Grrl Power #805 – Catapult
This is a weird page, because it’s mostly just showing Pixel and Specs bridging an alley. I thought it would be kind of neat to show that Arc-LIGHT has some field chops. It’s not really much of surprise though, considering many of their field agents could rotate out with Arc-SWAT.
Also, I like how Pixel is developing into someone who is aggravated with Sydney’s aloofness. Really she’s more annoyed with Maxima’s indulgence of Sydney’s quirks. Pixel doesn’t dislike Sydney, and she knows that Sydney’s only had like… oh, geeze, two weeks of training? One week? I’ve honestly lost track. It’s possible the next day we see in the comic will start with “several days later…”
Anyway, Pixel knows Sydney isn’t exactly an elite special forces op, and they weren’t even geared up for action tonight, but still, keeping your coms open shouldn’t be too hard to manage. Sydney’s coms are open, she’s just too busy drooling so she can’t reply. Hence the neon skywriting.
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So… if they ever manage to find Sydney and determine she’s been physically incapacitated, they could tape the light hook to one hand, the shield to the other, and then carry her and hold her head up. I’m certain that if Syd could actually see Aranea, she’d have her wrapped up in tentacles in 0.3 jiffies.
Again, try lassoing a flea with a length of string
And… they just found Sydney, in a pool of drool
It’s a lasso you can control all the movements of, also it would probably enough to swat that fly into the next wall and hold it there.
Yeah, and when was the last time you tried to swat a fly (or a mosquito), with your hand
The reason most fly-swat’s are large and with holes is because the holes reduce the air-friction and the large area allows you better odds of hitting the damn thing
Just because you can control the movements of the swatter, doesn’t mean you can control the erratic movements of the attempted swattee
Plus, Sydney still needs to be able to see what she is swatting at
The reason you can’t swat a fly with your hand is that the air your hand displaces pushes the fly aside. The light hook isn’t going to do that.
Sydney had problems swatting Aranea because she’s looking at things out of the corner of one eye without being able to move her head. Limited range of view and no depth perception.
And Aranea probably has better reflexes.
Still, if she was sober enough to just form her light hook into a fly swatter with small holes, she could totally swat that spider. And THAT is the real issue here: She isn’t sober.
She’s buzzed (tipsy at best), not so drunk she can’t even walk
The real issue, is Sydney hasn’t learnt to make it anything other than a long line (and yes, her two messages can still be classified as a ‘long line’)
She can’t even make the line thicker or thinner
Well, we don’t know how the paralysis drug is affecting her thinking.
That turns out not to be the case.
Emergency Superheroine Conference
Fine Control Exhibition
Tripsy
Whiplash
blindfold
Mouth feel this
sufficient control
I gave up looking for the one where she made a grid (net) to protect someone.
She has more than sufficient control to make a cage or net or whatever she needs, if she can see what she is doing. That’s why I said “carry her and hold her head up.”
Not to mention the few times she’s reproduced her hand gestures with it, like when she mentioned hentai to Ariana, or did the selfie in the comic book store. Let’s not forget the serendipitous tumbleweed, either, or her attempts to motorboat in the pool. She also restrained Jabberwocky with it once, and used it to lift Vehemence into a van. Also the sign for her store at the press conference.
She is trying to hit a fast moving, agile, target with her vision limited to one direction.
This is not comparable to scrunching up the line into shapes. You are comparing related but distinct skill sets. A man who can do sword tricks may not be a great fencer anymore than a man who does dance moves is going to be a great kick boxing champion. They can; but they are distinctly separate tasks.
I don’t even understand why you are all confused by this, its like saying that baton spinner should be able to hit a bird out of the air with her baton because she can do all these fancy baton tricks.
Yes she has enough control to make letters, chances are she practiced that when alone and got good at it. She can lift a non-moving object, yes its strong. However she is currently trying to strike and entangle a moving target who is clearly trained at avoiding enemy strikes. This is not something Sydney has practice with, let alone with the impairment of not being able to move her head to target properly.
Thank you
And try to do so with a tool that can put out 16 tons of force, and she doesn’t want to squish the spider lady either.
