Grrl Power #508 – Sydney needs work on her combat multitasking
So a few things to cover right off. Pixel’s claws actually project a cutting laser blade (or several, as you can see) and aren’t limited to however long her claws actually are, which look to be like, I dunno, 3/4 of an inch? The laser blade doesn’t go out too far. Like a foot. She can’t chop a building in half like she’s cutting though the main bad guy at the end of an anime.
While writing this page, I almost got distracted by wanting to show how Harem actually saves Krona, since she can’t teleport other people. She teleports about halfway down the side of the building (which is only 2 stories – this method wouldn’t work if someone had already fallen 30 floors, but it’s enough that Krona could break something, or many somethings if she landed wrong) just below where Krona is, and to the side. Harem keeps her inertia, so has almost no momentum for the first fraction of a second. As Krona passes her, she grabs on to her arm and swings her around. This transfers about half of Krona’s momentum to Harem, who teleports again going the opposite direction. Remember Harem can pick her vector when she teleports, almost like she’s going though a portal in, well, Portal. You know. Portal 1 in the ceiling, Portal 2 under a crate, it falls, move Portal 1 to a wall, and you have a gravity powered horizontal box canon. Harem repeats this maneuver until nearly all of Krona’s velocity has been transferred to her, Krona flops on the ground ungracefully but mostly unharmed, Harem flies up into the air until gravity stops her, then she teleports to the ground.
The reason it doesn’t work if someone is already falling at a high velocity is that it rips everyone’s arms out of their sockets. Harem could teleport above them, fall to nearly match their velocity, then start this process, but at some point, Harem’s upwards velocity would exceed grip/joint/tendon strength, so she’d have to bleed off that velocity by falling upwards until she’s barely going faster than the person she’s trying to save and repeat until all is well. But of course, all this has to be accomplished within the total distance of the fall, so your best bet is just not to fall off any buildings in the first place.
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Do the tentacle one – you’re going to need it.
a woman with ADHD with a tentacle power.
Yeah, I can’t see anything going bad with that. …. Though, any person with ADHD with her orbs is a bad thing. But awesome for comedic value.
“a woman with ADHD with a tentacle power.” and an interest in hentai porn…
…who passed on some weblinks to Arianna…With Max’s blessing.
+1
This is a thing.
A thing that happened.
Hm. It did look bigger in the last comic.
Dave needs to implement a warning for that.. “Baddies might be smaller than they appear” – just like in US car mirrors.
The baddies in this comic keep changing their heigth.
But really, at first Sciona’s head(s) reached to the construct’s waist and Sciona was a great deal larger than Sydney. Now Sydney is as big as Sciona.
You could argue that the constructs legs are bent in this page (as opposed to standing straight like before), so it lowers the waist to about sydney’s height
Or it has the ability to change its mass/size.
So are Sydney’s legs.
It is alos possible that this is a totally different mech from the one in the previous page. Remember, when Syd found Pixel she was way down inside the building. This mech might be from an outside storage unit.
I was under the impression that this new mannekiller was giant-sized. It looked like it was building-tall and looking at them at its eye level in the last update.
Oh, man. I feel Sydney’s pain. Re-slotting or adjusting a skill in the middle of trouble with no time to carefully consider things. Made even worse by how permanent her choice is. This is going to happen a lot in this comic, isn’t it?
There’s a reason in games that you don’t spend your new level-up skillpoint in the middle of combat.
Unless you can spend it on health. I recommend spending it on the shield. Maybe she’ll get extra air or something.
Sydney can’t spend her orb points on health though. Her health can be increased with the Physical Training (PT) regimen with Archon. She could spend it on defense, however (ie: Shield Orb) but that’s not the same as increasing health.
;)
Unless, of course, that is what the mystery orbs are. Brown orb boosts physical stats and the green one boosts mental ones. Sydney’s extraordinary dexterity, with the orbs, may be down to the physical increases. She simply has not spent enough time on personal dexterity activities, of late, to realise that she is far more capable than she used to.
Likewise her fight-winning tactical skills could be down to boosted intelligence. And her ability to get folks to forgive her for wacky behaviour is due to increased charisma. Clearly, unlike the other orbs, such uses would be passive, and not require holding an orb. They need merely be orbiting her.
Although, of course, some of the upgrades could be user-activated boosts. Perhaps holding the green orb will grant psionic-like powers of precognition and danger sense? Or the brown orb could boost her comeliness. No, wait, that would do nothing for her. You cannot improve on perfection.
Perhaps it will simply upgrade her callipygiance rating?
So a health boost could well be viable. Get the wrong orb though and all she will do is boost her wisdom!
As if the Goddess Halo needs to improve that? Feh. What a waste!
Right, so Shields it is; maybe she will get life support (O2 & CO2 exchange) so she does not have to drop the shield for fresh air quite so often. If she grabs PPO, it will likely unlock a Stun setting that has no effect on magical constructs. Grabbing yellow gets to unlock a new sensing mode where she can see the connection from the caster to the controlled construct, but what good is that going to do her? Flight is not really the necessary option now, but that is one way to get out of the combat zone. All sorts of choices. Decisions, decisions…
It looked to me like it dropped in from above. You see everyone looking up when the shadow comes over them, then they are looking more-or-less horizontally at it.
Yeah I’ve drawn a few pages ahead and I will admit its size changes quite a bit to accommodate the panel layouts. I really should be more consistent about that.
nah, we are in Sydney’s flashback, aren’t we? so the Mannekiller MkII’s sudden appearance makes it a enormous threat, and when she gets a few meters away she’s more able to resize it to normal.
still spend this point on flight as was required would be a sign Sydney is overcoming her ADHD. She’s low on pills and remembers what she was asked to do….
ok no way this is gona happen, I know.
Well I like to think of the first few pages are a flash forward. :)
Never wear a skirt to a rooftop tentacle fight with your HUD on.
Future Archon recruits will probably confused when they read this in the manuals. Among other things.
Warnings in user manuals usually come about due to someone actually trying it and then blaming the company when it goes wrong. When I set up a snowblower for a family member it had the warning ‘do not use on roof’. Who had that bright idea?
