Grrl Power #631 – Keep away from shiny, candy like buttons
Sciona base doesn’t have a lot of ductwork and crown molding to conceal all her extras. She got the barebones base package from the Evil Super Realtor, and planned to nice it all up herself, but you know how it is when you’re obsessed with revenging yourself on those that wronged you. You just never seem to find the time for those quality of life upgrades.
It’s a pretty safe bet she’s got a room off to the side full of drywall and tile, and one of those nice tile cutters with the hose that keeps the blade from cracking the tiles. Something she’s used just once and it’s still caked in all the dust cause she never cleaned it.
I tell you, those blood mages. Everything’s gotta be blood with them. Who needs wires when you’ve got giant tanks full of blood? When all you have is a hammer, etc, etc.
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that… can’t be good, also FIRST *couldn’t resist*
Like Half Life….
Hehe, and now we have another for the Halo Oh Shit collection.
That does explain her reaction earlier and it definitely proves that they got to wrap this up quick. Sydney time to break out your com ball cuz I don’t think anyone’s going to be reading your messages
Of course the supervillain lair have a barrel of explodium.
All good supervillain bases are rigged to explode, its a thing.
Well except for those rebellious types who use implodium.
The ones to really watch out for are those few who use both because you won’t know if you are coming or going.
But explodium plus implodium equals zero effect. Unless you use the explodium after the implodium. That shouldn’t add that much more destruction but it would be a very supervillainesque thing to stand at a rooftop at a safe distance and watch your lair implode and explode while laughing like a madman.
Explodium + Implodium = a need for Immodium
Right?
Specifically, the Immodium Q-36 Space Explosive Modulator.
For all your Earth-Shattering-Kaboom needs!
well yeah… but then sudden explosions tend to scare the shit out of people so yeah… good old earth bound immodium would need to be in order too. I wonder if Syd has any in her utility belt… you know, in case she finds a REALLY good Thai place…
My brain hurts from this visual image.
Yea.
Unless it’s small versions of each, so that fire and gravity attack whoever is invading, but the destruction doesn’t bother the neighbors.
Implosion followed by Explosion.
That’s exactly how a fusion-fission type nuclear bomb works.
Meh, that just has the same result as using boring old plodium.
Preferably after a countdown that begins when the villain is defeated.
Now’s a good time to use Light Hook as your left hand orb and quickly rip all those explosive packs out of their spots and keep them somewhere non-explody.
Assuming they’re not rigged to blow the second they’re messed with.
Indeed a movement trigger is a very common security precaution to prevent disarming of a bomb.
Plus it might be those are already triggered, only to be kept “at bay” by the Circles like a summoned demon.
At least see if you can relocate the barrels of explodium. It looks like they’re close to the lines, but not wired into them. Sciona just expects them to go off in a secondary explosion when those shoeboxes go up. It should be safe to lighthook them all away, but the question is if she can get them far enough away that they won’t be a problem.
Huh… hey, Dabbler? Got a portable hole on you? Wait… that’s a loaded question to a succubus…
Good one. But the real question is “Hey, Dabbler, can you figure out a way to stop this from working, quickly?”
Yes, in the militia we were given 2 standing orders re: mines
1 – you will map where you put the mines
2 – you will not bobby trap the mine so it cant be removed.
*holds up paw*
If there are any mammaries trapped, I volunteer to free them!
Although my paws are not capable of doing so for any larger than on the ‘A’ team.
From the Mr. Welch list of things he’s been banned from in an RPG:
“539. Defensive perimeter traps my character sets up are automatically party knowledge.”
ROFL.
Or punch holes on every red line
Assuming that breaking the blood-circuits isn’t going to set it off either…
Most of these lines look as if they are to be closed later. So that implies at least some ability to compensante for any blood loss.
Plus there is a lot of them. Propably way more then there need to be.
Panel 3 implies it’s not like electricity where the connections have to be continuous. The gaps behind the barrel and on the ceiling might be fracture and/or flame points.
It is common for security systems to be able to detect a break in the line. Probably safe to assume Sciona has some kind of tamper detection system which means nobody should touch it until Dabbler has a chance to investigate.
Sydney already had her shield up at the end of the last page. Minor continuity error?
