Grrl Power #694 – Threat underwhelming
Sydney’s comment at the beginning of this page is mostly just me recognizing that this conversation has taken place across a number of backgrounds, and it sort of looks like they’ve walked halfway across a city by now. I haven’t decided if Cora is running an errand on the way back to her ship or what’s up, but you know how it is in this comic. Half the pages so far seem to be her meeting new people and having lengthy QA sessions with them.
Sydney doesn’t know what Cora’s combat abilities are, she’s mostly just laughing because these thugs are… probably lower level that her previous battle. Still, she knows if Cora is Dabbler’s friend, she can probably take care of herself.
Cora does know her own abilities and at least suspects Sydney’s.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
wants the give the dragon thing a hug. and hopeing hes the cliché poet softy behind the scary looks lol
To quote Baron Munchausen:
“They’re inviting us to defeat them! We must oblige them!”
Best movie ever!
What movie is that?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096764/
In a world where Jonathan Pryce objects to all that which is irrational, naturally Baron Munchausen shall save the city though he might seem to some to be a broken down old fool and a liar. He is no liar.
Those are the most beautiful words I’ve ever read.
Okay, heard.
When I read it, I read it in Alfred’s voice. Batman’s butler Alfred. From the animated show.
Probably Ephraim Zimbalist, Jr. One of his last acting gigs. Been watching him in “77 Sunset Strip” the only other theme song you snap your fingers to. The other is “The Addams Family”.
That laughing expression on Sydney’s face in the final panel is the scariest thing I’ve seen all month.
True, there’s quite a bit of ‘Evil Sydney’ there.
[Scott Bieser]:
Agreed.
If her laugh gets any bigger, the corners of Sydney’s mouth will meet in the back of her head.
At which time, the top of her head will fall off, in true cartoon fashion.
Okay, Sydney, maybe grab shield orb before laughing at the badguy? Like, if he was a hasty dude, he could *literally* have killed you by your second chuckle. All the phenomenal cosmic powers contained within those orbs count for basically nothing if they’re not *on*.
The problem is that for some of us, knowing that the “curent events” are at least a month before the Big Guns comment by Anvil means that nothing too serious will happen to her, Max, or Anvil, never mind the gaming group or even Joel. Never mind her being the star of the comic.
Counterpoint, just knowing she’s the main character means it’s pretty unlikely she’d be killed off for real
Counterpoint. It’s a comic book. Comic book characters die all the time.
Heck just look at Wolverine, Cyclops and Xavier who aparently are all being brought back from never actually being dead in the first place next year.
Hell not even Bucky stayed dead.
“…for real”
As in, maybe Sydney might die at some point. But even if she does, she gets better.
Technically, she already did die and get better.
Speculation only
Really the only speculation is whether she did the time warp before, or after having been killed. The her from the uninterrupted timeline is definitely dead tho.
There is no other timeline (just to point this out), Krona thought it manipulated time, but what it did was *re-set* the targeted individuals to their positions and biological state like how they were when (recorded), in other words from Sciona’s perspective she more than likely was about to stab Sydney and then suddenly both Sydney and the strung up Pixil both vanished before her eyes. Time was still going forward…how Krona never noticed minutes or so had still passed when she tested it before is anyone’s guess.
Krona had always been a loner scientist geek, so having ‘time-skips’ is probably nothing new to her
Also, her crossover appearance in Wearing the Cape takes place some time after she learns to use the Lighthook within her shield, and that hasn’t happened yet either.
Both of them are wearing armor of one sort or another (and sydney’s Stuff probably deals fairly well with lasers, what with how water takes heat…).
Both Cora and Sydney are armed.
The guy brought only as much muscle as he thought he needed, not knowing those two things. (more muscle == more splits = less profits). He might assume them, but let’s be honest – “smart decisions” are not his strong suit. For that matter, he brought a ton of muscle and only one gun is evident-> they only have one gun.
Sydney’s been here before: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/416
Cora’s probably survived this scenario as presented by professionals.
Someone’s getting hurt very soon, yes, I can see it now…
That link is an imaginary situation in Maxima’s head, though. If you wanna show her dealing with a similar (albeit fake – though she didn’t know) situation, go *all* the way back to the “bank robbery”.
“Hey boss? It’s never a good thing when the victims start laughing, is it? Can I go on break now? You can handle these two right? Right? Boss? *looks at smear on pavement where boss was a moment ago…* Oh dear….”
Dragon Age Origins: “They’s supposed to be real good, boss…”
“And, uh, boss? Not that I doubt your ability to handle yourself in a fight, but would you mind notarizing my time-sheet now while I know that all your fingers work?”
