Grrl Power #898 – Ball jail
I know, this seems kind of ultra hard core for Sydney – stuffing a pistol in someone’s mouth and doing her best to empty the magazine. In her defense, she immediately recognized Concretia when she turned around. She knew this wouldn’t kill or even really hurt her, but in a situation that needs a split second reaction, Sydney was probably hoping to maybe disorient Concretia. It probably wouldn’t be long enough for Sydney to find a piece of rebar or something to whack the concretopod, but doing something is probably better than doing nothing.
In reality, I think her gun might jam doing this. If Concretia bit down even a little, the slide on the gun wouldn’t fully reset and the new cartridge wouldn’t be seated correctly. I am far from a gun expert, but I imagine some guns might have enough play to fire another round if the slide is almost reset, but then I’d assume the outcome of that would be about 90% of fucking up the gun, and 10% fixing the jam.
There’s a lot of balls being taken hostage lately. It’s not indicative of anything going on in my life, I swear.
The vote incentive is updated, and of course, the nude version is over at Patreon. Honestly, what is Sydney doing walking into a room labeled “Yoga 401?”
I keep telling myself that I’ll do these solo pinup shots, but I keep getting ideas for some group theme picture. Honestly I think the best one I’ve done so far is the Dabbler solo pic, because I could spend all my time on a single character. But… this picture has a bunch of ladies, including three Harems being all bendy, so hopefully it’s an acceptable tradeoff.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like!
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Ahh….didn’t mean to post that. Additionally in the After Action Review: It should be suggested that during battle Ops, Sydney always keeps hold on one of the orbs, most likely the bubbler.
I think she should keep her orbs really close to her hands and she should get really good at moving the orbs to her hands instead of her hands to her orbs. Her mental control of her orbs looks like she can move them faster than she can move her hands. Developing best practices to minimize her reaction times.
Good idea on the bubbler, now she has the bubble on when she thinks she has a need for the bubble when really she should have it up unless there’s a pressing need for it to be down. Right now anything that exceeds her admittedly good reflexes can blitz her before she can bubble up.
The best practice would be to simply follow the orders she was given by Maxima, and keep the force field up at all times. Of course that makes it difficult to put Sydney in any danger, which is of course the reason why she doesn’t follow that order very well. If Concretia (and kudos to the people who named her based on what looked to me like the shadow of an oddly shaped pipe wrench) had only 5 seconds to do her orb envelopment maneuver it would be less believable. So instead we have Stupid Sydney, which is also less believable but I guess was chosen at the lesser of two stupid options.
She couldnt keep the force field up earlier, since she was flying while also holding the stasis pod with the lighthook.
Then she was taking a picture to remember where it was, which I guess required two hands apparently.
Yes, because usually you use one hand to hold and steady the phone, and the other hand to press the button
At least she had wherewithal to quickly toss her phone to her left hand and reach with her right for Mr Buble
Thus the “5 seconds” I mentioned above. Land, shield, done.
I guess you’ve never seen someone use their cell one handed.
I’m not sure you understood my post.
She came in with the lighthook holding the container. That required two hands. She put the container in its hiding place, then IMMEDIATELY decided to take a picture so she’d remember where she put it. That also required two hands.
Concretia was able to, within five seconds, contain the orbs because it was the first thing she did as soon as she saw that both of Halo’s hands were busy using the phone to take a picture. None of this was unreasonable for Sydney to do. Concretia just had good timing on what she IMMEDIATELY did. The only odd thing was that Concretia was in this building on this floor in the first place. Even if she did a ‘land, shield’ she would have un-shielded in order to take the picture, since that requires two hands to take a picture with any ease.
Also, it’s actually not that easy to take a good picture with a cell phone one-handedly. It’s also reasonable for Sydney to not have assumed that there would be a super in this building, so far away from and above the battle.
I’m not sure you understood my post.
I am well aware of the order of events. Repeating them serves no purpose other than for you to suggest that I somehow missed something. I did not. As I said clearly in my response to Samuel Victor, and I’ll repeat it here as the same sort of suggestion that you fail at language: “The best practice would be to simply follow the orders she was given by Maxima, and keep the force field up as much as possible.”
Sydney absolutely could have obeyed her orders and put up the force field as soon as she landed. Then she could have dropped the alien tech she is supposed to be hiding so it doesn’t get found by those pesky hunams (sic) who aren’t supposed to get it. Even though Sydney has alien tech. And Deus has alien tech. And no doubt others have alien tech if logic is followed and not only focus characters are able to do things that are apparently not terribly difficult to do. As could have been predicted, and as was predicted, this task was stupid beyond belief, and this result should have been expected.
After putting up the force field, then Sydney could have pondered the difficulty and/or practicality of taking a picture with one hand or two. And as others have pointed out she does have a GPS both on her ‘pipboy’ and possibly also on her cellphone, although Leon may have turned that functionality off. And after doing said pondering, she might have come to the conclusion that following her orders is a far wiser choice than taking a picture which is not only redundant to her GPS coordinates, but also fairly useless since she apparently thinks that taking it from inside the building is going to help her find the building. Which it won’t.
So what we have here is the huge culmination of stupid choices being made by more than one supposedly bright characters. Idiot “hide the tech” task, followed by idiot agreement to do this idiot thing, followed by idiot leaving a full blown combat scene, followed by idiot hiding alien tech in plain sight, followed by idiot failure to deploy the force field. Resulting in the orb capture and Sydney’s current predicament. To be continued, hopefully without quite as much idiocy going forward.
Screen Rant would have a field day if this were a movie! I can see it now:
Writer: So then Dabbler tells Sydney to go hide the powerless stasis pod.
Producer: Why would Sydney leave combat to go do that? Isn’t she supposed to be a powerful member of this team who has a lot to contribute in a combat? And isn’t leaving alien tech laying about unguarded fairly irresponsible?
Writer: Well, I needed Sydney to be separated from the rest of Archon.
Producer: Why?
Writer: Because.
Producer: Huh.
Writer: And then Sydney is going to be attacked by a supervillain and have her orbs encased in rocks.
Producer: Why isn’t Sydney using her force field that she was ordered to always be using?
Writer: Well, her force field makes Sydney pretty much invulnerable to everything.
Producer: Which is why she should be using it.
Writer: Look, I’m going to need you to get all the way off of my back about this.
Producer: Well ok then, I’ll get off of that thing.
Etc.
“I’m not sure you understood my post.”
No need to be snippy. I genuinely mean I don’t think you understood my post because you either missed or ignored what I was saying in my post.
“I am well aware of the order of events.”
Then I’m not sure why you said the ‘land shield done’ thing – since the order of events does not allow for that, since it’s actually ‘land, place container (during which you can temporarily shield), unshield to use two hands to take a picture, shield again, done.’ And that would not have changed her capture – the only thing that would have denied Concretia her opportunity would be Sydney either not taking a picture or, for some reason, only using one hand to take the picture, which is a lot more awkward to do with one hand, and there was little reason for Sydney to assume she needed to do something that awkward so far from the battle).
Producer: But isnt she miles away from the battle and at the top of a skyscraper while everyone’s focused on all the heroes who are situated in Times Square?
Writer: Oh yeah. Whoopsie.
Producer: Having a force field up even when it’s not reasonably necessary do so miles away from a battle is tight.
I do like the Screen Rant scenario though.
(Also the reason she was separated from ARCHON was because she needed to put that container somewhere that no one would get it, hence FAR FROM THE BATTLE -whoops. Whoopsie.)
Yes, it would have. Because you’ve got the order of events wrong. Land, shield, done. I said it already, I’m not sure why it is hard for you to understand. I try again, using a less terse description since you appear to be incapable of following along with a brief description even though it covers everything as completely as should be needed.
1) Land. This eliminates the need for the Flight orb, so now Sydney has a hand free. Which she then fills with the
2) Shield orb. Now she is shielded. Very minimal exposure to attack, which I described previously as “5 seconds” and could be even less time.
3) Done. Ok, this could be expanded in greater detail, but it still doesn’t explain your obtuseness… And I really did expand on this in my prior post, but apparently this is your day to either pretend to misunderstand or to actually fail to follow a simple chain of logic. Your choice as to which you wish to admit, lawyer.
4) Drop off the alien tech where it will remain unguarded. Stupid and unnecessary.
This eliminates the need for the Lighthook orb, and frees up a hand, which she then fills with her
5) Cellphone. And then since she is a smart girl and not the idiot the author is making her appear to be, she realizes that she has at least one GPS on her, and that taking a picture from inside a building while facing further inside said building, will do nothing to help her find that building in the future. Again, as I previously detailed but which you apparently need Guesticus levels of explanation to follow along with and/or remember. So she puts the cell away and has one hand on the Force Field orb and one hand free for a second orb, or to push up her glasses, or to brush back her hair, or to gesture with at Concretia while telling her how foolish it was to attack her.
