Grrl Power #510 – Maybe it’s a cupcake beam
The title to this page is a joke, but how bizarre would it be if Sydney started shooting cupcakes out of the PPO? It might tell her something about the origin of the orbs though. She’d be popular with bachelorette parties. And at… well, lots of places. I mean, who doesn’t like cupcakes? Ooh, especially if someone made a coffee cake cupcake? That’d be… I guess that would be a muffin technically. Ooh! Unless there was cinnamon frosting on it. Oh boy that’d be good. Unless it was too much cinnamon. Do they make butter flavored frosting? Cause that’s something butter needs. 9 parts powdered sugar.
But I digress.
Well, Sydney might get in a little trouble for not spending her point in the agreed upon manner but on the other hand, she’s gotten two skill points in under a week. If that remains a constant she’ll have half the skilltree unlocked by the time she makes private. Hopefully Max and Zephan won’t be too upset with her, at least for that. Locking up while Pixel exited stage left is another story.
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Cup Cake Beam!?
MUFFIN BUTTON!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNRQFVEdIU
determan, you are my hero… good episode!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptoN-5QE0Lw
“Goku! I tonld you to wait fo- Where did you get that muffin from?”
“Muffin button”
“But I didnt even install a muffin button!!”
“Then where did I get this muffin?”
As a fan of beam type powers i’m hoping it will be a nice big blast. something that will make everyone present go OAO O_O; OoO WTF!!!!
Like this?
https://youtu.be/9VgI-VLjfH4?t=57s
Freeze beam maybe?
That would actually be great for collateral damage. Ice will melt eventually, and since it’s not forming in the usual manner, it wouldn’t break anything due to expansion.
Plus it would be good for capturing someone in a non-lethal manner.
Would have been good for Vehemence for example.
Similar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo1sAWqWyBw
But how would a monkey petrification beam help here?
I vote for a disintegration beam.
How about a dis-interest beam. The monster stops attacking and randomly wanders off.
Also useful for paparazzi, autograph hunters and door-to-door salesmen!
Not so great for pilots or surgeons :P
Or dog walkers
Actually it would be very good if deployed against the pilot of an attacking aircraft. And useful, for the larcenous, if wishing to discourage a surgeon from chasing an unpaid bill.
One would not normally turn a weapon on someone who was in the process of helping you though, so your point would be good for those aspects. So nice dog walkers would be exempt from being a target.
The best upgrade would be a collateral damage upgrade, Only destroys what your focused on and nothing else!
…But that wouldn’t be an “upgrade” to collateral damage, that would be a degrade of it…
Oh, you meant “single-target damage,” didn’t you?
;)
I can’t help but think of good ‘ol Dragon Ball.
FINAL FLASH!
https://youtu.be/nwrzYrpCHz0?t=235
Naa, I think that is Math’s ranged attack.
Mind you he does have a three star rating, which matches. Halos…
pre-upgrade.
Get ready for the PewPewSword
I’m rooting for a full fledged Lightsabre blade,complete with Vwmm….vwmmm…. sound effects.
Well we unfortunately have no way of knowing if she bought a “Link” slot or a “skill” slot. (a connection between two orbs, or an empty slot on the orb) The former is needed for a lightsaber, based on the fan theory that PPO + lighthook = lightsaber anyways…
We’ll see it later during the debriefing, atleast we hopefully will if she atleast remembers the general area of the tree she placed it.
I forget. does PPO stand for “Pew Pew Orb?”
only if you are hip
MUST! PROVIDE! CRED!
But we do have some circumstantial evidence that could support this function having been selected…
• Halo has clearly expressed a desire for a lightsabre, by play-acting having one. Significantly by using the lighthook.
• The orbs do respond to Sydney’s mental commands.
• Halo clearly desires a means of safely defeating this enemy.
• Sydney made a desperation upgrade. Whilst this may appear to be a random selection it could also be viewed as either allowing her subconsciousness free reign or even expressing the mental desire to the orbs and letting them translate that into the optimum results.
