Grrl Power #627 – Vulcan 2nd base grip
In the stinger for this page, I joke about Sciona getting lightheaded if she keeps using her own blood for her spells, but if one of those super syringes she shot herself with (whoops, just realized I forgot that mark on her chest) had a regeneration power in it, she could potentially fire her blood out like a hose and then animate it like Green Lantern, and attack them with blood blades and other blood constructs, all the while forming sigils to cast spells. Hmm. Maybe she just hasn’t thought of doing that yet.
Sciona watched the press conference, and knows Achilles is invulnerable, but of course it’s one thing to hear it and assume that while he is in fact pretty tough, it’s like any other defense and can be overcome with application of enough force. In that first panel, she’s trying to either crush his arms or rip them clean off, when really she should just grab one of his arms and use him as a projectile against one of the squad. He’s not actually strong enough to hold onto her right now if she was a remotely experienced grappler.
I also slightly messed up the art in that first panel, his hand was supposed to be right on her boob. Maybe I’ll fix that if I find the time to fix the missing mark on her chest. In a life and death struggle, any part of your opponent’s body is fair game, eyes, ears, testicles, but when you’re sparring, it’s probably bad form to tie your opponent’s testicles in a square knot or grab a woman’s boob. In the Amazon vs. Valkyrie war, I imagine there’s probably going to be a lot of injured boobs, but Achilles is a superhero, and he’s trying to beat up Sciona politely.
Edit: Fixed the hand and the missing mark.
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She’s done that before…
changed nail color?
“Wrestled” with a guy and tried to break his bone?
Stuck the landing after her gymnastics routine?
Smashing…
Anyone else except Achilles, I’d be saying “Ooooo, that’s gotta hurt” by now.
If I was Achilles when she started to peel my hands away when my hand was over her face my fingers would be sinking into her eyes.
So you would fall more into the anti-hero or vigilante camp, versus the superhero camp… as you aren’t willing to try to beat up your opponents politely?
As this villain is known to kill in a most casual manner, there is no anti-hero maneuvers in a hand-to-hand engagement. There is only kill, or be killed.
I don’t think that rule applies to Achilles though.
Well… Kill, or be… inconvenienced, possibly bored. Heh.
Kill, or let a bunch of victims get killed.
“There is no overkill. There is only ‘open fire’ and ‘reload.’ “
Spoken like someone who doesn’t need 51% of the corpse in order to collect payment.
I hope that was a relevant quote. As opposed to a hint about your profession.
Just the head.
These days, witnesses and DNA samples will do.
eh with the right magic the head can supply both.
if she got “most of” her head cut off from the rest of her body and she still survived…. you can probably destroy MORE than 51% of her and STILL have a fight on your hands…
*nods*
*grasps head, with both paws, to make sure it doesn’t fall off*
Probably? You just laid out the facts that all that remained of her was the top ~2/3 of her head. Clearly she is able to handle absolutely devastating amounts of damage. Whether that is a natural quality of her space/extradimensional race, or her occupation as a blood mage, or something else remains to be seen. And I hope we see it.
I’ve seen
worsebetter.As a not evil villain I’ll take the head,have it studied in a lab for verification before I consider them greater than 75% probability dead. Then shove thier head in a small lead lined metal box and bury it 8 feet deep and continue my not evil plan and pay my mercenary his fee as well as a 30% silence fee put in the lifetime contract.
Really? As a member of the Mercenary Guild on occasional contract with the Knights of Holy Light, I just use necromancy to interrogate the head by making it relive it’s death over and over again until it gives me the info I need, after which the head decays into a pile of rotting bone and blood.
hmmm…perhaps all future mercenaries i hire need to receive a ward against necromancy acts against them in the event of death. thank you for this insight into a glaring weakness in my hiring process you will most certainly be remembered during my obviously peaceful transition of power of the world governments as someone to keep around.
No problem. The Knight Protector’s been irritating me anyway.
“Oh, yes, of course. In order to kill them, you must destroy somewhere around ninety percent of their body. I have read numbers as low as eighty percent but also as high as ninety-seven percent, so make of that what you will, I suppose.”
Sometimes that’s not an option, even if you are only fighting in a tournament.
I am considering gene splicing all of my backup gestalts with caulerpa taxifolia, so that they can regenerate from a single cell and spread by polyp. A true tactic for global domination.
Might loose a bit on your conversational skills though. I am not sure I would approve!
*Yorpie hard stare*
ROFL – that is an awesome image. :D I snerked out loud!
That’s shlock mercenary for ya. go tagon!
There is no such thing as overkill because there IS such a thing as underkill.
Les started out as a vigilante, along with Heatwave and Morph
Or into the observant category, since he’s seen her trade smashes with a multi-meter wide, multi-ton section of metal door with Maxima, which can strongly imply that Sciona is currently more durable than his strength is likely to be able to damage.
If she was smart, she would have used him as her own personal shield. Yeah, he could have done some real damage on the way up, but he would have been more valuable to her as a weapon rather than just ejecting him. Literally beating Archon with their own members.
Using an enemy combatant as a weapon or shield is mostly of value due to the enemy not wanting to harm them.
But they know full well that that isn’t a concern with Achilles, so that wouldn’t really be any help.
Both arguments have merit.
Achilles would provide an unbreakable shield, regardless of how powerful an attack is directed her way.
On the other paw though, unlike Stalwart he can be easily knocked back. So whilst he is good for blocking energy attacks, a kinetic one (like a punch) will just knock Achilles into her, and squish her against the wall. Albeit with some of the damage leached off, as his organs compact (within the normal tolerances that they operate, but not beyond the point where it would otherwise damage him).
However as a kinetic meat shield he is actually worse than a regular squishy human (versus super strong attacks). Simply because a the muggle’s bones would break, and organs rupture, all of which would be expending some of the force of the attack, without passing that on to Sciona. Plus what makes him a good weapon to use against others then makes him a danger to the person wielding him.
But, of course the intent is to hit with him, and keep a good enough grip to stop him slamming back into her. Which, with her present strength, Sciona could probably pull off OK.
The thing which would make the plan less practical though is that Achilles would be actively working to subvert it. If you have a weapon who keeps wrapping his limbs around you, trying to trip you up and covering your eyes (or gouging them out) then the plan is working against you.
As we learned when fighting Vehemence, if you are supertough your eyes are propably supertough too. At least relatively speaking.
Achilles only has about 150% normal human strenght, as he does not need to worry about damaging his muscles via strain. But otherwise his only power is a “unbeatable defense”. He propably could not poke baselien sconias eyes out. Powerwered up on Superblood? Even less so.
actually, Vehemence’s eyes weren’t supertough. he just regenerated one after having it blown out by a 50. cal. granted, yes, it took a 50′ cal to do so, but ‘les would still have a good chance of gouging someone’s eyes out like that just for the fact he’s Invincibly immutable, though he’d probably find the feeling gross.