Also yes, Sydney, get the lightbee out to warn everyone. Or get it ready to teleport away.
she had to drop the shield to move the barrel and to get a closer look at the barrel, she could have used the comm ball but I assume that she simply doesn’t have that impulse yet.
she shouldn’t have done it that way. She should have used lighthook to shift the barrel. Who knows what is in them and what is does when you touch it. Not smart to use bare hands.
she probably hasn’t practiced enough to have the fine control needed to barely shift the barrel out of the way… as opposed to imposing enough velocity to set it off if explosive. also, no way of knowing how anything would react to the orbs in general… especially stuff with magical incantations wired into it. Granted, the barrels don’t appear to have anything on them.
Nah, if the Henticle can lift a small car then it is easily strong enough to tip a barrel. And all the “fine control” she needs is to wrap it around the barrel at least once and then use the same kind of feedback it must provide when lifting a small car to just shift it slightly instead of tipping it over completely. When she has achieved fine control, not that I’m saying that she doesn’t have it yet, then all she’d need to do is prod it with the tip. But that’s what she said.
Agreed.
Plus Sydney has demonstrated incredibly fine control (albeit I grant not necessarily for this kind of operation). However the most notable one was writing out her shop’s website address, with the tentacle.
Another example was picking up Harem, Peggy and oh whatever the witch girl’s name is. Whilst they were at all sorts of weird angles, none were hurt through being squeezed too hard, nor did any of them drop. Likewise none had their heads, or limbs, bumped against other patrons, door frames or each other.
This all whilst Sydney was distraught and not even paying attention. So, messy though it was, it was actually demonstrating the ability to handle very complex shapes (people), that are very fragile (when being handled by something with a 16 ton strength) and moving at high speed, yet and being able to set them down without them falling over.
So a lot more complex than turning a barrel around (if not exactly a good example of ‘fine control’).
Maybe she doesnt want to move the barrel because ‘super volatile stuff’ could explode just from being jostled too much.
Remember Lost and the dynamite? :)
I don’t watch TV, so no I do not. Although I did way back when that first started. But the instant I realised that the script writers were just making s**t up, and that there was no actual underlying story, just random things that floated through their head, and had no connection to other events, I stopped.
Only took a few episodes, although I kept an eye on reviewers and some interviews, which confirmed that (otherwise I would have given it a second chance).
As for this thread, the only issue was how Sydney moved it, rather than whether it was advisable. Now that you have brought it up though, that would have been wise. A good technique is to get the Batman approved small mirror out of her utility belt.*
Even using the shield and tentacle option would still run the risk of everyone else being killed. But Sydney has not been trained in procedure to follow with a suspect device. So making the decision to move it, for a look, does make sense. Doing that whilst not having her shield up though was a serious cause for concern.
However we must make allowance for the fact that it would be boring only ever seeing Sydney wandering around bubbled up. So the above scene has extra drama and impact the way it has been depicted. And entertainment is important in a comic.
* Yes, I know that it was not in the pile of options Anvil showed. However it is something that special forces do carry, for this purpose. Typically a small one on an angled rod. Also useful for peering around corners to see what enemies might be up to. Having it in there, despite not having seen it as an option is something that Batman would have approved of (probably how the arts and crafts slipped under the radar too).
“Super Volatile Stuff”
:-D
SydneyVision… the actual label probably has several all-caps warning texts with exclamation marks and volatile substance iconography.
DANGER! EXPLOSIVE VAPOURS! STORE IN WELL-VENTILATED AREAS ONLY! DO NOT CLOSE VENT! DO NOT STORE NEAR OXIDIZERS!
Sydney: [Thinking] Vent? What vent? Everything that could be a vent up top has been welded shut. Hmm, I wonder why the next barrel contains hydrogen peroxide? Does she dye her hair? Yeah, no way that is her natural hair color. Oh, wait a sec…
H2O2 is way weak stuff. Chlortrifluorid is what you want for a BIG boom as oxidizer. That stuff is way nasty. It can set even asbestos on fire.
It makes me nervous that you know this. :)
It’s the kind of thing you learn if you pay attention in high school chemistry and have an awesome chemistry teacher.
Blood has quite a bit of oxygen… there’s probably a decorative fountain in the lobby to keep the reservoir tanks oxygenated.
Awesome and stylish.
Home “medicine cabinet” grade H2O2 is something like 3%. Pure H2O2 should be a fairly decent oxidizer.