Never before has a Dave Barrack commentary so resembled a Dan Shive commentary.
Yes but do shopping centers have real or fake plants and how would you know without ruining the intrigue?
Who?
Artist for El Goonish Shive, a silly webcomic that I greatly enjoy. https://www.egscomics.com/
And one of the characters (Tedd) can hack magic the same way Krona can hack reality.
Heh, okay so looking closely at the image overlay on her fingers as she holds the PPO, it looks like a couple distinctive shapes. My first impression when I saw them were ‘looks like claws, (energy claws?), but then I thought we already had laser claws, so that’s redundant. So I looked a little closer and each one has a slightly different shape (a couple different crescent shapes), so I think we’re getting into PPO shapes (crescent wave, wide beam, narrow beam) One looked curved, as in maybe it’s one that she can steer on its path.
That last one is hard to make out, so I’m going with cupcakes.
if memory serves one of the fan theories is that buying the PPO and Lighthook link would give more control, and possibly lightsabers, though it could just be she bought the orphan and it was the “display controls” option.
from the display on the page, she has up to 10 choices for the dot, including connections with other orbs, the orphan, line, and sphere above.
MANY CHOICES…
Controls that work like these?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTxRveph1Ys
I can’t believe I didn’t realize this on the first read. That crescent moon symbol, that’s the PPO’s new ‘blow up all but a sliver of the moon’ setting!
Have… have you never had buttercream frosting? Because if so I kinda envy you. You’ve got a treat coming someday.
That’s the best frosting.
I came looking for someone to mention buttercream frosting. TBH I don’t know how to make any other kind except peanut butter frosting I used to fill graham cracker sandwiches.
HA called it!
That eye in panel 6… creepy.
Since the lighting is from above, the shadowing makes it look like the iris is concave rather than convex.
You know, the Sydney firing a cupcake beam sounds like a great vote incentive.
Even better if it was a cheesecake beam, IYKWIM.
Also, I know they aren’t cupcakes, but what about this, Dave: https://www.cinnaholic.com/
Im thinking the ppo can be upgraded for a cariety of beams. Laser, fire, freeze, lightning, maybe mass driver, etc
That’s what I figure the 6 two-point things are on its top.
Those look more like power upgrades, not ability upgrades.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking as well. Right now the only thing that was selected were two dots on one ‘spoke’ but the other spokes were empty, as if they could be filled for different ‘effects.’
Given that we see crackling energy, in the orb, yet the demonstration that we saw was of a melty beam, I would place a giant-manikin-sized pile of Yorpie Snax™ as a bet that one of those options will be for lightning (or a red energy that is similar to it). And that the upgrades probably allow forked lightning, chain lightning or similar multi-target options. Likewise ball-lightning would fit well in the progression.
Maybe even creating a cute little willow-the-wisp too? That can zap any enemies who get too near to it! Both the latter would be good for keeping baddies contained, in a corner, until they can be picked up by a police van. Likewise for blocking a corridor, or tunnel, to keep pursuers at bay.
As any comic book heroes know, a foe can always be vanquished by Hostess Fruit Pies…so yeah, Hostess Fruit Pie Beam!
Galactus would agree…
Galactus: “Feed me, Sydney.”
Somehow I imagine that in the voice of Audrey II (the man-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors).
I like you.
Yorp: “Never! Not so much as a nibble of her!
Perhaps I can interest you in this cupcake though?”
Unless it’s the Evil Math-Magician, who can only be defeated by Justice Fruit Pies!
Unfortunately, someone at Marvel (Dan Slott) might have been deprived of having any Hostess-related snacks during their formative years. See what happened to Hostess Spider-Man:
https://crustula.com/2014/11/12/holy-crap-marvel-has-killed-the-hostess-spokesman-spider-man/
Pure evil, nothing but pure, unadulterated evil.
Thank goodness that when growing up, my Spidey comics were product-placement free! Likewise the UK TV, of that era. I pity the generations exposed to obesity adverts, and the like!
