Grrl Power #625 – Uncivil engineering
Letting the two of them duke it out is probably a poor strategy for the team. Maxima cares about her team, but is the least likely to be harmed by a mountain falling on her (besides Achilles of course), and Sciona might actually try and cause one on purpose to kill or at least delay some of the team.
Of course, it’s not like they’re is just going to stand there taking pictures. Well, Harem might. I haven’t really drawn here in the scene yet, but she was at the entrance to the cave in silhouette. It just wouldn’t be very healthy for her to get in between Maxima and someone who even thinks they have a chance at going toe to toe with Maxima.
This page colored by Keith.
So I gave you all the link to pre-order the latest Wearing the Cape book, but one of the editors discovered a last minute fix that was fairly critical, so the pre-order had to be canceled in order to upload the fix. That’s just how Amazon’s process works. Anyway, the book is out, and is available here. I’ll say this because the blurb on Amazon says it, so I don’t consider it a spoiler, but this book isn’t a flashback. It might seem like it is at first, but as usual, there’s something else going on.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Literally carving up reality is not council business.
If they can cause a large-enough cave-in, they might bury the animated entity wielding the brane-ripper.
Well it is but it’s not *just* council business.
The moment Cooter became involved, it stopped being ‘Council’ business.
Yeah it started being funny business. Not funny ‘ha-ha’, funny ‘ew’.
That happened after Maxi’s involvement
Which consisted of chatting to people in the basement of a New York building, then being one of the victims of a terrorist attack, orchestrated by Sciona. Immediately making it US government business!
It also remained Council business mind. But they have an agreement that Archon are to take the lead in any actions involving the human populace. So protocol is being followed.
Was saying it stopped being ‘just’ CoEM business before Cooter’s involvement
Cutting right to the chase.
Technically the chasing part is over. Now it is the fighting part. :-)
Uh… er… cutting right to the action. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
This is why talking is not a free action. Also I can’t help but wonder whether or not that surprise attack would have worked on Sydney.
Nope, Sydney has her shield up. She learned from the sand attack.
Well, she did not have it 3 pages before…
Check the last panel, 3 pages before…
Honestly I was thinking of her hyperactivity tendency to negate surprise attacks.
She is still vulnerable to super-speed attacks. Her hyperactivity only gives her a +2 to initiative.
Sydney’s only counter to super speed is super confusion. That’s how she managed to tag Mamima with projectile vomit. Admittedly projectile vomit that was more hazardous then pepper spray but still.
Super confusion and having her shield raised. So two counters.
When Halo has her shield raised and is confusing the opponent, that allows her the chance to figure out a cunning plan. Oh, that’s three counters.
Confusion, shield, tactical planning and the ability to create an illusion of herself.
Damn, that is four! Hang on let me step out and try again!
*exits via the door, in the fourth wall, and reenters*
OK amongst Sydney’s counters to super speed are …
I still wonder whether she also projects a stupidity aura – if the other 4 skills have the same effect though, I suppose she doesn’t need it.
*Also, bravo, that was subtlely but accurately said.*
Well I can give you tactical planning her shield isn’t a counter to super speed is either up or down like. A door is either open or closed. and is down the moment someone use a super speed against her she’s pretty much In trouble. . Her illusion follows under super confusion as she is confusing the Enemy there for negating the advantage of their heighten speed. AS for tactical Planning yes that is a potential counter which she a has to know the person against her has super speed to begin with MB has the half so my detail how thou behave so that she can corral them until the situation she wants them sir like how Batman does it.
Of course if Sydney’s shield is down, then she will not have the reflexes to raise it before a super speeder could either kill her or put a pair of mittens on her.
The point though is that having her shield raised is a counter to super speed. The last we saw Halo had her shield up. Assuming that she does not let bravado get the better of her, and plays it safe, it will still be up.
So unless the super speeder has some way of overcoming the shield* then Halo is safe.
* Whilst conceding there are many possibilities for the ridiculously over-the-top super speedsters. If a speeder can go faster than reality and phase out of existence, step through the shield, then phase back in, then they have bypassed the shield. But that is more like a completely different power. And relies a lot more on super hero physics than the real stuff.
Of course if Sydney’s shield can be brought down by sufficiently powerful blows, then a super speeder could just hit it with an iron bar continuously, until the combined force was enough to disable it. But, again, that requires the top end of super speed to pull off.
And DaveB has already made the point that top end super speeders are amongst the most ridiculously over powered concepts in the genre. So even being able to resist their capabilities is worthy.
OK looking at it that way yes I can understand her shield being raised as a counter to super speed. Sort of like Batman being in his Justice Buster armor is a counter to being attacked By any member of the Justice League. Also I thought that Sydney’s Shield rebuffed most teleportation attempts so wouldn’t that also block most people trying to phase through it the way mach the knife vibrated out of the restraints that dabbler put him in
Machie didn’t vibrate out of the restraints, he vibrated fast enough that the friction allowed him to cut Dabbles’ “Party Ribbon”
Good point on the teleportation-proof properties. It probably is phase-proof too, but Shadow Boxer’s attack cannot be used to prove (or disprove) that, as he could have been in the floor immediately beneath Sydney, at the time she raised her shield. Thus, already being inside it, not being impeded.
Do agree did not seem like the time for chewing out Dabbler.
Definitely not, it’s like a SWAT team breaching the door and then standing silhouetted in the doorway to swap pointers for a minute or two instead of continuing into the room.
Never let it be said that Maxi will pass up a good arse-chewing >.>
*gets out Grrrl Power Rules Handbook*
Nope, it clearly says that it is a free action.
*taps claw on relevant line*
Even if Maxima had said nothing she would still have been blindsided. Not having x-ray vision …
*checks shower room section, in Grrrl Power Rules Handbook*
… yup … Maxima could not see Sciona through the wall. And even pointy ears would not allow you to hear someone running on the other side of a solid concrete/stone wall. It looks to be about a foot thick, with no door or other gap visible anywhere nearby.
Theres a handbook, where can I get one.
Dave keeps it locked up in his DM folder, but releases applied examples 2x a week. You could also get the head-canon version by downloading all the comments from the last 5 years and run them through a machine learning algorithm, but I wouldn’t trust the results any farther than Stalwart can throw them.
I haven’t been in a great mood for the past few months, and haven’t updated the wikia. I’ll get to it, I promise, but I don’t know when, so don’t hold your breath.
I have had similar issues myself, for other things. So can well understand your situation.
You (and others) have done a nice job already though, which is much appreciated. If you do get to do more, that would be lovely. But getting into a good emotional state yourself takes total precedence. So don’t let it nag at you, in the slightest.
For me only making limited progress on something that I feel could radically improve the world is highly frustrating. And induces extreme stress. So I have been focusing on sorting out what personal problems I can, in the hope that I will be able to resume the work without falling back into the depression cycle.
Trouble is it does involve trying to apply my solution to some of the most depressing political troubles in the world. And getting the wrong tone or approach for solving any individual crisis could alienate one or more of the parties involved.
So I really need to be as dispassionate as possible, so that I can consciously set aside any bias I may have (typically for the underdogs, as you may expect). Fortunately I can write this without my stomach knotting up, so that means I should be able to do a bit more, whilst my chilled out mood remains!
