Grrl Power #542 – NCC Scoville
Actually that is a pretty fair question. The more powers you’ve got, the more earning potential you’ve got in the private sector. But in the military, I’m pretty sure you’re worth your pay grade. Of course, Sydney isn’t an E-0, she’s an ES-0, and makes more than a four star general. That might sound ridiculous on the face of it, but considering what she could make with her cutting beam alone, doing demolition, fracking, anything involving mining, or any number of things. The team needs be competitive with organizations like the NFL.
A few of you came to a similar conclusion as Sydney on this page. I’m not saying you’re right, but, congratulations I guess?
Death traps are pretty absurd. To the point that it’s weird they’re such a common trope in superhero comics. I mean, in the history of comics, has a single death trap ever worked? The 900th time Batman escapes from one, doesn’t the Joker… ok, maybe that’s a bad example cause he’s properly looney tunes, and it can be argued that he has no interest in killing Bats, cause then who would he play with? But then, the Penguin or Two Face. After they fail to dispose of Bats the umpteenth time, wouldn’t they think “Hey, maybe it’s time for a change in tactics.” And it’s not like death traps are weekend projects either. Sure, some of them are just a motion sensor and a claymore, but usually they’re considerable installations involving pits in the floor and giant sheets of plexiglass over top and/or spikes with moving parts, motors and gears. You don’t just make that stuff on a whim. Are Doctor Octopuss’s henchmen primarily comprised of contractors and day laborers? Or is he actually hiring people to make that stuff for him?
When they get together at Villain Con or their Legions of Evil, do they compare notes on death traps. “Ooh, this one almost got him.” “Next time I’ll add glue to the switch.” “I took his utility belt, but didn’t search his boot heel.” Meanwhile, the noobie henchman in the back is wondering why they didn’t just shoot him, and beyond that, if you’ve got him unconscious long enough to put him in the trap, just… take his mask off. Just a peek! Maybe these guys are knocking over armored cars to support their death trap making addictions.
Maxima was in the Air Force and fought in Gulf War 2, but if she had been somehow captured, she wouldn’t have been stuck in a death trap. She’d have either been put in prison or killed outright. Assuming they had a prison that could hold her, which they didn’t. No one does. You can’t pour a concrete wall thick enough to hold her. Ok, so a death trap might actually be the only way to keep her under control – but it wouldn’t be a trap that eventually killed her. Put her on a pressure plate, tell her if she steps off it, a bomb will go off in a hospital somewhere. But a room with spiked walls closing in on her? Yeah, good luck with that.
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Even with all the powers she has demonstrated so far, she’s merely scratched the surface of the possibilities if the skill tree is any indication. The next save/power up point, she needs to grab that unknown ball. She may waste the point (for the moment anyway) if the ball remains locked, but what if it takes a point to unlock it? At the risk of sounding like nancy Pelosi, she may have to pay for it to see what’s in it. Gawd… I can’t believe I just said that.
I agree that the last ball has to be some sort of means to use/access all the balls at the same time. Even a multi limbed creature would want their hands free for other things and not have to be continually clutching the orbs to use them.
If you are going to be in a situation that requires all seven balls in play, then you are beyond help
If his power didn’t make him greedy to keep them alive to feed off of or he needed to act decisively for some reason then V’s attack would have been surefire defeat/death for all of them after a certain point. Would have needed all of them just to annoy him in anything even in the vague vicinity of a fair fight after he powered up. And Maxima’s nemesis, teams of baddies getting her pinned down away from her team. And so on. But the comic is more fun if she has to muddle through without Super Sydney becoming a regular thing.
Being fair to Kevin, he’s actually a pretty nice guy, underneath the powers. Completely bonkers, mind, but relatively nice. He reminded the team to go check on the guy he backhanded, refused to kill Sydney when she pulled her gambit, and generally seemed to just be doing it because he enjoys fighting.
Maybe he just doesn’t like to waste such high grade batteries or doesn’t want to present such a violent and deadly threat that his opponents actually start getting sneaky about hunting him down and taking him out permanently. (he thought he was gonna be able to get away originally)
Eh. His own internal comments, combined with the rest of his behavior, seems to indicate that he’s not a violent psychopath. He just enjoys fighting, particularly fighting someone on his level. Math has similar tendencies.
Honestly, I suspect some of that is the visitric energy having an influence over him. I mean, he can sense and feed off of violence, in any form. I suspect he wasn’t necessarily born with that trait, so he may have internalized a distaste for outright murder, before his powers developed.
Maybe he’s had to develop a bit of a taste for fighting in order to fuel his true obsession: Seeing just how powerful he can get. He basically gains God-like powers of magic and creation once he reaches the level he reached during the brawl end fight.
Also possible. When one has powers, super or otherwise, trying to find your limit is not an uncommon urge, I would think. More than that, finding a good opponent is probably pretty hard, since even most other supers or mages wouldn’t be your match. So not wanting to kill them would make perfect sense.
On a long trip from earth to the moon while pulling a thingie up there to save the day, I can see that using 4 orbs very quickly between shields, flight, life support and lighthook.
And add to that the need to maybe scout out where you are going and now we have a 5th orb in play.
the last one be navigation then? or hey it be nice if they found some kinda user manual…
Last one could be the FTL engines.
no i’m sure that would be with the flight ball. she has speed adjustments on it. i’m sure it has that option as a sub skill. or maybe the on the com ball. as she can teleport
Medical could also be an option. If the set is designed for expeditions being able to handle injuries would be terribly useful.