Yeah, she want’s to catch, not splat, a ‘suspected’ villain
Sydney still doesn’t know if Aranea has anything to do with Tammy’s disappearance, or simply having a bad day (or a typical Tuesday, for some people)
She can use the CommBall for a second angle…
None of those links contradict what you think they contradict
The first link: all three caught were stationary and weren’t trying to evade capture
Second: hitting someone who wasn’t even paying to her
Sixth
Senselink: that ‘fist’ is still just a long line rolled up into a ballIn fact, none of those links were against someone actively attempting to evade capture
And the reason you couldn’t find a page of her making a net for someone, is because it didn’t happen
Let’s look at her blood/alcohol this way: Here in Oz, 0.08% behind the wheel will get you a day in court and automatic loss of licence plus very very stiff fine and costs. This b/a is for most people “buzzed”. 0.05% also gets you a day in court, but mostly a very stiff deterrent fine and costs.
Note carefully that neither case can possibly be considered “legless”.
Syd should never have been allowed up here alone. And possibly did the right thing by asking Corporal Pixel to fly her up.
No, Sydney was lazy and didn’t want to pull her balls out of her bag
>She’s buzzed (tipsy at best), not so drunk she can’t even walk… was lazy and didn’t want to …< ? Or was that the alcohol speaking?
One of Syd's better endearing attitudes is willingness. Thoughtless, yes, and in need of a supervisory handbrake for sure, but definitely "give it a burl". Maybe, in vino veritas, Syd was exhibiting a desire to lie down and kip, but got dragged along anyway.
^*$(*&) markup :@
“She’s buzzed (tipsy at best), not so drunk she can’t even walk”
…
“… was lazy and didn’t want to …” ?
…
One of…
Yep. That’s why I use the tennis racket/bug zapper style swatters. The fly doesn’t get displaced it just sparks a little.
Yes, butt Sydney hasn’t shown that she can do that yet, she can’t reduce the thickness of the tentacle… which, was the whole point of this
Actually if you are patient you can swat a fly with your hand. Easiest way is to hold both hands still just above it and suddenly clap them together. 75-80% of the time they will fly straight up into your clapping hands. It take patience to get your hands slowly into position. Harder still is getting your hand just above it and suddenly striking down. But again mostly patience.
Yeah, it’s possible to do it with both hands, butt can you do it with just one hand? And without being able to curl your hand into a fist to catch the fly?
It is possible, I’ve done it multiple times. It’s not very effective though, flies usually don’t die from being hit by a hand without being squished into something else.
Yep. This is just as ridiculous as seeing Cyclops or General Zod miss with their eye beams. I don’t care how fast you are*, you can’t dodge someone’s line of sight unless you actually get out of their line of sight…
.
.
.
* And in general Zod’s case, ‘fast’ is a family of normal humans cowering in terror and not dodging at all.
No tape needed, since as has been detailed by a paralyzed Sydney in the prior comic, she doesn’t need to move to kick ass.
No, butt she still needs to see to hit that ass
Next page, just as Aranea is about to get the drop on Specs and Pixelicious, a lavender safe drops on her head, followed by “Did you forget about me?”
I want this to happen.
Either that or the same person alter a couple local laws so they can do this, but it somehow works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mhbxlz_wrI
You are evil. I almost spit out my Rioja when she slapped the monkey.
Awwww! Thank you! (heart emoticon)
Don’t you want to see Krona use a gopher moat EFFECTIVELY?
Pixel is an idiot
Wouldn’t go quite that far…
I would, between not realizing that crashing sounds plus big sign of “Bad Guy” equate a battle is underway and something is wrong; and her earlier failure at finding and reporting Sciona’s presence. She didn’t radio in, she got discovered, and given the mark Sciona got Pixel fought Sciona without attempting to call in a target sighted; and then got strung up.
Add the then, “we have to report in order”, which the comment section at the time jumped on as they had priority intel yet Pixel chose to let time pass; which clearly gave Sciona time to retreat and send a diversion.
Pixel has shown so far a lack of leadership and situational awareness.
When you put it like that…
Based on the sounds and the sign she DOES realize there’s a problem, but to jump from that to ‘she’s paralyzed and can’t talk’ is unlikely. When she didn’t report Sciona she was operating under ‘radio silence’ and got blind sided then was incapable of calling in. When she ‘had to report in order’ she had priority info, but due to the time loop thought wasn’t time sensitive (she said as much at the time).
