Grrl Power #782 – Death by die
So this is kind of a weird page, I mentioned on the previous comment that this page was originally a tour of the rest of the comic shop, but halfway through drawing it, I decided it was informative but boring. So I ditched that to make room for this sort of peculiar camo, which is actually a callback. Normally I’d let you guys figure that out on your own, but his first appearance was not too dramatic and quite a while ago.
I haven’t decided if Arianna and Co. have vetted this guy or not. Whether he is here just looking for a change of pace, on Archon’s payroll, or actually a dastardly insert remains to be seen.
Edit: Whoops. The first version of this comic I uploaded had the word bubble reading “Sydney, this is Core.” as a separate bubble with a tail pointing at Core, not attached to Joel’s previous one about security. I have to admit, I was super tempted to leave it with the screw up, because that is definitely a weird way to introduce oneself, but… honestly it’s a little too weird, so I fixed it.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. 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.
Don’t ever change, Sydney.
I think the word bubble “Sydney, this is Core” is located wrong. Right now it looks like Core himself is saying it, which is a weird way to introduce yourself.
So it’s not normal for people to introduce themselves as if they were game show announcers? Huh, that’s good to know. Might have to remember that…
That might be why I get so many weird looks…
Whoops, yeah. Hah, don’t know how I managed to mess that up.
She may be off her meds.
She just spent two months on another world fighting. That and no meds will mess you up.
She didn’t spend two months there. The portal Sciona was trying to make got royally messed up by Archon’s interference, and led to the Alari homeworld two months in the future. As the only person who went through that portal and then didn’t go back to Earth through it, Sydney didn’t exist for two months.
And then there’s also some time-dilation due to FTL, even through the wormhole Sydney used & on her ride on Cora’s ship. Unfortunately, we don’t have the distances she traveled or the exact time-frames Involved to calculate ho much time dilation occurred…But since I’m not a professional navigational mathemitician, I’m not complaining about the lack of specific data.
Why would there be time dilation due to FTL? Time dilation occurs in our universe as one approaches the speed of light, specifically because one is approaching the speed of light. Any FTL system completely bypasses that physics.
Two days, not two months. For her it was two days.
Pretty right if you are piloting a mech though. “Sydney, this is Core, target coming into visual.”
I take it Core likes German/Nordic Culture…
isn’t that a celtic knot pattern? also red hair? I would bet irish.
Nope i guess, sound effect he did was “geatish ninja chop”, so his ancestry is goth apparently.
I wonder if the Geatish Ninja Clan from Grrl Power has a rivalry with the New Jersey Ninja Clan from Empowered?
And don’t forget the Irish Ninja clan from Dr Mc Ninja!
Or the fishnets of Sidekickgirl.
Don’t forget the French ninjas from Freefall.
Well the Goths are one of the Celtic tribes of Europe. The Celts basically covered the northwestern part of Europe and what is now the British Isles, so whether Goth, Irish, Norman, Saxon, Scottish or Briton, he’s still a Celt!
The Goths, Normans, and Saxons were Germanic tribes, not Celts.
Nnnngh! I need to go full “Dark” now… between pain meds, no sleep, and a burgeoning migraine I misread “Celtic” as Celibate… “One of the Celibate tribes of Europe.” My thoughts were “How do they procreate then? Invite folks to rape pillage and burn and hope it takes?” And “Celibate? That’s the shortest tribe history ever recorded, no?”
You are thinking of the Gauls
Celts actually lived across large part of Europe back in the day, from Celtiberians (nowdays Spain) through Gauls (France), Noricum (nowdays Austria) and even expanded through the Balkans all the way southeast to nowdays Turkey (Galatians). However as others already pointed out, Goths, Normans and Saxons were all German tribes.
I do however wonder if @DaveB ever confirmed Core being Goth? I do recall the Geatish Ninja Chop, I just can’t remember if he ever commented on it? I must say I also got a distinctive Irish vibe from him at first glance as well.
When he did the chop, he said ‘Oy’ though. So… Aussie/British is a possibility too.
Originally red hair came from the vikings raped and pillaged Ireland.
The original Celts/Irish moved into Scotland and surrounding countries long long ago.
Some viking clans were very Irish until local intermarriage and bringing home conquest brides and concubines, slaves, thralls etc.
The Celts were all over Europe, not just Scotland.
Irish Ninja? I wonder if he’s from the McNinja clan?
I recognized Core immediately (although I didn’t know he had a name), mostly because I assumed he was Scottish and reminded me of this animated Scottish warrior.