*wags tail contentedly*
Me: I have Trump for a president, what’s your excuse?
Everyone else: only for a few more years. Hopefully.
He’s British, they upped the biscuit tax again, second breakfast has been outlawed, and there is a bergamot shortage.
Trump is not British. He only owns golf clubs here.
Not that he is very popular with parts of the British public mind. A petition to stop him coming over, on a state visit, got over a million signatures. Which is a big deal in UK politics, as it only takes 100,000 (on a petition set up, by anyone, on the official website) to mandate the topic being discussed in Parliament.
They decided that as the POTUS it would be necessary to allow him entry. But, of course, no second breakfast and he has to buy his own biscuits!
I had never even heard of “bergamot”. I think you must be mixing me up with some nancy TV chef.
Damn, I was hoping we had somewhere to deport Trump to. He does look remarkably similar to Margaret Thatcher.
Bergamot is that stuff they put in Earl Grey tea. It is also called Bee Balm. Personally, I think the earl of grey lacked a sense of taste.
Is that added before or after they steep it in a Turkish Wrestler’s jock strap, for a month?
Bergamot is a type of orange
Would rather have Trump than Ardern
They accused Bush of ‘cheating’, butt Ardern actually cheated and bribed her way into office: she came second, butt by telling the ‘King Maker’ that she was pregnant (before anyone else), she got his endorsement, and he got the Deputy position knowing when she goes on maternity leave he will be the PM, something that would never happen with the party who came in first
Um making a deal with a politician, by offering them the deputy position is not considered bribery, it is politics. And if that ends up with them winning, then that is the sign of a successful politician.
This purely going by your statements. Not that I have any vested interest in Hobbit politics, so I was just pointing out the exposed position your argument revealed.
We all have reasons for disliking various politicians, but we should remember that the one topic our author asks us to avoid is contemporary politics.
To bring it a bit back to topic though, I can reveal that she did just confess to treason, in an interview with the BBC!
She prefers Thor to Lord of the Rings!
* brichins has updated his status to: No vested interest in Hobbit politics *
+1
…months
Well there are a whole bunch of reasons, why Trump and every other politician in power, is part of my problem. In order to convince them that I have a better way of conducting civilisation, I need to be tactful. Not something that comes easily to me as the phrase ‘you are being blithering idiots’ rolls off the tongue all too easily!
Also though it requires that I see past my personal biases and appreciate the strengths and positives even of the leaders I generally disapprove of. Amongst other things, especially in democratic or otherwise representative countries, they have gotten into power due to having the support of the people.
So, when trying to present the solution, customised for any given country, it is necessary to do so in a way that appeals not just to one side, or the other, but to all the major factions. Fortunately what I am proposing would actually tend to create a win win situation, even when the various parties involved have diametrically opposed policies.
In fact the more diverse a society, the more it needs this solution!
So the fact that Trump has citizens, in his own country, who say ‘he is not my president’, actually helps me.
What I could offer you is a solution which would prevent a republican from ever again having to live his life according to the dictates of a democrat. And, conversely, a democrat from having to acknowledge a republican president.
> they have gotten into power due to having the support of the people.
Although not necessarily a *majority* of the people. The Reds are pretty good at getting into office without a popular mandate — there have been 5 times in US history where a POTUS got to office without a majority of the popular vote, and all of them were Republicans beating a Democrat whom the people actually wanted. (Well, JQA was a Democratic Republican, since that was before the Republican party per se existed.)
> What I could offer you is a solution which would prevent a republican from ever again having to live his life according to the dictates of a democrat. And, conversely, a democrat from having to acknowledge a republican president.
I’d be very interested to hear what this solution is!
I am working on getting it published. A relatively easy task made a lot more difficult by battling depression and just struggling to survive. But I need to finish it off soon, as I only have a few months before I shall have to concentrate on an exciting new career in burger flipping, or the like.
I will stick links in here, when I am done though. I really want to cover as many of the big issues as possible though, if I can get motivated enough, to complete them in time:
• An alternative to Brexit AND Remain, for Britain. This is as regards Britain leaving the EU, for anyone not familiar with the terms.
• Eliminating waste in America due to following one set of policies (say Obamacare) in one administration, only to have them overturned in the next. Likewise other countries, but that is a good example that will allow a global audience to appreciate the issues.
• The same for Britain. As the two political systems have enough diversity that it is worth addressing each in separate publications.
• Letting Scotland get the self-determination of independence, yet without those who identify as ‘British’ rather than ‘Scottish’ finding themselves living in a foreign country, or having to move abroad (to England) to retain benefits such as voting rights or access to (British) social care.
• Likewise for Catalonia, in Spain. The same for the Basques, for that matter.
• Offering China a similar choice for Tibet. Importantly for these applications of the social engineering, I must stress that this is not independence. As that is very much against the policies of China and Spain. Rather it is allowing a version of autonomy which allows self-governance, yet without the risk of the region becoming a separate country.
Likewise without harming the interests of any individuals living in those regions who identify as being Chinese or Spanish respectively. Most importantly not impacting on defence of the whole nation nor causing a loss of revenue from natural resources in the region.
• Allowing Tuvalu, and other island nations which will be lost under rising sea levels, to remain sovereign nations, even without a country!
• Letting the Kurds to form a sovereign state, even without any country ceding them territory to serve as a homeland. Yet without the risk of them having a military force to threaten taking such by force.
• Averting the risk of the E.U. breaking up completely if too many nations decide to prioritise national needs, over being part of a political block.
• Showing a path to end the civil war in Ukraine.
• Reduce the risk of war, terrorism and civil disorder in every country which implements my social engineering proposals.
• Giving options to bring peace to the Holy Land.
But don’t worry, I will not let such trifling matters get in the way of chatting here!
This is a vital source of stress-relief and combating depression.
I believe this is more in reference to Sciona monologuing and then getting punched into the ceiling.
Surprise-attacks always negate free-action-talking.
Actually I was referring to Scifright trying to monologue as if she had a free action. Her blindsiding mwxima falls under sneak attack.. but once the battle has started all bets are off.
6 second rule. Everything said must be within 6 seconds. Excess carries over to next round if you can still speak after then next person’s imitative.
Yeah, and people tend to forget just how much a normal person can say in 6 seconds
I like that rule, I might implement it as a official house rule.
As it is my players have a tenancy to get interrupted by gun fire. If I’m feeling generous I may warn them before doing pretty much what DaveB just did when i get bored of them “planning”.
oh, that got to sting, not the being flattened against a wall by Max, but the fact that an already powerful vampire, juiced up with extra power is already in trouble, if the other supers get involved she’s sunk for sure.
Sciona is not a vampire.
With as much blood as she drains for power she probably classifies as one.
She was out during the day to get Cooter today. She’s not a vampire.
Fun Fact: Originally Vampires weren’t hurt by the sun. One later author added in the fact that they were weaker during the day and it snowballed from there.
Wait, but… no that can’t… everything I think I know is wrong!
On a similar note, the stake through the heart is an interesting weakness as well, because you know who else it affects? Absolutely everyone.
Hmmm…Might this not be linked to the Mandela Effect?
…
…
…
What? Me? No, I didn’t say anything.