So far her ‘idiocy’ has been responding to situations in a manner that based on what SHE knew at the time, and proper procedure were correct. With YOUR knowledge of what else is going on, you know it’s wrong, but hindsight is 20/20.
Pixel thought there was a problem…she just thought the problem was Halo being an undisciplined fool, instead of even remotely considering that Halo was in trouble. Which is a different but related leadership failure, in that she is grossly misjudging Halo. Halo can be a handful especially when something loud and embarrassing is going on… Halo OVER-communicates, if anything! Pixel just hasn’t gotten it through her head — on the SECOND go-round — that *anytime* Halo goes silent, it means the wheels have come off, somehow.
To give our opponent her due, however, she is a stealth ambusher; causing and/or taking advantage of these sort of misunderstandings (“the fog of war”) is her stock in trade!
Eh, she’s more “Annoyed Higher Up.” Sydney and her’ve had a bit of a rivalry due to their heights, for one.
She’ll probably apologize inwardly when she realizes the sitch Sydney is in.
Which is why suggested on the first page that she would publically apologise to both Sydney and Maxi, because Pixlicious isn’t a bad person, just having a bad day
I dont see why she can’t manipulate the shape of the light hook if she can controld its length, speed and direction. . Length is an aspect of shape. Just flatten out the end and instant fly swatter
Because that’s not how it works? There’s even tech in real life you can only manipulate the length of.
That doesn’t prevent you from putting a pattern together to make a net…
Weave a net? Sure. Now how much time, creativity and practice will that take eh?
Draw a sphere. Now draw lines up and down to close it. Job finished. It doesn’t need to be pretty to work.
And, just how does one do that in a 3-d environment, while under attack, and paralyzed, using a single length of rope?
Again, it comes down to time and practice, both of which Sydney is sorely lacking right now
That could be an option later. Like a skill point.
Skill points can do all kinds of things for Sydney.
The orb with the light bee and the hologram turned out to have teleportation.
If as surmised the air orb is for life support, it could also have nodes that provide water and food…and the much desired sickbay. The Lighthook could have nodes to make it sticky or branch into a cluster of tendrils or nodes to level up the strength.
What if the force field has a node to activate a reflective mode?
Really, we have so many readers wanting her to buy inner nodes looking for ease of use or multi orb upgrades…but I’d rather see her get new powers and those seem to be the outer nodes.
Oh look, TwoKinds has gone from 5th place to 1st place since last Thursday, with twice the votes of GrrlPower (2nd place)
I guess they got their bots working again…
Surprised it took them this long…
Not sure how to read kitty expressions, but Pixel and Specs both look less shocked and concerned in the last panel than one might expect. I’m imagining Halo in an awkward-shenanigans pose on the next page, possibly hovering rather than prone.
That’s a point. Imagine a paralyzed Sydney wrapped up like a mummy in light hook power armor, or lolling around in a recliner composed of light hook.
Again, we know that Halo, being drugged, isn’t firing on all cylinders brainpower wise, I still applaud her ingenuity. I just wish she’d spelled out “MAYDAY”, that would have not left room for Pixel to even speculate that Halo was slacking. And the fact that that’s where Pixel’s *first* thought went after Halo goes from fully communicative to silent while a bad guy is loose and NOT “Halo could be in trouble”, tells me that, subconsciously at least, Pixel has a pretty dim opinion of Halo. And that Pixel’s professionalism isn’t what it should be, despite completing training as Halo has not. Also, down the line, the romantic triad is in SERIOUS trouble if they can’t iron this out.
I wonder if Pixel is packing a bit of a grudge for ending up with a torso full of metal spikes after a Sydney meltdown brought that megahusk down on them at the factory.
And Pixel isn’t part of the triad. That’s Sydney, Leon and Krona.
considering Pixel’s failure to call in an eyes on target before engaging Sciona resulting in her own defeat and blood drainage, I am getting the impression Pixel has some issues with situational awareness; heck right here she can’t even equate a sudden lack of communication and crashing sounds and a big fricken sign as indicators that a struggle is occurring.
↑this!↑
You’re right; I associated “Pixel” with “computer”. Time-dialated story lines are hard to track sometimes…
Oh for crying out loud, can someone tell me that this spinneret demon slayer overzealous idiot gets smashed into paste by an angry Maxima that had followed them? Asking cause I’d rather not have a long drawn out battle here.