You are thinking about the first shot. Which did regenerate (later). At the time though it was still bloody, when Peggy tried to take out his other eye. Vehemence blinking his eyelid shut was sufficient to block the bullet.
Hence why Maxima ordered Peggy to withdraw, as she was no longer able to affect the fight.
Whereas if Peggy had been able to carry on shooting out his eyes, that would have been an effective tactic. Even if he regenerated the wound almost instantly, the blood would still be blinding him!
Plus it would still hurt, like someone blowing out his eye with a .50 cal bullet
Barefooted as she is on the cold stone floor, she will catch a flu.
Flu comes from a virus. Not from cold.
Everybody knows that all the different types of flu we suffer everyear, come from ultrasecret dark underground… places.
Cold is not the direct cause, but it helps the virus (well, it weakens the immune system). Since it is a lot easier to protect from cold than a virus and the effect is similar, the statement “cold causes flu” is not completely wrong from an everyday life point of view.
The other major factor is that we tend to stay indoors when it is cold, so we end up sharing the air with other potentially infectious people. By concentrating the people is warm places, we are more likely to be exposed to whatever the other person has, be it influenza, rhinovirus, hepatitis (that one is not distributed that much in the air), etc.
We also get the fun aspect of when it is cold people user the heaters more and the warm air blowing through vents heats up whatever virus/bacteria/other nastiness is in the duct work and blows it all over people. As most of those reproduce better in warmer environment than cooler environments.
It’s more that it just happens to be colder during flu season, than that cold weakens the immune system.
What a bunch of boring people you all are. I should have said chilblains instead.
Chilblains ain’t something to joke about: ever had the feeling of things crawling under your skin? That nasty horrible itching as your blood vessels die and new vessels literally carve new paths because the old paths now lead to dead flesh? Itching so bad you want to simultaneously want to boil that body part in the hottest water you can find and amputate at the same time? That is what it’s like
Have chilblains on the right heel that causes it to blister really badly in the cold, and causes the right hand to swell up so badly the skin literally splits in places, same with the toes on the left foot (last year it was the second and last toe, this year it’s the middle two toes)
People are free to talk about whatever they please. And you don´t have the right to censor anybody.
(By the way, yes, I have suffered chilblains, although not in such a severe way)
Guesticus wasn’t censoring you. You had obviously just poked a sore spot. A very sore one, by the sounds of it. He was just exercising free speech, in return.
I found your comments suitably wry by the way. :-)
I hate you. :p
*cries*
People have the right to tell you to shut up as much as they want. There’s no censorship involved.
The only laws that involve censorship are about the government not being allowed to do it.
But they and corporate America do it all the time. [sad sad truth]
Wasn’t doing either, just saying that chilblain’s ain’t something to joke about
“Cold […] weakens the immune system” [citation needed]
Allow me to grant your wish.
That’s a nice looking jet.
Oh dear me, maybe you meant the other kind of citation?
*blushes*
* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17705968
It’s more that (a) rhinoviruses etc linger on surfaces a lot longer in cold weather so you get exposed to more in cold weather, (b) airways close up a bit in the cold, making the symptoms worse, and (c) lack of sunlight in the winter months leads to lack of vitamin D, which weakens the immune system. For cold itself to weaken the immune response, you have to get cold enough to shut down the circulation to a given area… which tends to have worse consequences than just catching a cold.
Yeah, we were told not to spit in winter, as any virus would longer until summer (not that spitting at any time was encouraged, just specially discouraged during winter)
Wow, that’s a good one. Next you’ll be telling us that one winter it got so cold that when the band played the notes just froze up solid, and the next spring there was a symphony marking the thaw!
You really are a troll, didn’t say it was correct, just what we were told at school because the virus would stay dormant until it got warmer, and kids tend to run around in barefeet in summer
Again, for those slow in learning, NOT saying that it was true, just what we were told
When passing along obviously idiot information, it helps* that you point out that you believe that the information you just shared unprompted with the class is false. Because while you are correct that you didn’t say that the information you posted was true, you also didn’t say that you thought it wasn’t true. And in the absence of that context, it really looks like you were just sharing some wisdom with the readers of this forum.
* And especially if you have the reputation of saying idiot things, which you do.
i always imagine rhinovirus meaning a virus that turns you into a rhinocerous, and rhinoplasty as how rhinocerii get breast implants. (I do know that rhino pertains to the nose, by the way)
Although in the Grrlverse there is the were-rhino virus.
And in Congress we unfortunately have the RINO-virus…
So wait, just to be sure of what’s happening, did she just reverse gravity of the area? Because that’s sorta really cool :)
Nah, she’s causing pillars of rock to rise up from beneath her foes.
Sydney: “DAMMIT! HOW COME SHE GETS EARTHBENDING???” (angry stare at Orb #7)
*nods condescendingly at Orb 7*
*hugs mystery orb consolingly*
There there. I am sure you will grow up to become a metal bender.
Or something just as far, scapegoating you not withstanding.
“EVERY super gets metal-bending. I’d rather shoot eye-beams than twist I-beams.” *grumble*
Darkseid lucks out on this one, he can twist eye-beams and I-beams.
Why didn’t I see Sydney’s spaceship powers as biomechanical?
Good point, Yorp.
(overflowingly fills dog bowl with Yorpie Snax)
Yummy!
A metal Bender, you say?
Oh yeah, I see it now. Still cool.
Not sure why, with Sciona coming up with new abilities regularly right now, but I’m finding her to be a MUCH more entertaining villain than Vehemence ever was (and also a lot less annoying for the fight scene).
I’m thinking it’s probably because her ‘powers that pop up’ seem to be more ‘pre-planned’ out, and she has motivations beyond ‘I’m fighting because I wanna fight.’ She has a real, bona-fide plan being put into action and the fighting is just to buy her enough time for it to happen. :)
Plus when she talks, it’s for some reason not as annoying – probably because she’s not genre-savvy…. although Sydney is genre-savvy and I love that about her. And I love that about Deus as well. Hrm. I don’t know why I like her so much as a villain. But I do.
Keep up the great work DaveB :)
I’m pretty sure that is a version of her blood portal. She teleported a column of rock into the room from the floor.
Sciona is a mage, and a powerful one at that. It is to be expected that she has a variety of spells. These are not new abilities just part of a broad existing power set, which we have not seen the limits of yet.
Now deflecting an incoming energy bolt, with her wings, that was a new ability. Previously she had only demonstrated chopping and poking with those.
She’s essentially evil magic Batman.
Another reason might be that Vehemence came off as really overpowered and Sciona does not.
Vehemence was pretty much curb stomping the entire Archon team, and they only managed to subdue him by both heroes and villians dog-piling him. Sciona on the other hand has already acknowledged she stands no chance, she is literally fighting to try and buy 60 seconds.