Looking at the graphics in the last panel, I do believe she chose a targeting system, or least some “iron sights”.
The glow on the bad guy is already there in panel 4.
To me, it kind of looks like she’s pushing her hand through the forcefield. Maybe she hit the PPO – Forcefield link.
You now have 1 second to reach minimum safe distance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9l9wxGFl4k
“I am sure it is only a glitch.”
*puts paws over eyes, claws crossed*
I hope it is not cake!
And clearly I am not the only one thinking that, per Determan82.
.
If it was chocolate beams it would be deadly to you.
Hah, I have spent years building up my tolerance!
*opens mouth wide*
Perhaps it’s a cheesecake beam. That would be great.
How about a creme brulee bomb?
Cheesecake, with a ‘fan art’ value for cheesecake.
Pixel, unconscious and inside the villains’ lair.
Harem is not the only one with déjà vu now.
The difference this time is she’s not in the basement….
Maybe she is in the closet? Sydney better hurry over and rescue her!
Is that a HUD appearing where Sydney is targeting?
I think you’re looking at the glowy chest panel of the Mannekiller – look at panel 4 to confirm.
You are correct it is the silly chest panel not something that useful.
However, it appears she has some virtual buttons generating around her fingers…
Are you thinking the point spent gave the Pewpew Orb an ‘enemy weakness glowy spot display’?
why she wants flight speed over the telepresence/PPO link I do not understand (how she even knows it is speed is another question)
Telepresence/PPO link means possible artillery fire, come on that is sydney level awesome (and recklessly destructive.)
Because she was asked specifically to pick the last dot in the flight speed tree. THAT is why she wants flight speed.
The next point was decided by committee. Energy weapons lack a ballistic arc that makes arty effective, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have a rousing game of close air support…
Yeah, plus being able to fly and use the PPO is close enough to artillery anyway. So long as she has the shield ball nearby (Which Maxima proved is pretty damn invincible) she should be fine with direct line artillery support.
tl;dr: NUKE IT FROM ORBIT, CAPTAIN.
… Old school answer : Space Adventure Cobra’s Psychogun.
New school answer : Mobile Suit Gundam 00 S2 “swingfire mode” particle cannon (IRL the Brits had a ATGM that could execute a 90 degree turn opon firing – for engagements from behind cover…).
It was an educated guess, by the team of experts evaluating the orbs. Dabbler drew out the skill tree, from memory, and the fly ball had a line of skills which had already been selected. Given that it does not appear to have any properties other than flying (albeit by apparently messing with gravity) ‘flight speed’ is the most logical conclusion to come to about what that path represents.
They are not alone either. It was consistently interpreted as such, by commentators, even prior to the whiteboard scene.
Am I the only one who thinks shooting the PPO from INSIDE that planetary defense grade shield of hers is a bad idea?…
Hopefully that’s what the upgrade is; ability to shoot through her own shield. Though now that I think about it, that would more logically be one of the 2-orb nodes. And that one was already filled in, so she might be in luck.
She could always shoot through her own shield. The beam starts farther than the orb so that it can be activated from behind the shield; just like how it’s actually impossible to get the lighthook to appear inside the shield.
You know when you see a gas flame and it appears to just hover there?
Or the different colours you see of flame and why or the funny water fights at formula one racing when they suspect a fire and the fuel they use burns clear?
Im pretty sure the default is shooting outside the shield, not inside… just like with the lighthook
So far, all other orb abilities, when paired with the Forb, have manifested just outside the shield’s boundaries. Sometimes, that’s a disadvantage.
It looks like she is pushing the front of the PPO just outside the shield.
I got that impression too, at one point, I must admit. But looking carefully, I could not see anything to support that. As it stands it just looks like she is reaching as far as her arm can stretch, towards it, but is likely still within the shield.
In other words their is nothing that looks like a gap or the shield molding around her hand or the orb itself.
