Grrl Power #665 – Rock paper particle beam
Sydney hasn’t really ever stopped to think about it, but her shield probably has some sort of “remain calm and ___ on” feature, because she’s gone from a pretty typical if more aggravating than usual nerd girl who was in no way an adrenaline junkie to having stuff try and kill her a whole bunch in the past week or so. Like really try to kill her. Previous to the start of the comic, the most dangerous thing that had happened to her is the one time she got mugged and had a hulk freak out on the guy, and realistically, she’s probably almost gotten hit by a car once or twice in her life, or had something almost fall on her. She’s definitely broken more than her share of bones. We’ve all had a close scrape here and there. At some point, Sydney may curl up in bed, wrapped around a pillow and have a proper freak out session, but in the heat of battle, it never seems to occur to her.
I mean, think about this page. A hand the size of an olympic swimming pool smashes into her, accelerates her downward into the ground from like, I don’t know how tall that thing is, but let’s say she was 200 meters up. So she’s streaking toward the ground at probably mach 1 at least, smashed fifty feet into the strata, and she’s just mad she doesn’t have three hands. We know the fly ball gives her immunity to vertigo, but that should still all probably freak her out a little?
I wanted to make this a double sized page because the thing Syndey is fighting is really big and also I got caught up with the latest Onepunch Man manga and reading that always makes me want to draw bigger. Well, reading any comic makes me want to draw bigger, because most comic pages are like 5-7 panels, tops, but Onepunch Man makes me want to draw bigger action specifically. I mean a lot of the best action shots in that comic (most good action comics really, well, mangas. American comics not so much.) are single panel splash pages.
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I want to ask about how the shield is tethered to her. I mean, is it always centered on her? I assume it must be since we never see her bouncing off the insides. Does it convey kinetic energy? How would she experience the sudden change in kinetic energy from flying to suddenly being underground via giant foot. That must be hundreds of G’s worth of accelleration. For that matter her own flight orb must be an inertialess drive if she can fly around and not get all strechy faced. So something is eating the kinetic energy that should be killing her? Because getting slammed into ground is exactly how you could kill someone inside their own bubble.
It appears to be centered on the orb, which since she has to hold the orb, makes it centered on her. =P
Halo’s shield is not necessarily centered on either of those things. See #173.
If the center of the shield is always the Orb, that actually makes it worse. Because then Sydney’s weak grip is the only thing that would keep her from bouncing around inside the shield. The orb itself would have to have a mechanism to prevent it from smashing into Sydney every time she gets wacked from behind. Obviously this is God tier super tech possibly magic that could do anything, but still, given this comics overall adherence to “realism” I would be interested to know how the G forces are handled, especially with regards to getting smashed into ground at super high speeds. Even the MCU pointed out that high tech power armor isnt going to save you when you hit ground at terminal velocity…
Actually thinking about it, if she gets hit in the front, and the orb is the center of the shield, the orb would smash into her, like car seat belts will hit your chest in a car crash, except the orb is a small hard object, and seatbelts are designed to dampen impact…
The flyball is apparently an inertialess drive, so that probably handles it. Note that she hit her tailbone when the tentaclebot knocked her off the building without the flyball in hand, suggesting that it’s not the shield that provides that function. If this is correct then Squidward will give her if it manages one of those superslaps while she’s shooting and not flying.
” The flyball is apparently an inertialess drive,”
If it was her speed would be unlimited in speed. It’s the inethia RE: increasing mass. m=fa, as f-mA.
Sorry, but that’s incorrect.
Remember, Halo is in that universe, not ours, different rules apply, or don’t apply if appropriate.
Even than, those orbs seem to break some of that universes rules anyway.
Remember how freaked out some people were when they tried to examine them?
Anything that freaks out Dabbler should definitely be put in the category of Inexplicable Anomoly
She could not survive there.
I mean this is a universe where someone like Krona can exist… so literally anything is possible.
