Grrl Power #497 – Path finding
For someone who has superpowers, and relatively new powers at that, Sydney doesn’t use them a whole lot. Sure she’s gone flying a few times and sometimes hovers awkwardly in the air with the flight orb, but it seems like she’d be using them all the time. Especially the Lightbee function of the comm-ball.
She’s sort of a Harem light when she’s using it. Very light since there’s only one dupe and it can’t touch anything. Also while Harem experiences everything from all 5 of herselves simultaneously, Sydney has to shift focus between them, kind of like how you have to refocus your eyes between the bug splats on your windshield and signs on the road.
Oh and before anyone points out the seeming inconsistency in panel 9 (bottom left) remember Sydney’s truesight doesn’t work through Holo-Halo. Although this just occurred to me as I’m writing this. If Holo-Halo can stick her hand through someone’s head, couldn’t she have just pushed her face through the dirty skylight? Sydney didn’t think of that either I guess.
I should point out that there is now a Kickstarter running for the Wearing the Cape tabletop Role Playing game. It’s already funded, but obviously pitching in is the easiest way to get your hands on it if you’re interested. Who knows if kickstarted projects like this will ever show up in your local comic/game shop. Sadly I don’t have time for tabletop games anymore, though it would be nice to find a group to play with some time. I suspect it would have to be online though. Someone has got to have cracked the online tabletop thing by now. I know there are a few websites that have tried it, maybe even some stand alone apps, but I’m not aware of a gold standard program that does that stuff, that combines voice chat like Skype or Discord or Google hangouts or what have you with dungeon master tools, dice, map stuff, all that. The most daunting task with a program like that, I imagine, would be implementing all the different game rulesets. Some of them you couldn’t do without licencing stuff, which is a big speedbump. Of course any program like that would have to allow you to program your own rulesets and character sheets, so the community could implement anything they wanted. Obviously if you know of a good solid program that does all this stuff, feel free to share it. Just check the comments first so we don’t get 50 separate recommendations for the same thing. :)
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
Check out Wearing the Cape: Team-Ups & Crossovers. Sydney’s first Crossover! I’ve made a dedicated blog post for it, please comment there.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Hey! “Wearing the Cape” is powered by Fate! That’s my go-to RPG system (indeed, I’m running a supers game in Fate, using the “Venture City” worldbook). I’ll be backing this Kickstarter for sure.
Heck, it might be one of the few where I shell out for the hardback. Though it doesn’t looks like they commissioned any @DaveB artwork, which I think is a Hell of a missed opportunity.
To say nothing of how great it would be to have some of the ArcSWAT members written up as sample characters to demonstrate the power construction system. I mean, crap — if you can write up Dabbler, you should be able to build just about anyone.
He asked, but I was too busy with this. I would have liked to do it.
I don’t know if this has already been mentioned but https://roll20.net is an online role playing environment that allows creation of campaigns, characters and parties through its meeting board system to invite interested players to your newly created world.
Yes, it was mentioned as the fourth thread on the first page
You know, I feel even more supportive of the project knowing that they asked; it speaks well of the creators’ judgement. Pity you didn’t have time in your schedule. Well, the Kickstarter is going like gangbusters; hopefully they’ll be making expansions when you’ve got time to contribute.
I’m only speaking for myself, mind you, but if you wanted to take a break from here to do art commissions for them, I can be patient & still continuing to vote at TWC. At long as I’m assured that the hiatus from here is temporary & only for as long as it takes for the other project, I’ve got no problems with it.
Same here
A bit late, in saying so, but ditto.
Something occurs to me about Harem’s teleport: if “tele-fragging” is possible, it would be a simple matter to impale practically any opponent with a bunch of random objects, like bars or sticks.
Depending on whether the telefrag element is going to be used, it may be simpler from a narrative perspective to say it just isn’t possible. It could be that if anything is in the way that’s too dense to push out, it results in her being dumped out nearby (likely in a random orientation) or bounced back to her original position, along with a painful, disorienting stun comparable to smashing into a wall. Enough to where it isn’t going to cause grievous harm to a body but is still a really bad idea to be reckless with it.
Heck, if it were possible to kill yourself with a teleport so easily I’d expect half the people in most continuities to die the first time they realized they could do it.
frankly, they should die from air embolisms the first time.
This presumes nothing is being done about the air in the previous or new location. It falls under “required secondary powers.”
Superman can’t be super strong if he isn’t also super resilient. Otherwise the first time he punched something with the force of a canon shell his arm would disintegrate into gore. And Flash cant be super fast unless his perception can also speed up to cope, else he’d be super fast right up until he was a super-smear on the nearest solid wall. Similarly teleporters can’t teleport unless they also do something about the matter that is occupying the location they are teleporting to (given the lack of thunderclaps when they leave a space… they probably swap places with the air from the new location).
What’s hard to explain is why air would get treated differently from say… stone. So why can’t Harem teleport into a solid object and just depend on whatever it is that keeps her from having air inside her/crushing her keep the stone from doing the same? Density? Probably plot mechanics… would be easy to take down the Doom Ship From Space if you could just take it apart by teleporting into it over and over.
