl-‘verse.
In terms of what she is, she seems similar to Sydney.
Which probably means Sydney wouldn’t like her. Remember when she met Pixel here ?
She seems to be a great believer in the way of the highlander “there can only be one!” :-)
But Krona has just displayed a high level of awesome which overrides Sydney’s normal snark settings…
“A dud!” https://youtu.be/EHXgsXF0auQ
Honestly, Dave, I don’t mind you showing new characters without introducing them in the side-bar first. In fact, I’d rather prefer that they didn’t get a side-bar name until after they get an in-comic.
But that’s me.
Kenning. In Lackey books (and others) kenning is a type of magic that elves typically use as they are incapable of creativity. They can modify clothes objects even themselves or others. A modified $100 bill though or any currencies will have the same serial numbers or other distinctive markings. Naturally it does not work on iron in their case. they can even make gold or precious gems out of rocks.
they technically don’t even need the rocks.
(I’m reading them right now)
‘Kenning’ was the Old Norse word for the sort of term sometimes used in verse (including sagas) as an alternative to the relevant “real” word, e.g. “the whales’ path” in place of “the sea” or “Isildur’s Bane” in place of “the One Ring”…
Wait, why cant Krona just “hack” the magical mannequin squad and shut them off? What are her limits and why isn’t she just ending the battle right now?
Interfering magic?
Perhaps out of fear that she’ll set off another booby trap and cause an explosion? As the title of this page says, she’s just using a different kind of magic, after all.
But as soon as Gault used magic, the mannequin just sucked it up. So the magic trap only activates if directly used on them?
That would be the logical conclusion. Who wastes time and juice enchanting a disposable munitions casing full of the real thing you’re using to kill people with?
Someone that has a penchant for overkill!
from ‘Schlock Mercenary’:
“Rule 37: There is no ‘Overkill’. There is only ‘Open Fire’ and ‘Time To Reload.”
^_^
The reason why there’s no such thing as “overkill” is because there is such a thing as “underkill.”
Bomb them to rubble then bounce the rubble. Or better yet, nuke’em from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure…
If it moves, nuke it.
If it doesn’t move, it’s a strategic target, use a bigger warhead.
Exactly…
If you like reality hacking check out SPIN by Double-Edge films on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP59tQf_njc
Krona’s my kind of girl though… love the blue haired gamer chick vibe, should go well with Sydney.
<3 love it <3
I second that recommendation. That was amazing.
I’m also with Sydney: why is Krona not on the team?
Probably because Inggie, Mr Barkley or Gault found her first
I appreciate the detail of the book catching the shell casings of the assault rifle. It’s a nice touch. :)
The Council might have an anti-littering policy, maybe?
Maybe some part of the object that came out of the book needs to go back in as a form of “Magical Recycling.” Lowers the cool down timer on summoning that object?
Ah, the book does look like it’s turned to near the end… it must be the entry for ‘shells’.
Me too.
Will we get to see any more new characters soon?
Find out next episode… same Grrl Power website, same Grrl Power time!
I believe it was “same Bat-time same Bat-channel” so you might have done it in reverse order.
Not my fault if they got it wrong and I had to go correct it. =OP
1) Just wondering what’s on Krona’s shirt: hot dog? Jelly bean?
2) Krona… any relation to Chronus? Or maybe Adrian Cronaeur?
3) Memo to Elsbeth:Get it right next time. =OP
1) Matrix, red pill
Glad to know I’m not the only one who got the reference
It is a Hot Tamale cinnamon candy. She really is a soul sister to Sydney.
Hey, Soul Sister
Has to be done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p_1QSUsbsM
I am going to jump on the bandwagon that gives Krona a similar origin to Sydney, although where Sydney is a starship (I think), Krona might be a laboratory.
Calling it now: their powers result from a geeky descendant seeding the past. Stable time loop!
The question then becomes who is handing out these party favors? Also note that they aren’t being found by Rambo wannabe’s, so I’m thinking somebody is trying to help humanity, but in a peculiar kind of way….
She is not on Sydney’s fucking team because she does not do that kind of thing. She is saving herself for marriage.
You say that now but Dabbler has not actively pressed the issue enough this day…
You mean like stripper grade armor? ;-)
You take the red pill… because she’s a hacker.
I’m agreeing with Sydney. Hook these bad girls up, make it a superhero duo. They can share clothes and rival-off hitting on that one guy Sydney likes. Oh, and basically obliterate the bad guys effortlessly.
Sydney needs to learn persuasion techniques since that wasn’t an optimum approach….
Oh, gods…
Not the
‘Dirty Pair’‘Lovely Angels’!^_^
Ummm…that sound effect in the first panel.
Yeah.
Needs more DAKKA!