[blockquote]Wait, but… no that can’t… everything I think I know is wrong![/blockquote]
Sorry. This time I can’t resist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bYlxqWRe3M
Whoops. Messed up the tags. At least I didn’t mess up the URL.
If you are trying to kill them, with a stake through the heart, you are doing it wrong. The heart is protected by the rib cage, and the vampire will probably not be cooperating.
First you chop off their head. Then you use a metal (repeat metal) stake, to drive it through their heart. We have extensive archaeological evidence (hundreds of examples) that this was the correct method used historically.
And it worked. Not one of them rose from the grave!
Well the ones that archaeologists confirmed were vampire graves anyhow. Obviously they always find some empty ones. But those were probably ones dug by cheapskates who used wooden stakes. Which rot.
The first instance of vampires actually being harmed and killed by exposure to sunlight occurs in the black and white film Nosferatu.
they did that, because they couldn’t get the lighting right with sunlight, so they invented a reason for not having sunlight.
If they’re a Tremere with the proper learning daylight is a non-issue.
One of the origins of the Vampire myths is assumed to be a disease that is effectively a sunlight allergy.
People suffering from it break out in hives while exposed to sunlight. And a (symptom) treatment includes Vitamin D, which you can also get from drinking blood.
Then, of course, there is rabies. Also known as hydrophobia, because it induces a fear of water. So that could contribute to tales of a rabid madman biting people, but being afraid to approach water.
And, of course, there will be some mad government scientists working on weaponized versions, just for the hell of it. Including hybrid versions combining aspects of both.
Cause they are vampire fans too. ;-)
To be fair though, you can get basically *every* vitamin and mineral by drinking blood, so in some ways it’s sort of a cure for any diet-related ailment. I doubt the WHO or CDC has much peer-reviewed research available on efficacy though.
And yet they have done enough research, on an alternate food resource, to recommend that we all start eating like this!
Two questions: 1) Does Achilles need to breathe? 2) What happens if one of Harem dies? I assume nobody knows. I’d probably teleport to a safe distance or entirely out of the cave immediately. Or ask Sydney if there’s room for me in the bubble.
1) I’d guess he might pass out, but not die, otherwise a normal human could kill him by sleeper hold and that’s hardly “off the scale invulnerable”
2) no one knows. The reporters asked her and she made it clear the only way we would know is if it already happened.
2] It probably hurts like a S.O.B.
Agreed. Theoretically though killing one should kill them all. The deductions behind this are:
i) We consider death to occur when ‘brain death’ has been certified.
ii) Harem’s brains are all quantumly linked. This is what gives her telepathy. What she thinks in one body is mirrored exactly in all the others. Specifically Dabbler’s Science Corner #2 stipulates that it is the meat which is linked (not just the information).
iii) Quantum theory indicates that if two particles are quantumly entangled then whatever happens to one happens to the other.
iv) Clearly in which case if Harem gets a bullet through her brain then every one of her brains should rip and tear in exactly the same fashion. Injuring (or killing) all the bodies, in the same way, simultaneously.
v) A simple injury to the body (but not the brain) does not have this problem. We saw Harem with a broken arm. As you stated this hurt, but was not life-threatening. However a fatal bullet to the heart (for example) would cause the heart to stop pumping and blood would cease to get to the brain. Barring getting immediately hooked up to a dialysis machine (or some similar alternative) this would lead to brain death in a few minutes. As soon as one brain dies they all die.
The one hope that Harem would have is that her super power would stop, for that body, prior to that moment. If the quantum entanglement ceased to work then the damage would not occur in the other bodies.
There is one thing that Daphne could do though, to avert this. Provided at least one of the other bodies was still capable of acting (i.e. if they were not rendered incapable due to pain for example), then they could simply put the dying body into storage. Time stops and the crisis is averted indefinitely.
Possibly even allowing for a successful intervention with a dialysis machine/artificial heart or super-healing. The team super-doc probably could not help with her super power, as that only speeds up recovery. A fatal injury being one that the body cannot heal itself would therefore not gain much benefit from her (super) aid. Not unless it was a wound that was ‘almost survivable’.
Time though would not be a problem. So Harem could get on with life, until a solution could be found. The most obvious one being Varia. Sooner or later she will form a gestalt which grants powerful healing capabilities. In which case pop out the almost-dead Harem and she returns to the land of the not-dead.
Or get a vamp to bite her, if she wants to have an undead body.
None of which though would help for an instantly-fatal shot through the brain (barring the ‘super power spontaneously stopping working’). This is still possible. And would not even be a cop-out, as we have already learnt that Harem’s power has a precognitive-like aspect to it, which allows her to sense if a spot is safe to teleport to, in time to abort her teleport safely.
Assuming that is actually sensing the future a moment ahead* (as opposed to remotely viewing the destination point). Given that the super power has such a safety mechanism it is perfectly reasonable that it could also predict an instantly fatal injury, before it happens, and cut that body off, to protect the others.
Of course if that is the case, then there is the potential for Harem to develop a power stunt which allows her to instead reflexively put that body safely into storage, before it is harmed, rather than just pulling the super power plug on it!
* Harem describes it this way but, in actuality, she would have no way of determining which is the actual mechanism unless they set up a (potentially deadly) test. Both would appear the same (“the arrival point is blocked, I will die if I go there”).
However if they set it up so that the spot is clear one second (after Harem commits to teleporting) but is blocked by the time the teleport is enacted** then they could prove which of the two ways it worked. If Harem sees the future, then she will stop safely.
If though she only sees that ‘it is clear this second’, then she will teleport into the blocking object (as it arrives after she checked), putting her atoms in the same place as its and thereby possibly cause a nuclear detonation, destroying the test facility and (if done at the Archon HQ) the city!
** We do have ways of measuring the lag between the brain making a decision to do something and the body acting upon it. Assuming a similar delay with activating super powers this is something we could potentially do with present-day technology.
A dialyses machine replaces the function of the kidneys, not the heart. For that you want to get hooked up to a cardiopulmonary bypass pump, since you need to bypass the dead cardiac system.
Yea, that is why I added “artificial heart”. I forgot to do likewise on the earlier mention too.
I did consider deleting the dialysis reference, but decided that it would be an interesting proposal to put to the medical experts in our community. If they were in a situation where someone’s heart had stopped working, but they knew that it would not be possible to get them to a hospital within the necessary time to save them, could they improvise an available dialysis machine to sustain their life?
I just did not have the time to check it out just then, as I had to dash off on an urgent errand.
However doing a quick google, I have found that there may be merit in the idle thought I had:
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/05/27/healthwatch-heart-dialysis/
However that is just regarding after care, rather than helping to substitute for heart massage or similar techniques. Sadly most of the hits were actually the reverse. Controversy that dialysis may cause heart attacks for some individuals.
I did pick up one interesting bit of trivia mind. Namely that the same guy invented both types of machines!
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/health/13kolff.html?pagewanted=all
There is one other solution. All teleporters create copies of themselves, even Harem, then destroy those bodies that would get left behind. The difference is that Harem managed to keep four of the other bodies that should have been destroyed when she teleported. All she would have to do is let the body be destroyed and start a new one.
True. If it does not kill her mind.
There is also the problem that she does not know what causes the limitation on the number of bodies she can have. If that is a finite number (rather than a maximum number), for whatever reason, then she would not be able to replace losses.
