Grrl Power #887 – Intel pass along
I went back and forth on whether Max should have said “Get your face out of my chest.” or “off my chest.” They both work technically, but I figure past a certain cup size, “out” becomes an option, one might subconsciously favor one over the other, whether or not they tend to draw attention to that fact under normal circumstances.
Ray just can’t turn it off. I suppose once you have some success with a certain tactic, you roll with what you know. Of course, any given approach will have some success rate, up to and probably including introducing yourself as a serial killer who “wants to wear you.” Given that, I don’t know why you’d go with “relentless lothario,” over other more laudable strategies. It’s just how he is.
I gave the Valve Index another shot (I said Vive last time which was the first gen VR gear from Valve, which was wrong) and twiddled the dials on the eye-lens separation thing and I got away without the same eye strain. I also only played for an hour instead of closer to three the first time, so maybe that’s the trick. It’s probably a combination of things. I still can’t get it perfectly focused but I might need prescription lenses for that. Maybe when the next must-play VR game comes out I’ll consider some accessories. That or the next Elder Scrolls game. That would probably be pretty cool to play in VR if they put the slightest effort into supporting it. You guys might have to put up with two weeks of stick figure comics if that happens though.
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He’s funny!
But what’s about to happen will be NOT funny.
I disagree. It will be hilarious…to watch…from several blocks away.
You think those puny houses will protect you mortal muhahaha…
I would rather watch on some livestream…… Several thousand miles away.
Video quality is good enough these days that it is almost like being there.
Naa, Max won’t lay a finger on him. She is a professional police officer. Attacking someone just for being crude is illegal. Had he thrown himself onto her and groped her on purpose, then that would be another matter. However even if she had that impression, he has voluntarily extricated himself now. As such she would not be acting in self-defence, so again attacking him would be illegal.
Not if he just as all other aliens doesn’t qualify as a person, but yeah her restraint would keep her from seriously damaging him.
enough with that nonsense it was all over the last set of pages’ comments
It would take a whole half second of debate to re-write the wording of the law to incorporate all sapient life forms as persons with this new precedent being set. In the real world this is a non-issue as there is no reason to change it at present. In this setting it would be high up on the list of things to change ASAP. And any lawyer trying to argue the clearly sapient alien doesn’t qualify as a person in a court of law because of the wording of the law would be laughed at and declared a bigot.
Current American politics suggests that being declared a bigot isn’t much of an obstacle.
Is it wrong to say I actually kind of like the sleaze ball?
He’s so OPEN about it that it’s weirdly charming.
…And yet whenever I try it, I get slapped, punched, drinks poured over me and damaged in various ways…
That’s because he’s only charming to a bystander. Actually being his target would be cringetastic and disgusting.
Honestly, he reminds me of Johnny Bravo. Always flirting in a ridiculous fashion, but if you even think about forcing yourself on a lady he’ll kick your ass. There was an episode devoted to Johnny learning from a pickup artist who specialized in “pretending to be a nice guy,” where the twerp was actually a total sleazeball who just wanted to get into their panties. When he was ultimately revealed as the manipulative little sneak he really was, Johnny commented, “…What a jerk.”
Two words: Jack Nicholson. He does a level of sleazy hotness that works for many women.
In California in the 1980s, I knew a French guy named Andre Rouviere. He was craggy with amazingly clear ice-blue eyes, and he didn’t have the Nicholson “sleaze” feel but he completely flouted any social conventions about how to approach women. He would tell an attractive stranger exactly what he wanted to do to her. She would usually slap his face. Then AFTER THAT, some of them would agree to the date. He made a bet with my dad that he could sleep with a different woman every day for a year. My dad conceded the bet after about eight months and almost three hundred women.
The key is (apparently) to be extremely male, and really not give a sh-t how the women react. Also, to only go after the most attractive woman in the room, because guys are often intimidated by them and therefor such women are usually less often approached.
No, the trick seems to be: respect what they say and not push things
Raymos almost went too far when he tried to un-zip Maxi’s jacket, personally feel that that would have been as far as he went though: he wanted to look, but not touch (after putting them on display at least)
I’m pretty sure the trick (at least usually) is quantity, not being choosy and not being bothered by failures. An approach that works 1% of the time but lets him approach over a hundred women in one night (because those who refuse do so very quickly) will have a greater “success rate” than someone who approaches one or two woman a night with a 50-50 chance.
Of course, this doesn’t work so well if you’re in love with a specific person rather than merely after a quick fling and don’t care too much for the specifics.
@Guesticus – Raymos didn’t try to unzip maxima’s jacket – it was already unzipped when he landed, and she zipped it up after
Not right here, when they first met; he walked up to her and grabbed at her zipper commenting he’d like to see more of her. That was why Maxima twisted his arm; this was right before she got hit in the back with the stasis gun.
PS: as far as I am concerned that alone was going too far and he is dead lucky Maxima is a restrained law enforcement member. Imagine going up to someone you know has god like power and doing something THAT stupid, its bad enough doing it too anyone but that’s like a mouse trying to sexually assault a tiger…only even worse. Heck I could name off five characters of my own that in the same scenario would have killed him on the spot (granted they aren’t law enforcement, and one of those might kill him, revive him, kill him again, revive him again; and because it was his first offense *and others nearby try to vouch for him; send him off with a warning after that).
-also yes that is extreme, most people though would be excused for kicking him in the nuts at least or a slap across the face for being a creep.
Two more words: Dark Schneider. From the manga/anime “Bastard!!” Neither of the exclamation points are optional.
You can get away with being a sleazy dick as long as you understand the difference between pride and arrogance; pride is awareness you have great ability, arrogance is over-estimating that ability.
And of course you have to actually *be* a filthy rich god of war who can make women emit ultrasonic shrieks in bed. That part trips up lots of sleazeballs.
older than that try 80s sitcom Night Court … Dan Fielding and there you have it all in one ….
I think it’s because Ray is honest about being a sleaze, while nonetheless good at letting know where his boundaries lie. He comes across as someone who will ogle and wax poetic about the beauty of female form in a sometimes annoying, yet weirdly engratiating and complimentary fashion, pounce on every double entendre, but not move further unless invited to do so. I kinda read him as enjoying the process of flirting (if you can call it that) at least as much as the result.
