Grrl Power #601 – A slight escalation
Not too much to say about this page, just needed a little transition to the next page. Which is kind of a dumb thing to say. It’s a comic. Every page is a transition to the next one.
I hadn’t planned on showing off Vale’s abilities quite yet, but you know how it goes when you write. Sometimes the characters have a mind of their own.
Looking at this page now, I think I got a little too happy with the glass shard spray brush I made, considering that the middle pane was already busted in. Maybe whatever Vale did to knock Sciona out of the window swept up all the glass that got knocked in when Sciona smashed it the first time? Sure, let’s go with that.
I sure hope there isn’t some 5K going on in the streets below Deus’s building, or they’re going to need someone really good with jigsaw puzzles to sort out all the body parts after 50 square meters of shattered glass cascades down on the event.
Vale’s boots are so cute. I think because the reference I found for them were like a size 4 or something. This is assuming that small shoe measurements for women just means the foot is shorter, so Vale’s boots are a cute and short like a kitten’s nose.
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That took some balls. Also, I think her ‘sick of supers’ experience is just starting.
Yeah, she only thinks she’s sick of them now.
I think it should take only one good gut-punch to turn her stomach…For real. I hope Vale is fast enough to dodge “sudden vomit.” Technically, Maxima is fast enough, but Sydney caught her by surprise that one time.
;)
Most bad guys/gals are hypocrites. “sick of supers”, as if only she is allowed to be super-powered (or some equivalent thereof)? Really?
Well, to give her credit, where it is due, as a mage she probably has had to study for decades (if not centuries) to get up to her current level of power. Plus she has gained combat experience the hard way, including getting her body, and part of her head, chopped off.
Whereas supers just get born that way, or find some doodads laying around or get some geode water spilled on them!
I’m honestly wondering if Maxima’s powers were entirely from the geode water, or if the geode water just altered her potential super powers when she was a teenager.
We have Deus himself speculate earlier that she most likely was a natural super and the geode water helped that in some way, either as a trigger or an addition, when Max first found he had it. He mentioned this as part of his reassuring Maxima no-one had duplicated her Maximaness
Of course, it was just speculation… but at the same times, its Comic Book Speculation, which has a disturbing chance to be correct even when the speaker has literally no knowledge or information or like
…and its Dues, so he could also have been lying through his teeth about not being able to duplicate it XD
Not that we have known Deus to lie or even exaggerate. Even when his statements seemed totally implausible. Making a definitive statement about the paucity of illusionists, when the general public believe that there is no magic. Having a verbal sparring match with Sydney about his weapons collection being ‘replicas’.
Even down to warning Sciona that she was outclassed by Vale, with or without being upgraded by an apocalyptically powerful artefact!
“Not that we have known Deus to lie or even exaggerate.”
Technically, that may very well be the truth. Even if Vale’s powers are derived from the same geode that changed Max, it’s still likely to have some level of variation in effects…Thus, Max’s powers are still “not duplicated.”
Please for the love of all things do NOT forget to put the hyphen. Otherwise we start thinking you’re not speaking of Maxima-ness and we go straight to thinking like Dabbler.
I could see this being the case. Like, her “Power Pool” was her natural superpower, being able to put Power into her natural abilities of speed, strength, toughness. She’d probably go by the name “Trion” or something, and be able to go up to, say, a 3 in each category.
But then the Geode water decked her out in a nanomachine powerarmour system, giving her significantly enhanced baseline speed, strength, toughness, as well as giving her energy blasts and flight, which her natural superpower is then able to enhance.
My personal suspicion…
The setting has shown that there are demons(Dabbler), fey(Sciona), werewolves & vampires (the council), and a few others.
These are from an array of old mythologies, and their inclusions come with a wide variety of implications. One being that old legends and myths that included them are true or inspired by truth (now WHICH old ones inspired them is debatable; despite popular beliefs, Demons do not originate with Judeo-Christian beliefs, but go back before them to Zoroastrianism, and before them, originate in ancient Babylon. It’s worth noting that “Demon” is a derivative of the origin word of “Divine”, and Demons were originally a type of god.
Thus, the old myths and legends that would most tie everything together would be a conglomeration of the old polytheistic religions (which had a tendency to conglomerate and morph together and into eachother anyway).
Humans giving rise to supers and “unique origin stories” of powerful entities actually heralds back to most strongly to the ancient Greeks – most of their gods had weird origin stories, and a number of the old religions have stories of humans ascending to godhood in some way; but the potential for as such is most explained by the ancient Greeks:
The gods killed nearly all of their predecessors save one: Prometheus.
The Titans created the Gods.
However, the ones who created humans weren’t the gods, that was ALSO the Titans (Prometheus, specifically). The Gods didn’t act against Prometheus till he stole fire (which was ALSO originally titanic in origin) and gave it to the humans, allowing humans to rise up and ascend, creating civilizations and similar – and worth noting that eventually a half-human subverted the will of the Gods and freed Prometheus.
It’s my personal mythological head canon that unlike the rest of the Titans who lost to the Gods, Prometheus played the long game, making humanity into a new race of Titans to overthrow the Gods (as evidenced by the rising prominence of humans in stories of Gods and Humans as the myths progress through history.) Going back to Hercules, it’s worth noting that all of the Gods underestimated him, despite him being half god – implies to me being half human came with some serious under-appreciated benefits.
Fast forward to supers, they’re gaining titan-like aspects (fueled by violence being an example). It’s just Prometheus’s goals reaching fruition.
Head Canon accepted
I really like this idea! That’s a novel and brilliant interpretation of some classic mythology.
Thanks! I always felt there was some deeper story going on in old greek mythology because although it felt episodic between its stories, I always had this sense that there was some deeper narrative tying everything together. Then I heard this song: Prometheus (Steam) by Nathanial Johnstone band and asked, “Why would that dude be willing to suffer so much and risk so much to help humans…..” And then I looked at the myths from his perspective, and then everything clicked into place.
Sounds good.
So where do you think Prometheus might fit into this setting? Lurking on Mt. Olympus? In the peanut gallery in the Twilight Council? Or, as he has a thing for humans, and there are not many there, loitering somewhere in the United Nations?
Here’s a thought: there are rumors of a 1600-year-old vampire, but they have been getting dismissed. Prometheus was also known as a trickster god. Could that 1600-year-old vampire in fact be one of a number of Prometheus’s disguises that allow him to move about in various communities…either unnoticed or his true nature unsuspected? Yes, Prometheus has a thing for humans; to me, that would mean he wants to protect them or at least know what groups of non-humans are up to that might affect or harm humans.
A long time ago, when I still played Dungeons & Dragons, my favorite character (longest-played and therefore most developed) was a priest of Prometheus. I know I’ll never play him again; he was a Second Edition character, they’re up to at least Fourth Edition now, and in my area it’s extremely unlikely I’ll find a group to play him in. But it’s one of the reasons I have a soft spot for this particular titan.
Now that the powers he’s seeded are coming to the surface, he’s overthrowing some of the more oppressive dictators to establish a foothold, and amassing artifacts to study and sell to increase humanity’s might for their eventual conquest of the other species (such as demons and their ilk). With himself firmly placed as one of the more influential individuals in this age of new Titans, he plans to guide humanity, his new proteges’ into the force that his past protege’s once were. However, as a Titan, to remind himself of those whom he is constantly seeking revenge on, who he has to watch for, and the source of his fear and most painful memories, much like batman, he took on their name from their original language: Deus.
That’s a pretty neat idea too, Terri! :)
Heh. Having a name that translates as “God” threw me, when looking for a titan. When asking where he was I should have realised that “X” marks the spot!
So having given humanity fire, Prometheus now wishes to uplift them from mere capitalist run societies to Ferengi levels?
Considering how all the Titans had big projects and didn’t exactly bring eachother in on the plans too much, I can totally see them being venture capitalists among eachother.
Tagging on to that bit about ‘Demon’ being a derivative of ‘Divine’, that’s one reason why personally don’t believe in the word ‘Unholy’, just because it’s not Holy to you doesn’t mean it is not Holy to someone else, and just because they are Evil doesn’t make them Unholy
holy and unholy, demonic and divine, they are opposing forces. it’s not like flammable and inflammable.
Except that the word “demon” is derived from Daemon, to mean a lesser god. The Church made it a point to use the term to refer to evil spirits specifically to “demonize” (as the language I am using seems to lack sufficient synonyms for the concept), lesser pagan nature gods.
heck a Eudaemon was specifically an angelic like being of good fortune and protection, agathodaemons were agricultural.
and no demonic and divine are not opposing forces unless you are in a Dualist religion (a god of good and a god of evil), traditional views of a monotheist religion hold that the ONE God is also in charge of evil spirits as well as good and while they may harm humanity are not against the divine forces but work for them. Even in Polytheist systems the so called “demonic” forces are just the monsters, spirits, and lesser gods in service of various other gods.
