Grrl Power #500 – Bravery in the faces of danger
Sydney’s rather collected attitude here surprised even me. When I sat down to write this page, I’d intended for her to be a lot more scared. Even though she knows less about Sciona than you guys do at this point, she just saw her cuddly jaguar buddy hanging ten in the corner, so she she should be a lot more concerned or angry, but sometimes characters write themselves.
That said, Sydney has literally no idea how to arrest someone other than telling them they’re under it. Maybe handcuffs are involved, and Miranda Rights (though do supernatural creatures get Miranda Rights? She doesn’t know.) And then what? Stuff her in an uber and drive all the way back to Archon headquarters? And what kind of tip do you leave for that? I mean, luckily she has a radio and can ask someone. (Also Harem and Pixel both know what to do) It’s just that she hasn’t thought through the steps at this point.
Sydney isn’t totally out of options here, but in the future she might reconsider the distribution of some of the stuff on her utility belt. Her wrist com doesn’t have an extendable blade for example. We know this because she definitely would have stabbed herself or someone else if it did. And not that such a thing would necessarily help in this particular situation, but who knows, maybe a taser would, or a jet of tear gas. Both of those would probably affect Sydney as much as it would her assailant, especially if their skin was touching the taser bits and her skin at the same time, but presumably if she was ready prepared, it could give her a slight edge. I’m sure Arc-SPARQ will have its hands full rejecting all her crazy requests.
So yeah. Page 500. Took 6 and a half years but here we are. Not an especially auspicious page to mark the occasion. There’s nothing wrong with it, but page 100 was Dabblers introduction… at least her introduction to Sydney. Not the first time she’d been in the comic up to that point though. Page 200 was the start of the fight at the restaurant. Book 2 almost started on page 300, but I thought if I try and hold myself to arbitrary page counts like that I’d wind up with odd filler here and there to pad stuff out, so I just went with the flow.
So I don’t say this enough (or hardly at all, cause I’m bad at the mushy stuff) but I want to thank everyone for reading, and sticking around when I take Sydney on some extended meet and greet scene. :) I will try and be better about that in the future, but like Sydney, this is all still new and exciting for me, and I get caught up in it.
Of course thank you so much to everyone who supports the comic on Patreon as well. If I still had a full time job we’d be only around page 300-350 now, which is a slightly depressing thought. I’d still love to take the comic to 3 pages a week, but I’m barely keeping up with it at 2 right now. Still, after three years of doing this full time now, I still think how amazing it is that I can buy a gallon of milk or some dumb thing on Amazon because I draw a comic about a super dork and her pals. So again, thank you all!
I asked around a few places online to see if anyone wanted to do some celebratory fan art for page 500, but I’m a terrible self promoter and I only got a few responses. They’re over at this post so check them out!
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Today’s milestone page is free for everyone!
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.
Oh wow. Notice how Sciona is missing her right sleeve and her right arm seems much thinner then her left? Looks like Pixel tore it straight of, that is some potent regeneration.
I did not notice that at first read. It does look like it is a replacement forming. It makes sense though. Pixel did say she has lightsaber claws. Someone ALWAYS loses an arm when a lightsaber comes into play.
Good catch. I actually went back to her first appearance (2364) to check her right arm. Yep, she did have a sleeve there and her arm was bigger.
Agreed, that was well spotted. Which means the facial cuts were likely from Pixel too. Scalia’s body would have been diverting its regenerative ability to the serious loss of the arm, in priority over the cosmetic cut on the face.
Initially I was expecting multiple claw cuts, if it was Pixel. But there is the smaller cut on Scalia’s nose, so probably the middle claws missed, but the left-most one was the one which made the big cut.
We have been assuming D&D rules for trolls, however Sciona’s current wounds were caused by lasers/light saber type weapons, which, if following the d20 rule set, are fire damage type weapons. She is regenerating damage from them, which tells me that we really can’t assume that fire/acid/plasma/particle beams are going to be a “kill it all” weapon vs her.
Don’t know about 3.5 or other versions, but in pathfinder the regeneration is stopped only for 1 round (6 secs). That would mean if you shoot a laser through its heart (or stake it with a flaming blade), it would take a good 6 seconds to start regenerating, which leads to 10+ seconds of blood not being pumped. Heart’s the best target, but depriving any limb of blood intake can be crucial in a fight. The only thing that annoys me with regeneration is conservation of matter. Either she ate a lot to get the thin arm back, or she can conjure up flesh to replace what she’s lost. Yes it’s magic, but still, it can’t be out of stricly nothing, can it?
A diet very heavy in proteins fills that need quite well…
” The only thing that annoys me with regeneration is conservation of matter.”
Ah yes. Regeneration that ignores CoM, also known as “hey, at least I’ll never starve.”
You would eventually die on a met only diet.