It’s possible that Harem can *VORP* into a solid object, just her ‘secondary power’ (‘complimentary power’ sounds better actually) prevents her from physically manifesting in that space (which she explains in panel “Personal Space violation”)
Example: Nightcrawler’s “Bamf” upon teleporting could be more an air exchange between this dimension and the one he actually travels through (which is the reason for the brimstone smell)
It’s also how it works when he appears back in this world…The volume of air at his destination is exchanged for is own volume of body. The air (in both places) is not being “moved around” at the scene, it’s being teleported away.
It may have to do with the relative density or cohesion of the material at the destination.
Try to walk through a room full of air, you don’t even notice it. If it were water, you’d definitely notice it and have to work a lot more. If we’re talking stone, you’re out of luck completely.
That may be why she can teleport without air issues, but solid objects are, well, solid.
It would be telling to see what happens if she teleported into water and out of water.
Does a water column appear where she ported into the water?
When she ports out of the water, is there suddenly a harem sized (and then rapidly compressed) bubble of air?
It might be that a field pushes things out of the way when she teleports, but not so fast it causes a sudden whoosh. We’d have to assume that her departure point has a similar field as well that’s collapsing quickly, but not so quick as to cause an obvious disturbance. In this case, her sense of something obstructing her would be something that is interfering with her attempt to create an intact destination field.
I don’t recall anything in the comic so far to give us a clue which of those it is, or something else entirely, but there may eventually be hints.
Since Adamas mentions Nightcrawler, his is opening a very temporary dimensional rift, and then moving rapidly through that dimension to the new location. That ‘bamf’ and it’s sulfuric smell is from the air of that dimension getting poofed out either because the really fast over there nightcrawler smacked it out of the way (like a plunger in tube just a hair larger), or because the airpressure is higher over there. (He might be transferring atmosphere as was mentioned earlier, but for dimensional shifting instead of a real teleport, but I haven’t read marvel stuff in a LONG time.)
Would suggest this would be time for a new “Dabblers’ Science Corner”, but the rabid readers would throw a wobbly at the thought of another delay in the story (they are already foaming at how long this little arc has taken, and how many pages were spent explaining Pixelicious)
Practically speaking, your body is already full of air. Increasing that quantity by a pound or so isn’t much bother and any enhanced metabolism should be able to handle it. Rock, on the other hand, is quite a bit more dense.
Erm, I do suppose this would mean that several rapid teleports leaves Harem belching and farting like a camel on steroids.
Air has a bunch of dust, germs, and other stuff you don’t want lodged through random brain cells.
Alternatively yes, you teleport into stone and swap spaces with a you shape statue of stone. This still leaves you unable to move and potentially breath because this swap field is near skin tight and unless you can port away again you’re now stuck.
This does lead to some interesting questions about transposing your self with another person if you could line up perfectly and whether weight limits on the teleportation factor in the other side of the transposition.
Alternatively the consequence of fusing a bunch of atoms together, could be like operating a fusion reactor. Except it occurs instantly. So the energy output would be more akin to the abrupt process in nuclear fission.
The writer need not rule it out. Harem could only pull the trick the once. Well per body, assuming the others were outside of the minimum safe distance…
Yakno. She ought to learn to “poof” it on the roof or in the air. Somewhere less obvious.
“poof” what? o_O
Harem has already indicated that she can teleport to the roof. She was going to do that, initially, before Sydney indicated that she could scout ‘risk free’, with the Lightbee.
There’s a program called Vassal that does a very good job of it. It can be work, though. For a game to be played a module needs to be created first. But there are hundreds already created, so you’re likely to find most popular game modules already created.
In order to avoid copyright violations the program itself does not include any rules, and so it cannot tell you when a rules violation has occurred. The players have to make sure that no illegal moves are made. But it is a way to play a tabletop game with people scattered all across the globe.
so wait, if the holo has to navagate, what happens if its put in a box? the holo itself can phase through people as seen with adrian, but what about the little glowy ball thing that travels with it?
I’m pretty sure the ball isnt travelling. That’s still in her hand. It’s the holo of the ball that’s travelling, so it can travel through anything, just like Holo-Halo can.
Actually, the consensus is that the “Light–bee” (controlled by the orb in her hand), is solid – thus we see it maneuvering around obstacles and needing to find a chink to go through to enter the warehouse. If it was a holo, it would just go through the straight through the dirty window.
Yeah, but then again, Sydney forgot that she could have just shoved Holo-Halo’s head through the glass…
Awesome “dramatic gasp”, and love Halo’s expression! Likewise the subtleties, like the burst of dark lines coming from her, and the shadow effects.
Horrible thought. The Lightbee can be captured! It appears to be a physical manifestation, both from the fact that Halo did not try to send it through the wall (she will have practiced with this in the months before signing up to Archon), and the fact that she has ‘Faz sense’ (the ability to tell if there are things in close proximity).
If it is physical, it can be netted. Unlike the other orbs it clearly does not have the ‘cannot be moved far from Sydney’ property. Of course, if it has a maximum range (say 200 metres from her) then the same power might come into effect. But if it does, then Halo will be bound to that radius herself, until she can rescue the ‘Bee!
And if it does not have that property, then some blighter could beenap it!
*quivers in rage*
I think the *orb* is still in her hand. At least, when she was first demonstrating the orb’s abilities in the ballroom (in the comic @DaveB linked to), the Lightbee is generated by the orb, and then moves away from Syd. I assume if she let go of the orb, the Lightbee would just wink out of existence, even if someone managed to drop a box over it.