Never enough.
I say the “Chak” should come with some “Ka” and “”khan”. =OP
Like this?
Reminds me of my History class as a senior in high school (that’d be 12th year for some of you). The topic was “famous Khans of history.” Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Batu Khan… at this point, some student in the back row yells “Chaka Khan”, and derailed the whole lecture because we couldn’t stop laughing.
Another derailed lecture was in one of my science classes when we were talking about probability. The professor flipped a coin in the air. “Now, there is a 50% chance that it will land heads up, and a 50% chance it will land tails up…” and the coin spins for a while and stops on its edge.
“… and a 0.01% chance that it’ll do that, and derail my entire lecture.”
100.01% chance.
Actually, although you might think that the difference would split evenly between heads and tails, it does not. There is a slight bias one way, due to human physiology, when flipping a coin. If I played any games where that gave even a nominal edge, I would have memorised which. But I did not bother, as it is of no practical use to me.
*holds out paw, dew claw up*
Chaka Khan even made a guest appearance on my favorite cartoon show. If you’re wondering, they drew her dressed that way because she was sort of cosplaying as one of the shows characters.
What? Did everyone miss the Konami Code.
Hack that!
No comment.
Glorious comment!
I was just going to comment on that.
Heh heh heh. This reminds me… I’m not a gamer but I know of the Konami Code from something else: Back in my 30s I read a hentai where the hero activated his female robot for sex by using this code on her tits. Now if only I could remember the name of the comic book.
Sounds similar to Chobits, but her ‘on-switch’ was located lower down (the spot most men believe to be a myth)
I just check that one out. Chobits seems to be more of a romantic comedy. The one I was thinking of was definitely “H”
Yeah, but did you see where her on switch was located? o_O
It’s the off/reset switch, causes a little bit of a dilemma for the protagonist
There’s no bits like Chobits,
There’s no bits I know….
Okay, I’ll just shut up for now (or at least until my next comment).
To be honest, even though have the books and the anime series on DVD, haven’t seen more than the first five or ten minutes (have quite a collection of Asian DVD’s, both anime and live-action {including the inspiration for both ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Kill Bill’} but haven’t actually gotten around to watching them :()
Elsbeth should add belt fed weapon with really long ammo belt (in)to her book. This way she would be able to provide sustained fire instead of this little burst :D
I think a minigun would be juuuuust a little too big to fit in the book, profile-wise.
Even if they took all the bayonets off?
Maybe not a mini-gun, but both the Army M60 and the M249 SAW would to the trick as they are belt fed weapons and much smaller than a minigun. For these the 7.62 of the M60 would probably be more effective.
If you needed to, you could store the belt separately
The other advantage to belt fed weapons, the bulk of the ammo can be anywhere as long as there is a feed to the weapon.
Wouldn’t that only gain you a minute or two before you would have to change barrels anyway? Machine guns are fiddly.
Depends on the weapon. The M-249 isn’t bad, but the M-60 was nicknamed ‘the pig’ for a reason. The new variants are supposed to be much better, but I’ve never shot one…
Okay possible indication of remote control of these mannequins. Why would he raise his arms to protect his head? We know the heads are empty and destroying the head doesn’t kill them. It seems like a reflex. Are they animated by trapped ghosts of people or a type of telepresence? They might be magic versions of drones.
But… only two heads have been destroyed so far, one via explosion, and we haven’t seen what the other one’s doing since that. It’s entirely possible that destroying the head, or at least the handprint, does kill them.
You know in this comic it’s Sydney`s job to point stuff like that out, and thus provide the plan to win the fight.
Wasn’t the sword shard found in the head that Clover-field shredded? o_O
Hey! We learned about this in Sydneys video game class if the didn’t dump her clip in ten seconds she would have been able to shoot his grenade in his hand
My head-canon is that some max-tier mage wrote her powers as a magical shortcut to help himself with other stuff (or just to see if he could). But he messed up when he wanted to implement it into his brain and got the coordinates wrong. She just happened to be the person that spell found instead.
He probably doesn’t even know she exists. (Or he does but doesn’t speak up because he doesn’t want to get punished for too risky experiments.)
I can’t be the only one that noticed the DragonBall Z King Kai school in the background behind Krona?
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2190/comment-page-1#comment-454653
Hot damn I love Halo.
Lovely work, DaveB. Thank you.
that banner before Krona, i think i saw it in earlier comics, and was thinking – isnt that konami code?:D you know – arrows
Someone pointed at a Wiki for GrrlPower. Need to start adding in all the easter eggs.
I feel like the look on ‘hacker girls’ face is a bit odd. In panel 6 it shows no fear or anything, more like interest. Then after she’s disarmed the explosive, she looks hugely freaked out as it lands next to her, with a big ‘whew’ of relief which doesn’t match her original look from panel 6.