Always carry a few potatoes around with you. When you find yourself in a survival situation, plant those. Using decomposing severed limbs as fertiliser, if necessary. And, if lacking water, rig up a hemaponics farm.*
Obviously it takes weeks or months to grow potatoes (depending on variety and what size you want them to reach. But all you are aiming to do is eliminate that ‘eventually’ from the equation.
Potatoes are the only single-source food, in the world, that provides all of the necessary nutrition to live. Some of it in only very small quantities mind, and not necessarily everything you need to thrive. However, so long as your crop survives, you will not die of starvation nor, if you eat enough, will you suffer the worst effects of malnutrition.
I would recommend drying out a lot of severed limbs too, so that they can serve as a fuel source. That way you will be able to vary your diet, with cooking. Blood fried chips, served with fresh new potatoes nestling around a slow-roasted arm would be more appealing than raw potato and freshly amputated arm.
Of course also carry a few packets of other seeds and you can add tomatoes and a bunch of other nutritious and tasty foods to the meal too.
* Like a hydroponics farm, but using blood instead of water.
Potatoes do NOT have Vitamins A, B12, or D. They do however have a moderate amount of Vitamin B6 and quite a bit of Vitamin C. However, assuming a medium sized potato, you’d need to eat 3-4 potatoes per day to get enough B6, and 1 and a half to get enough Vitamin C.
You’d also need to eat about 11 of them to get enough daily iron and magnesium. The iron can easily be shored away with a cast iron pan. The magnesium, you’ll probably want to find a better food based source of, as magnesium is hardly safe to cook in.
Hydroponics is unrealistic in a survival situation unless you’re really damned good at setting up gravity fed irrigation as opposed to mechanical pump fed.
I might also add that corn, climbing beans, and squash are great to grow together in the same spot. The climbing beans use the corn as scafolding and the squash’s wide, large, thick leaves prevent weeds from growing around the corn and climbing beans.
If using a substantial amount of self grown and processed corn in your diet, make sure to learn how to process corn with the nixtamalization process, or you’ll end up with dietary deficiencies.
Sweet potatoes will provide A. Sufficient sunlight will provide D.
B12 is still lacking though, you are right. Which could lead to anemia and nerve damage. I overstated it by relying on fallible memory. I should have said that it is the best available option, for a single food diet. In sufficient quantity, it provides most but not all needs.
Better study up on gravity fed hemaponics. The advantage of that over hydroponics is that it will provide chloride, selenium and iodine, which could otherwise be lacking in a survival hydroponics farm. Obviously if you are lacking in any of those, in your blood, then your survival problems are compounded.
I think this is more a Champions System than D&D. So far, all the Supers/Powers fall into the champions rule set quite nicely.
Hooray for Hero System!
Actually, it’s going to be a modified Fate system. See “Wearing the Cape: The Archon Files” at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2141951291/wearing-the-cape-the-role-playing-game (assuming the Kickstarter gets another $4200 before completion, of course).
Ooh! I didn’t notice that an Archon add-on book became a stretch goal. And, currently, less than $3000 away — and I really have no doubt at all that the Kickstarter will get to that goal, at least. Though all the content outside the core book are add-ons (not automatically included with the core), so I’m going to have to pick what I’m getting (beside the core book and the Archon books, which are givens). Pretty excellent.
Yes, there were multiple claw cuts on Sciona’s face…In the first panel there’s still the red streak across her nose, but is healed sooner than the cut across her eye. Notwhithstanding the possibility that other cuts may have already healed even before Sciona shows up in panel 1 here.
Agreed.
I wonder if she had to eat the arm to regain mass.
Conservation of Mass?
O.o
Potentially a problem if the arm is currently regenerating a new body around it. Sciona might end up having her food disagree with her!
There seems to be a small mark on her chin as well. While it could be a dimple or whatever you’d call it, it is getting less pronounced from panel to panel.
And the chin is getting flatter and ‘sharper’, compare with her (s)mugshot
Dave B mentioned it in an earlier comment, but Pixel laser Clawed the arm, then Krona ran off to drink some troll blood to regen & its still in her body
Correct. Albeit saying Krona (the girl with the goggles) instead of Sciona (the ogre construct).
She? Couldn’t tell, lol.
I would LOVE if this was a cartoon. NEEDS to be pitched to those in control of programming late night on cartoon network. I would watch the HELL out of it.. buy the merchandise (gotta collect them ALL, as blondie said, those 4 magic words, lol), buy DVD/Blurays of the episodes….
Someone start a gofundme page, lol.
Not sure Dave B is ready for that kind of commitment. I really love his art style but to actually make it an animated cartoon would take literally hundreds if not thousands of cells. There is a reason art such as his rarely becomes a movie or show. Most animated cartoons are VERY simplistic for a reason.
Sad but, true. Faster cheaper has been the norm for some time… ;(
Most OC generators only animate key frames. If any.
uhm… last panel seems to have removed the scar from Sciona’s face… did it regenerate too?
DaveB, care to elaborate? :p
I’d say ‘yes.’