The one thing that did seem to support that, was the loop below Sydney’s hand, in the final panel. Which could be viewed as a hole in the shield, presumably like a gun port. However that is actually just the construct’s tentacle-arm, now coiled up.
Which, incidentally, looks like it might be intending to launch an attack simultaneous with Halos. We must not forget that the lesser constructs had weapons which were able to penetrate Dabbler’s shield. Whilst most folks think that is due to anti-magic, that might be a red herring. It could literally be a force-field penetrating weapon, which would work equally well on magical or technological defenses.
I foresee one of three possibilities.
1: she is able to reshape her field allowing her to create force blades
2: she is able to project her field so it doesn’t surround her but rather another point. Great trap.
3: she has enhanced an existing quality of the shield
She’s not upped the shield but force blades are still possible.
the point went to the PPO, though like i mentioned above we don’t know where it got spent, so it could have linked PPO + any other orb (including one of the unknowns), i wonder if one of the Comm ball upgrades will give her access to the “skill tree” later on? would make it easier for her to plan and check theories.
+1
Perhaps it will take the form of a paperclip minion, who will ask situational questions and offer helpful advice?
“You appear to be under attack by construct. Would you like to write a letter of complaint, to the manufacturers?”
Wait, so … she grabbed the forcefield orb first, but spent the upgrade point in the PPO? I thought she had to spend the point in whatever orb she grabbed first?
My guess is she grabbed the PPO first but instinctively directed the shield orb to her other hand when she saw the attack coming and got the shield up in time to block.
I think the force field orb came to her hand as soon as it was released since you can bet that she was wishing for really hard…
Agreed. We have seen that Sydney has an instinctive control over the orbs that is as good as (or even better than) her own limbs. For instance when ‘punching’ Math she was able to feint with one and blindside him with the one behind that. Something that would take either intensive practice (which she does not have) or the instinctive lightning-fast responsiveness, from the orbs, that I am proposing.
One other possibility would explain that though, which is blind luck. For that to be the case though it would need to be a one-off. However we saw, in the fight against Shadow Boxer, that Sydney was able to parry an incoming backstab with only the briefest hint of a reflection to warn her! Likewise her follow up counter-attack showed precision, coordinated control of two orbs simultaneously and blinding speed.
There is no doubt, in my mind, that Halo can summon orbs faster than we can blink. So I concur with your conclusions.
There was no releasing, if you check panel 5, Sydney retained the PPO in her right hand and simply summoned the Forb to her left.
Based on that last frame, I’m going to go with a targeting upgrade for the PPO. The way those three chest piece areas are lit up make me think the upgrade involved either some kind of aiming that will allow her to target weak or critical areas and her PPO will automatically focus on those areas, like a kind of smart guidance system for the actual attack, or simply a means of determining which areas are weak or critical so Sydney will know where to attack.
Those are lit up in panel 4 already.
And the previous comic.
Cool idea. The ppo can do a variety of beams. The lighthook can do a variety of projections (like a green lantern ring) or a lightsaber type of thing. The force field might ve able to eventually be used for trapping (ie not just centering it around sydney), the flight orbs second group of dots after her last speed upgrade might. E for spaceflight levels of speed or multi mach upgrades, and flight orb might slso allow gravity alteration of an area. Also making a guess that one of the unknowns can be used to telepathy or cyberpathy or predictive stuff
Oh and the yellow orb night be able to make duplicates or multiple illusions or can use orb powers from copies
I’d vote for having the Lighthook flatten down to a mere atom of thinness, so that it can be used to slice thru anything…
…the resulting “Lightblade” would separate even air-molecules into individual atoms of plasma in its wake!
Wouldn’t that just make a nuke-blast blade?
not quite; a nuclear blast is, by definition, the result of the energy released by the nucleus of an atom being torn asunder by an outside force. separation of atoms would release some energy, but not remotely like the atom bomb. you can separate atoms in your own home, actually. put wires attached to a 9volt battery into opposite sides of a glass of water. those bubbles? o2 and h2, the gaseous forms of the component atoms of water.
wuuuut? there’s a respec function? and you telling me that the almighty queen of geek that she is didn’t already used it like a million time to get the best build? bullsh***
Yeah, that’s why she is ‘hoping’ that there is a way to respec.
