Grrl Power #765 – Home court advantage
So I guess Stalwart is a lefty? That or he’s pulling his punches because he doesn’t want to liquefy that thing he’s punching. Not because he’s concerned about the guy, but because liquid is less effective at knocking everything behind it ass over elbows. Actually, I just tend to draw people punching or holding guns or mysterious orbs in the hand closest the camera. But, considering Stalwart’s job, (punching stuff and taking hits for his teammates) it’s reasonable to assume that he’s some training as a boxer at least. Maybe a grappler too. In any case, his left hook isn’t something you want to get hit by if you can avoid it.
Okay, so, the Fel have ballistic shields, and those shields are also energy resistant. They don’t totally block energy attacks though. Well, below a certain level they do, but anything over a certain level starts breaking through. Using temperature as an easy scale, a 1,000 degree attack would be 95% blocked, at 5000 degrees, 80% would be blocked, 10,000 degrees and their shields would only be able to handle about 55% of it, etc. That’s what Cora was talking about when she said their shields could be overwhelmed. Heatwave doesn’t know any of this, but what she does know is that she has line of sight on a glowy thing on that guys hip. If it glows, she figures, it’s probably more important than something that doesn’t. Turns out she was right, and it was some kind of grenade. She doesn’t have to pour 10K Fahrenheit into a grenade to cook it off. It’s not a human made grenade full of TNT or whatever they stick in there these days, but it’s a fair bet that anything that’s designed to explode isn’t something you want to subject to a few thousand degrees if you can avoid it.
So, I missed this when I posted the last comic, but last Thursday was the 9th anniversary of Grrl Power! So, uh, woo! I thought it was 10, but that’s because I started working on the comic at least a year before I put anything up so I could get in the flow of things. Also I registered the domain like 7 or 8 months before the page went live as a way to goad myself into productivity. I guess it worked!
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like!
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Tritonal.
At least most of our explosives are tritonal. It’s more powerful and more stable than TNT or any of that older stuff.
It’s stable enough that you need another explosive to set it off, something more powerful than a blasting cap.
I’m not saying what Heatwave is doing wouldn’t set it off, but I’m sure as heck not going to hang around and test it.
Just a note on plastic explosives. Also a very stable material. I’ve seen it shot at point blank with a rifle and it just splatters. It’s demilled (in this case destroyed) by throwing chunks of it on the berm wall like playdough and lit on fire. It can be, and is set off by a blasting cap. So unless something weird is going on, it needs an explosion to set it off.
Blasting caps are rather powerful little explosive devices, and rather unstable, which is why it’s relatively easy to set them off. It’s also why they are always stored and carried in very strong and durable containers, with each cap separate. That way you reduce the risk of something happening, and if one goes off, hopefully it won’t set off the rest.
Like usual, all of this information is publicly available if you look around enough. Also, Hollywood is silly.
Very informative, butt… what Heatwave blew up was not a local explosive (and may not have even been an explosive to start with, simply something that explode when heated up, like… a portable shield generator)
Well, other than the actual author of the series said it was a grenade.
(Not that details like that have ever deterred Guesticulus from being ridiculous before)
It was an explosive Guesticus. Grenades are explosive weapons. That’s literally the definition of a grenade. “A small explosive, chemical, or gas bomb that is used at short range.” – in this case, it was not a gas grenade or chemical grenade, it was an explosive grenade. Which we know because… it exploded when subjected to intense sudden heat.
DaveB even states outright that it’s a grenade, and thus it’s an explosive.
“Heatwave doesn’t know any of this, but what she does know is that she has line of sight on a glowy thing on that guys hip. If it glows, she figures, it’s probably more important than something that doesn’t. Turns out she was right, and it was some kind of grenade. She doesn’t have to pour 10K Fahrenheit into a grenade to cook it off. It’s not a human made grenade full of TNT or whatever they stick in there these days, but it’s a fair bet that anything that’s designed to EXPLODE isn’t something you want to subject to a few thousand degrees if you can avoid it.” – From the blurb he wrote above on this page
It still wasn’t a local explosive, which means there is no reason to believe it works the same way a Dirt explosive would
She didn’t know it was an explosive. DaveB explained that she heated up a device with glowy bits and it turned out to be an explosive.