It gets thinner with every panel, so that’s safe to assume. And considering she didn’t have it when we last saw her, it was probably Pixel’s doing – so recent enough to still be healing.
DeveB mentioned in the comments that it wasn’t until after the fight with Pixel that Sciona was able to inject herself with an epi-troll pen and start the regeneration process of the eye and arm.
We still haven’t found out how she is keeping the original troll head from regenerating and pushing her out.
I think that is because the body is that of an orc, not a troll.
Yep, either an orc or ogre body would be my guess (leaning towards ogre because of her sheer size). She’s only specified “troll blood, so useful for a Blood Mage…
Well, in her description you can find the answer: Blood mage. She can control it the way, she want.
Also her head seems to be hold with some clasps – i believe, its like some precaution, to make a stronger bond between the 2 half of her head, because the scar between them doesn’t looks like healing the same way as the others.
did the unknown orbs just assaulted Sciona? Am I seeing that right?
No, one of those is the PPO.
I’m pretty sure the one you’ve identified as the PPO one is actually the second unknown one due to the central white cloud(ish) feature. That said the colour is a bit more PPO-ish than normal.
It is very hard to make out, so it could be either. But, as I cannot make out the crackling red lightning, normally in the PPO, I will go with brown mystery orb.
The orbs are transparent/translucent, so their apparent colour does change depending on the background. Halo’s shirt is brighter than the normal backgrounds. Hence the different shade.
I don’t think that Sydney picks a particular orb (or orbs), in crisis situations, where she is using the orbs to punch. She just thinks ‘I want to hit hard’ and the most suitably position orb (s) automatically respond.
But it is interesting that it appears to be both the mystery orbs this time. And it may be a precursor to discovering a property of one of them.
Maybe the spirit of a ninja juggler is bound into the brown mystery orb? Halo will thereby spontaneously manifest skilled ninjitsu, specialised in using balls as assassins weapons!
And should she come across a chainsaw, a flaming torch and a coconut, she will be able to invoke her power move, the whirling flaming juggled chainsaw of death, with coconut flavour!
The ‘thing’ at the centre of each orb is related to its’ power.
The brown mystery orb has a white fuzzy cloud in it, like white cotton candy. Maybe she will gain the power to make mists or control clouds or maybe extrude some sort of spider-web.
The green mystery orb has a green/yellow cloud in it. Maybe Halo will gain the ability to generation some sort of poisonous gas emissions…. ;P
Of course maybe the two ‘clouds’ are just blanked out icons and they’ll change when the orbs gain the ability to grant powers.
The cloud, in both the mystery orbs, is similar to that in the Force Field Orb. Albeit that, as you point out, they are all different colours. I feel that this indicates the mystery orbs will probably have powers more akin to that, than the other orbs. Most likely defensive, but the cloud could indicate something more tangible, as you suggest.
My original thinking has been detection protection, and similar effects for one. The fact that neither technology nor magic can glean facts about them, not being due to them being ‘weird’ or extra-planar, but simply that the powers will not gain information about the orbs.
This would likely also render them immune to tampering by Krona, as her information screen, which would normally tell her the properties of objects, would be blank for the orbs. If she could even get her power to recognise they exist, at all!
None of which would have any visible manifestation, which would explain why Sydney has not been able to figure out that orb’s power yet. And would also be consistent with the fact that both mystery orbs already have ‘skills’ picked, on the skill tree. Sydney is getting the benefit of the powers, even though she is unaware that they exist.
That said though, I do like the proposal that there would be visible effects, such as a cloud.
Combining the two, would give us the passive effects I listed above, then (with a suitable button push and/or skill upgrade) Sydney might be able to release a cloud of concealment. The opaque nature intrinsically providing proof from being visually spotted, as with any fog bank, but also extending the non-detection powers to the area. Thus protecting a whole team or a crowd of hostages.
Upgrades might include a mass-invisibility effect, so that the tell-tale cloud can be dispensed with. The cloud though could be repurposed for an offensive capability. Shroud the enemy’s head in impenetrable cloud and they will be unable to see (or potentially hear) anything. Yet everyone else will be able to make them out (if not their head).
Or, either for dramatic effect or to provide anonymity, Sydney could have a localised blurring cloud around her features (and, in particular, hiding the orbs). It could either create an ethereal elven effect, around her, or, in different circumstances, a sinister demonic or undead appearance.
Perhaps the other mystery orb literally does represent clouds? As in cloud-based weather control. Able to summon or dismiss rain, snow, mist, blizzards, thunderstorms and the like.
I like the invisibility idea, especially as an upgrade to a currently active power that is protecting the orbs from being scanned by both magic and technology. That would be consistent and fun via the mayhem that Sydney could cause when she discovers or unlocks the ability. Maybe the fact that she didn’t trigger Sciona’s wards was also related to the same non-obvious powers.
Good point, on your last. I had not considered that.