Yeah, but given the way these powers are running, would navigation be omniscience? If so, she could wind up the bad guy.
the last one IS the user manual.
There’s a secret 8 ball.
It’s much smaller than the others and sydney either keeps it near her foot trouble spot or tucked into her pants.
Yes, it’s definitely her 8th ball in her corn, or pocket.
had to post just too say despite so much work on that i liked it. thanks.
Space battle:
* Shield, to protect you from the enemy
* Life support, so you don’t just die on your own
* Comm, to communicate with your allies
* Fly, to maneuver
* PPO, to attack the enemy
* Lighthook, to capture enemies or prevent capture of yourself or allies
* um… since we don’t know what the 7th ball does…
You might get away with swapping Comm, PPO, and Lighthook, but it would be suboptimal. And you could use the life support orb intermittently, assuming that releasing it doesn’t collapse your air supply (It’s already established that the shield is airtight) but when exactly do you want to release either the forcefield or flight orb while also not shooting, grabbing, or talking?
Another approach: one being with a set of orbs is okay for light recon, but for actual combat they work in teams of, say, six.
Captain: flight and navigation(?)/truesight/ppo
Gunner: truesight and ppo
Engineer: forcefield (around all of them) and life support
Assistant engineer: normally, forcefield (double hull, around all of them) and ppo but can swap out for any other as needed
Comm officer: telepresence and lighthook
Medical: normally, spare whatever-is-needed
ah crapnugget… I fucked up the quotation…
And by Aztec, I of course mean Varia.
Asfor the orb sharing: >a href=”https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1751″ title=”look here”>
MOTHERF…
Neat how the Hentorb is just hovering in place, letting mommy and golden mommy talk about them :D
Thought Sydney was sipping a cup of tea in the first panel at first :(
Thought so too. And this is probably the most feminine i’ve seen either of them.
Do you not remember how Sydney can control the Orbs like they were extra limbs?
Yes, but they have not been stationary like this before, it’s normally just been controlling their orbit
That would explain alot. I have been trying to figure out how the orbs linked together.
Communications should be considered “Sensors and Teleport”, and the “Finger Me, Elmo” (a.k.a. Molestorb) would be the tractor beam.
Since these orbs are probably for a space explorer who would wish to remain unnoticeable in a new environment/society, I would think that the last orb would be a disguise orb.
Toggle on the Telepresens orb or just hide in a wall with just your eyes showing. (from behind a potted plant… )
Unless you’re in an old mansion. Then you hide in a picture frame and only let your eyes follow anyone
and ur nose. Maybe lips…
Yeah, but even then someone could spot you. Daniel the Human has pretty good eyes, he can actually FIND Wally most of the time! And he’s,,,what’s the Human word, observant? Someone like that would spoil the day of someone hiding their hologram selves just outside a wall. A disguise would really help tho…
Does this mean she’d have to test it by basically turning into someone else? If it didn’t affect HER vision of herself – still seeing herself as she normally – she’d have no idea it would be working while anyone who looked in the window would see….the green alien from Star Trek? That would explain her not thinking it was working. And would she be able to change it, switch between Person X & Person Y at a thought or shut down & restart (safer option, in case you forget)? She’s still have to learn the languages tho, behaviours, etc…
What? I’m a Minicon Cybertronian who uses a Pretender device to look Human. Your internet was useful for languages, the Pretender device assembles itself around me into either it’s normal or combat forms which it scanned before they became available, plus I see what everyone else sees when I look in the mirror. Kinda wish I’d scanned a girl tho, cause they keep kicking me out when I try going places that only they are allowed to go…
I just think that would be a toggle on the Telepresence orb since it projects a hologram its already got the sort of technology needed to help with disguise, stealth, or invisibility so it makes sense this would be a point buy option for that orb or the combination of it and another orb. (combining shield plus telepresence could make solid holograms or an effective fake shapeshift if its project over her actual body)
If the Orbs are the systems on a spaceship the it makes sense that the seventh orb would be manufacturing. Not just manufacturing more systems that the skill tree does not include, but to also manufacture objects that she wold need like tiki torches and High ways. I keep seeing people saying the last orb would let her control all the orbs. So I tell yhem to look at the center of the skill tree. I the skill tree center there are seven slots for skills, TWO of those slots have been filled. Maybe if Sydney fills even one more slot then she can use three orbs, one per hand and one on automatic.
I like that explanation of the skill tree. Overpowered seemingly but maybe not if we reach Alien Invasion levels of threats by the end. Not to mention that all of her powers seem less than someone who specializes in it or Maxima’s ability to shift her power around except for the Shieldiest Shield. (more “proof” for the space suit theory that the strongest ability she has compared to others is the Shield that is MOST essential in space or hostile environments)
Hm.
What if the alien invasion is the original owners coming back to get the orbs…?
I am sure the origin and/or previous owner of the orbs is going to be a big issue, but probably not until much, much later in the series.
Maybe if they didn’t foresee someone with a unique enough mind being able to bond with them it would actually let her on the ships past A.I. controlled security? (depending on whether they knew they had been tampered with/bonded and if they knew she was pretty good with them (for an unevolved mud [earth] monkey)
” Verne, I swear we must’ve left the keys on that last planet we were at”
‘you’ve said that a parsec times, Jules, we’re NOT turning back for them, we’re already halfway home’
Hmmm, can the tentacle orb hold an orb? And if so, would that help?
If so, its kind of pointless in a robbing peter to pay paul type way. If the Lighthook(TM) can operate only a single orb, then you are using one hand to control a single other orb. It really makes no sense that way really.