Her level-ups, like the rest of her powers, didn’t come with instructions. She has to learn by doing, which is why firing the PPO right now is a horrible idea.
She has used it twice before: 1) Starting a forest fire, and 2) cutting a tank in half with difficulty even getting it to fire and with results that came close to injuring her. Having 3) be in a real combat is just a horrible beyond words poor judgement call. She could hit Pixel, or Harem, or destroy property, or injure herself.
Right now, immediately before firing, she is nigh-invulnerable within her force field. Her team was scattered in the surprise round. A more cautious plan of ‘pause, rethink-regroup’ would be the best course of action. If after a few seconds of reflection it seems that shooting it is still the best option, at least it could be done in less of a panic mode, and with a lot more thought put into the potential negative consequences.
But a more cautious plan would require a brain that isn’t riddled by sleep deprivation, fear, and ADHD.
And actual combat where she realizes she’s in danger. I’ve been in a fight. Things move so fast that you can’t think, only lament your own stupidity later.
You haven’t been in a fight where you literally cannot be hurt. When you’re in that situation then a more calm approach isn’t just smart, it should be obvious.
I agree with all your initial post.*
Less so with this counter though. Panel 4 shows that Sydney just had a very close squeak indeed. Had her reactions been the slightest bit slower she would be dead!
Again.
Almost dying for the second time in one night is reason enough for rushed actions by anyone. Then throw in Sydney’s ADHD impulsiveness**, her extreme sleep deprivation, her lack of combat training, the fact that she is afraid Pixel might be bleeding to death (perhaps with super villain assistance) and the ongoing risk to all her allies, and Viirin has made a reasonable call.
Whereas yours is a good ideal, but falls short on accommodating all the present circumstances. Where it has particular merit though is in future training. Once Halo has been drilled in ‘raise shields, evaluate situation and then act’, your statement would be much fairer.
* +1
** Yes it is trotted out a lot. But she won’t ever “get better”, it is there potentially influencing any decision that Sydney makes other than when in controlled conditions.
COMEDIC TIMING PREDICTION –
Safety is still on. Sydney tries to shoot and nothing happens… at first.
My theory: Dave mines these discussions for ideas on what the orb upgrades might do.
Dave claims to have had the full tree drawn out and labeled (not shown to us) since the first time it showed up, so probably not.
He even knows what the Mystery Balls are and do
hmm, looking at her hand position, it seems she put the point into the little seperate node on the ppo. these are theorised as being ‘alt’ mode activations…
my 20 pence is on on an Ice beam mode, just to be contrary :D
It’s not an ice beam. That’s all “Johnny Snow.”
+1
Oh, Syd, please don’t use the brand-spankin’-new upgrade to the PPO until you make sure it’s not a ground-zero radial gravitic tidal field blast or something else that might reduce everything for 100 meters in every direction to its component particles.
Also, as others have noted, she’s angling up to try to avoid hitting unintentional targets — such as Maxima or the Osprey. Granted, it’s a big sky, so it would be *really unlucky* for a beam to hit one of them. Anybody wanna place any bets?
My bet is that a LOT of satellites will be ‘swept’ out of orbit from a significant ‘slice’ of sky.
20:1 the osprey gets hit and Peggy ends up loosing a hand.
10:1 the blast rips open the villain’s complex and exposes a vast Gogzilla breeding program.
8:1 the modification causes extreme knockback, but much lessened base damage. So the construct gets blasted through the Mars factory too. And perhaps clean out the other side!
4:1 it summons a vast storm, and pelts the construct with crackling red lightning, that melts anything it touches!
Maybe the new PPO point is ‘recognize friendly’ setting (Halo doesn’t get hurt by her own direct blast, now her friends don’t either) or ‘range context’ (melee= low explosive, long= high explosive) or an elemental trait (electric overcharge, nuclear column, etc)?