This one goes back to the Bush years, but I can understand if the company wants to reuse it. https://www.oddee.com/_media/imgs/articles/a94_w4.jpg
The file was not found. I suspect due to legal action due to the claims made. ;-)
It works if I reload the page. I suspect it’s a referer block.
If that link is broken, try this: https://www.snopes.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/label.jpg
With the E.T. presence on Sydney’s Earth they need some special usage labels for the new arrivals.
https://cdn.smosh.com/sites/default/files/legacy.images/smosh-pit/062011/warning-fails-2.jpg
Here is one you made need to pay attention to.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/0a/e6/de/0ae6ded27dc77c9a6d03f2c59f4c5296.jpg
Item #2 = “This is not an ass-hat.”
But the person who posed for it probably is…
:)
Indeed. Like the guy driving a camper, who put the Cruise Control on and went to the bathroom, and was caught by surprise when it left the road and rolled over a few times. He sued the company for not warning him in the instructions that Cruise Control didn’t steer the vehicle. He won.
And you just know there has to be a good story behind the warning label on a box of Sominex sleeping pills: “Warning: May cause drowsiness”.
Why there needs to be warning labels on everything: It’s when dumb people realize that they can sue somebody over their own stupidity.
This is why we can’t have nice things…
:-/
He didn’t win but they put that warning there to avoid the legal fees next time.
Really? Huh. I had been told he won. Maybe it was overturned on appeal, or maybe I’m conflating it with some other story where someone sued somebody over their own stupidity, and won.
Either way, the point is that the warning is there because someone sued as a result of their own stupidity.
As we discussed before on this site (a long, long time ago), this is an urban legend. See here: https://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp
As far as Snopes has been able to determine. Snopes is generally pretty reliable at this sort of thing, but it doesn’t mean that it hasn’t happened, it just means that Snopes hasn’t been able to find a case in which it’s happened.
The couple that runs snopes.com also runs a network of spam servers that start many of those forwarded stories in the first place, ensuring they’ll always have business.
Ah, that’s just another urban legend. It was disproved by…Hey!
Although they did spread fake stories through their aptly named subsection “The Repository of Lost Legends” (T.R.O.L.L.), so maybe xkcd is on to something after all…
Most urban legends could have happened somewhere, to somebody at some point. It’s a basic characteristic of the genera.
But you’re right, Snopes is not infallible. They’re just the best we got. And of course a case filed in the county court of Podunk, Upper Buttcrack, may be easily missed by even a thorough researcher if he/she doesn’t know exactly where and when to look for it.
Yea, in which case they would not know if it were right or thong.
Label on a hair dryer.
“Do not use while sleeping”
“Do not use while in shower or under water.”
Label on toaster.
“Caution: Product gets hot”
Label on toilet brush
“Do not use for personal hygeine”
I dont even know how to start to comment on that last one
Someone who never had to clean a toilet saw a stiffer loofah. Probably set right next to the shower.
Ever read all the warning stickers on a ladder. Every one of them were caused by a lawsuit…
That Harem rescue move would be so efficient if she used two bodies at once. While one catches the falling person, another body is bleeding off the previous momentum, which is then ready to catch the faller again while the first body bleeds off momentum.
Doesn’t quite work that way, and, depending on how tall the building is, Bodie will be feeling that rescue in the morning, but at least she, and Kronachrome, will be in a condition to feel anything in the morning
My idea would be similar to this:
Bodie catches and swings Krona, transferring momentum and slowing Krona down.
Bodie vorps to a new location to bleed off momentum, but Blondini vorps in to slow Krona down further or keep her at a proper momentum.
Blondini vorps away but Bodie returns, and the pattern repeats.
If it was just Bodie, in the time she takes to vorp away and lose her momentum, Krona’s falling speed would increase again, and a lot of progress would be lost. Unless Bodie were to vorp in such a way that she can use her gained momentum in the opposite direction to counter Krona’s constant-direction momentum by flip-flopping her orientation every time.
Yeah a multi-Harem version of this would be considerably more effective, and could take place in a much shorter distance. Harem is limited to a single Harem in this location because the rest of her couldn’t easily get back to the teams they’re with if they leave, since the teams have traveled away from locations she’s familiar with.
Aw crud, even in cases of emergency? There doesn’t look to be anything interesting going on with the other teams at this point. Given her somewhat chaotic personality, I can’t see her sticking by the rules if it becomes clear her friends need her full capacity at some point, even if it means getting chewed out again.
She could use a continued fall and break maneuver. Fall some distance with Pixel, then teleport to the same place (or other side of Pixel, if location change is needed) with opposite speed vektor and grab her. This is not a complete standstill, because I assume they are not of same weight. But close enough.
After that tey will continue falling. Repeat.
Krona.
I too want a edit function.
[edit]: ‘an’ edit function.
(nothing personal, that was just too good to pass up)
You wanted to pick up a Hans solo error, eh, O.B. Juan?
While we are on the subject, I am going to have to start charging DaveB a royalty fee if he keeps using Pixel’s ‘light saber’ claws to chop off people’s arms. I have a reputation to protect.
Same as Luke with wampas…
Actually that is worse than teleporting to a falling person from a standstill and grabbing them.
The problem is the difference in the vector between the falling person and the grabbing one. By grabbing the falling one with an exact opposing vector you double the stress to the body compared to doing it from standstill.
That’s why a repeat in small steps is needed for that. Make sure to never go too fast. So the forces do not become too big.
Which is what Dave was already describing in the comment under the page. Using an opposite vector, no matter if it is small or big, creates a bigger stress on both their bodies than using a similar directed but smaller vector.
Could always Vorp below, let Krona impact her, then do the bleed off- half as fast, but much safer.
Of course, if Harem were able to leave the other groups, she could always just form a human cushion or chain.
One Harem should always wear a parachute. Another one a jetpack, another one cushions or airbags, one boots with springs and one Dabbler’s explodey ribbon things.
I grant that just wearing boots with springs would provide a distraction bonus. Especially versus Math. And the one with cushions could create a great improvised act.
Don’t forget though that at least one Harem must remain in uniform, any time she is on duty. The jetpack wearer probably needs the protection the most.
You seem to be wanting to live in the world of inspector gadget. Go go gadget boots!
Actually I was being naughty puppy.
*hangs head and looks guilty*
I’m missing the connection, is that the uniform you want one of Harem in at all times?