“–My parents are space dead!!”
(…I am honestly surprised I haven’t seen that one posted yet.)
“My space parents are space dead!!”
Corrected.
Oh dear, however did I miss that?? Thank you for the correction!
Space Martha!
now I’m being haunted by Space Ghosts !
Are you haunted, from Space Coast to Space Coast? o_O
I would love it if at least one of the bad guys tries to talk his way out of this when things go wrong or at least pretends to be knocked out before they even hit him.
Technically, Sydney can just put her shield around her and Cora and walk away and ignore them… :)
DINGDINGDINGDINGDING! We have a winner! Sydney and Cora should enbubble and walk away, laughing. If they don’t end up rolling around, I mean. Rolling in Alley, Laughing? RIAL? Rolling in Forcefield, Laughing? RIFL?
She won’t roll while walking. The shield has, on almost every occasion, prevented Sydney from being budged when it’s up and impacted. The ONLY time he didnt was when she was flying and was hit by one of those Godzilla-sized creatures on the Alari homeworld.
Even Maxima’s punches and plasma blasts didnt budge Sydney while the shield was up.
That was when she didn’t want to move, and yet… Kevin managed to pull her along while she was attempting to pull him
That was because he was holding the lighthook. When something impacts her though, it doesnt budge her at all – the only exception to this was that one cthulu-thing on team Squidward. Even Maxima wasn’t able to budge her, and I suspect that Maxima can hit a lot harder than any of these muggers can, and Maxima’s plasma blast is a lot more powerful than the pop gun that guy’s holding. If Maxima couldnt budge Sydney, then these people can’t either. But Sydney can move while having the shield up and keep it up.
Umm, that’s what was saying: Sydney can move while bubbled when she wants to
And Sydney was pulling on Kevin by retracting her ‘hook, not by moving
She can’t walk with the shield, it’s immobile when deployed on the ground
This wasn’t confirmed, sure it makes a dome, but it seems like during the brawl pages she was still able to move around the parkinglot with the shield up, like it just flattens under their feet while on the ground.
In fact the kaiju shimmer blast may confirm the flat under feet theory as she deployed it on the ground, and after the blast the ground was gone but the shield was not a sphere around them floating over a crater. This would also block anyone tunneling under the shield when on the ground, or using seismic attacks, other wise while on the ground the shield would have a major weak point…heck Maxima’s implosion-explosion nuke bullet would have shook through the ground yet the shield defended everyone inside it.
That’s okay. I’m good with the bubble floating away with Cora rolling on bottom, laughing, too. ROBL ROBL ROBL
Yes, she can move while in Mr Bubble. She does it ALL the time.
Mr Buble, one ‘b’ :P
I think I’m missing the joke.
I know Bubble is spelled with two b’s, so I’m pretty sure you’re referencing a joke that’s going over my head. Did DaveB misspell Bubble back during the Black Reliquiry guardian thing?
Could be wrong, butt believe it was me who first started calling her bubble “Mr Buble” after that Canadian singer (can’t be bothered putting that stupid symbol thingie over the ‘e’ every time)
If you are claiming credit for naming Sydney’s shield after a misspelled Canadian Singer, why can’t you likewise bestow credit on Pander for naming it after a brand of bubble bath products made by The Village Company. The brand is the #1 brand of bath products in the United States according to AC Nielsen Data. The brand’s slogan is “Makes Getting Clean Almost as Much Fun as Getting Dirty!”. In 2011, Mr. Bubble celebrated its 50th birthday. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)
You’d think guys on a space station like this would be able to ID people who aren’t a good target. Are these guys like, new, or have they been just…incredibly lucky up to this point?
The problem with Sydney is that her orbs are explicitly impossible to scan. But you’d think a famous space privateer (as in, handler of privates) like Cora would have a record of feats they could queue up. It would be a good way to tell us readers whether she’s actually all that outside of her shiny spaceship.
Is that Black Mage and Venom in panel 3? I wonder how Sydney’s shield would stand up to a Hadoken?
Given how well it stood up to the giant planet-killing alien’s gun, I’d say pretty good.
A typical Hadoken can barely dent a car.
(yeah game mechanic, but still)
I’d like to see you produce an energy ball that strong, chi manipulation is hard.
Chi McBride is even harder to manipulate :P
My chi has incredible penetration.
Sydney’s open mouth is becoming a thing of horrors. Uncanny Valley indeed.