If she can though, and death causes no more problems than pain and PTSD, then Harem could form a one person shock squad. Assault the most deadly of positions, with no regard for losses, provided that she takes some of the enemy with her.
Whilst constantly respawning (possibly with full equipment, if her duplicating power allows that).
All the advantages of being in a squad-based video game. But with her being the only one getting that, given that everybody else only gets issued with the one life!
While it’s possible her powers would technically allow that, it would probably still be painful enough for her to not try it deliberately.
Very true.
Now if someone, in Arc-Sparq, could whip up a device which negated pain, without running the risk of painkiller addiction, that problem would be mitigated.
Plus, it would help untold millions of sufferers of chronic painful diseases, around the world.
We have seen that physical injuries do not nessisarilly transfer to the other bodies, referance said broken arm. She felt the pain of the break but only the 1 body was effected. Also, she was able to unmanifest the body making all sensations associated with the injured body vanishe while it was in limbo. So by that, a shot to the hear my physically injure and kill the heart in the one body the rest would continue to function, though she would feel the pain and sensations of the 1 body loosing heart function. In thta case she could unmanifest the body and leave it in limbo until she is in a situation (at thier super hospital for example) where she can remanifest it in a situation with the nessisary prompt medical care available.
“iii) Quantum theory indicates that if two particles are quantumly entangled then whatever happens to one happens to the other.”
It doesn’t work exactly like that… Harem’s power is definitely different from quantum entanglement.
“What she thinks in one body is mirrored exactly in all the others. Specifically Dabbler’s Science Corner #2 stipulates that it is the meat which is linked (not just the information).”
But in another comic Harem explicitly said that she has 5 different brains, independently active, and that’s why she can multitask. Try processing five visual inputs with only one visual cortex…
Not all of her brain just parts of it. She still has 5 separate visual cortices, 5 separate brain stems regulating heartbeat and breathing, etc.
Whoops hit enter too soon.
She has 5 separate cortices but only one seat of consciousness (which is where the bleed-through gets through).
I think it might be her brain ACTIVITY that’s quantum entangled. Like running the same software on several PC’s at once, in a way, though ofc thats a poor analogy for quantum-entanglement.
I’ve always assumed that any teleporter, human or mechanical, has to “test” the place they’re trying to teleport for the obvious reasons.
If I was designing this, I’d probably teleport a number of very small bits of some organized substance (wood would work) into the area and back, and then check for changes in the substance. If it came back changed, you don’t go there.
In the case of a human teleporter, I’d assume they move a few cells first, then more, until they’ve either filled the area or it’s a no go, in which case everything comes home and teleport fails. (This does imply that teleporters never get cancer or similar, because they’d just rid themselves of faulty cells, as baboons do, but different mechanism.)
All that would have to take place in a very short time frame.
OFC, you could always do the old “swap places with whatever”, which might wind up with you stuck in a solid block, but not damaged, and leaving quickly.
As for the quantum entanglement meaning she’d take damage all the way across her split self – if it worked that way, all of them would be doing the same thing all the time. There couldn’t be any difference in her various brains, so she’d just be exact copies doing exactly the same thing. It’s got to be more subtle than that, otherwise it just doesn’t work at all.
If she can test the destination without committing to the teleport you could safely set up that test.
She can test before committing, per an early conversation with Sydney about how she keeps from teleporting into the same space as anything else.
Well that just confirms she can stop if she feels a block but not if she can stop if she doesn’t feel anything. It could be that when she tries it either rebounds or it works and she can’t use her teleport sense to map out hidden rooms.
I’m thinking that a Harem death would make that body unable to be un-teleported (her word) but would only kill that body, not the others. However, she would FEEL the death x(however many bodies she has out at the time).
I think she would ultimately be weaker permanently, since she couldn’t redistribute her strength, and her teleport limit (which includes her her) would be reduced.
As for your idea on un-teleporting the dying (but not dead) body to pause it indefinitely might be a good idea. However, if she only does that for long enough to get to a vampire (which she isn’t aware of existing) then that could save her, when super powers and alien tech (at least Dabbler’s that she’s let people know about) can’t. (Continues reading your post) Oh, you already said that. But then the question becomes if all of her becomes vampiric.
Then again, another way she could survive is if that body re-distributes (not un-teleport, just cease to exist and the power/size/etc redistributes and strengthens her existing hers, but also that body can’t be recreated, so she either loses a slot or has to create a new herself and re-design it from scratch (so she just loses tattoos, makeup, hair dye, and clothing for one body temporarily).
One counter your ‘injury sustained by one is replicated by all’ is when she broke her wrist: they all felt the pain, butt only the one who broke their wrist actually had the injury
I did mention that. But it was a long post so understandable to have missed it.
It was in point v).
Only the brain suffers the problem of the injury being common to all. Her arm, along with all the other organs and parts of her body, does not.
Oops. I made an editing boo-boo. I moved the * from the end of the sentence. Thus making my footnote point at the wrong part:
From memory I got the impression Harem was describing it as remote sensing, rather than seeing the future.
I got the impression that her power involves remote sensing and not future sight too. If it involved future sight (unless it’s a future sight of what happens if she doesn’t teleport), she wouldn’t get surprised so often (hit in the face, the guns in the base.
…Also which page did she talk about that aspect of her power? I’ve been searching for a couple hours.
That was when Sydney was using her lightbee in the Mars factory. Sydney’s side of the conversation was to explain that the only thing she could sense was if there was a route through. Prompting Harem’s reply.
I agree that Harem does not have general purpose ESP (extra sensory perception), otherwise that would be listed as an extra power. Rather it is a highly specialised version, which can only do the one task.
Now whether Harem is correct (assuming our memories are right) is another matter. That ESP could be of either flavour and it could manifest the same way to her.
This is similar to the problem of someone who can ‘hear voices’ from people in the building across the street. Are they telepathic? Or do they just have super hearing? Or do they have clairaudience (the ability to hear things at a distant location, even if otherwise in a location that is completely soundproof from the listener’s present position)?
Or are those folks just arguing really loudly?
Or maybe she is just mad?
I have that super hearing power. I can hear people talking at a normal volume 100 meters away. It isn’t a benefit! All noise is amplified to me, and I have no ability to drown it out or ignore any of it.
It’s due to a combination of anxiety disorder, PTSD, tinnitus, and autism. (All of which increase sensitivity to sound) plus biological somehow. Like, my mother used to think it was funny that I screamed when she blew dog whistles that she didn’t think worked. I can hear them (I have one of your powers, Yorp!) even though humans aren’t supposed to.
Why does a dog howl when sirens go by, or when a dog whistle is blown? They’re screaming in pain, trying to create countersound as defense. That’s a thing you know now.
My mother doesn’t have it quite that bad, but she has what I call “teacher’s ears”. If I want to annoy her, all I have to do is open one of my desk drawers. And close it. And open it. And close it. (Wash, rinse, repeat.)
And eventually… all the way from the other end of the house, even through two closed doors… “Damn it! Stop doing that!” Pretty impressive hearing for an 88-year-old.
I remember when I was in high school band, I had to practice in the back bathroom with the door closed (and the door to the bedroom closed) and it still didn’t stop my poodle from howling in pain.
Ahh, band camp. Say no more.