6) So there Sydney stands, shielded and not carrying any kind of Idiot Ball handed to her by the author strictly for the purposes of allowing Concretia to place Sydney in danger.
Ask yourself this: Sydney shielded vs. Concretia: Who do you think wins?
And since the answer is obvious, we can either expect Sydney to be handed an Idiot Ball or to suffer some other improbable set of circumstances any time the author decides he wants to have Sydney placed in danger. Because Sydney is more powerful than almost every single super we’ve seen, has wiped the map with hundreds/thousands of alien fighter craft and three giant alien kaiju at the same time without working up much of a sweat, and can’t reasonably be placed in danger unless she is betrayed by someone she trusts, acts like an idiot, or has some set of very contrived circumstances thrust upon her.
And any author worth his salt wouldn’t resort to the latter two options, because they are really lousy writing. So expect to see them happen over and over, I guess.
“Yes, it would have. Because you’ve got the order of events wrong. Land, shield, done. I said it already, I’m not sure why it is hard for you to understand. I try again, using a less terse description since you appear to be incapable of following along with a brief description even though it covers everything as completely as should be needed.”
I’m not sure how you’re arguing this. The lighthook is needed because it’s simply too heavy for Sydney to carry. Unless you’re saying she should put the container in the shield itself and fly with it in the shield? Which…. I suppose is a way to go, but you’re using a lot of metaknowledge to assume that should be the protocol. Plus she took the container while on the street below, where there WAS definite danger, which required her to have the shield up the entire time, which necessitated using the lighthook anyway.
There’s no idiot ball here being held by Sydney. You’re just using metaknowledge with 20/20 hindsight in a ‘would coulda shoulda’ mentality.
“Again, as I previously detailed but which you apparently need Guesticus levels of explanation to follow along with and/or remember.”
Your previous detail, as well as your current detail, are poorly written out and poorly reasoned, requiring Sydney to know that miles away, at the top of a skyscraper, one of the members of the LLC would be lying in wait. You basically assume that Sydney should never take down her bubble, period. Ever. Which was something she was doing after returning to Earth when sleeping.
Also why are you trying to use Guesticus as an insult tactic? Even if I disagree with Guesticus sometimes, he or she is at least civil. You tend to not be civil with anyone for reasons that escape me, especially since I’ve treated you with respect.
I do not think this is bad writing at all. DaveB made a very plausible way for Concretia to ‘get the drop on Sydney’ here, which would have required Sydney to be insanely cautious and not use the lighthook for what the lighthook is definitely the best tool to use.
The only argument you made which is plausible is that Sydney could have just used the GPS to mark her location instead of taking a picture. But that only gives a cursory two dimensional location. It doesnt say show what floor, and it does not show where IN the building she hid the container, which was most likely Sydney’s main concern (since taking a picture inside does not help you know which building – BUT it does let you know where IN the building you hid something). She also might have taken pictures of the outside of the building and the floor on which she left the container AFTER taking pictures inside.
Ironically, Sydney was being cautious here, and you’re arguing she wasn’t cautious based on something that there was no reason for her to assume would happen, given how far from the main battle she is.
Let me get back to one of the other places where for some reason you insult me to call me obtuse – which seems to be a very trollish thing to do, but hey this is the internet… you do you.
“3) Done. Ok, this could be expanded in greater detail, but it still doesn’t explain your obtuseness… And I really did expand on this in my prior post, but apparently this is your day to either pretend to misunderstand or to actually fail to follow a simple chain of logic. Your choice as to which you wish to admit, lawyer.”
Except it’s NOT done. She wanted to take pictures to remember where she put the highly advanced piece of alien technology, so she went from the shield and lighthook to her phone, using two hands to take the picture. This is not bad writing. This is you being overly nitpicky and using outside real world hindsight knowledge in order to criticize. I’m all for criticizing writers, but this was reasonable in-universe for Sydney to do.
Also I’m not sure how calling me a lawyer is an insult. I’m a lawyer. Unless you think I’m plotting to make everyone think I’m a lawyer when I’m not, which seems like a really stupid lie. Plus anything I’ve ever said from a legal setting has always been easily proven, since I usually give either case law or statutes to back up what I say. Or you could simply look up what I say yourself. Then even if, for some insane reason, I was trying to perpetrate the illusion of being an attorney (barred in Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania, plus a federal sponsorship), the information I have given would still be accurate every time.
Unless you think calling someone lawyer genuinely is an insult in which case uh… okay?
“4) Drop off the alien tech where it will remain unguarded. Stupid and unnecessary.
This eliminates the need for the Lighthook orb, and frees up a hand, which she then fills with her”
Unguarded FAR FROM THE BATTLE, which is the point. Also the reason why it’s reasonable that Sydney would not expect to have been attacked here.
So how much longer would you like to argue, Oberon? Since this page was several days ago now.
You’re really going to need to be more specific. I was specific, and if you can’t follow along, then you’re probably not a lawyer. Or you’re a lousy lawyer. Because as the joke goes: What do you call the person who graduates last in their class from law school? A lawyer.
First, I never said the Lighthook wasn’t needed. Other posters pointed this out, and it is a very valid point given that Sydney has been shown using the Force Field and Flight orbs in tandem to transport heavy things. So claiming that this meta knowlege is simply foolish. I didn’t bring it up because I knew that my position didn’t require it. But since you did, enjoy the egg on your face for once again arguing against all logic and reason in your desperate attempt to support the insupportable.
This is hilarious because Sydney couldn’t have her shield up while holding the stasis pod with the Lighthook and flying with the Flight orb. So your entire “required her to have her shield up the entire time” statement is a fiction that you invented. Nice try.
Nice try again on bringing up sleep. Any reasonable person will understand that Sydney can’t use the Force field always. But she has been ordered to keep it up, and we never saw that order countermanded. What you’re saying is that you believe it to be poorly reasoned that “miles away, at the top of a skyscraper” Sydney should suddenly feel free to disobey her orders, and also fail to follow common sense. This is an incredible reach, and it itself very poorly reasoned. She just left a combat area. She intended to return to that combat area. She has no real concept of the forces arrayed against Archon, which is why she never should have left to carry out this idiot “leave alien tech lying around unguarded” task in the first place. But flying away for one minute or five doesn’t mean you suddenly relax and drop your combat readiness stance. To do so is to be handed the Idiot Ball.
Specious and irrelevant.
The GPS gives you the building. A simple count gives you the floor. Sydney flew and and landed within a few yards of passing by the plastic barriers, so there’s no need for any internal pictures. Try again.
This is an assertion you make without any backing citations. I have laid out in detail exactly how you are wrong, how Sydney was not only not cautious with a numbed list of how she could have done things differently/more cautiously, and also in violation of her standing orders to be as incautious as she was, and all you can come up with is essentially a “Nu’uh!” response. Great job, lawyer.
Another “Nu’uh!” response… I’ve described in detail, more than once, why picture taking was not only unnecessary but as we see it being carried out, not going to accomplish what it was said to be done for. Not using any “meta knowledge” or hindsight, just simple, common sense. You respond with a gainsay and nothing else. Are you a lawyer, or a Monty Python skit about arguments?
What exactly is your point? All I see is more assertions without citations to back them. Sydney flew for how long and at what speed? How far is “FAR FROM THE BATTLE?” We’ve seen another flyer, we know that people like Opal exist who can create portals, aliens are present with who knows what capabilities in their wonderful gadgets, and you’re really going to lean on “it was far away, Sydney was fully justified to act like she was picnicking and not in a combat situation” as your position? Feel free, if you really want to go that route. But again, I’m not seeing much reasoning from you, just assertions lacking any backing from logic. I’d think that a lawyer would be more used to both providing backing for their statements and also calling out the opposing council’s statement which have no backing. But what do I know, I’m not a lawyer and don’t claim to be one.
All you really seem to be arguing is that Sydney was fully justified in being stupid. That the author handing her the Idiot Ball wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
Justified to be stupid in accepting the stupid task to leave a combat situation where her powers would have been very well applied and potentially desperately needed to hare off to go “hide” alien tech, unguarded, in a city of 8 million people.
Justified to be stupid to immediately relax once she rounded a corner on a combat where deadly forces were being thrown around. Where she had no idea how many foes Archon was facing. Where she didn’t even know exactly what was going on.
Justified to be stupid to ignore her orders about keeping up the force field.
Justified to be stupid to forget her tech and rely on redundant and unnecessary duplication of effort of functions her tech already provides her.