Unless it can hold more by looping around them. Which would still be pointless unless the ability translates through the tentacle.
Just noticed that the cast page seems to be gone.
When I said that last update someone said it had been down for a while. Have no idea how long that is…
OK, every good suggestion has been taken or I took it by expanding on what someone else said.
So just to have something slightly different to say maybe it is the A.I. orb or ships computer (doubling as translator orb and various other functions till she buys enough points that it just starts talking to her like a proper A.I. ? ) Now some people have edged on that in these comments and it has been suggested in the distant past several times but hear me out.
Just to have something original to say how about THIS new theory on what the A.I. is doing. I’ll combine the tutorial mode and “this is just an alien game” theories with the idea that the A.I. Orb is currently bonding with Sydney.
To make sure she doesn’t get hurt or anything while its calibrating and training with her it blocked her connection with the outside world and control of her body when she touched it, encouraged her mind to dream up ideas for a challenging world which it then manipulated into a “game” capable of training Sydney in the Orbs uses and increasing the A.I.’s ability to communicate with Sydney to facilitate control of the orbs and eventually just communicate properly period.
She gets out when she has reached a certain benchmark or easily recognized level of interface. Like she realizes what the A.I. orb does on her own or she levels all the way to the end on the point buy system which of course the last point buys the A.I.’s “unlocking”.
Not surprised if this has been talked about before somewhere but at least it seems different for this round of comments. *shrugs*
On another note: I agree with everyone else who seemed surprised that they would even doubt how extremely useful and obvious a general manipulator like the LightHook would be in space and then there’s what it can do when “leveled up”.
Actually the game like interface form that the “skill tree” takes is probably also just further proof for this. Her minds symbolic representation of how far she is in her bonding with the orbs (calibrating).
I have a slight problem with that. If I remember correctly, Joel’s dialog kinda implies super-heroes were known before Sydney got her Orbs. So unless the AI Orb has messed with her memories from before that point, that doesn’t hold together.
Also, a LOT of the aspects of this world are things that Sydney is unlikely to have known about. She herself has been genuinely surprised at some of the aspects of the world. Stuff like Maxima’s advice about collateral damage, or wolves not howling at the moon. If this was Sydney’s dream world, why is it not more extreme, with those aspects added in.
Also, I would have a rather serious problem if all the characters in this comic, barring Sydney, Joel, and a few others, were actually just a simulation. Because that sort of thing is REALLY frustrating, when characters you’re emotionally invested in are revealed to not actually exist.
Its 3 months (of memories) in the future from when she made Contact with the Orbs when the story starts and Joel admits to having actually seen a super after that Contact.
If the press conference is to be believed then the government had not yet been forced to officially recognize the existence of supers.
If the stories Sydney and Joel pass back and forth are at least partially from before Contact then the public had enough evidence to believe they existed. Its hard to say if some of the more solid evidence might have occurred in the 3 months as well as in the time Sydney was on vacation since she might not be paying much attention to the news and could be told about things that happened that she missed after the fact.
But actually, my theory doesn’t require supers not to exist in the “real world”. It doesn’t even need all the people in it to be completely fake. It just needs the events that Sydney has experienced since Contact to be made up of things the A.I. scrounged from her memories and mental reactions during initial communication.
She may have even of seen unofficial photos of Maxima and some of the others from a distance as a soldier on some site trying to force the government to reveal what the public has already figured out. Giving the A.I. imagery to use in the guided dreamworld.
Your one question confused me a little with its wording but I’m gonna say that the simulation/guided dream is a made up of info from both beings: Sydney and the A.I. with the A.I. doing its best to only allow elements that Sydney considers less likely to be real when it is useful to the A.I.’s mission to train her to use the orbs in a variety of situations. It may go with the comic book situations more because Sydney resists less when life turns into a comic book because she likes it on several levels and that lack of resistance makes the A.I.’s job easier. As crazy as this seems its likely that Sydney’s mind would have added in a heck of a lot more wild physics and Batman made out of cotton candy if not kept slightly in check.
True, but Sydney would be suffering far more than us at loosing all her new friends. Especially Max as they are getting real close real fast. And seeing how she deals with it would have a lot of story telling potential. Especially if some of the characters are actually based on images she’s seen. Can you imagine her coming out of the simulation/dream thing fully bonded and empowered and later on making contact with the government to work with them (her dream experiences making her trust them a bit more to not be vivisectionists) and ending up working with Max in whatever capacity she actually functions in? That could be heartbreaking depending on Max’s reaction to the oddly attached new recruit an how long Sydney ends up spending in the dream bonding with fake Max.
Honestly, I think it’s an overall pointless and bad plot-twist. It’s the sort of retcon/reversion/shake-up you see in crap like One More Day, or in bad universe reboots. Suddenly all these characters, who have grown over the course of the story, are completely and irrevocably altered/reverted, for no real reason. It makes for an incredibly unsatisfying ending, and continuing the story afterward makes it even worse.
There’s a reason many people hate the ‘it was all a dream’ ending. Because it’s basically a cop-out, the majority of the time. You might be able to pull it off if you really, REALLY hint at it throughout the series. But the only aspect that seems even remotely unreal/simulation-y here is Sydney’s skill tree, and maybe Krona’s powers.
So yeah, I can imagine that. And I’d almost certainly drop the comic immediately upon that twist happening. Because I don’t particularly like having my emotions played with like that, nor do I like the way it would affect the main character.
Fair enough.