If that is all she is wearing then, like the sergeant, in that clip, she would be nude. As with each of the other items listed.
But to comply with Maxima’s orders Harem would need to keep one body in a uniform. I am fine with all the others being nude though. Using the devices listed, in rescue operations, whilst in that state, should provide some very interesting visuals.
Someone with a parachute. Another with a jetpack. Another with cushions. Another with spring boots. And one with Dabbler’s explodey ribbon things.
Sound like of of the better parties Dabbler has thrown. Fifty shades of Gravity.
I was hoping someone would mention Dabbler possibly considering herself to already have airbags.
I’m not sure if Harem is desperation shooting or if she really is that good of a markswoman. After all, the regular ManneKillers would laugh off normal handgun rounds, plus… from her angle in panel 1, Sydney and Krona are her backstop.
I was about to post the same thing. I guess Harem never got Max’s combat Cliff notes. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1223.
Harem might be firing just to get Scion’s attention so the little’uns get a moment to regroup.
Either that or because Archon is playing Assist to the Council, they’re just going to kill the offenders?
The point is not killing the offenders, as the only one present is (as far as we can tell) a construct, and probably one with no self-will or sense of self-identity. In other words the magical equivalent of a mindless robot. Thus they would not be killing it but rather destroying a deadly piece of equipment.
However the real issue is not the attack on that, but the problem of what happens if Harem misses her target. Or if the bullet ricochets off. Either of which could see Sydney or Krona injured or killed!
Personally I think we should grant artistic licence here. The angles and composition have been created to make a striking image, rather than to set up Harem as being reckless. Only if Pixel tells her off should we consider that Harem has actually endangered the team.
they might have ~20 degrees of safety judging by the perspective (aka not much at all) but I’d be more concerned about deflected rounds personally.
looking at how the armor on that thing is angled, anything but a perpendicular hit is going to deflect way too far for comfort.
She already has decent DPS and utility. I say she should spend her point on Shield, and become a better Tank.
Considering her tank skills are already maxima class….I’d be tempted to dump more points into the unknown ones, which would hopefully make their use clearer in some way.
If Sydney becomes invisible it would be very clear.
There’s more problem with invisibility than Hollywood lets on. For example, if the invisibility power relies on being as transparent as the air, then that would also mean that the person’s retina lining the insoide of their eyes would also have to be transparent (if they weren’t then others would still see something). If the retinas are transparent, then they don’t react to incoming light…Ergo, the invisible person would also be blind.
Easily countered. Even using our emerging technology (once it is perfected, of course). Let us take one example, an invisibility cloak, which creates the effect using pixels to replicate the incoming light on the opposite side of the concealed object/person. That light is not passing through the person, or the surrounding cloak, it is just being recreated on the other side.
Which means that she can still see perfectly well. Whatever light is incoming from in front of her, is being duplicated on the back of her head. The inside of her goggles projecting the field of view normally visible on the inside of her goggles, in addition to the back of her head. Conversely whatever scene is visible behind her is being replicated on the front of her goggles.*
A very energy intensive device mind, as it is having to continually create scenes visible from every viewable angle. Although it can recoup a fair bit of energy by absorbing any light that is not needed for seeing.
Interestingly, for the latter point, there is a camera which has been developed (to laboratory prototype stage), that is powered purely from the light it receives. I.e. it can both digitally store the incoming image, as with any such camera, but it is also using those photons to provide the power to do that. No batteries involved!
* Interestingly enough this is a patentable invention. Except for the fact that by publishing this comment I am creating ‘prior art’. Which invalidates the ability to copyright the invention anywhere in the world. I have just made the invention public domain.
You are welcome. Should you be issued with an invisibility cloak someday, you may wish to put a few Yorpie Snax™ in a starving dog’s bowl.
Unless the invisibility is one-way, think of it more like being painted with a one-way mirror
I knew the double entendre was too subtle.
Nope. The double entendre didn’t pass by my notice (Yorp did “clarify” it). My comment above only specified the invisibility power if it’s being achieved by transparency factors. Not to discount Yorp’s use of technology to duplicate an image of the surroundings (which is a viable alternative), I focused my comment above on merely the one method.
;)
That’s possible, I guess. But maybe the next point in shield allows her to create a shield WITHOUT her being inside of it. Capture cage, anyone?
One of the reasons I’m glad most games pause when you level up and need to focus on upgrades XD
Don’t you just hate it when you find out Life is like Dark Souls. Nothing pauses while you’re in complex menus, fighting the UI and Controls.
The last of us doesnt :)
Yeah, don’t you just hate those popup windows that block your view of the webpage?…
I’d upgrade the shield, it seems to be usefull in a lot of situations an changing it’s shape would be a cool ability
Used properly, Barrier Warrior powers are insanely lethal. Want someone’s head to explode? Put a spherical barrier in their mouth and expand it. If you can’t change the size/shape/position, then create a bullet-sized one right in front of their neck as they’re charging forward. Anklebreakers are an easy option. Etc.
Of course, right now Sydney’s shield only goes up around herself, so she’d have a lot fewer stunts available if the new point didn’t unlock that restriction.
For more details on how sick having complete control of your force wall can be, see the John Byrne run on Fantastic Four.
Everyone in the Marvel Universe should be glad Susan Storm uses minimal force a lot (either that, or she’s a lot less creative than was Malice.)
I think it’s not a lack of creativity on Susan’s part…It would be more of having a lack in bloodthirstiness.
To be fair, after the Hate Monger/Malice storyline, Susan was a bit more quick to trot out brutality when merited during the Byrne run; the following writers toned her back down – which I found disappointing. I liked the idea of having a team where them woman/women on on the team being the one you needed to be very afraid of irritating.
Which is a large part of why I like alla dis.
Yeah, I read that story arc & Sue did get a bit…more direct…with her methods at that time, but it was for a deeply personal reason. Sue showed that she’s arguably the most powerful member of the team & a strong personality as well. She was mentally violated on the most deep levels & deserved a payback on them for it.
While I did enjoy the story line, her reversion back to more normal “self” is also showing that her core personality is strong enough that she was able to set that “brutal” side of herself aside once reparations were made. In essence, Sue touched the Dark Side of the Force (pun referring to her force field powers intended) but came back to the Light afterwards. It’s just another example of how strong Sue really is.