You fail to back that argument with anything more eloquent than “Nu’uh!” Which could simply be shortened to the first two words: You fail.
“You’re really going to need to be more specific. I was specific, and if you can’t follow along, then you’re probably not a lawyer. Or you’re a lousy lawyer.”
Or you’re incapable of making a coherent argument based on countering what I post. Considering most of your arguments tend to be to make insults, I’m going to go with that.
“Because as the joke goes: What do you call the person who graduates last in their class from law school? A lawyer.”
Do you ever make a post that isnt an ad hominem attack? It doesn’t speak well for your abilityto make a reasonable argument.
“First, I never said the Lighthook wasn’t needed. ”
You said ‘This eliminates the need for the Lighthook orb, and frees up a hand, which she then fills with her.’
“So claiming that this meta knowlege is simply foolish”
No. Try to follow me here. The metaknowledge you’re using is taking rather irrational precautions for an area that’s miles away from the battle and many stories up. Plus it would assume that to put the container IN the shield to fly with it, she’d have taken down the shield down where the battle was actually raging first, rather than taking down the shield only once she is in the air where only the LLC flier had any sort of opportunity to attack her. You are using metaknowledge in your ‘woulda coulda shoulda’ arguments for Sydney.
“This is hilarious because Sydney couldn’t have her shield up while holding the stasis pod with the Lighthook and flying with the Flight orb. So your entire “required her to have her shield up the entire time” statement is a fiction that you invented.”
When on the ground, she was using the shield and the lighthook. She only needed to remove the shield once she was flying with the container, which still minimizes her ability to be attacked to just one person – the LLC flier – the only LLC person who can attack her when she’s high enough in the air. When she’s on the ground pretty much every member of the LLC, plus the alien mercs, can attack her. Not to mention she wouldnt even KNOW ABOUT THE SUPER LLC YET BECAUSE SHE LEFT THE AREA BEFORE BRUT MADE HIS APPEARANCE, DURING WHICH THE ALIENS WERE ALREADY RATHER DECISIVELY BEATEN ANYWAY. So her main goal was to keep the container away from humans. So no, it’s not a fiction I created. It’s me being more observant than you and not using metaknowledge when looking at Sydney’s choices.
“Any reasonable person will understand that Sydney can’t use the Force field always.”
Technically she can keep it up pretty much consistently now that she has use of the life support orb. And she did use both orbs when sleeping the first night after getting back to Earth. Not sure why you’re even bringing that up as an argument though, but it’s another thing that you’re wrong about.
“This is an incredible reach, and it itself very poorly reasoned. She just left a combat area. She intended to return to that combat area.”
Okay you just admitted that she left the combat area. Why would you assume she would keep a shield up when she’s NOT in the combat area, if she needed both the lighthook and the flight orb to carry the container to where she now is? The only reason she would think that would be if using metaknowledge, which is the entire source of your argument. Metaknowledge. I’m not sure why you can’t understand the flaw in your posts. If you have to use outside-of-universe knowledge when trying to think as the character, you’re not thinking as the character.
“What you’re saying is that you believe it to be poorly reasoned that “miles away, at the top of a skyscraper” Sydney should suddenly feel free to disobey her orders,”
How would she be disobeying orders? Her orders are to shield up when in a danger area. She was out of the danger area, plus is incapable of flying while having a shield up AND carrying the lighthook. The only way to fly with the container while in a shield would be to put the container in the shield with her, which would necessitate her taking down the shield while she was on the ground IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BATTLE AREA.
“and also fail to follow common sense.”
Again you are mistaking metaknowledge and 20/20 HINDSIGHT with common sense. I notice you never made a post BEFORE she got to the building that Sydney’s plan to get the container far from the battle area was stupid. You are relying on things that no one in universe could know would happen, and even that you did not know days ago would happen. Your argument makes no sense at all if you don’t rely on … say it with me again… metaknowledge.
“She intended to return to that combat area.”
And when she returned to a combat area, THAT would be when she puts up the shield again. When she’s in a situation where common sense, not metaknowledge from being a reader, would dictate that she would be in danger without a shield up.
“She has no real concept of the forces arrayed against Archon, which is why she never should have left to carry out this idiot “leave alien tech lying around unguarded” task in the first place. But flying away for one minute or five doesn’t mean you suddenly relax and drop your combat readiness stance. To do so is to be handed the Idiot Ball.”
Do you not realize that Sydney left the area BEFORE the Super LLC even made their debut?
Here… just in case you forgot, which I think you did:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-883-garbage-duty/
Brut doesnt make an appearance until later. The Flier girl doesn’t either. Concretia definitely doesn’t. There’s absolutely no rationale for why Sydney would suddenly think there’s a consortium of evil super mercenaries, since when she left to hide the container, there were just alien mercs, most of whom were being thorougly trounced by Arc-SWAT already.
The only reason you think she should know about it to think that there’s a reason for so much caution, miles away from the combat area, against people who she would not even know about yet, is because you are incapable of not using metaknowledge in your arguments.
“But flying away for one minute or five doesn’t mean you suddenly relax and drop your combat readiness stance. To do so is to be handed the Idiot Ball.”
I’m seriously thinking that you forgot when Sydney left the combat zone.
“The GPS gives you the building. A simple count gives you the floor. Sydney flew and and landed within a few yards of passing by the plastic barriers, so there’s no need for any internal pictures. Try again.”
Do you also not realize that 2 strips ago, she even hid the container on this floor with the lighthook? She even says ‘no one will find it here.’ She’s taking pictures to remember where she hid it, especially if she goes back and forgets, let alone forgets the floor number she’s on. It’s not nearly as easy to remember a floor number FROM OUTSIDE than to just take pictures. Especially for someone with a sketchy memory sometimes hampered by her ADD if her pills wear out.
“This is an assertion you make without any backing citations.”
Oh for crying out loud. Here’s a citation.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-883-garbage-duty/
Sydney left the area before there were any badguy supers, after the aliens were already being beaten, and moments before Maxima was going to get out of her containment anyway. Dabbler told her to ‘Go fly somewhere out of sight and hide this thing for now, will you’ – in the fifth panel.
Oberon, you do not have a good memory, and you do not argue well. I am not saying this as an insult. I’m just saying it as a fact that you’re proving in your arguments, just like you did not remember what ‘Vermillion’ means in another post that you snipped at me on elsewhere.
This is not supposed to be a flame war, but you try to make everything into a flame war and it does not look good on you.
“I have laid out in detail exactly how you are wrong,”
No, you have not. You’ve just made ad hominem insults, then said specious and irrelevant, then used metaknowledge and forgot when Sydney LEFT THE BATTLE AREA. You also forgot that she was literally following what Dabbler told her to do, word for word.
“how Sydney was not only not cautious with a numbed list of how she could have done things differently/more cautiously,”
Literally nothing you’ve said she should have done would have made any sense without having future metaknowledge that you can only get as a reader looking at the comic from the future from when she first decided to hide the container somewhere ‘far out of sight.’
“and also in violation of her standing orders to be as incautious as she was,”
She literally was following an order when doing this. I already pointed out the link and panel since you need a citation, since you don’t seem able to remember what happened only a few weeks ago.
“and all you can come up with is essentially a “Nu’uh!” response. Great job, lawyer.”
Now in addition to trying to make another ad hominem attack, as if calling me a lawyer is an insult, you’re also making a strawman argument, since you cannot seem to argue against what I’ve posted.
“Another “Nu’uh!” response… ”
You really need to stop strawmanning.
“I’ve described in detail, more than once, why picture taking was not only unnecessary but as we see it being carried out, not going to accomplish what it was said to be done for. Not using any “meta knowledge” or hindsight, just simple, common sense.”
Where would Sydney have known that an LLC of super mercs was about to attack, when she left when they had not yet arrived/shown themselves? You are using metaknowledge. Just deal with it, admit that you goofed, and that can be it. Doubling down like you are is just making you look worse – especially since you’re just strawmanning and making insults instead of actual arguments based on anything that happens in the comic from Sydney’s in universe perspective at the time.
“You respond with a gainsay and nothing else.”
Actually I’m contradicting you AND giving proof of why you’re wrong. Multiple times.
“Are you a lawyer, or a Monty Python skit about arguments?”
Another insult because you can’t argue coherently. Seriously, you always do this, whether it’s with Geusticus or anyone else. You just engage in ad hominems or unnecessary insults. It makes you look very petty and angry, which I think happens with you mainly when you realize that you’re wrong and are doubling down, although I do notice you’ve done this a lot of other times for no reason – usually with Guesticus or occasionally Yorp or Rhuen or a couple other regular posters.