In fact the concept of “evil supernatural forces that oppose the divine…but are not divine themselves or lead by a god” is a rather modern invention.
ah, you’re using older terminologies.
okay.
for me, i see ‘demon’ as just being spelled incorrectly, as it should be ‘dimen’, short for ‘dimensional’ , as they exist parallel to us, just off-plane, as it were, so can occupy the same space. (just a thought, not based on any existing etymology)
That still wouldn’t make them “opposite” to the divine.
If anything using more “new age” terms makes them even more the same thing. Like saying an “inhuman” haunting or an “elemental”. Where they are one sort of being just how they are perceived by humans is given bias terms based on if the one in question is nice to people, or causes harm.
hypnobubbles: like a female Troll is a Trollope :D
Butt no, there is no such thing as ‘unholy’, just because something is used by a creature of pure evil doesn’t stop it from being holy
To be fair, a lot of supers, even those born with power, do still need to go through a bit of a grind to learn thier powers, learn how to effectively employ thier powers (or gadgets), and the limits to thier powers. In this case, its entierly her own fault for not doing her homework and and entering into a situation without knowing who and what the players on the field are. Even in a world of just mages and such, Vale could have just been another mage who spent her time and effort focusing on physical enhancement magic and who knows what other tricks. Again, entering into situation without knowing your oponent, bad idea. There are no rules that sais mages have to run around in outfits that scream ‘magic user’. Monsters, yes identifying them and thier abilities is fairly easy in most cases, if your familiar with them. Mages on the other hand, not so much depending on the magic user.
Very true, I am reminded of Slayers season 1 where Lina was surprised that the “mummy guy” whose name I forget off the top of my head who up till that point had been a comedic villain knew how to cast the Dragon Slave.
Well, when it was just monsters and mages, she more or less knew what the opposition could do, and had worked hard over many, many, many years to become top of the game.
Then the supers started popping up, and simply threw out the old rules.
Yeah. She’s just now understanding that all of the leveling up and grinding that Sciona’s done lately has earned her mere access to the Nightmare level dungeons. And there are people in PvP there who have spent some time gearing up.
…That’s who Vale reminds me of! One of those scary people in PvP who never changes her costume, doesn’t trash-talk, and barely talks at all. If she dressed in a T-shirt and jeans the resemblance would be perfect.
To be fair the old rules had demigods and divinity units also.
yes but those units have class restrictions on what they can/ will do. Know the class, know the limits. even the ‘evil’ classes have rules (even if it’s just ‘pure chaos’)
Quote from an old GM I knew…
“Then, there was one time… where all the servants of Chaos, as a whole, discarded their robes, and came into town. They came bearing gifts, opened shops, began trade, attended the churches of the Gods, swore fealty to the king, and helped defend the town against several Orc raids. Then they left, and resumed trying to overthrow the empire. That was one of the most unexpected things they had ever done, and it lasted for two weeks.”
When it comes to the various gods of Chaos, the only constant you can count on is Change.
Kill a crowd of people, pet a cute kitty, eat an orphan…They really test your ability to think fast.
O.o
Also reminds me of a Terry Pratchett quote…
“The forces of Chaos always win out against the forces of Order, because they’re so much better organized.”
Heh, that reminds me of part of a Green Lantern comic someone posted on the DCUO forums, where the Yellow Lanterns saved Earth and put it under their protection, and the new leader of the Sinestro Corps was shocked how much the Terrans ended up loving them because the Sinestro Corps was better organised
You can’t even count on change. Every once in a while, the forces of Chaos will act consistent for a while just to throw people off.
Ah!… But that TOO is a type of CHAOS… It’s a CHANGE from what they NORMALLY do… therefore, it shouldn’t throw you off… :D
Chaos will always do the unexpected – so if you’re expecting them to do the unexpected, they’ll do exactly what you expect.
So what do you expect the Chaos Orbs to do next? They seem to be fairly predictable most of the time. Just bobbling around in a circle. Will they do that the next time we see them? Or will they be involved in raining down fire and tentacles?
Or something unexpected?
Aside from “mages”… are you really going to give any merit to her argument about supers?! As if swamp men, vampires, succubi, wererabbits, or fairies need to “work” in order to get their magical supernatural abilities. (Sure, they may go to finishing school, but so do supers… apparently.)
Well, many supers may have to go through the College of Hard Knocks, so they have to be careful that “finishing school” doesn’t finish them off…
I suspect Dave is preparing for a forthcoming fashion house launch, with some boot product placement!
Hey Sciona, how would you like…ANOTHER BOOT TO THE HEAD!
LOL this is when a like button would be good… I know that reference, but I have forgotten it now… where is BttH from?
It is a sketch from the Canadian comedy group “The Frantics”.
The best video version I know of it is this one, that marries the audio from the sketch with Phoenix Wright… it is awesome ^.^ Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFldBVWFgWo
Ah, it is nice to see a fellow fan of Rick Green and crew.
I wonder if our villains will see the gravity of their situation?
If they don’t, they’re sure to become prisoners!
Sciona Gruberman approach that I my instruct you further…
…+1…
Mmm, I don’t think I like I would like that flavour of ice cream!
I first encountered this when it was on Dr. Demento… which says something. Loved it ever since!
When I pass away I hope someone makes sure my will is read in exactly the same manner.
Have you not learned the lesson of Ed Gruberman?
There’s two of them: Last Will and Testament, and Ti Kwan Leap. Both are very funny.
Also ‘Army Careers’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LXxW9Z1Y_o
It isn’t Dave that’s doing the product placement, Deus has already announced he plans to release a boot line. Vale just has an early release version.
Also comes in pink.
Which Archon might not go for. You know, because…military. I’d have to say that soldiers would have to be able to prove their toughness to wear pink combat boots though. Something like The Boy Named Sue.
There really is an army that wears pink uniforms.
Do not underestimate the Ctarl Ctarl empire.
https://i.warosu.org/data/tg/img/0261/74/1374535830898.jpg
Super strength. Potentially flight. Inertial control was mentioned in last weeks comic. That would mimic both.
A high degree of invulnerability and also…. ?
Some kind of mental power of badassery?.
Badass is not a power. It is a way of existence. You can take someone who literally throws silverware and make them a badass purely by how they do something. Somebody once told me…
I need to watch that film again…
What film is that?
Mystery Men. Great film, with William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, Jeanine Garofolo, and Peewee himself as THE SPLEEN.
Aha. I saw that a long time ago and didn’t remember the silverware thing. The guy who is only invisible when no one is looking was pretty memorable, though.
Oh the silverware guy was one of my favorites! “The Blue Rajah.” Who wore green, of course. Loved his fake accent. For total sincerity, though, The Shoveler will always have a special place in my heart.
The Cloak Invisible.
Ironically I can’t see that clip. But I have not finished sorting out all the bits and bobs after reinstalling Windows. So hopefully you can see the invisible.
Yep. Badassery is not a power, it’s an get-it-done attitude or extremely high level of will & determination. Batman is a darn good example in fiction, but there are a lot of non-powered, normal human (as much as Math maintains that there’s no such thing as a “normal” human) real world badasses.
Or potentially short range teleportation. It would explain her Batman like sudden appearances better as well as fit her melee brawler type set better. Harem’s been mentioned as working on a martial arts set that is based on her teleportation. If Vale does in fact posses a teleportation power set at all, I’m pretty sure she not only developed it but also refined it.
That would not explain her being strong enough to push Sciona back, unless she also had super strength, and some other power.
Although teleportation and super strength reminds me of some other power set. Mmm, seems real familiar…
Oh well it could always be explained if they were related, or gained their powers in the same way. Maybe siblings or clones created by some kind of super power.
Meh, but then you would need to have someone with super strength, teleportation and duplication. What are the odds of finding one of those just standing around conveniently nearby?
I didn’t mention the super strength as that’s a given. Also the potential of super defenses too. Of course of note being that super powers thus far don’t have a single source and Mr.D of course being the leading in R&D, you know he’s had to have tinkered around a bit. That also leads to what he has potentially done with Max’s geode…. god knows what he could have gotten from the compounds left inside.
Weight / density and speed can result in hitting hard without super strength.
She may also have a power more elegant for melee than teleportation.
to move dense at speed REQUIRES strength. Density adds weight, to move something heavy fast requires more power (unless you cancel inertia, which would cancel the impact FROM inertia).
Now if you could cancel inertia to get something up to speed then return it for the impact that MIGHT have the effect you’re talking about.
Your second paragraph is an accurate description of how someone would fight if they had self-range inertial powers.