Oh yaz!
+1
At least she didn’t go back to the Shrinking Violet that she used to be. She was originally very meek, and practically lived in a classic feminine drawing-back-in-surprise pose, leaned sorta backwards, hand raised just so, probably saying “Oh!!” in reaction to whatever it is. You’ll find female victims doing it just before fainting at the sight of the bad thing the heroes are up against.
So while she’s been toned back down, at least she’s no longer The Load(tm).
Heh – Incredible reference. :D
I’m not familiar with the gamer procedures.
The smart selection would be SHIELD as it serves the ‘get to cover’ purpose.
However… Does the skilltree say Undefined A and B are selectable?
Now is probably not the time.
If the team were in trouble rather than just herself she might risk an Omega 13.
(The situation would have to be hopeless.)
Typically in gamer skill trees the tree will tell you what the skill point will unlock *before* you pick it. At this point, Syd’s only got “skill point can go in one of these slots, and they could mean anything”
But yeah whatever the shield skill point is should do pretty well for this situation
I believe it was covered some time ago that the analogy for Sydney’s powers isn’t an RPG but a bootleg RPG that you got free because nobody could read the language. The skill tree probably does have /some/ level of instruction, just not much and not in any meaningful manner.
Krona can probably see the instructions… or make out enough details of the code to figure out what each point would do… assuming one could make sense of the things she’s seeing.
…and has the time to analyze what she sees, of course…
;)
There is likely something akin to a mousing-over or right-clicking to get the information. But previously Sydney inadvertently selected without activating that feature. Plus it is unlikely to be written in English, in any event. As we can see from Krona’s visual perspective. Sydney needs to brush up on her reading in Tongues skill.
The unknown orbs already both have some skill-points allocated.
I really want to see what happens if she chooses one of those central points that aren’t directly linked to any of the orbs.
As I recall, most of those points are linking two orbs together
Good a time as any- here’s a copy of Sydney’s Sphere Grid / Skill Tree.
I just filled in two dots- what I want and what Archon wants.
https://viirin.deviantart.com/art/Want-668054492?ga_submit_new=10%3A1489100041
Very clever choice. Given that the tentacle is tangible it allows a very good chance that whatever that skill does will likewise be visible or, at the very least, allow some inference as to what the green mystery orb is actually doing.
Currently both the mystery orbs do have skill points in them, despite Sydney having no idea what they do. So a cunning approach like yours may be what is necessary to reveal the green one’s purpose. Just putting a point directly in either mystery orb may well not reveal anything.
As examples the green orb might provide protection from scanning and remote scrying (such as wth crystal balls or magic mirrors). Possibly Halo might luck out and pick a skill that upgrades that to protection from visual detection (otherwise known as invisibility).
But she may alternatively pick a skill which has no detectable effect. Such as providing magic resistance. Unless a range of powers, spells and technological effects were tested, against Halo or the orbs, such a power might not be discovered for a long time. Unless Sydney comes under magical attack soon, which is possible.
However if the tentacle gains the ability to dispel magic, on contact, that does make it easier to test the power. No need to risk exposing Sydney to weird effects. The tentacle can be used to grab things instead. When one of the things grabbed is of a magical nature (such as the purple worm summoned by the cartomancer) then there should be a nice visible effect of it going ‘POOF!’
Other types of powers are possible. The principles remain the same though, as we know both the mystery orbs have eluded months worth of testing by a very clever gamer.
BTW, that art is out of date – remember, Syd selected the orphan single node off the CommBall last time she upgraded. Apparently, allowing her to teleport. So, that one should be selected.
To note, the CommBall’s orphan single node upgrade DOES show as selected in today’s Panel 1 – it’s just at the edge of the sleeve of her t-shirt.
Oh, I know, but I’m not an artist so I can’t make a new, updated pic- and that’s the easiest-to-navigate image we’ve gotten so far.
Random832 said: “As I recall, most of those points are linking two orbs together”
Not those, the ones on the innermost ring, that link to the 20%-filled-in pentagon in the center. cf Viirin’s image: https://viirin.deviantart.com/art/Want-668054492?ga_submit_new=10%3A1489100041
2/7 is more like 28%.
You were one of the ‘experts’ insisting on where Sydney should spend the point Pixeldoofus, so you are partially to blame for this delay
On the contrary. Pixel and the others did all the thinking already. Sydney has just to touch the flight orb. Sydney’s panic is the sole reason for this delay.
Utter confusion is a word with Sydney in mind…!
Two words actually. ;P
three if you’re being funny
I just want to know why the hell she’s required to spend her skillpoint right friggin’ now, and can’t save it to spend later like in any game?
The point is a little glowy thing in her hand. she grabs any orb and can’t release (or as it says here, use) the orb until she spends the point (I guess by putting the glowy thing on an unglowy spot in the skilltree)
…this why I hate going into the archives. I went looking for the one where Halo gets her first point and ran across this https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2217 and this https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1630 and this whole series https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1799 . just reliving a few moments like these is a time sink of enormous(!) proportion.
Ah, here it is, Sydney’s first level up: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1166
Sydney does not need shower curtains, she is perfect!
We’ll be forever grateful!
Maybe she can, but she doesn’t know how. Also because this is ‘real’ and not a game so while things are similar it is not the same.
Got it Dave. Don’t fall off of tall buildings. Good safety tip!
If you can fly, no problem. If you can’t fly but are built sturdy enough, you can still land with no problem…
Hooray for Anvil!
Also, Collosus of the X-Men actually used himself tactically that way. He’d jump out of the airplane & then armor up. The result was like the ground target getting hit by a meteor…
O.o
Remember the ‘Legion of Substitute Heroes’? Its member Stone Boy sometimes used a similar trick…
I have no doubt Achilles will have practiced the same thing. If nothing else he will have learnt the basics during his stint jumping out of planes, without parachutes, as a stunt-man.
Oddly Anvil can only use that attack in a secondary way. The primary death-from-above attack* would actually be no more harmful than if a cushion landed on the target’s head. Anvil is having to absorb all the force of the impact so that she can land safely herself.