Well he certainly has a disarming personality…..
Either Joel is a ventriloquist, or Core introduced himself in 4th person.
Yeah, that did come off a little strange.
Weirdly Arche.
Place your bet on him trying to be intimidating and failing or trying to subtly show that he works for someone her team could possibly be against… And also failing. My bet is on him getting she was taller and then forgetting his lines halfway through.
If it was him having a ‘Sydney’ moment… I am prepared to ship them.
Sydney moment – if you haven’t seen how she acts sometimes than I suggest you re-read the comic or at least how she acts around the reveal of another (insert amazing thing being revealed moment)
Sydney might only notice (TOO MANY NEW SHINY THINGS TO LOOK AT RIGHT NOW) when Olivia talks to her and eventually points out the butts of the new employees that are worth watching.
Sydney would then ask about Abs… and make an offhand comment about they’d be nicer covered in fur maybe…(image bubble of her thought and comparison to a certain space wulfie…) Then she’d mutter “They wouldn’t measure up in comparison.” And Blush hard when Olivia catches that. “I know you got home via aliens…so what exactly doesn’t measure up? SPILL IT!”
Halo has to drag her to where no one’s listening… of course it’s a vestibule that projects whispers very very very well.
And when she flies down notices everyone blushing and or looking down forlorn like.
Now they have to compete for Earth women w/aliens??
More sydney blushing / Each instance of her blushing can be rated in scoville units Not to be confused with actual heat index scoville units. which can be explained by Science Dabbler in under comic maybe?
Minor headcanon inducement unlocked.
I haven’t heard of “fourth person.” You must mean third.
I kinda like “fourth person”.
imagine if one could introduce oneself in the fifth person, twice removed!
1st person Introduction: “Sydney, my name is Core.”
3rd person Introduction: “Core is pleased to meet you.”
4th person Introduction (1st person speaking in 3rd person through/as a second 1st person): “Sydney, this is Core.”
4th (although I’m not sure this is a real thing…?) is basically what I imagined – Core imitating Joel’s voice as a way of saying “Hey maybe Joel should be introducing me right now since you’re standing right next to me, so I’ll pretend he’s doing that.”
The revised version showing Joel saying it does make more sense though.
I’m introducing myself to people like that from now on.
No matter how this turns out, At least Core doesn’t have to rely entirely on Sydney’s signature for authorizing his paycheck. There’s still, like, 5 other people who could have that authorization (Sydney, Joel, 3 other co-oweners & at least 1 Representative of Archon (likely Arianna)). So Core still has opportunity to recover from that introduction later without his paycheck being at risk.
Yeah, she may be a Super, but she’s a Super due to special items meaning physically Sydney is still a squishy Human. Taking that many D4, D6, D8, D10, D12 & D20 of damage would do a lot of damage…
she wouldn’t have to roll for the damage though to find out…
The autopsy doc would do that for her… “Holy crap that’s twelve natural ones on the D20’s embedded alone…and all the D4’s were 4 down…it wasn’t her day.”
Strangely enough, in this case the d4 do most of the damage.
Ironically D4’s they are ideal Caltrops………..seeing as they deal the same damage as the Caltrops. I am still debating which is more effective though, Lego or D4’s.
Definitely LEGO. I have two kids in engineering school, our carpeting was basically legos for 15 years.
How do parents never learn the LEGO shuffle! Or just watch where you place your feet. It’s not that hard, folks. Just… look where you’re walking, and don’t step on the pointy things!
Or learnt as kids
+1 ↑This!
Not mine. Which are the last two on the end.
https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/026/490/060/97786aefc80f16146ba52734f51ec1db_original.jpg?ixlib=rb-2.1.0&w=700&fit=max&v=1568606683&auto=format&gif-q=50&q=92&s=e7869bb57f96cfaae88ac65eb4db6c9c
D4’s have changed since last played AD&D (2ndEd) in the early 90’s…
Got more sides to them for a start
Unless you are either using a double-labeled D8, or were substituting two coins of different value, I don’t see how.
D12s numbered 1 through 4 three times.
Didn’t think they looked like traditional D4’s
My favorite D4’s ever were 12 sided. It was like a stretched out D6 with two pyramids one on each end so it couldn’t land on those sides.
I like the Purple with Gold. As purple is my favorite color.
…It’s a natural damage-multiplier due to impaling attacks…
d4’s do a d20’s worth of damage.
d20’s do a d4’s worth of damage.