Do you ever read the commentary at all?
I agree on the point about the explosive compound itself – the device may be the same mechanism of an explosive core wrapped in shrapnel, which makes it “some kind of grenade”, but DaveB says “it’s not a human made grenade full of TNT or whatever.” It’s perfectly reasonable to believe that its propellant behaves differently than we’d expect.
The primary improvement of TNT over early dynamite was stabilization additives that prevented sweating of the nitroglycerin, which made it flammable and far more impact sensitive. As already discussed, modern C4 is great because it’s even more stable; alien explosives/propellants used in combat with energy weapons would ideally be even more stable, and probably more heat resistant or even heat-proof such that they just melt instead of exploding unless triggered properly.
However, Dave also said explicitly that “it was some kind of grenade”, so… it’s a grenade.
Regardless of what the grenade is made of that causes the explosion, the explosive matter in the grenade does seem to explode when exposed to intense heat, since… well… that’s what happened in the above comic. So we know that’s how the Fel grenade works. I think TNT explodes because of nitroglycerin (which is inherently unstable, even if not exposed to heat), while grenades explode for different explosive matter in it (I have no idea what is in a fragmentation grenade, but whatever is in it does explode when exposed to intense sudden heat).
Anyway long explanation short, the Fel grenade might not have the same explosive matter in it as a human grenade, but whatever matter is in it explodes when subjected to intense heat, so wound up acting in the same way a human grenade would have acted when exposed to Heatwave’s powers. ie, it exploded. :)
And I just take the fact that DaveB said it was ‘some kind of grenade’ and combine it with ‘the grenade exploded when exposed to heat’ to mean ‘the Fel grenade is a grenade that explodes when exposed to heat’ because it’s a ‘Word of God’ thing.
TNT (TriNitroToluene) and nitroglycerin are different chemical compounds – TNT can’t ‘sweat’ nitroglycerin, because there isn’t any present to begin with. I’m not sure what’s used in C4, and it’s probably combined with various binders and inhibitors, but wouldn’t be surprised if it was a different explosive compound again.
I quoted where DaveB stated outright that it was an explosive (a grenade). Word of God is it’s a grenade. So it’s a grenade. Heatwave didnt KNOW it was a grenade, but that doesn’t change that it’s a grenade.
Not disputing it’s a fucking explosive, saying that it is not a local (ie from Dirt) explosive so it would not work the same way as a local explosive would
For those going on about how C4 and TNT and dynamite works, this is literally an alien fucking grenade (fucking happy now?) so how it explodes or what it is made of more than likely differs remarkably from local explosives
You are an idiot. Regardless of whether they are using earth based explosives or stored twisted space in alien warp core if it has enough energy to be a useful grenade and you rapidly heat it up enough melt it, you will liberate that energy. Result, Kaboom!
Seriously, you’re calling me an idiot? You know that I tend to come down on Oberon when he says stuff like that to you, right?
Look, obviously it’s not from Earth. Since it’s a Fel grenade. But it’s still a grenade, meaning it’s an explosive. We know this because, regardless of anything else, DaveB has literally outright said it’s an explosive, which you’re ignoring for some reason. DaveB said it’s a grenade, and that’s why it exploded, so it’s a grenade, and that’s why it exploded. Not C4 or anything else that you’re trying to argue. He literally explained WHY it exploded even. Whether it’s made from ‘local’ explosives of alien explosives …. it’s an explosive. Which exploded from introduction to intense heat. I don’t know why you’re arguing this, and I don’t know why you’re NAMECALLING. It’s beneath you and an apology would be appreciated.