That, and he gives as good as he gets, and doesn’t mind being ogled himself.
The “Gives as good as he gets” bit is where I think a lot of the dissonance comes from, and where much of the argument occurs.
I remember reading a blog post or something about how Women are _constantly_ bombarded with references to their sexuality. They’re the ones that are constantly approached, ogled, talked to, and sold on their physical appearance and sexual willingness.
Men, on the other hand, are the ones who are expected (societaly) to be the pursuers, the ones in control. Media about men is always about how confident they are, how much money they make, how strong or endurant they are.
And so there’s a critical breakdown of the “Golden Rule”, in that, for a modern man, being complimented on his physical attributes is a rare and precious thing, cherished and appreciated. Having someone ‘come on’ to them is a goal and a success. And so to them, complimenting someone on their physical appearance and offering sex is a “Good Thing”. It’s something they want, and so by the Golden Rule, it’s something they should do to others, right?
But to the modern woman, all those things are so phenomenally common that they’re practically being buried in the stuff, and so it becomes something to avoid, and fear, and loathe.
Just think about the reactions given to a common Wolf Whistle- the Construction Worker stereotype that was shown earlier in this very comic strip. A bunch of male construction workers, some older, some younger, some with guts and beards and stuff, but all physically active and fit (even if not quite ‘in shape’) and with steady jobs. The reaction of the women is “Don’t do that. It’s crude and disgusting and we don’t want it.”
But I almost _guarantee_ that if you had a crew of woman construction workers, some older, some younger, some on the heavier side or the slimmer side, but all physically active and fit, with steady jobs and income, and you have that crew wolf-whistling at random passing dudes? The dudes would probably start flexing and laughing and posing and playing along with it, and a bunch of them would probably approach to continue flirting. And just about ALL of them would leave there with a pleasant memory that they’d think back on and remember for a while.
This is all fairly paraphrased, but the gist is there.
So unfortunately, “Gives as good as he gets” doesn’t help much.
As I have already mentioned, it give me a ‘Sam Starfall’ vibe. He is a rogue and a cad, but a self admitted one and wear it with pride. Actually it is like Sam would be if he had a interest in ‘romance’
Hey, you don’t know if Sam’s uninterested in romance. We’ve never seen him at aquariums or sushi bars, after all.
I think his species dies when they mate – it was mentioned at SOME point in that comic’s HUGE archive – but I think the children eat the parents? That’s why Sqid always adopt their children (much like choosing a puppy at the pound). So, no, Sam has shown NO interest in reproduction, at least. Romance? Not even sure what a Sqid would consider romantic…
Romance is when she throws up just for you, but lets you think you’re stealing it.
here and following
http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01003.htm
(huge archive, but very good search engine)
Thanks!
Like I said when he was first introduced, I like this character :).
“His Lust is so sincere” as someone once said in a classic movie.
I think there’s a huge difference between being randy (yes, I like that word for it) and being sleazy. Randy is interested and open about it. But does not imply a lack of respect or a will to hurt someone. There are a lot of randy people who will accept ‘no’ and move on – disappointed, perhaps, but not planning revenge or continuing to pester someone.
Sleazy on the other hand treats sexual interest as being more important than anything else about a person. Sleazy is ready to engage in deception, harassment, or other acts of coercion to engage that desire, or ready to use sexual history or interest as a weapon against someone. Sleazy, in other words, is being a jerk about it.
I don’t have a problem with people being randy. Randy doesn’t hurt anybody, at least if people are grownups about it and respectful to each other But sleazy is *defined* in terms of being ready to hurt somebody, or in terms of not being a grownup and respectful about it.
Some folks like sex more than they like the people they’re having it with. And although that’s a problem if it isn’t clear from the outset or if their partners aren’t getting involved on more-or-less the same principle, even that doesn’t wind up being sleazy if the people at least treat each other with respect.
And our little Ray of sunshine here has flipped back and forth between randy and sleazy about three times now. Not that they’re mutually exclusive by any means. But so far he shows no sign of what, to me, is the most common and telling sin of sleaziness. He has not lied about it, nor spoken ill of a partner, nor used lies to attempt to seduce someone.
Yes, and that is the difference between Raymos and SmugD: Raymos is randy, SmugD is a Sleaze (with a capital SLEAZE)
Hey, stick figure works. Go play a bit!
Just look at OotS :)
Look at the wildly successful XKCD for that matter, half a step up from straight stick figures and running three times a week since shortly after Gore invented the internets.
My mistake, since shortly after I was killed the last time 17 years 7 months at 3 times a week. I was working on the internets before I was killed, so they were going a few years before XKCD began
How long before her comms explode into chatter? She’s at least getting a Suss of the situation before opening the comms to chaos and trying to discern what’s going on and who’s who to deploy local assets and call in others.
Would she be disappointed to miss a fight in its entirety? How much will the crew have finished up before she gets into action finally?
If she misses the fight (and they were successful), then she would be proud of her team, if they lost they would be doing more training (well, those who survived the loss of course)
If no one dies, but the baddies escape. We call it a draw.
Presumably while this is going on, Sydney is intercepting the one who is trying to fly off with the stasis gun. Knuckles has likely just punched Achilles hard enough to land in the East River. Mr. Amorphous and Heatwave are probably trying to help with crowd control/evacuation/mop up while Dabbler and Cora are dealing with whomever showed up with Knuckles.
Probably not. Syddles is tasked with securing the stasis pod. And I think she’s smart enough to confine herself to one job at a time.
Smart yes, but she is unfortunately also extremely easily distracted.
It was an idiot task from the start, so Sydney would be well advised to ignore it in favor of a more active role.
“Presumably while this is going on, Sydney is intercepting the one who is trying to fly off with the stasis gun…”
*Evil laughter* ” Pull…”
No? Sydney wouldn’t do that? *Sigh* Fine, pretty sure if it can spell out her store’s website and lift 16 tons, the Lighthook should be able to get the stasus gun thing too as Sydney flies after them…
I can easily see Syd using an enemy flyer as a makeshift skeet target.