Interesting way to introduce yourself to be sure. D’you think he’s gonna be a major player somehow going forward? /s
Of course he is. Why else would we be drawing attention to the fact we already saw him a while back, with a Taskmaster lookalike?
Odd career move for Core. From Mercenary for hire, to game store security. Arianna must have offered him a job package he couldn’t refuse.
Couldn’t tell from his last appearance if he is a Super or not.
Y’all think that Core is there to protect the store from robbers and out of control nerds. Actually he was hired to protect shoplifters from the wrath of Halo.
More likely Deus told him to get hired there as a mole or such.
I would like it if it Was a genuine career change. Like he needed a change of pace for a while and is a bit of a nerd in one way or another. So the twist is that HE is the one being watched, by Archon And possibly Deus crew, and he is just trying to have a chill year or three doing something easy while using his employees discount at the store XD
Could be a lot of things, at this point. Either Deus told him to go undercover, OR he’s just a mercenary and might be “laying low” from a pissed-off client (and the paycheck from Arianna will keep his financial needs satisfied), OR he really did want to get out of the mercenary gig, at least for a while.
IMO, mercenary work is probably a little like the contractor gig: When the money’s good, it’s really good. The rest of the time, you’re knocking on doors looking for new clients. If you’re picky about who you’ll work for (“The Arstotzkans are paying well, but they’re slave traders. I don’t want any part of that,”) then the work might be even harder to come by. So, he could just be doing this for a while because it’s a steady paycheck.
If he’s willing to work with SmugD, then he’s willing to work for anyone!
Not necessarily true at all.
Deus is smooth and deceptive.
One might work for him for a long time before seeing the poisonous spider beneath the disguise.
To add to what Just Sayin’ is saying:
In mercenary work, you never betray an employer. If you just quit in the middle of a mission, word will get out. You will permanently ruin your reputation, and only the most desperate will hire you. So it’s also possible that he took that job with Deus because of the money, and didn’t see what a snake in the grass he was until it was too late to quit without permanently damaging his reputation.
We’ll just have to wait and see what DaveB has planned for Core. Maybe he’s a mole for Deus; maybe he’s taking a vacation from mercenary work; or maybe Arianna is just paying him a ton of money. At this point, we’re all just speculating.
I don’t know. I feel like it’s less “a *venomous* spider” and more like some kind of insect that has created a mutualistic scenario where it exudes a psycho-active substance that compels you to protect them, but in return it also provides you will all the things you need (food, shelter, sex). The only consequence is low, but vanishingly-measurable probability of death if you stop getting the substance.
Deus has been definitely shown as a Villian, and we don’t really know his endgame, but he’s clearly out for his own gain. But he seems to be the type who chooses his trusted associates wisely, compartmentalizes knowledge of his plans and operations, and has MANY other ways to convince them to stay on his side, before shooting them.
He is probably a fairly good employer and compensates his employees, from entry-level to SVPs and Business or Personal, well; and commensurately with their skills as long as they’re in his employ – it’s just pragmatic to do so. His investment into Galytin shows that he’s not 100% *just* out for himself, and that Money isn’t necessarily his goal. He may not going out of his way to help out *everyone* in the country, but he has no problem with others getting rich off of him as long as he gets a good enough return (which doesn’t have to be in Monetary currency either).
You could argue that even for employees at Core’s level, ones with more critical knowledge of Deus’ activities, he can’t really afford to let them leave. So, regardless, they’re probably on a sort of permanent retainer.
That being said, Core leaving Deus’ employ carries little Risk to Deus. (assuming what we saw was all that he was party to; being witness to Deus’ arranging the murder of a despicable dictator.) Deus still has other, arguably more powerful assets, and probably still has a good enough relationship to hire Core again at another time should his skills be a good match. Even knowledge of what Deus has done, though it was of questionably legality it is not something Deus or Core will be likely to face any lingering consequences for becoming public and would be more likely to impact Core than Deus. I’d wager in that scenario, where consequences appear, Deus would make the investment to make sure that it doesn’t impact either of them, all the better to keep a good, but dormant, asset willing to work for you (and potentially feeling that they owe you).
The argument for an employee such as Vale, or potentially Harem, that have a much broader knowledge of what he’s up to, is probably stronger. But there also *must* be something other than money or power that’s keeping them working with Deus and that sort of unquestionable Loyalty can’t easily be bought.