Of course she has then absorbed a huge amount of kinetic energy, so can do a lethal nose-boop, if she desires. Or can opt for taking out several separate opponents with weaker knockout blows, each using only a portion of that energy.
With four-star kinetic absorption it is likely that she could absorb the energy even from a terminal velocity fall (under Earth-normal conditions). Falling to the Moon, without any air to slow her down, may actually end up with her impacting with greater energy than her battery can handle, despite the weaker gravity there.
Mind you Anvil should avoid falling to the Earth from orbit too, as she does not have any protection from heat, so the reentry would be fatal, far before she even got through the upper atmosphere!
* Ignoring any jump from a modest height that any human could do a jump attack from.
Huh. Makes me think Harem could generate a bunch of velocity and then slam into Anvil, who would just absorb it, and use it in combat. That one gravity-vorping Harem would just be there to keep Anvil charged.
That is a valid tactic. As is Maxima, Super-Hiro or Stalwart punching her a few times. Although Arianna might not be pleased about any bad P.R. that might come from that being observed. It is a valid tactic, but it would be sending a bad example for the impressionable. In particular for those who do not listen to why something was done
Granted, Anvil’s power to absorb kinetic energy is an aspect that’s classified. So the general public wouldn’t know (at least this early in Archon’s public image) that there’s a valid reason for teammates to punch her. Granted, villains (particularly Vehemence) figured out how her power works, but he’s not very likely to openly share that knowledge anyway (unless he tells other villains).
Yeah, it would be a PR nightmare at least as long as the general public doesn’t know.
Using the same vectoring idea harem could actually change Krona’s direction to any vector, including up. Another idea is to collect all of Krona’s momentum and use it to knock the manekiller off the roof.
Harem can not teleport people. Best she can do is to slow down har own and pixels speed by using opposing vectors.
s/pixels/Krona’s/
Yes, but by using her own momentum, she can change Kronachrome’s trajectory slightly, just like DaveB mentioned in his under-text very few bother to read (one day, expecting it to be filled with “Blah blah yadda yadda SNARF!”)
Yes. I think we both said the same thing, using different words. I used Vector, because DaveB did the same in his under-text.
Krona said there’s no point in setting a checkpoint the moment before you die. The final episode of ‘Land of the Lost’ and of Futurama are based on that exact idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNhu-aESVqc
https://theinfosphere.org/Meanwhile
(SPOILER) Also Dr Strange (/SPOILER)
And Galaxy Quest.
One extra point in favour of doing a loop is that it is local. Maxima and Peggy will still be closing. And once they get into the area of the loop then they too can get multiple opportunities to prevent whoever triggers the loop from dying.
The bad side is the possibility of putting the entire universe into a never ending time-loop, given that Krona really does not know what she is doing. The code is meant to loop time. Just because it only did it locally, the last time she used the power, does not mean that it will not work correctly the next.
Maybe the universe IS in a never ending time loop, but we haven’t noticed the effects of it yet because the loop is longer than the current age of the universe. Maybe when we hit 100 billion the odometer rolls over and we start again.
That’s something described by the theory of the universe ending with “Heat Death,” as the scientists call it. Basically, it’s the theory that gravity gradually slows down the expansion rate of objects in the universe & eventually pulls everything back together into a Singularity…The state of existence in which the universe was until the expansion (Big Bang) started.
For all we know, it’s possible that our current universe may not be the first occurrence of this happening…Which implies a Cyclic Universe.
Right explanation, but wrong direction. Heat death occurs with an ever-expanding universe, rather than a contracting one.
Although it could occur in any universe, where all energy has been equally distributed, and there is therefore no thermodynamic free energy remaining. It is just that such is inevitable, eventually, with an ever-expanding one.
All such theories do not account for artificial intervention mind. Assuming that any intelligent species lives long enough to actually make any noticeable difference. However the less free energy there is, the greater incentive that intelligent species have to find an alternative.
Given that we know that things can spontaneously appear, at the quantum level, an advanced civilisation may well find a way to generate energy literally out of nothing. Or draw it from an extradimensional source.
Where there is any energy source the heat death will be averted.
I’m just like Sydney. I also spend a lot of time in character creation and I’m not just talking about face customisation.
Well of course you have to create the sexist outfit possible. You should have seen some of Sucubes’s outfits in City of Heroes.
Mind you some of the most time-consuming ones are exactly replicating a preexisting outfit. Such as that of the imperial stormtroopers or having a mastermind who’s individual outfits match each of his various henchmen’s appearances.
Great for ‘blending in with the herd’ if fighting in PVP. Also a nice party trick, on the dance floor. Especially if you know how to carry on conversations using your minions. Useful to be able to mingle with half a dozen folks at once.
I have to plead guilty to making female characters in MMORPG’s. To me, it’s a matter of aesthetics. If I’m going to be spending a few hours at a time looking at someone’s butt while I’m playing the game, I’d rather see a female’s…
;)
Aye. I did average more female than male. Although I had a fair number of ‘neither’, such as robots.
I still have not heard of anything that makes a worthy successor to CoH. Not when you factor in the vast degree of customisation that was possible with it, on top of its other aspects.
She could spend it on an orb combo, like grabbing 2 balls. There were points in the circle in the center of the orbs that clearly seamed like some combination.
I like the idea of the spot connecting the telepresence orb to the ppo. Sydney using telepresence to blast something while sshe’s safely far away.
There is also a link between each orb with a spend point in the middle of each line.
There is a node in the centre of each line connecting every pair of orbs. The one between the flyball and ppo is allocated; we have no idea what that signifies.
Fly while PPOing, as in no recoil knocking her backwards. She has fired the PPO when flying.
Might have put one in the PPO to Shield link to be able to fire with shields up.
She has used the shield while flying and while using the lighthook before, without a point being set to the connecting lines. Connecting lines don’t seem to be the indicator for use at the same time. What they do signify is still anyone’s guess though.
Link seems to be passive usage of the ability, like the minor shielding while flying sans shield orb, or the lack of recoil with the PPO (which would probably make one hell of a propellant).
The Flight/PPO combo would use the PPO as an afterburner to get her speed up to the double digit Mach numbers. (though you probably don’t want to be flying right behind her)
That thing ruined shopping time!
I don’t know if those things can feel the horror of a slow and painful death but I hope Sydney does her all to find out. >:-[
How can Harem save Krona = Detailed explanation in notes section.