Fair enough with the additional thought that Sydney would keep any and all character growth she underwent as well as many if not all of the skills. (especially all orb related ones) As well as keeping all the feels and lessons learned from these “fake” people in her heart. Basically they become her back story cause they are “real” to her. It could even lead to cool things like someone in real life hearing about their doppleganger and being inspired to make a change or resist one because of it.
But I get that this doesn’t appeal to you but your responses have fueled more thought on it for me. It was originally just an attempt to add something new to the conversation where most bases had been covered but oddly enough I seem to be falling in love with the idea a little more as we talk. That said I like the normal story line of more standard progression just fine and will be happy if it continues.
I don’t know the show One More Day but I was thinking more Groundhog’s Day type character growth except that at the end the character leaves Punxsutawney to use this new found character growth and skills elsewhere.
One More Day is a comic. It’s the one where Spider-Man sells his marriage to the devil, in order to save his aunt’s life. This also reversed a couple of aspects of his power that he’d gained, and his unmasking during the Civil War storyline. It was not well liked, mostly because SPIDER-MAN MADE A DEAL WITH THE F*CKING DEVIL. Also, it reversed and retcon’d stuff.
It was basically only done because Marvel’s editor in-chief at the time didn’t like Mary Jane and Peter Parker being married, and because he wanted to ‘go back the character’s roots’. The lead writer was J. Micheal Straczynski, who was not pleased with the idea, and originally wanted his name taken off the last two issues. He made his displeasure pretty public, too. Pretty sure a lot of the other members of the staff disagreed, as well.
It’s one of the more egregious examples of editiorial mandate dictating where the writers should take the story, which has been an issue in the comic industry for a while. If a comic’s story suddenly takes a bizarre turn, one which doesn’t seem like something the writer would usually do? It’s probably due to editors telling the writer how to do his job.
Well, whatever the function of the last orb is a lot of it’s functions are already on-line. If you look at her skill tree when it first showed up the orbs with the most activated functions were the flight, communications and the still unknown orb. All had six skill dots glowing.
Online doesn’t mean activated. Like the Enviro-Orb, a situation has to trigger its’ effects. So, it has to be something Sydney hasn’t yet encountered, experienced or thought of yet.
I don’t know about a situational trigger. Would Sidney have noticed being surrounded by a field of air (atmorb) while standing around surrounded by a field of air (Atmosphere)?
Indeed, maybe she only started having troubles with breathable air because people suggested to Sydney’s mind that it should be so.
Everybody’s assuming the orbs are intended to be used with hands. I’ve seen no fewer than seven posts mentioning more than three hands. Everybody’s also assuming this is a spaceship… or perhaps more accurately, a spacesuit. My personal opinion is that the race which created the orbs did not necessarily need hands to use them.
Imagine a blob-like race that could extrude pseudopods wherever they wanted. There would be essentially no difference placing the orbs on one patch of skin than any other. Wherever the alien places the orbs on its body, it will work, because the aliens treat every square inch of their skin as a manipulative appendage. That makes these the alien equivalent of clothes, or rings, or other jewelry, each with a particular function.
When it interfaces with Sydney (or, presumably, any human), there are two definite points on the body which evolution has developed as your primary manipulators: hands. Neurologically, there’s really no substitute. That means the orbs cannot perform their functions in the intended way, hence the limitation.
Or its even simpler than that. She is so used to thinking of tool use with her hands that her mind assumes it needs to be so and since her control of the orbs is actually 100% mental it becomes so for her.
This is the space ship for Schlock!
https://schlockmercenary.com
Like an alien smartwatch?
I can see the analog. An earthworm would have hell of a time using the multi-touch features on a touchscreen.
I think aliens may use digital or tentacal maybe venemoussharpclawacal?
The creators would not need more hands if some of the orbs have a yet-to-be-unlocked autopilot mode when released from manual control. (Is a dead-man-switch force-shield a bug or a feature?)
A spaceship seems unlikely to me. For one Sydney topped out at a max speed of a couple of machs, which while ridiculously fast by human standards would still see her die from old age long before she reaches the orbit of Saturn (and the halfway point of our solar system).
But we do have remote sensing, remote manipulation, telepresence as well as shielding, hovering and ‘welding’ (ok, that was stretching things a bit we should really call it self defense or remote vapourising). An explorer’s toolkit or a spaceship repair kit seems more likely.
This leaves the function of the final orb as either recording and analysis, or the manual. Letting Sydney into Dabbler’s workshop while holding the seventh orb might be both enlightening and terrifying at the same time …
Spaceship is still likely actually. After the fifth dot on the fly orb, another track might open which could be able to reach light or ftl speeds. We dont know yet because only 4 dots on the first track have been filled.
You are forgetting that she reached a couple machs in atmo. If she is able to constantly accelerate even at just 1g, it wouldn’t take that long for her to reach pluto. Especially because there is little to no matter to cause major drag in space, unlike on earth where the atmosphere is a brick wall at high speeds.
That’s true, if she can accelerate in space then she could potentially travel very quickly without drag to worry about. The force-field would protect her from asteroids. The issue is that she would also need life-support in that scenario, at a minimum. It seems that even when flying through the earth’s atmosphere this becomes an issue.
It seems reasonable that more than two orbs are meant to be used at a time. This way she could fly, protect herself, have life support, grapple anything outside her force-field, see where she’s going, and if needed — destroy anything dangerous in her path. The maximum potential of the orbs can only be reached if she is able to use more than two at a time. Otherwise the scenarios in which they’re useful is much more limited.