Probably more of an inertial dampener.
my guess would be the shield is around the center of mass and an effect like Doc Smith’s inertialess drive, have to be or the bouncing around would have done the job even without hitting the shield
Just a cool thing I found – The first two books of Doc Smith Skylark series can be found on the Gutenberg project
Skylark E. E.”Doc”Smith – proj gutenburg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/9515
It does not appear that she was holding the flight orb at moment of impact. At least based on her comment, she probably got hit in middle of switching orbs to or from PPO.
Looking back at page #506, it has been established that the orbs are linked to the “deep code” of the universe. The term “God-tier Supertech” actually seems pretty appropriate here. It is entirely plausible that Sydney’s orbs selectively alter the laws of physics within a localized area in order to preserve the user.
You are probably right, perhaps there is simply a rule; within shield orbs, no change in velocity will affect the user. An inertial nullification field maybe? Feels like an effect like that could easily be exploited somehow though, if nothing else, I am waiting for Sydney to be shot from a huge cannon with no ill effects, that would be a devestating weapon, lol.
Why would she need to be fired from a cannon? I don’t think that could possibly do more damage than the PPO does, and she can reach Mach 5 on her own.
If she has an inertial dampener and inertialless drive, all she really needs to do is fly out into space with a payload of a few tons, fly away from Earth for a day, turn around and fly back. Then at last minute, shink shield to release payload and veer away from Earth and watch as the payload causes a new extinction level event as it smashes into ground. Sink enough time into it, you could probably crack the Earth’s crust like an eggshell.
I’m not entirely certain why Sydney would want to cause an extinction level event, but if she did she wouldn’t be able to do it the way you describe. If her payload is inside of the force field, she’d have to ride it all the way to impact. Sydney has to drop the shield entirely in order to let anything in or out. At the speed necessary to create an extinction level event, Sydney could not do this in an atmosphere without burning up due to air friction. Outside of an atmosphere, Sydney would be immediately rendered unconscious due to explosive decompression.
Now I suppose Sydney could suit up in a spacesuit first and pull this off. Likewise if she could locate a sizeable asteroid she could just get behind it and push. But again, I just don’t see Sydney as the genocidal type. You’d have a heck of a time convincing her that cracking a planet in half is a good idea.
I was more thinking about why inertialess drives pose problems than really thinking Sydney would do it. As to having to ride it all the way down, not really. You just need good aim. Once you are say about an hour away from Earth, you have enough time to make sure you yourself dont hit the planet at a fraction of the speed of light, yet your asteriod payload would still hit if aimed right. Sydney doesnt need a spacesuit, she can make things be in and out of shield simply by resizing it, but even if she did have to release the air, she could make more with the air producing orb, vacuum takes a good 15 seconds to kill you. So long as you remember to exhale during a brief exposure, you will be fine.
> she can make things be in and out of shield simply by resizing it,
sadly no, this was shown when they were fleeing to the closing portal: she needs to “Off – Embiggen – On“.
Then again, explosive decompression isn’t all that bad as most movies make it look.
Since this is the Internet, someone has done an in-depth analysis of what would really happen, and that it seems to be survivable for a few dozen seconds.
Remember that the balls’ powers aren’t at fully available right now; she still has a lot of things to unlock. These are also artificial constraints; there’s no reason to have them except as they’re presented, as a kind of game-like “So You Want To Be a Super Hero” leveling system. It seems likely that the apparent variety of powers as presented are just various twists on one or two basic capabilities. Kind of like how if Magneto was presented as having a bunch of powers rather just telling you he straight-up controls magnetism.
I suspect the shield creates a kind of dimensional pocket. The inside of the pocket is technically a separate space with its own reference as far as things like kinetic energy go. From the outside, the whole volume may as well be a single object for all intents and purposes. Trying to violate that object would give the illusion of a shield effect.
The balls are a set. There’s no reason to think of them as distinct and separate objects except aesthetically. So flight would be an illusionary side effect of the pocket environment. Extending this, the ability to see/hear through the shield would be a kind of holographic trick. The balls can transfer energy between inside and outside but there is a kind of safety in the form of a cutoff; only a certain amount of energy is allowed to pass through and matter isn’t passed at all. As for things like opening up a hole, this would be more like removing the energy pass-through limit at a certain spot. (I don’t know that we’ve seen evidence of being able to pass matter through such an “opening”.)