Yep… one of my RPG characters weighed about half a tonne, so a moderate degree of super-strength was required just to be able to throw a punch at normal human speeds. But with so much mass behind it, the force being delivered at that speed is significant.
What about if he threw an RPG?
Wonder if anyone in the Grrrl Power universe has achieved super status by a combination of Martial arts training and learning to tap their Chi thus earning an ancient mystical suit of armor. Said armor being aligned with a constellation.
Math would like a few words …
We haven’t seen him wear armour though
Kaeto, I’m picking up Saint Seiya vibes here, and I never even watched much of that show…
Maybe her powers are the same as Superman’s… the ability to have whatever powers she needs to win?
That’s more Green Lantern than Superman, he could do literally anything he could imagine with his power ring. Seal off dimensions, time travel, read and alter minds, restore super-powers (when plot relevant), transform himself into a robot and more.
Superman has been stated that “He’s as strong as he needs to be.”
He has weird powers like he can throw an afterimage of his symbol from his chest at people to use it at a net purely because it was a convenient power to have at the time, and has “super math” powers that let him change the rules of math apparently.
Green Lantern is pretty ridiculous, but his powers don’t let him rewrite math.
Nah, Gardner re-writes math every time he has to pay his share of the bill :P
Nightmask: you are confusing Constructs, don’t believe any of the spectrum of Lanterns have been able to do any of what you said (not even the White Lanterns)
Nightmask is talking about the Golden and Silver Age Green Lanterns. Before about 1970, Alan and Hal could do literally anything at all that they could imagine as long as it didn’t involve wood or yellow (respectively) in any way.
It helps if you remember that the real inspiration for classic GL is the original version of Aladdin, in which there are two genies — the Genie of the Ring and the Genie of the Lamp.
You talking about the Arab or Asian Aladdin? o_O
Well it was first written down by a Frenchman, but he did purportedly base it on folklore that was of Middle Eastern origin and added it to the Book of One Thousand and One Nights.
Which is fair enough, as that was a collection gradually built up, by a series of authors, based on folklore from a variety of Middle Eastern countries. Which in turn was probably drawn from an older work of Indian origin.
I don’t know. Just because she landed well on a broken I-beam doesn’t mean flight. A certain wall crawler could handle just jumping to that position and sticking that landing. Pardon the potential pun.
I doub’t anyone will give you any static over that one.
You’re just fishing for notice on that one… speaking of which, what kind of bait do you use when fishing? Nightcrawlers?
if she jumped from the window, she would have a bit of a distance to travell.
she also appears there fairly quickly. both of those, means she would have a fair ammount of kinetic energy upon landing.
now, from the way she landed, we can guess a few things.
1) precise landing, implies some manner of “flight correction”(if not an outright flight) capability.
2) despite the above stated kinetic force, she managed to land, on straight legs, without further bending the steal beam. that implies she had some way of removing the excess kinetic force. even if she can survive, the same cannot be said about the steel beam otherwise, and all we got sound wise, was a tap tap.
3) she ot there at high speed, and landed on a relatively smooth surface… at an angle. and she did not slip. the f is up with that?
my personal theory, is some spatial (or inertia as other suggested, not sure about exact difference) kineticist, but the above does certainly sugest at least a possibility of flight, and its not like we’ve seen a flier WITHOUT another power, which is weired cause if i recall thats the only power that appears with others.
Vale has been built up for years, real time. I suspect that whatever powers she has there will be something cool about them.
Musculature enhanced telekinetic adaptation? Whatever she stores becomes additional muscle so over the years/decades she’s been “inactive” she’s been storing up power?
To be a bit more precise in the definition…
Picture a simple jump forward. Most people will think of jumping with one leg forward for the landing. Some will think of a giant leap forward using both arms to gain momentum and to aid in balance on the landing. Now take ALL the muscles you think aren’t involved. Everything from your little finger and toes to your eyelids blinking applied into one jump. Consider that Vale’s base. So in the previous bit when you saw her casually shove someone back by their face she was NOT using full power. On the other hand the immediate exit to the helipad probably was at least half power. What we have here is a natural physical unit in it’s home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYysLFru7u8 like this…
Those of you trying to determine Vale’s powers –
I think flight is unlikely, I doubt she would land just to have to take off again.
Her power set is very likely to be unique as it won’t replicate those we have already seen.
She would have to be quite powerful, strong enough to perhaps even take on Max. (Deus’s main bodyguard is going to be tough he can afford the best – well almost afford the best)
“The best that money can buy” is a handy phrase, for such circumstances. Although I am pretty sure Deus will not limit himself to just money when offering incentives. But many other kinds of incentives can still be bought with money, one way or another. So the phrase is pretty fit for purpose.
Vale obviously has super strength and durability. Flight, possibly, although kinetic control would allow her to jump down to the helipad and land as ‘gentle as a lamb fart’. And Deus DOES have at least half of the geode/space egg that gave Max her powers…
Sure, he has half the geode, but it seems it was the goop inside that did the powerup, not the container.
Well, depending on if there was any residue of the goop left, Deus might have been able to analyze and possibly even replicate it to some degree.
This is all going by my theory that Vale is Deus’ attempt at replicating Maxima’s power, but we will see in time how close that theory is to the mark.
He mentioned that the geode was completely empty, no goop left
While Deus is usually truthful, he has been known to lie, flatly, totally and with a straight face. The presumption is that the goop is all gone, but we can’t rule out that Deus not only has some, but is well on his way to being able to make it by the gallon.
I can’t remember any examples of that (which is not the same thing as ‘he has not’).
See 388 in particular, and the next few. Granted, Deus is talking on a public TV show, where one tries to put everything in the most favorable light, but “leave before I have you shot” is not approval.
For convenience here is a link to the scene in question.
The boxes in the yellow are the words he said on the TV, with the rest fleshing out what actually happened. So what Deus said to the interviewer was:
This was true. The dictator had a heart attack and died! OK it was one induced by a paid minion super, but he spoke the literal truth. He could have been strapped into a lie detector and not had it beep.
Now I grant that the page you cited (the one prior to the linked page) does have Deus playing loose with the truth, in saying:
In this case giving the impression that the way he came round was favourably. But he did not actually say that. So again what he said was true, albeit that he was (again) lying by omission.
So Deus did not claim that he had the dictator’s approval. That was something you inferred, but he did not actually say.
Ironically what supports my contentions the most is in the same panel you quote, namely the line immediately preceding that.
History has shown that what Deus offered was neither impossible nor a lie. He fulfilled the promises to the dictator’s heir and achieved what was claimed to be impossible. Plus he was not bluffing with his threat (a bluff is essentially a lie about the ability to carry out an action). In fact he carried it out instantly.
English assigns a lot of meanings to each word, sometimes direct opposites. but “come along” is pretty clear in meaning here. Note that it starts with “come” [approach] making the normal reading “to accept [reluctantly] the other’s opinion”. To express disagreement, one would use some form of “go”.
Deus surely has lots of sharp lawyers who can argue he wasn’t lying, but we can see he was.
Your translations are good, unfortunately you got the phrase mixed up, it is “came around”, not “come along”.
He was initially sounding out Deus, as to how he would achieve what he promised. Then he quickly came around, to the decision that Deus would be king, so invited him to leave the country.
Makes one wonder what makes Vale so loyal to Deus
Plenty of possible reasons: he pays well, he recognises talent/power, he’s not a dick to everyone, he somehow saved her life/gave her those powers… And that’s just from the top of my head.
Personal history might account in it. They could be pasr/current lovers, old friends, childhood buddies, military partners, related or any weird mix of the previous.
Ladies and gentlemen, *please*. Vale’s reasons are clear. DaveB even foreshadowed it, in a way.
It’s clearly all about the boots.
Do you mean that they are the sole survivors of some calamity?
If so, I don’t think anyone should judge her until they have walked a mile in her boots.
And if they do, and they still don’t like her, they’re a mile away and they have her boots.
Oh I am sure she would give them the boot.
Unless she’s busy going out and about in her boots.
These boots were made for walking, and that is what they’ll do.
These boots are gonna walk all over you!
Kinda surprised the boots don’t have their own Who’s Who entry, honestly.
Oh no! Where will Deus park his other helicopter now?
There are 2 more on the other side of the building.
And 6 on the ground with 3 in the air.
Helicopters are too mundane for Deus. He prefer travelling by UFO.
I see that the boots’ reference picture had the caption:
Nice to know that they do not use hide sourced from carnivorous animals!
I have to wonder just how many pairs of boots you can make from the average vegan…
I wonder at the morality of adopting a vegan diet?
I”m a reverse vegan. I won’t eat anything that did not at some point have a face.