I assumed that Heatwave might be doing this instead, being the only other super I have seen that we know can fly. We also saw her dealing with flame head while Sydney was told to hide the portable status field.
Unless someone else is taking comms and directing the heroes, we can also assume that Sydney may not know what is going on with the Earth Mercs, so might not be looking for flying thieves.
Jiggawatt has a flight-like power.
So does Hiro
Jiggs’ flight-like power is via being a bolt of lightning: not very efficient at stopping someone without frying them from the inside out
I should have been more specific. I have only seen Heatwave in the current story arch in New York City that can fly, excluding Maxima [that doesn’t know what was going on until this page] and Sydney [who has been told to vacate the area to hide other Alien technology].
Hero and Jiggawatt can fly. I think another hero has been shown to be able to fly when they were transporting reporters to the firing range to demonstrate their powers. Neither of which I have seen in this current story arch.
The one transporting the reporters via flying bus was Hiro
And good point, about those who are ‘on scene’
Fairly sure they are the only fliers on the team (although Harem can use her *VORP*ing to catch a flier)
The supers in Archon that can fly are:
Maxima (top speed – above Mach 4)
Hiro (top speed Mach 1, with downward gravity assist)
Sydney (top speed, at least Mach 16, formerly around Mach 4, if you don’t take aetherium causeway into account)
Heatwave (no top speed listed so far, but less than Hiro)
No other supers in ARCHON have flight as a power (Dabbler, Math, Anvil, Harem, Peggy, Mr. Amorphous, Achilles, Stalwart, Blulk and I will keep calling him that, or Jabberwocky)
Varia…. probably has flight at least when touching some people, although the closest we’ve seen is her ‘magneto-ing’ which is more like levitating
Jiggawatt … doesnt quite have flight power but turns into electricity and can ‘fly’ that way
Spider-Guy/Vance – probably doesn’t have flight power but we don’t know what powers he has. He probably isnt full of spiders.
And so far none of the non-Archon members can fly either, although we havent seen much of most of them. Specs can’t fly, Pixel can’t fly, Gadget or whatever her name is probably can’t fly, and X… probably can’t fly?
Harem can’t fly, but she can’t intercept a flier, no matter how high they are
Harem most definitely can fly. She’s flown several times in the comic so far.
Doh, I meant Heatwave. For some reason I read harem as heatwave.
Sorry, my bad.
And yeah, Harem could potentially intercept a flier.
Dabbler apparently knows a “Tenser’s Floating Disks equivalent” spell, which probably doesn’t quite qualify as flight.
Aside from needing to keep the stasis pod secure, Sydney has one other problem flying after another flyer. We don’t know the mechanism this other flyer uses; we know they have a flight suit which just rules out powers to deal with wind sheer, cold, and other problems flying up high; however if they have wind manipulation, some form of magnekinesis, gravity manipulation, any secondary attack power…or just has a gun on them.
Then Sydney will need to use her forcefield,
Sydney can only use two orbs at a time, fighting a building sized slow moving space monster by letting yourself go into free fall for a second or two is one thing, but trying to grab human sized flyer is another. She will likely have flight and forcefield in play, so no tentacle to grab (we also saw, granted she was paralyzed at the time) some difficulty grabbing an agile opponent with the tentacle so if this flyer has some flight skills it just adds to the problem.
However what Sydney can do is keep eyes on the target. Sydney has very high flight speed and maneuverability now; so its unlikely this flyer could escape Sydney’s line of sight too easily, Sydney could even try herding them back towards Time Square (pull the *zipping* move Dragon Ball characters and Superman pulls from time to time; by speeding and floating right in front of them constantly forcing them in different directions of retreat till in their desperation to get away you’ve maneuvered them back to the group.
Two words: “Ramming speed.”
I was thinking of that but its a major city, ramming her in mid-flight has a high possibility of hitting a pedestrian, vehicle, office building window, ect..
unless she can find a way to wedge her into a corner somewhere safely and then call for a pick up.
Sydney has zero need to keep the stasis pod secure. That was an idiot task given to her by a supposedly hyper-intelligent character. The problem with such characters being that they can never be smarter than the author.
Sydney even said something really stupid to Dabbler, paraphrasing “You’ll rescue Maxima, right?” And then was happy when answered with a “Yes.” As if a situation in which Maxima, the strongest super known to mankind, needs rescuing should be handled by anything less than the full power of Archon. Ask yourself this: Did Sydney allow herself to be handed some “wander off” task when Vehemence was dominating Maxima? Hint: The answer is “No.”
Sydney is far better at swapping out the orbs ‘on the [literal] fly’ than you give her credit for. Aside from killing three (not “a”) huge kaiju-space-monsters, who despite your claims were not all that slow moving, she also managed to kill a few hundred or thousand drone fighters. Handling a single flying opponent isn’t going to be any more difficult than that was, which is to say “not difficult at all.”
Sydney has one other problem flying after another flyer. We don’t know the mechanism this other flyer uses; we know they have a flight suit which just rules out powers to deal with wind sheer, cold, and other problems flying up high; however if they have wind manipulation, some form of magnekinesis, gravity manipulation, any secondary attack power…or just has a gun on them.
Secure the stasis pod means find a place to put it where it has the least likely place to be stolen. I’d say whatever nearby vehicle or personnel tent Archon has would do. It doesn’t mean stand guard over it. This is Sydney however so far all we know she flew off to sit on top of a building.
The number of Kaiju killed is irrelevant, as are the space fighters for this example. Also we saw nothing to really say the Kaiju were fast moving just big with powerful energy blasts, the one sure couldn’t shake off a bee with a laser knife slicing him to ribbons “death by a thousand cuts”.
The space fighters are irrelevant in this example for one big reason, zero gravity.
See the problem I am addressing is, and you look like you cut yourself off somehow after quoting me again at the end there; is exactly that.