“What exactly is your point? All I see is more assertions without citations to back them. Sydney flew for how long and at what speed? How far is “FAR FROM THE BATTLE?”
Once again, my point is she is far from the battle and out of sight, which is what she was doing when hiding the container, just like Dabbler told her to do. Also the is taking place in Times Square – where she is now is clearly NOT Times Square. There are no buildings under construction in Times Square. She’s probably quite a few blocks away, especially since she doesnt even seem to know, QUITE REASONABLY, that there are more Super merc LLCs now there an not just alien mercs.
Future-sense is not one of Sydney’s powers. She cannot tell the future of what happened after she already left the area.
“Justified to be stupid to immediately relax once she rounded a corner on a combat where deadly forces were being thrown around.”
There were literally 14 comic strips between where Sydney left and now. That’s not ‘immediately relaxing and just ’rounding a corner on combat where deadly forces were being thrown around.’ In fact, Sydney would not have known that any of that would happen – the alien mercs were all in complete disarray, most were already beaten when she left, except the one holding Maxima in a stasis beam, which seemed to not be something that would be a case much longer.
“You fail to back that argument with anything more eloquent than “Nu’uh!” Which could simply be shortened to the first two words: You fail.”
I’ve litearlly given multiple reasons why you’re wrong, and backed up my argument, now even including a link to show that you either forgot when Sydney left or are just being disingenuous with your argument and how it relies entirely on metaknowledge that Sydney could not possibly have known about, which is why there would be almost no reason to maintain the paranoid level of caution that you think you would have had in her place, despite being ‘far away from the battle (as per Dabbler’s directive which she said she was going to follow), before there were any enemy supers, and after almost all the alien mercs were already taken care of.
Just give up Oberon. You’re wrong.
“Because as the joke goes: What do you call the person who graduates last in their class from law school? A lawyer.”
PS – graduating from law school does not make you a lawyer. That just gives you a JD (Juris Doctorate). Passing a state bar exam makes you a lawyer.
Passing several state bar exams in different states and getting a federal sponsorship from another attorney so you can argue in Federal Court as well… makes you a lawyer as well. That would be me.
Well it isn’t mittens but I guess even superman had a bunch of different types of kryptonite
Keep the pink kryptonite away from Dabbler.
Pretty sure Dabbler made a toy from the pink kryptonite.
Superman also had a few other weaknesses, or at least things against which he had no more defenses than a normal person would have.
Other weaknesses:
Psionic Attacks – although Superman was somewhat resistant to this – both because a Kryptonian brain decompartmentalizes itself, which helps to keep them from being overwhelmed from all the sensory input from their super senses, and lets them manage that sensory input. He was also resistant because Martian Manhunter built up some psionic walls in Superman’s mind to help prevent someone from taking over his mind, at Batman’s suggestion and Superman’s agreement.
Magic – while Superman does not have a ‘weakness’ per se against magic, he has no special defenses more than any other person. It depends on the effect of the magic. Which is why ‘magically enhanced strength’ doesn’t do anything to Superman beyond it being ‘super strength’ (which is why Captain Marvel or Wonder Woman (or Thor in the crossovers) can’t just kill Superman with a single punch, despite their strength coming from magic or divinity). But Sueprman can be turned into a pig from circe, and be hurt by a magical blast, although he still will have invulnerabilty to help, and superhuman healing to help as well. Captain Marvel’s best attack on Superman tended to be the magical lightning btw, which brings me to the next thing
Incredibly high voltages of electricity: While Superman is invulnerable to ‘high’ levels of electricity, like a taser or even upwards of 150,000 volts, there’s a certain point where electricity DOES hurt him. Batman in the future in The Dark Knight Returns uses the combined electricity of a quarter of Gotham to electrocute Superman right in the head and it almost takes him out completely. Plus one of Superman’s more significant villains, before she turned and became good, was Livewire, who was able to hurt him on multiple occasions because of how much electricity she can belt out. Darkseid also has a weapon called the agony matrix which uses electricity on a colosssal scale to cause pain in every nerve in the body – used in the Justice League cartoon. It almost killed Superman and had him immobilized long enough for Darkseid to almost carve out Superman’s heart (and would have, if Lex Luthor of all people did not save Superman by giving Darkseid the antilife equation, which destroyed both Luthor and Darkseid). And that time, Superman was not holding back at all.
Red solar radiation – Kryptonians get their powers because they are solar batteries. Yellow sunlight gives Superman-level amounts of power, White and blue stars put Superman’s powers into overdrive to the point where he can’t even control them (as does a double or triple sun-based planet, which happened to Supergirl on Rand where she flew at Mach 80 around the planet multiple times when she was just trying to fly fast to get her two friends away from, I believe, enemy thanagarians). Orange solar radiation gives Kryptonians enhanced superstrength and SOME invulnerability but only about a quarter of what they have under a yellow sun. This was the case with most of the Kryptonians who had escaped Krypton in the kryptonian armada when they were mostly killed by a kryptonian hunter – Karsta Wor-Ul was one of the few survivors, who then hid on Earth instead for almost 40 years.
Blocking the yellow solar radiation will mean a Kryptonian can’t use their powers, except for whatever yellow solar radiation they have stored up in them. Different powers eat away at their reserves faster – heat vision eats away at the reserves the fastest. Then supersenses. Then flight. Then superstrength. Then finally invulnerability, which lower and lowers until it goes away and cannot be replenished until they have more yellow solar radiaiton stored up. And I’m not even making this up at all – this was listed in the comics in that very order and even shown in multiple cartoons in Superman TAS and Justice League. Also in Superman: Unbound – in the Bottle City of Kandor. His strength and invulnerability were the last things to go. Strength went first. Then invulnerability started going.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvS2GPNj_os
There’s also a metal called Inerton that even Superman has trouble with – think of it as a DC version of (Adamantium + Vibrainium) x 100. Another metal called Nth Metal seems to hurt also when fashioned into weapons, although that might be because of its origins – basically it was created from Cthulu, essentially, and was given to the Thanagarians.
Okay, new rule for Halo- keep one hand on an orb AT ALL TIMES.
Or have them under her clothes or something. ‘Cause I was just WAITING for this to happen.
Having them under her clothes would create a barrier to her ability to use them. She’s verified through rigorous testing that her hands are the only parts of her body that can activate the orbs.
Concretia has some new tricks, don’t recall her having geokinesis last time she appeared. Guess she practiced and figured out she could do more than petramorphic possession.
She may not have brought out all her abilities in that fight. At first, it didn’t seem like it was needed. And then, it didn’t seem like it’d help enough. So it was better for her to just scram and save her better tricks for a fight when it could matter.
By the look of things, Concretia has her orbs captured in a small room of concrete. Walls seem to be 2-3 cm thick. Orbs have room to move, and we know they can move with enough force to break bone. It is a possibility that they can beak through the concrete while Sydney were distracting Concretia with the gun.
and it was a big arm taken from a troll too, so likely regardless of regeneration more durable than a regular human arm. It their higher speeds the orbs should be able to break out.
Their top speed can break bone, but there’s not much room to accelerate in there. Whether or not they can break out is essentially for DaveB to decide, but my impression is that “if it’s possible, it’ll take some time.”
You know, if she had four arms like Xuriel she’d be able to make far more effective use of her powers. And Frix clearly wouldn’t mind. There are two in-story ways this might be achieved: magic, and hard-light prostheses. Siddles won’t go for it but she’s competitive. All it would take is drinking games and losing a bet to Dabbler. Dabbler may be a dilettante and a sex maniac with no filter but she’s also very bright and a bit of a trickster when the mood takes her. She certainly wouldn’t see anything wrong with manoeuvring Sidney into making what is objectively a good choice.
I have doubts about whether or not the orbs would be compatible with prosthetics. At bare minimum, hardlight wouldn’t be good, since the limbs don’t have a physical connection to her body. Fully mechanical limbs are a maybe (since they’re hardwired into her nervous system).
Magically grown limbs would best, since they would be organically part of her body. But, still questionable, considering that the orbs don’t function with other parts of her body.
Even if it did work, it would take months of practice to adapt to her new body configuration.
Cora happens to have a cell forge handy… She could grow a couple arms and Dabbler could surgically attach them. Did Syd ever try to use orbs with her feet? evolutionarily they are not that different from hands in primates
Yes, Sydney used every part of her body, including her butt
Yes, Sydney has tried using her feet. No, it didn’t work. Neither did several other body parts.
Attach extra arms physically, maybe. Wire them into the nervous system, to the extent that they’re as functional as the existing ones, doubtful (unless you count crippling the existing ones to match, which I don’t). Getting sufficient experience using the new ones to match the real-world functionality of the existing ones, probably months to years of practice at least, during most of which time they’ll be a significant hindrance (and that’s assuming the wiring-in works).