Doesn’t mean he’s not still a mercenary. This could just pay well enough to keep him away from more troublesome jobs. Or he could be private security as a day job and moonlight as a more traditional mercenary.
He did an online job search and got a match on the database that was out of sync by one. He typed in ‘mercenary’ and the reply came back for ‘mercantile’.
It kind of makes me think that that there is a nerd holding an AK-47 in a jungle somewhere wondering how he got there.
Suddenly I’m picturing the nerd from “Robot Chicken.” “Oh my GOSH, this is so cool! Hey, how do I fire this thing anyway?” BAM BAM BAM! “Sorry! Sorry! My bad! I should be a little more careful about… what was it they said? Never put your finger on the trigger until…” BAM BAM BAM! “Sorry! My bad!”
I suspect that mercenaries don’t get steady pay. Once a job is done, it could be months before their next one. So they take whatever work they can get.
I’m going to weigh in that Core is a low level super. Maybe some strength and speed but not much else. That and some military training would make him a pretty good candidate for being a mercenary. The other supers in the call back had more elite level powers but even Deus needs to fill out the ranks sometimes. The argument for his being a plant is strengthened by the notion that even low level supers are in demand in the workforce. I don’t imagine that even a high end store pays the bouncer too much more than the clerks.
So Deus probably put him here for his nefarious plans?
Core was probably hired by Arianna- a light villain/merc super to act quickly to prevent hostage situation of halo’s friends and customers as well as move any fight outside away from public, delay until Arc Ready Team One/Two/Three can respond. As well as assess a potential enemy.
Anyone want to bet that Squirrel Girl shows up because her two normal comic shops got BOUGHT OUT and closed and now she has to go to the MEGA COMIC BOOK STORE instead?
Core pulls out a hand puppet of a Squirrel to get her to behave…
Remember how high supers can get paid. It is still most likely that he is there on Deus’ orders and that they don’t know about his background. He did get nervous when it seemed that sydney was suspicious of him
You’re not considering the PR value of the store.
It’d be totally worth it for Archon to hire him on the side to prevent issues in the future
Squirrel Girl’s shown up in this comic?
When?
During the big fight at the steakhouse there was a lightning user who has a rather visceral reaction to a squirrel landing on her. I think this is the “Squirrel Girl” being mentioned.
White skin-tight costume. Turns transparent when wet. Foolishly let loose with the lightning while standing in a puddle of water.
I meant to type “Squirreled Girl” but see my other post for reasons I’m missing simple things right now.
No, it was Hex ( budget Halo with glowy floating things) who was freaked out by the squirrel, not Glowbug (budget Jigawatt.)
It’s just as likely that he’s a mercenary with no allegiance and this is his current job as that he’s a plant.
Shouldn’t the gravestone say “She Dumbed” ie had a Hold my Beer! Moment…it’s more active and less accusatory…
“She dumbed?”
“Ayuppers. She dove into a pool of dice…including D4’s.”
“Ouch…but a normal dive should hurt not kill?”
“She flew up and yelled cowabunga! Then it was blood and dice everywhere…”
“Metal way to say it. Wait I should check and see if Blood and Dice is copyrighted…I need to do it first! I smell money to be made!”
Pretty sure it’s supposed to be short for “She is dumb” rather than “She did a dumb thing”
More like “She *was* dumb.”
She’s basically a comic based heroine. Death is only a minor inconvenience to main characters, lol.
A series I was reading recently made a perfect example. Kill a hero, and don’t find a body? They’re alive. If you DO find a body? Then the chances just rose to 50%.
Dummy Dies Diced Dice Diving?
Definitely demeaning death.
Dummy Dies Duck Diving Deep into D4 Depot. Details Deliniated Down below.
Either way, I think a gamer killed by diving into a pool of D4 would qualify for a Darwin Award.
Yyyup!
DaveB you could still do a tour of the Church/Comic Book Store…
Draw a giant dollhouse (the type with one side missing) and have halo zoom around and at each spot of interest have a small blurb or comment.
you then can hit a lot of spots of interest and show the place to the readers and have a reference for when you actually draw other scenes later.
Make for a somewhat easy Voting incentive and give background insight to new (and even older fans) readers.
Halo to Arianna “Come into my Lair…we…have to talk…”
“Which room is your lair? I don’t remember designating a room as your personal lair…”
Joel “I think it’s the room with the drain in the middle of the floor…”
“Isn’t that the Hentai Room? I still don’t know what the big deal is…”
“Have you watched any? Asked Dabbler?”