Yes, but it’s long been known that Halo can control them so there is no reason to suppose that it is some newly revealed power.
She has attacked at least two people, Math and the dude at steak house, with them. It’s also been shown that if you know they are coming, you can stop or deflect them before they hit you. (Math did that the 2nd time she used them on him)
Even earlier than that, Sydney bonked Dabbler on the head with one.
but yeah the pro has a deep read color the orp used is more of a pink
Dave I really think the Troll? Orc? The jaw thing should have different colored meat, but I really like the regeneration art on this page.
The jaw (and everything below it) is a different shade of green-grey
The flesh revealed by the claw cut is identically red, though.
That’s because most raw meat is red, unless it’s chicken, unless you are racist and believe there is fundamental differences even under the skin
Some fish have green meat, does that count? For fur if it is orange the skin too is orange and black etc for mammals anyway. Though there is at least one chicken that is black inside and out.
Racist against Orcs?
Maybe a little. I blame my upbringing. But no, meat is not all the same red. Depends on the distance from the heart, type of muscle, strength of the muscle, species and even individual genetics.
Uh… Shouldn’t breaking bone like that FORCE Sciona to drop her?
I mean, she completely broke the bone there.
Not necessarily. Her grip comes from the muscles and bones in the wrist and fingers. Her keeping Sidney in the air comes from the muscles and bones in her forearm AND and upper arm.
So, she would not lose her grip anyway and, if she can bear the pain of her forearm trying to rip away from her broken bone long enough for her amazing regenerative powers to force it back into place, well, I’d say physics are with her. Biology, no (nerves would send excruciating pain signals and muscles would spasm in her forearm), but physics, yes.
And seeing how she can look at her arm being broken in three without so much as a yelp of pain, biology is currently hiding. Or running away screaming in fear.
yep Syd needs to try that again but stagger orbs to cut off the arm or if it was me just send it into its eyes and spine at the base of neck .
Actually, if you look at her face in panel Bone Break, while she may not be screaming, she at least still felt it
If we are arguing pure anatomical physics, I am pretty sure with that severe of a breakage and displacement of bone, any tension on the muscle (just for specificity, the flexor digitorum profundus, which controls the fingers and the wrist) would likely displace the bones further by shifting them towards the elbow.
But this comic has all kinds of weird magic, so who gives a shit?
First “because magic” is indeed a valid argument here. :-)
Second, and using it, when you see how her arm resettles, with the bone literally being sucked back inside, bone displacement may indeed occur and be completely outpaced by the regeneration process. Otherwise, you could also argue that the skin would shred under the weight of Sidney, especially with the bone sticking out. But with an arm growing back in less than fifteen minutes, the skin and bone healing faster than they can be damaged by gravity does not seem too far-fetched to me.
Oh, and for Guesticus: true, she feels it, but her expression makes me think it’s more of “what? how did she do that? and how dares she do it?” than “ouch, that hurts!” She is frowning, if I read her face’s left side right (the right side is still hindered by the receding scar), not opening her eyes wide in shock.
I’m thinking this is more a matter of Artifice rather than biology. The body may have more in common with a golem than a living body. The troll blood is effective due to thaumaturgical principles (The properties without mirror the properties within, Like produces like, and so on) rather than biological principles.
Put another way, that there body is a magical construct more like a golem than a replacement body.
My two coppers worth.
Also, you have no idea what diffeance biology or magic powers has on Krona, for all we know the bones are super brittle because of the blood magic and its just the blood itself that controls her body. Just cant apply normal physics to a meta body – how it interacts with the world maybe, but not the person in general
could it be the troll blood adds a strong pain reliever strong enought to dull the pain but not remove it
plus the face look more to me at least a surprised face most dont expect she can control the orbs enought to use them as a weapon
Don’t you mean Sciona (the blood-mage currently holding Halo up by the wrists) rather than Krona (the reality hacker who hit the “snooze button” on Halo’s bladder)?
Sydney is in a bit of a pickle now is she???
a real dill-y of one
Sorry, but I’m not so sure that your pun is kosher.
I really relish the pun humor of some of these people…
:)
Eh, I’m gonna bow-out…
…I just can’t cut the mustard, here.
:)
But it’s such a sweet mix!
Handy ability if you have troll blood ready to drink. Problem for trolls it seems.
Technically, at the point where the arm was broken Sciona should not have been able to continue holding Sydney’s hands. There would have been a structural weakness that, even if it was just for a few second should have allowed Sydney to escape. Especially given that Sydney was being held off the ground.
I was thinking the same thing.
That would be true if we were just dealing with meat. But isn’t Sciona a user of blood magic? I would assume the body that she is grafted to has got more than meat going on. It may essentially be a literal meat puppet whose movements and grip are being controlled magically through the circulatory system.
While that wouldn’t be as “easy” as using the body normally, a blood magic specialist might find it more convenient/easier than any other alternative.
Rapid fire at the head just above the seam and maybe it comes off.