She is in Earth’s gravity, possibly pursuing an agile flyer in a major city. For defense she needs to keep her shield up (One Orb), to FLY after this person and keep them in sight she needs to keep the flight orb in her (SECOND) hand.
the problem I am addressing is that she can’t catch this person like that, only herd or corner them. Because if she switches the shield for tentacle she is now open to enemy fire. Which is her only real option because the second she switches flight for tentacle she is now falling and no longer able to pursue this person who no doubt would take off at this exact second. She has to either choose to lose defense or lose pursuit capability of a flying target. Her best option really is follow and report her location as soon as a more offensive flying pursuer is able to respond. The stasis gun needs to be top priority for Maxima unless the super mercs are threatening the crowd of civilians. Although Heatwave is also a good option to meet up with Sydney (for a duel pursuit of this target).
We actually did see something that explicitly said the kaiju were hellishly fast: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-665-rock-paper-particle-beam/
and they were the size of a small building, not comparable to a human sized flyer target; also the PPO is not an option in the city *think about what is behind your target*, the point being she could let go of flight for PPO for a split second in free fall to still be able to HIT that target.
If she let’s go of flight for the tentacle as a comparison in this scenario her human sized and flying away target would be significantly harder to grab.
Momentium’s still a thing. If Sydney’s faster than her target, she can angle upward, then try to switch orbs and grab her quarry before the latter reacts, and still have time to retrieve the flight orb before she begins actually plummeting. It might not work, but it’s not impossible by any means.
Even if successful, though, she would have to be sure her prisoner can’t still attack while restrained, as releasing the tentacle orb to put the forcefield back up would mean releasing the thief as well.
The only way this would work is as a surprise attack; which is Sydney’s only option really; if she goes into pursuit mode she is best keeping an eye on the target and having her GPS on while reporting her target is in sight. Basically pulling the role of the pursuit helicopter for other officers can move in.
It’s really a question of how good of “inertial dampers” she has when flying. Obviously pretty good, when a Kaiju can stomp her into the ground by surprise from hundreds of feet up, and she can make fairly sharp turns at top speed. (The SR-71 had a turning radius of over 100 miles.)
She’s capable of hypersonic flight at ground level, she has acceleration levels comparable to a shell in an artillery barrel, and stopping when she hits something she can’t go through doesn’t hurt her. She’s a projectile weapon in addition to being a space ship.
The real challenge would be hitting slow enough to not turn her target into a smear across the force field.
The least likely place for it to be stolen by pre-warp hunams who are not supposed to have access to the tech it contains. They aren’t trying to keep aliens from stealing it, it was brought here by aliens. The sole concern is that illicit tech might be gained by humans. And so Dabbler, in a fit of sudden idiocy, told a human who is in possession of illicit alien tech (not that Dabbler knows this, just saying) to move the item to a place where it is far less likely to be under the observation of the very many supers who are, for now at least, in its immediate vicinity.
As I stated before, sitting in the middle of a supers vs aliens fight, and now a supers vs aliens vs aliens fight, is just about the safest place for the purpose of keeping it away from humans.
Umm, no, they want it secure on the off chance they ones who brought it have a spare power source for it, it has nothing to do with keeping it out of the hands of hyu-mons
Fairly sure Dabbles knows what sort of alien tech Sydney is being possessed by
You also need to remember that, in ARChon, Dabbler is probably the second best fighter on the team, and possibly tied for first. Remember that, aside from Vehemence, who would have killed Maxima if not for Sydney, there are only two people who have ever fought Maxima to a draw.
One is dead (maybe… probably not).
The other is Dabbler. She is probably a good choice of someone to help Maxima if Maxima was to need help. Although I personally think Sydney is probably going to eventually be the most powerful one on the team after she levels up more. She can already do things that are irreplaceable in Archon, she can tank any of Maxima’s punches (and at least some level of her plasma blast – we dont yet know about Maxima’s max plasma blast that was used against the Fel though), and she might Eventually surpass Maxima in several areas like flight speed and maybe even strength and blasts (the lighthook and PPO are actually barely leveled up at all currently).
Ok this post of mine was all over the place :) sorry
Dabbler is the sole person besides the unnamed dead-probably-not-dead (UDPND) person who is said to have fought Maxima to a standstill. In the past.
The UDPND was probably a fight in earnest, because it’s highly unlikely that Maxima and Dabbler were actually attempting to kill one another. Unless comic book trope 683 “Two good guys meet, and due to some misunderstanding that no rational persons would possibly be involved with they end up in a fight to the death that is fortunately ended before either of them dies” was invoked. We don’t know yet, at present it is just a noodle incident…
Still, this was before The Mighty Halo entered the scene, and we’re seen first hand how frustrated Maxima has been by her inability to move the orbs (“Do you know how strong I am?!?”) and then her failure to punch through Sydney’s force field (General Faulk: “Stop! You’ll blow out our eardrums!”) and then her failure to find a breaking point in the force field vs her energy blasts. Granted that Maxima probably withheld her “Fel capital ship popping” level of energy blast due to a reluctance to test Halo’s force field to the point of possibly killing her, but still she failed to find a point at which Halo’s force field failed. And so has every other foe, so far.
Sydney is the second most powerful super at present. Both in terms of sheer power and also in terms of utility power. And as you noted, she can only grow stronger as she levels up. Your accurate noting that Maxima would have been killed by Vehemence if not for Sydney is just one example of this.
Maxima has a lot of practical advantages, in that if she is shot while sleeping she won’t die, while Sydney is the very ideal of the glass cannon: She is fantastically powerful, but a bullet while her shield is down or a ninja in the night and she is toast.
Where was it stated that Maxi had armoured skin? o_O
She doesn’t have armored skin per se, at least as far as we know, but DaveB does refer to her invulnerability frequently as ‘armor.’ So saying ‘armored skin’ has some merit.
Oberon might be accurate since her golden skin shielded Maxima from being able to see inside her via X-rays, and seems to also block Varia’s power because ‘she has screwy skin.’ That COULD mean that her skin is sort of like organic metal armor, sort of like Colossus from X-Men. That’s just a guess though. Educated guess, however.
while hard to reflect in a changing art style DaveB did mention at one point her features become more angular as she armors up more, implying her skin is one of the factors of her defenses with a few layers of defense auras over top of it.