Please.
1) I assume not even that. He was buried under rubble (mostly powdered and probably air tight) for quite some time and got out himself out, and iirc he claims to have dived into live volcanoes.
Given that Harem is one mind in five bodies I tend to think it would be akin to losing a limb. It wont kill her but she would be missing a significant piece of herself.
I’d look at it as brain damage. If one dies and five were out then that’s reduced the damage to a fifth and damage is potentially recoverable in my opinion if she can produce a replacement body quick enough.
Keeping an undamaged spare in storage so it doesn’t sustain brain damage if one of her dies so a new replacement body can be in full health and help the recovery of the other quantum entangled brains seems like a obvious plan. Plus a young unaged copy to make the new versions from could almost give immortality regarding long term anti-aging with replacement body’s.
Sensible precaution.
One tricky problem though. Let us say that there are four bodies with brain damage (a bullet through a survivable part of it), and an undamaged version in storage.
When Harem brings out the undamaged one, her super power has to re-sync her brains.
The problem being which way does it go? You are hoping that the damaged brains will be synced to the undamaged one.
But consider what must normally happen. Memories are created by changes to the brain. Synapses alter, during your sleep, and your day’s events are permanently etched into the physical fabric of your brain.
So whilst the Harem with the broken arm was in storage, her other bodies were going about their daily business, building up memories. Meanwhile though the one in storage is in a state of suspended animation. We know from canon that she is exactly the same coming out of storage as going into it. The wound was as fresh as if it had just occurred a few seconds before.
Likewise, if no physical changes can occur to her body, her memories cannot be updated. So that can only occur when she exits storage. With the stored body’s brain changing to match that of the bodies that have been living normally.
The opposite way round to what you are hoping for.
This reminds me of the “confessions of a D-list supervillain” scene where Cal explains to the passive aggressive menace how hard he has to throw seawall (a super strong douchcape) into a concrete column to shatter it and collapse the building on top of him (picking the right column).
I love those books! I’ve always loved the “behind-the-scenes” types of books and things, especially when it comes to things like supers where you never really get that.
(“Douchecape”… I’ll remember that one!)
Maxima should know that a breach bang and clear operation is not the time to berate or educate your team. She’s becoming a bit of a caricature, rather than a serious operator. Honestly most of them shouldn’t be there anyway till it’s ‘safe’. Definitely Sydney shouldn’t, even given her powers.
Sydney hasn’t removed her force field at all since she came down here. She’s fine.
She didn’t put it up until they got down there… after Dabbles ignited her sticky-gas
Max is no where near arrogant enough to think she could just walk in their alone.
The whole team clearing things out is both the safest and fastest way of doing this.
She did use to wait until an after-battle briefing at the base to chastise players.
Sciona Vs. Maxima–Round one!!!
IMMORTAL KOMBAT!!!
Round 2. Round 1 ended with a time out delay and neither being excessively damaged.
He he he.
Take a breath, man. There’s a whole internet out there that needs laughed at.
Achilles might not be “harmed” by a cave in, but he would be stuck there for however long it takes to dig him out. Which could be a long time depending on depth of the collapse.
Or far more accurately, how long it takes his team to dig him out.
Wouldn’t be that long.
Does Achilles need to breath? Being burried under a mountain might not harm him. Lack of oxygen might though.
No. He is completely unharmed by anything that has been tested, right down to the sub-atomic level.
If he can’t breathe though he cannot metabolise. So he may run out of energy before he digs himself out.
Or his power might give him power independently of that.
“but is the least likely to be harmed by a mountain falling on her (besides Achilles of course)”
What about Syndey inside her Force Bubble?
Sydney’s bubble is weaker than Maxima’s personal force field. Although they are both rated at five stars, Halo’s gets a huge bump from the fact that it can protect a group, can block magic and other stuff like that. Its actual strength is closer to Dabbler’s relatively weak shield (which gets no rating increase as it is only a personal one and protects from a small angle at that(being a literal shield shape).
We must not think ‘this can protect from nukes’, as Maxima deliberately made a showy display, but not a very damaging one, at the press demonstration. Unlike the earlier testing the sand was not even melted.
So it was a big, flaming attack, but not one with a force capable of levelling a city. A mountain dropping on the force field would exert far more damage than Halo’s shield has been tested to withstand.
This is just speculation though (based on the character page) since so far we haven’t seen anything actually break Sydneys forcefield. The upper limit is currently not known to us.
Correct as it being based on the cast information. However it is not just that. DaveB has explicitly indicated the points I made. Albeit that I am paraphrasing, as I would have no idea where to look up the original blog or comment where it was made.
Force fields were discussed right from the outset of the comic, and extensively ever since. So there would be far too much clutter to find even with an automated search helping.
I would suspect that the force field can withstand equal to the lighthook’s ability otherwise the lighthook would break the force field rather than appear outside it.
Sydney does not even know how to make the tentacle appear on the inside of the force field. She wanted to do that in the fight against Vehemence, but could not.
As such it starts on the other side, so its relative strength to the force field would only come into play if she dropped something heavy on it.
Yeah it burned only one side of Achilles’s uniform and didn’t send him flying again so there couldn’t have been much force.
1: I don’t think the super strength blood was potent enough.
2: She had better hope the super toughness blood was more potent than the strength, lol.
THAT’S gonna leave a mark.
The most common failing of supervillains.
Honestly, people – ‘Talk less, punch more’.
I object!
Maxima is not a super villain. There was only that one mosque. Oh and the teeny incident at the bridge. Then the whole off-message detonation of a nuke-like explosion ….
Mmm maybe I should try a different angle on this …
You seemed to have missed that Sciona also got interrupted while talking (in a few of your comments now) :D
The ability to interrupt a monologue isn’t necessarily…
https://youtu.be/G7snI3JdFW8?t=4m59s
Oh interrupting a monologue can be funny. Part of the point in this page (along with the drama, of course). But that is to do with the pacing of when it is funny to do something (in this case during the talking).
But the ‘talking is a free action’ is so that Dave does not have to spend his evenings with his wife, using a stop watch to time dialogue and adjust the scenes to ensure that the words could actually be said in the time frame that the scene allowed.
Plus comedy and drama both benefit from the relaxed approach. With this you can have a character saying their last words, even if technically they should be dead. We have even seen an example of this. Wyrmcoot was chopped in half (not dead, but realistically should not have been able to speak). Yet was still able to call Sciona a bitch (even with his mouth, throat, voice box and tongue all split).
Of course he is not human anymore, so we can just paw wave the issue away, due to his particular power set. However, should we ever loose a core member of the team, I would hope that they got to say some famous last words.
“You sly dog, you caught me monologuing!”
That reminds me of the episode of Buffy TVS where Ethan Rayne was monologing in a crypt after the Scooby gang left. He was interrupted by Giles coming back inside.
Sciona may be a villain, but she’s no supervillain. Way too direct and practical to have laser sharks, but at least she’s been working on her speeches.
It *DID* leave a mark… On the ceiling!
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShutUpHannibal
Irrelevant. Maxima was not trying to convert a villain. She was talking to her subordinate. :-)
More importantly though no time is lost in doing that, in this setting, as it follows ‘talking is a free action’. With or without the dialogue Maxima would still have been hit by the surprise attack.