Those orbs pack a punch. Sidney should just spin them in a circle and rapid fire the troll. Let’s see her shake that off.
Now that Sciona has a broken tusk maybe we can set her up for a date with the character Taotie from the Kung Fu Panda series played by Wallace Shawn. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2QcDHECcAAFvKQ.png
Or would that pairing be Inconceivable! ?
Wallace Shawn? Now I want to watch the next KFP movie!
Okay, so… that’s not good. Apparently grabbed before she got the shield up.
Incidentally, some people really do pull their shit together when in a crisis. Adrenaline can be a really remarkable drug; some people go off the rails (that’s more the flight instinct taking over) while others become really focuses (that’s more the fight instinct).
Okay, seeing as she can direct her orbs to her hands as well as any to attack others. So… three options.
1. Send the light hook ball into a hand, use it to wrap up Frankenstein’s monster. Hopefully it is strong enough.
2. Send the comm ball into a hand, send the light bee out a few yards, teleport to it. Grab the shield ball, put it up, and pray to any deities that potentially may be listening.
3. The nuclear strike option. This is an act of utter desperation because of the sheer potential violence. Send the PPO into a hand, try to aim it Fugly here, and fire. Hope you hit, hope the back-blast doesn’t kill you, hope the shot doesn’t kill Pixel, hope you don’t bring the place down on your own head, and hope Fugly is f’ed up enough to be dead or at least forced to retreat (story wise, death is unlikely while forcing her to retreat while she regenerates a LOT of damage is plausible, and will both give Syd some cred, while making Fugly make her more cautious of our plucky ADHD nerd heroine).
All good ideas, but Sydney’s hands are somewhat unavailable at the moment. Her options at this point are to try to play skee ball with the floating orbs some more, or get the villain monologuing long enough for help to arrive.
Yeah, thought of that afterwards, so my reply to myself mentions that… playing more skee ball as you put it. :)
That should be ‘focused’ not ‘focuses’.
And the ‘any’ should not be in ‘..as well as to attack others’.
And I’m assuming her hands are free enough to grab a ball. Although if they aren’t, have the balls smack Fugly’s wrists enough to make it have to readjust her hold on Syd (she broke a forearm with a ball, so obviously she can hurt Fugly, it unfortunately heals very quick), maybe send one to smack it in the head as a distraction, then grab the selected ball.
And yes, these are all somewhat desperate acts (while the PPO option is REALLY desperate) but she is kinda in a bad spot and can’t assume she will be rescued. So she should at least try, if nothing else it may buy time for help to arrive.
Besides, Sydney should be a self-rescuing princess. :)
I would not assume the ‘do nothing’ option is viable. Honestly Fugly would either knock her out or kill her, and then Syd is in even more trouble. And I doubt Fugly would leave her there to be found later, she would either be taken away, or killed (dead people tell no tales).
Well, if she’s dead she won’t be in *more* trouble. ;)
Actually, it was the Hentorb that she was prevented from grabbing, probably because she was going to try and get Pixelicious down and wasn’t aware of her surroundings (or the Looming Wall of Ogre Flesh behind her)
Sydney should just nutcracker Sciona’s temples until she gets her hands back.
Bravery in the face(s) of danger is a commendable trait Sydney. The true mark of a hero is not someone who is any braver than anyone else, but it’s someone who can stay brave longer than anyone else.
You know that help is already on the way so hang in there, Sydney (pun intended).
Yups, was going to mention how focused and (relatively) composed Sydney is, and the fact Sydney still managed to remember to place Sci-fright under arrest
What matters is doing what needs doing. You can change your pants later.
How scared were you?
…Only your undertaker knows for sure…
Yeah, you can change your shorts later, ONLY if you succeed.
O.o
The sphincters relax automatically at death, even if you weren’t scared, so no extra clue for undertakers…
I tend to work with a definition of bravery which requires one to have the ability to feel fear and still be able to do what needs to be done in spite of the fear. Yes, I treat bravery and fearlessness as being two distinct things. In Sidney’s case, it looks like both apply to her at different times. Certainly fearless when meeting the Council and even during the mannequin fight. Here, though, she’s definitely scared, so bravery applies.
That fairly much is the clinical definition of ‘bravery’: being afraid but still doing what needs to be done, or standing up to your fear
You can not be brave if you have no fear
So… why is the Lighthook slipping out of her hand? Isn’t she supposed to be holding the Commball?
The Lighthook isn’t slipping out of Sydney’s hand, it’s trying to get to her hand. After Sydney teleported, she had already let go of the Comm Orb earlier.
Even going further, I’d say that Sydney (not knowing that someone was behind her) was going for the Lighthook so she could use it to free the prisoners (or Pixel, at least).
I think it’s still up there balancing on the tips of her fingers. All she has to do is touch it, right?
Not quite, already mentioned early on the first age of comments how she needs to cup her balls in the sweaty palm of her hands
Sciona didn’t grow the Troll tooth back. Maybe we found a weakness. What good’s a vampire without any teeth?