Are we really, really sure she’s just a normal human without the orbs?
well, that station’s be getting a new docking corridor…
My brother was a cop in a small Texas town, and a guy tried to mug him. My brother said, ok. “You can have the wallet, but I have to keep the badge.” While the guy was looking at the badge, my brother drew his gun and arrested the idiot.
Well, the presence of Street crime is really making the Fracture seem more and more like a cyber world that was “found” by other races and then colonized and utilized for its warp nexus abilities, and less like a moon sized space station being maintained by its builders.
granted there was crime in the “lower decks” of Babylon 5…which always made me question how that station was set up because that was just weird. (Not everyone can afford passage home so ends up being stuck here…like…dude…its a diplomatic multi-species station…it should be costing money to STAY there and unable to pay a free trip off station back home (deportation).
Or spaced out a airlock.
This reminds me of the the x-23 comic where two robbers try to B&E Laura while she was there with old man logan, and honey badger.
https://imgur.com/gallery/lEOgq
Inconceivable levels of bad luck, one karma freightrain of leveling about to served up.
Thanks for the wolverine ref. I had not seen that one yet.
I would love to see that last panel with just Sydney and Cora, no goon in the background.
And yeah, Sydney alone would laugh her ass off at that.
Cut to the same alley a few minutes later, when Deus and Vale enter. The blue goon appears, visibly in poor shape.
Goon: Alright, uh… *cough* hand over your ugh… your tech, credits, uh, ow, and um… *cough*…
The rest of them crawl out of the woodwork in similar shape and make an attempt to look menacing.
Deus: (cheerfully) My, this is quite a predicament. Do you have any ideas, Vale?
Vale: (smiles slightly) I have thousands. It’s a shame there aren’t more of them.
Goon: It’s just been one of those days.
(Awesomeness ensues, but it’s too spoilery to actually show so we cut back to Sydney and Cora)
Something like this happened on Cowboy Bebop.
a bunch of thugs tried to mug Faye Valentine, she beat the crap out of them.
later that day they tried to mug Spike Spiegel…mistaking him for and calling him “Vicious”…AKA: Spike’s mortal enemy whom Spike wants to see dead…suffice it to say, those thugs were beaten even worse this time.
Remember that episode well. Now I want break out my discs and watch them again ^,^
Maybe they will include that in the live-action remake
Spike is so good at Gung Fu it is second nature. The only one he couldn’t touch was Edward’s father who dodged every kick and swipe while he was talking to his assistant without losing his train of thought.
This is why Radical Edward had to leave before the ultra-dramatic finally for the show, she was basically a half human half toon hybrid, super-human or something; her father shown as an amplified exampled. Can’t have the super intelligent, practically invulnerable, comedic character around when the serious stuff goes down or people will ask why they didn’t hack some guard drones, or save Spike by leaping between roof tops like when Edward so effortlessly was chasing a guy down on a train (much to his horror and “what the hell are you” reactions).
So this mugging is like if a group was trying to mug Spike and Radical Edward at the same time.
This should be fun,
For me, not for you,
you’ll be screaming in agony begging for a death that dare not take you before I let it.
I however will be laughing like a possessed circus clown.
i could see Lady Death showing up with a large popcorn. Then spectates the carnage saying ” nope, you fools get to live” every so often
One weapons grade can o whoop ass opening in 5 4 3. 2
One weapons grade can o whoop ass opening in 5 4 3. 2
Hang on! That guy on the right in panel 2 and the left in panel 3… he’s wearing Earth clothes! Suit (or maybe a bomber jacket), tie, and maybe a fedora. What’s up with that?
One of them also addressed them in English.
remember it is now established *maybe* that there is no translator field like we thought but that they are using personal translator devices. Meaning this alien recognized a human and chose to speak English…or English is just his native language and going by a few signs here and there, there may be some displaced English speaking humans at the Fracture.
Cora probably fitted Sydney with a translator off panel plus communications and tracking functions if she has any sense (Cora may have reasons not to want to be seen with a sentient being on a lead in public or may just want to avoid being dragged off next time Sydney sees something shiny).
Or maybe, ‘earth’ clothes are actually manufactured offworld
reminded of an off hand joke in Tenchi Muyo,
one of the reasons the Jurain royal council has deemed Earth not yet ready for inclusion into the galactic neighborhood is Earth’s poor choices in fashion, polyester/cotton blends indeed.
I’ve seen that weapon before or something very similar but I can’t wrack my brain enough to remember what it is… >.<
No, it’s not from “Space: 1999”, someone posted a link to that model on one of the other pages
I just went through my memory, the Space 99 guns, had a flat surface, not a curved one, on the front.