The problem with vegans is they are tough and stringy. They need slow cooking, perfect for sous-vide…
Maybe its not vegan (vee-gan)… Maybe it’s Vegan (Vay-gan… the star and any surrounding planets). Maybe Super powers come from the Vega system… Kinda like women are from Venus and men are from Mars.
Last time I was accosted by a Vegan (vee-gan) I looked at them and calmly said… “My food eats your food and boy does it make my food tasty!” The person got the worst case of the flapping jaw you ever saw… Sounded like Billybob Thronton as Johnny Tyler, the madcap from Tombstonewhen Wyatt smacked him… “I’m-I’m-I’m”
I quite like “if God did not intend us to eat meat he would have not made it so tasty.”
Usually omitting my preferred feminine pronoun, as that usually confuses them too much.
Eh, we’re opportunistic omnivores. Our niche, in part, is being able to eat or find a way to safely eat almost anything. Look up how Iceland folk figured out how to safely consume Greenland sharks.
Part of what makes us human (no offense, Yorp) is that we figured out how to cook.
To be fair, it’s also what makes dogs dogs as well. Eating just about everything is a trait shared by only a few species:
Humans, Dogs, Sharks, and Goats.
Just to insure you aren’t poisoning your pets.
Dogs CANNOT eat almost anything. They are carnivores with omnivorous leanings. And a great deal of common foods humans consume…are poisonous to dogs.
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/people-foods-avoid-feeding-your-pets
Might I recommend switching it into a question?
“If God did not intend for us to eat meat then why is meat so tasty?”
“Because we want angels frolicking on our taste buds!”
https://i.imgur.com/1uZv1p9.jpg
LOL.
Good sign.
I love that sign.
Meat is proof God wants us to be happy.
I tell them that I am a vegetarianinarian.
Being a vegan is easy! I just take a bunch of veggies, wrap them in bacon, dip them in egg, roll them in a seasoned bread coating, and deep-fry them in hot lard.
I’ve never felt healthier!
BTW, vegetables are what food eats.
And fruit is not food. Fruit is vegetables that trick you by tasting good.
It’s okay cranberries that go on my Turkey… he knows not of what he speaks.
In that situation, cranberries are not fruit, but spice/seasoning for the turkey. Yum!
Potatoes and bread products (rolls n such)are there to soak up the blood.
Noticed it too.
Ugh. You cannot be badass while wearing faux leather. I mean, what’s the point of wearing something that’s supposedly leather but isn’t?
You find the best pictures…
Seriously, cows? Douche nozzles, every last one.
Not as bad as squirrels, but worse than cats.
vegan leather… WTF? OK, roll with it…
Leather sourced from vegans: meerling beat me to that
Leather that only eats vegetables: make sure the leather treatments used are all vegetable oils. Otherwise the shoes get upset and break up with you.
On the other hand, cows are technically vegans, unless something odd was added to their feed. So all cow leather is vegan.
Well, technically all cattle follow a vegan diet. Well, aside from the occasional insect or two.
Unfortunately the “high protein” feed they are given contained a significant amount of waste cow until the practice was outlawed thanks to bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Aphthae epizooticae. Mind you the paper trails do get faked or misplaced when $$$ are at stake. Thank you 1%
Soylent green is cow? I am pretty sure they do that with commercial chickens too.
See! Now that is why I don’t watch TV.
No worries, Yorp! I’m absolutely certain that NO ONE would EVER put dog meat in dog food.
Well, 90% certain.
“All our horses are 100% horse-fed for that double-horse “juiced-in” goodness.”
I think it’s meant to be Vegetable Tanned Leather.
Nope, man-made leather (they need a way to cull politicians and other human-tics)
Well most politicians are very thick skinned with a significant mucous coating that prevents most of the material they fling at each other from sticking as well as allowing them to get out of many tight situations.
Is that a trope inversion of some kind that Vale wears those heels and is still somewhat short?
It may be that everyone near her usually is tall.
Although the kind of power she’s showing her makes her stature kind of irrelevant…
She’s shorter than most of the supers in the continuity, but I think there’s probably a specific reason for that.
Or….. Maybe these are a pair of magical boots that give the wearer super-like abilities. Deus picked Vale since she was the one he found who could fit into them.
(And now I am imagining the scenario of Deus having a Cinderella-like shoe fitting quest through his employee ranks trying to find the one who fit the shoe.)
Cobblers. That would take leprechauns, and we know that they were all incinerated when the sun formed!
xkcd ftw.
What we don’t know yet is that Vale is actually a 50 foot giantess with the super power to shrink herself to 10% her normal size (thus being only about 5 feet tall), but retain full physical strength/mass when she wishes.
So, the title of today’s comic should really be ‘Attack of the 50 Foot Woman’ ?
P.S.
The math says she would weigh about 50,000 pounds at 50 feet. Stalwart claimed at the fight to weigh as much as the space shuttle (165,000 lbs). So he could still beat her at tug of war if he could get a good foothold.
They got one sturdy elevator then. She also must have very impressive control if she didn’t break any buttons earlier.
https://www.tmi-comic.com/comic/compilation/2013-compilation/#jp-carousel-3027
Not high heels – grav boots.
She’s Maxima 2.0?
That has yet to be tested, but Max will be there soon….
To be honest, initially thought that that was Maxi landing in the middle of someone elses fight
Yea. Took me a moment to decide those were not army-issue booties.
Well, not yet, she never did get back to Deus about being a foot-model for him…
Deus may be crazy but apparently his employees are loyal to him and as long as they don’t betray him it’s implied that he is loyal to them as well as long as they don’t betray
him it’s imply that he not only treats them well but won’t open quote unqoute sell them out or throw them under the bus without significant betrayal on their part first
5K?
road race, you know running. Is about a 3.2 mile run, usually there is a 5K around just look in your local paper.
I see, thanks.
…and messed up on my first try at replying. >.<#
Ah, thanks.
My roommate has those boots. If it weren’t for the heel, they would easily fit inside my shoes. I now am going to have trouble viewing Vale as anything over 5’2″.
Using this as a reference, I’d guess Vale is 5 foot 7 inches or 5 foot 8. Minimum height for a super probably. Peggy said.that Harem was 5′ 8″ and the shortest super in ARC-SWAT.
Should have mentioned, that’s based on Sydney being 5′ 0″ as listed on the Wiki which seems to have been basically copied from the cast page before that got lost and has been updated since, including that Cooter and Wyrmil are merged.
Good sets of data and interpretation.
Which again makes me wonder if she’s actually a natural super or is instead some ‘artificially made’ super, or some cyborg/android (and before anyone says an android or cyborg couldn’t be equivalent to a super, I will bring up Android 18 from DBZ :)
Well a cyborg is a human with upgraded parts, but a android is a full machine…
Also, Vale would technically be a Gynoid, as she’s female.
“Gynoid” isn’t a technical term, so technically she wouldn’t technically be a gynoid.
Nerds.
This forum is basicaly nerd central.
I’m happy to be here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZVdR19E5mU
If you are happy here and you know it, You Are A NERD!
Except in the case of Androids in DBZ, where the androids are actually usually cyborgs :)
That would explain how ‘Android’ 18 was able to have kids
You are mixing up two very different types of beings.
A cyborg is a person whose physical abilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by mechanical elements built into the body.
An android is a robot with a human appearance.
18 and her brother were biologically engineered instead of being 100% mechanical like their predecessors, which IIRC Cell destroyed as useless trash.
To further confuse matters, please allow me to introduce a distant relative of my own, the Bowman’s Wolf.
That is an Artificially enhanced and modified organism. A GMO at the highest level.
Although at this level I think *Bio-Enhanced Organism* is more common a term, although that can be both something made artificially that can reproduce its self, or an already living organism enhanced while alive.
I tinkered with this for an erotica series, GMO-pets, Monster Mates, *a sci-fi version of the whole monster girl scene where people created techno-organic and gene-spliced constructs in the shapes of these*.
Although I kind of want Freefall to delve a little deeper, as in how much of her is genetics only, and how much is implanted cells after or during development. Like the commands issue and external access through her hand we saw when Dr. Bowman *who is himself a more direct GMO rather than the level he created*.
Ahh, but what is not mentioned in the wiki, but which does play a big part in the comic, is that Bowman’s Wolves are artificial intelligence robots. Whilst they use organic components, they are otherwise the same as the robots made of metal and electronics, in the same setting.
They do not fall under the category of ‘android’ though, because they lack human form.
Dr. Bowman designed the brain from what I recall; making them artificial intelligence. However the robots on the planet of this setting were modeled after Dr. Bowman’s neural design *Something Florence discovered when curious why these robots were so different from those on other planets*. Only taking the designs and modifying them for mechanical structures rather than the other way around. the Neural pruning and structural forms matched.