I think you’re getting “Shut Up Hannibal” mixed up with “Shut Up Kirk.”
Related tropes, which one you feel applies sorta depends on which team you’re rooting for here but probably more Hannibal here since it’s Sciona’s lair.
Either way, that was a terrible time to start monolouging.
No, I refuse to add to the monolouging in this thread. I am ninja, the spider on the wall…Silently awaiting the best moment to make the killing strike. None shall know I’m present because they distract themselves from their surrounding eniviron…
Uh…
…
…
…
Dammit!
“Psst, why is he just standing there?”
“Internal monologue, just give him a minute.”
Although, sometimes the effectiveness of a threat is all in the delivery.
Nobody can speak until she moves.
:-D
If you want to kill someone, do it mid-sentence. They won’t expect that.
https://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_923.php
NUMBAH 83, THE COLE TRAIN!
In all police dramas, no officer stands immediately in front of a doorway. One takes one side, the other takes another and then they open the door carefully. But then, Maxima never expected this kind of welcome.
Door? Looked more like an alcove or recess in a wall to me. The ‘door’ part even looking like the same material (be it rock or concrete) that the rest of the walls are made of.
Looking at panel 6 though there is a round feature on it, which could be a pivot point for a heavy door. So you may be right about that. However it may just be a facet of how the internal walls were constructed. There does seem to be a second circle, which would not make sense if they are pivot points. Not with both of them being that close together, on the same side.
I would agree, looked like a wall to me. In which case, she might have been better off standing infront of a door. In normal breach and clear with normal buildings and flimsy walls and such, chewing out a subordinate and giving away exact location (stealth was lost long ago) not the best time, but here where the chance of sombody trying to gun them down through the wall base don where they were talking, not very likely. One would think having someone come through a solid stone wall would be unlikely, but considering thier particular foe… the odds are increased a bit by her power set.
Looks like the door the mannekillers were guarding to me, with post-kaboom damage and smoke smudges. The ceiling angles don’t quite line up if one gets picky, but I think they’re standing on the same platform 1-2 minutes after the explosion. Just enough time for them to let up their guard about expecting an immediate response, but not so long that Max had time to finish a quick dressing down before opening the door.
Also, the object in question is bent where Sciona kicked it, and bent again where Max punched, so very probably a door and definitely not made of concrete. Presumably steel, but could also be some exotice plastic or something?
It looks like a similar design to the front door, of a thick metal door with series of locking pins along the edge to hold it in place. She probably got a discount for buying them in bulk from “Vaults ‘R Us”.
The whole setup of the hideout seems a bit out of her technical skills, including getting and installing the materials. I wonder if Deus has a sideline company that specializes in building evil villain lairs? They could offer a range of options, from ‘abandoned warehouse’ to the deluxe ‘Tropical volcano with retractable roof’.
She doesn’t need the technical skills to build a lair, that’s what money is for. Any villain trying to DIY their entire lair is never going to have the time or management prowess to take over the world, effective delegation is a key skill.
In all police dramas NONE of the cops in question are invulnerable (and sometimes someone IS standing in front of the door and gets shot, sometimes they manage to have a vest on and survive it even), hence why they stand to the side in case whoever’s inside might be armed and open fire once the door is opened (or even knocked on). Police procedure is like that because the cops would end up killed by weapons fire, someone who’d laugh off gunfire though or even anti-tank weapons wouldn’t have those concerns.
Maxima: “Oh please Dabs, don’t bother in helping me or anything!”
Then again, Maxima falls into the invulnerable hero trope of moving around in dangerous places without any care. Just because you’re almost invulnerable, doesn’t mean that you should underestimate the villain (like Superman never dodging bullets until he’s shot by a kryptonite one).
Yeah a lot of heroes take there invulnerability for granted. I remember back in the X-Men when the gang went to Japan and Logan was supposed to be getting married. Rogue went on and on about being nigh invulnerable, until she got mortally wounded that is and Wolverine had to let her absorb his healing factor to save her.
Only a very few (Achilles, Madcap, Deadpool for some examples) really can take their invulnerability for granted. Let’s face it…If in any situation when their invulnerability fails, they’ll never know it failed.
Oh they know it when it fails. I was just rereading some old X-Men from 1982 when Colossus got hurt for first time. Deathbird nailed him with some acid strong enough to eat into his metal body. He knew he was in big trouble and was surprised to be seriously hurt for a change. He even told Storm that he thought his luck had finally run out and that this was it.
Speaking of Superman, the JLA cartoon from back in the day made an interesting point about Superman not dodging all kinds of attacks despite his incredible speed. He stated that he takes the hits, draws fire if you will, because every shot he takes is one that the team or surrounding civilians don’t have too. I thought that made him even more heroic than before, Supes does the meat shield thing and hopes for the best.
Like a true tank character.
That said there are times where (even in JLA) he could have made use of some martial arts skills instead of just trading blows with an equally strong opponent.
Yes, and as I recall, he was taught boxing and other stuff by Wildcat from the JSA (who also taught Batman, Black Canary and Catwoman).
Depending on canon Superman also got boxing lessons from Muhammad Ali.
Also depending on the time period. it was cannon for a short while that superman had learned Kryptonese martial arts. Supposedly from the data crystals sent with him
He could have training with Squirrel Girl.
But that would be nuts!
The expressions on Dabbler on this page are pretty good.
Yea, they stood out that way to me too.
Lesson learned: if you’re going to hit Maxima with something, you really need to make sure she’s not going to be in a position to hit you *back* with it.
Also: I can’t believe Sciona is even *starting in* on the ridiculous old “anything I do from here on is your fault” nonsense. The “Supervillains” page on TV Tropes is *not* a how-to guide, there, hot stuff.
She knows what she’s planning is morally indefensible, so she’s taking the predictable (if wrong) step of trying to shift blame to somebody else, Max, the Council, the society she’s planning on attacking/ruling/eating/whatever… That line of thinking seems to believe that blame/fault/culpability is a point object, and is thus not shareable.
So long as Sciona is making her own decisions to act, anything she does is either her fault, or to her credit (in the event she does something positive). If she were mind-controlled to specific actions, those actions would be the fault of her controller.
Except, Maxi is responsible for what has happened, or, more accurately, the cowardly arseholes on Council of Evil Monsters who dragged Archon into their mess when they found out they started something they couldn’t handle
Sci is an evil and nasty piece of work, butt everything we have seen her doing has been a reaction to someone elses actions, she just hits back harder
You have made a hypothesis (which is fair) but have extended that to certainty (which is not).
In your headcanon Sciona is a Robin Hood figure, fighting the tyranny of the Twilight Council. So it is their oppressive behaviour which caused her to rebel against them. Ultimately heroically loosing her body in a final stand. Then, some time later, returning to seek her revenge!
All well and good. But then realise that the Twilight Council is a political body with extremely broad representation. As far as we know every supernatural race, alien race or civilisation (with business on Earth) and any other Terran faction of significance* (such as the Mages Guilds) all have factions representing them.
So they are like the United Nations of the supernatural. They set standards of common behaviour and make laws to ensure that those are maintained, and that society is protected. Of which we have seen that one of the most important is to keep the secret of the Veil. There are others though, such as ‘no eating humans’.