“Ask her…no… and I’ve been too busy. I brought the new merchandizing sampleeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssss”
Halo lifts her with tentaorb…
“I meant right now…” flys to the Hentai room (ie anime room w/soundproofing and because of Dabbler a drain in the middle of the floor.)
Bad Sydney! No bullying the muscular, 6’7″ and heavily tattooed security guard! That’s just mean.. (unless he is secretly a supervillain, of course.)
He is the ninja she should. Always. Expect.
How long before Halo tries to set up Core with the Navy Seal (Sean?) on the ARC response team?
She probably would ship that.
I find this comment for a verity of reasons, most of which are personal and/or spoilery.
It appears i lost a word. That word is amusing.
In multiple ways!
Did you maybe mean ‘variety’ instead of ‘verity’?
Yea verily, it doth appear so.
It’s understandable when making a post about subjects with such virility.
I would have been all on board with a tour. I still would be. In fact, I really want a tour of this new store.
We can get to see the store with a gradual reveal by having Sydney and her Arc Swat cohorts having signings and events that show the building naturally as they have activities in it.
I’d rather see games being played and back issues being searched for and snacks being eaten than a tour. I imagine Sydney doesn’t win games a whole lot if they aren’t something she has played continuously. Which means she will be phenomenally happy when she does win. Show that instead.
My guess for how well Sydney does at games is that she tends to be better than you expect as a beginner, never reaches the level of mastery a focused player does but has a habit of finding weird rules interactions that even they miss.
So she probably wins the “let’s try this new game” games and does OK but loses to tournament level players with known games. The exception being that she probably has one or two “pocket wins”¹ for a lot of games that will beat top rank players. Pulling out those pocket wins probably stalls the game as people pour over the rules going “can she actually do that?”
1: The ability to win once through some trick or bit of knowledge. For example I once won an ASL game because I knew about a barely there LOS on my copy of the maps, (on Monarch printed maps the hex grid varied slightly in exact alignment relative to the terrain).
Maybe the pause in Core’s speech was because he was surprised to see how short ‘The Mighty Halo’ actually is in the flesh? Because, due to her reputation, he was subconsciously expecting someone taller?
“aren’t you a little short for a superhero?”
That’s her charm!
And Superpower.
No one expects a buttkicking from her
(Lets see that trope inverted with an action-girl look-alike in accounting.)
No one Expects the Sydney Inquisition.
Unless you are a kangaroo :P
https://lifestyle.brando.com/prod_img/EESTRW003000_1_640.jpg
your reference
(grins)
: roll•eyes :
Disney’s Star Wars “canon” is… ^heresy^!
Darth-Mickey must die!
(ಥ﹏ಥ)
That, was my thought!
I now understand why some villains taunt others…. but I dislike spoilers.. so no spoilers for you.
Anyways, This is an odd comic for me, While I am bummed your original plan for this page hit a snag, but I do like the character interaction, and the fan teasing..
Knot pattern, red hair, goatee …
Would “Core” happen to have an Irish wolfhound and a Boston terrier?
I’m thinking he might have a car parked outside with a 2GP engine.
2 Goat Power.
Core’s tattoos are reminiscent of those of Vehemence… Just sayin’.
Only in the fact they both have tattoos
That, and they trace up the arms to the neck… Haven’t seen all of Core’s tatts, but we have had the pleasure of seeing ALL of V’s tatts, or, at least, Sydney and others have. Wonder if there was a glowing blue tatt on his member…?
Core’s tattoos are a kind of Celtic knot work / tribal style. Vehemence’s were more Magickal Tron / iMac style.
Honestly I don’t know if it would be funnier if Sydney was right or Sydney was just paranoid
Joel is delightfully unflappable.
He’s known Sydney for a number of years, ’nuff said :P
Being around Sydney for 8 hours a day for years would kind of desensitize you. I’m betting Joel would kind of shrug at just about anything that walked, flew, Phased, slithered or crawled through his door.
This girl accused her financial advisor and her therapist of being super powered and invented an elaborate sub plot for the twilight council. Also “always expect ninjas”. No way does she miss this guy.
The others not so much but that last one? Why do you think I’ve never been attacked by ninjas…because they know I expect them AND the Spanish inquisition. ALWAYS, what I never expect is the inevitable dime in my boot. (seriously at least once a week a dime ends up in one of my boots and the ninjas say they’ve nothing to do with it) I do not suspect the mice at all.
You should probably save them up. Eventually you can buy something.