As an aside, do people these days even use hydrogen peroxide to swab the minor cuts and scrapes that kids get all the time? Or has it been replaced with some fancy brand name antiseptic that probably costs 150% more and works 10% as well?
I am a big fan of hydrogen peroxide for initial wound cleaning (we have the larger bottles). Then we apply neosporin to keep the wound moist and help the healing process go faster. I can personally attest to that they were being honest in their ads from the 80s/90s about the speed increase of healing a wound treated with it.
I like TCP because of the smell.
Or Savlon for a cream version.
I just use alcohol. It’s much cheaper than peroxide.
I just use anti-sceptic cleaning wipes. You need to have something to wipe any gunk away anyhow, and that is guaranteed to be sterile, as each one is individually wrapped. Plus they are so cheap that even on my almost non-existent budget they are negligible cost.
H2O2 is sometimes used as (part of) rocket fuel. but it’s toxic in oh so many ways, and hard to handle safely.
H2O2 is toxic because it spontaneously decomposes to water and plenty of oxygen; it is the oxygen that does the work. It has hardly any environmental persistence.
Err why does decomposing to water make it toxic? I would have thought decomposing to, say, arsenic would have been more of an issue.
For ‘water’ read ‘water/oxygen’.
Industrial-level H2O2 is often 30% concentration, which as you may imagine, is a much more powerful oxidizer.
Nah. If you’re looking for nasty, you want something like a Hydrogen Fluoride aerosolizer.
Or dioxygen difluoride, also known as FOOF. Reacts vigorously with ice. Probably water as well, but noone tried to test it at temperatures higher than 173K, so …
If they did it may go WOOF!
Many fluorine based compounds are indeed so violate that chemists don’t use them.
Not sure if this is one of them, but if a chemical is known to be epically violate, it’s probably not in use anywhere.
And of course the OSHA- required Material Hazard Data Sheet, including instructions on what to do if it gets in your eyes – oh shucks, Sciona forgot to install the decom eyewash stations.
Oh well, that’s just yet another citation to add on to her list of indictable crimes…
My first thought after reading the the “Super Volatile Stuff” -label was: “… that could be a barrel of Nitroglycol…”
Nitroglycol (“EGDN”) is the evil bastard cousin of Nitroglycerin (“GTN”). It is odorless and colorless oil-like liquid, which is highly sensitive to shock and friction, much stronger than TNT, and also highly toxic.
A 42-gallon barrel can hold ~237 kg of EGDN, which has similar explosive force as ~393 kg of TNT.
Do not try to run away. Take off your shoes and walk away on your tiptoes, and do not even look at the barrel in a mean way.
SOL.
:-)
Is Sciona’s plan to open a portal to the council chamber and drop a mountain on them? Or at least, a bunch of rubble from a mountain? Or, are the explosives just for a fail safe?
Hmmm hadnt considered that, despite the inherent toughness of many supernatural beings having a mountain in your suddenly in your lap would likely kill a large number of them.
Dropping a mountain on some of those would only lead to getting then annoyed/upset with you.
Planer shifting with a one way gate is “usually” more effective in such cases and very effective in all the rest.
Given that she is a blood mage and rigged her place to blow up and had a dose of mixed Super-blood to give her even higher strength, speed, agility, durability, etc…
My guess is the hole that is being cut will open up to a non-euclidean dimension, and when the horrible unspeakable monsters there come through, she’s going to drop the mountain on THEM, and harvest their blood to make herself crazy powerful, or gear up to power world-shattering spells.
So not the world without shrimp then?
That is cool, because that world would suck.
But it doesn’t suck as bad as the world of nothing but shrimp.
I tired of that one quickly.
I sense Buffy references, and this is good.
The trouble with doing your explosive wiring with blood: a sponge can wipe out your plans. Or the thing everybody’s full of can also screw it up if the sigils are important.
or maybe it’s a hot glyph that explodes if any line is broken, so i wouldn’t risk it
Well, the lines do contain “switch” diagrams in the ‘off’ setting, presumably waiting a signal to connect and conduct whatever to activate the bombbricks.
I was wondering if the author knew that he’d used the switch symbol, or if it was just a coincidence.
It does match what seems to be implied by the scene. Likewise what we know about magic and technology having analogous languages (so using common symbols would also make sense).
So I think it likely to be intentional.
The Advantage of doing it with blood: You can on the fly redraw the lines while you are in the Room.