It’s a lot easier to replace a part that the body and brain are already wired to work with than it is to add a completely new part.
I also doubt prosthetics of any kind would work, given how direct skin contact seems necessary. Additional arms via magic, gene-modding or any other method that gives her biological arms probably depends on how the orbs are bonded to her. Personally, I doubt it’s a genetic key and it works with a mental link of sorts (or even deeper and the connection is to her soul, if that exists), so it might actually work.
I think the fact that the orbs only work with her hands, probably even when properly grasped (not sure if we’ve ever seen an effect when the orb was only touching her palm), indicates that there is some symbolic aspect to how they work (taking the orb into her hand == taking control of the corresponding functions).
Maybe not that much intrinsically, but because of Sydney subconsciously limiting herself or needs a mental crutch.
Like the PPO having the resistance to being fired at the demonstration, which sounded like it was new to her despite having previously fired the orb by accident.
Maybe she’ll reach the point where she won’t actually need to be in contact with them at all and just get full control over all functions all the time (way down the line in the last chapters when she singlehandedly saves the multiverse).
She’d need to learn actual multitasking though, I’m not even sure we’ve seen her use more than one active power at once, mostly shield plus flight, PPO, Lighthook or Truesight/Telepresence.
Sydney absolutely would go for it. Dabbler actually talked her out of it, on the basis that it might not work with her orbs.
there’s a difference between cutting off a limb to replace it, and adding a new/additional limb.
Huh just reread/looked closely at the last panel. Sydney would of been better served shooting the Ball bag then the villains head. That’s after action analyst bullshit though. Right trained reaction for ALMOST any other situation.
Oh No! Another teachable moment!
Good reflexes Sydney. A real credit to your training. Now remember to do the next step you were taught which is eject the magazine and let it drop to the ground while you slide a new magazine in place and release the slide.
Hopefully this will be dealt with in a way that makes it unnecessary to report the event happened when she lost situational awareness to take a selfie while a battle was taking place outside. Bonus points for being resolved in a way that won’t require Max to write the dreaded letter referenced by Goose in the movie Top Gun:
“The defense department regrets to inform you that your sons are dead because they were stupid.”
Can’t wait to see how she gets out of this one.
In some fairness here, she’s not taking a selfie. She’s taking pictures of where she hid the stasis pod.
In further fairness, she did retain situational awareness enough to overhear the sound of an foe in a room which she previously thought was clear because the foe was literally hiding inside concrete.
okay…..assuming Concretia wasn’t just waiting in a random building and got lucky
Concretia may have a RL meat sack laying around somewhere, but her out of body form can fly at Sydney pokey speed, speak (last frame speaks with no upper jaw/head), animate sedimentary stone and geokinesis (perhaps limited by strength as Hench Wench, augmented by Brut and flyer, is moving a butt-ton of New York around)
Sydney’s orbs, as the examiners have told us, don’t really exist in meaningful ways. As such, they are pandimensional-ish (like mice*). When Sydney really really wants them, they should be able to duck around the 4 dimensional concrete shell and return to Sydney’s hand.
I wonder if Concretia’s hypothetical meat sack is vulnerable.
* https://aliens.fandom.com/wiki/Mouse_(The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy)
btw, i count 16 shots, not 12
A quick trip to Wikipedia says that the ‘standard’ size magazines have 20 rounds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_Five-seven
the Five-seveN has a ridiculously large magazine size for a handgun. almost “action-hero, reload only when it’s cool” size
FN with a narrow high speed round instead of fat and slow like most light calibers, which lets them fit more in. Same principle behind a lot of scifi ‘needler’ guns that shoot a bazillion rounds.
How do you get 16? They are groups of three, where did the other four shots come from?
gakk! you’re right. for some reason I saw them as groups of 4
I only see 12 shots – 3 in each of four panels.
As the orbs can move fast enough to keep up with Sydney when she is flying at over Mach 4, you’d think she’d be able to will them to accelerate enough to impact that concrete shell like a cannonball.
They’re not moving independently. They’re inertia locked to her.
Good reflexes Sydney! Assuming that the orbs are nigh-indestructible, willing them to start randomly bouncing around in there as hard as they can should immediately commence. Especially since she likely can’t get far enough from the orbs to grab a sledgehammer or other tool to work on extracting them from outside their prison.
“Why does she need training??” Well…
VERMILLION! VERMILLION!
Chartreuse! Chartreuse!
We’re just yelling out random colors, right?
No. ‘Vermillion’ is Halo’s code word in case she’s ever captured and unable to use her orbs, in order to alert ARCHON to her situation without letting her captors know. It was either that, or ‘Fidelio.’ They wouldnt allow cloaca (but at least that gave Halo a point on ‘Make Maxima Say’ Bingo.
In case you forgot, here’s the link:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-425-in-case-shes-ever-a-damsel-in-duress/
The orbs have been shown to be fairly powerful just on their own, not to mention probably indestructible. Or at least close enough so for our purposes. It wouldn’t surprise me if they react negatively to being forcibly contained like that. Sydney can put them in a tube, others trying it will have less success.
Not the PPO going off and shooting up the place – although that would be interesting – just that they decide they are going to return to their orbit, and no mere concrete is going to impede them.
Not saying it *will* go down that way (although I think it would be pretty cool if it did), just that it wouldn’t surprise me if that was the direction things went.
It would be a good thing if the orbs are able to sense that Sydney’s in danger and activate on their own to protect her. It would be a major flaw in their design if the user/owner could be so easily deprived of being able to use them in this manner.
Let’s not forget that these were found in the ocean floor topography equivalent of a ditch, presumably after their previous owner met their untimely demise. I would not bet on them having advanced security features. :P
I am still betting on fell out of the pram/car while some higher dimensional beings were on vacation and they’re the equivalent to a children’s toy. (rule of funny advanced sci-fi tech trope).
True but there’s something to be said for depowering Sydney and forcing her to play smart rather than Deus Ex Orbing it. Plus having the orbs be proactive undermines tension since in the future we’ll know they can try to help on there own.
now that concretia is on field, no we also get budget halo?
what if concertia is actualy marble maiden hero or who ever? they claim they never seen or can find her or so on thus alter ego
Upvote! Considering the super n question used both Concrete and asphalt in its bodies… Good idea!!!
When I was asked “If you had super powers, would you be a hero, or a villain?” I answered “BOTH!”.
Can you think of a better alibi? Better still to only demonstrate some of your power as a hero, and the rest as a villain, maybe with a little overlap. “I couldn’t possibly be Doctor Villain, you see, I’m Captain Heropants!”
Also, as a villain you could get to know other villains, and form your own criminal syndicate, and use your hero identity, taking what you know from villain interaction, and round up the villains who threaten your power base, or refuse to play ball. You can arm your henchmen with a weapon that will repel Captain HeroPants and allow them to escape, through not defeat, him
You mean, someone like Blatman?
Blatman’s alter ego is an eccentric tuba player.
The webnovel Summus Proelium by CeruleanScrawling has that as a premise – the leader of the local official hero group is actually a super-supervillain who runs a protection racket on the regular supervillains – if you don’t pay, you get busted by the “heroes”.
It’s odd how you never see Captain Heropants and Doctor Villain in the same place at the same time!….
Or Pander and Valeur in the same room…
I don’t know who Valeur is, or I’d be able to make some hilarious response to this post, I’m sure.
That’s why you hire a body double to wear your costume in strategic times and places.
That makes sense to me. Plus I guess it was a stupid thought anyway. Doctor Villain wears glasses and Captain Heropants does not. They’re completely different.
That’s why you make a loyal henchman put on your costume and pretend to be you from time to time.
oh, that is going to be a problem… but i wonder where is Sydney planning to run to if the Orbs cannot get too far away from her (or vice versa).
That is going to be a problem.
also about the Vote Incentive: damn, is that even possible?
most of them, yes. Dabbler? I think it’s safe to say that succubi joints and spins can do things humans can only (wet)dream of.
Concrete does not have a lot of strength in tension, so the orbs may be able to force their way out, depending on how much force they can exert. Of course, this also means Sydney is tethered to this spot for the time being. She’s lucky concretia is less murderous than the others.
Yes on all points.
I had always hoped that Concretia was just a regular person (albeit with powers) who had been unduly influenced by Vehemence’s aggro aura.
But we have yet to see how this scene plays out
…and stuck there too, unless she releases, the orbs!
In the Rock Paper Scissors game that the super hero world is, can we appreciate the fact that someone used rock powers to throw paper against Sydney?
He he. Nicely put.
Sydney shall have to respond with lizard to employ Spock.