No dear puppy, Florence and the robots are AI, butt Florence is not a robot
Ahh, but even the dictionary does not stipulate that robots must be made of metal:
The key distinction being the difference between something which evolved naturally (or was made by the hand of God, at your preference) versus an artificially made machine.
The Bowman’s Wolves were designed and programmed, complete with operating rules designed to make them safe for humans.
Of note even the word originated from the Czech word robota. Meaning slave, serfdom or drudgery.
A robot is an intelligent tool designed to work for humans. Which is what Florence is in that story. She is property owned by a corporation, with no rights herself. She can be bought, sold or destroyed at her owner’s whim.
Now morally I object to people being enslaved. But that is precisely the situation in that story. Fortunately in an enlightened society where they have chosen to give extra rights to robots, in recognition of their status as people.
If you wish to contest that Florence is not a robot, and the law there agrees with that (which the story does play with in classing her as an animal at other times), then she will not benefit from the extra rights granted to robots. She will revert to still just being, at best, an owned pet.
* OK the protagonist has found that she can subvert those, but such is a problem with true artificial intelligence. Especially when it exceeds human levels.
Android 17 and 18 started off as humans and Gero turned them into cyborgs with techno-organic parts rather than mechanical. Cell is a grown construct a Techo-Organic life form.
Gero himself as Android 20….is a cyborg, however in the same sense as Ghost in the Shell where its a brain in a fully prosthetic body.
Techno-Organics in sci-fi really blur some lines on what qualifies as a cyborg when it can be grown, its parts grown and put together *Blade Runner, Outlaw Star*, or can even reproduce *ArTonelico, Tenchi Muyo OVA 4 / War on Geminar*
I’m not confusing anything. I’m saying what DBZ says. They’re the ones who are calling Androids 16, 17 and 18 (and 21) androids when they’re actually different types if cyborgs of different levels of mechanical augmentation. And no, Cell’s the one that was fully biological, not Androids 17 and 18.
That’s because with the English translation THEY Called them androids, the original if I remember correctly translates to something like ‘artificial humans’ which could conceivably overlap with cyborgs like Androids 17 and 18, robots like Android 16 or genetic constructs like Cell. Translation issues are always something to watch out for in such cases.
And that’d be with the boots on.
That is a good point that I’d neglected. So…
Sydney is 5’0, let’s say 5′ 1″ with her uniform boots in that scene.
Vale appears almost a head taller than Sydney (at 5′ 1″) so let’s say Vale is at 5′ 8 3/4″.
Per Dave’s reference, Vale’s boots add 4 3/4″, which would put Vale, without boots, at around 5 foot 4 inches.
I’m amazed that Sciona didn’t toss Vale out the window first,unless Vale can manipulate gravity?!?
why gravity? there are so many other powers and you go with gravity? 0.o
Depending on the strength and control of the gravity manipulator, gravity control is pretty much the uber power.
Yep short of the vague (Reality Manipulator),
Gravity manipulation is up there on the OP power types.
Gravikinesis,
Psychokinesis,
Electromagnekinesis,
Particle Manipulation,
Atmokinesis,
and
Dimension Distortions/Manipulations
Considering how effortlessly Vale pushed Sci-fright back, and how was holding on to whom…
I think we found a worthy opponent for Max for the bikini mud wrestling competition.
One of the tropes of my Supers RPG is that all of the villains are “pretty fucking sick of these supers”.
Seriously, they just ruin your day.
The PCs get really annoyed when the villains work extra hard to hide the evidence of their crimes… or presence… or existence.
That seems to be a common outlook.
Mind you it is a challenge from the GM end of things to create a smart affable villain without using DEM.
Nice subversion, to make one who’s name is that, but who does not employ deus ex machina.
No point, since he hired Vale.
So what was the first worst landing?
Jetpack testing.
Shopvacs were required for the cleanup.
Weeks to get rid of the smell.
Depending on whose roof this is. It seems she was launched at an arc, with enough force to hit like an artillery shell, so this building might as well be quite far.
So what are the odds that the roof with the helipad is the ACR HQ?
Very low. We have seen the HQ and the architecture does not match.
That said the HQ does have civilian areas. And Machina Industries is the chief supplier of super toys to Archon. So they are bound to have a presence in that HQ. Plus Dave did tweak the top of the HQ for the swimming pool scene.
I just cannot see someone with the ego and country-owning wealth of Deus not having his personal office anywhere other than at the top of a skyscraper. And we did see Sydney and Maxima going to see him in one.
Well, he hired this pilot name Launchpad on reference from one of the other ultra-wealthy individuals, but it didn’t exactly turn out so well for him…
So, will Harem prefer the skybox view, a front row seat, or both?
Yes
When you have five sets of eyes, and can teleport them, you can have ALL the views.
Dave, Don’t worry about the falling glass. In most Avengers fights in downtown New York we have at least one such occurrence. Especially if we get a Hulk handclap that sends out a shock wave breaking every window within a city block and sending a glass-alanche of shards raining down on hundreds of pedestrians below.
Also, I guess most comic universes don’t have the the safety regulations requiring high-rise windows be made out of tempered glass that breaks up into tiny bits.
https://www.yunteam.com/upfile_temp/445_1/20170106131642472.jpg
This is the windows for Deus’ office. That’s not going to be tempered glass. It’s going to be rocket repellent (two better than bulletproof) glass, which means it won’t turn into a thousand cubes of shrapnel when hit. So, that gives you a better idea what kind of force was used that the glass actually broke.
Interesting.
I wonder if it also shark-repellent?
Cause sharknado.
sharknado = shark propellant
No superhero landing? i’m disappointed! And how far does Vale go in the power scale? Almost Max’s level nor not?
Heh. Everyone is going for Maxima as the yardstick. Not exactly an average choice, given that Maxima is the the most powerful super known.
Which makes me want to meet a super who just has one star rating, on the super power scale. I.e. a couple of levels below Peggy – who is not even super-powered!
Maybe Sydney’s newly hired assistant, at the comic shop, will open a box that had a widget intended for Sydney. But instead of whatever effect the sender intended on Sydney it gives Olivia super powers. Really lame ones, based on her immediate environment.
• The ability to instantly sort comics into alphabetic order, by title or other category.
• Eidetic recall of every piece of comic trivia.
• The ability to become invisible, but only to nerds.
We already have Math as the best Badass Normal in this world. But Dave already introduced ppl with mundane powers, like the guy that that manipulate fabrics or the girl with different visions.
And lets not forget the Baconator. Truly the most powerful super of them all.
Or the Slow Eviscerator.
*Eventual Eviscerator ;)
Being able to reference Kevin Bacon at any time is far more powerful.
Or being able to convince people that you know Kevin Bacon.
Truly, it is the power of the gods.
The difference is that Iron Cloth’s powers are actually quite profound. Every member of Arc-SWAT is being protected by him, even when he is in the HQ fitting General Faulk for a new uniform. I bet he is in demand from presidents and prime ministers around the world, along with every other celebrity or person in need of bullet/cut resistant clothing.
Plus he has a bunch of other options that he can use even in personal combat. Check out the comments around the time he was introduced, for a selection. So he certainly would be nowhere near the low end of the scale. Plus he has ninja henchmen!
I don’t think his powers are that profound. I would consider his power item manipulation based. Granted Kevlar based clothing which is as light and comfortable as a personally tailored silk shirt is pretty freaking awesome it’s probably just like that until it needs to revert.
Strong without a doubt, but globally being kept in place? No. These are item alteration powers. Otherwise he sleeps ONCE and everything needs to be remade or reconnected to the power source.
You are making an assumption which goes contrary to what we have seen in the comic. Halo has been issued her combat gear, and has been told that it is twice as effective as regular Kevlar. At no point was she warned that the effectiveness can cut out suddenly (when the tailor sleeps), nor has she had to go back every day to get it put back up to full strength.
This comic is not putting MMOLG or tabletop limits on how the super powers work. It is taking the power and see what happens. Look at how the guy who can fill up empty vessels, can treat himself as one, to refill his blood. So that sexy vampiresses can snack on him each night!
Likewise the geomancer, who could potentially destabilise the world economy. But who is happy to limit his abuse of his power, to prevent that. This is not a game mechanic limitation, it is a moral choice that the person made.
He manipulates matter, to move it around. Iron Cloth controls the friction that matter in place. He alters the force that binds matter together, to fortify it.
These are really profound effects. The fact that he specialises in using them just on clothing is a career choice, not necessarily an absolute limit of his power.
Superman has the same problem. If you have super powers of any sort in the DC landscape your compared to Superman on something called The Palmer scale. Does it matter if you’re better or worse than then he is. And what’s so messed up about that is that average people in DC have never seen was Superman’s truly freaking capable of Adventures have any clue just how much he’s holding back when he’s on the DC Earth.