(Apologies if I’ve misunderstood you.)
No apologies necessary, I shorthanded my explanation. There is a subtle point that you missed, when Sydney first demonstrated the Lightbee. If you look at panel 3, in that link, you will see that the Lightbee is flying towards Arianna. But look closely at Sydney’s hand. The orb is still in it!
Now contrast panel 1, which has an orb within an orb. That ‘inner orb’ is actually the Lightbee. For confirmation see panel 7, which shows the Trusight Egg, without its baby bee inside!
For interest, there are other orbs which demonstrate similar properties. Such as the Energy Tentacle Egg, which hatches the Lighthook worm.
Actually if you notice, even in the link you provided, the orb is still i her hand. What moves is an illusion OF the orb.
Sorry misread your post.
Ah, I see. You know, it never occurred to me that the Lightbee and Lighthook might be actual objects contained by the orbs, rather than (as you might say) energy constructs which have no independent existence when the associated orb isn’t providing energy for it. (But, then, the orbs themselves are ambiguous in the “physical object” department [being deeper than their volume would indicate, and glowing while not emitting actual light], so who knows?)
The light bee is created and controlled by the yellow orb. And, while it does project data (vision) back to the orb’s user, it has not been established that the view is from the head of the doppelganger, and not rather the center of the lightbee.
SO- Sydney might have been able to “push” her head through the window, but perception would have remained with the light bee, outside.
NEXT – Consider: how does the light bee send its information back to the orb, and eventually the user? What sort of transmission could do that – radio/microwave/subspace? In the opposite direction, how does the orb maintain the existence of the light bee (power and control at a distance)? I’m guessing that, therefor, at least one if not both of these communications works in such a way that the light bee can NOT pass through a solid, but must find a way around it. Otherwise it will drop just like your cell phone in an underpass, or a basement, or my backyard (frzlwglitching Cell Tower blind spot!)
Agreed (but I think it is likely that her apparent organs do function as if they were normal senses).*
As it has not been established, then we cannot draw this conclusion, based on the evidence we have to date. Things get more complicated if that happens, so my suspicions are that it will go the other way.
For all intents and purposes,** telepathy. Possibly this might operate by the technological means that you indicate. But, however they work, Sydney thinks what she wants, and they react. So instinctively, that it is like using one of her own limbs. As demonstrated by parrying Shadow Boxer’s backstab, with the barest hint of a warning!
Finally I agree that the Lightbee probably cannot pass through solid objects. But simply because I think it probably is solid itself. Sydney has practiced with this feature, as she had months to play with it, before Archon found her. So she would not bother ‘feeling’ her way through the cracks, if she knew that she could just go straight through the wall or glass.
* Think on the implications of not being able to close her eyes, to stop seeing, in a world that we know has medusae! Not that I offer this as proof, just food for thought. It just gets a lot more complicated if the senses only operate from the lightbee’s POV. If that were the case, then we would expect them to carry on working even when the image is not being projected. Which the above comic demonstrates not to be the case.
** As no energies can be detected emitting from it, even using Dabbler’s super science and magic. Of course it may well be that one of the mystery orbs specialises in blocking detection, in which case it could be any of the things you list. Or telepathy. Or, as Pander postulates, the fact that the orbs are not even native to this dimension. In which case they could be using some aspect of a higher dimension, that we cannot even sense, to facilitate the communication.
In support of Pander’s theory, a simple structure*** one dimension level above us (i.e. ignore the time dimension, and consider a 4th physical dimension) could, where it intersects our three-dimensional space, appear to be a sphere.
*** Their equivalent of a line or cable, in our dimension, if I recall correctly.
OK, since you brought up the remote gorgon stoning theory, or RGST if you’re cool, we also have to ask the question “What happens if one Harem looks at a medusa?
She would do a Kevin. I.e. get stoned.
The broken wrist was just suffered by the one hit, because it was a physical attack. The particular point I was trying to pursue was would the petrification process propagate to the other copies because it was a magical attack?
I think we may have to go to the PotterVerse for this one, with the indirect gaze having a minimized effect (such as with the Basilisk in Harry Potter only stunning people with the indirect gaze)
If the Harem’s communicated with each other via a magic mirror maybe. But the stoning is clearly a physical property, affecting the body (albeit magically caused). As such I do not think it would leap from one to the other.
Although, that is for generic medusa. The original one was actually the daughter of two gods. So if the stoning was due to a divine effect, then the gloves come off.* ‘Whatever the gods want’ would determine what happened.
* I think Halo would be relieved about that.
A little extrapolation on your footnotes:
* This would describe the Comm Orb itself functioning as a type of “relay station,” as the Lightbee gathers the raw data & “transmits” the raw data to the Comm Orb. In turn, the Comm Orb “transmits” to Sydney’s bvrain & the associated sensroy functions there. It’s quite possible that the Com Orb itself does some preliminary “data processing” so that Sydney’s brain can interpret it.
Sydney must keep the Comm Orb active (in-hand & activated) in order to receive any sensory input at all, whether it’s for the Lightbee to “feel it’s way” around obstructions or to provide full-sensory data.