That’s not why. It’s not just that Vehemence was overpowered. It was that he was constantly pulling Deus Ex Machinae out of nowhere. To the point where even he didn’t know that he could do the things that he could do. It just doesn’t seem that way with Sciona. With her, it seems more ‘limited’ to a set of rules, which makes her a lot more acceptable to me as a good villain. Also she doesn’t call herself ‘the Omega-level’ and other stuff which was just cringy. Sciona acts like a proper villain :) With goals and stuff beyond just fighting :)
Vehemence definitely was on a power trip, and probably a euphoric adrenaline high – both of which were stronger than ever before in his life. I can understand him getting a bit cocky and aggressive even if that’s not his normal attitude.Pre-action and post arrest Kevin seems like a pretty chill dude to hang out with.
And most importantly choosing not to kill Sydney, when she was at his absolute mercy.
It makes me wonder if he was actually a nice guy, prior to gaining his powers. We can see that Dabbler, with her similar tantric energy requirements, is essentially a sex addict. With him getting a not dissimilar rush, from violence, that could have turned him into the violence addict that we saw.
Having reached the point where his lesser fixes were no longer giving him the expected rush, that he was used to, he was having to escalate his destruction, each time, to get his high. Like we see with most chemical addictions, albeit requiring their respective drug (or a stronger version, when that looses too much of its effectiveness).
Regardless of if he’s a nice guy or not (him being a nice guy actually makes me like him as a character less:) ), I just can’t stand Vehemence, despite loving Sciona as a villain. The idea t hat Vehemence might have been a ‘nice guy’ just makes him worse in my opinion, since it makes him more of a Gary Stu.:) (oh, we shouldnt hate him, he’s a good guy, it’s not his fault that he’s being a violent psychopath).
With Sciona, we know where we stand. She wants to do bad stuff, enslave the earth or whatever, get revenge on the Council, etc. There’s no illusions that she’s not a baddie, no talking about genre savvy stuff (honestly only Deus and Sydney and sometimes Maxima seem capable of pulling that off without it being cringy, becaus Deus is a Magnificent Bastard, Sydney is the main protagonist and a Crazy BunnyEared Lawyer nutty type, and Maxima’s the Old Pro). With Vehemence it was just ‘well we’ve given him every power we can think of as the plot demands because reasons, lets also make him genre savvy… and also let him have pretty much complete knowlege of non-earthly stuff too… and lets make him talk like an annoying jerk too who kept saying things that made me just go ‘ugh.’
“Ole!”
“Oh ho!”
“I suppose this is where I reveal my evil plan and all that.”
“Oh is that where they keep the Aetheon Thrones?”
“Oh and before young Scoville suggests it….”
“En garde.”
“Oh ho!”
“… makes you a threat I can’t abide.”
His talking about meanings of the word ‘malum’
And the most annoying, cringe worthy thing he ever said which makes me loathe the character completely and utterly:
“In case there was any doubt, I’m the level 10, the dragon, ultraviolet, omega…”
I swear, I don’t NEED a Vehemic Anger Aura to hate that guy on a primal level :)
It miiiiight also have been because of the year long fight. Probably wouldnt have gotten so sick of him if not for that. With Sciona the fights are sperated into smaller battles and elements of an overall plan, and I just find that very fun to read about, compared to her just coming in and instantly being prepared for everything from the get go. :)
And Deus? Well, all sane people know that Deus isn’t actually a villain anyway. Truly, he’s the world’s greatest hero. God bles Deus.
Oh I am not a fan of Vehemence. I do like the rapport he had with Sydney though. That was just cool, and worked well in the pertinent scenes. But his modus operandi is basically that of a football hooligan, who’s interest lies in beating up rival fans, or taking on another crew of thugs.
Their saving grace is that, when the cops turn up, they will leg it. Whereas Vehemence is perfectly happy fighting (and if necessary) killing them. And, far worse than all that, he is able to coerce innocent people to doing the same.
So, whilst your dislike stems from analysing the mechanics of the story, and the abstract aspects, mine comes from looking at him as a person. Character wise he has some redeeming features. Mostly though he is a thug, with super powers, who has no conscience about controlling others and making them his puppets.
How many of the survivors, on the ‘villain’ side of the battle, will be suffering PTSD? Going from leading normal, mundane lifestyles, one day, to trying to kill cops then next! All the worse knowing that they were not being remotely controlled, that it was just how they would behave themselves, with rampant anger and an urge to fight.
This is the kind of systematic, thoroughly articulated irritation I can get behind.
One of my family members is an addict, but not with chemicals (unless you count dopamine) but with control. Controlling others is their addiction.
Used to be just being minorly abusive got them their kicks, but as time passed they needed more and more, to the point that Google Earth can now show what they control.
It sucks when people like that thrive. Sadly our system is set up to support such behaviour, if they are good at it. There are all too many authority figures who abuse the power that they have. Yet who find that they will get cooperation in covering up their crimes. Especially if they are good at turning a profit.
Hmm, that description sounded like someone in this webic, should know butt them just can’t think of their name right now…
You are justified in your dislike of Deus. He is good at manipulating the system. And where he does match the description is in abusing Archon and society’s trust in him, by supplying a WMD to at least one terrorist. Quite what his personal objectives are, in doing that, remains to be seen. It is not simple gross reckless behaviour (although including that).
Where it diverges though is Deus not being abusive to those under him. Sciona being the most controversial point, as many did consider his actions, to her, to be abusive. However she was not an employee of his, plus Deus had no power over her, other than being able to supply her with something that she wanted.
Further Sciona voluntarily agreed to their arrangement, enjoyed it (albeit with some misgivings) and profited highly from the deal. Therefore Deus was not abusive towards Sciona.
However he did exploit her craving for her item, to draw her into prostitution. So is unlikable, as a result, but not abusive. But you do get a match on him controlling her, by this. Bigtime.
Clearly his murdering of a national leader is not acceptable behaviour. However it does not constitute abuse, and the dictator certainly was not an employee or anybody under Deus’s care. Again though he did control the guy’s heir. Partly through the implied threat of the same thing happening to him, if he did not co-operate.
Mostly though it was by offering him the crown (literally, albeit being entitled to it anyhow) and by making him ‘the richest man in Africa’. So controlling, but not abusive.
As for his actual employees, and others under his care (essentially the populace of the country that he defacto controls), we have seen zero signs of abusive behaviour.* Obviously, as employees he is controlling them. However only in a way that is perfectly normal in society.
And the populace have all had their standards of living and quality of life improved. And we have seen that he is well-liked, as a result. We saw the little girl giving him his treasured gift, as a thank you.
Likewise the basilisk assassin was clearly happy with her previous employment, as she did not hesitate in accepting Deus’s impromptu offer of more work, in helping to loot the Dark Reliquary.