As others have pointed out, the shield doesn’t have to be centered on her. It’s clear that the balls are able to read and interpret her mind so, absent a mental directive, it seems reasonable that it automatically centers on what its user thinks of as the user’s center.
I wonder how quickly and how much the atmosphorb could generate, possibly enough to keep a thin cloud around her, long enough to do the shield change maybe?
Mr Buble forms with Sydney at the center, doesn’t mean that Sydney is permanently locked into the being in the center
Clear proof that the Shield is not centered on her/the Orb https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1572
Once this mess has been resolved, Archon REALLY needs to prioritize proper testing of those orbs. There are way too many things we don’t know about Sydney’s “known” powers.
AND Archon really needs to think about who the original owners of the orbs are. Considering how Squidward’s drone reacted to them, they may be really bad news!
it looks and acts like it is based on center of mass, given the tech level here a simple execution. it’s tied into her neural network when she touches it and it would be simple for it to assess the limits for encasement. dang that makes me sound nerdy
Don’t forget this(Alhvuchia Zhovaleh, panel 2): https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2142
There have been several occasions where it isn’t centered on her the first one being the fight against Vehemence in which she backed up against it. I assume the default setting is likely her at the centre and we know she can enlarge and shrink it but perhaps the orientation of it may be controlled by her subconscious. You never know, future upgrades may make it skin surrounding like Maxima or Mecha-Cthulhu.
Let’s have her try and uppercut the fellow with shield and full speed on flight :D
Which “The Real Ghostbusters” music would be best for this strip… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9mafXaKZq0 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCkYjSO2_Y4
The blurb thing is misspelled as “on less hand” instead of “one less hand”
@author @author
Also, should probably be one *fewer* hand although “less” is not wrong.
But is that how she talks?
As Mark Twain once said, write how people talk. An irritation is seeing every person speaking in perfect grammar and Victorian dialogue when you know real people don’t always talk like that. Some stories it even feels like the only time the writing style changes is for exaggerated accents and to make a character look dumb. But normal people say things like “aint no good” or “I have ate” and the like on a more regular basis than you’d think.
So when writing dialogue or monologue for a character try to get a cemented idea down on their personality, culture, experiences, and exposure to have an idea of how they should talk.
All fair points, except that the line in question was neither dialogue nor monologue. It was the author’s comment at the bottom of the page. This makes your very passionate comment… awkward.
He typed how he talks then. It is the author’s comments not a dictation to the scientific summit after all.
Heh. From Jeff Foxworthy I got this word.”Sensuous”
spoken in a southern drawl.
“Hey hon, sensuous you is up, get me a beer”
Back in the mid 1980’s, a waitress in Norman Oklahoma introduced me to that fine old southern word; “Jollyka”.
As in jollyka menu?
Maybe it’s just me, but “one fewer…” just feels off. “One less…” is the more common expression. The word “fewer” tends to be used with greater numbers.
The last orb could be sick bay were she can heal up
or it could be the operating manual, or the orb that lets her operate more than 2 at a time
I put my bet on the last orb being the toilet bay.
Demoloscopoidon lets just hope that when she activates it the previous occupants waste isn’t emptied upon her……….. especially if her shield is up.
Think about it every ship in our real world has a medic even in a helicopter
They are required to have some sort of medical for emergency situation`s but if it is for wast i will laughing at what she does just think she whould probably have to think up a plan B to this pluse she got stabed and she’s still fine it makes me think the orbs are keeping that under control but what do you think is keeping her from bleeding
That thing should definitely consider just giving up and leaving, since its only Halo’s Variable Power Pool Character build that’s been saving it from complete curbstomp-age.
Not a VPP in my opinion. She has an Elemental Control with seven slots limited to two active at a given time, obvious inaccessible focus, each slot occupies a hand, each slot having the possibility of a linked sub power gained from a general Aide effect based on the ‘setting’ choice on the orb and the skill tree.
(Hero system by memory alone so any faults are … squirrel?)