**In describing the structure of four spatial dimensions (If Time is considered to be the 5th Dimension in such an environment) is actually describing the concept of a tesseract.
Man, the art was so much better on page 89. Everything looked so clean, the backgrounds weren’t distracting, the line work was so much better, and there weren’t crazy “lighting” effects everywhere preventing my eyes from following what’s important.
Then your eyes must be out of adjustment. I have absolutely no problem following what’s important.
Agreed. Plus page 89 (the ‘Badgers!’ scene) is a well-lit conference room, so it is not a like-for-like setting, to make a valid comparison.
Personally I love the atmospherics of this page. I feel it has a Hitchcock feel to it,* and that DaveB should be proud of how magnificently it has turned out!
* Which I meant to say in my initial comment, but forgot.
The difference isn’t how light or dark the scene is. The difference is to what degree the artist tried to add glows and highlights and colored reflections and sunbeams and shit.
The quintessential example is the addition of colored glows of Sydney’s orbs shining onto her hair and skin. It diminishes the quality of the art. The art in a comic doesn’t exist to paint a complete picture of the scene in every panel, it exists to tell a story that has a distinct focus and a specific pacing. The telepresence beam, the windows, Sydney’s pose, the layout of the room she’s entering – these tell the story and so they should be drawn to capture your entire attention. The color and placement of her orbs doesn’t tell us anything, though, nor does the (inconsistent) angle of moonlight on her back, or the blush and shininess of Harem’s face, and so those kinds of details should be removed from those parts of the scene to make sure that readers ignore them and focus on the action.
DaveB has been working to improve his artistic skills over the years and it seems likely that he feels a sense of pride in showing the results of his work to his readers. Professional musicians also spend years improving their skills, and you don’t see many in concert performing their rendition of ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’.
I suggest you look again at page 89. The glows are there. They were there from the very beginning, when they popped out of Tubey. It is one of the properties of the orbs, that they glow.
Your demand is like saying the Human Torch should be drawn without flames, because they distract you. It is a nonsense. They are super heroes and they look different. Plus, here and now, the fact that Halo’s orbs do glow, does mean that she is at a high risk of being spotted. Which is HIGHLY pertinent to the drama and tension of the scene!
An artists style is their choice to make, not yours.
Where such criticism might have merit is if the scene was genuinely hard to follow. It is not.
Finally Dave is not alone in making such an artistic decisions. Girl Genius has comparably rich pages. Likewise My Neighbor Totoro, of which Sydney is a fan herself. Both of which are just examples of some of the best. Which are popular with audiences, despite your pet peeve.
One significant difference between the artistic decisions in Grrl Power and Girl Genius is that the art style in Grrl Power has changed significantly since it’s inception, whereas Girl Genius has enjoyed approximately the same art style from it’s inception in 2002 until the present day.
I’m not saying it’s impossible to follow. I’m just saying the old style was vastly better.
This isn’t my personal opinion. There are objective metrics that are taught for how to draw comics, and the old style followed them better.
No, those are your personal opinions, and, just like everyone else, your POO is your own
I have analyzed this on a Panderian scale, and the new style registers at 4.6 Panders, while the old style registered at a mere 4.2 Panders, thus conclusively and scientifically showing that the new style is better.
I will be making pie charts and maybe a Ven Diagram later as well.
+1
Please do :D
*sniffs around*
I am not smelling any baking going on? Are we going to get those pies?
*mouth watering*
You seem to be ignoring that objective standards taught in comic drawing books and classes do in fact exist. While every artist is entitled and encouraged to develop their own style, improve their artistic talents, and deviate from standards when they deem appropriate, that does not make a falsehood of LockeZ’s assertion that such standards exist. Ignoring this and characterizing Lockez’s argument as opinion feels more like a personal attack than an argument on merit.
Indeed, while the more recent pages are veritable works of art and a beauty to behold, they do flaunt many of the traditional standards of comic art. Whether this makes them more appealing is certainly a matter of personal opinion, but the more recent pages are certainly objectively less adherent to accepted standards of comic art.
I personally prefer DaveB’s earlier style, but sadly my preference has no bearing on what DaveB should or should not do as an artist. it seems obvious at this point that he is moving toward more realism in his artwork and will continue to move it that direction. I certainly appreciate this trend it for it’s beauty, but I can’t honestly say I prefer it.
Darn typos. The last sentence should say “I certainly appreciate this trend for its beauty, but I can’t honestly say I prefer it.”
Honestly I’m suprised has been so composed for this long, You’d think she’d show random hints at things her other selves are going through every few minutes, unless this is the only active version of her and all the others are sleeping or not formed. Though I have to wonder how one of her sleeping would affect any awake versions of her. The “simultatious experiance” part of her powers is starting to baffle me, is all I’m saying.
Some birds can have half their brain be asleep at a time, so that part isn’t as far fetched as you might think. I’d be curious if the random pseudo-experiences generated by dreams ever end up intruding on her, however.
It’s mostly things that cause a sudden or involuntary response that end up crossing her wires. She probably knows she should avoid looking at funny videos when she’s supposed to be stealthy. But then again, maybe not.
You saying that Harem is a bird-brain?