So, I am on the team that thinks the last orb lets you set an auto-pilot, or “afk mode” for multiple orbs. I think that would make sense for even a many-armed creature. It would be far more practical/ useful to have orbs that stay on, while others are operated manually. Less dangerous for space/air/water travel, as well. The question is then, why can’t she activate it just by touching it? Maybe there is a basic trick to it? That’s my best guess.
I think healing is another good theory, since most of the orbs really function to protect and defend her in any situation. That’s why I don’t see shape-shifting or terraforming or shape-ship repair to be their main function. They exist for the orb-owner’s benefit and enjoyment. A space explorer or bounty hunter sounds more likely to me.
Unless …. I guess environmental regulation might come from the green orb. As in, keeping you warm in freezing space, or at the bottom of the ocean, or cool next to a star or inside a volcano. An explorer would potentially visit many different environments, so they would need more than just air to breathe.
Velocity doesn’t just vanish because you’ve stopped accelerating. There’s actually points where decelerating is required, in space travel. She could probably swap to the Green Orb every once in a while, while still making good time.
Last I checked, additional skills do indeed get you paid more in the military. Trained paratrooper: bonus pay, speak Italian: bonus pay, PH.D. in Mechanical Engineering: bonus pay. Now… super powers may work differently, but that is a separate issue.
Yeah but they may have a specific pay for Soldier (Super) that doesnt take into account what you can do. If it did I could see it causing some bad feelings when say, Achilles, whose entire power is “That didnt hurt” is measured against newbie sydney whos powers are “yes” because she has so freaking many. Also there is factoring in what counts as a new power and what just counts as a new application? Like, should she get a raise every time she unlocks a new way to shoot her ppo? Or her com orb now has site to site transportation, the ability to talk through it and hear, aura viewing, the ability to see through invisibility and glamours, possibly whatever it did at the council store room as another, etc etc etc.
ya know if she changes places with her com balls illusions she could legitly shadow clone in a fight. i know com ball doesn’t have mass but i’ve watched naruto to its fruition and the one thing on countless else things that intrigued me/ bugged me was that everytime whether it was movies or show when naruto set up his rasengan (in plain view i might add) they always struck the wrong shadow clone. like they didn’t just see him plop up. now maybe naruto can swap and i think he has before but often times he doesn’t. so why attack the clone that doesn’t have the rasengan. i could understand non ninja attacking it but most of the people he fights are ninja. the rasengan had been out longer then he’s been alive made famous by the fourth in other words it makes little sense to me to hit the clone you know is the wrong one. but with sidster here i could see a legit move working.
Thats more substitution than shadow clones. She can switch with her illusionary image. As for naruto, meh, most often he would pop up as the real guy from an angle they couldnt react to in time. And that was only after he spent the first 30 minutes having 50 flavors of hell beaten out of him trying to setup the perfect one shot victory.
Is it just me, or does Sydney actually look good with her hair slicked back like that?
And so the super-heroine transformation tendency begins to show…
… in only a few short months, soon most of her clothing will be significantly more revealing in some way, sporting a super-model figure, and amazonian height.
WHY DON”T THEY JUST ASK THE GALACTIC AMBASSADOR ALREADY?!
Sorry, been wondering ever since that big meeting of all the factions why they didn’t do this then. SOMEBODY there should have had at least some idea where the Orbs came from, who built them, and why. The Ambassador would be a good neutral place to start.
Logical. Too logical?
Maybe that was on Maxima’s secondary to do list before door go boom?
I think that may have been part of the Counsel visit. Yes, it did happen cause Sydney could see through The Shroud, but having the alien/ancient members see the Orbs 1st hand couldn’t hurt…
Wait, would I count as both? I got no idea how old I am in Human years, & time kinda just blurs together when all you do is repair consoles & recharge…
I kind of expect Adrianna to bolt around the corner screaming. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING IN YOUR SOPPING WETSUITS ON OUR LEATHER COUCHES!!!”
…Okay, maybe that’s less Adrianna, and more my Mom, but I couldn’t think of anyone else who might care on a more than just general level.
In the first panel you can see the pool is right behind them in the same room. So I am sure the sofa is waterpoof, if only to handle the splashes from super-powered cannonballs.
Plus cows come with water-proofing as standard. You never see them melting, when it rains.
It’s not a matter of melting, but a matter of staining and deforming. Chlorine on leather would most probably leave discolored patches.
Still, I laughed at the concept of cows fleeing rain because their skin was affected. Maybe they would lose their black spots? :-)
Not all cows have black spots.
Wait – is that proof of your point?
It may be. The rain’s composition and temperature may happen to melt the spots differently and only cause colour changes in some.
Yeah, looked back all the way till they 1st get to the pool area, if you look in the background you can see the grey, round couch is actually on a platform inside the pool, so waterproofing is obvious. Daniel the Human even says it’s that obvious that even Screwball noticed it- Hey, wait…
They made Dabbler use her space tech/magic to waterproof all the at risk furniture… for reasons….
She should probably also keep the air recycler for any of the many, MANY situations where she doesn’t have a 3rd hand free to activate the “Life Support” orb.
+1
Especially as it is only teeny. So it gives her extended operation at critical times, and buys her time to get into a position where she can refresh the air supply, when that becomes necessary.
And power armor, and air tank. (and a pony… )
If she can’t spare a hand for the Green Orb, how is she going to get the recycler to her mouth, and all set up. It’d be a tricky procedure, especially if she was running low on oxygen. As someone who has experienced hypoxia, I can tell you that the first thing to go is motor-control.
Well if Sydney is using the Fly Ball and the Shield, she can gain enough altitude to take her hand off the Fly Ball long enough to slip her mask on. Likewise if deep underwater. She will start shooting up to the surface fast mind, but can fly back down to her operational depth, as soon as she is breathing OK.