This reminds me of a flea. Seriously have you ever tried to kill a flea that is biting you? You can’t smash them as they are too small. You have to catch them and tear them apart using your fingernails. And then they sometimes still jump away.
The scale is also about right.
Reminds me of a Stan Lee quote, “Fleas against a freight train” when describing how any battle between superheroes and Galactus should go. Of course that wasn’t just size but power.
Power is a major factor with one character so much smaller than another, is she like a wasp, a hornet, a flea, or a bullet.
(one reason I loved that moment in Thor when he flew through the ice monster’s mouth and out the back of its head, he wasn’t a wasp trying to sting someone, he was a bullet to that thing),
Sydney is definitely at the mecha-hornet shooting bullets at you from inside your armor territory right now.
She has Squidward down to five eyes left.
After those are gone the battle will go faster.
Or the mother ship will write Squiddy off and fire really major guns which Halo will evade and Squidward won’t.
I have smashed fleas. I have seen their tiny bodies spread across my fingertips.
The trick is to crush them between thumb and index finger and rub them together so hard that it hurts you.
Oddly enough, I am 100% fine with her running on adrenaline and anger and forcing herself to think calmily in a crisis / during battle, THEN having a freak-out session afterward. As someone with ADHD, that’s how I work during crises. I may have a second or so of shock, then my brain leaps into Fix The Damn Problem mode. AFTERWARD, I am a frikkin mess of sobbing & crying. So long as Sydney is not about to wear off her meds (or run out of bloodsugar to keep her fueled; I believe she has candy in one of her belt pouches, tho’), she’ll keep functioning fine.
Afterward, hella yes, she’ll have a snotty-nosed sobfest freakout session.
(…And if she has it all over Deus’ expensive $3,000 suit while in his bought African country, clinging to him in relief that she finally recognizes a human and that means she’s back on Earth, all the more hilarious. XDDD )
Yep. That’s totally an ADHD thing. Hyperfocus, etc. etc. It’s part of the reason that ADHD is sometimes considered less of a disorder, and more of an evolutionary quirk, even aside from how widespread it is- some people think it’s the “Warrior/Hunter” evolutionary branch, as opposed to the “Farmer/Gatherer” branch.
waaaiiitt…. as cool as this scene is… how is she flying, shooting and maintaining her shield up at the same time? that`s three orbs at the same time. continutity error dave?
nevermind. I see it now. slick Dave. very subtle unless you were looking for it lol
Yup, can you say “parabolic trajectory” :-D
Man, I guess Sydney plays rock paper whatever for keeps!
I am curious exactly what she’d do with the extra hands right now. Obviously the shield and PPO have to stay in play, but all I can come up with is adding continuous flight and teleportation. Which is cool and definitely gives her more control, but doesn’t level up her current attack plan all that much beyond speeding it up.
If she had three hands the Pew Pew Orb would be firing continuously.
Right – maybe up to 3-5x faster than swapping the PPO and the Flyball, but not 50x or 100x. Which is still nice, but hardly introduces game-changing strategy options.
Flight = No Height Fear
Shield = No Smash Fear
Environment = No Air Fear?
Re Flight: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1847
Actually, if the flight orb is an inertialess drive, and it has a max speed, her max speed is her max speed regardless of environment. You assume that max would be the speed of light, because that’s how it would seem to you it would work. But that’s from taking the assumptions that the theoretical max speed for objects with inertia is the same as the max speed without inertia, and that there’s nothing that would provide another limit in the absence of that inertia. We have no evidence regarding either of those things – except for the fact that Halo’s max speed is roughly mach 4. in roughly one atmosphere of air at nearly standard temperature.
As such, if Halo’s flight orb is an inertialess drive, her max speed is still roughly mach 4.
I think people are forgetting that the speed of light is huge. Yes, maybe she can accel at 10g no matter what, forever. But at 100m/s, she would still take 2997924 seconds, which is still 1100 hours or 46.3 days to get to light speed…
An inertialess drive has no speed limit except for light-speed.
There is no speed limit with an inertialess drive in the Lensman universe. It’s FTL.
Your speed jumps instantly to the speed where your thrust is balanced by the friction of the medium. And there’s very little friction in space.