Oh hi, blood magic…
Sydney: “Quick, cut the red line!”
Max: “They’re all red!”
+1 for you good sir. +1 indeed.
Sydney: Why did I not include OxyClean, a spray bottle and a Magic Eraser on my utility belt? Oh, yeah. [b]Maximum Encumbrance[/b]. Hey Dabbler! You got something to clean a lot of blood off walls in your arsenal?
*Blood markings are removed, with makeup covering the area around them…*
“Really? You trying to see if foundation does the trick instead?”
“Hey, I’m no Janitor, All I have is my Mrs Clean spell…”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2367
Need the bomb squad and a hematologist to diffuse this thing.
Bloody big mess if they stuff up tho…
Just Maxima, Dabbler… everyone except Achilles. Sciona included.
But inside Sydney’s shield! Keep Sciona inside the shield but with everyone except Halo pinning her. Let the thing blow up, and whatever sacrifice is negated since it can’t reach whoever was injured/present, and if it’s a buff-type spell, that also won’t work because Sciona isn’t there to gain the benefit.
usualy after their defeat, cause all rpg player know that the boss is a load-bearing wall…
Dabbler needs to start whipping out those clean cantrips, or; better yet, a 9th level cleaning spell like “Tide!”, which summons a lot of soap and an ocean tide.
Good for taking out those nasty dried-in blood stains.
All in convienient pod form?
That’s the convenient snack size for those who need something to eat while “on the go.” Dabbler might need to use enough that a firehose would be the best application.
If you are talking whale pod, then yes.
My go too has always been “Disjunction” though I hardly ever get to use it except when there is nobody to object. Bad guys hate it and those on my team also hate it since it tends to beak cool stuff they want to salvage afterwards. But it works so well >_>
I have a slightly better idea.
How would Maxima take that bit of news? or will she tell Sydney not to bother the team with “irrelevant trivia?”
When she was not saying “Dork Allert” or something to that effect about BellToll, what she did say was spot on.
So it means that the trivia will be relevant…!?
No, she’ll listen. Sydney has literally saved her life recently after all.
+1
And Sydney’s insight has swung the tide of battles more than once. Even with a deadly fight being hard fought, it would be foolish to ignore her. In fact the worse it is, the more important it is to pay attention to someone who has the right instincts and experience (even though it is comic based, it works in this setting).
By the way, the next time that you take some action (say looking on the back seat of your car, to check for a lurker), and realise that you did that because of something you saw in comics or movies, be sure to give a significant look towards the 4th wall. And maybe a wink.
*demonstrates wink, to the audience*
*strokes pussy*
No no, that was not fan service! The kitty on my lap!
And y’all watching Yorpie TV, really need to get a life, if you are wasting time watching me!
Panel 3 implies it’s not like electricity where the connections have to be continuous. The gaps behind the barrel and on the ceiling might be fracture and/or flame points.
Or Sconia is supposed to close those circuits later by adding some more blood.
I believe those are switches that are closed when Sciona wants to set off the explosives.
I first assumed the blood was minecraft red powder. Wouldn’t change much since the result would be the same.
Sydney, for clarity you say the base is rigged to blow.
“You know how we were talking earlier about a cave in?” Does not grab attention, nor alert folks that they need to change their drawers.
an preexisting agreed upon word like we are in a BLAST ZONE. would be good, but then Sydney is in action way before her training is finished, or even properly started.
yelling “bomb” real loud also works.
it can also be to distracting in a fight. But since everyone else is highly trained, they will get the message.
Isn’t that the kind of distraction you want from a teammate, rather than the distracting ceiling falling on your head in most distracting flamey sort of way?
“Code Red” also works. Everybody as heard “Code Red” numerous times in a whole bunch of TV shows or movies. They know what it means.
I don’t think that Mountain Dew will solve this problem.
:D
Maybe the carbonation would help break the connection lines?
“What do you mean, you’re out of toilet paper?”
“Why would the Chinese have stolen the toilet paper?”
“Hellboy’s a Chinese agent?”
Maybe such a common code phrase isn’t such a great idea.
FIRE IN THE HOLE!
I’ll give Scion a 10 points for creativity for the simple fact that she doesn’t have a self-destruct button, that we can see!
I see Sciona has played Minecraft and has mastered redstone + TNT.
My first thought also.