Hrm my post was pretty repetitive. :)
But honestly Guesticus, not sure why you’re getting so irate over this rather innocuous point, or why you’re doubling down on it. Really not worth getting angry about this. It’s an internet argument, and usually on this board they tend to be friendly arguments without namecalling, unless what you’re angry about is Reality check saying you engage in ridiculous arguments. Personally I did not say that though. I’m just not sure why you’re so insistent about disputing that the grenade was an explosive which blew up because of being exposed to heat, like an Earth grenade would as well, since DaveB outright said that is why it exploded.
Check the name, it was some coward calling me an idiot (don’t feel too bad, it even took me a few to realise that it wasn’t posted by me)
Again, not disputing it being an explosive grenade (okay, initial post had forgotten that DaveB stated that it actually truly was a Fel grenade), the post was for those people posting extension debates about how C4, TNT & dynamite work
Sorry in any case. Should have read the name more closely.
Bwa hahahaha hahahah hahahha!!!
You protected an idiot and got called an idiot by an idiot!
Bwa hahahaha hahahah hahahha!!!
Drax would say this better, but then he has no filter unlike me. Wait…
Apparently I was wrong. It wasn’t Guesticus. It was someone calling themselves Guestitis, which I misread as Guesticus. Oberon, stop with the joy from people namecalling.
Btw Guesticus, sorry that I thought that was you responding to me.
> Just a note on plastic explosives. Also a very stable material. I’ve seen it shot at point blank with a rifle and it just splatters. It’s demilled (in this case destroyed) by throwing chunks of it on the berm wall like playdough and lit on fire. It can be, and is set off by a blasting cap. So unless something weird is going on, it needs an explosion to set it off.
Some plastic explosives (e.g C4) will burn without detonating. Soldiers in Vietnam used to use the stuff like Sterno in order to heat their food. Which is a bad idea, since the smoke is toxic. Still, you can set the stuff on fire and it’s not an issue.
I’ve been told that soldiers would use the plastic explosives from claymore mines to cook with out in the jungle in Vietnam- told by the soldier that supposedly did it, so maybe accurate.
If it’s stable enough you need another explosive to set it off, wouldn’t you then have to put that other explosive in your grenades if you wanted them battlefield ready? You wouldn’t want to have to screw it into place manually before throwing each one. It therefore follows than anything that could set off that other explosive could set off the grenade your soldier is carrying around. (Using a small amount of more volatile explosive probably reduces the chance of it being set off, though)
True, but it means you now only have a pea-sized lump of shock-sensitive material rather than a fist-sized one. As you say, a smaller initiator means it’s less likely that a random hit will set it off.
So… Cora wasn’t super well informed about the supers I take it?
Considering they have only really been public knowledge for about six months, depends on the last time she and Dabbles spoke
There arent really a LOT of supers, compared to other ‘supernatural creatures’ from what I remember. Like 600-700-ish? On a planet of roughly 7 billion+ people.
A few months ago, they believed the number to be around a tenth of that, and then the Restaurant Rumble happened…
Let’s go with your estimate and steelman the argument. Let say there are 6 THOUSAND supers. Again, on a planet of roughly 7 billion+ people. That’s still a miniscule percentage of the planet.
0.000085714285714286% of the planet are supers.
That’s the steelmanned number, given the highest possible estimate.
With the estimate they actually projected, there are about as many (or possibly fewer) people who are supers as people who have Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria (the ultra-rare rapid aging disease).
Either way, my point is it’s not surprising that she would not be well-informed on a miniscule percentage of the population of a relatively backwater planet, the entire population of which is probably a miniscule percentage of the galactic population. So it’s a miniscule percentage of a miniscule percentage we’re talking about.
Why the fuck are you doing this? Wasn’t disputing your numbers, certainly wasn’t fucking strawmanning (if that’s why you used the term ‘steelman’)
You’re getting way too angry about this Guesticus. And no I wasnt saying you were strawmanning. I just said that I tend to try to steelman when making an argument. Steelmanning is just taking the strongest possible argument against mine. I did not accuse you of strawmanning. I’m just explaining why Cora might underestimate the abilities of supers on Earth, given the tiny number of them (even if we use the largest possible number estimated instead of the supposedly known number estimated).