Or it could just be another facet of her ‘zero range TK’ – which is similar to how superboy’s powers work in the comics with ‘tactile telekinesis’ and with superman and supergirl’s “kryptonian biomatrix” which simultaneously is the reason they can lift massive objects without them falling apart, and also the reason for their massive levels of invulnerability.
In DC, the reasoning is the biomatrix covers every cell of a kryptonian’s body on a yellow-sun world, but this biomatrix does not extend very fast beyond those cells (ie, skin cells, hair cells, etc). As a result, their clothes only tend to survive if they’re clothes that were also saturated with the original background radiation from Krypton … rather than the radiation caused during Krypton’s explosion (kryptonite). Which is why their superhero suits are so skin-tight generally, and why the capes were made of kryptonian fabric usually. It’s usually the only part that isnt skin-tight so can be unconsciously covered by the biomatrix.
Seems to be a similar thing to Maxima, who was surprised when Atomic bombshell’s blast was powerful enough to destroy the outer layer of her clothes (ie, it got through her outer layer of zero-range TK armor).
At least that’s my guess on how it works.
You never miss any opportunity to demonstrate that you are dumber than a bucket of rocks, do you?
Warning – I ramble on here.
All excellent points you make. But I’d still probably argue that Dabbler is PROBABLY tied for first best fighter until we see an actual spar between Maxima and Sydney :) Which does seem to happen at Archon to train the recruits (ie, Blulk, the mentions of spars between Maxima and Mathias/Hiro/Dabbler, etc).
Sort of the same way I can’t assume that Maxima’s max plasma blast can’t get through Halo’s shield, although I currently assume it can’t, even though there’s been one attack that at least taxed Sydney’s shield (the Squidward attack, which might be more powerful than Maxima’s max plasma blast, we don’t yet know – if it isnt, then Maxima would have an attack that can beat a shielded Sydney).
While Dabbler and Maxima did not fight to the death, I’m pretty sure the spar was to get some general military knowledge of who is better in a fight. Most of the time I agree, it would be Maxima, because her base level powers are just so much higher all the time.
And normally I’d agree that Sydney is the second most powerful super at present, probably because she’s my favorite, and it’s a good educated guess that she is, even currently, the second most powerful, based on what we currently know about the powers of the orbs.
However, I usually wind up putting Dabbler at the second spot, since Dabbler has so many different powers (even more than Sydney in variety, currently) that she probably has a lot of angles at which to come at a fight from. Variety skews things a bit. Plus we have not had any spar between Dabbler and Sydney yet, except for that sucker punch in the showers in which Dabbler was subjected to the bad type of throbbing right in the old gazorpasovum. Which… might have been Dabbler sandbagging. But I still would not bet against you if you wanted to make a bet that Sydney is the second most powerful super.
Although Sydney may have some additional abilities that we don’t yet know about, and some things which can slow down Maxima might not work on Sydney at all because of her shield, like Vehemence’s aura manipulation or possibly even the stasis field. Also Maxima needs air to breathe. Sydney, in her shield, can make her own air. Needing air is an exploitable weakness. It also can mean that Maxima can be vulnerable to breathable toxins. Sort of like the Hulk is in the comics. Sydney, on the other hand, can put up a shield then refresh the air, clearing it of toxins, assuming she puts up the shield and does so in time.
Sydney’s main weakness, like you basically stated, is her powers are not on all the time (which makes her a basic squishy human), while Maxima’s are always on, at least to some extent. Technically Dabblers are not on all the time either, although again – to an extent. Pretty sure hypno-boobs are always on, and Dabbler’s alien/succubus physiology is probably a lot more resilient than a standard human. :)
Sydney may very well be the second most powerful Super, with Dabbles being the second most powerful fighter (specially seeing how Dabbles isn’t a Super)
I would say that Dabbler is just as much a super as Sydney – they both have technology (that might as well be called magic to most other folks) and Dabbler also has what SHE calls magic on top of that.
How is one a super but the other isn’t?
Technically, neither is a Super, seeing how they rely on tech or magic
Technically speaking, Maxima’s not entirely a natural super either, thanks to the ‘geode water’ that splashed all over her. :)
Just to add some flavor here: we know, with near certainty, that Maxima can blast through Sydney’s shield. The Kaiju blast stressed Sydney’s shield to the point of near breakdown – https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-647-no-healthpack-needed/comment-page-2/#comments – the scale of the hole depicted puts the Kaiju blast somewhere in the 3 to 20 kiloton nuke range. Maxima’s high-power-Fel-smackdown was “several hundred petajoules” which puts her in the 100 megaton nuke range. So, Max’s particle beam appears to hit around 5,000 times harder than the Kaiju (at least).
> As if a situation in which Maxima, the strongest super known to mankind, needs rescuing should be handled by anything less than the full power of Archon.
It’s not that simple. This isn’t like with V where Max is overwhelmed by a more powerful opponent.
It’s just that someone got a weapon that ignores her typical defenses.
Dabbler is more than enough for what we’re currently seeing.
Gods help us all if Deadpool is real in this world and he meets Ray.
the copyright lawyers will prevent that with razor sharp cease and desist letters replete with meme references.
then expy it is. Hell Deadpool was an expy originally of DC’s Deathstroke…and with Deadpool changing personality and becoming popular DC in turn made an expy of Deadpool called Red Tool.
It is fairly common, mostly in comedies to have expies of popular heroes and villains. Granted you stand ready or unoriginality claims when you do…sometimes given the near century of superhero comics, and thousands of characters from countless writers in that time, to not make something resembling something else. even when you do it as a joke. There is in comics a guy who kept bees in his shoes and a guy who just threw dynamite at criminals for crying out loud.
But yeah, want a Wolverine
make a guy named “Badger” and give him short knuckle claws but keep the surly attitude.
want a Cyclopse
*Gazer Beam*
ect…heck the sheer number of Superman expies, especially back in the day was incredible…with the only one ever really sued done so because their comics were outselling Superman comics *google the history of Shazam, its kinda sad really*….funny enough Malibu comics made an expie of Shazam called “Prime” with the difference being no name weakness, no magic, and the transformation back to kid left a giant pile of green slime.