“That’s very niccsssssssssSSSSSSSSS!” “No, wait, aaaah!”
The question I have is this: I know that her shield survived many varied and powerful attacks with ease. But could it handle this many explosions? Likely. Could it though handle the mountain being dropped on it. This… I’m not sure if we know.
I assume she could handle the blasts and the collapse. The problem is how does she tunnel out? Can the flight orb just push her out? Would she have to try and make a tunnel with the lighthook?
And suddenly want to add.
“Tune in next time to find out! Same Orb Time. Same Orb Channel.”
I have a feeling making a tunnel wouldn’t be that much of a problem. Just grab the PPO, point upwards and watch out for any dripping molten rock from the resulting “Likebutta”. ;)
My first thought too, although blindly blasting out (or in) to rescue anyone but Achilles would be very dangerous. The team should really have some kinda protocol for extraction from under a mountain range, like “escapees will fire vertically only, rescuers will come in at 45 degrees and 10 meters away.”
The PPO works outside the shield, so no issues there.
Shield + Teleport
Hopefully everyone inside the shield has a hologram that also teleports though.
Only problem with the Lightbee is that I think it requires physical access.
+1
Although if the lightbee can find a gap (entirely possible, as it is small and rubble often does have gaps), then Viirin‘s group teleport proposal becomes an interesting possibility.
The lightbee does not require physical access. It’s not the actual orb, it’s a projection of the orb, and can go through physical objects, just like her own projection can (if you recall, the projection is not limited to the distance from Sydney, unlike the orbs). I recall that DaveB admitted he forgot that about his own creation back during the Mars factory though :)
It certainly can go further. And, in principle, I see no reason why it may not be able to keep going indefinitely. But that has not yet been established in the comic. The Mars warehouse is the furthest we have seen so far.
So maybe enough to escape a collapse. Or maybe not if that was its upper limit and the whole complex came down.
In doing so though he created the canon about how Sydney has to sense her way down a route. So whilst it is interesting to note his original intent, we are safer sticking to the observed events, in this instance. The lightbee hunted around to find an entrance, rather than ignoring obstacles.
Possibly Dave may show the lightbee phasing through a wall, in the future, which would change things. And the sensing ability would not be in vein, as it would allow Halo to detect when a void had been reached (i.e. finding an opening big enough to make it worth while to deploy the projected image and take a look around). So the Mars scenes and dialogue would remain consistent with the lore and still pertinent.
However, even if Sydney later discovers this option, at the moment she has been behaving as if she were restricted to following gaps. Whilst she retains that belief, it is the same as if she did not have the phasing power.
Even in a situation where there is a solution to paw, if the person there does not think of it, then it isn’t happening. It does not matter how obvious it may be to observers, on the other side of the 4th wall.
Yes, but Sciona isn’t stupid. If she activates the self-destruction now, it will bury her AND her work-in-progress portal.
She might be hoping to pull the ol’ “So long suckers, and enjoy the fireworks!”
Personally, I hate building with redstone – but this looks like Sciona took a few lessons from MunboJumbo.
Why do all supervillain lairs explode/implode/collapse/burst into flames the moment the supervillain dies? It doesn’t help them because they’re, well, dead. Is it the petty revenge of killing the minions that failed to protect them? Is it the “for hate’s sake I stab at thee” revenge on the one that beat them? Is it a built in “no legacy” clause in the purchase agreement that lets them get these lairs at rock bottom prices?
It’s so their hand can break through the rubble after a suitably dramatic pause. Gotta set up the sequel.
Achievement Unlocked: Trope Serendipity Skill +1
Gotta get that possible revenge on the heroes and if that takes blowing up the old lair on your defeat so be it.
Depends on the villain. Classic Bond villains had the place rigged to self destruct – so they could escape while the countdown was running out, leaving behind no clues or evidence to help the heroes track down any of their other lairs. It’s a secret guerilla/terrorist/resistance thing, where you can close down one cell to protect the others. Then you either get taken out before you can escape and you’re stuck in your own base while the countdown is going on, or you’ve been beaten and you only have the chance for one last act of vicious spite against your hated foes.
In fantasy settings the usual reason is that the villain is literally what’s keeping the place intact. When Sauron died it caused a volcanic eruption AND his dark influence on his minions suddenly vanished. Kind of like how Magneto’s “Asteroid M” is a magnificent space habitat that’s kept in orbit due to… Magneto. Every time they pick a fight with him, the thing comes crashing back down.