Of course it’s not the mice. Dime in your boots? That’s the work of gnomes. It’s ALWAYS gnomes.
Reminds me of an old joke: You know why elephants wear red toenail polish? To hide in strawberry patches. You know how I know that? I’ve never seen an elephant hiding in a strawberry patch.
An older joke I saw in a student rag mag years ago went along the lines of……
Why do ducks have big feet?
To stamp out forest fires.
Why do elephants have big feet?
To stamp out flaming ducks.
There was another one about elephants, toenails & hiding in cherry tree’s but have forgotten the tenuous linking the two jokes.
101 Elephant Jokes has been out of print for many, many years. However:
Why do elephants paint their toenails red? To let them hide in cherry trees.
Why do elephants die their balls red? To let them hide in apple trees.
How did Tarzan die? Picking apples.
What’s the difference between an elephant and a grape? Grapes are purple.
How are elephants and grapes alike? They’re both purple, except for the elephants.
What did Tarzan say when he saw the elephants coming over a hill? “Here come elephants over the hill.”
What did Jane say when she saw the elephants coming over a hill? “Here come grapes over the hill.” (Jane was color blind, you see.)
What did Charles DeGaulle say when he saw the elephants coming over a hill? “Voila les elefants over ze hill.”
Also:
Why should you never walk in the orchard after 6pm? That’s when the elephants start jumping down from the cherry trees.
Why do alligators have such short legs? They walked through the cherry orchard after 6pm.
I had a joke I was going to mention about pachyderms, but I decided it didn’t matter.
It was irrelephant.
Really? No reaction from a joke that bad?
Hey, “always expect ninjas” was kinda on camera, wasn’t it? So in universe T shirts of it not totally impossible, right?
Be nice if Core is a member of Archon and which branch of the military should he served with???
Is that… Danny Bonaduce? o_O
Holy Partridge-Poop! IT IS!
Only if he grew a foot or so and got 30 to 35 years younger. Danny is 5′ 7″ and 60 years old. Plus the tats are wrong… On the other hand, I’ve never seen a picture of his son, Dante.
Was just meaning the facial-model, specially panel four
Since Event Horizon Comics is selling ARCHON merchandise, technically it is contracted to the U.S. Government. Therefore they cannot employ convicted felons. Given the sensitive nature of ARC-Swat’s operations, I’m sure Core is either squeaky clean or Deus has had him whitewashed, thoroughly.
He would have to have been caught, and convicted, first
No, just Identified.
Being granted a security clearance has never been a right, and Archon will require being granted a security clearance.
The operative word in there is convicted. Just because he’s worked for Deus in the past doesn’t mean he’s been convicted of anything, or even arrested.
He could also be an adventurer. Just because Deus strikes us as a Lex Luthor expy doesn’t mean he is seen as a villain in world. Maxima trusts him to a degree. His target was one who the world really was better off without. Core may have signed on just to do his good deed for the day.
In our world, if, oh, Elon Musk, to pick a current popular one, decided to invade North Korea, PULLED IT OFF, killing Kim Jong Un in the process, and promptly reshuffled everything so the populace had freedoms more familiar to us in the western world, after investing heavily in industries that would benefit from such a liberation, would we be labeling him as a villain for taking over a foreign country?
This. Totally this. In Marvel comics Magneto’s initial title for his group, “League of Evil Mutants,” was later stated to be a mocking commentary on anti-mutant attitudes; they then just started calling themselves “League of Mutants.” And in My Hero Academia the “League of Villains” are composed of people who embrace the role – because they see Hero society as being oppressive, discriminatory, and unjust. Not without reason, given that Hero Killer Stein was driven a fateful encounter with Endeavor, Japan’s #2 hero… who is also a wife-beating, child abusing POS, yet gets showered with wealth and acclaim.
There was a discussion with Deus in a previous comic, in the aftermath of the restaurant fight. He was trying to get Opal (the portal maker) and Vekter (the telekinetic) released, since they both work for him.
Opal was easy, since her only criminal history involved Vehemence’s aggro aura. Vekter, however, had a criminal record.
So, either Deus doesn’t scrub his employees’ records for them (likely that if he did, he’d charge them quite a bit in cash or favors for the service) or he didn’t know about the criminal record before he met with Maxima (I can’t see him being caught flat footed like that).
Don’t see how selling Archon merchandise means they are contracted to the US government. Archon probably sold/leased the rights to manufacture merchandise to an existing company. The store is a licensed distributor (possibly the only one) of that merchandise.