Yeah, was gonna mention Shazza: his comics were so popular, they were out selling the Soupcan comics, so DC bought out the company
Whop. Gazer Beam is from The Incredibles. Can’t use that one.
that was the example I used. he was obviously based on Cyclops from the X-men.
Ther was one comic that had a villain called The Objectifier he used the Male Gazer Beam.
No, don’t use Badger. That was Mike Baron’s great 80’s comic book with a strange sense of humor. Main character Badger was a master of martial arts, the more arcane, esoteric and abstruse the better, but the MA scenes were generally based on realism. The Badger had an unfortunate case of multiple personality disorder, or strictly speaking was one of several personalities (you don’t want to meet Pierre) and was not always grounded in reality. Definitely worth a read.
I wander if that’s why Marvel opted to name that 2nd generation clone “Honey Badger”.
She’s a younger clone of X-23….its complicated.
(not as complicated as Marvel gets, but still)
*who according to the wiki is now going by the name “Scout” meh.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Gabrielle_Kinney_(Earth-616)
Out of shape guy shows up dressed in a greenscreen color morphsuit. Thankfully it’s NOT as formfitting as Dabbler’s ‘swimsuit’.
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with! I’m gonna enjoy flaying you alive with this potato peeler!”
“Yahuh. Who are you again?”
“I am MURDERHOBO Ninja assassin! Deadeyed marksman! Depraved frootloop! I’ve survived things that defy description thanks to plot armor, though I’ve become so deformed that Death Herself refuses to gave upon my hideous visage! My only recourse to retain some semblance of sanity is killing others in the most gruesome and obnoxious fashion possible, thus justifying my existence!”
“Lemme guess, you don’t have any powers at all. That joke got old with Condiment King.”
“YOU MOCK MY POW-URK!” (Sydney floats in behind him and uses one of the orbs to wonk him in the crotch)
“Is this a thing that happened often while I was Lost in Space?”
“Two or three times a week.”
Sounds about right, Heck Condiment King at least made more sense than “The Grappler”
in Marvel comics there was a guy whose entire backstory was he was a smash and grab robber *break display window run off with goods* and he saw that super heroes and super villains were a thing and police reacted differently, more cautious when they saw a costumed criminal. So he went and found himelf a titanium bar and put on a colorful costume and went around smashing and using the pole as a lever to fake super strength for anyone who didn’t know leverage was a thing…until She-Hulk wrapped that bar around him that is.
But yeah, get a world with supers showing up and you will probably get some upstarts and fakers trying to be both; for laughs way back in like 2011-2014 when I tried my hand at super hero stories (I wasn’t very good at character personalities at the time and can’t draw so the audience was next to nothing compared to my horror and fantasy so dropped the super-hero *figured visual medium, spectacle is half the draw; might try again now that I’ve had time to develop those writing skills better.
any who, the real point; back then among my *thought experiment* characters was a guy called “The Aussie Assailant”. His whole gimmick was stealing on Australia themed merchandise; (He was in the USA), and his costume because he’s not a tailor and couldn’t afford body armor, was a fluffy onsie he spray painted yellow, a jet pack (he found), and I think a poorly sowed on kangaroo tail and stuffed koala ears glued to a head band (I’d have to check my notes); but his whole bit was inspired by the Grappler (the cops will think twice before messing with me so long as I am wearing a costume and have a weird theme).
On the first reading it looked like Max was kicking him in panel 3 but I think she’s just sitting. That’s a lot more in character for her since I don’t see her being ok with super police brutality.
She’s sitting because Ray landed on top of her just as she broke out of the stasis effect… and in the fourth panel, we see her levitating back to her feet.
When they release a new, top-notch VR Elder Scrolls game, go ahead with stick figure comics because nobody will be here reading for those few days anyway :P
Eh…
I thought most would be waiting 3 weeks for the critical patches to show up so that it can be played…
Sorry, still getting flashbacks to TES Arena…
It’s a Bethesda game. The insane glitches are part of the appeal.
And good call from Dave on waiting for NEXT elder scrolls game. There is Skyrim VR, BUT… it looks good, it’s enjoyable… and it took about three DAYS (not 24h, normal after-work evenings) of fiddling with controls and VRIK setup before I could call it playable.
Speaking from waaaay in the future…. Starfield.
STARFIELD.
I’m giving Ray points here. He straight up owns that the reason the initial set of protagonists are here is because he gave them a ride (he didn’t know they were planning this sort of stuff and probably should have checked a little closer, but still). He may be a sleazy lounge lizard, but he’s willing to be honest and admit “my bad”. Puts him way ahead of most of his terrestrial ilk.
Oh, he is absolutely a sleazy caricature of a pick up artist…but I’ve noticed something.
He’s not condescending.
Yes, he clearly places way too much importance on women’s bodies (and speak far too freely about same)…and he does seem to be at least a little bit caught up in some white knightery….but I’m not seeing anything (so far) that indicates he thinks anyone can’t handle themselves. Even his rather abrupt self-insertion (Ba dum tss) was entirely rooted in the Acquisitioners abusing his business.
…without cutting him in…
I get the distinct impression that, if one could develop a sufficient tolerance for his ALWAYS ON flirtations, Ray might just be a decent guy.
Potential profits notwithstanding. I can’t help imaging he’d stab you in the back in a heartbeat, if the payoff was sufficient.
Ray seems to have a code of honor. It just doesn’t happen to align with anyone else’s.
I am of the belief that anyone with principles, regardless of what those principles are, is going to be easier to get along with than someone with no principles. If someone is guided by a set of rules, they can be reasoned with. If their only rule is whatever benefits them at the moment, they can be manipulated at best, but never trusted.
I’m thinking a lot less of that ALF acquisition team; infiltrating with a tour group is fine, but obviously little or no intel on the actual target(s), or the background conditions, and no apparent extraction method except said tour group, which implies they were counting on Ray’s willingness to look the other way.