In Peter S. Beagle’s “The Last Unicorn,” King Haggard’s castle crumbled at the end because all the unicorns escaping at last were creating a mighty stampede, and the tremors from their hooves caused the crumbling mortar of his castle (which had never seen a repairman since the day it was created by a witch) gave way and the whole place went crashing down into rubble.
“you’re stuck in your own base while the countdown is going on”
Hehehe. Stupid Gul Dukat.
It’s like when someone draws a circuit diagram on paper with a pencil, then attaches a battery to it and the bulb lights up!
Only, with blood and fire and explosions.
Well blood can conduct electricity, so plausible, even without magic.
Graphite can conduct electricity, too… so he wasn’t too far off with his analogy. :)
Heh. Well it was an analogy of Sciona’s circuit, but there are demonstrations of what RBZ was describing.
Yorp, that video is amazingly cool.
Great, thanks Yorp. Now I can’t stop watching all the little inventions this guy makes on his channel and I’m hooked. I hope you’re happy with yourself, Yorpie :)
Heh. Just avoid any recommendations for ‘the King of Random’, unless the title suggests something of particular interest to you. He is absolutely prolific, and has pretty good production values and is entertaining. But so so much fluff and useless stuff (hence the channel name).
There are some good nuggets to be had mind. And he does demonstrate good scientific methodology, provide insight in surprising ways, and constantly explores things that he or watchers may be curious about.
But it is a huge time sink, so you would not be happy going down that rabbit hole.
It sure can.
Mine’s got an above-average resistivity*, which was probably why I was always chosen as the ‘victim’ in school science demonstrations involving electricity.
Also, first-hand experience of the most common kinds of electric shock (AC, DC, static; low current, obviously) has given me a slightly different perspective on things.
*could be in the blood, might be in the skin, difficult to know outside of the lab.
Ahh, such low resistivity that you have rhesus b negative blood!
*tries to look as convincingly as possible*
I imagine the related conversation between Dr. Light and Dr. Wily:
LIGHT: I’ve been doing the numbers, and I’m wondering why you’ve ordered ten skull-themed castles with escape hatches and self-destruct mechanisms.
WILY:…a man’s gotta have his hobbies.
LIGHT: …’kay.
Load-bearing boss incoming?
*claws crossed*
So here’s the simple-not-simple plan:
1)Dabbler disables any traps Sydney finds.
2)Sydney keeps scouting.
3)The rest of the team keeps Sciona too busy to preemptively activate them.
1) Kill Sciona.
2) Dabbler disables any traps Sydney finds.
3) Sydney keeps scouting.
Let’s keep our expectations realistic here.
I’m hoping that Max just burns Sciona’s head off as soon as she sees the bombs. But it seems unlikely all things considered.
I must admit that there can be a gap between aspirations and the achievable. Up until now Maxima has been ramping up her attacks, allowing Sciona the chance to surrender (as per Achilles literally offering that, along with attempting to read Sciona her Miranda rights). But, now that she can see Sciona has (likely) rigged the place as a death trap, Max may well opt for ending it quick, before her team are killed.
As you say though the comic may not go that way. We have yet to see a (permanent) death.
This would be a good time for it to be a baddie though, rather than one or more goodies!
Do you remember that page where Max tells Syd she has never encountered a “deathtrap” ???
I think this qualifies.
I really wonder if you could just.. smear off the sigils and it breaks the magic or if it accounts for that
I would say “Pee on it” as we allready broke the “superheros don’t need Toilets”at the Mars factory, but the ceiling lines could be a bit far…
So, in the end is not a penis. I´m very disappointed.
Just noted that there are no more battle noise, just after Sydney went “uh,Guys?”
Which goes the same ways as “Oooops!” as Generic Impending Doom Heralds
Good question Halo.
It’s not a code: “Boom!” (something has gone horribly wrong, don’t ask questions, grab your monkeys and run!)
It’s not code: “R.P.G” (enemy outside has a rocket launcher facing this way and just pulled the trigger)
It’s definitely not code: “Frozen monkey Rudolph” (Free banana splits with cherries on top in the cafeteria)…
Possibly a code: “Ackbar” (It’s a trap, enemy has either rigged place to blow, or is lying in wait to ambush with high-powered weaponry)
Paranoia… a mostly healthy condition for the average gamer.