One thing I’m going to hope is that Concreta doesn’t try to force Sydney away from the balls. We haven’t seen what the result of that is, but the balls are indestructible, and Max extends a toughness field around whatever (tubey) she’s holding with her strength (required secondary power to keep her fingers from shearing through things), but the human body is a lot squishier than either of those two things. If Sydney’s head is anchored and Concreta starts putting some serious force behind it, it does not look good for Sydney.
We have seen that the orbs will simply move to keep up with Sydney. For instance when Sydney is driving along in her car, they just bob along above her head, even though the car is whizzing along. Importantly they are Nth generation technomagic (or comparable). Meaning that it is unlikely the orbs themselves will cause direct harm to their wielder, in order to follow out their mandate to not be separated.
Yes, your logic is good, but the best technomagic that the galaxy has to offer probably will not be as fallible as our caveman-like (in comparison) technology.
they have harmed her. Math got Sydney to accidentally smack herself in the ankle with one.
(that said a Nth level being likely wouldn’t be harmed by them: an example from my own series is the transdimensional beings’ idea of “unbreakable interactive dolls” turned into the elder gods and eldritch abominations of mortal worlds).
*although that does raise the question of where along this beyond third level, I mean if using the Kardeshev scale *expanded edition* as the basis. This series has the 1 and 2 about matching up equivalent between speed and power usage. The thirds are ascended beings which yeah (multi-system, dyson sphere, possibly a whole galaxy’s worth of power and tech beyond anything humans can rationalize properly without a handwave…looking at you all anime that comes across less as super powerful beings and tech and more like your realities are made out of super flammable tissue paper).
but above this we are looking magnitudes of difference, I mean the power to control two galaxies is already exponentially greater than controlling one galaxy. So its hardly a rational one step up to say multi-galaxy control, let alone galactic cluster, or entire universes. Heck having an alien race that can isolate and manipulate the laws of physics and magic within a section of space or pocket dimension; or can trigger the mechanism required and manipulate the starting physics but not absolute control over an infinitely expanding on its own universe may not even require the same levels of “energy usage” as this is limited human understanding of physics (push harder) and at some level after unlocking a way to manipulate finer elements/dimensions of the universe have a way to pull or slide or toggle physics rather than push them so require less energy.
so yeah, Nth can be pretty much anything up that away and the trillions of degrees between (we are Ascended) and (We are the goddesses that created the infinite interconnected multiverse),
but that said, yeah, pretty good chance the durability on those orbs is high enough and we’ve seen them accelerate when upgrading pretty fast that they should be able to break out of that concrete. Hell hit anything with something harder than it and fast or slow it will break through at some point…possibly softer and still do it at fast enough with enough pounds per square inch focused in one spot (see tornado sending straw to embed into a telephone pole), and conversely on the slow, grass breaking through concrete.
Yorp, I think you’re underestimating the most common source of disaster of all, janky UIs and people forgetting to sanity check their work.
The ability to overcome air resistance is radically different from being able to build up enough momentum to push through concrete over several inches.
We have seen the orbs exert force on Sydney in the first meeting with Maxima, but we don’t know how they’ve tested them to see what the limits are. We do know that if Sydney gives them a command to move a specific way, they’ll impact her hard enough to cause pain (Sydney vs Math II, Electric Boogaloo), so it could be that they’re not all that intelligent.
The best way to test this would be to have someone like Maxima hold all the orbs and then have the floor under Sydney lowered. If we hit the limit and Sydney starts floating, we’ll know that they’d at least counteract gravity, but we haven’t seen this specific set of limits tested. I would like to see her try the same stunt the main character in Apocalypse: Reborn does and try to stand on them and control their motion to fly (Not a major spoiler if I recall, because MC discovers this utility function very early on).
It’s not Sydney’s head which is anchored. It’s whole Sydney. Any force applied to Sydney will be transferred to the orbs effectively pushing them against the concrete.
The rift in the construction curtain in the background made this strip –really– confusing.
Can we just acknowledge, that Sydney just stuck a gun in somebodys mouth and pumped them full of lead. Without hesitation. “[…]Either made of Stone, or coated in it.” this could have gone waaay different.
IRL, something like this can (and should) be a career ending move.
Does she go to counselling for the “stranded on alien planet and fighting for life and death” thing?
In the parking lot fight, Peggy put a 0.50 round through Concretia’s head with essentially no effect except to delay her for a few seconds. That was undoubtedly in the after-action briefings that Sydney had to sit through. She knows that shooting Concretia is at most going to slow her down and give Sydney a chance to escape.
She knew from information gleaned at the debriefing the day after the restaurant fight that blowing Concretia’s head off was simply inconvenient for Concretia. I’m 100% certain they reviewed it under the “what worked?” discussion.
My take on this is she identified Concretia while drawing, and followed through on the disabling shooting. Sadly, it appears Concretia has upped her game in the intervening 2 months or so since the fight, so she still has control of the lower half of her “body”.
In the mouth, less chance of ricochete than trying for a “kneecap”.
Confirmed by the author’s comment in his blog above. Sydney instantly recognised Concretia and has been fully debriefed on her capabilities and the appropriate way to counter her. Which, yea, has been less effective than when Peggy developed it.
“IRL, something like this can (and should) be a career ending move.”
Given the points I mentioned, Sydney knows that shooting Concretia would not cause any lasting harm or even pain. Which, despite our initial viseral reactions that it seems wrong, is not actually. It is appropriate to use a non-lethal (non-dangerous for that matter) attack in response to this attempt to divest her of her property and negate her capability to act in her police role.
If you were to put your hand on a cop’s gun, she would be entitled to restrain you, or otherwise counter that action, without making a comment first. The immediate threat overrides the need / practicality of issuing a warning.
Just as Sydney recognised Concretia, she will have easily been able to do so with Halo, especially having had the luxury of spying on her whilst unobserved. Sydney (with her orbs) is highly distinctive and is wearing her uniform, so clearly Concretia is acting with deliberate and targeted malice.
I’m sorry, but why exactly would this be “Career Ending” if it was anybody other than Concretia?
She may not have been actively engaged in combat, but Sydney was still in a hostile environment and somebody just snuck up on her and disabled her primary method of less-than-lethal combat.
Assuming lethal intent and falling back on training to immediately bring her sidearm to bare and unloading it on her would-be attacker should be well within her rights.
Plus, her boss is Maxima, the woman whose opening moves in serious fights include blowing a guy’s arm off, firing lasers strong enough to blow up a bridge as collateral, and Kneecapping with a BFG.
I’m with Sydney on this one. If anybody hostile grabs my balls, I would shoot the top of their head off too!
If I had a gun. And hands.
OK, OK, I’d bite them.
Considering what the orbs did to max at the beginning of the comic when she tried to move the tube with the orbs in it i doubt this Cillian will have much luck
There is a difference. Max was trying to move them away from Halo. Which they will not allow. Ever. But here all Concretia is doing is stopping them going into Halo’s hand. Which she has confirmed even a humble pair of mittens can do.
That said though, you may well be right, in that Sydney can still mentally command them to move. Whichever one she was calling (her usual go to being the force field orb) failed to get through the concrete mitten. However that was simply a ‘come to me’ command. A ‘smash that concrete to bits’ may have a much more positive result. The mitten is not that thick, and is presenting a surface curved the wrong way to maximise compressive strength. To the contrary it is probably weakest on the inside of a dome.
Whilst Sydney’s shots have shown that Concretia’s material parts are not super strong, and fracture just as readily as normal material of the type.
But Dave does have wiggler room, depending on how this plays out. Because if the orbs do not have enough room to move and build up momentum, then they could well be trapped.
Sigh… Real world physics vs material strength under manipulation by super powers…. High rise column concrete strength is about 8000+ lbs per square inch in compression…. Aka “Shattering” along stress/ give lines. Under Concretea’s power the material may be more ductial, so more silly putty then crystal…..
If Xuriel grabbed my balls I’d… get ready for the ride of my life. Biting is not entirely out of the question.
Sydney’s quick reaction is a tribute to Peggy’s training. Just giving credit where it’s due.
Agreed. Although, to give Sydney her own credit, she has frequently shown very fast reactions. The most similar circumstances being when buttsniffer tried to backstab her. But she also whacked Dabbler with a chair the instant that she revealed herself as a demon. And numerous other instances too (not least of which being landing a solid hit on Math).
So I think the greatest achievement is the unsung restraint that Peggy (and Maxima) have drummed into Sydney, as evidenced by the lack of a trail of unconscious people around Archon HQ and its environs.
Yet, as you say, Peggy did this selectively enough that Sydney has not lost her hair-trigger response to a crisis.
She just keeps her finger off the trigger at less appropriate times, and has not drawn the gun other than when necessary. Good gun discipline.