Squidward HQ: Nuke the entire site from orbit – it’s the only way to be sure.
I really hope their are shielded survivors (like in a bunker) and Sciona isn’t omnisciently perfect so didn’t sense them, if only after this battle we can get a wizard of Oz reference.
Sydney after slaying this thing floats down in her bubble, “come out, come out, where ever you are, I’ve killed the ugly thing that came from another star.”
1. That line seems extremely out of character for Sydney.
2. I seriously doubt hundreds of them would have trapped themselves in a soul battery if there were any better options. That’s an absolute last resort.
Just curious, I dont remember if she has tried this yet, but has she tried grabbing one with her foot? like bare footed? Just curious, and if so what was the result?
For umpteenth time, YES!!! She has tried every possibility she could think of, including her arse, nothing worked except her sweaty palms
Relax. The page that established that fact was posted over six years ago, and the information was confined to a single panel at the bottom. The matter hasn’t really been brought up in the comic itself since that page, so it’s much easier to ask in the comments.
It has been mentioned a couple times on this page
Sorry Guesticus, I didn’t know and maybe it would be a good thing to put into her bio. I did not mean to offend.
Thrugar
Don’t think Guesticus was offended.
Exasperated, sure – some-one (often many some-ones) ask that question in virtually every comment page I’ve read. Trouble is, there are always new someones with the question each time a page posts.
Def wouldn’t hurt to put that info in her bio. Good idea, that!
But the bio page was OOS for so long that people probably don’t think to check it.
So even better would be a little quick FAQ just under the comic that says: “Sydney can only hold two orbs, and they only work when palmed. Contact with other body areas has been tried to no effect. Yes, there. Yes, there too. Yes, even there. Yes, Sydney is nothing if not thorough.”
Yes, exasperated, because very few bother to read the comments, even fewer read more than the last comment page
This particular question was asked (and answered) at least twice on the first page
so she’s got Gamer’s Mind when using the barrier, makes enough sense
I got that reference! lol awesome
Ooooo I just thought of something really funny, what if she learned to juggle really well and then could use the different powers as she grabs the ball. That would be hilarious
Thrugar
Before she chose ‘Halo’ as her moniker, ‘The Juggler’ and ‘The Ball Handler’ were proposed.
Also…
I like the idea of Sydney pretending to be a Times Square performer doing an act.
She’d have to hide 4 of the balls to make it believable.
Juggling would be an essential skill if the balls did not float on their own.
She might enjoy learning – it is fun to do and requires a certain focus.
(However, she has actual urgent skills she needs to learn, so that seems unlikely.)
Anyway, she doesn’t need to learn. Since they go wherever she wants, she can emulate any juggling pattern. I’m not sure what the record is atm, but seven balls is not uncommon for a pro juggler.
Go back to where she’s describing her new powers to the brass. There’s a panel where she sets all the orbs to orbiting her. She declares herself “Nitrogen”.
Later, a few pages on, she uses her orbs to provide cover when she challenges Math, (who nudges her own shin into line with one of her orbs, thus winning the match.)
There are several examples, including recently, of her using one or more of her orbs as mind-controlled blunt instruments.
She bonked Dabbler…and not the good kind.
Has it ever been established that other’s cannot user her orbs WITH her permission? If we go with the premise that the orbs are a “space ship”, does this really mean that the “crew” has to have multiple arms? We’ve seen Halo carry others in the shield, maybe Peggy could be the “gunner” and “sensors” while Halo is “flight” and “shields”? Off peak duties could be environmental controls.
It has been hinted at by DaveB, but not explored yet. IIRC the person was Varia who when she touched other people she got a random power, but with Syd the orbs seems to orbit her too.
The characters didn’t notice it at the time, but it was strongly implied that Varia can use the orbs, so long as she is touching Sydney. This wouldn’t be special or noteworthy if everyone else could do the same, so we have a potential 3-4 orb situation in the future.
now that would be an interesting sight to see… both of them decked out in post-apocalyptic leathers with Halo on Varia’s shoulders like “Master-Blaster” in “Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome” (Halo’s being made into shorts, so she has skin to skin contact with Varia)
I was thinking a single exposed leg below the knee. They could hook legs, since the sphere and the flight orbs provide transportation.