* I think we can assume that he has made similar deals, to the one with Sciona, with a large number of women. Some of whom may, or may not, have been in the country he controls. Or even employees. However the only examples we have are of extremely exotic non-human species, so we have nothing to support such speculation. Other than for any supernaturals living there.
TL/DR: Deus is a good match on some points (being controlling, making a profit and the system supporting him). But not on others (being abusive). More hits than not though, so fair call, overall.
‘Volunteered’, when there was Valeur in the room to ‘encourage’ her? Or did you forget that Valeur literally threatened her before Sci reluctantly agreed?
No. And we have been over the point ad nauseam. The canon very specifically indicated that Vale was there to protect Deus. The only threat Vale gave was in response to Sciona starting to get out of paw again. A very necessary reminder, that Vale could kill her, if she did try attacking Deus.
In any normal ‘dating’ situation, you are entirely right that any threat would be inappropriate. However Sciona had attempted to murder someone right in front of Vale and Deus, the last time they met. So the precaution was wholly justified, in the context.
Further the author clarified that Sciona was free to go, at any time. So unless you want to call him a liar, please stop arguing that it was rape!* And yes, I know you used ‘encouraged’, rather than ‘rape’, however the insinuation is clear.
Further we saw, as the rest of the scene played out, that Sciona enjoyed herself and they left on good terms. So there is nothing to support your insinuation.
Incidentally I said ‘voluntarily agreed’, as opposed to ‘volunteered’. The former being supplying consent (which she literally did), whereas the latter is the initiation of the action, which is a misrepresentation of the situation. Not that I am fussed mind, as you were paraphrasing me. But you did so inaccurately enough that it changed the meaning enough to warrant correcting.
* By the way arguing that the scene was not clear, and that it could be misconstrued by readers, is perfectly acceptable. The community was very heavily divided, on the issue. However that is not what you said here. You are perpetuating spreading something that you have been told, by word of god, is a misconception.
You assumption about insinuation is unfounded
Yeah, there’s a large difference between a fight where we see her cursing her lack of preparation time, and then breaking out what appears to be the emergency blood magic booster, vs. the guy who claims (and proves it) for waaaaay too many comics that when he hits you, IGetStronger, when you hit him, IGetStronger, when a bird poops on him, IGetStronger, when he gets a hangnail, IGetStronger, etc. and most definitely ad nauseam.
===
I am wondering what happened to the Brane Ripper, Now With Extenda-Handle!™. Wasn’t kill-mannikin #28 finishing the job Sciona had started? And where’s Sydney? She was just commenting about how on point they all seem to be, and now she’s gone, or at least not having her impenetrable forcefield pummeled by a stone pillar.
Vehemence does have a strong power set, with various synergies, which could be exploited to make it even stronger, that could be used in incredibly versatile ways.
Ditto Sydney.
Ditto Dabbler.
Ditto Krona.
Ditto Varia.
Ditto the geomancer.
This though is a super-hero story. Dave does not shrink from giving characters such powers (even ones that seem open-ended or with world-changing potential) and exploring where they go with them.
Disliking individual ones though, or their specific use, in the story, is fair game.
The loose ends, which you list, do remain at liberty and rampaging around.
This I’ll have to strongly disagree with. You left out Opal(?), the portal gal. I laid out a dissertation where she could be either the most powerful villain, capable of easily destroying the Earth, or the savior of humanity, capable of powering a nearly unlimited, free power plant.
Dave has many characters with power sets which could be looked at more deeply. But he has done little to none of the exploration that you speak about. In fact he has almost completely gone in the exact opposite direction. We know very, very little about the power sets of almost every character in this comic. There have been a couple who have had their power set detailed, but that number is vanishingly small compared to the number of character who have been introduced.
Well we have seen Opal helping Deus to loot the Dark Reliquary with her power. You were right that I should have included her mind, given that I very much agree with the assessment of her power potential.
Of course Varia beats her paws down, given that she likely will have a similar power in amongst the billions of potential powers in her set. :-D
You are right that in-depth exploring of every character’s power has not been done. In fact even the main protagonist’s has not been completed yet. But there is a huge cast, so such, of necessity, has to be done slowly. Further Dave has to work hard to resist just info dumping all their capability, because he wants to show us, rather than tell us.
Which requires that the story be at a suitable point for such exploration to occur. But it has been happening. With Opal I thought that one of the most inventive uses was using her portal as a means of counter-attacking, by redirecting a punch. Whilst wormholes are one of my favourite power concepts, and I (like you) have thought of many potential uses (including using them as a shield and, obviously, as a weapon) that was a cunning and amusing way to combine both.
Then we have been seeing extensive exploration of Dabbler’s powers. From her hypnoboobs, through spell casting, swordswomanship, lust aura, porno sense, mind-reading, gunsmithying, customs munitions, teleporting/hammerspace implant …
*pauses for breath*
… and built in wi-fi! Probably others too.
Whilst there was a thought provoking scene exploring the geomancer’s power. In his case most of the interesting things were to do with the implications that these vast powers have on the global economy, and how the US government was responding to that. Which is really profound stuff. Especially as it took a more enlightened approach than us cynical types would expect.
Varia is just a student, at the moment though, so it is logical that she not get to show off her stuff. Not until we return to the basic training (unless the end of the arc skips also signals the end of that too), and see her testing her stuff along side more formal testing of Halo’s orbs.
Likewise Krona is not even a member of the team, nor an antagonist that they have fought against. Yet we have seen some fascinating initial exploration, and discovered stuff about her powers that even she did not know before. Namely that she cannot manipulate time, as she thought, but only emulate that.
So the exploration downgraded her from apparent goddess, to merely having demigod-like powers. :-D
But we saw some mischievous applications, such as interfering with underwear and (better intentioned, yet still without permission) Sydney’s plumbing, and the trivial hair colour change. Not all exploration has to be Earth-shaking.
Varia (easy reach from “massive variety of powers?”) is a special case indeed, since the author can easily use her as a Deus ex machina at a whim. She could gain any power he wants her to gain just by shaking hands with the new doorman, for example.
But when speculating about the uses of a particular superhero’s power set it is best to confine ourselves to the ones which have a far more limited power set but which has a lot of potential uses.
A potential keynote arc for a character like Varia might be to have some threat that no one and no team can stop. Over and over they try different things and fail, and The End is Nigh™ Then Varia runs through a huge crowd and we see her sample a few dozen powers across a few pages, with the cuts providing the implication of course that she is doing this hundreds if not thousands of times. Perhaps we have some clock motion or some sun movement to really highlight the time needed. And then of course she finally lands upon the power needed to save the day.
You can only do this once, of course, or people will wonder why she just can’t repeat the process for any given major threat. Power burnout of some form is a common theme for “settling down” the powers of a super who is elevated to the level where not much is a credible challenge to their abilities.