Oh, the periwinkle buttsniffer was the other dude. Anyhow the guy who tried to perforate her, and got his balls squished between her orbs.
Glad you brought up Peri, just learnt that periwinkle (the plant) is associated with death, which is why it is used as part of a brides headdress thingie on her wedding day
If I recall Sydney has a microphone in her neck thing but I’m not sure what activities it.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-157-exodus-abruptus/
“Press here. Just to the side of your throat”
I don’t even remember who that is
One of the many supers that Vehemence “recruited” into attacking Arc-SWAT at the steak house. Notable achievements include briefly insisting that a normal human like Math couldn’t hurt her and then demonstrating that Peggy could use a .50 cal non-lethally.
Here. In case you forgot who Concretia is:
Concretia – Strength 3-4, Armor 2-4, Speculated Abilities: Petraekinesis or Petraegenesis (control/manipulation of rock/boulders/shaped stones, as used in buildings)
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-208-arc-light-earns-their-keep/
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-209-dramatic-speed-lines-ensue/
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-216-50-caliber-headache/
It is fun watching Dave plot block our superheroes’ Mary Sue binges. I mean superheroes are, by defn, mary sues; but Dave makes the story livelier by bringing in scaled up challenges……..although we seem to be in a rabbithole right now.
I can’t be the first one to have noticed that Concretia has basically the same power set as Vale. (That we’ve observed, not accounting for more mundane skills like martial arts.)
not really. Vale appears to be made of flesh, puts her body back together at a whim, and doesn’t seem to be even a little inconvenienced by damage to it. Concretia can suffer catastrophic damage, doesn’t self repair and has to build a replacement body out of undamaged materials. Other than “damage isn’t permanent” what similarities do they have?
Both appear to be spirits (disembodied minds, non-material people, whatever) that are usually within constructed or possessed forms that they don’t need to live and that they can freely leave. See here for an example with Vale, here for Vale being undamaged shortly thereafter (and we don’t know whether that was normal healing or some other way of making herself hole), and here for another example with Vale.
Vale’s body does seem a lot more human than Concretia. That might be a difference in power set, or Vale might be better at making her appearance life-like, or maybe Concretia just doesn’t bother if the body she’s using is just meant for a fight.
Guy’s, I just woke up from a dream with the solution to the dying mall problem in America.
Turn them into simi-residential communities. Just build apartment buildings along side them, or convert some of the old shop areas into apartments.
Also, have a lot of bars and pubs in the malls.
It would be like having a town with no car traffic and good be indoors all the time.
Just make sure the apartments had sprinkler systems. You could also have pedi-cabs for people who don’t feel like walking or are too drunk to get home.
I was dreaming I was in a Simon Peg movie in were I lived in a small apartment that was a converted shop and it opened into the mall. There were the regular stores, but they were mostly closed up because it was after 10 o’clock, but there were a lot of small bars and clubs all around.
Needles to say, weird stuff went down, Simon and his partner ended up loosing a bet and had to play some alternative music at a bar & they had to walk home naked.
Woke up after that.
Better move would have been to try and shoot the Orbs out , but still a damn good effort.
I wonder what Concretia’s doing there. Is she actually invisible and able to fly when she’s not coated in concrete? So she followed Sydney then took the the concrete form once Sydney was distracted?
Bullets really don’t do much to concrete, they mostly chip it then ricochet. Meanwhile there is a super powered villain within arms reach. We saw that 50cal will discombobulate Concretia, as can a good set of kung fu moves.
Lacking kung fu and a 50cal, she resorted to her sidearm on the animated concrete that is Concretia.
She does know how to also flip people. :)
Max seems to have a soft spot for Sydney, so I’m picturing her hearing Sydney’s “OW OW OW OW!” and just taking off to the rescue. I’m assuming of course that ArcSwat protocol is that everyone’s choker goes on open mike during combat.
Usually they have a combat controller who is watching for team members to drop off the grid….
Just looked at the vote incentive and I have a question: has the Math-level martial artist (I forget her name) gotten her insane dabbler-lust down to a manageable level so she can be in the same room with Dabs, or is the vote incentive completely non-canon?
Also, Dabbler need a t-shirt or sports bra that reads “Spine by Escher” or maybe “Curves by Playboy, Spine by Escher”.
I actually need to address that. It was resolved offscreen while Sydney was time hopping.
through, uh, ‘immersion therapy’?
reading this comment a punch line formed in my head, but I can’t find a way to work it into this conversation organically.
so here it is,
dive training.
“French” immersion therapy?
of course, “dive training” leads naturally to “the bends” and we gotta throw in “Wet suit” to go with the theme.
Subscribe to my course on “how to R the heck out of your PG-13.”
Snorkeling for Dummies.
diving for pearls, making sure to polish them well.
er, muff diving, cave diving, pearl diving…
The hunt for the Great White Clam.
In retrospect, it may have been a better to empty her round into the ball prison…
And… this is another way of holding a super hostage by holding them… by their balls. *dodges flying tomatoes*
That’s what I was thinking.
Skimmed the comments and didn’t see this. Sidney did not empty the magazine, the Five-Seven holds 20 rounds.
Sorry, this was pointed out earlier.
Questions: When Concretia makes a body out of a support pillar, does she get the rebar too? Is the rebar left behind, stripped of concrete? Does it break off or does she have to just take surface concrete so she isn’t trapped by rebar declining to snap? Concrete is strong, but brittle, which is why, in buildings it is always reinforced with steel, either bars or caging. if you twist it or bend it, it cracks and crumbles. the average human with a decent hammer could snap a sidewalk if there was an open airspace under it instead of nice, impact absorbing earth.
Speaking of the invotive: which of the other three Daphne’s changed her hairstyle and colour? Or is that the mysterious Sixth Harem, finally caught out?
Wait, that’s Abby after she changed her haircut? And is that Blondini behind Dabbles? Gothamer is the one on the pole
Oh my god this comic has gone down from toilet.
hey, the troll is back who has posted pointless crap for most of the pages of the last few weeks. Not even trying to address anything in the comic this time just a baseless insult. Seriously, I am convinced we could check your IP address against those of other names given the last few weeks with that ONE person making these baseless insults and find a match.
Seriously are you from a rival comic? trying to get a rise from the author for your own twisted troll amusement? Seriously man, get a life.
I’m confused. WHAT is wrong with this strip of the comic? Seems really good to me.
I’m all for hearing people criticize, but that isnt much of a critique you’ve made – it’s just unfounded, baseless insults. What specifically do you have a problem with, in this particular strip of the webcomic? Because what I saw here was really badass of Sydney, plus actually a pretty good cliffhanger (even if we know Sydney will be okay since the comic is still in flashback mode). I’m personally on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens next!
This is actually a pretty average page so im not sure how this page represents the comic getting worse.
there has been like one post under a wide variety of names on most of the pages for the last few weeks making these random baseless insults or a big dramatic show of “I’m leaving” or “the power creep is dumb” and such that honestly make no sense for anyone who has been reading this comic, especially looking at those pages. I have become convinced it is one person being a troll as if they think they can get in an argument with the author or get anyone reading the comments to agree with them.
The orbs can move according to Sydney’s thoughts without her touching them.
Just waiting for her to have them start acting like hyperactive supersonic bullets and ricochet that inconvenient concrete container to dust!
One would be bad enough, but you just know that she would put all of them into maximum agitation mode!
if she can get them moving as fast as when they upgraded at the tank demonstration they could probably demolish that thin shell; which at that angle if Concretia loosens her geokinetic hold might just collapse under its own weight, hollow, then, and at a bad angle.
Depends on if they have the room inside that space, without bumping into each other
It’s possible the best they could do is a slow grind, which could take more time than Sydney probably has
And we know what Sydney thinks of grinding…
I wonder how much control Concretia has over her body when she makes it. Both times we’ve seen her now, she makes the same body shape and hair style, mimicing her spectral state.
(Ignoring the meta reason that it makes her easier to be recognizable when Dave uses her)
What about clothing? As far as I can tell, she’s created the same sports bra and yoga pants combo, which also seem to be present on her spectral body. Is she stuck with them? Could she mold other outfits for herself?
Concretia doesn’t seem entirely hostile here… she’s taken steps to disarm Sydney, but has taken no aggressive action. I wonder what her game is?
Disarming is an aggressive action.
No, it’s a defensive action, to prevent aggression
She could have just as easily formed the concrete around Sydney’s head, and kept going until it removed it, before Sydney even had a chance to respond
It is 100% an aggressive action and legally can be met with lethal force.