Likewise, bare arms from the bicep to the wrist and they could hook elbows for the same effect. Just make sure the orbs in the linked arms are the ones you don’t need to move around and point with.
Assuming Varia is light enough, (I think we can assume five-foot-nothing Halo is,) throw in Harem and they could ferry her to the moon and Mars to establish a jump-point, and not have to take the long commute home.
Of course, after this fight, that may be a moot point. If Halo manages to unlock sufficient speed to fly herself around a solar system in a day, that is.
Unfortunately, I think the shield actually blocks Harem’s teleportation ability.
You’re right. It does. They’d have to drop the shield so she could pop home. That would necessitate environment suits and maybe an inflatable habitat.
Halo’s ability to stay relatively calm and focused is an adhd super-power called hyper focus. The reality of it, the wide angle view doesn’t matter because she’s focused on the thing she is doing, which is trying to kick this things… uhhh it doesn’t really look like it has an ass…
At least that’s ,
My take on it.
Anyhow, it’s the payoff for the easily distracted part of adhd.
Yep! as long as the adrenaline and dopamine are flushed and keep giving nice kicks to the brain, the ADHD brain is super happy to stay focused on something with a high stimulation/novelty value.
Fuck but the crash can hurt though. She’s going to need a good night’s sleep for sure. :)
as someone with ADHD, I can attest and relate to that.
A little off the subject, (but connected to a comment string above,) how hard IS it for someone with ADD to learn to juggle?
Very dependant upon how interesting they find it. There is no issue with the ability to learn any skill, the issue is keeping attention on the skill long enough. Some people with ADHD would find the effort to reward ratio very soothing and might pick it up almost as a form of meditation, while others would find it requires way to much focus to bother putting much effort into learning.
I was thinking in terms of splitting focus to track multiple objects at once, sufficient to manipulate them.
Does hyperfocus interfere with juggling?
There is always the possibility that the Unknown Orb is the one that (once she knows how to call on it) is able to do the Dancing Gods of India effect, granting her multiple sets of arms.
What Sydney needs is a Coat of Arms, like Cio in the webcomic Kill 6 Billion Demons…
https://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/wielder-of-names-2-36/
Although perhaps a little bit garishly colored.
Most of the power points she can spend on her skill tree branch of the orbs, but there are points linking pairs of orbs. Considering how much she uses the shield/flight combo, the link should be an attractive place to spend a point. Possibly it will give her the ability to use those two balls with one hand?
Considering how hard it is to get a point, I don’t think it would be wise to make assumptions. Better to wait until she figures out how the link between the flight orb and PPO works before committing more points to linking orbs.
Shouldn’t she have needed to refresh her air by now?
Sydney’s pose in that last panel is one of my favorite poses ever drawn in this comic – the perspective is insanely eye-catching.
Great shot, DaveB.
Can we have that panel without the speech balloon?
I wondered this myself. What if the links let you glue the two orbs together and use them both in one hand, or maybe just merges them into a larger orb that has both functions. That would be interesting dynamic, if you could merge 3 pairs of orbs, which 3 pairs would you pick? Shield and flight would definately be a top choice.
If you wanted to use multiple orbs with one hand you would need to mount them into one larger item that accesses their power and still allows you use of that hand. Perhaps some sort of gauntlet.
Or a bracelet.
Or a belt.
Oh wait…
Then again, page 42: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/241 So we’ve seen this happen before. One of my favorite pages, honestly.
And the aftermath https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/289
I’m kinda curious…can she hold two balls in one hand? Those look to be about the size of tennisballs and I could hold three in one hand if they’re held right… (This has probably been answered before but meh)
No, the orb must be in her palm to function.
I don’t have the biggest hands in the world but I could have my palm on at least two of those balls o3o
Her palm size is such that only one ball can fit in each hand at a time.