Fortunately we know that the Halomobile is equipped with very very generous safety margins on its air monitoring equipment, for when it starts to beep, so she will be able to do this (or land, if close to the ground) well in advance of hypoxia setting in.
Likewise if transporting a villain back to the HQ, Sydney can secure them with the tentacle, whilst in an open area. But if having to bring them up close (say in an elevator) she would be safer having her shield raised. Which means she could use forethought and put the mask on, before entering such a confined area, where she will need to use both hands on her orbs.
If she can take her hand off the Fly Ball long enough to put the mask on, that’s also long enough to hold the Green Orb for a while. The bubble seems to form in seconds, so I doubt that it would require being held for very long. Same with being underwater.
Sydney is really poorly equiped for transporting criminals. Unless they’re unconscious on the floor of her Shield bubble, and she’s flying them there, it’s a complete waste of her time, because she’s either transporting them on foot, or flying without her shields up, which will slow her down. She should jut call it in, and have someone else transport them back, while she continues patrolling, or whatever she was doing. Maybe have Harem bring a sleepy-time bracelet, and put it on the guy, before moving on.
The air bubble will presumably only be sustained whilst the green orb is being held. So when she reverts to using the other orbs the problem will kick in, as before. So there is still a need for the mask. Sydney may well get into a situation where she knows that she will not be able to swap orbs.
For instance going into a nuclear reactor, which is threatening to melt down. Once she grasps the plutonium rods, with her tentacle, she will neither be able to put them down nor lower her shield, until the situation has been made safe.
Clearly just one example, but there are very many each of which could entail someone dying if Sydney releases either orb.
When planning her equipment mix it is best for Sydney to assume that she will be operating solo, for those situations where backup is unavailable. Given her range of powers that is actually quite likely. Look at how she ended up stranded with Selina, for example. Likewise she had to trap Vehemence in her shield with her, to protect everyone else.
Making good use of teammates is of course vital to ensure operational efficiency. But that should not preclude having essential equipment herself too. Especially given that the rest of the team can rely on Harem to supply them. But Sydney’s shield is proof against her teleporting. So Sydney needs to be more self-reliant than her team-mates.
Uh…unless that air is pure magic, and suddenly disappears when the Orb is let go of, that’s not accurate. Of if it’s sucked back into the Orb, I guess? I don’t find either of those particularly likely. I find it far more likely that the air remains after the Orb is let go of, allowing it to refresh the air in the Shield. Because that’s how a good designer would design it.
You’ve yet to address how, precisely, Sydney would get the rebreather in place while both hands are occupied. I guarantee you it’d be incredibly difficult to do. So it doesn’t really solve the ‘hands are occupied’ problem in the slightest, because neither the rebreather nor the Green Orb is an option in that scenario.
I did not say it vanished. It is simply not endlessly refreshed. Sydney holds the green orb, gets a fresh batch of air, swaps to the orbs she will be committed to holding for mission purposes and gradually the air starts to turn stale, until hypoxia sets in. Wearing her rebreather will extend the time limit before that risk occurs.
I felt that was self-explanatory from my example, but am happy to spell it out. Sydney does what is called planning. ‘I need to hold the nuclear reactor rods. I had better put my mask on before I do that, as I will not be able to release either orb once I have started’.
As she will not be able to release either the tentacle orb or the shield orb, it does not matter what powers the green orb has, she cannot use it, once she has started that process. So she can have fresh air at the beginning but that will run out, in due course.
From that it sounds like you consider it to be a ‘turn on fresh air generator button’ which Sydney activates, and can then release the orb, but still have the air conditioning occurring endlessly thereafter.
If that is the case, then the same should apply to the shield orb too, and the flyball. Just turn on the power, release the orb and grasp the next one.
It is worth Sydney trying it, as if that is the case then her powers will have leapt up by an order of magnitude, as she will be able to fly, with shield up, have her air endlessly refreshed, and view everything she sees with True Sight. Plus will still have both hands free for other purposes, say preparing snax or using the PPO and tentacle orbs.
I would not hold my breath, until the results of the testing come in though. The air is likely to become stale.
The last one is hyperdrive. Placing bets now.
If the orbs have hyperdrive I think that it is far more likely to be on the Flyball skill tree.
Agreed, it could easily be either a standalone node, or one of the other trees on the flight orb. Basically, she has in atmosphere engines, and then can do light speed, ridiculous speed, LUDICROUS SPEED! on one of the other branches. :p
If you look at the skill tree you will see a line on the flight orb trailing off by itself into nothing. So we do see that it can go To Infinity, and Beyond!
https://davebarrack.deviantart.com/art/Halo-s-Skilltree-Wallpaper-01-428873707
+1
there’s quite a few that seem to do that, but I’m guessing they actually just connect to the other orbs through a layer we can’t see yet
1 Lighthook is both TOW Cable and Restraints/Punishment device (What you thought Hentai was an earther thing only?)
I’m gonna stick with my space ranger/explorer idea…
that means
2) brown orb is Hammerspace/storage/cargo/dimensional storage and maybe ultimate retreat (escape into it if your life is in danger…orbs fall silent and can’t be scanned and found if you hid yourself first- maybe a fellow ranger will find and release you. Or you had to grapple the enemy and store both of yourselves… so in the orb are the previous user and a dangerous enemy…)
Once she figures out that connection What color power orb ranger will she be?