Thinking of other elements for PPO:
-Doomtrain’s permanent stat acquirement based on consumed enemies
-Earthshard minigun beam from the fight between Avatar Aang and Phoenix King Ozai
The former would be the best for an angst-free Sydney. Given that Dave does not want to go down the well-trodden paths that the big franchises are so fond of, that is probably a good call.
Mind you it may make it much too tempting for Sydney to use the PPO too heavily for an interesting story. But, to counter that, she could use it in creative ways that simply would be too dangerous if used near otherwise vulnerable friendlies.
Huh, given the universe programmer, and the code on the reality altering orbs, does that mean this universe follows the simulation hypothesis?
Don’t measure the outcome!
We are organic Von Newman machines, running on DNA code.
So possibly.
Try pressing your cranium, armpit and deltoid simultaneously, and see if you can bring up a task list?
On the note on an unconcious pixel getting knocked into the building. Yes however last time she was trapped in there for a while. This time there will be a pissed of syd with a force field crashing through the skylight. As kevin and max showed, nothing, energy, magic or physical can get through the bubble.
Also unrelated thought, bubble and then ram things with fly ball? Could do decent damage.
It did manage to knock a chunk off the sign, so it is possible. Although that was for comedic effect, so perhaps should not be taken as general president.
maybe she grabbed the beam element variance menue (fire beam try a directional unleashing of pure electrical energy, or pure entropy)
Perhaps this harks back to the gaming session at the very beginning?
Being able to choose any type of energy does give great flexibility (especially if including the anti-energy end of the spectrum, so also being able to do a cold ray). Light versus vampires, fire versus trolls, gamma radiation versus the Hulk… wait no.. um… go with soothing sonic waves for him!
Copying Maxima’s energy blast would seem to fit the bill for this opponent, given that his smaller cousins were vulnerable to that. Improvising, after that, if he turns out to have protection against such..
If the new pip in the Pew Pew Orb (I know I’m not hip) makes it even more powerful than before, it’s probably a really good thing that there are no unshielded friendlies on the rooftop… That actually feels kind of deliberate.
Almost as if there were intelligent design behind everybody’s actions?
Naa, I am more of a free-will believer myself. Had there been anybody friendly on the roof, Sydney would have had to reluctantly put down her Pew Pew Orb, despite its shiny new upgrade, and opt for whatever else she could do. Probably involving the tentacle.
Even so I would not like to be standing at the base of a building with that thing going off untested, at the top!
The longer I stare at her zoomed in eye, the creepier it looks to me lol
Staring into the abyss…
Hey, when activating the PPO ‘feels like touching a star’ you too would give it the hairy eyeball before using it, after an upgrade!
This next experience, if it works as Sydney hopes, might be a transcendental experience. Touching the abyss is not taken lightly!
When the skill tree isn’t labelled, all selections are random.
Yeah, but you could figure out what the architecture, and functionality, are if you do it right.
Kinda like playing sudoku.
Max is harsh, but I’m sure ‘saving her life’ may be a valid excuse…
A mitigator yes. But Sydney has been instructed where to put the upgrade. Had she done that, promptly (given the fact that the orbs were giving away a stake-out, by rising above the rooftop), then she may not have even drawn the attention of the enemy in the first place!
Mind you Halo did have valid reasons for thinking about it, and Pixel was right there, and is the relevant expert who’s advice drove that recommendation. Plus is the one in charge of this reconnaissance team. If choosing that was still a priority, she should have reiterated the order, before Sydney got into thinking through the alternatives.
So yea, Sydney does get some dispensation. Hence the author’s comment above.
With the more important lapse, he pointed out, being that of not assisting Pixel promptly, which has lead to her injury and possible death!
That too has mitigators, but is much more of a serious issue than choosing an upgrade randomly.
On the subject of Sydney “freezing” during the commencement of another combat, she’s currently got two issues she’d have to deal with.