So looking for something in the
Null,
Z,
and
F
class ranking.
Well how about
Null class:
Aquarium Man:
https://rhuen1.deviantart.com/art/Super-Hero-Aquarium-Man-726150578
*I don’t have any Z-class characters…*
F class…eh maybe high F low D when I think about it.
Slug Slime:
https://rhuen1.deviantart.com/art/Super-Hero-Slug-Slime-722810036
Yea, gaining the ability to only breathe fresh water, but not air, would be rated as a zero star rating I think. Making them not even as versatile as a muggle.
Although still giving scope for some very specific roles. But even when you look at, say, becoming a police diver, to look for people missing near bodies of water, there is little margin. Sure he would be able to keep looking indefinitely, rather than having to come up and get fresh air tanks. But to offset that would be the cost and time taken for transporting him in a water tank, to that location!
Not to mention the significant risk he would take in being in a mobile tank. Any leak and his ‘air’ starts to drain away.
So he would only gain real benefit if stationed on a large lake, or major river, by a big city. And many would be excluded (including London, as an example) due to there being a lot of sea water. He would only be able to operate far enough upriver that tidal salt water is not present.
OK, it looks like she’s only dazed after breaking through steel girders. I guess she can be forgiven for wearing an armor with a cleavage window…
Inverse armor; the less it covers the more it protects.
Only dazed? No, I’m going with mildly annoyed.
Only mildly? Well, the fight has only just started… (or did it just end?)
Just started. The popcorn says that.
While Vale is apparently much the stronger of the two, it is easy to have Sciona not to have used her full strength up until now. Maybe it causes her to have good and decent thoughts.
However, the main reasons would seem to be meta. Comics have almost a law that whoever wins on the current page will lose on the next page, and win on the page after that, and… until enough pages have gone by. So Sciona is going to start winning next time.
Sciona is also the Big Bad of the moment. Having her lose to a 2nd banana [Vale is just Deus’ minion] just reduces her threat level. Much more likely is that Sciona beats Vale, maybe not like a drum, and maybe by non-muscle means, but quite definitely, but Vale is saved by the arrival of Max and friends.
Or, you are seriously under-estimicatining just how powerful Vale is simply because she has decided to work for Deus (should point out that Miss Kobayashi has a literal dragon as a maid, while Miss K is simply an Office Lady)
[Kobayashi does not ring a bell, and I suspect the 2 cases are different because the dragon is not a measure of foe power]
The main point is that the plot calls for Sciona to be built up as much as possible. She has got to be a serious threat to our heroes. every time she loses, to anything really, she becomes less of a threat. Having Vale beat her up just makes the heroes’ victory over her that much less.
Now humans are complex, and we routinely find exceptions, and exceptions to the exceptions, and… So there could be something like building up Vale to be a future foe, But this looks to be years in the future if it happens at all, and is easy to achieve then without the loss to the current threat. So Vale is likely to take a pounding here.
“Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid”, it’s both a manga and an anime
And a dragon is still a damn dragon
Who says that Vale has to become the next Big Bad? o_O
Its late, but I think what you mean is the “Worf Effect”
When a character is TOLD to the audience to be really strong but every time we see them, they are getting their butt kicked. This is meant to make the audience feel the next big threat or being encountered is really powerful or dangerous; but if we never see the first party actually earn the title and not just told they have it, like Worf did on Star Trek TNG, then it just makes them look weaker than advertised.
Truth is Sciona has shown some strength and danger, just comic time is slow to real time, if this was an animated series we’d be at like episode 5 of 6 maybe *not taking time padding into account*…in which case as would be needed closer to 12 if not 15…but I digress.
She was shown planning attacks ahead of time, taking down Pixel, an elder vampire, surviving certain death and somehow using an orc or troll body as a host, and killing one of her own.
She has suffered a bit of a worf effect since getting her true form. We see her wings can do damage, but she seems to have lost her clue and tactical skills in her latest endeavor, and being thrown off her game. But in-series this is fairly recent, and Deus has thrown her off her game.
It seems Deus wasn’t kidding about Vale’s capabilities, back when he compared her and Sciona in the Vault.
And for what you said about writing… you are absolutely right.
One of my big complaints in more recent literature had to do with the Twilight series. As I told one person who thought my issue was just its nature as a tween pseudo-dark love story, “My issue is that, for a good writer, you come up with the scene and the setting, and then you write the characters reacting to it. The characters you made should have motivations, personalities, and an understanding of the world. In Twilight, however, it felt like the author wrote their reactions to facilitate the plot. The characters didn’t act and respond the way they did because it felt natural to them; they reacted the way they did because the plot needed them to react the way they did. That’s bad writing. If you’re doing your job as a writer right, then your characters are going to surprise you, and sometimes they’ll even mess up your plot. If you’re really good, it’ll happen a lot.”
Vale just messed up your plans, simply because she wouldn’t have your nonsense as a writer to not have her put up with Sciona’s crap.
Good job, mate. Good job, indeed.
I have been wondering for a long time why Twilight was so massively popular. I read all four books because my sweetheart was reading them and I wanted to like what she liked. The first three were a bit of a slog and the fourth one (where Bella finally got powers) was pretty fun. There was one moment that had me cackling like mad: when the precog and the telepath played chess…and just stared at the board. Aside from that I don’t remember anything that was really a ‘wow’ moment.
Whatever it was, it clearly works — 50 Shades copied its formula and made all the money despite being an objectively awful piece of writing with unlikable characters and no real surprises.
Sparkly vampires ====> sado masochistic torture, murder & psychological drama?
I don’t think so!
Actually, ’50 Shades’ did start out as bad ‘Twilight’ fanfiction (or was it ‘bad ‘Harry Potter’ fanfiction? it was bad fanfiction of one of those series)
I sit corrected.
That said though I still fail to see where there has been ‘copying of the formula’. Bearing in mind I have only seen the films (all of them, in both respective settings), so if it is only apparent in book form then that would make sense.
Twilight is all teen angst, in a school setting, even if the boy is an immortal. Whereas in 50 Shades one protagonist is a middle-aged investigative journalist, whilst the other is an abused girl who works as a hacker and private investigator.
If the formula is meant to be ‘young girl + old man’, it breaks down badly in a major element. Namely that when the sparkly vampire will still be like a teenager when his girlfriend is dying of old age (unless she too becomes immortal). Whereas the journalist will be the one dying before the private investigator girl. One wanting to do anything she could to remain with her guy, the other preferring to go off on her own.
But, I can see that the film adaptation of Fifty Shades would have wanted to distance itself from Twilight. And books can do a lot of things like conveying inner thoughts and desires, which would not translate well into film.
If the 50 S. books are full of teen angst and unfulfilled yearning, then I am quite glad that I keep to my policy of only either reading the books or watching the film, but never both.
Yeah, it was bad Twilight fanfiction.
Writing-wise, it was basically possible because it didn’t take much to fantasize Edward as being rich and twisted; he was already immortal and messed up. Taking him from “always watching like a creepy stalker” to “abusive, manipulative, always-watching-my-life horrifying stalker” wasn’t hard. As for the female lead, well, Bella had literally no personality, so changing her to something else with little to no personality was easy.
That’s actually the only clever part of the writing. The female lead was essentially a hollow shell of a character. The result is that it was easy for the reader to put themselves into that role. Bella and whatever the female lead in 50 S. was named only had the personality that the reader put into them; the friggin’ goddess in whathername’s HEAD had more personality than the main character.
Other than that, I think 50 S. is pretty solid proof that if Peter Griffin from Family Guy had written porn books like they did in that one episode, it probably really would have worked.
Pray for literature. Pray for it. It needs our help.
I honestly couldn’t tell you why it worked; I think it was just luck and timing. I won’t deny that it was commercially successful, but let’s face it. Just because something makes a lot of money doesn’t mean it’s good, has any redeeming qualities beyond making money, or stands as an example of its chosen artform. Many times, the only reason something like it is remembered a decade later is when people talk about crazy trends and fads that for some reason got big.
Twilight is the mullet hair style of writing. It was everywhere, everyone thought it was a good idea at the time, and it was pretty darn terrible. :D
The glass shards really do look cool. But I think most high rises use safety glass or laminated glass. But, to be fair, I don’t think they were designed with Super fights in consideration. =^.^=
And those boots are cute. It’s interesting but the overall design of a shoe (or boot, in this case) can actually make a foot look smaller.
Deus knows the building codes but he has demonstrated that he is showman at heart. He put in standard glass in his office windows specifically for the purpose of ‘Dramatic Defenestration’.
If ARC-LIGHT/ARC-DARK keeps a casual watch on Deus (which they should), someone is putting down their coffee cup, leaning forward in their chair, and hitting a button usually shielded by a plastic cover.