Just to be clear, to ‘steelman’ an argument does not necessarily, or even usually, mean you’r responding to a strawmanned argument. Usually it means you’re responding to a normal argument, but putting the other person’s argument at their strongest possible point in order to argue against that point. Basically the opposite of strawmanning, where someone weakens the other person’s argument to argue against that weakened argument instead.
I was not in any way suggesting you were strawmanning anything. You gave the legitimate numbers stated in the comic, and mentioned the steelmanned number as well (not a strawmanned number) so I used the steelmanned number when making my counter-argument.
Thank you for explaining, after that ‘Guestitis’ crap (and the crap on the first page of comments) have just had enough of the continued attacks and insults from certain people
You have always been a good debater, not letting things get personal even when you are wrong (*coughSmugDcough* :P ), will miss our… ‘discussions’
And you’re a fun debater as well, even when you keep misspelling words, like spelling ‘amazingly observant and spot-on’ as ‘wrong,’ or ‘villain’ as ‘the greatest man on the planet, our lord and savior Deus.’ :)
I can definitely understand you wanting to take a break from comment boards when people are directly calling you names.
Happy 9th anniversary! Thanks for making the comic, which I am enjoying reading.
I hope his suit doesn’t get ruined, it looks not cheap.
It isn’t. But he can afford its replacement.
Also:
Sla’anesh is gonna be THRILLED to get acquainted with a man that Desires Perfection in Form and Function by looking his best while besting a Chaos raiding party.
Ah yes, they brought drones to a superbrawl.
They should have asked the resident Allari Bloodmage how that turned out. :D
You mean, the one everyone believes is still on Alari Prime?
Or maybe you meant Kevin
Remember, they DID see the Alari Ghosts streaming through the portal.
Still wondering about that – they saw the ghosts, but do we know for sure that the team saw them go through the portal? Pretty safe to assume, but there’s been no further discussion of it on Archon’s side, even when they were looking around for the Brane Ripper. The team could have assumed it was just something weird related to the squiddies and moved on – although we know they’re typically smarter than that.
Definitely a loose end that hopefully will be addressed when Sciona’s subplot reconnects to the main arc.
I’m still wondering what happened to the super mannekiller that could copy powers from blood that managed to have its core escape.
Since the last time we saw it (and taking into account it’s attempted conversation with Sidney aboutnot being dumb) I have considered the possibility that it is a golum created by Sciona.
Its possible that having most of weapons yanked out of it and the weapon power core exploding destroyed the runes tying it to her will.
I would love to see a future plotline where Sciona tries to retrieve the construct and it is recued by Icon and the Aegir faction of the Twilight Council.
That… would actually be really interesting.
Sydney saw… something, she had no idea what it was as they were moving too fast
And, again, the last time they saw Sci, she was still alive walking forlornly off into the distance
As Brichins said, if the rest of the team saw anything, they would probably assume it was another Squiddly attack (specially seeing how Sydney bubbled upon seeing them)
Judging from the comic, Harem also saw the soul skulls flying towards them as well. She saw them first and yelled “Look out!” as she pointed at them (she was slung over Hiro’s shoulder at the time). Pretty sure none of them had any clue what the hell the soul skulls were though. :) Especially not Sydney, who said ‘Aaah! What the hell is that!?’
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-649-the-long-way-back/
To be fair, Sciona did incredibly well against Archon each time she fought them – even against Maxima multiple times (she didn’t win, but she kept managing to escape to continue her plans). The only one that really significantly hurt her was, in fact, Dabbler… the non-super non-human in Archon.
Am I the only one that when they see more and more demenstrations of how strong Maxima is, they keep finding the scene way back at the start with Max and Sydney’s tube funnier and funnier?
Nope. :>
So going full throttle right out of the gate huh? Dang them things might of picked the wrong planet but why do I get the feeling that those guys are just a scout group while the carrier makes its way over there? The fact that them smaller things look similar to the utterly massive ones makes me uneasy.