Well put.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDWIoiPUQAAEqGy.jpg
(Ditto Sydney)
:-)
Sydney had to be at the top of the list!
By the way, I like your name and avatar combination.
Psst. I find Sydney’s hypnobubbles to be way more compelling than Dabblers. ;-)
Not to be the comic nerd, but animating blood is Red Lantern’s gimmick, not Green’s.
Not unless you do it to a Vulcan.
Not many knows that there is a full spectrum of lanterns: when i grew up, i had barely heard of the yellow lanterns, and then only because of Sinestro and the green lanterns still having a weakness towards yellow.
When we grew up they was ONLY one Yellow Lantern and that was Sinestro. =P
Not to be confused with the Yeller Lantern, who never appeared because he was always in hiding.
Or Old Yeller, who is pushing up the daises.
Come to think about it though, aren’t you an old yeller?
Just checked for daisies overhead. Nope. Nada.
Besides, I’m more of a “Bad Dog” type. If I was a super, I would be an anti-hero all the way.
I think that was a joke about your name.
Heh. Yep. I get it, now. You kids and your new-fangled punes.
*offers a glass of pune juce*
Unrelated test
Last i check they don’t have that weekeness anymore. Yellow can slow down the newer recruits but the vets can blow right past it..
Not that any of them would stand a chance against the ultimate lanterns!
Octarine lanterns.
So Red Lanterns can manipulate red fluids from body, does that mean Yellow Lanterns can manipulate yellow fluids from a body?
It’snot a topic discussed in polite company.
Don’t get me started on the White Lantern…
Totally powerless against goths, anarchists, and such. But surprisingly effective against hate groups known for wearing sheets as costumes, in dairy barns, and on certain movie sets. And in the arctic and antarctic.
Presumably very effective against polar bears, but only semi-effective against pandas and zebras.
If he thinks he can attack Pander, he will have to come through me! Even if I have to fight with my eyes shut!
Grrr Grrr!
[Weirdly that image is hosted by Bored Panda.]
And let’s not even mention the dreaded brown lanterns.
I must resist the urge to take the conversation into the sewer.
NooooOOOOOO!
Why would most kinds of Tree bark and dry wood be in the sewer? =P
Woof woof! Bark bark.
*wags tail persuasively*
An Ent had severe problems when on the toilet?
So what happened to Halo? Did she get launched like a pinball in her bubble?
Hopefully, she is not in the next room messing with Buster
So wait… she just punched Sidney and her bubble through the roof of the cave… as well as Hiro and Achilles? Exactly where was she planning to go with this? One would guess that she was trying to cause a cave in and bring down the entire thing around their ears, but we know she’s doing something more in the next room….
Sydney is no where on the page, those legs in the roof would be Hiro’s, what looks like a column to the roof between Les and Dabbles actually belongs to the column Maxi smashed with her face (please let it be her face and she has another broken and bloodied nose, please?)
She got free from achilles. It might not have incapacitated anyone (for more than about 8 seconds), but it did break his hold, and achilles is effectively out of the fight, untill someone releases him.
Looks like Hiro and Achilles are literally pinned to the roof and Dabbler is the same….
Where’s Sydney???
No, they have been pinned into roof, Dabbles managed to fall clear or we would see just what she is made of, literally
Dabbler has not been shown to be as tough as the other people in the room, so she did an agility check to jump off the rapidly rising column. Thankfully, she passed.
Zack Tilly
Syd’s standing there with her shield up but beyond that we’re not sure. If she also had her fly orb on (and she was ready for it?) she might be able to just resist it like Max is doing.
The blue hair makes me think that Dabbler is dodging a column of rock.
Well, she managed to get off before it reached the roof
Yep Les and Hiro got hit into the roof, Max destroyed the rock column, and Dabbler dodged at the last minute.
So …
Achilles and Super Hiro hit the roof. Maxima got stoned. And Dabbler was shirking?
*shakes head*
How their standards have slipped!
Dabbler is gonna kick herself later. She could have ridden the Hell out of that pillar, being a succubus and all.
Is it bad that I imagined Halo pinging around on those pillars like a pinball in her shield bubble instead of being smashed into the ceiling?
That would probably be hilarious and vomit inducing for Sydney.
Would the column even be able to move the shield + Sydney in the first place? Given how it didn’t react when Maxima was pounding on it I half expect the column would crumble and flow sideways out from underneath Sydney’s shield rather than launch her toward the ceiling.
…But rule of awesome would dictate she goes for a pinball ride instead :-p
Maybe if she was also holding Fly? Fly + Orb + not resisting, thinking of Bellamy’s spring-spring fruit ricochet to build up power before colliding and unleashing force (being Sciona).
New sport: Sydney golf. Scoring is based on distance, accuracy, Sydney’s swears, and how fast you make it into The List.
+ Flying f**king five
My bet is on the Skyrim Giant Team to win.
Well, if we turn the pinball event into a sport instead, I expect the deaf, mute, and blind wizard to get the highest score.
Maybe the kid also eats, shoots, and leaves?
Well, she did float in the water, so it’s not ALWAYS resistant to outside forces moving the bubble.
It might be a ground-anchor sort of deal, or possibly a “does as she wills”, which would basically mean that the reason she floated in the water was because she THOUGHT she would float in it.
Both of which would allow for a pinball situation, though, because the ground IS the weapon, so no real anchoring, and she’d probably expect to be pinballed.
Ooh, an insightful way of looking at the bubble floating.
I did pause, just prior to submitting, as it struck me that the pool incident did not actually involve the shield. That was only a bubble of air, created by the mystery orb. But then recalled that Dave confirmed, in one of his blogs, that the same problem occurred later, going down to the Dark Reliquary. Which required Maxima to push the Halomobile down, whilst Sydney was swapping out the flyball, for the airball).
*rummages around in utility belt*
*presents a gold star*
Prior to the pool incident, Sydney demonstrated why she couldn’t properly use the shield underwater by letting go of the fly ball after she used it to submerge, causing her to pop back above the water.
Which then led to half of the problem of the pool incident, since they chained the bubble into the pool, which she then got tangled up in.
Ahh, I forgot that! Of course you are perfectly right.
Did anyone else read the pillar sound effects as moork instead of kroom? Kind of hard to un-see once you see it. Might just be me though.
That’s because it is ‘moork’, sound effects tend to go in the direction they are being made
On the next page there should be a miindy.
*excitedly agrees*
That would certainly happen if this was an Erfworld scene.
More likely to be Orson (or Nosro) :P
So the other one went HSAMS! ;)
She’s trying to buy time for her Blood Puppet to finish using her Interdimensional Can Opener to finish cutting a hole in reality.
Okay our succubus leapt clear of the column under her, achilles got nailed. Who’s the other supers nailed by the rising columns? Hero?