How can Harem have time to sigh and say “I got her” with sufficient volume that Sydney can hear before Krona falls two stories. = It’s comics, man.
I’m sure there’s a hollywood trope there somewhere about the bomb timer’s last 3 seconds takes 5 minutes….this is probably related to that. or the trope about the dramatic goodbye lasting 10 minutes while avalanche is hitting the two lovers, etc.
I think this is covered under the Talking is a free action trope. The bomb timer mentioned by Garbler is covered by the Magic Countdown trope. They are similar but not quite the same.
Dave has expressly stated that ‘talking is a free action’ in the Grrl Verse. This is one of the staples of the super hero genre that Dave chose to incorporate in the setting. It is more entertaining to have a witty line, without having to count out how many feet someone will have plummeted, in the time taken to say it.
In this case Krona would have hit the ground before the phrase was over.
But, for those who like their story hardcore realistic, just do what I did. Envisage Krona teetering, for a few moments, before toppling over. During which time Harem says her line. Ensuring that she is teleporting by the time that Krona actually starts to fall.
I agree with Pixel, no time for Sydney to be without her powers.
Everybody seems to suggest that she should pick a skill needed for the combat situation. Not a good idea, since she would still need to practice in order to figure out how to apply it afterwards, and part of the reason they’re in this situation in the first place is that she was experimenting at the wrong time. For this battle, she should go for what she knows. If she can’t decide, she should just pick the one they decided to try earlier.
Of course, Sydney is Sydney, and the sensible thing and what she’d decide to do are two entirely different things. :-)
I dunno, Sydney does do some wacky things, granted. But typically in mundane circumstances. When in a crisis she optimises her choices to guarantee success.
Which means I think there is a good chance she will use the strategies you suggest. Sydney has had three instances* of things going wrong because she tried to do things, in a crisis situation, where she was not practiced, or knowledgeable, in how they worked.
Take the ‘put a point in the shield’ option that is most often cited. What if it makes a hole in the shield? This is incredibly useful for letting allies in and out. Provided you know that is what it does and you ensure the doorway is on the far side from any enemy. Use it blindly though, and find you have no barrier between you and an incoming attack, and you just end up dead. Permanently.
* As follows:
• Burning down the forest, with the PPO.
• Wanting to form the tentacle on the inside of the shield, but not knowing how.
• Teleporting into an arch-villains lair.
“… typically in mundane circumstances.
Usually, yes. there have been exceptions though. The first time Sydney’s skill tree popped up could hardly qualify as a “mundane circumstance,” but Sydney still managed to cop a feel of Achilles’ butt.
:)
Totally unintentionally! As her “Hiss!” corroborates.
Besides which that was in post-stressful circumstances wind-down. The ‘danger’ was passed and she was reverting to her play-acting.
Dont worry Dave, you can show us Harem saving Krona in a later page. Let see a fight! :D
Holy crap, Sydney and Krona are giving us a perfect showing of what the words “amateur hour” mean.
I like that the writing is realistic like this. It is how you would expect a comic nerd to actually behave in a crisis. And clearly Krona is as much of a geek in her own way.* Fine sitting in front of a games console, but rather lost when ‘in the field’.
Just as well that Maxima assigned a couple of sitters to look after them.
* Although Krona is a S.Vi., which means that she is actually also a trained member of some kind of security service, such as the FBI or the ATF. So in her case it is more the fact that she has been blinded that is causing her problem.
Just a note: not all Special Agents are Field Agents, would you consider Leon to be a Field Agent?
The ‘special’ in the term designates a federal agent who is permitted to bear arms anywhere in the US and to make federal arrests. Leon most definitely is not a ‘special agent’. He will be either a civilian, with no law enforcement powers (the most likely option) or a common all garden ‘agent’.
Whilst a special agent may indeed spend most of their time behind a desk they will have been fully trained as a field agent, in order to qualify for the special powers the title grants. Whereas a regular agent may well have a role that does require field work. They simply are not allowed to shoot or arrest folks (other than in the same circumstances that any civilian is permitted to do so).
As to your point though you may well be right. It is possible that Krona has only been made an agent, rather than a special agent. As with Leon she may provide her capabilities in a support role. However my impression, from what I recall of Ingsol saying, is that all S.Vi’s are field agents in addition to their primary role (which is to oppose rogue supernaturals, such as we see here).
Special agents…I think I’ll dig out my copy of the GURPS Black Ops book. It makes heavy use of the Cinematic Rules gameplay.
“Find the truth & kill it.”
Thank you for clarifying the difference between an Agent and a Special Agent, so just remove the ‘Special’ and the point remains the same
Hmmm. I think the only thing missing is Sydney & Krona wearing the uniforms of the Keystone Cops…
I really like how this comic gives insight into just how much training ArcSWAT does. I mean, I doubt that Daphne came up with the solution the good Mr. Barrack gave off the top of her head in real time. I think this is a possible situation that was discussed during training, and she drilled the rescue method in a controlled environment (eg: one where Maxima is available to catch people if Daphne doesn’t) until it was reflex. Sort of like her “gentle as a lamb fart” landing, which is probably something she perfected before they started with catching other people. Makes me think of the restaurant battle post-mortem, where Maxima mentions that they’ll be drilling opponent hand-offs.
It’s another way that Grrl Power gives a nod to reality — flawless teamwork and split-second timing doesn’t just happen. You sit down and figure out the best way to do something, you spend a couple hundred hours practicing, and then hope like Hell it works when you’re up to your ass in alligators and if you screw up, someone is going to die.
+1
Didn’t they already decide to use the skill point in a certain place, to unlock a new branch? I think that it’s the one on the Flyball in the last panel.
That they did. It is kinda hard to remember though while being physically and mentally exhausted as well as fleeing for your life with giant tentacle monsters attacking you.
Somebody call it a gravity ball before which it got me thinking. What if she does spend the point on the Fly ball and it enhances her level of gravity manipulation, as in someone or something else’s field of gravity?
Yup. But try figuring out that you can do that, whilst in the middle of a battle. Unlike Varia, who gets a ‘fee;ing’ or similar intuition, when she forms a gestalt, Sydney gets no clue as to what her upgrade does. As demonstrated by teleporting into a deadly situation, just prior to the reset.