I’m surprised her lower and upper bits regenerated at the same rate, considering they must have different nutrient retirements and cellular metabolisms. Also, how is this generation being directed? If her lower 90% was regenerating up near the face you’d think it would just expel the foreign body (or not-body, as the case may be). Like a splinter from a wound… or Martians from Earth.
Sci-fright isn’t a vampire, Blood Mage does not mean Vampire
Flesh heals, and blood magic can make it heal faster. Bones knit, and blood magic can make it faster. Teeth do not grow back over time, and so blood magic also speeds that up and they don’t grow back faster.
Except arms don’t grow back on their own either. Chances are she’s targeting the regrowth (or it automatically regenerates the worst injuries first).
Neither do eyes
Must be printing Ork monies.
So, am I missing something, or did we finally get a close what the 2 mystery orbs are for? They seem to have come to her defense on their own.
no syd has control over them she did the same thing to dark blade guy to math (but no as hard)
Good try Syn now try it again sending orbs into Its eyes and spine..
Sydney.
Dont talk.
You have six orbs.
Break her bones faster than she can heal them.
Oh hey my flowers are back.
Are you saying you previously got deflowered?
That’s something that I don’t think even regeneration can grow back…
Actually it probably would.
Also I’m a dude.
Just a dude that likes flowers.
If a woman has regeneration enough to regrow that back, it still doesn’t discount the fact that virginity can’t be regenerated, regardless of a person’s gender.
;)
…you know she can move the orbs without touching them, right? She did just do it after all. Why wouldn’t the shield orb then just move that little bit further down?
Probably got mentioned dozens of times but still. Wtf.
Little bit further down where? She can’t cup her balls with her palms pressed together like that: no cupped balls mean no accessing the balls
Which is either amazing luck on Sciona’s part, an informed guess after the press conference, or an intelligence leak.
Probably, she saw Sydney on the news (someone like Sci-fright is more than likely going to be keeping an eye on the news, specially regarding something like the ARCHON Press Conference), then she had that report from that Vamp (the one who became an unwilling blood donor) so she guessed correctly to grab Sydney by the hands (or, maybe, she didn’t want to risk this one having magical claws)
My question is, why were sydney’s arms in a position that both could be grabed at once. The last page suggests they are at her sides.
Sydney was caught by surprise by a veteran opponent. Sciona probably just lent over her and slapped one hand hard enough to drive it close enough, to the other hand, to grab them both at once.
What we see above is where Sciona has straightened back up, to lift Sydney off her feet. You may notice that her orbs are below her head height, as a result of that maneuver.
There are other ways it may have played out. But as Halo was unable to respond, being caught completely by surprise, it is right to skip that. In order to give more space to Sydney’s response.
The first page was on August 23rd, 2010; page 250 was on September 18th, 2014; page 500 is on February 9th, 2017. The posting of the comic appears to have sped up.
I hope that you can keep it going for at least another 5000 (that isn’t a typo).
Page 4 states: ‘Let me back up a few months.’
If we say roughly one day has passed in the flashback for each year on our side of the 4th wall.
And the comic produces 2 strips per week, or roughly 100 per year.
That makes: 5000/100= 50 years of comics, or 50 days of in-story action.
We may actually be out of the flashback by then. :)
DaveB prefers to call those first few pages as a “Flash Forward.” But if he follows the currently-running timeline, it would still take longer than 50 days of in-comic time; you counted each page as a full day, but that’s not the case here…
;)
Whereas the fourth page was in 2005. Oh, and likely the first and last page too.
This reminds me…I feel like Math should work with Sydney to develop a unique combat style incorporating her orbs. I’d imagine the idea of having what amounts to a bunch of remote-controlled fists would be an appealing idea for him to get creative with.
might need some pointers from Monkey D. Luffy
Your in-author’s-note suggestion for pepper spray or something would actually be a good idea seeing as she’s resistant to capsaicin.
Troll blood does a body good; just ask Kanaya.
Clearly Sydney needs a tabasco sauce spray in her toolbelt.
That’s one of her super powers after all.
It wouldn’t last too long…She’d be using it as more of a garnish on her food than she would as a combat weapon.
Only if she wanted a cool drink.
huh so when she wants to put some good power into the balls theyu can actually do a fair amount of damage. Very nice.
She really should get Math to teach her some combat skill someday and make her own orb basted combat style.
will it ever acgtually havea use? probably not
will it be cool enough to get her attention, learn some forthought, and good excercise?
def.
Orb-fu would be of considerable use. When in situations like this (or in a space suit or wearing arctic survival gear at -40 or wearing mitten handcuffs), it is Halo’s only form of defense. Plus she will often be in situations where she has an orb in each hand, and is committed to continue using them, for some greater purpose, yet still has to deal with some pesky minion, who is threatening to injure or kill her!