Yup, Hiro’s legs are dangling from the hole in the roof (hope he’s at least strong enough to survive being also cut in half like that) and Maxi broke her column with her face
One thing that’s bothering me is that Achilles shouldn’t be able to hold Sciona for any length of time. Yes, he caught her by surprise, last time I checked Achilles is super invulnerable not super strong. So how is he able to do what he’s doing right now? If anything he should have the standard strength of a man his age. I know we have nothing to base it on because we have never had anybody with superhuman strength that didn’t involve a lot of weight lifting, but even if he’s able to put Sciona in a submission hold she should be able to break out of it with relative ease.
All Les has to do, is hold himself, so if he locked his joints, that’s pretty tough to break out of, specially if you are not thinking properly, as WoD mentions
Dave specifically says, if she was used to grappling and was trying to release his grip, she would, no problem. The problem is that her instincts are telling her to rip his arms off, and it’s not working.
He’s actually stronger than a normal human because his body doesn’t become damaged by overexertion. (His muscles and tendons won’t tear, joints won’t separate, etc.) Just not to the level that most people call “Superhuman” in the context of someone like Max,Anvil, and Hiro.
If pillars last longer than 4 hours please see a doctor.
If you needed a warning list…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gzDC-2ZO8I
I’m sure someone has gone and said it by now… but…
I reckon Maxima thinks that Sciona is getting a bit on the nose by now.
And now I’ll just remove myself from the comments section for another couple dozen pages.
Well it seems like she got everyone but maxima with that 1 dabbler seems of been able to push herself out of harm’s way just before impact only 1 do not see Is Halo
She is just off panel, quite possibly pushed into the ceiling inside her force-field, causing the rock surrounding her to crack and crumble from the strength of her cursing. That and knocking at it with the Lighthook.
The alternate explanation has Sydney sneaking by the conflict and getting into the other room.
Sydney: Hmm, I wonder what is going on over there. [ Sends telepresence decoy past the fighting ] That does not look good. [ Drops the yellow ball and grabs the blue, while keeping up the force field. Flies at just under Mach 1 into the next room, lands, lets go of the blue orb and grabs the purple one. She sends out the lighthook towards the manikin. ] Get Over Here! [ Ala Scorpion, but an octave higher ] [ The manikin smacks the wall beside her hard enough to shatter it. ] Now let’s see what this weird sword is doing to the air.
she can teleport with the com ball now.
Lightbee!
Sydney was the only one not attacking Sciona, so was both less likely to draw attention to herself and would make her a low priority. Especially as Sciona had no difficulty defeating Halo, the last time, even with one arm broken. We have seen how contemptuous Sciona is of anyone apparently weaker than her, so Sydney probably barely features on her radar.
Time for Halo to step up and show Sciona that the underdog can win!
It’s been known to happen.
Even if she watched Syd’s fight with the golem and knows what she can do the fact that she’s not attacking would make her easy to miss in a fight like this.
Sydney was’t bubbled last time. Sciona most likely can’t touch her. I actually wonder if Syd buuble was shot up or if the bottom my shield just shattered any thing rising under here leaving syd in a ring of rubble. Now a fight between Sciona and a bubbled Syndey could get interesting. As far as we know the bubbles pretty much everything prof its even blocks excessive light. Syd chould try wraping Sciona up with lighthook its pretty strong. but mabey not. Blasting her with the PPO is dicey with so many friendlys around..
True True. But Sciona hasn’t shown much thoughtful reflection, when in kill mode, so that subtle difference probably would’t make a difference to her strategy.
I think if Sydney had been catapulted into the ceiling, that would have been handled on screen.
But, that said, there was a lot on this page, so we will probably see what has been happening to Sydney next. And your call might be right.
That’s because, unlike other killers, her kills usually aren’t premeditated (Cooter doesn’t count, he probably failed to pass Fifth Grade)
The most people she tried to kill were in the Twilight Council chamber. Which was quite obviously a well planned assault, given penetrated through the outer defences undetected.
Then tried to murder all the people at the leaders’ table, at the very least.
And likely having orders to take out as many of the other delegates as possible, after that. The mixed munitions, designed to kill a wide variety of supernaturals, corroborates this. Something carefully thought through, to ensure that there were few survivors.
The premeditation is undeniable.
I’m beginning to wonder if Sciona has Halo’s powers to control the orbs RIGHT NOW.
She could well have taken a blood sample, from Halo, before the reset kicked in.
Likewise Sciona may have Halo’s original body, alive or dead? And, perhaps, even her own set of orbs?
Not quite sure where she would be keeping them though.
*examines page above, and turns head sideways*
*Thinks about Halo’s corpse in Sciona’s possession*
Dave, can the next Vote Incentive be Sydney & Zombie Sydney standing arm-in arm doing either a Broadway-style dance or Cossack dance?
+1
Did say ‘usually’
One other thought that occurs to me is that possibly Halo’s shield may have interfered with the magic, even if it was directed at her. It will be interesting to see if magically created physical effects are countered, as if they weren’t there. The aspect which would lean away from that is that the magic may not be directed at or through the shield.
By which I mean that it may be summoning the pillars from elsewhere, in which case the portals that they are coming through (unseen, but presumably underneath the pillars, if that is the case) will not be affected as they are not being conjured within the shield’s volume. If the pillars themselves are not intrinsically magical then they would just be physical objects, which interact with the shield in the normal way that any strong blow would do.
Alternatively it may just be magical telekinesis, which is forcing a column shaped part of the mountain to sheer from the rest and rise up. So again the magic is only indirectly acting against the force field.
Another variant would be causing the existing rock to grow. This is then a middle ground, as the point of growth is clearly magical, but would the material created become natural, or would (as seems more likely) it be intrinsically magical. There are more than a few sources which have magically created fortresses crumble, when their creator is killed, as the only thing sustaining them was the magic.
Of course even if it is magical, it may turn out that the shield does not counter such effects other than in the same way as any physical attack. And it may simply be stronger than Halo’s shield.
*worried look*
Interesting thoughts! Don’t worry too much though, so far the orbs have been completely invisible to both magical and spectral analysis, so I doubt it matters much whether the precise nature of the attack front is magic- or physics-based.
Sydney’s shield is 5/5 stars. Nothing so far has penetrated it.
So far.
We really need Maxima to truly test it.
Just have to watch out for shirtless guys with nice abs.
Use a PEN, Sideshow Bob.
Krona from the anime Soul Eater has some interesting blood-bending abilities. For reference.
Isn’t it more Ragnarok’s powers (since he is possessing her and forcing her to act) or Medusa, who created the Black Blood to begin with?
Achilles is trying to politely defeat her eh? By boob grabbing…yeah dont let Math use that excuse. Well at least they dont have to worry about cave-ins anymore with all these nice sturdy pillars holding up the ceiling. I see Max’s superspeed let her smash her pillar instead of getting pinned to the ceiling like most of her teammates.