Dabbler may know of very ancient and lost civilizations who had a great space ranger/explorer core… the orbs could be how they developed things…
Also they could have been the police for Gods and Greater Demons… gods misbehave in goes the SEROC (Space explorer ranger Orb Corp= what? You come up with a better acronym…)
These guys could be secretive and go after World Killer class entities or Class “S” and higher threats (on a universal scale vs world -using naruto and other anime danger classifications tropes. So an “S” on a universal scale would make most supers crap themselves in panic…Maxima probably classifies near that once she realizes her own potential and alieness…worse her skin and parasite might be child of the enemy the original ranger went to capture and got them both balled up…// if I cont with my ideation in a recursive manner.)
Rangers start out catching and transporting small fry back to be re-educated and watch for “S” class dangers…
If a world is in danger and no Rangers are around to help or were lost to the S class… then the Superhero process Uplift is engaged…nothing close to S class on Universal Scale, but enough powers that if they band together the can render the S class universal threat there (or to come) until a ranger or higher universal authority can intercede…
Dabbler miight/should know if these types exist… So an S class world threat might be enough to cause supers to appear…an S class universal level might require uplifting the entire genome of the highest lifeform on the planet…w/safeties to prevent them becoming threats (powers linked and limited to their own world…)
ALien tourists flock to these planets to watch for “Fun” or hoping they catch the Uplift methodology in action/get infected-affected too or maybe it’s just the chili cheese fries…
Fun ideas. They make for a cohesive setting, even though I think it is too convoluted to make for a good story, unless for short stories. :-)
About an alternative for SEROC, why not just Cosmic Orb Police (or Patrol)? Or, if we want another Earth reference, there could be the Space-Orb Squad. You Americans would probably be divided about the Galactic Orb Protectors, but almost every Earth inhabitant would have a hard time trusting the Sphere Soldiers. On the other hand, their Intergalactic brethren would be far more appreciated.
brown – dimensional gates, storage, brig, emergency shelter and distance travel gates (universal level and has to be tied into sensor so it can be done safely…BUT not needed if range of teleport is unlimited…the balls go with the owner then…
If they don’t I think the number of potential passenger will be halved. I certainly would find that too steep a price to pay, even for interstellar travel!
See “WORM” the longest ongoing serial novel ever on the internet for this infect human trope… also Wild Cards and other novels …
IF she is a ship then we can deduce that the last orb is healing as in sick bay…. or a interstellar pokemon go (all ships need a RnR section).
Heh. Let us hope that it does not spawn real monsters.
noooo, let’s hope it DOES! let’s hope it DOES!
Final orb:
Crew quarters/Captain’s Chair. While holding it, she can designate other people to hold the orbs as long as she holds it (allowing an increase in their abilities, turning her into large fully functioning spaceship.)
Note, once discovered, Archon will insist on a crafting a glove that lets her hold the orb without accidentally dropping it (don’t want to accidentally ixnay your crew as a result of dropping hot earl grey tea on yourself and flailing, afterall.)
And Sydney’s ALREADY wearing an outfit that makes her look like a starfleet captain, to be fair.
Also, it was already mentioned supers can make a decent living in “mundane” work. As a personal space-shuttle, she is WAY more valuable for getting stuff into orbit than merely fighting super crime.
Multi-million dollar contract to deliver something to the ISS? Win-win deal for all parties involved. Colony on Mars? Two weeks of ferrying stuff back and forth and then a few crew transports. If Aryana doesn’t see the massive money-making potential here and put Sydney on it ASAP, I’ve significantly underestimated Aryana.
Also, even only using two hands, she’s already capable of being full shuttle capable. Shield + Flight gets her to orbit (the air in shield will last that long), switch out flight for life support to replenish air (assuming she got into a semi-stable orbit). Air refreshes so she can let go of it again, switch to coms to check location, refresh again just to be safe, fly again, refresh, coms, refresh, fly, wash-rinse repeat until at destination, use other orbs as neccesarry (but TIE THAT SHIELD ORB TO YOUR HAND!)
… I have a bad habit of thinking of new things to add after I post. I wish I had an edit button.
Although now I’m totally expecting to see Aryana running around like a giddy school girl screaming, “I gotta cheap-cost high quality spaaccceeee shiiipppppp” because that’s even more music to a business person’s ears than even “Gotta collect them all”
And I even consider it plausible that Aryana would find a way to draw out that silent e.
But drawing out the p? No, sorry, I can’t go that far. She’d sound like a motorboat.
I don’t want Sydney turned into a space-ship. She is far more cuddly in human form!
Wait a second. Found in the ocean, needs more than two hands to operate at full efficiency. Did Sydney steal Cthulhu’s space suit?
Anyway, she already has a tractor beam in the molestorb. My guess would be the last one is warp drive, since most sci-fi spacecraft use different systems for FTL and STL propulsion. She has yet to actually try that one outside of Earth’s magnetosphere, after all.
Perhaps you aught to ask your cousin Gojira?
I’m guessing fabrication/shapeshifting/healing/terraforming for the final orb?
Sounds like a lot of scope for Sydney to make mix-ups.
“Quack, quack, quack!” [translation from Mallard: all I asked her to do was fix my broken arm!]
“New York, recently renamed ‘the Paradise State’, has suffered massive deforestation, as New Yorkers attempt to rebuild homes, to replace those turned into the Paradise Hills.”
“Death Valley tourists have been confused at the appearance of a number of pre-fabricated homes”
“The mysterious new statue, of the recently-disappeared Halo, has suffered repeated vandalism, at the hands of New-Yorkers, but mysteriously any extremities broken off are repaired flawlessly overnight!”