Now we must bear in mind that Ingsol has pointed out that the supernatural races do include individuals, and groups, who are truly monstrous (in intent and behaviour). So their laws have to be very strict and harshly enforced, as a result. The historic example, of a field full of impaled transgressors, being our main point of reference.
So it is fair to say that Sciona has been subject to harsh treatment (getting her body mostly chopped off qualifies). However we can also deduce that it is most likely to have been due to her breaking one or more of the laws, which have been set up to keep everybody safe. These laws are democratically debated, in the council chambers. With every faction taking turns in the leadership role, and having their faction represented on the leaders table.
On top of which anybody is allowed to speak directly to the assembly, from the peanut gallery. So it is not just the leaders, but anybody who has been elected to represent their faction (the only ones likely to be in the chamber, other than guests).
Which means, whatever grievance Sciona may have originally had, there were good mechanisms in place to allow her to have her say, and to influence the political process. Instead she chose to take (unknown) actions sufficiently unlawful to warrant attempting to kill her!
Ultimately it is most likely that Sciona was the root of her own problems (by deducing her character, based upon her present actions). We have seen that she has no qualms about breaking laws or even basic morals. So whatever evil villainy she was probably up to, it is right that the Twilight Council opposed her.
But the whole matter had come to an end. Sciona could have chosen to remain hidden, as everyone considered her to be dead.
However she chose to undertake a path of terrorism. There were other routes she could have taken to restoring her original form. But she chose options which included murdering lawfully appointed politicians.** Not to mention the guests present, which included police.
This was Sciona’s choice to make. She was the one opting to murder, steal and risk causing a war between humans and the supernatural (by bringing down parts of the Veil). Not to mention whatever she is currently doing by ripping a hole in reality.
And throughout the process she has been one step ahead of her opponents. So it is Sciona who has had the initiative. Right from launching the first grenade, through raiding the Dark Reliquary and now to using her can opener. Admittedly hastened by Archon’s approach. But clearly, from her own comments, planned in advance of that.
* Barring humans, but they are not pertinent to Sciona (other than being victims of hers, and at risk from any catastrophe which she may unleash).
** Incidentally being ones who were conducting negotiations on ways to peacefully co-exist with humanity!
No certainty spouting at all
Now, you are claiming that the attack on the CoEM was the first action, ignoring their chopping off most of her body with no explanation for why they did that, it was dismissed off hand “Oh yes, we removed most of her body, we have no idea why she would be upset about that, don’t pay it any attention, it is irrelevant”
The CoEM doesn’t want peaceful co-existence with humanity, they want to remain hidden in the shadows so they can continue what they have been doing for hundreds of centuries: feed on humans
If you continue to make false statements about me, then we are done
Which does not match the dialogue in the comic. So again you are claiming speculation as fact. Read your sentence quoted and see that it does not allow for an alternative. Meaning that me calling you out on that is not putting words in your mouth. Rather it is stating a truth.
Now whilst your statement may turn out to be true, if the entire council is being duplicitous and lying, you have not allowed for the possibility that they are being genuine.
Further do note that Ingsol has warned Sydney that there are indeed monsters amongst the supernatural who do want to do what you say. So they are not pretending that the system works perfectly as intended. However your claim is that the intent is contrary to what they say it is.
Importantly though, the council have an entire organisation, the VI’s, who are devoted to stopping such acts. And who are working in co-operation, with Archon, to ensure that there is accountability to humans.
Not to mention that Archon are monitoring all suspicious events independently of them. So that, if there is mass duplicitous feeding on humanity going on, it will become readily apparent from one angle or the other.
Allowing unrestricted access to police and spies is not typical of an organisation wishing to cover up deception. Yet the Twilight Council have passed over the lead of such investigations and actions to Archon. So they will have full access and be able to check out whatever angles they feel necessary.
Of course you are entitled to believe that the Council are lying. Such pessimism is actually sensible. It allows the evidence to be examined with a cynical eye, thus making it easier to spot any evidence proving that.
Mind you not allowing for the possibility that they are being honest does serve to bias any objectivity. However, again, that is your option.
What I am not obliged to do though is to allow you to spread misinformation, without challenging it. If you state your speculative opinion as fact I will speak out. Even if that does risk you throwing your toys out of the pram.
See contrary to what I have stuck to, in analysing your comments, you are actually misrepresenting what I said. So you are being hypocritical in claiming that I am making false statements about you, when you are actually doing that of me!
I have added emphasis, to the quote above, to point out the relevant part that is false. And prove it by quoting where I did address the point in question:
Now you are entitled to disagree with my deduction. However that is not what you claimed. Rather you said I had ignored the issue, which is blatantly incorrect.
Doubly so, as I elaborated even further upon this point:
So not only did I not ignore it, I examined it exhaustively!
What is truly sad, is you don’t even realise what false statement about me you made
Good bye friend puppy
Never bring a monologue to a door-throwing contest.
Reminds me of this great scene about being outclassed with your own weapon.
I think “Never bring a monologue to a door-throwing contest” is my nominee for quote of the week. It’s only Monday, but I’ll stand by it. Hell, “Never bring a monologue to a (something-somethinging) contest” has *limitless* opportunities for application in the superhero genre.
…That would make a good example for making a new trope right there.
…
…
…
No, not me. I won’t do it.
That very last panel – Dabbler, it can be a group effort. It doesn’t have to be just about you.
And, @DaveB : I love Panel 2 there, where you’ve really captured a great expression on Dabbler’s face. Not quite a smirk. Well, not quite a subordinate smirk.
And then, a return to the very last panel: we need more art of Pouty Dabbler. There just has to be upcoming situations that will make her pout. Like an adorable little girl who has been denied an opportunity to make exlpody things happen or use a toy she’s invested a lot of time in developing. Or being denied an opportunity to ravish someone. I know it’ll be tough to find situations where she will pout like that, but I have faith you can work a couple uin without having to force it.
;-)
At least Sciona’s transformation didn’t make her giant sized. Many villains use their super duper final power when the heroes bust in on them and turn giant sized. It never seems to help and usually results in them being killed or defeated soon after, usually in a horrible manner.
That sounds like a Power Rangers plot line. I don’t think that is going to happen here. Dave B. is a much better story teller.
Could be worse – she could have turned into a snake.
Yeah look at Kevin, he was outdoors and had lots of room to move around but if hadn’t gotten that big there wouldn’t have been room for all the others to pile on and he could have thrown them off one at a time.
I would have thought Sydney, with her shield up, “is the least likely to be harmed by a mountain falling on her.”
Would think that would depend on how much pressure the shield can hold up. It might survive the initial collapse, but depending on how things settle, she could end up in a situation with a continuse mass pressing down on the bubble? Then comes the question of how long can she maintain it, long enough to be dug out?
Personally I think that, once everything settles, she’ll just be in a tiny little cave. If that’s stable, she can survive as long as she has water. She can make fresh air from her orb.
Can she fly out? She’s never tried moving through rock AFAIK.
She might be able to use her Lighthook for trying to dig her way out.
Also air usage, though with just the shield up she could use her air orb.
Halo might be able to send her Lightbee through the rubble and then teleport out by pressing that button which was unknown before the time-loop at the Mars Factory.