There are too many people there for Aranea to keep lucking out, so while she might knock a few more out she isn’t going to avoid Broette by dodging nor Krona. Scarlett’s hypnosis would pose a problem, she couldn’t move fast enough to escape Harem, and if Tamatha’s pissed off mentor catches up she’ll be busy trying to convince herself that she’s not a lesbian.
*nods*
The more important issue here is not the fight, rather it is that their ‘foe’ is a demon hunter. A traditionally virtuous aspiration. And not one prohibited by Archon taking a zero tolerance policy towards vigilantes. Given that the official line has not acknowledged demons existence, hunting them is socially considered either delusional or praiseworthy.
So provided that the team are willing to overlook “assaulting a police officer” there should be no fight. It is not unreasonable given that most of the public consider demons (if they exist) to be evil. With the logical conclusion that any police officer in league with them must also be evil and corrupt.
This would open a fair claim to self defence if anticipating imminent attack or false arrest/ imprisonment.
Psst – using UK term for assault, as the US version still sounds weird to me.
If we now officially have demon hunters as an occupation, will Sam and Dean Winchester show up next?
Is that you Kore the Dwarven Paladin?
Thought it was him in “YAFGC”, butt the dorf has a different shield
Kore was a complete psychotic fuck-juggler: he straight up slaughtered children because they were orc (or goblin), rather than teach them how to exist with other creatures
Depending on the world the author has conceived, that may have been as possible as making carnivorous wasps and spiders coexist.
In the world of “Goblins”, Kore is viewed as a psychotic fuck-juggler because he will kill innocent children in the name of his ‘god’
Oh yes, Kore is the sort of “paladin” who would absolutely commit — or attempt to commit — genocide (of a supposed “evil” species) in the name of “good”. Because that is the Law of his order. This could lead to a lengthy rant about how “law” and “chaos” are horribly misinterpreted in D&D, but this isn’t the place for that…
There is a difference between US and UK “assault”? Or we USians use a different term? I certainly understood your meaning just fine and can’t think of a different way I would have worded it.
According to our Friendly Neighbourhood Lawyer (Pander), US law separates Assault – the threat of force – from Battery – carrying out that threat. The UK version uses Assault for the act of attempting violence, and doesn’t (as far as I know) have a separate term for just the threat itself.
Why not? A lot of people have been bitching and near-demanding another long fight
Remember how short the Fel-fight was? Over in three pages (or was it only two?)
Pixel needs to talk to Dabbler about unit discipline.
After all she does like being spanked!
That’s bad.
So…vote incentive?
What romantic triad is Pixel part of?
She’s not, unless it’s with a different group, they got her confuzzled with Kronachrome
I misremembered. Sorry.
Just thinking here:
Why does she not use the lighthook to move herself around? Then she can see all she needs to see.
Umm, because she 1) hasn’t thought of it (probably would be easier to use the Flight, with it’s annoying way of flying) or B) hasn’t practiced using it like that (also might be difficult to pick her self up, if she is also the anchor point: try it, you may be able to lift yourself off the ground by holding on to something, butt try lifting yourself off the ground without holding on to anything. in most cases, that would be considered ‘unassisted flying’)
Because any movement might mean she loses contact with the orb? She’s basically paralyzed. She can’t hold the orbs.
First time commenter. I tend to be an internal-laugher, like that guy who tried to get Mr. Kotter into Stand-up Comedy. I discovered this comic in the last few weeks and have been (correct use of) literally laughing out loud as I’ve read through the archive. After three passes (once reading normally, again when I discovered the bottom-frame comments, and then again to read the creator’s notes on each page), I’m still giggilng at a few of the gags. (Don’t ask me which ones. I’d have to re-read the archive AGAIN. No, seriously, don’t make… Stop twisting my… DAMN YOU! Ok, reading again.) Brilliantly written stuff. I am in awe of the creative mind behind this comic.
Please make books. I want to own physical copies. (Yes, I’m old.)