;)
Daphne can choose (probably from years of practice) to ignore the ‘input’ from her other selves, unless something like the Maxima Wedgie overrides that and literally forces her other selves to experience it as well
It’s an extension of the normal human ability to “mentally filter” the various sensory stimuli that we constantly experience. You may be only “partially aware” of how your foot taps in beat with the music that takes up your primary mental focus. But then, if something unexpectedly bumps up against your foot, your attention (& mental focus) shift to the odd sensation.
It’s the same way with all five of Harem’s bodies…Except that she has five brains & five bodies, all functioning fully as each “unit” functions as a human being. Harem has only one mind to work with that links her consciousness. When Max did the Atomic Wedgie maneuver, it was the same as the “unexpected object” bumping your foot as I described earlier…All of YOU reacts to that sensation, just as ALL of Harem reacted to the wedgie.
for a online tabletop thingamabobber, I use Roll20.
It didn’t include a good voice chat, when last I played, we used RaidCall for that.
It has been mentioned several times already, DaveB even mentioned reading the posts so there are not 50 recommendations for the same thing
“Is it trespassing if you’re not actually there?”
I don’t know if it’s called “trespassing,” but I’m sure it’s a crime. Think of it this way: if I flew a drone into your backyard, and you left your backdoor or window open, and I flew that into your home, would that not be an invasion of privacy?
Halo is going full vigilante here :-\
No, she is investigating a suspected criminal activity, like an authorised representative of the Law
I am going to call “no probable cause” on that one, along with “lack of search warrant” and “aiding and abetting a criminal organization (the Council)”.
What she is doing is well meant and good hearted, but almost certainly a crime.
Not that we have known Halo long enough to know just how averse to crime she really is.
How is the Council a ‘criminal organization’? Because they are not ‘public’ and out in the ‘open’?
And they do have probable cause, or Maxi wouldn’t have sent them there
You are forgetting (or letting your bias show) that Sydney is now a member of a fully sanctioned government department, and she is not alone in investigating any leads towards finding those responsible for an attack on US soil, an attack that directly affected and involved her
But then there is that possum comatose thing to deal with.
Because it metes out extrajudicial punishment. Supers are prohibited from doing that so it’s a pretty big double standard.
If that’s the case, ARCHON didn’t last long as it’s time to disband it
The fact they are Supers has as much relevancy to their hair colour to the fact they are official law officers investigating a crime
During the press conference, Maxi stated that, if a Super wanted to fight crime, they should go join their local police academy (or fire department or go to medical school or whatever)
Next you will be stating that the police have to issue a written notice to the owners of any building they are about to stake out
You took my point backwards. Supers and regular humans are held to that standard but the Council is not. Do you expect the Council goes through the legal system to do their enforcement when juries aren’t even allowed to know what went on?
Who cares if the Council does or does not go through the legal system (what? you don’t believe they have some members already in the Legal System, as judges and stuff?), Maxi (and by extension, ARCHON) would
Or, are you saying, that just because the Council hides their true appearance, they are not allowed to appeal for legal protection? o_O
They’re operating outside the laws of the country while being in the country, setting up their own rules and corporal punishments and enforcing them. Regardless of their intentions that’s legally no different from a mob that puts hits out on people who don’t play by its rules. The mob having members in the legal system makes it even worse. And if the government actually sanctioned a mob to do as it pleases, there would be hell to pay.
Allowing non-humans to be subject to the Council’s extrajudicial enforcement, but not humans, logically violates the equal protection clause. It would make sense that plenty of relevant beings would want out if they had the impression that the US legal system would treat them more fairly than the Council does.
But they’re being allowed to do that, while supers are not. Logically Maxima would not be happy about the Council playing by their own rules if she’s being consistent.
Who are you talking about?
Supers are not required to register, or even tell anyone they even have powers, only if they decide they want to use them to fight crime, in which case they have been informed to join the local police department
The reason hyu-mons are not subject to the Council’s extrajudicial enforcement, is because normal hyu-mons are not members of the Council, that’s like someone who is not part of a particular city expecting to receive the same rights and protection of someone who is
Think of the Council as something similar to The Shriners, an exclusive ‘club’ that most ‘normal’ people will never even get to see the inside of, certainly not the ‘inner sanctum’
You are making a lot of assumptions about something you know nothing about
Again, several members of an official US Department of Law Enforcement were personally involved in an attack, including a very high ranking member, but, because the attack happened against a group that ‘officially’ doesn’t exist, they are supposed to do nothing?
You know who you sound like? Those morons who wanted private clubs to be opened up to everyone simply because they want in
You’re still taking it backwards. My issue is not that humans aren’t subject to the extrajudicial enforcement. The point is that legally nobody should be subject to it, and by punishing “their own” by violent means, the Council are breaking the law in a way supers or regular humans are not allowed to!
I’m not even talking about the response to this attack (though that’s still questionable if the Council gets around needing a warrant), I mean the other violent stuff that was heavily implied before the attack. Maybe it was “necessary”, but in that case it’s still hypocritical to prevent anyone else from operating the same way, the way supers do in other continuities.
Nah, forget it, had a response but you wouldn’t understand it anyway
You keep misreading my points and then tell me I wouldn’t understand yours?
But yeah, forget it. Almost time for the next strip anyway.