Probably the biggest challenge in using magic is being mentally disciplined enough to focus your concentration, regardless of whatever is happening around you. Loss of that mental focus is likely to make the magic fizzle, or backfire in your face. Sort of like how Mage: The Ascension describes a Paradox Backlash…
I think it is true of any disciplined person, in a life-or-death situation. You focus intently, until the crisis has been averted. Then you can vent your emotions.
Folks who do it the other way around gradually eliminate themselves from the gene pool.
There are probably quite a few odd people (or something) in this specific location.
Sinister people? Of uneven temperament, perhaps?
In panel six, she is concentrating on hacking the grenade, panel nine there is still the minor niggle that it didn’t work as it lands right beside her, she also may not have known where it was going to land
I think Krona’s powers originated when she was researching the concept of Luck. This is really just figuring out how improbable something is. She created a improbability calculator and accidentally dropped it into a cup of really hot tea. The resulting reaction causing the infinitely improbable occurrence of her being given the power to control probability itself.
On the plus side, she may be the one person able to hack Sydney’s skill tree and tell her what the other two orbs really do. (and other ‘hidden’ functions of the currently active orbs)
She also happened to stir the tea 42 times…
Luck isn’t a concept, it’s a positive virus!
Just ask Dave Lister.
I was gonna say something about Elsbeth going all Rambo here, but I think I’ll go with Princess Vespa instead. ☺
Excellent choice…
I always find it funny when the villains can shoot 10x more than the heroes and hit everything except them, whereas the heroes need barely more than one shot per villain.
That’s because the movie would end within ten minutes otherwise
Also known as the “Imperial Stormtrooper Academy of Marksmanship”. It’s an optional rule for cinematic campaigns in GURPS… the first shot always misses.
Lampshaded in some of the Star Wars games, particularly Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, where one of the stormtroopers says, “I’d like to see you come down here and try to hit something while you’re wearing this damn helmet so I can sit in an air conditioned office and tell you how stupid you are!” (In most of the games that let you use the E-11 Blaster Rifle, it is one of the least accurate weapons in the entire game.)
Could also be called the COBRA Academy of Marksmanship… remember that none of the G.I. Joe team members ever died, or even got hit, until the animated movie, because COBRA’s troops were such bad shots, they could barely hit the broad side of a barn (if they were at point blank range and the barn was big enough)?
And yet, in the movies, that gun goes from inaccurate in the hands of the stormtroopers, to deadly when the rebels swipe them.
1st Ellie ” DAAAH FAK?!” pull’s a SCAR-H (Full Auto) out her books 2) Shell casing are dispensed BACK into her book leaving no signs of evidences OF any kind. It is a good thing that she is on the good guys side (for all we know atm) Because she would be one hell of a hit-women. CSI or Super CSI would find it nearly impossible to convict her. No weapons, no evidence, only eye witnesses in the area.
Moving on next Krona now reminds me of the kid sister of a alternate reality Sombra from over watch. HACK EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE!! Good job mate! Keep up the good work. …
oh yeah if these two ever team up…(Krona and Ellie) holy balls…i smell a spin off
I personally don’t see very high odds of her becoming a successful assassin. A good part of the job is being inconspicuous and and being able to travel quickly where needed. A giant floating book kind of makes her stand out in a crowd. And good luck trying to get that think through security screening at the airport.
Nice to know this rain that’s lasted a thousand years will soon be gone. (Especially if it’s flipped off, like a switch.)
She hacked herself behind the veil. You’re just jealous.
Yay! I was hoping Konami Girl would be a reality hacker. You left us a lovely trail of breadcrumbs leading to that conclusion DaveB (amongst the various others we came up with). Thanks for making the comic so in depth that we get the chance to figure stuff like that out, in advance!
Now all I need to do is read through the comments and find out if anyone has figured out why she has a … hot dog sausage … on her shirt?
The current consensus is that it is the ‘red pill’ from that Matrix that allows you to see behind the surface of your current reality. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pill_and_blue_pill.(It would have helped if she were wearing sunglasses and a long black coat.)
I wonder if she sees the world as code? https://www.thewallpapers.org/photo/317/matrix%20code%20neo.jpg
Sorry, some sort of bad link happened. It was almost as if some mysterious computer entity was affecting everything we did.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pill_and_blue_pill
Ahh, that makes perfect sense, thanks.
The initial thought would be that it is her who chose the red pill (to gain Neo-like powers).
Of course, that is not the case. She is applying the red pill to the outside world. The Matrix (and Total Recall 1) symbology of making a choice not being necessary, for her power to work. In other words, Kroner does not administer the pill orally!