You can argue they did it to prevent any further combat, but the act its self is an act of aggression as it is a form of assault and given the possibility of it being move one to prevent your victim from fighting back to make it easier for you it has to be seen that way.
to put it bluntly, you grab for an officer’s gun, you get shot.
if someone’s opening act is to go for your weapon, you have to assume their follow up is to take you down now that you are defenseless/unarmed.
Or, you grab their gun because you know their initial training is ‘shoot first, pay for the memorial after’
I agree with Rhuen but also cansee what Delgarde’s post is alluding towards.
Yes, if you grab a police officer’s gun, you’re going to get shot. JUSTIFIABLY SO. So yes, grabbing the orbs can be seen as an aggressive act that can be met with lethal force, or at least with subduing force since a gun is only ‘annoying’ to Concretia, not lethal (by Peggy’s own admission during the parking lot fight).
But also, it’s definitely arguable that Concretia contained the orbs to try to avert being shot at with them, if she thinks they’re going to automatically think she’s one of the bad guys when she’s not. If she’s not, that is. Due to how they only have met her one other time during the Vehemence parking lot fight.
Still, what Sydney did was justifiable.
Yes, if you grab the gun while it is in their hand, what about when you put you hand on their holster or somehow restrict them from releasing their sidearm?
And not disagreeing with Sydney’s actions, just stating that disarming (preventing from arming) can be viewed as a defensive action to prevent aggression on behalf of the one being disarmed
Um, yes, that is STILL assault on an officer and earns you a beat down, them pulling away to pull their gun on you, and would excuse other officers to shoot you.
there is no legal way to spin (I disarmed an officer to stop them attacking me) that is going to go in your favor.
even if your follow up action is “peaceful” you still displayed force and a willingness to use that force on an officer.
Its just like in alien movies when the aliens use some ray that disables vehicles and firearms and then go on about being peaceful beings and insisting humans not try to attack them. It is still a show of force, and a willingness to use that force, to intimidate the other party into submission.
This is an act of aggression, not defense.
If you grab at a cop PERIOD, it’s a justifiable shooting. Attempting to grab a police officer is an aggressive action in general, and grabbing a police officer’s weapon has the implication that you will either use the weapon on that officer, or you are doing so because you plan on injuring or killing or otherwise plan on doing something criminal to that officer, and do not wish the officer to be able to defend himself or herself. Even if the person wants to claim that he or she did not plan on doing anything violent to the officer – and even if the person was NOT going to do anything violent to that officer – it is irrelevant. The judgment of whether or not to shoot is up to the officer thinking he or she is in danger (or someone else is in danger) – it does not require the officer to be able to read the future or other people’s minds.
In short, I completely understand Delgarde’s reasoning, and he might even be correct in predicting what Concretia’s logic was. But it does not matter – Sydney is justified to use lethal force either way. Go for an officer’s weapon, no matter what the reason – you risk being shot. And officers are generally trained that if you aim a weapon at someone, you aim in order to kill if they do immediately cease any apparent hostilities against that officer. Otherwise you do not aim a gun in the first place, even if you’ve taken it out of the holster.
So yes, just like Rhuen said (extremely accurately – moreso than my way-too-verbose post here), if you put your hands on their gun (or even their holster to prevent THEM from being able to defend themselves in the line of duty), it is a criminal offense and will be seen, by the law, as an attempt to seize the cop’s weapon, or at the very least an indication that you plan on assaulting the officer and do not want them to be capable of stopping you… and thus an aggressive action against said police officer.
I think what Delgarde means is so far, we can’t be entirely sure she’s here to attack Sydney, because she has not yet done a physical attack which is not meant to be defensive. It could still be argued she disarmed Sydney specifically so she does not attack her first so she can have time to explain what she’s doing there.
Although the fact that the mercenary LLC has a geokinetic and Concretia is…. sort of that (petraekinetic) makes it probably more likely that she’s part of the merc LLC.
a tangent. You believe Concretia is a petrakinetic and not a full blown geokinetic?
(for those reading through comments who have not been in comic book nerd battles)
Petrakinesis: zero contact manipulation and/or deformation of rock and stone
*generally regarded as rock material only with limitations of no metals, crystals, melted stone (magma/lava), or fine materials such as sand. Only common rock and stone*
Geokinesis: zero contact manipulation and/or deformation of all earthy materials
(except ice, despite also technically being rock), a geokinetic can manipulate any earthy solid mass, rock, sand, soil, crystals, even lava (its rarer as writers tend to mentally associate lava with fire so you get some confused duel element pyrokinetics sometimes who also have magmakinesis)
*there are a ton of other specialized versions metalikinesis, crystakinesis, silicakinesis, ect…
what Hench Wench displayed given the composite of the sub structure looks like a full blown geokinesis.
Concretia, so far has displayed Petramorphic Possession and right now is manipulating building cement…which given the composition of cement and concrete could still be regarded as petrakinesis. Although not commonly.
reminds me of the argument between a ferrokinetic and a magnekinetic, insisting if they can’t display any other manipulation of electromagnetism just magnetism then they want to call it ferrokinesis, but with all the other kinetic powers that just feels to me like it says they are a specialized material kinetic and magnetism isn’t even involved. If they can also erase your hard drive and interfere with electronics then it is magnetism not just manipulation of ferric metals.
edit: forgot to list metal with the geokinetic somehow, like the guy we saw earlier in the comic able to separate gold out from the rock, that guy was definitely a geokinetic.
Yes the guy who separated the gold out of rock is, according to ARCHON, a full blown geokinetic. Plus probably wouldnt be engaging in mercenary work like this given he has no real incentive to do so.
“You believe Concretia is a petrakinetic and not a full blown geokinetic?”
I do not know, but ARCHON listed her as a petraekinetic, not a full blown geokinetic. I listed the links that show that in another response post. She COULD be a full blown geokinetic and ARCHON was wrong, but so far I’m just basing it on what’s been in the comic, plus she has yet to actually manipulate anything that is not a man made stone/rock/concrete structure or paved surface.
yeah I see the links now, in the parkinglot brawl she only displayed Petramorphic Possession, but if this is a slip on the author side that could support that Concretia is a red herring; unless she now has full blown geokinesis; But yeah she hasn’t been shown manipulating any other materials, Hench Wench though tore up and moved a whole section of street and sub-structure as one solid mass so she definitely has some degree of geokinesis other wise the manipulated materials would pull away from the materials not manipulated *which would fall down naturally thanks to gravity*.
Technically, tearing up a street would still be petraekinesis, since it’s paved asphalt and concrete underneath :) So…. Concretia MIGHT be in the LLC. Or it could all just be a red herring like you suggest.
I’m more on the side of red herring right now :). Mainly because of how far away Concretia currently is from the rest of the fight.
Yes, James, she tried using her feet.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-98-triple-facepalm-and-sidebutt/
is there any way to get the notification to show you what the new comment *IS*, not just that one has occurred? I like following the conversation, but when there are close to 300 comments, how do you find the new one without reading them all?
By looking at the time it was posted?
Never bothered to get that app (or whatever the Hael it is), so no idea how it works
That could work if you wanted to correlate a specific notification to its post, but it seems rather pointless given the lack of information in said notifications. Individual comments do have their own linkable references within the page (for instance, this reply is at https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-898-ball-jail/comment-page-2/#comment-868194), but whether the reference can be included in the notification is a question for a better programmer than I.
Personally just re-read the whole thing and look for anything new (for one thing, it usually prevents me from making the same comment that twenty others did… on the same page and hours apart)
I tend to do that within the first few days, when they’re coming in at such a rate that it’s easier just to let them accumulate and do a sweep once or twice a day. Past that, I tend to use a page search for a distinctive part of the date (e.g. search for “4,” if the comment would be dated “December 4, 2020”, because otherwise it’ll find every time the digit “4” is used in any context). Doesn’t always find it immediately – there’s an overlap where a message notified on the 5th (UK-time) is dated to the 4th (USA-time) on the page, and it only searches one comments page at a time – but generally does a good enough job.
I personally use the RSS feed to keep up on new comments posted. There’s a separate feed for each comic page, and a global one for the entire site. There’s also a browser extension that’s supposed to highlight comments made since your last visit, but it hasn’t worked for a long time, as far as I’m aware.
It took me half a tick to comprehend that the concrete tentacle had eaten the balls. Here is the problem… Max tried to move them and couldn’t… given that level of power BEFORE they were upgraded… wouldn’t that indicate concretes attempt to be moot/pointless? True.. Concretia doesn’t know that… but Sydney certainly does
The point was to immobilize them, not move them, and as such, have done a wondrous job by forcing Sydney to resort to her own powers… oh wait, she doesn’t have any, and the only weapon she is left with is her gun… nope, she don’t have that no more either