It is worth noting that, as a matter of legal principle, the longer a law has been in effect and been enforced the greater the weight it has. The Twilight Council has been in existence for over three thousand years. During that time it has consistently enforced its various laws, in order to remain a viable organisation to the present day.
The United States has been in existence less than three hundred years. Further it has only survived because the Twilight Council has provided a peaceful environment, where humanity has not been driving into extinction, slavery or kept in the stone age.
United States laws are subordinate to those of the Twilight Council, under our own system of judging such matters.
The one thing which would smack ill, is the secrecy involved. However secrecy has long been a part of human governments too. Britain has ‘gagging orders’ which can prevent the press from reporting on matters of that the state deems to be necessary to keep secret.
Whereas America will kidnap foreign nationals, and extradite them, without any due process and detain them, without complying with either civilian law or the geneova convention. Keeping the processes involved secret all the while.
We cannot complain, as we behave the same way the elder jurisdiction does.
I’m not buying it. Some religious hierarchies are pretty dang old, do they get to violently enforce their precepts on their adherents regardless of where they live? Some of them still try, but the great majority of industrialized nation-states do not accept that.
It’s pretty much assumed by the nature of a nation-state that you need to abide by its rules or get out. That would be a logical thing to say to an entity that flat-out refuses accountability to most of the nation-state’s population. You know what else was older than the US government? Britain’s government.
Wait… you’re presuming this continuity rewrites all of history as being made possible only because of the almighty Council mercifully allowing humans to exist? Were human mages that powerless against a bunch of fractured groups that in many cases hate each other?
Regardless of the validity of the Geneva Convention on non-uniformed combatants, “tu quoque” is a logical fallacy.
You may not think this is as bad as the alternative but that doesn’t mean nobody should have a problem with it. If Maxima agrees with the official position that supers shouldn’t be allowed to enforce anything without being under jurisdiction of the government, and it looks like she does, she should not be happy about this double standard.
So you are agreeing that the United States has failed in its moral obligation, by conducting rendition and still keeping prisoners, without due process, in Guantanamo Bay. With the current administration promising to expand the use and to reintroduce the practice of torture
You are correct that the majority of industrialised nations do not accept that.
As for the religious laws aspect, they do have precedence actually. You will find that various religious organisations retain the ability to try individuals, under church law, where a crime falls within their jurisdiction and remit.
Which means you are actually supporting my case, by introducing religious institutions into the argument. Their principles and practices are dated, by modern standards, and do not hold the same checks and balances that modern judiciaries do. Yet they still have the right to arrest and try those who have committed offences against them.
As do the Twilight Council. All its members have agreed, as a part of the community, to be bound by their laws. Where they transgress, they are punished according to those laws. That is not extra-judicial. That is an established, recognised legal system doing its work.
As you choose to bring the British government into the argument, you allow me to point out that the bulk of the American legal systems (with exceptions for some, such as Louisiana, which is based on the French model) are descended from British law. To the extent that, where no precedent exists for a case in the USA, lawyers are allowed to cite British precedent, in court.
In other words, this supports my claim that the elder legal system is recognised. The fact that, on the political side, the unruly Americans chose to revolt against their rightful monarch does not lessen the arguments on the legal side of the matter. Which is what we are debating.
Further Britain and America have interdependent legal systems, where they will extradite criminals from one jurisdiction, to the other. Likewise they both co-operate in joint investigations, where crimes overlap both jurisdictions. In some cases providing officers to assist, or in others conducting the arrests themselves and extraditing the criminals to the appropriate jurisdiction.
The comic is being faithful to these principles. Like Interpol, the Twilight Council has world-wide jurisdiction, and the United States are co-operating in joint operations, where both populations (the supernatural and American citizens) are at risk. Just like with rendition both law enforcement agencies are conducting this secretly.
There is no hypocrisy involved. This is the way America conducts legal affairs, where the light of publicity would be inconvenient.
As for the religious laws aspect, they do have precedence actually. You will find that various religious organisations retain the ability to try individuals, under church law, where a crime falls within their jurisdiction and remit.
Can you provide a source for that claim? As far as I am aware it is not legal for any non-government organization to try individuals for any reason in the United States. This is especially true for the violent enforcement that shapeshedder is specifically referencing. Religious organizations that attempt to stone adulterers or administer other such traditional violent punishments are not tolerated in the United States.
So you are agreeing that the United States has failed in its moral obligation, by conducting rendition and still keeping prisoners, without due process, in Guantanamo Bay. With the current administration promising to expand the use and to reintroduce the practice of torture
While I understand the sentiment, this seems like a spurious argument. Whether the United States government may itself engage in questionable activities forbidden by international law has little bearing on what actions are legal for non-governmental organizations to perform within the borders of the United States.
Yorp, I am sad to see such arguments from you. Your comments on this site are consistently the most insightful, humorous, objective, articulate, accurate, coherent, and enjoyable. In fact, now that I think of it I probably owe you a few thousand Yorpie snacks for all the amazing comments you’ve made. I only have a few Yorpie snacks at the moment, but here–have all of them!
@Kitsune:
“I am going to call “no probable cause” on that one, along with “lack of search warrant””
Y’know, it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who doesn’t like what The Council brings to this story.
@Guesticus:
“How is the Council a ‘criminal organization’?”