+1
that’s gonna leave a bruise once the blood magic and super juice wears off. (netflix and chill? nah bro blood magics and super juice)
well i don’t like sciona one bit, so i hope we are near her “at this moment, she knew she fucked’up” when maxima bitch-slap her like the little cunt she is…
I think she’s too egocentric/megalomaniacal to ever realize her own faults like that.
Now that we are in a situation where Dabbler could actually get into a fist fight, I don’t know if her horns would be that useful as defense. The side ones could fend off a few standard punches, but bone will eventually break, especially against a high level opponent. Could she regrow one if broken off?
Maxima “Do as I say, not as I do” example number…
Is that on the bingo card?
I’m not sure if it’s suggestive enough for the bingo card.
Maybe, “Do who I say, not who I do?”
Heheh I hear the Warner Bros patented “thu-wack-a-tunk” sound when they slam each other with large slab-like objects.
Only half an hour up and the page is already full of comments!
Here, we see the Science Succubus in her natural Captain Obvious Adventurer’s Tips corner.
Ah, the old environment damage trick from DragonBall. Smack someone hard enough, and they’ll stagger away at worst, but the surroundings are fractured into a pile of rubble all around them.
I’m pretty sure there’s a TV Tropes name for this, though I can never remember what it is.
It could be time for a Clothing Damage trope instance… “justified: with all that friction between the person and the wall, all that force, maybe even Kevlar would tear…” :P
Dabbler and Sciona are both so full of it on this page, those are terrible justifications for “I wanted something and wasn’t going to let a trivial thing like common sense stop me”.
Clearly Max has a lot more tolerance for Dabbler’s brand of BS though.
It is wise to show tolerance towards someone carrying a gun that can shoot clean through a mountain!
In a hostage negotiation or international politics, sure, but Archon is a military organization, not a meritocracy. Probably the worst organization in the world to let subordinates get away with anything based on what they are capable of doing – especially after Max’s diva speech at the press conference about how Archon (and her in particular) doesn’t expect to put up with super-powered arrogance.
Super Arrogance, thy name is Maxi
Sciona, if you wanted this to stay Council business you shouldn’t have attacked the Council with supers in attendance.
She had no way of knowing Maxi was going to be showing up, and Maxi only did that because of the risk of Sydney seeing someone (or something) with her TruSight and freak out
Actually she had various ways of knowing that. We know she had a number of members of the Twilight Council reporting to her.
Plus her magics are clearly more than up to the task of acquiring information. Sciona was able to open a micro portal to the Dark Reliquary, through all of its extensive anti-teleport measures. Which means she would have been able to open one to the Twilight Council, should she have wished to spy through it (directly or by means of bugging).
Finally there were the constructs which she built. They were her troops, acting under her orders. Everything that they do thereby being her moral and legal responsibility. Which mandates adequate supervision of them, by herself or delegated subordinates, to ensure that they act in appropriate ways.
We even see Sciona handing the Can Opener, to Buster, with the orders to ‘finish this’. Indicating that either he is a sentient construct (like Icon and the other members of his faction) or that Sciona has very extensively programmed him. Such that he can continue a highly complicated task (using a newly created magical item) yet only having such a simple instruction.
So, had Sciona wanted to, she had numerous ways to ensure the fake-SWAT team could deal with any unexpected developments. Either by monitoring them remotely and directly ordering them. Or by having a lieutenant with them in person. Or by creating them with enough autonomy to make sensible decisions. Or by programming them with similar flexibility.
At the end of the day she chose not to do any of those things. Which does not exonerate Sciona.
There were police present who were attacked by constructs created by her. That is Sciona’s fault.
No excuses. Neither morally nor legally (not ones which would bear up against scrutiny).
Again, how the fricassee was she supposed to know before hand that Maxi and the Goof Troop was going to be there? Ingie and Mr Fluffy barely had warning!!!
Not saying she’s not responsible, just that she had little way of knowing that Archon was going to be showing up
I’m really hoping that Sciona manages to actually win this one. The team hasn’t yet actually had a loss and giving them one would be good character progression, especially for Maxima, who can get a bit too smug for my liking a lot of the time about how powerful she is.
It wouldn’t make sense though.
Maxima’s team is far from stupid and knows how to leverage their powers and numbers as a team.(Them being really powerful and knowing how to fight doesn’t hurt either.)
While Sciona has mostly been, outside of manipulation of people, kinda sub-par when it comes to actually fighting someone. At least compared to the people we’ve seen do far.
She runs in without knowing someone’s full capabilities, tries to monologue in the middle of fights, and teleports away when faced with a stronger opponent.
The last part is a good strategy, but doesn’t exactly indicate someone is a combat specialist.
I’ll freely admit, Maxima has rubbed me wrong this entire arc. Especially with the bridge stuff, making a mistake and then blaming it on the target.
What IS the accountability system for the team?
Had she actually made a mistake then she would be accountable to General Faulk and, beyond him, the Chiefs of Staff and the President.
Although it is contentious, I do not believe that Maxima made a mistake. Firing at Sciona, in the position that she was in, should not have exposed anyone on the bridge to danger. Had the explosion affected Sciona only she would have died. Had Maxima missed, the only target beyond Sciona was open water. So again no risk, beyond a wave (and not a huge one either, as the explosion was relatively small).
Only the fact that Sciona had a capability that nobody (including herself) knew about, allowed her to deflect it. And then only an extremely unlikely fluke allowed it to detonate, at the key point on the bridge, where it could cause the most damage. So statistically unlikely that it is actually very reasonable to presume it was directed there on purpose.
Which does justify making a snap judgement that Sciona did so on purpose.
This was not shifting the blame from herself. Rather it was a rational judgement, which I believe does stand up to scrutiny.
Now I should point out that this is regards her culpability within the organisation, as that is the question you asked. American law though, on suing experts, is weird and would hold her negligent, by the mere fact that things went wrong. However if looking at it from the point of view of ‘did she do anything morally or ethically wrong, or use poor tactical judgement’, then she is in the clear.
She made a good judgement in trying to stop a maniac armed with a WMD and attempted to do so in a safe way.
But, of course, folks are entitled to have contrary opinions.
gonna have to say i’m sure dabbler is thankful she was lucky enough not to be the one who ended up underneath the vault door(?). after all im sure in her lifetime she has been in a full body cast once or twice and probably didn’t enjoy the experience.
Superman and Zod (perhaps Power Girl and Zod?) proceed to level everything for a 20 block radius as they fight.
Meh. Nothing compared to Grace vs Squirrel Girl!
Why do villains always have such a problem with blame? Is it in a super-villain guide book to always insist that someone else is responsible for your actions?
Sociopathy.
Concisidenisficationness.
More often attributed to so-called ‘Heroes’
True, I suppose.
To whom it may concern. I hope that I am the first to tell you that Uranus smells like rotten eggs.
You may wish to modify your diet.
Of news, of course!
Yorp, quit sniff’n butts.
Trust a critter that regularly sniffs arses to know what Uranus smells like. ;)
I think Max’s finally going to give that annoyance a smack down, take yer bets people take yer bets! XD
Sydney’s not even there…
Shields up, captain!
The real issue is if she can get any of Max’s blood…that could turn things around quick….
Maybe later. Her blood is probably too different to immediately figure out how to use it.