Sometimes the Death-Trap does not work…
https://archiveofourown.org/works/8139296
After taking half a dozen attempts to kill his own mother, perhaps he should have realised that he was neither competent nor moral enough to be emperor. Perhaps he would have been better off learning a musical instrument and taking up a more fulfilling career?
P.S the “Whos Who” section needs an update.
And Sydney’s orb list on the side.
Death Traps work, just (1) normally not on main characters, and (2) even when they fail, they often buy a lot of time for the villain to escape or so on.
Recently in Elektra, she got thrown in a death trap with a group of civies. *She* got out, but…
You know a lot of people have mentioned the skill tree, which got me thinking about the criteria for Sydney earning points to spend on the said skill tree. Is there some kind of pattern like the number of battles she participates in and wins or working on some form of personal growth? Because if they figure that out first they can work a training regiment for Sydney that will help in getting more points to upgrade her powers.
I think they could lay it all out in a Ven diagram.
Seems to be linked to her understanding of the Orbs. The first one was unlocked when she felt a new feeling while using the PPO, while never seeing actual combat. The second was shortly after she discovered the teleport function.
Why is everyone focusing on the new power, INSTEAD OF HOW GOD DAMN BEAUTIFUL SYDNEY IS ON THIS PAGE!
Ahh, a fan of pastel Sydney. Not growing on me yet, personally speaking. Comparing her likeness to either her Who’s Who entry or the Patreon image I much prefer both of the latter.
I think a good part of it is expectations. Sydney is a tom-boy, which the previous styles have captured. Whereas above it looks like Sydney has stopped off, on the way back from the pool, at a beauty salon and had a major girly make-over.
A major girly makeover done by someone who’s more accustomed to department-store manikins than to humans.
I think the last orb might be shape-shifting, specifically to adapt to different environments.
Ahh, I see it now. Pizza-shaped now, rather than spherical.
*licks lips hungrily*
Possible. If you’re poking a new planet, helps if you blend in…
*Activates Pretender Armour, heads into the city…*
Why waste that effort? (Tromps down road in town.) hello ma’am do you need help and do I seem odd to you? (Smile as she calls me polite young man like I’m human.) humans will edit there perception for you without prompting.
Yeah, but you’re probably not a 4 foot tall robot who only has Human shape…
Dang, less than 12 hours since DaveB posted today’s new page & there’s already 3 pages of comments…No wonder I don’t have enough time to peruse the comments as much as I’d like to!
THHHHBBBBB!
And only one of them from me, so I do not need to feel guilty about nattering too much.
:-D
*wags tail minimally*
A trap meant as a weapon to kill a specific person or group, meaning you have to lure then there, is ridiculous on the pure trope front, especially as essentially a tailored made weapon meant to kill a specific person or group. But outside a trope, it’s situational and could be very smart. After all, it is the ultimate exemple.of controlling the environment/terrain, which goes beyond knowing and making use of the terrain.
And then if it’s a deter ant just meant to make sure no one gets to a certain area, a trap set to kill can be more effective than non-lethal traps.
I realize at least some of this was probably brought up already, but didn’t have time to check 260+ prior posts. :/
Some of us called it Gulf War 2: Electric Boogaloo.
May not have time to look through all the comments. Most people so far though seem to be concentrating on physical starship properties, like medical bays or FTL. Whereas it does strike me that something Starship Halo is lacking is on the information front. Astrogation, starcharts, alien species database, translators and the like.
Cognitive boost, maybe? Would help with learning languages, as well as analysis and calculation.
The comm-truesight ball probably covers this, with more unlocks.
Maybe so.
I believe it is a hub. You need to fly through a contaminated atmosphere while being shot at return fire and tow a freighter to safety. Grab the ol combo ball and you are ready to go.
Several of the comments have been about the last orb being a power source for the others. That got me thinking about ARC headquarters. They need to be prepared with an alternate energy source in case of a natural disaster or intentional sabotage of the electrical grid.
They have access to advanced technologies, so I was wondering if ARC headquarters is powered by a, …wait for it…, ARC reactor?
That sounds stark staring mad to me.
In the death traps defense….Plot armor protects those who the death trap was intended for in almost every case. had they been built with intelligence instead of the writer making the villains stupid in that sense Death traps might work, but of course you cant kill the important characters unless its GoT
Or CoC or Paranoia.
Both of those believe in the Concept of Everyone is a mook.
now the question is does it just produce oxygen or can she use to airbend?
Would anyone even notice the difference? Straight air or bent, it all goes over my head I am afraid.
I don’t think so, Yorp. At least some of it is low enough that you can breathe it.
Hmmm, its got all those squiggle lines inside of it, going by the space ship trend I’m thinking hyper lane jump system? :D Or maybe its just sensors, has she ever pointed it at someone when using it?
The squiggle lines are on several of the orbs. One of which we know (on the Shield orb) to be the ’embiggener’ glyph.
It is worth noting that the comic follows the convention of showing us things as Sydney sees them (for instance we can see things that Sydney unmasks with the truesight orb). Those glyphs are not visible to others, as Dabbler told us such after examining them. Being proof against even the technomagical examination she subjected the orbs to.
That said some of the glyphs (on that or other orbs) could indeed reference a hyper lane jump system.
was the green orb already unlocked when we last saw her upgrade sheet?
Yes. As was the brown one.
Think about how easily Sydney could have unlocked it and not even realise it. If she told it to “activate”, and it did, it would be merrily creating air, and Sydney would be breathing it, yet not realising that it had actually done a thing. Standing in the middle of air would rather mask the operation of that orb.