This is actually a good point. As far as I know in the Grrl Power setting there are no laws on mass hypnosis or grand conspiracies. Ergo, there are no crimes to prosecute.
In reality, there are no laws governing subliminal advertisements. Now there’s no dispute that the magical hypnosis used to control the perceptions of literally BILLIONS of humans is unethical…
…
Scratch that, there are audience members here who do think it’s ethical. The arguments they presented were weak, but I digress.
The point is that the most vocal members of The Council are vampires, a species that survives by cannibalizing the blood of humans. Other Council members see Earth as a place of sex tourism, seeking to have sex with humans without letting them know that they’re sleeping with a lizard man from outer space.
And yet none of this stuff, whether ethical or not, is criminal, because there are no crimes against any of this. There are no laws against hypnosis, subliminal advertising, or mind control. There are no laws against telling your sexual partners that they’re actually a lizard person, or are actually not the gender they’re representing, etc.
It has been established that anyone that disagrees with The Council is usually put to death, and we’ve been illustrated how: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/comics/2016-09-08-GP0456.jpg
Violent cryptid on cryptid bloodshed.
But I’m sure my detractors are tired of seeing me complain about this. I only bring it up because I concede that there are no laws against anything The Council is doing. However, I concede this point because the mass public, the people who would write to their congressmen, aren’t allowed to know about any of this stuff. This is knowledge that people could use in order to protect themselves, but is withheld from them.
That is oppression.
And now that I think about it, since there are no laws preventing hypnosis and mind control, then should any of the criminals that attacked Archon actually be released? Think about it.
Since there are no laws to prevent mind control, then likewise there are no laws to protect people against mind control. Because of that, anyone who attacked Archon that night at the restaurant should still be held accountable for their actions, despite not being in their right minds. Any judge that rules that individuals like Mach the Knife should be released due to mind control would be setting a major precedent in the judicial system. That means anyone could use mind control as a legal defense against their crimes.
I’m curious if that’s ever going to be explored in this comic.
It already has. Current legal principles still apply. Vehemence’s victims were, under current laws, ‘not of sound mind’. They were not in full control of their own faculties. As such they cannot be held accountable for their actions. Which they were not. Maxima and Arianna covered this, and it is why they were being processed and released as quickly as practical. We got to see Barberian as a free man, as an example of this principle in action.
As for the rest of your issues, you just have to get used to a world where humans are not alone. They are actually just one race amongst a great many. The Twilght Council is actually the most senior political body on the planet. Recognised by intergalactic organisations, and representative of every race on the planet.
Humanity only represents itself, by the courts of the United States (in this jurisdiction). And specifically only applies its laws and rights to humans. As such it precludes the supernaturals, who are not human, from their jurisdiction. Likewise animals and the other known sentient races (such as dolphins, elephants and humanity’s close relatives).
Until the United States accept the jurisdiction of a world court and admit all sentients into the protection of such courts, they have a far lesser moral authority than the Twilight Council, who already do so.
Finally you totally misrepresent the actions of the Council. Every race and every significant faction has a voice on the Twilight Council, who collectively set the laws. They have freedom of expression and representation in the ruling laws of the planet.
Collctively the assembled species of the planet, and even factions heavily composed of humans, have decided that it is unsafe to lower the Veil. The proper course to oppose this is through diplomatic routes and persuading various factions that it is, as you claim, immoral.
However some individuals and groups have failed to comply with the rule of law. And have been punished, as dictated by that same Council.
These are laws agreed upon by the votes of all races, groups and even representatives of the galactic community. Therefore it is no more oppression than any other democracy.
“Lightbee” is okay, but I prefer “holomatter avatar.”
“Please state the nature of your medical emergency.”
I followed the link to the ballroom and re-read 60 pages before I caught myself. I feel like I was tricked into something…
great comic though
Solid Snake spotted.
!
Thanks for pointing out the reference. I was trying to remember where I saw that thing.
https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/metalgear/images/7/7c/THEBOX.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20050831142709
Note to Dave:
When you publish ‘GP: the Comic Book’ you are going to need to put footnotes at the bottom of each page to point out all the Easter eggs you keep putting in.
They wouldn’t be Easter Eggs if they are pointed out one the page
A number of manga books have notes at the end with links to the pages about things that ‘non-Japanese’ may not understand
Why do I have a bad feeling something happened to Pixel?
Most likely because of Sydney’s: “Dramatic GASP!” ?? maybe??
what “I’M” confuzzeled about, is just what the HECK is Harem doing THAT close to Halo for? going from about 3 -4 FEET away in the prior strip, to just about 3 to 4 INCHES away in THIS strip…
She’s wanting to see if she can see what Sydney can see (nah, she just wants to smell Sydney’s hair)
Initially Harem is testing, to see if Sydney is responsive to her presence. Much the same as other insensitive people might wave their hands inf front of a blind person’s face, to confirm that they are not ‘just faking it’.
This is wholly in character with Harem.
However, so is the last bit. Whilst she is of reduced empathic awareness (hence why she behaved this way), she does actually have feelings, and even concerns, for her colleagues. We saw this when Harem was blocked from getting through the shield, to help Sydney against Shadow Boxer. Harem appeared to be genuinely concerned.