It’s possible that they were going to first research the target(s) capabilities and weaknesses, but Maxima was there already and distracted, so they took a shot at the available opportunity open to them without Gathering the necessary intel first. Especially since there was some underestimating of the humans of Earth, like being able to read galactic trade/“common” languages.
Hate to nitpick, but shouldn’t Maxima go find out who punched her (and seek retribution) instead of talking with Ray here?
Rushing off without knowing what is happening is unlikely to be in anyones’ best interests.
She just did the most professional and military thing possible – use a minute out of the firefight to collect instant recon on the situation from someone who had better knowledge than she. She can make up the tactical and strategic deficit by cranking up to full speed, but the intel deficit, this was the right tack. Also, the fact that no one is attacking them provided additional intel that Ray didn’t have, and that Max hasn’t noticed.
Umm, fairly sure she is doing that right now
She has now established as many of us in the comments who like to discuss physics…in a super hero comic…but hey its fun; also sci-fi involved so yeah. Any who; has revealed that indeed what Maxima could see outside the field was blurry and distorted. So she getting a second wrap on the situation is in everyone’s best interest. Her next question though needs to be the situation with the device (she doesn’t know what it is yet) that slowed her down, are there more, where is the one used on her; and then very quickly on coms get her team organized on this threat, keep eyes on, acquire, or eliminate the stasis gun; crowd control, and so on…probably going to wish now they had brought more personnel than seven individuals, to this crowded situation.
This will become a PR nightmare that Arianna would fear and lead to Archon getting disbanded…
Because foreign mercenary assets are choosing to engage US soldiers in US territory to steal US assets? Pretty sure we don’t disband the navy nor the army when things like this happen.
There might be a call for tighter security however.
I can foresee the opposite occurring.
If this goes public why these mercenaries targeted Maxima and had tech able to slow her down like that. Recruitment might increase in the vein of B ranked and above Supers feeling that if aliens are going to try and target powerful supers like that, then they may want the training and added protection of a team.
However I can still see the Xevoarchy spinning this as a reason to join their ranks for added protection.
Or at least voluntary register in an Arc-light database, so they can be better protected and warned for aliens.
In the history of bad predictions, yours is one of the very worst. Try to keep up: This is still a flashback, and from a time when Sydney is referred to as “Corporal” and is still presumably a member of Archon, given that the is greeted by Maxima, Anvil, etc. and is wearing her “pip boy” wrist device.
Better than runway foam but not better than Maximama covered in foam.
Max hasn’t punched him, so clearly Ray’s charm is in fact very powerful :o
She have more important things to do right now.
Ah, the mid-melee discussion, a classic!
They are out of the firefight, and she needs the intel/recon before she leaps into battle.
While putting in less work would be a laudable strategy to get more time to play games, comics usually don’t do nearly as well with stick figures if they aren’t specifically designed for that format. Generally a better idea is to cut down on inking, coloring, and/or shading. Even sketches can convey a lot of graphical information when done well. Sometimes blotches of color may be needed, but painting inside the lines, so to speak, is hardly a requirement when the lines are so abstract themselves.
IMO the exposition in panel 4 is unnecessary. Just have Max say “I could barely see a thing”, you don’t need to describe the slowdown field in detail.
She’s military, they like explaining details
That is part of a debriefing, you never know what may be relevant!
She had to know what Ray’s response was going to be to her last question. She’s been around Dabbler long enough to know that’s just begging for a cringeworthy line.
Maybe not stick figures….although, I guess a brief foray into the stick-figure dimension could be hilarious….but, honestly, where I really fell in love with GP was in ‘14-‘15. That art was, to me, the absolute best for this comic!
Which isn’t to say I don’t also enjoy the more recent style, with its greater depth, detail, and shading. The richer color palette, too.
But I do think it feels less…hmm…’animated,’ maybe?
It’s still great, and I love it, but I do feel a bit like it doesn’t have the same level of visual energy.
Aaaand now I feel like that jerk in art class that every hates.
I like the original drawing style, so I don’t hate you.
I would say that while the quality of the art has objectively improved in many way, it has lost some of its character. Dave uses a lot of references for the art, and so the characters end up looking more like whatever reference is being used for a particular frame than they look like themselves. I think it’s more realistic looking, but less expressive. And some readers don’t realize that it started out rather cartoony and slapstick, so when cartoon violence or visual metaphors show up, some people get a bit confused.
Yeah, I’m still hearing Bruce “The Chin” Campbells voice as I read Ray’s dialog, and Max is starting to sound more and more like Lucy lawless.
So, what you’re saying is we’re basically having a Xena Warrior Princess Cast reunion?
My Fursona’s shape was based on Lucy Lawless! I’m Sasha Birman and Sasha Whitefur, in Second Life! Lucy Lawless, is very tall, but my fursona, is 7 foot 6 Inches!
Nice amulet/coat clasp Mr Cosmos has going there!
If Maxima winds up deciding Ray isn’t such a bad guy, Dabbler’s gonna be SO pissed.
Ain’t happening. Max would rather chew her (body part) off than be Eskimo sisters with Dabbler… and she’s already had a visceral reaction to Ray. He’ll have to do something pretty awesome to overcome the visceral part… and he appears to be destined to be comic relief, rather than any other kind.
Deciding that Raymos ‘isn’t such a bad guy’ doesn’t mean she’s gonna start making out with him
I feel like he and Deus come to a mutual satisfying arrangement.
And probably swap stories.
And girlfriends.
She’d date him because SmugD doesn’t like it.
Can totally see that, although that would require her giving half a shit what SmugD thinks
As for what happens when they meet? Can also see Raymos thinking, as he is leaving “What a slime!”
She seems to enjoy having him transport his expensive whiskey through his nose(not a date). If she plans this right she could probably repeat this experience.
What you two are talking about is worrisome blasphemy.
Deus/Maxima forever.
If i just Voice his lines real fast, would anyone care to hear them? i feel like he may be the character who would be the most fun to speak as that i’ve encountered in years
Sounds interesting
You know, this guy kind of reminds me of Cyborg Frankie from One Piece.
Hair in a Pompadour: Check.
Pervert: Check.
Tough and strong: Check.