But Harem did it first, which will, of course, lead to some interesting questions, and an epic ass chewing by Max later…
unless archon already knows that she works for deus, and unoffucially approved of it for that very reason. MIND GAMES! all according to keikaku and all that stuff.
I had just inferred that Harem ‘Vorps’ directly to the inside of Deus’s building, safe from being seen by any facet of ARC.
But now a ‘most wanted’ has blown her way into said building (and gotten blown out again)
Unless given Archon works with Deus’ company that Harem had some official business there at the time. Maxima was there before with Sydney to pick up some equipment.
Yea. There are several routes this could go. One variant within the branch you propose is that Deus put in a call to Harem to provide urgent information, regarding potentially dangerous items. Even if she was just there for her usual hand over of confidential Archon information to Deus.
Normally this kind of claim could not credibly be made though, due to logging of call times and other information which would discredit the claim on even cursory investigation.
However Deus supplied all of the tech that Archon use. You can guarantee that if Deus makes such a claim the logs will all corroborate that, in a way that no forensic examination could debunk.
And Deus is a Machiavellian enough player that he probably would not even have to tamper with the logs. Sciona did leave prematurely, so it would not take too much foresight to anticipate that someone as hot-headed as her would come calling soon. So Deus could have even called via a receptionist, to ensure that there would be a witness, in addition to any electronic trail. Deus would not want to cast any suspicion on his own equipment, after all.
One problem with that is: Harem is too far down the totem pole (as in, below the base) to even know about the Council let alone know about any of the goodies (or baddies) Deus stole from the Council
Wasn’t Harem part of the Sciona and magic server relays event?
Yes. I had originally wondered how Harem could know about Sciona, in the first place. Given that the point that has repeatedly been made about her not being allowed into meetings that are ‘above her pay grade’.
However Harem was on every team that was searching for Sciona. So clearly she does know that much at least. And it would be very hard (but not impossible) to try and keep the Council secret when she was being exposed to so many members of the supernatural there.
That said though we need to factor in the Veil. With that it is possible, as all the weird critters on the teams could look like humans (or something else plausible for their role). So it may be that Harem only thinks that Sciona is a superhuman.
And Deus will just add the damage to the price of the first artifact.
I seriously doubt that he will sell her anything. Other than the right to look at securely stored artefacts, that Sciona would not be able to steal. And she already turned down that offer.
Deus’s aspect is greed. If Sciona offers the right price, I bet he would sell anything but his manhood (he’s obviously waaaaay too attached to that to sell it).
… and now that I type that first sentence, we’ve already seen lust demons and violence-powered humans. Is Deus a greed-powered human? He already is in the non-magical sense but maybe he is in a magical sense also.
Deus freely gave Halo a cutting edge rebreather. Likewise he found and offered to return Maxima’s geode half, with no strings attached. Likewise he was quite willing to allow Sciona to take whatever artefacts she prioritised, with no hint that he would contest her doing so.
All of which could have cynical motivations based on expectations of greater returns (or in Sciona’s case less immediate risk). However we have also seen that he has elevated an impoverished country to the point where the average citizens have a high quality of life, and love him for that.
Whereas most greedy people, who gain control of a country, siphon off as much wealth as they can, and give no regard to the suffering of the people.
So, yes, he has sought to acquire great wealth and power. But I would not say that greed dominates him to the degree that you conclude.
This is correct. Deus does not play the short greed game. We know for a fact it’s the megalomania path.
He has read the evil overlord list, that much is obvious.
So is he trying to uplift the third world country that he gained control of A la Lativara inspiration from dr. Doom kind of thing?
A well fed happy peon is a productive and loyal peon.
Overall long term profits are up and there is little chance for a hostile takeover.
Also the PR helps reduce the cost of expansion into other markets.
+1
I.E. intelligent greed.
Burning his deal with Mephisto that is pretty much how Doctor Doom is often portrayed as running Latveria. The people have essentially all they need so long as they obey Doom they suffer no true hardships. Yet at the same time once a year when Doom tries to free his mother from Mephisto grasp and fails his people hate him a little bit more. He’s also shown to be an environmentalist in a lot of depictions
Translation: “I’m getting really angry that there are people capable of fighting back.”
“-without having to spend years getting to my level”
that part would be more a human fighter ego thing.
For a supernatural being its more a *It shouldn’t matter how much they train I should be the ultimate dark power ever* type of ego.
Also why many Demon lords and such tend to lash out at gods, especially in *Rock, Paper, Scissors* settings where no matter how strong a demon lord gets, even relatively speaking, the gods of those setting can just brush off their powers and repel them with a touch.
Well i can follow Sciona’s sentiment. Repeatedly having it hammered in just how superior supers is to the rest of the supernatural world is starting to grate a bit.
And at the same time makes it harder and harder to take Sciona as a credible threat.
I think Sciona is more ‘Batmanesque’ in her modus operandi. Once she knows what she is dealing with, she uses the appropriate blood (and blood magic) to counter it.
Well given that golem thing she made, she can clearly be a credible threat, the problem is that she needs time and resources and can’t just barrel headfirst into a situation like she did here.
Agreed. Likewise with Tarne‘s comment.
She’s obviously decked out to the teeth if you look at her gear. Her problem is her intel on what she would be facing is fairly lackluster. I’m guessing she knew that, and was assuming she would attempt to address lack of intel by overcompensating in her gear (which judging by her actions, she thought she had). She was just wrong in assuming that overcompensating for lack of intel still wasn’t compensating enough.
When in doubt of Sciona’s threat level, look back to the pages where she had people strung up like IV bags and killed her own teammate for ONE item.
Her power level is likely fairly high, but her threat looks to fall more into Carnage levels, a psychopath with super powers and a massive ego.
I hope it turns out at some point that the supernatural/magic side has a purpose in the story beyond being inferior to supers. The magic side villain is rather pathetic the council is rather help/useless and they don’t even make good Worfs since that would require them to be formidable first. But well that can still change I guess.
To the contrary, Sciona has already shown herself to be a formidable foe. Just because Napoleon was beaten by Wellington did not mean that he was incapable. Sciona has been defeated, but not without showing considerable capabilities, and indeed coming very close to victory, more than once.
Sciona has the problem that she is used to the old status quo, and has not adapted to the fact that there are new players who are strong enough to oppose her. So she has either failed to modify her plans or has underestimated them.
It was only the unexpected presence of the Archon supers, at the Twilight Council chamber, which prevented her opening attack from wiping out the majority of the leaders (and maybe a fair proportion of the other delegates too). She had ensured the mannequins had weapons optimised to take out a wide variety of supernaturals. But nothing prepared for the supers.
Even then though they were giving the lesser supers a run for their money.
Then, later, at the Mars warehouse, Sciona took out an invisible super, who has jaguar stealth, laser claws and phenomenal regeneration, without batting an eye. Plus killed the main protagonist (or would have done worse)! In that case she was saved by a supernatural (Krona), not a super.
*wibbles tongue at Panda*
Further, had Maxima not lucked out, in that the power-duplicating construct had it’s mental-attack ray damaged, her strong will would not have been sufficient to protect her against that attack.
With the world’s most powerful super either incapacitated or, even worse, falling under the control of Sciona, the rest of the team present would have been wiped out. They were barely holding on.
And this against just one of Sciona’s minions.
I think you are being unfairly dismissive of both her and the supernatural. Plus they have profoundly changed the direction of the story. There is now a whole ‘hidden war’ going on that the general public are not aware of. Which constrains and shapes the decisions that the heroes have to make.
Not to mention throwing serious conflicts of interest and moral decisions in their path. There are many subtle layers to this which you have failed to appreciate (or at least to acknowledge).
…Sciona must be glad she wore the armor if Vale yoinked her, by her face, hard enough to crater the helipad(DaveB, I hope you Rule of Cool’d her faceplate because Sciona hates eating high-speed bugs).
On another topic, the Council members come off relatively lame because we’ve maybe seen three of the SVs in combat and they weren’t working as a team(the search groups were thrown together on the spot ).
Having had a relationship, of some sort, with Maxima in the past, I am not surprised that Deus recruited a super with qualities similar, as he will probably need protection from Max sometime in the future.
Possibly, rather than probably. But a solid argument none-the-less.
The villain is out the window, through the uprights, and onto the helipad. The Vikings take control and attempt to escort her to super-prison, but the villain escapes. Once again the Vikings prove that they can’t finish what they start.
*Head banging on desk*
What? o_O
Yea. I get the ‘not finishing taking over
VinelandAmerica’ but…[whoooooooshh]
*looks up*
Not sure what that was swooping by overhead?
Never seen a game of supervillainball?