If she did know, then she could also use it to save Krona, from her fall. Or, as that will likely be resolved by the time she has picked the skill, she could use it to lift her back up to the rooftop. Or lift the construct off the roof, so that it cannot walk towards any of them.
But without know that is what she unlocked it would take a lot of experimentation, or blind luck, to discover the power. Unless Krona can translate the code and tell her. But Krona is down there and Sydney is up here…
Speaking of which, even if it’s just to figure out what the orbs can do, I would like to see Varia, Krona, and Sydney collaboration. Maybe with supervision from Specs (get it? super-vision).
Very tempting proposition. I suspect you will be the first in a long line of such suggestions. The threesome synergy (or foursome with specs) should provide some very illuminating information and capabilities.
I can already see a bit of conflict with that level of mutual consultation; the fact that Krona is a member of the Twilight Council, but not Archon. All due consideration on security clearances & such would have to be ironed out first. Even in the best-case scenario, that’s going to impose a time delay to get Krona in to help on it.
I absolutely HATE it when you’re playing a game and you get a skill point to spend or some new gear to equip and someone goes and starts a combat. Not only is the villain here evil but just plain rude as well!
I think I’d take the link spot between shield and flight. See what that does!!
Also, great page, Dave! The action is very fluid and can follow easily.
Go for the singular unspent slot on the energy tentacle orb, you might get multiple tentacles.
Or connect the LIGHTHOOK orb with the PPO orb and maybe she will create a Lightwhip.
Fun fact about cats and falling:
Cats that fall from the 5th floor of a building will have a chance to be injured and will continue to increase for each higher floor until it reaches the 7th floor.
However, the higher the height they fall beyond the 7th floor, the severity of the injuries start to decrease.
Could you please give me the link to the study where they threw enough cats from every store of a building to compute the chances for injuries?
Heard this titbit from a colleague. I doubted his claim at first, so I did a little research myself like any rational fellow rather ask him outright.
Here is a site that corroborates this claim.
https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/11/domestic-cats-can-fall-from-any-height-with-a-remarkable-survival-rate/
Also, here is a far more entertaining one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l7Uq1s-gts
There’s a group and their website for cat owners whose cats have fallen from higher than a certain level and survived. It’s surprising how far a fluffball breed can fall and land unharmed. air resistance ftw.
Well, fry a stork for me!
There is a good deal of research about it. The possible are even plausible. Even impalement is covered. The falling heights were reported by eyewitnesses or guessed. But from what I read, the damage stays constant above the seventh floor, it does not decrease.
And how do you know this?
It’s not what you think…
I don’t toss cats of a building…
Yea, the cats turn all “flying squirl” and glide down. Just when a bird thought he was safe in the air.
Well, that’s because above that height… the cats tend to be dead before they’re found.
Most people don’t bring a dead cat to the vet, while an injured one will get brought in.
So either the cats are very lucky with a moderated impact, or they die fast.
presumably the PPO would gain a “Prehensile” shot (allowing Sydney to adjust for target movement after firing) from that link too.
Homing PPO? That isn’t fair.
Homing not fair? With the number of upgrades Halo has on it, I fully expect her to be able to not only do that but also to shoot around corners &/or ricochet the attack off multiple targets!
I liked confident, knew-what-she-was-doing Krona better than bumbling derp Krona. The suddenness of the transition feels like it was done to appease the people who were whining that she was too powerful.
I know that’s not the way it was handled, and there’s a reason, but she folded into this new persona all too quickly. One problem just as people are complaining and suddenly she’s lost her entire original presentation.
Suppose I just liked her better when she was sort of occupying a different sort of character slot than Sydney.
Confident-Krona was when she was prepared and knew what she was doing. (Or so she thought.)
Bumbling-Krona is her being caught off-guard and put under pressure.
Krona and her abilities work best with preparation time, which she didn’t have for this situation.
also, in the council chamber she was next to, but not a part of the combat. the mannekillers weren’t attacking her. here, she just got jumped by a huge mecha-death-from-above. reacts quite a bit like you’d imagine a bird would, if caught midflight by a cat falling from a tenth-floor window. (see thread above)
Classic Wizard, really.
A properly prepared wizard is an effective and horribly dangerous wizard.
A wizard with the wrong spell load is nearly worse than useless.
It’s the lack of the middle ground that makes specialists hard to rely on sometimes.
A wizard who only has one spell is a Rincewind. This is a particularly dangerous and incompetent type of wizard.
Much better to rely on one who has a range of spells available. That way even if there is none tailored for a particular circumstance, one, or another, can be used creatively to help, in some way.
Need to subdue an opponent, but you only have lethal spells available? Turn one of those spells on something in the environment to turn it into an incapacitating or containing trap. Maybe collapse a tree, with lightning, to block an escape route?
Or use a fireball, on a river, to provide a cloud of steam. This having the benefits of scalding the opponents (more survivable than burning them to death), plus preventing them from using missile weapons against yourself, and blocking off a potential escape route (by making the water boil).
Of course it is also giving them some cover to potentially escape under. But it is only an improvised aid, so would not be perfect.
“A wizard who only has one spell is a Rincewind.”
A more general term is “Johnny One-Shot,” or a “One Trick Pony.” Only has one useful spell, but is stupendously powerful with it & quote often is pretty creative in how & where the spell is used.
Cast fireball on a river?
Did you get that from Titanius Anglesmith, Fancy Man of Cornwood?
Nope, I have never heard of TAFMoC. There might be an ointment for that though.
Oh, man. You’re in for a treat. It’s from one of the Futurama movies, one where Bender learns to play Dungeons and Dragons. Titanius Anglesmith is his character.
If it is a very useful spell and/or they have non-magical skills to supplement it, a wizard with only one spell is a superhero. Consider for instance the guy who is really good at an enhanced self-targeting Haste, aka The Flash.
True, from the point of view of capabilities with the power. However it does differ when looking at means of overcoming the power. Unless the spell is permanent, it would require periodic re-casting. Which means they would be as vulnerable to mittens as Sydney is. Likewise to silence spells (assuming that their spells required waving hands and/or speaking).
Similarly they could be rendered powerless in a magic dead area or if dispel magic, or other similar effect, was used successfully on them.