Don’t forget that Maxima has to balance her defence against her speed (assuming that she reset the dial from cranked up super strength already). Currently she is being hit by a crushingly powerful force. If she misjudges how much she boosts her movement, she may be too badly injured by the blow.
Then don’t forget that you are also expecting Max to divert power into her strength, as well as speed. So thereby having to expose herself to even more danger from the ongoing attack!
This scene draws upon ‘it is possible to beat Maxima’s speed due to surprising her’ (see the fear vomit scene as the first example). Combined with ‘if Maxima is pushed to her defensive limits then she cannot divert power elsewhere’ (as seen when fighting Vehemence).
Of course Maxima always has a minimum default super speed (and strength and defence, for that matter). Which may be enough, on its own, if that is faster than the speed her pillar is rising. Likewise the defence may be enough to cushion her against damage from the rising pillar. So you may actually have called it right.
Then there is the fact that Maxima has already suffered the brunt of the initial impact, and after that is just rising up, taking Maxima with it, for a ride. So there is a (small) margin between that and getting squished on the ceiling. But her basic speed may be enough.
Or it may not. Maxima has to make a tough call, in a split second. And she cannot cheat, by speeding up to bullet-time, to help think faster, until she has judged that it is safe for her to do that.
I havent forgotten anything but she very clearly was the only one fast enough to to get taken for a rocky rocket ride. So base superspeed seems to have been enough. Slow your nerd roll a bit man. No need to overthink it all.
OK.
I have a love / hate relationship with Sciona. But I am enjoying this jacked up, rage gauge mode version of her.
But maaan will that post swole crash hit her hard.
(Didn’t read comments yet)
Dave, please don’t have Sciona watch anime and gain skills from watching Deadman Wonderland.
Sooo everyone shuold have known by now (after the portal, golem, and ewverything they might have gonne on her from older records) that she uses blood magic. Sooo where was Maxima, when Sciona cut herself and drawn the symbol? Because i dont believe you can do it in less than a second, which is all it should have taken Maxima to punch Sciona. Unless she was distracted by something.
More so, IF the sygils/runes/drawings are a known requirement, shouldn’t maxima have constantly a point or two into speed, just to make sure she can keep an eye on her?
I would like to see the FULL list of possible excuses on that one, just how many random factors poiled up on her to keep her from stopping Sciona.
No excuses on that one. I had the same thought myself. Maxima should have caught that, before it was completed.
There are some possible mitigators mind. One being that Maxima had just been caught by surprise, and may have still been shaken.
Plus don’t forget that although she is very tough, Maxima can suffer internal injuries. We saw that with both Vehemence’s punch (which seemed to be less forceful than the blow Maxima just received) and the energy bolas thrown at her harmed Maxima (in that case breaking a rib or two).
Even super heroes can suffer shock. Which would kick in after the initial adrenaline response. So the delay is reasonable. This delay though being the only indicator that Max may be suffering from such an injury.
Finally Maxima is not just a combatant, but she is also the team leader. Which means that she would have to take a moment to reorient herself, assess where her team members are, spot if there are any additional threats around them. Whilst trusting that her subordinates are doing their job, until she has completed that.
However what her team has actually done is pause in their previous relentless team work, to leave Achilles to keep Sciona tied up. A task that would only work until Sciona figured out whacking him was not working. And there is no excuse for failing to keep piling the pressure on her.
Super Hiro, Dabbler or Halo should have intervened. Unless Sciona was simply too fast for their reflexes. Which, with her blood boosts, is possible.
Either way though, the buck stops with Maxima. Between her and her team, they dropped the ball. That falls on Max’s shoulders.
After reading everything, a thought occurs. Maybe random…
Sciona’s getting her ass kicked. “I can’t believe I agreed to have sex with Deus and these boosts did nothing!”
Then we learn that the thing Deus and Maxima had was a similar situation.
But she isn’t getting recruited to Archon. She’s murdered far too many people. You’re getting a new neighbor, Kevin!
My mind explanation was max is on durability and force, not speed due to sirona kicking her into a wall.
She is exploiting a loophole in the “talking is a free action” rule. Writing and hand movements are also allowed in order to make that rule ADA compliant.
:-D
I see you sat the gamer’s Bar exam.
*is defeated*
… and defeating me is not easy to do, for anyone!
A wizard did it.
The only excuse I can think of is if Max doesn’t know the details. As in she doesn’t know that drawing sigils is how blood magic spells are cast and so didn’t realize what was happening.
That said Yorp is right they should have been hitting her more as Achilles was grappling with her anyway.
I think that you all are forgetting the fact that this is a comic, and time and space work in mysterious ways. It is usual for authors of comics and animes, to take some artistic licenses. ^^
Talking isn’t the only free action ;)
No, of course. Free action can be used in very different ways: to ready a powerfull attack like a kamehame, can be used by fighters to explain in detail their powers and how they work (Bleach)…
Sciona and Achilles are just knowing each other before a more than presumably dating. The perfect couple. She will be able to free her anger without consequences. And I´m sure Achilles will not just feel tickles, but something more pleasurable thanks to her… passion.
She is not getting her security deposit back from her secret lair rental.
Seeing this, Sydney would probably stand behind her shield and annoy Sciona with the Hent-orb tentacle… Distract her and enrage her, making her burn through the power up that much quicker and giving the team time to recover…
OR
Time to test out the pew-pew orb Sydney. I’m sure Max wouldn’t mind it just this once… Didn’t she figure out how to machine gun blast with it or am I mistaken? Not sure a full power beam would be the best thing in an underground lair… but would probably be the most effective.
Yep, she has “tankslicer fire elemental beam” and “spread howitzer” mode unlocked.
And, deflected, either one will bring the house down.
If it was just Achilles sure but the PPO (note I’m not hip just lazy) could do some serious damage to Hiro and Dabbler if it missed (not to mention take the roof down more).
I have never understood the joke behind the pew pew orb and the PPO thing. Could someone explain it to this no-hip and no-hipster fella?
Can’t find the archive page right now, but Sydney herself has stated in-cannon that she refers to the energy discharge orb as the Pew Pew Orb. One can shorten it to PPO, but *only* if they’re hip. No Hip status? Gotta say the whole thing. Thus minor memery in the comments section, I would imagine.
I have checked the comments, but found nothing. :(
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/490/comment-page-4#comments
What´s the joke behind Pew Pew? And what does shortening Pew Pew Orb to PPO have to do with being hip?
Pew pew is just the sound that kids might make, when shooting at each other with their fingers. It is familiar enough that it may well have a cultural origin. However it started though, it is extremely widespread, as I have heard it many times, in different contexts.
As such giving an extremely powerful (tank-melting, as we found out later) weapon a childish name is amusing.