Not to mention the sheer surprise value. Unless facing foes who have studied her capabilities, in detail, most people do not expect to be punched from five or ten feet away! Plus it is marginally faster than any other response Halo can imitate, unless she already has an orb in her hand. Fast though she can summon an orb to hand, that is still a momentary delay, before she can make use of it.
Whereas the orb’s movements can be directed mentally, with no delay. And Sydney already treats them as if they were a part of her own body. Which is an important step in mastering any martial weapon. Having muscle reflex (or in her case mental reflex) which allows you to respond quicker than the conscious mind can make a decision.
Which, likewise, Sydney has shown an instinctive aptitude for, if you consider how promptly and skillfully (relatively speaking) she responded to Shadow Boxer’s attempt to backstab her.
Weaponizable goods in her wrist com? Anything from ring of fire to the Unmaker will do in liquid jet form
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/194
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/697
Congratulations on number 500!
The 500 milestone!
All I can say is…
“Get back to writing and drawing!
Cause I never wanna stop reading your work! “
Something that we haven’t seen yet is what happens when someone other than Sydney grabs her bal- erm, orbs. I wonder if we are going to find out soon?
I’m worried for Sydney.
I mean, Krona and Harem (probably a few Harems, sorry but you might learn what its like when a teleportation clone dies at this point) are on their way, probably with 0% interest in stealth, but a LOT of bad things can happen even within three seconds. If they hold back even slightly, they might need Krona’s hack ability to bring Halo back to life.
Best case scenario, I only see her getting mauled severely, baddie beaten and arrested or depowered or both, and the supers at the hospital going “Okay. Okay, this is entirely our own fault by overworking her and sending her out way way above her training levels and not letting her sleep for multiple days in a row. We need to actually train her, and think about the well-being of our people.” Sydney might even go from Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Evil.
Also, I think the baddie is a zerg. Or blood demon. Either way the body is just a transportation vessel / armor. The abilities gained are just defensive measures. Drow? Good mages, good eyesight, intelligent. Orc? Good strength. Troll? Regen. Chop out each part and add them as armor components.
This opens interesting possibilities for Sci-fright, if she can manifest the abilities of blood donors (willing or otherwise). She has a cadre of meta’s strung up at the moment to use as a ‘power pool’, and those are just the ones at the moment. We don’t know what or who’s blood she has in storage.
Well she does have an elder vampire’s blood, at the very least. And the Grrlpower ancient vampires have additional capabilities, dependent on their lineage. So maybe she has mesmerising abilities, or the ability to walk on walls and ceilings, or can turn into a shadow, or command the sewer rats or conjure a pack of wolves or turn into mist?
Plus she may be able to turn invisible and have lazers claws (when in panther form).
Just some fridge logic here…
Other than pure ethics/squeamishness, what is stopping Halo from 1. Bashing in Sciona’s teeth, 2. Forcing at least two of the orbs into Sciona’s mouth, and 3. Removing the top of her head from her body?
You are dismissing ethics and squeamishness as though those aren’t valid and accepted reasons
The fact that 1. Sciona has the upper hand (literally). 2. Sciona can rip Sydney apart just as quickly as Sydney can command her orbs. 3. Scionia is a seasoned veteran, who will not hesitate to kill if she feels her life is seriously threatened. 4. Sydney is an untrained rookie, who will hesitate.
Regarding your Pt.2:
I’d guess that the only reason we have this Sydney-distracting bantering-interlude would be to buy time so that Sciona’s right-arm can regenerate enough to exert some serious strength – at which point either the blood-harvesting or the ripping-limb-from-limb would presumably commence. It is notoriously difficult to rip the human body apart with only one hand.
Hopefully, a heroic counter-strategy will present itself in time.
That’s what feet are for. To hold the body down while you one-handedly tear limbs off it one at a time.
Like Chewie did in that scene that got cut from “The Force Awakens”
My suggestion for an under-comic for this page would be a one-armed Sciona just after the Pixel fight getting the container of troll blood from the shelf and reading “To open, press down on the tab with one hand while twisting open with the other”.
First panel has both Sydney’s hands over her head, how did Sciona manage that?
I can’t see it. If Sciona can only use one arm, then how did she manage to grab both of Sydney’s? No matter how strong she is, Sciona can still only grab one hand at a time. Sydney could have used that time to grab an Orb.
Sydney could have raised her hands in fright, after last panel of previous page where she discovered she can translocate
I do see Just Me’s point, which is astute. I agree that the fright response is a reasonable possibiity. Alternatively Sciona may have just grabbed the one arm (perhaps as Sydney was reaching for an orb). If you do not know what has happened, your other hand may well move towards it (in an attempt to free it from whatever it is snagged on). Only to find that being grabbed too.
Or, given that Sciona is a blood mage, she may have used a trivial cantrip, perhaps an ‘itch’ effect, to cause Sydney to want to scratch her wrist. Then grabbed her, as soon as the hands were close enough for her to envelop them with one grasp.