And a cop, when dealing with people known to be dangerous. Toned down accordingly, if just suspicious. To avoid unpleasant headlines, if they react the wrong way, to an innocent person.
Well, cops never do that!
Heh. Maybe not in the imaginations of the more lurid journalists or the public they influence. However if you look at the overall picture there are literally millions of police interactions, with members of the public, throughout the year, in countries around the globe. Very many of which will either be violent, or suspicious or otherwise fraught with potential danger, on both sides.
Yet the number which have bad outcomes are a tiny tiny fraction of the whole. Ergo we can tell that cops do actually moderate themselves, on the whole.
Which is not to say that ‘all cops are good all of the time’. We know that some are habitually bad, others where there are whole departments or cities which have become lax (or paranoid or corrupt). And likewise that where there are problems they can often be discriminatory.
However it is vital for us to maintain the perspective that most of the time cops are doing a good job, and keeping society functioning, without it slipping into a state of anarchy.
With some real hot spots, in the world, where there is real anarchy. But those are well known exceptions.
+1
One bad apple spoils the bushel… especially when the good apples cover for the bad.
There is a difference between writing off a bushel though and the whole orchard. If you find a corrupt department, you fire the lot of them. But you don’t abandon the institution of policing, You find out what went wrong there and make sure that the same thing is not happening elsewhere. If there are common problems, then you work hard to eliminate them.
But badmouthing good cops, who have nothing to do with the bad apples, is not constructive. If they are doing a good job, you praise them. There are a heck of a lot out there who have chosen to dedicate their lives to serving the community. Dissing them because of failings in other departments, cities, or even countries, is doing them a real disservice.
Not only that but if the police, in general, feel that they are loosing the support of the public, then they become more defensive. They will be more inclined to close ranks. And they will be more paranoid.
So failing to support the good ones, and actively denigrating them, is something that is making the situation worse, in its own right.
time to go find someone who can deal with that (like dabbler) also time to secure the forcefield ball to your hand maybe with duct tape
+1
Sydney has been letting go of it, with alarming regularity, for an active combat situation. Granted she did need to move the barrel though (no way to lean past, with the shield raised*), to see around it.
* Unless the force field can deform a lot. We know there are circumstances that it can change shape (for instance becoming torpedo-shaped when flying at high speed). Halo needs to finish this fight off fast, so that she can go beck to testing the important stuff!
Redstone ? That’s redstone.
linking blocks together.
seriously, you designed the evil layer based on MINECRAFT???
Dohhh…
The image of Ork Sciona trying to FIX things is hilarious.
I just want to point out everyone was making penis jokes from the last panel because the upward track of the blood fuse looked like it might have been coming from the center of the initial charge circle when, in fact, it’s coming off the initial charge at a much more significant angle, so it was easy to make that assumption.
Shield up Syd and use your com-choker. WHISPER what you have found… so as not to alert Sciona as you are alerting your team.
This is indeed laid out like a circuit… and the “switches” would need to be closed to detonate the explosives. I think I see how this would all work. Sciona has already crashed into one blood barrel… All she’d need to do is explode one in the right place and the resulting blood splatter would close a lot of switches all at once…
What coulterww said! We saw her switch closer plan when she splashed a barrel.
Interesting that the holes in the ceiling are human-sized. Apparently Sciona and/or Buster have some great tunneling tech, and hand-painted all the lines/circuits through the whole base by flying through the tunnel network.
Practically all soundwords in this page were real, genuine soundwords. That bathes me in hope.
By the way, “ker-bun” is still my favorite. Even if it’s close to an narration but it’s cool enough to be the exception.
Soooo, a big bottle of Blood-Ex is Scionas achilles heel? Molestorb and tissue paper GO.
In my head here is what happens in the next comic
1) Sydney et al finds and disarms the various explosives.
2) Sciona opens the gateway and out steps a very short figure wearing white tennis shoes and a crested helmet.
3) Sciona says “We have all we need to move to phase 2. We can dispose of this base and all those annoying heroes.”
4) She presses a button and waits a second. Nothing happens. She presses the button again more vigorously. The visitor says “Where’s the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth shattering kaboom!”
*sits waiting, with baited breath*
[thinking: I wonder what the nude tennis player is going to do?]
You mean like this?
Specifically this, but I like your take too.