I can see the Fel choosing to escalate this fight, not even realizing that the two biggest guns on the team – Max and Sydney – haven’t even set foot on the battlefield yet. Bust out the body armor and the popcorn, this is going to be one helluva show.
In the words of Robin Hood: “Prepare for the fight scene!”
Which version? o_O
Anything that 4th-wall-ish has gotta be Men in Tights, although I don’t recognize the line. Haven’t seen it in over a decade though so not entirely sure.
I’m assuming the version is Mel Brooks’ “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.”
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/510f617a-87a1-4708-8e16-2d64179cdb8e
Cary Elwes says in it “Prepare for the fight scene.”
There’s a lot of 4th wall breaking in it, like in most Mel Brooks movies, like where they stop the movie to look at the script (to find that Robin Hood gets another turn in the archery contest). Or when Cary Elwes, playing Robin Hood, says he’s a better Robin Hood than any other person who played Robin Hood because he has an actual English accent.
Hey Dave, you may want to look at the Cast page, it’s all messed up.
And misses a lot of vital new personnel…
The cast page has been messed up like this for quite awhile. Just something that has been stuck on the backburner while Dave has been busy keeping up with the comic’s release schedule. I’d rather Dave kept the comic up to date.
I am curious however about the picture of Harem on the cast page. Four of the Harems in the picture are familiar, but I don’t recognise the fifth. Dave maybe redesigned unit #5 between drawing the group pic and unit #5 actually appearing in the comic?
Both of the bottom two are different, so maybe that is the early versions of Gothamer (left) and Bodie (right)
Or, maybe, Daphne’s real true natural look is the one with the brown hair, and not, as speculated, Berry (top right sticking her tongue out)
Or maybe she got board of the look and changed it.
Insert stereotype of Women and changing their appearance.
I am jealous of it really, I joined the Army and men get 2 hair style choices, short and bald (bald only if you are black though, white people get sunburned to easily). By the time I got out, I was thinning and balding. Coloring it would look absurd, trust me I photoshopped it.
Women just get so many more options with appearances.
Have had enough of the insults, am done with this shit, the comments section is no longer enjoyable
I really have no idea why you’re getting this bent out of shape. No one’s been insulting you (except I guess Oberon in the past). Seriously, calm down, it’s just a webcomic comments forum. I still think you’re a good egg, even if you blew your top and called me an idiot before..
We have had numerous disagreements over numerous points, butt have never, and would never, call you an idiot
Check the spelling of the name, it was some coward calling me an idiot, by using a similar name (and it’s not the first time they have done that)
Ha, you actually just called Pander an idiot very recently. I’m not going to bother with timestamps to see if you did this before or after your denial, the fact that you did it shows your intent regardless of the timing.
Guesticus is the idiot. This is all that any one needs to know.
Actually Guesticus did not call me an idiot. That was my mistake. It was someone called Guestitis (the similarities in the name is clearly intentional and a cheap move) who called Guesticus an idiot, and I apologized to him for the mistake on my part for thinking he called me names. I don’t have any problems with Guesticus even when we argue. It’s always friendly (which is why I was confused when I thought INCORRECTLY that he had called me an idiot).
Guesticus is not an idiot. Lets stop having the namecalling k? It’s one of the reasons this comic comment board is better than… well….. almost every other comic comment board around. :)
Those poor, dammed, fools. Why attack Earth? In comics, attacking Earth is the equivalent of building a machine to punch yourself repeatedly in the groin.
When the Galactic Apocalypse happens, “all that will remain are cockroaches and humans.” When the heat death of the universe happens, humans will genetically re-engineer themselves to just a bit longer.
By the end of the battle, all worlds in the Galaxy will know the insane power and might of humanity. Fear them, for soon they will have space travel (thanks to Dues buying the tech on the Dyson sphere). When that happens greet them warmly and try to become close friends with them, make enemies at your own demise.
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
am I missing the chokers? or is it just the angle?
There are no chokers. The attack happened before they could get into uniform (the choker is part of the uniform).
Look up Humans are Space Orks sometime.