First; I strongly suspect that she is operating under the influence of her ADHD drugs. Some of those types of drugs can and have resulted in, both a bit more of a linear thought process, which can often be rather have to “derail” as well as a certain amount of intellectual and emotional detachment from one’s surroundings. (I myself have experienced this,band it’s much akin to trying to think in a fog bank. Not at all easy). Not knowing which and what dosage of ADHD meds she takes, I can’t be certain how much this contributed timber initial freezing up.
Secondly; she was just “reset” out of a near death situation, that left her both confused, in a heightened emotional state, and hopped up on adrenaline. It’s bad enough that she’s had, maybe ten minutes since she narrowly escaped death, and a second shot of adrenaline in so short a time is libel to be a major shock to her system. And that’s not even taking into account how her ADHD drugs would interact with a double shot of adrenaline. (Oddly enough, drugs used to treat ADHD are typically stimulants, so…).
So, overall, she’s getting hit with several different stimuli at once, not to mention that she’s probably in shock from her near death encounter.
And before anyone gets on my case about what I know about ADHD, I happen to be ADHD, so I have a bit of experience with similar problems to hers.
+1
Probably a lot less than ten minutes actually. But that just serves to strengthen your argument, rather than weaken it.
This is concerning. That’s quite some telegraphing for what is now a rather predictable shot of the ‘quinn getting vaporized. We should be alert for a twist of some sort.
I always expect a ninja beam.
Dot:
Wheel of Modalities, Spin, Spin, Spin.
Give me a Power to Help Me Win!
Wack:On you alone, our hopes we pin.
Dot:Maybe we’ll get a mandolin..?
Wacko:We sure don’t want a Siamese Twin.
Dot: And not a bust of Anne Boleyn
Yacko:With rhymes like those, I’ll need some gin.
I don’t know why they said ‘whistling while you eat’ is a bad idea. I was at a picnic and filled my mouth with peas and mashed potatoes and whistled in the most fun way I ever had.
I encourage everyone else try it too. But be outside so you don’t have to clean anything.
I think it is the folks opposite the whistler who spread such rumours.
I’m pretty sure butter flavored frosting is just frosting you don’t explicitly flavor otherwise.
I think the last panel might have revealed too much. She’s preparing to fire while her shield is still up, and as far as I know that’s not one of her known capabilities. Otherwise she would have probably used it already (a shield with no known limits plus an explodey-cutty beam is kind of an OP combo).
Then again, she may be about to drop the shield at the last second and I’m reading too much into this. I guess it depends on whether or not she picked an active or passive node. I haven’t been keeping track enough of the orb controls to see if it has a new “button.”
The only other time(s) we witnessed the unleashing of the PPO, Junior was flying! One hand, PPO. Other hand, FlyOrb. This is the first time we have seen Sydney with shield and orb of destruction.
We know why Sydney has not used it before. Prior to meeting Maxima she was too afraid to use it, since she accidentally burnt down a forest. Subsequently she only used it on two supervised occasions. After which she was told, by Maxima, to use the tentacle instead, to avoid exposing orphans and bunnies to danger.
In this case that construct probably exceeds the tentacle’s weight limit, so that tactic would be of limited use. Given that allies are at risk of dying, and there are no orphanages in sight it is reasonable to make the attempt now.
But you are right that Sydney is taking a considerable risk here. She has not tested this combination before, to the best of our knowledge, as you say. So the next scene could well be Sydney frantically dodging her beam, bouncing around the inside of her shield!
Or it may be that it works just fine with the shield up, just like the tentacle does. It would be an odd design choice, after all, to make a weapon and defensive system, where the tractor beam works through the shield but the lasers do not.
As for it being overpowered, that is not a big issue for a cop. There are many situations where using heavy weaponry is simply prohibited by SWAT rules of engagement. If the combo works then she is up there, with Maxima, as one of the ‘big guns’. Which is, after all, how we saw Maxima greeting her, at the beginning of the comic.