Someone posted a link to a replica of the kill-stun from Space: 1999 on the first page, easy to miss
Hmm….does Cora try to stop her from going full-scale molestorb on them, or just make creative suggestions….
…aren’t they being a little cocky here? I mean, who says that the muggers are any easier to weigh up than they are?
…Well, the giant squid kaiju she dissected back on the Alari homeworld would probably agree, for starters. The chances that these thugs can match up to Maxima are minimal (er, no pun intended), and Maxima can’t even get close to breaking Sydney’s shield.
to be fair, Maxima implied that her energy expulsion goes much higher than what was shown, so this isn’t a proven yet
I’ve played high-powered RPG characters who walk down dark alleys like that, trying to lure muggers for a fight. And I can definitely picture Sydney trying that when bored…
Which would be classed as Vigilantism, and be a crime in and of itself
“lure muggers in to a fight” is somehow a crime? not in Western Civ Justice. The first to initiate force is the criminal.
/AKA the muggers are responsible for their acts not society.
Can be called “entrapment” in some circumstances….
Sydney is not acting as LE in her jurisdiction , a requirement for Entrapment.
“/AKA the muggers are responsible for their acts not society.”
in Massachusetts, you would be charged and tried.
tried? on what charge MA law has rules for self defense and even citizen’s arrest (felony violation). Sure they don’t want you to defend yourself but the courts allow it with evidence.
Sydney’s only limitation under MA law would be not to use lethal force because she did not feel her life was seriously being threatened. And the muggers are committing a felony because of the value they are demanding while armed.
Deliberately baiting someone to attack you, is provocation, and if it turns out that you are very capable of defending yourself, then yes, you will be serving a very lengthy prison time
Yes, we wouldn’t want to hurt the muggers doing their part for society. Imagine just walking down a side street is a provocation and you could get in trouble not the mugger who is lying in wait in the first place. Something is amiss in a society that has that kind of perverted psychology. But then if the police did it, and they have before, its okay since they are deputized. The monopoly must stand. Individuals cannot be law enforcement. Which means if you do that and crush the mugger, you’d better not get caught.
You don’t get it: if you are just walking down a street, going about your own regular business, and some idiot attempts to jump you, then that’s all good (on your part)
Butt, and this is where most fail to understand: if you deliberately go out of your way to go down an dark alley that every one knows is ‘popular’ with muggers, then that is vigilantism
Just like Maxi and Ari said during the Press Conference: having, and using, powers is not a crime, butt if you want to use it to stop crime, then join your local police department because vigilantism is a crime, whether you have powers or not
You can be arrested, for causing harm, to another.
I feel like the next statement is gonna be you want this one or me?
Aw, why not give this guy a chance to cut loose?
This reminds me of the time burglars broke into the Wolverine home. Veeeery similar reaction. Of obvious reasons ^_^
A french exemple of this trope
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/07/armed-robbers-bite-off-more-than-they-can-chew-in-mcdonalds-hold/
Lots of examples – caution, the link is an acknowledged time sink:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/MuggingTheMonster/RealLife
My, it HAS been some time since I read that. Tried to mug/rob victims include Chuck Norris, The President of the United States (‘in his hotel room), a gun store, a van with a SAS team inside (for you Americans, think ‘tried to steal a SWAT vehicle with SWAT team inside it’), and a possibly misplaced but memorable newspaper headline: “I kicked burning terrorist so hard in balls I tore a tendon in my foot.“
Time sink, yes, but worth it
The only way these guys have a chance is if Sydney and Cora are unable to defend themselves because they are laughing too hard to breathe.
I’m hoping the large one’s actually a fan trying to get Halo’s autograph!
Just imagining the others reaction to it be sneaking away learning it’s a member of a notoriously savage race of food connoisseurs to whom Halo is like a goddess given her love of spicy food!
At this point Sydney’s ADD kicks in and she goes off on a tangent.
“Well Cora, what do you think we should do with these thugs? Or is it goons? I’ve heard of hired goons, so do goons work for thugs? But if someone is trying to rob you, would that make them a mugger or a robber? Or maybe a thief? What is the difference between a thief and a robber anyway? How about bandit? But would they need to wear a mask? Or do we just call them criminals? But that just sounds boring.”
“I could have flown us there.” Yeahhh, not condusive to a “get out of Dodge RFN!” getaway from authorities looking for something mimicking a Photon Torpedo with a rainbow trail…
She could have done that and avoided that whole incident with the ships that go “SPLAT”
It would have also meant Sydney wouldn’t have gained her wings…
“Well, is that you, John Wayne? Is this me?”