Since when does a retailer have to contract with an organization to sell that organization’s merchandise? I can think of plenty of stores that sell NFL merchandise without any contract with the NFL.
Wouldn’t it be licensed rather than contracted? Be a whole lot easier, cheaper and involve less security.
Isn’t that one of the mercs Machina had with him in Africa…?
Congratulations on apparently recognizing him without needing to click the “a callback” link in DaveB’s author comments. You are among the truest of fans.
Yeah, I thought so…familiar face is familiar.
I’m curious to find out if Joel is one of those newly successful people who immediately purchase a Lamborghini, or if he’s one of those who never totally believes his success is real and ends up still driving a used Yugo long after he makes his first billion.
Well, maybe not a Yugo. Those are hard to come by anymore except in Yugoslavia, and they’re just a copy of the Fiat 127 anyway. The ones made between 1988 and 1991 were the best. Then the civil war broke out and quality fell in the crapper because supply lines were cut and they had to build them with whatever parts were lying around.
(Their bad reputation is primarily because a lot of owners in the U.S. considered them “disposable” and didn’t even bother with basic maintenance. The low-compression engine required 89 octane fuel or higher, and the timing chain had to be replaced every 40,000 miles, but most people didn’t do that, and ended up blowing the engine. Like most other cars, if you did the maintenance you were supposed to do, they were actually reliable.)
Still, there’s plenty other cheap-as-chips, common-as-dirt car models around. Like the 2010 Ford Fusion, which runs right around $6,000. Or a Ford Taurus, as long as you avoid the 1998-2001 models (those were the ones that were notorious for transmission problems, sometimes before the warranty was even out.)
Having to ever replace a timing chain is a sign of poor quality. Those are intended to last more or less forever, because unlike a belt, if it fails under load it will fail catastrophically.
No.
Timing chains wear out. The joints wear and get loose, the links stretch.
(They have a chain tensioner fr a reason)
Sorry, jdreyfuss, but that’s just not true. Most modern cars use timing belts instead of timing chains, and those belts get brittle and start to crack, just like all rubber belts do. Even if your car uses a timing chain, as Anthony points out, the joints between the links will wear and get loose.
How often you should replace the timing chain (or timing belt) depends on the intended use. If you’re driving a performance car (e.g. a Corvette or Mustang), the manufacturer usually recommends replacing the belt every 30,000 to 50,000 miles or every 5 years, whichever is less. If you’re driving a typical family car, the recommendation is every 60,000 to 100,000 miles or every 10 years, whichever is less. Most commercial vehicles have to get their timing belt replaced every 6 months.
For example, a 2007 Saab 9-3 recommends that you replace the timing belt every 75,000 miles. As of 2018, Ford recommends that you replace the timing belt every 60,000 miles for all of its models.
P.S., what happens to your engine if the timing belt fails depends on whether or not it’s got an interference engine or a non-interference engine. (The difference is that in an interference engine, the valves and the pistons occupy the same space at different times. If the timing belt fails, the pistons are going to smash into the valves and wreck your engine.)
Oh, and a timing chain doesn’t always fail “catastrophically”. I had a Ford Contour that had a timing chain. It broke three teeth, but it didn’t fall apart and send bits of metal flying everywhere. Thankfully, the Contour had a non-interference engine.
I’d go so far as to say that a timing chain probably won’t fail catastrophically if you’re not pushing your engine like a maniac and you’re not going up a steep hill. The amount of load it’s under when it fails determines the amount of catastrophe when it fails.
Of course, there is the issue that the timing chain gives basically no notice and then it’s done, which is why those should really be changed on schedule even if you haven’t had any notice of issue. Timing belts at least give some notice if you’re not hard of hearing or deaf, and you’re paying attention.
He specified that Yugos use chains and that they have to be replaced every 40,000 miles. I know the difference between a chain and a belt, which is why I mentioned it in my original post. And you’re talking about a belt in a high performance car needing to be replaced at the same rate as the chain in a low cost daily driver. I’d say that’s definitely a sign of low quality, even if they’re not meant to last forever in general.
Personally think her grave should say “She died the way she like to play”.
Better not be short for “Hardcore”, or his last name gets to be “Porn”.
: snerk
DaveB, you need to upgrade Halo’s Power Rating. She is no longer a 6. Not after blasting giant alien planet wreckers.
Yeah, I kind of agree on this one… Although, because of the time dilation issue, maybe her stay blocks haven’t caught up yet?