It’s not just a case of holding her balls, she has to be able to fondle them to be able to activate them
They are closer in size to women’s shot put (completely fill her hand) than a tennis ball
If you’re after splash page fights, I highly recommend Excalibur #61: Phoenix vs. Galactus drawn by Alan Davis.
Alan Davis is one of my favorite artists. His work on Excalibur and Clan Destine was amazing.
We already know Halo is in a different time.
I think it plausible that she fights her way up to an interstellar drive, then finds her way to earth, and in classic halo fashion, spazes out somewhere along the way, dying and dropping the orbs into the ocean for her past self to find.
The ONLY reason I say ‘no’ is the parts of the grid unlocked.
If she was in her own past and left the orbs for herself to find, then the orbs couldn’t level up, unless they lose the points before she finds them, and she always makes the same choices in the same order, trapping her in what might as well be hell.
Maybe thats why it had points already when she found it and each loop it gets more powerful. Definitely not happening, but gosh wouldn’t that be hilarious.
sorry, but this one kind of drew me out of the comic. really shes shooting to wound him? she cut his frigging leg off! a decapitation would not be that much harder and the constant demand for him to surrender. Totally off. Sorry, probably my least favourite page of the series.
Umm, no, she is not ‘shooting to wound’, Squiddly is simply that strong that her (current) kill shots aren’t doing their job, not to mention, she can’t exactly be stationary while she shoots
Look at the cuts on it’s head: Sydney has tried, several times, to cut it’s head off
As for her ‘constant demand for him to surrender’: she is doing a “Peter Parker” and using ‘free-talk’ to cover up how shit-scared she is
also consider she has no ‘stable’ point to shoot from, If she did she could probably drill a hole right through. Any time she lets go of the flight orb she is in free fall mode – that;s why the curve on the flight paths.
she is shooting a moving target from a slightly predictable moving source. Too bad no target lock – maybe another ‘skill tree’ upgrade.
I think she is just taunting squidly, maybe to get it to make a fatal mistake.
Also note: Sydneys PPO is not at it’s most powerful ‘skill point’ level either
Guesticus has a point. Sydney put a still-glowing hole in the top of that thing’s head, and has taken out several of its eyes. Some parts are clearly more durable than others.
I think the calls for surrender are more for the sake of Sydney’s own mental state than anything. As Dave has said, this is the first time Sydney is really in a fight to the death against another (presumably sapient) creature. This way, when she inevitably wins the fight, she can at least tell herself that she TRIED to avoid killing an alien who may or may not have had a family.
Three words: Particle Beam Enema. sure she’s flying around now, but she was stable and had a perfect flank shot and she fucked it up.
She hasn’t graduated to use the firing range yet, so no training in how to aim, stationary or in motion
I assume you’re talking about the point before she announced that it’s under arrest. Dave said that she was trying to ease her own conscience, because this is her first time intentionally taking another life. Of course she didn’t go for a lethal strike right away. That was the whole point of the last page.
This is Sydney in ‘auto react’ mode… going full comicbook super. She won’t have a nervous breakdown / curled in a corner moment until afterward… and it’s gonna take more than mega chilli to snap out of it.
Oh, I dunno. I think she reacts, especially to the super-squash in panels 4-5; while one might consider panel 6 to be a ‘beat’ panel, IMO that’s probably her having a temporary ‘holy shit! / having the willies / getting herself back together ‘ moment, especially considering that that actual ‘holy shit!’ moment is in panel 4 …
and then Halo gets like thirty bionic hands grafted onto her arms.
She’s never used the weapon that much before. Is it possible its power can be depleted?
if you look at the latest skill tree bit the PPO is not at it’s most powerful level yet, some of which we have no idea what they do.
Next up:
666
Xuriel lighting incense on her black quartz sphinx.
The absense of a teammate putting a damper on the Cluthunica celebration.
Text that the bottom says that it has ‘on’ less hand. I think you meant to type ‘one’.
Starting to think the unknown orb might involve shapeshifting … or energy hands so she can manipulate more then one orb at a time. With all orbs on at once, Sydney would then go into “Overlady of the Universe” mode able to control every aspects of reality … in short, the secret orb is the Infinity Gauntlet, and every orbs are one of the different stones! XD