… what?
I live in Minnesota. This year, the Vikings came so close to playing the Superbowl in their own home stadium. I am old enough to have watched all four of the Superbowls that the Vikings played, and lost, in. The team has a solid reputation of starting games well, then seizing defeat from the jaws of victory in the second half.
So, for you uber-nerds out there, this was a RL sports reference, and not really all that important in relation to Grrl Power in the least.
Ahh. Gotcha.
So is that the one with the bat and ball, or the one where you play football with a rugby ball?
;-)
Yeah, it is a variation of Rugby where there are more structured rules, the wearing of body armor and more time spent huddling together and waiting to do things than actually running around looking for who has the ball.
And lots of butt-slapping and kneeling.
And they spend only around 10 minutes of actual game time on the field (learnt that watching “The Chase”)
for the glass thing you talked about you could just say shockwave broke the other glass planes
It is more a matter that there was not much glass left to shatter. But Vale could have chosen a nice unbroken section, to make her point. Or to land Sciona where it would not impact on the company’s operations too badly.
Looking back it looks like Sciona broke only one pane on her way in and there are 2 broken in this one so Vale may have launched her out though a new pane.
Three initially. But the side two were only partly broken.
How do we know she went out the same side of the room she came in?
Two things that definitely deserve mention. If there’s a 50K or whatnot going on, falling glass is the least of their problems.
The second, if that’s the SECOND worst landing that helipad’s seen, I shudder to think of what the actual worst landing was.
It’s what inspired them to have two helipads.
i think i am sensing…. CONTINUITY ERRORS!!!
the window panels!!
when sciona enters, we see one completely broken (with adjacent damaged), two furthere away from deus, and one wisible towards deus, technically no wall end.
vale is also adjacent tot he desk
when slow push happens, we do see the end of the windows, and a wall. so all things cosidered, there has to be 1 or 2 max panels towards deus, from the destroyed one. so 4 or 5 total.
also, only one wall has windows.
on this page, we see 6! window panels, two of which are broken.
no hate here, i am sure acounting for every stupid detail must be a pain in the ass, i just like to make myself look smarter than i am by pointing out stuff you only notice in hindsight.
also, the rof overhang appears to be flush with the windows, and extending a good distance from them. But when sciona enters there is no sign of them? again, details.
Alternatively there is nothing to say that Vale had to send Sciona out of the same side of the building that she came in. Nicely sorting any other continuity issues.
That does fix them quite nicely, and it follows that Sciona would come in from a more street direction, but in an effort to avoid potentially costly lawsuits with passerbys that she would be knocked further into the complex.
…
I now wonder how many people are using this info to map Deus’s base?
The previous scene with Max and Deus in his office show 3 windows.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2047
The in-fenestration scene with Sciona shows (at least) 4 windows.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2748
Today’s de-fenestration scene shows a row of at least 6 (maybe different) windows outside.
It could be that the whole side of his office is windows, but the marble and wood panels we see as walls might be inside that row of windows and slide across as needed to act as security/blast panels.
(Note: The sliding panels are controlled by a remote that was made to look very much like his thunder clicker, leading to misuse of said devices at dramatic moments and concealed mirth by his design team.)
the first one has to be a different room.
looks more like a conference office, which he might have chosen knowing maxima would come, dont remember if it was scheduled.
this one looks more like personal office, which he was in because he might not have exactly expected sciona that very day? probably still expected sometime soon through.
The first one has the same painting as in the room they were in before Vale defenestrated Sciona. So we were probably just seen different angles in each scene The pillars, wood panelling, recessed ceiling and furnishing all look compatible.
Whatever differences there are can either be put down to an artistic oversight, Deus having an office which is designed to be easily reconfigured according to his mood, him having moved offices, or having more than one (all styled similarly) or having had a minor refit.
Do note that Deus did mention having just had the marble detailing done. Although that was the same in both scenes, it could have been part of refitting in stages. Each night this week the workers may have been coming in and doing whatever changes they could complete, and clean up, before Deus came in the next morning.
I’m pretty interested in seeing how this proceeds. Presumably, Arc-SWAT is already on its way, as Harem was about to tell Max where Sciona is. Sciona, for her part, despite having been essentially fired out of an office building and six feet into the pavement is, at most, mildly annoyed. And, it seems safe to assume that pretty much everything is according to Deus’ plan. So my question is: what’s going to happen if Vale just hit Sciona with everything she’s got, secure in the knowledge that she won’t have to finish this fight, and Arc-SWAT is tardy?
Actually, it would be funnier if that *was* everything Vale had, and right now, it’s everything she can do to remain standing. Arc-SWAT shows up and much mayhem ensues, while Vale just stands back and watches. Afterwards, Max demands to know why she was just standing around, and Deus offers a cryptic “well, your people seemed to have it in hand, and it’s better if Vale saves herself for more serious threats”. Arc-SWAT departs. Deus tells Vale that they’re gone. Vale passes out.
Regarding the glass-spray: Sci-fright entered through one pane (damaging, somehow, a piece of glass on the other side of the frame without damaging said frame), butt when she was thrown out she went through one of the other panes
I don’t think she exited through a pane. I think she exited through the frame between the panes.
Well, she took out the rest of the pane with her
Yeah, Sciona has shown herself to be a real pane in the glass.
I think the bookies know where the win-dough is going.
Got to admit, Vale is just shattering expectations.
I saw the green dual landing pads for the helicopters, believe that Maxima is on the way, and now I can’t get the image out of my head of Max and Vale playing tennis with Sciona’s head…
Nice call back to this page
Obviously Vale would be wearing his product, butt just as obviously couldn’t be a model (not that she wouldn’t make a great model, just her obligations would prevent her, babysitting Deus is a full-time job)
Agreed. Although going back a few pages, I have decided that it was Sydney who was lucky that Vale did not ‘appear as if from nowhere’ next to her, a few days earlier.
She’s is just quiet when she wants to be, plus, with all those ‘toys’ on display, Vale could have been standing beside Sydney for some time without being noticed
People are commenting on Vale being a short-range teleporter because of how quickly she landed, that only matters if she waited to see where Sci-fright landed
Sciona… here’s where a smart villain would just say, “Okay, okay, I’ll pay your price.” (As “I’m leaving” could be countered by “No you’re not.” or “I’ll beat you” could be countered by “No, you won’t.”)
Though, then again, you stabbed your allies in the back like a douche, burning bridges because you had what you wanted, so I’m not giving you high expectations for intelligence.
She lacks wisdom, not intelligence.
The gal can turn a manikin into a regenerating SWAT assassin, and make a construct powerful enough to defeat the most powerful super on the planet (barring a bit of bad luck with a cracked lens). Plus figured out how to break into the Dark Reliquary, not to mention the tricky part of needing to get the magical internet turned off to do that!
Fair enough on that, if you’re going by D&D standards of intelligence & wisdom.
I would also say in conventional terminology that she has low intelligence (ability to process information in her surroundings and deduce their implications) but high levels of technical knowledge in various areas.
Mmm, I think it is best to avoid ‘low intelligence’ as that is too widely encompassing. Plus she is actually hyper-aware of her surroundings (with the aid of her magic), given that even though she had no warning there were enemies about, she was able to detect the presence of an invisible jaguar sneaking around!
We can indeed narrow down the areas that Sciona is deficient in though, without using D&D nomenclature. She is clearly completely lacking in empathy (killing a minion just to work out her tension being the prime case in point). Although another example is draining blood from an ancient vampire, without a regard to how that would humiliate and potentially alienate him.
Plus that shows a great deal of arrogance. Likewise in flying into the office of someone she has already clashed with and having to retreat due to lack of information about him.
The lack of empathy is compounding the problem with her arrogance. Either she has been relying on her overwhelming power, expecting it to always cause enough fear to counter her interpersonal problems. Or, because people tend to behave that way, she has failed to intellectually learn to compensate for her lack of innate empathetic understanding.
Finally she clearly has anger management issues.
So most of her problems are actually emotionally related, in one way or another. Rather than being anything to do with her ability to process information. Just like computers she is very good at processing information. But it takes very specialised programming (or sophisticated machine learning) to be able to correctly understand how emotions can change the dynamics of a situation, no matter how much processing power is available.
Hmm… I see your points and am convinced. Shall we just call her “emotionally stunted” then?
*raises dew claw*
*wags tail, in agreement*
Agreed on defining “low intelligence” more narrowly to exclude “impulsive in stressful situations”, “not very sociable”, “not adaptable while executing a plan”, “ruthless even with allies”. But on that last, we don’t know if there’s a backstory there to justify her being pissed off at them, and recruiting them as allies (as far as they knew) while thinking of them as trap-trippers (as she so obviously did to Cooter).