Ouch!
I noticed that the part of the banner on the shelf in front of Krona has a coffee ring stain. Try to use a coaster next time, OK? We wouldn’t want to mar the pristine condition of the council hall now, would we?
And I see the last panel has what appears to be a mini-frig with a can of ‘Dew’ sitting on it at her location. How did she manage to find a plug for it? “Hmm, no plug here. *open control panel. flip switch* And now there is.”
Forget the banner in Front , do I see DragonBall Z behind Krona?!?!
I did some research into 40mm grenade launchers the last time one was shown here.I didn’t find much on them using fragmentation rounds but I did see that to give the solders operating them a close combat option that wouldn’t kill them and their squads they were essentially issued 40mm shotgun rounds that could be used instead of the grenades.
this issue was alleviated by the introduction of under-barrel grenade launchers. for assault rifles.
They still use beehive rounds, and they go all the way up to the 120mm main gun on an Abrams….
Wait. Kronas reality thing looks like Sydney’s skill tree. Maybe they have a similar design set up. Maybe they where created by the same person. Since it looks like Krona is the only one representing that type of ability on the council. Maybe they are liked together Sydney’s orbs are magical tools that sync to the user and give them the ability among other things to create something out of nothing ex: light hook, while Kronas (I am guessing here) goggles allow her to change something up almost instantly. However going on that concept Sydney’s or a are probably like a Swiss Army knife compared to Kronas goggles which have a specific function.
P.S. I am loving Krona even though she just showed up.
The Twisted Metal 2 God Code!?
So am I the only one who King Kai’s symbol on the banner behind the new girl?
No, it was spotted some weeks back
Okay, seriously, what’s with faces looking really weird lately? What is with so-and-so’s face in panel 1?
My take on that was mentioned in my second reply in this thread.
No, no, no! Wrong link!
Try this instead.
Arrrgh! It keeps linking to the wrong place!
Okay, Plan B: Copy/paste.
“Show me your War Face!”
~Drill Instructor in Full Metal Jacket
A personal message to Krona: Thank you for setting “Shrimp = 1”, for this world. Please do not change it.
Why does Krona wear those goggles?
Possibly it is the source of her HUD control panel. (Contradicted by the fact that Sydney sees her using the control panel). More likely is that she is into gaming and anime and therefore:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GogglesDoNothing
Her other choices she declined were:
Bandaid on cheek for no reason
Headphones not attached to anything
Fingerless gloves
Pouches! Lots of Pouches!
Bandaids denote a hasty personality, implying a tendancy towards accidental self-injury without ever having to flesh out that aspect of the character. They are lazy writing, not rule of cool.
Unconnected headphones are mufflers for those with oversensitive hearing but are generally used more to denote that a character has their own internal melody. In that second instance they are utterly pointless but a few characters do actually make use of the former reason.
Fingerless gloves are great for climbers, guitarists or anyone who needs warm but precise hands. In addition to this, they prevent beyblading injuries, hence why nearly every character in that particular show has them.
Pouches are the “tacticool” version of pockets and pockets are super useful. Their use over pockets may be purely aesthetic but the choice to use one of the two is not.
And finally, I would like to add that Digimon gets great mileage out of its goggles. Their initial significance was nonexistant but season 2 gave them both an actual use (keeping snow out one’s eyes) and a symbolic meaning that carried over into season 3. The new revival of the first season’s characters also features them as a prominent functional item but I feel like that’s kinda just an odd form fan service. Like everything in those movies.
My own personal goggles are laserproof (green and blue wavelengths only) but get more use as forehead and face protection as I tend to bang my head going down stairs and, back when I played quidditch, some of the face beats were brutal.
They were chosen purely for aesthetic reasons though. I wanted to hide my massive forehead.
“WKRP in Cincinnati” was an American TV Show in the 70’s. One of the better running gags was the character Les Nesman, who sported a bandage or splint of some sort in nearly every episode.
Finding the bandage became a thing in my circle of friends.
We have a rule for our Champions Games called the OUF, or Obvious Useless Focus. Depending on how flashy it is, it costs 1-3 points (Subtle – 1 point, Pretty Obvious = 2 points, Cannot Be Ignored = 3 points). The Focus does nothing except appear to be the source of a power, some powers, or the Font Of All Powers. Once the Focus is removed from the character, it becomes obvious that it’s a prop. Campaign limit for OUFs is 5 Active Points.
“I wear them because they’re cool!”
speaking from experience fingerless gloves are great for when you need to protect your hands while leaving your fingers free to do fiddly bits. used them all the time while i was roofing for a living.
also pouches are cool, it’s like a pocket you can remove without changing pants. so you can keep them pre-filled and just strap them on