“Weirdly arch greeting”?
What does Sydney mean by that? She often speaks entirely in cultural references, like Darmok. And, like Picard, the rest of us are totally lost.
I was confused as well. Internet to the rescue:
arch
adjective: arch; comparative adjective: archer; superlative adjective: archest
deliberately or affectedly playful and teasing.
“a somewhat arch tone of voice”
Was thinking more along the lines of ‘arch-enemy’ or ‘arch-villian’
Which would explain his sweat-drop
Arch enemy, it is common in comics when a villain meets a superhero for the first time to say something like that, “So you are the famous Batman,” “So this is the infamous Venom I’ve heard so much about,”, “You are the famous Spider-Man, I must say I expected someone taller”,
ect…
Ah, Sydney has Goblin Brain Syndrome.
Thus the drooling over dice. Shiny clicking number rocks make happy goblin.
Okay, I know I already criticized the store logo with the placement of the ampersand, but this keeps bugging me and I have to mention it. Obsessive Compulsive, y’know.
So, look, the “The Mighty Halo” part has that faux perspective thing going on, but it’s distracting how “The Mighty” is not in proportion to the “Halo.” “Mighty” gets too small at the end, it’s kind of pinched. It would read much better if it was scaled equally, and it would take up some of that empty space in the middle there.
Archon is also missing out on the opportunity to use the halo graphic in the name, like a certain brand of oranges. Though there may be some copyright issues with that theme. They might get away with it by using a set of seven colored balls in that position instead. My alternate image would be to use the signature multi-color trail that sweeps behind her when she flies, and locate it under the word HALO.
https://www.kroger.com/product/images/xlarge/front/0007224013386
It’s “the Mighty… Halo”, dude. Didn’t you read your own shirt?
Seems Deus wants to keep an eye on Sydney… I find it interesting that the two of them seem to have quite a bit in common; easily distracted, able to puzzle through complex situations effectively, highly intelligent, and egos the size of Neptune! (I would have said Jupiter, but Maxima has that one pretty much covered…)
I wouldn’t say Sydney has a huge ego. She’s more all over the map, concerned with herself, her friends, hobbies, squirrels, shiny objects, random thoughts, etc. Deus is convinced greed is the be-all, end-all of existence (and that his hair is fabulous).
Deus is megalomaniacal. Sydney’s more just regular maniacal. :-)
Dog gone it… You made me dig out my box o dice from my old D&D days…
Your D&D days… ended? So sad…
*puts hand on Coulterww’s shoulder* there, there, buddy, it’ll get better…
Role playing games advanced.
They got to the point where full fledged systems were developed that supported other genres than fantasy.
Once superhero role playing games were there, well…
…Bye, fantasy.
Oh no, he is hot! D:
aaaaaaaaaaan he’s a bad guy. F*ck
To paraphrase Wreck-it-Ralph: He may be a ‘bad-guy’, but he may not be a bad GUY.
You saying Core is a girl? o_O
Wasn’t the emphasis on ‘BAD’? O_o
No, the emphasis was on guy in the movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4yOcQRBTvo
That… makes it sounds like Zangief is actually a girl, or wants to be one
He just realizes the need for someone to be able to crush men skulls like sparrow egg between thighs.
So depending on what kinks you’re into…. that’s not necessarily an absurd inference.
The only other SF character with notable thighs, is… Chun “Thunder Thighs” Li
Maybe they are the same person? Question is: who was the starting point? Zan or Chun? (MtF or FtM)
Ralph didn’t like being the bad-guy all the time, so the emphasis should have been on the ‘bad’
guys actually, technically, pertains to both genders equally
[plural] American English :spoken: used when talking to or about a group of people, male or female, however, in the case of the movie, guy is emphasized because Zangief is saying he’s not a bad person, even though he’s a ‘bad guy’.
The emphasis is still on the wrong word, and thought that when the movie first came out
Thinking about it, I am surprised they don’t have Sydney in body armor (with an excuse that it is building her stamina). At this point I don’t recall a single defense HALO has versus a sniper round. or a ninja within arm’s reach.
/been reading for years and as a casual I find this disturbing for the heroine.
in fairness, Body Armor does jack shit again Sniper rounds too. Having a Counter-Sniper on your team however does (Peggy).
As for a Ninja inside arms reach… do you recall what happened to the LAST Ninja type to try that? Sydney had to be told to stop beating the hell out of him.
So many dices! amazing! and oh my, Core is suddenly on my radar now