Whereas, of course, the Flash is invulnerable to any of those techniques (even tying up his hands he could gradually free himself, or use the super friction technique that Mach the Knife demonstrated, to burn them off). The mage could not as he would just be a normal person, until he cast the spell, which the bindings would prevent.
Conversely though a mage-speedster would be invulnerable to effects which acted against super powers. As the Grrlverse powers appear to be genetically linked, one attack might be to change supers DNA so they no longer have the key super bits. But such an attack would do nothing against a mage, who only replicates the powers of a speedster, but without actually being a super.
Plus, of course, a mage-speedster might be really ugly. They do not get the appearance perks that Grrlverse supers do. As proven by Zephan. Whilst he is not bad looking, he clearly does not have the athletic package that supers do.
I can see where her nose really is if I look closer, but every time I glance at the last panel, I see Sydney’s nose eliding into the bit of her left wrist that extends beyond the bracer, and I keep thinking she’s suddenly got a very pointy nose.
Also, the PPO seems to have a ‘highlight’ around it. Is that just where the ManneKiller’s chest is bumping into the skilltree, or is the skilltree giving her a recommendation?
The ManneKiller has a glowing spot on its chest. You can see it glowing from the side in panel 1.
You’d think Syd would have a good idea where she’d want to spend her point before the next time the grid popped up.
She does. She was told in a meeting with ARClight which point they wanted her to buy to test a theory.
I would think the best bet would be to grab the shield orb, spend the point on it and try activating the shield as soon as you can. In this battle, even a second saved in getting the shield up might save her life.
But using the flight orb would allow her to get out of the danger zone. She has a lot more practice with flight orb and is already very quick and maneuverable with it.
flight might not be useful as the golem seems to have an extendable prehensile tentacle, though she was ordered to spend the point on Flight’s 4/5 tree. (completing it, and possibly unlocking the greyed out row for later upgrades.)
has dave ever established what the two lit ones in the center do? presumably a power-link of some sort?
Doesn’t she have prior orders on how to spend her next couple of points?
Yep, just as nightarix stated above, she was supposed to spend the point of the 4/5 tree in Flight, then she was supposed to spend the next point on the center sigil.
Only ten minutes deciding? Wow speed skill choosing skills. Maybe Sydney can cut it down to asking them to “just hold the giant monster off for another minute!”
Where did that giant silver golf ball in the last frame come from?
Is someone playing through?
Appears to be the end of the golem’s arm that was just sliced off, more of a mace than a golf ball.
Nah, I like my idea better. The PGAs new demonstration sport, parkour golf
I’m curious about the linking node points between orbs. If Sydney upgrades a linking node, do the orbs effects work in tandom?
Possibly.
Or it might create a power that draws upon two orbs, but can only be used when they are both being held. Forcefield & Lightbee might create a group hologram, for example. Everybody who is in the volume normally contained by the force field would find themselves being projected (and be able to see and hear from the new location). Swap out either orb though, and the effect would be terminated.
Whereas forcefield & PPO might create a sphere of fire around Sydney. Or, as suggested by another commentator, tentacle & PPO could create a fiery whip (or lightsabre).
By the way I will be reporting you to PETM (People for the Ethical Treatment of Muppets)!
And yet, no one reports the people with one hand up a muppet’s butt.
apparently all of the Muppets actually enjoy that…
Indeed.
deserves its own website, call it “frogse”
Reminds me of the time Jeff Dunham came to perform at the college I was attending. One of his jokes was to ask someone in the audience for an emotion, and he’d have Peanut act it out. Someone immediately yelled out “Lust!”
Jeff: “Lust? Going straight to the top, aren’t we? I dunno, Peanut, can you do that?”
Peanut: “Not with you I can’t. I know where your elbow is, but that don’t count!”
Sydney, less runny-screamy-chattery, more point-spendy please.
To all of the above saying “she should spend it here because X” or “here because I’m curious” or whatever… no. She should either spend it on the flight orb like everyone told her to, because that should require a minimum of thought and thus take the least time, or she should grab the first orb that comes to hand and put it in the first open slot so she can get back to the business of being useful. This is no time for playing around with curiosity or analyzing how useful X might be. This is the time for getting the damn menu out of the way so she can actually do something other than run around like a lunatic.
Wisely said. Not being dead is a very important part of continuing to level at another date.
Yes, she SHOULD spend it on flight, but I keep getting the feeling she is going for the pewpew orb, based on the reminder of this: “title=https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/60”. After all, she does know that Pixel was strung up before and Max will not get there in time, so having more power may save the day this time.
If she accidentally spends it on PPO, I wonder if that’ll get rid of its warm-up time.
or maybe give her a setting below 11.
He he. Yea Halo does appear to be ‘melt tank, and anything behind it’ or ‘off’ at the moment.
Do the laser claws extend? Because those stubby little things should not have been able to cut through armour that thick, nor the rest of the arm.
I do get the whole comic convention of causing super clean cuts with a single swipe. It’s kind of badass and very action-y, which makes it a perfect fit in comic fight scenes. But there are still things that just don’t make sense even when you willfully suspend your disbelief, and finger nail claws doing the clean cut thing is one of them.
Assuming those laser claws will go cleanly through just about anything, Pixel would take a swing at yea random chunk of metal, and make gouges exactly as deep as her nails. The rest of her fingers get caught on the edges of whatever she’s cutting, so she can’t gouge deeper, and even if she can (like with a soft target) only the NAILS are a cutting edge. Pushing deeper with her fingers will put the laser claws deeper, but the whole rest of the finger isn’t a cutting edge, so that just acts like a laser drill and gets her fingers stuck.
Even if her whole fingers are laser cutters instead of just the claws, I’m pretty sure that arm is wider than the span of her fingers. If her whole hand is a laser cutter, then the fingers would actually cut all the way through; but then where the arm intersected with her palm you’d have a palm shaped chunk gouged out. So, clearly, it’s just the claws.
The only thing I can think of is that her claws extend when she slashes. That even makes a little bit of sense, since they’re lasers instead of physical claws. But the visual slash streaks don’t support that at all…
Blah! D:
First paragraph of Daves commentary. About a foot.
… Right. I am, apparently, blind. Thanks for that heads up.