Doubly so by insisting that is its proper name (which by implication should be used by anyone who is stuffy enough to insist on using formal terms). Because that would include making authority figures say a silly name.
Which verbal trap Arianna falls straight into, by using the abbreviation “PPO”. Hence allowing Sydney to tell her that she must use the full name. Thereby indicating that Arianna is not hip.
Hence Maxima getting the giggles. The “she’s got you figured” line indicating that Maxima finds Arianna to be too stuffy.*
* Or possibly that Arianna may pretend to be cool, without actually being so. But we have not seen pretentious behaviour from her, so that is less likely.
About the nearest thing which springs to mind is her mentally counting off the expected applause time, at the start of the press conference. Had that fallen flat, then the charge may be justified. But that worked, as planned, so was justifiable, rather than hubris.
Thank you.
Yes, what you say about pew pew being the noise the kids might make while playing with toy guns or their fingers, makes sense. Never crossed my mind. And yes, is funny.
I think the “pew” started off in like Flash Gordon style comic strips from someone trying to figure out what sound a ray gun would make, and movies always gave them a weird sound, so just like someone coined “screeonk” as the written form of Godzilla’s cry “pew” at some point became the written form of a ray gun shot.
I do agree on that Archon dropped the ball here.
Sciona should not have been allowed to do much besides figure out “there bones dont break”
Before either Hiro slugs her again, or Max spears her with a high intensity beam.
What’s Syd’s opening move going to be?
The PPO would get deflected and bring the place down.
Light hook? Slap her about for her earlier near death?
She may even be watching the tin opener, because she is easily distracted, unless he is out of sight with his toy.
I’m picturing Sciona trying with all her might to get into Halo’s bubble after Sydney takes the Kosmic Kanopener away from her minion.
:-D
She will later use it to defeat a cat-themed villain.
Kopy Kat?
Anny Cat
Does she have the power to transform into any kind of cat? Manx, Siamese, lion or sabre toothed tiger, as the case may be. And/or control any cat?
Mind you, it would be nice even just to be able to talk to cats. Well, in a way that they can understand, and likewise what they say in return. ;-)
Although being able to heal any cat, and know where any cat is (and if they are in danger), and to protect any cat are all fine additional powers.
Not to mention gaining super versions of any cat powers. So being able to walk on thin branches, squeeze through tiny gaps, make leaps that would be impossible for a human, have their senses, luck and, of course, an inordinate number of lives!
Cat Noir?
1) Achilles has the right idea in panel 3, trying to cover her eyes once he sees the sigil being drawn.
2) Dabbler has quick reflexes! Looks like she’s going to land right on Sciona on the next page though?
3) Love Sci’s victory/casting pose in the last panel.
So gone through comments,
no one mentioning (Deadman Wonderland).
Its a series where everyone with powers has some kind of blood morph, like a guy who can turn his blood into blades or the main character who shoots his blood as bullets. Of course the amount of blood they all have is silly, but its anime, and the rest of this series is disturbing and dark. (a secret organization makes a point to incarcerate, even on fake charges, anyone with powers and enter them into death games where even if you live chances are you will be experimented on and lose an organ for harvesting anyway).
Probably because Deadman Wonderland’s blood manipulators have almost nothing to do with blood magic. Sciona uses blood as a medium and ritual ingredient; she’s almost more a rune mage and alchemist (dare I say artificer?) who uses her own blood (usually) to invoke arcane effects. DMW…does not do any of that. Blood mages and hemokinetics are different powersets entirely, really.
I am aware, but the topic was “blood bending” not just the magic side for reference.
Its like the annoying conversations about what sort of abilities are shared or unique to Necromancy vs Necrokinesis or Necropathy.
and yes, it is relevant as unlike almost any blood mage ever, she has used her blood before as an offensive weapon, such as punching through Wyrmil, instead of just as we see here for sigil creation and sacrifice.
You missed Viirin‘s comment above.
………Did he purposefully leave one eye open because Achellies was curious what was going to happen?
Only if Achilles has the ability to look through Sciona’s eyes.
An interesting loophole, on the ‘Nobody has X-Ray vision’ sign, in the girl’s shower.
I managed to see the original and revised versions of today’s comic, so I understand the extra comments describing the blood rune on Sciona’s chest. It’s a great nod to continuity. However, going back through the last two comics, the rune and/or it’s glow is missing from these too. I don’t know if it’s worth going back to fix or maybe it the rune’s presence can be explained that it’s only visible when triggered (ie after being injured)?
Nice attempt to rationalise the absence, rather than just putting it down to a continuity error.
Probably is just the latter, but the effort is appreciated.
*applauds with tail*
I read that effect as “Mooooork” at first. I’m thinking, “What the heck makes a mork sound?”
Orson, from Ork
After dark though it is Mindy.
*nanoo-nanoos in the dark*
Which lead to Jonathan Winters hatching from an egg!!
I see one other person besides Achilles who got columned. Was that Hiro? Because if Sciona had caught Halo without her shield, it would be more ‘squish’ than ‘smash’.
Yes, those are Hiro’s legs sticking out of the ceiling (on our left). With Achilles being the next impailed figure. With Dabbler being the one making her dodge roll. Whilst Maxima is bravely stopping one with her face.
The last we saw of Sydney she had her shield up (due to Dabbler’s viscous gas problem).
I would have a better joke if those were wooden shafts she was erecting…
Sciona would have gone straight for summoning giant penises. But the device which can summon such things is presently being used in the next chamber.
I just realized the best way to kill Achilles, steal his soul!
Nah… Achilles should get brainwashed and become a bad guy instead. Make him “turn heel”.
Get it? Achilles? Heel?
.
.
.
I’ll let myself out now. ^_^
Don’t let the door catch the back of your foot, on the way out!
Ooh, ooh!
Maxima may be about to reenact part of the scene from the vote incentive!
It’s… a swing and a miss!
sooo anyone else suddenly getting flooded with popups on this site?
Not me, and I have it white-listed on Add Blocker, if there is a bad add I should have had that happening to me too.
But if anyone else is having problems like that, please let us know, so that Dave can investigate.
No popups for me but I use noscript and Ublock and rarely get popups
I am using Ublock too so not sure whats going on :/ gonna have to check on that noscript I suppose
ok foudn the problem, was some malware that had gotten past my stuff and embedded itself, got rif od it and now I am not getting redirected anymore
keep getting redirected to a tab for remiage repair… for the split second it takes Macafee to just slam the “Do NOT GO HERE” on it
Glad you got the malware sorted.
It usually turns out to be something on a reader’s own computer, but I did not want to prejudice your investigation, nor jump the gun, in the event that anyone else reported that they were having the same issues.
thanks, yeah Malware sucks, at least it allowed me to get a hold of a program to be rid of it, so now I don’t have any malware anymore which is nice.