Welcome aboard :D
Nothing wrong with taken an Archive Swim, have personally lost track of how many times have gone back to check a page and started re-reading again (usually when it’s time to shut down :P )
And yes, many many of us have been wanting to get physical copies, butt… DaveB is too busy just putting out two pages a week, he simply doesn’t have the time to go through and make needed changes (Maxi’s rank in the first couple hundred pages, before DaveB learnt about the different military ranks, is just one) before he can even consider putting it into a book (or several by now)
Apart from when Sydney first arrived at ARCHON-HQ (with the huge splashpage and focus on her butt), don’t believe he has even been considering ‘breaking it down’ into chapters, let alone books. Am sure people could help him decide on where a chapter might start and end (most readers are smart like that), so it’s not impossible, just… unlikely to happen this decade
Absolutely understand the lack-of-time problem. But the funny bone wants what it wants.
To those complaining about Pixel’s attitude – remember, her first interaction with Sydney tonight was “I forgot about all the stuff you’re not supposed to know about!” when bringing along Olivia. Also – Sydney’s not the only one buzzed. No idea how much it would take Pixel to get buzzed, and whether the buzz was affected when she changed sizes.
I do agree with her, though, that Sydney needs more training. As someone above pointed out, “Mayday” or “SOS” would have been a nice end to that line.
As for what Sydney is doing – I can see her having wrapped herself up, mummy-like with the Lighthook to be able to see try to catch Aranea. She could have used the Lighthook to wrap her hand closed around the orb. She won’t have the shield up, unfortunately, as she can’t use the Lighthook inside the shield, meaning she’d be on the ground again.
I am surprised Pixel didn’t turn around as soon as Aranea landed behind them.
Generally people who are in their second or third week of basic training need more training.
So its kind of like complaining that a whole Turkey is undercooked just five minutes after somebody put it in the oven.
Sydney has a lot of potential and a good heart but she is still just a recruit in what would translate as the first phase of basic training.
Phenomenally powerful does not translate into trained.
Looks like Aranea’s arms have gone from the back to front array (seen here: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-804-the-hero-we-read/ ) which is anatomically implausible, to a lengthwise array, which at least permits a reasonable joint design and range of motion.
its also anatomically impossible to fly without wings or thrust, produce fire around your body, increase your mass several times over in a span of seconds, ect… We have to give certain liberties for this genre, after all if Angel from the X-men was to have actual flight muscles he wouldn’t look very human, first his wings would have to be nearly double his usual wingspan due to mass, and his chest and back…also total overhaul of the skeleton to have wings where shoulder blades should be.
In fact back wings are so often overlooked, but are a much bigger anatomical shift than having extra arms under your arms, at least armpit arms have the additional balljoints, elongated torso, excuses, but wings *which are limbs* coming out of the upper back defies the entire torso’s skeletal structure.
So Angel would end up looking like a bird with little human arms tucked under the wings, looking really deformed…like an actual angel a little LoL.
I took anatomy in college, and am a mechanical engineer. I’m literally incapable of not trying to work out a plausible skeletal structure for a six armed person.
For vertically arrayed it’s easy, for front to back? Doesn’t really work, if the structure is going to be in any way similar to human.
But, really, just noting that how Aranea’s limbs are arrayed seems to have changed between some of the panels, it’s not very consistent. Maybe Dave needs to get one of those posing dolls they sell artists, only one with six arms, if Aranea is going to be around much.
Doesn’t help that people haven’t figured out yet that Sydney actually knows how to use her powers in a pinch, being drugged would be in a pinch. She is using her power to get some information but that all the important information out. If this was Max I suspect she would go in loaded for bear, first Sydney isn’t communicating which means she either can’t or something happened to her coms either way a bad sign.
I’m surprised Sydney hasn’t made a chair out of the light hook and gone all mobile battlesuit yet.
Yes, the light hook seems to substantially extend the capacity of her motor cortex; While a person can write cursive sequentially, consider how involved it would be to write it *simultaneously*, which is what Sydney is doing with the light hook. I think she just imagines what she wants it to do, and it fills in the blanks for her. Rather like the force field handles the little details like making sure she doesn’t unintentionally fly off with a hemisphere of dirt hanging under her, or inadvertently slice people up by erecting the force field halfway through somebody nearby.
I realize that Sydney has a reputation, but given that she switched rather quickly from audio to visual communication, Pixel really should have realized there was a reason, instead of assuming she was horsing around.
This is why you need cursive, kids.