Whenever you threaten someone and they laugh, that is not the time to double down. That is the time to get your ass out of Dodge. Or Quarfax or whatever.
Don’t know what it is, but in the last panel Sydney loks scary, but Cora, who I normaly consider quite attractive, looks… weirdly ugly. Something about that distorted mouth I think. Anyone else feel like that?
Generally it should be noted in the muggers and killers space directory to follow the five point move should supposed weak and easy looking prey start laughing at your demands hysterically as if you have just said the jape of the lightyear to do the following regardless if you have a dragon, demon or even an army on your side.
Point one – Back up as quickly and carefully as possible
Point two – Place any weapons you have drawn or offered either away or on the floor.
Point three – Apologise profoundly.
Point four – Back up, quickly.
Point Five – Run, run as fast as you can, do not stop to even change your underwear, keep on running as if your lives depend on it as indeed it does. Repent your ways, join a space monastery and never EVER say “What do you think is so funny then?”
Failure to follow the five point rules will require us to have a forwarding address for whatever (if any) remains that may still exist to be passed onto your next of kin *
*Provided of course you still have any after they have finished with you.
Sydney: “Hey Cora, wanna see what my orbs can do?”
Cora: “Sure.”
*bubbles herself and Cora then FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEM spins… taking out the surrounding blocks and muggers*
Sydney: “Ummm… Oops.”
Cora facepalms, mutters: “Dabbler… you owe me BIG for this.”
Thug: “What’s so funny?”
Syd: “I just realized I’m about to get an RL entry on TVTropes.”
Thug: “Huh?”
*ZOT*
Syd: “Under ‘Mugging the Monster’.”
Worth noting: This incident is really on TVTropes as an example of Mugging the Monster.
When I was still living in Los Angeles, I bought a pizza at Double or Nothin and sat outside waiting for them to finish making it.
When I was sitting there, a guy appeared out of no where (or maybe I was oblivious, I was deep in thought about depressing stuff at the time) and started to approach. Whatever it’s a pizza place that’ll happen. Didn’t care.
Once he said “You shouldn’t sit out here alone, it’s not a safe area. You don’t wanna get robbed.” I noticed around 5 other people coming out from behind cars or behind walls in a relatively evenly spread out pattern around me.
I looked at him, and said something loudly enough that everyone could hear it:
“It’s hilarious you’re trying to intimidate me to giving you my wallet! I mean, look at me. I’m a weak cripple and you’re bigger and stronger than me and you have a bunch of friends with you. You need that many people to try and take me down? What a joke! The only thing you’re doing is advertising how weak you are and how weak your self confidence is! Your morale is so low that you need to feel like you’re showing off to people in order to act?”
That’s when I started laughing like a psychopath.
Got my pizza shortly after and went home.
I think these guys are doing that too. “Hey we are in a large group because we don’t believe in ourselves. Please enable us.”
Thot just occurred to me.
What if these muggers are able to get what they want from the ladies anyway?
They grab Sydney’s orbs and find Syd must come with. Thus she’s kidnapped, and the trip home just gets a bit longer.
Remember when Sydney full stopped Maxima and actually made her trip, yeah it was done for laughs, but the orbs were also in sleep mode at the time.
Something tells me, grabbing one and then trying to pull Sydney is going to equal enough sudden momentum by the orb to at the very least break free, and at the most break their hand into splinters. remember the break
so grabbing the orbs is probably a very bad idea. Also on that note when she broke Sciona’s arm if Sydney had her wits about her she should have thought to keep them going one after another into Sciona’s face, regeneration or not that should make them let go.
The orbs are kind of like Minimax’s sword Oblivious in the Goblins comic – they simply don’t register any force that tries to move them beyond their assigned region around Sydney. And no force applied to them has any effect on her.
But when THEY are used to apply force to something, then there are probably limits, though they probably upgrade with level-ups.
I love Oblivious. The most useless sword ever turned into something so awesome it defies reality, enhanced to that level only because its wielder is stupid.
“No, don’t explain the nature of ‘lack of existence’ or the difference between ‘oblivious’ and ‘oblivion’ to him! It’ll weaken the sword.” (Not verbatim)
Also, remember Sydney’s fight with Matthias? He put a finger on an orb and it messed her up enough that she orbed herself in the shin.
Math actually diverted the ball into Sydney’s shin by poking it
He also nudged her foot, so the ball poking was more like a distraction as he watched and calculated their spins and then put her shin in harms way.