Likewise, here, she really wants to know what Halo is sensing, and is likening it to her own abilities. This is drawing them together, emotionally, through shared experiences that the rest of humanity cannot appreciate. Which, Dave cleverly carries through their physical proximity too. And in a natural, organic, way.
Harem is not a shallow character. For the things she cares about.
Tabletop Simulator https://store.steampowered.com/app/286160/ on Steam isn’t free, but it is sold reasonably priced for the quality and can be bought in a four pack for yourself and a few friends.
It is, simply put, a virtual tabletop with an enormous amount of adaptability and customizability. Several table types, boards for games, landscape blocks for campaign boards, and pieces, pawns, markers, figurines, dice, and other familiar game pieces like dominoes and poker chips. And the physics engine encompasses everything, so if you or your buddies have just had it up to here with how your game is going, someone might actually go and flip the table.
Oh, and it was designed and released for mouse and keyboard, long before VR was released, but if you have a VR system it’s set up for that as well.
Listen.
I hate you.
JK, love the comic, really, just hate cliffhangers… which you are very, very good at. And saying “Dramatic gasp” aloud is… actually a pretty good summation of Sydney’s character.
Hey Dave, thanks for the heads-up to everyone about the game! I’ve got to say that I’d love doing a write-up of Halo as a cape using the (modified) Fate system.
to the question if it is trespassing if you are not there, I believe the term would be instead invasion of privacy. Like what the US Government does to its citizens.
Actually, “invasion of privacy” does not mean what you think it does.
However, instead of turning this into a wall of text, I’ll just give you the TL;DR version:
It is, in fact, trespassing. Invasion of privacy includes things like peeping toms, pretending to be someone else in order to obtain private information, etc.
We are rapidly approaching the big ‘500’ in this comic. Will there be a special in-comic event to celebrate this? Will there be cake? (cheese, beef or otherwise) Will there be another flashback within this flashback because the story isn’t progressing slowly enough? Let the speculation begin.
So how long until Sydney discovers the use of one of the other orbs? I can already seen a new power becoming very useful soon…
Id guess a good three years time. Real time, that is.
there’s a play by post game that’s been going on for over 10 years now.
a href=”www.woldiangames.com” title=”here.”
and just in case my seldom used and sucky HTML skills did not work, here it is again in non-linked form.
http://www.woldiangames.com
it’s got a good group of guys from all over the world and the community is very active. the game world is homegrown and as developed as any boxed set I’ve seen. you might give it a shot. it’s your 5 minutes a day Pathfinder fix.
son of a bitch..FML!
Love the new voting incentive! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Yeah, ummmmm….. I’ll be in my bunk.
The Lightbee could be like a FPS camera, and actually is situated where the ball remains, say, right between the shoulder blades. In that case, everything else would be able to pas through something, but the orb remains solid and cannot get through the skylight.
Speaking of inconsistencies with powers, I have a question about Sydney’s shield. You’ve made it clear that the atmosphere doesn’t penetrate it, thus why she can use it to go really high and why she needs to ‘refresh’ it for oxygen. However, you’ve also shown that she can expand and contract the shield by at least a noticeable amount. This means one of two things should happen, 1) The same air stays in the shield when changing size, which would lead to pressure transients in the shield relative to the altered volume; or 2) When the shield size changes it passes atmosphere through it enough to negate the pressure change, but this would allow Sydney to simply have to ‘breath’ her shield (expand and contract) instead of refreshing it to renew her oxygen. Of course, there could also be the option of it magically maintaining the same atmospheric mixture and pressure when changing volume, but that leads to matter creation and annihilation, making that shield really powerful in the right circumstances (ex. trapped underground with limited air and therefore oxygen? Make shield small, expand and drop to release your newly created oxygen to the space, and repeat until help arrives. No more breathing problems!)
Just realized I never clearly asked my question, but it’s basically which of these applies? Or is it something else that you’ve already thought of and simply haven’t addressed yet? Whatever the case, I really enjoy this comic and will continue to read it regardless of whether or not you disregard science on occasion(you do a good job keeping it in mind for the most part) in your fantasy world of superheroes and supernatural.
Magic!
Seriously though there’s an explanation which will be uh… explained eventually.
*wags tail patiently*
I want a power up point for allowing Holo-Halo to be able to manipulate objects, hold two more orbs, and use the truesight. (Also have more combos of the balls to interact together. XD )
Yea I think that would be a good one too.
Never keen on that one. It would make Halo far too boring, if she can do everything simultaneously. As it is being able to shield herself and blast or use the tentacle is seriously powerful. Add in flying and who knows what else and there would be little to challenge her and therefore I would loose interest in the story. I am sure that others would do too, despite this being such a frequently suggested idea.
I suspect that is already on the cards. The skill tree has intersecting points that hint something like that.
Quite a few folks attribute the tank-melting-beam to resulting from using the PPO with the flyball. Although we have never actually seen the ‘base version’ of the PPO’s attack, if that is the case. The ‘fireball swarm’ , used against the construct, would actually be a third type of PPO attack, if the logic holds true.
Clearly it is more than just a humble firestarter, as Sydney described it as being ‘pretty powerful’. Maybe the base attack is a flamethrower type effect? Although the tank-melting beam sure counted as ‘pretty powerful’. However Halo was rather taken by surprise, by that. Which does tend to support the argument that it was a new variant to her.