One way or another though Sydney was caught flat-footed and inadvertently let her hands get too close to one another, in her surprise. Whilst the ‘how’ would be interesting, it is not an unexpected result of being blindsided by an arch-villain!
Just let Sydney be thankful that it is one which wants her to donate blood, rather than just bury her.
Sciona, most people start hitting back when someone hits them, instead of bantering. I hope your cunning plan doesn’t involve letting Sydney beat you up while you hold her in place.
Takes too much time and effort to interrogate the dead
Her plan will involve blood. Everything seems to involve blood when Sciona has a say in it.
Including breakfast (her favourite breakfast includes black pudding :D)
DAMN IT. I’m on a diet, I can’t have a full English breakfast right now. :(
This is pure speculation, but I’m wondering if Sydney can put up that force field around another object. Because that would allow her to capture almost anyone, and if the field severs physical objects she could even do it to Sciona in this position and lop off the scary lady’s arms in the process.
So far, Sydney has to be in the centre of the Bubble
Very true, but we don’t know if she’s tried to do it differently, have we? And putting up the barrier while keeping Sciona’s hands might be effective anyway.
Sydney has a pretty big mouth, I’m sure she can put an orb in it if she really needs to …
True, but it was established that the orbs only work when they’re in her hands and not other body parts.
See this page from the archives: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/589
maybe this is just me but shouldn’t they use have like a pressure sensor that immidiately puts out a signal beacon if its handled like that? not many times were that pressure to the wrist is a good thing.
I just realized that Sydney’s orbs are strong enough to break someone’s bones. Sure, she might be undead but that’s still frightening to think that she used those very orbs to squish someone’s balls. Literally.
Who is undead? o_O
Scionia. Interesting classification, and I can see the merit in it. But would dispute it, on balance.
Firstly Scionia is most obviously a construct, of the Frankenstein’s monster variety. Which (after having become such) would put her in the faction headed up by the animated armour, who Dabbler was wearing. However one individual can be more than one type of creature. Dabbler herself being a self-explanatory example.
She probably views herself as being a blood-mage, principally, from her behaviour. But could she also class as an undead, if she wanted to, for example, appeal to one of the undead factions, for assistance? Clearly if she used to be a vampire (that head could be one of several things, and that is a fair one to assume), then she warrants the classification for that alone.
But, let us say that her head was just that of a mundane demi-human (such as a drow). Would having that attached to a donor body make her an undead? I don’t think so personally. The recipient of a donor heart and lungs is not undead. In her case it is just heart, lungs, torso, legs arms and a few other bits too.
Now the length of time being dead may be a factor. Four minutes is a break point, beyond which irreparable damage is more and more likely to prevent meaningful resucitation. Unless under extreme conditions, such as at very low temperature, when brain decay (and other deterioration) can be held at bay for seven minutes or more.
Whereas Frankenstein’s monster’s bits were days old for some parts. But the brain is the key bit. If that has been harvested from a long-dead body, then it should be classed as undead. However that would probably create a mindless zombie-like creature, as the brain would have deteriorated to mush.. Which Sciona clearly is not. So her procedure must have occurred fairly promptly (or, of course, have been greatly aided by magic).
In short, I think she would only be undead if her original body was already undead, before she got elevated to the ranks of the constructs.
Constructs made from (once?) living bits are always tricky. I think if they are an amalgamation of different people and things, they are undead constructs, but primarily undead. Kinda like Xuriel is primarily a succubus, but she’s also an alien. Or that Pixel is most definitely a were creature, but she chose to be with the supers.
But can we get back to Halo’s orbs being able to break bones?
Anyone can break bones, if they apply force in the correct manner. Sydney simply has precise, instinctive, control over her orbs. In this case, as with her attack against Shadow Boxer, she had two orbs strike simultaneously, in opposite directions. The difference, this time, being getting one to hit high and the other low, thus maximising the probability of fracturing the bone.
So a skillful application of force. But not to be overthought as ‘each orb is capable of bone-breaking force’, for anyone who may be inclined to do so. Remember that Sydney has punched several people with the orbs, without breaking a bone. So I am still satisfied that each orb has about the same strength as a human hand & arm. Meaning that it would take two, operating in conjunction, to break a limb.
Barring, of course, circumstances where an opponent has left themselves exposed, in a position where minimal force can break a bone.
What gets me is that, with the bone in the arm holding her up broken clean through her weight still didn’t break the arm further and didn’t have any effect on the bone pulling back into place…
Agreed it would fly in the face of conventional wisdom. But that is troll blood. Clearly its regenerative properties were allowing the wound to knit together faster than Sydney’s paltry weight could pull the bone shards apart.
If two or more of those balls hit the side of her head as hard as they hit that arm, I’d expect brains everywhere. Which would slow down just about anyone.
Including Sydney as she adds her lunch (and dinner, and breakfast, and lunch) to the mess