More like Lando Calrisian, if he cranked up the sleaze 50%
Can see why Raymos got ‘cohorts’ and ‘contemporaries’ mixed up: many natives do as well
Perhaps the upside of Tefler of TSM going missing is that even if you get distracted by Elder Scrolls VR you’ll still have time to put out comics….
As a busty lady, “out of my chest” is really an awkward way to say it. I think “off” is the only word choice most would use, regardless of chest size.
Also how has Ray survived this long with such a terrible personality? If space has a Middle School it would have bullied that crap out of him, or else pissed ladies would have murdered him long ago.
I think he landed in her cleavage so deep her feminine assets were almost earmuffs, hence the ‘Out’,
had he stopped flying at the surface and landed on Max then yes ‘Off’ would be more appropriate.
I have boobs that can be “earmuffs” but I would not say “out of” my chest. Maybe “out of my boobs” but never “out of my chest.” The only time this has happened to me, however, I just said “get off me” and shoved the dude.
*just as an aside, it’s very difficult to get between the boobs if you’re wearing a bra. As I said, it’s happened to me, but only once.*
Well, you would say ‘out of my cleavage’ though, right?
That seems more accurate than ‘out of my boobs’
When you can basically “Hulk out” without losing your intellect and going on murderous rampages, bullies tend to become less of an issue. They either give you their lunch money or lose a few teeth. Either way, they miss out on lunch.
Oh my god He’s basically space Johnny Bravo without the sunglasses…
I think it would be hilarious if she agreed to the second date. Why would she do that? Idunno, that’s the authors job.
You are thinking of the Vampire Squid. Female Vampire Squids die after giving birth and the young East them.
Just as long as the stick figures have big chests, I think people would be okay with it.
Clever of Max to get an assessment rather than fly out there and not know who to punch. Now she knows, punch everyone who is not a civilian (including alien civilians) and not on her team… More tame than that, I’m sure.
I’d suggest she ask for a quick run on anything that could trump her again. There’s not really anything he knows about now but she doesn’t want to go running out there and hit another stasis beam or something equivalent.
Probably the best bet for her is to actually go with max superspeed the whole time, to avoid hits rather than risk another trump move like that which ignores her toughness. I think Amorphous is in charge while she’s out of commission. He’s certainly the only officer, unless he’s deferring to Dabbler as more knowledgeable and experienced.
Dabbler is getting a good long shot.
No one is chatting about the ‘super’ powers he is exhibiting by taking a super punch and getting ‘Large’ as Max just said.
Max was already in the stasis field when he did whatever trick to buff out, so she completely missed it, hence why she’s asking when he got large.
It’s unknown if this is a natural ability, magic or technology but the pendant on his cape glowed and such so it appears it’s not natural. He didn’t grow large by getting punched, thrown or caught in Max’s bosom.
For certain Definitions of “Getting Large” He has a Hannover Fiste cape clasp.
No VR comments yet?
Yeah, getting the fit right is important.
IPD needs to be set close enough to correct to prevent eye strain. More important with the Index than some other headsets as the trade-off for the great edge to edge clarity is a smaller adjustment sweet spot.
The other control is eye relief, relief being used in the same way you would talk about hills, not comfort.
It moves the lenses, but doesn’t adjust focus.
If you wear glasses, then dialing the lenses out and wearing glasses inside is an option (the hmd lenses are easy to scratch, so be careful) but prescription inserts will give a better experience.
It is an interesting psychological fact that many serial killers and otherwise violent offenders receive thousands of love letters from women while they are in prison.
People are attracted to power and disregard for rules. If you have enough power, you can ignore the rules, and so disregard for the rules is perceived as a marker for power. For people in jail though… they fought the law, and the law won. Their disregard exceeded their power.
Is no one else going to mention the fact that ray has way too many teeth?
Alien and using a physical augmentation medallion
Just counted them. He has less visible than humans have. Even if they are lacking in any attractive canines.
*looks attractive*
My father knew a fellow in the Air Force. His pickup style was similar, but more direct, “Hey baby, wana f••k?” My father reports that his friend got slapped alot, but he also got laid pretty regular.
He does get a +2 for the uniform, to offset the -1 for being crude.
Does a military uniform really carry that much attractiveness bonus where you’re from?
Where I’m from it carries more penalty than bonus.
Air force personnel tend to have snappy uniforms. Take Maxima’s for example. Plus rareness provides a bonus, whereas ‘familiarity breeds contempt’. So if you live next to (or on) a big military base, then the bonus will get watered down. And if they tend to be disruptive in local bars it may become a negative. However that would only be locally. The further afield you go though, the more the rareness improves the bonus.
Plus some individuals just have a thing for uniforms. I find uniformed girls with sub machine guns tend to check the boxes.
That is right out of the original MASH book.
Well, he MIGHT be a Modified Human, like our Star Ship Captain friend, but even then, there’s no reason for that to limit his dental count.
Something to ponder for your VR setup. Explore online for places that will actually make replacement prescription lenses for inside VR headsets. My brother did that for his first one, and he’s looking at moment because he’s complained that the Index is really to small to comfortably wear his glasses at same time.
https://widmovr.com/product/valve-index-prescription-lens-adapters/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwit_8BRCoARIsAIx3Rj6dseEnWMQ0eMXAtpMTQor-Asj8IYVVj0RNlxn4wLvTbcu2T2rQCYoaAh5oEALw_wcB
Something like this.
Somehow I think Ray is referring to different large than Max
Really, but how could that happen. Ray is always so emphatic and understanding with Max.
Ray might be a creep, but that last line was actually pretty smooth even for him.
Well, you would say ‘out of my cleavage’ though, right?
That seems more accurate than ‘out of my chest’
it’s out of a book, out of my space, out of my way, out of my face, nothing wrong with using out of my boobs in order to imply any or all of these particular styles of idiom
Cleavage would be a little more accurate though.
Sort of like if you travel into a valley between two mountains, you ‘could’ say ‘I’m in the mountains’ but that would not be very accurate, while ‘I’m in the valley’ would be. Although I suppose you can say ‘I’m in the mountain range’ and it would still be accurate as well.