Grrl Power #899 – Throne bound
So it seems obvious that someone has really studied every piece of footage with Sydney interacting with her orbs. Really, the game was given away in the bank parking lot. Well, most of the game. Mysteries still abound.
You know, after being instrumental in taking down Vehemence and wasting 1, probably 2 of those mega kaiju things on the Alari homeworld, Sydney is probably going to be a little bummed by being totally dominated by a non-boss villain. At least the last time she encountered Concretia, she wasn’t a boss, though she seems to have upped her game at bit.
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Honestly, what is Sydney doing walking into a room labeled “Yoga 401?”
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Ok, but this whole “cant move out of range even willingly” and “can’t use without touching” seem like really big desing oversights for super advanced artefacts that can bend space-time.
Or I guess, maybe whoever invented them or whoever they were invented for would have had easy ways to counteract such a situation.
The Superman stories have to have Kryptonite or he’s too overpowered.
he’s STILL to overpowered
the best superman stories are character driven, not DBZ rules of (I must fight the even greater threat than the greatest threat ever from before); unfortunately Superman doesn’t always get writers that understand that.
The show Lois and Clark did that very well.
Justice League Unlimited did a really good job with Superman also. They managed to have a lot of lower powered characters in the same team as people like Superman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter and there was no overwhelming of the more powerful ones. Sometimes they were even the best stories.
Plus some of the VERY best parts of that cartoon was where it wasn’t about the superheroes’ powers, but how they might not always be the good guys, even when they’re trying to be, like the Season 4 Cadmus story arc. Because Amanda Waller did have a major point and it was one of the few times that Batman was unable to make a comeback with any sort of moral superiority – Batman even admitted it to Wonder Woman and Superman later that Cadmus had a good point- they were too powerful a group. And Green Arrow said something similar about how Cadmus was right in a lot of ways.
Superman was completely handled by Green Arrow with mere words, with backup from Martian Manhunter also using words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2U5BHxBRMI
Martian Manhunter: “We must also admit the possibility that Cadmus has a RIGHT to be afraid of us.”
Supergirl: “What?!”
Martian Manhunter: “And there is strong evidence of Cadmus having LEGITIMATE ties to the government.”
Superman: “Maybe! To some …. rogue black ops group. The REAL government wouldnt get involved in anything like this!”
Green Arrow: “Hey… I’m the only guy in the room that doesn’t have superpowers. And let me tell you – you guys scare me. What if you DO decide to go marching down there, taking care of whoever you think is guilty? Who could stop you? Me?”
Supergirl: “So you WANT the government to have a bunch of superhuman weapons just to keep US in check?”
Green Arrow: “No…..I don’t know….” (thinks) “Yeah!”
Superman and Supergirl look all shocked.
Green Arrow: “Look, I’m an old lefty. ‘The government must do for people what people can’t do for themselves.’ Well the people sure can’t protect themselves from the likes of us.”
Martian Manhunter and Flash are a lot more convinced of Green Arrow’s argument but in the end Superman has to agree Green Arrow’s right as well.
By the end of the season, they remake the Justice League to be on the ground, not in a space watchtower, with a Government liaison to keep tabs on the Justice League.
The Question also was someone who frequently was able to talk down Superman’s supposed moral superiority, although Vic is…. a little unhinged in general. His solution was to try to kill Lex Luthor before he becomes the President, so that Superman won’t kill him since The Question is known to the public as an unstable crackpot but Superman is seen as a paragon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaE6Ovdu79s
Even Professor Hamilton stood up to Superman after his supposed ‘heel turn’ (although frankly I understood the reason for him turning to Cadmus was not actually that unreasonable). Even though Hamilton went from being Superman’s fan to being TERRIFIED of Superman in private.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wpWRQhAh9c
The cartoon was really good in showing heroes sometimes being imperfect or even outright wrong, and the ‘bad guys’ some not actually being bad guys, or at least having a jsutifiable reason for their actions.
OK, I get all that, but then there comes the “who watches the watchmen?” – and I think that Green Arrow’s point is very wrong exactly because of that. Only if the actions of such a “controlling instrument” were 100% open to the public, this might workable – if the overly-powerful superhero would agree to it.
I’m rather left-leaning myself but I’d trust some overly-powerful superhero more when there is no way to blackmail them or pressure them into doing a certain deed. And especially Superman’s moral code (to never kill) is a great safety, for himself and the whole world he chose as home. What if there was a means to force Superman to violate this code? I consider killing as a really last-ditch effort if all other options are exhausted and and all-powerful Superman would never run into a situation where he has no other choice left but to kill. But if Superman could get forced to do or not do something? It would basically give Superman’s powers to an evil organization, government-based or not, because just wanting control over a goodhero is nothing but evil. If getting such control was achieved, nothing and nobody would be safe anymore.
And IMHO Green Arrow is wrong for another reason: What about himself? No powers, just skills & tech, what if someone would try to get control over him? It would be much easier and (mind you) anyone who would like to control Superman would also like to control all others who are less powerful.
People having a right to be afraid of an overly powerful being is one thing (and IMHO justified on its own), but someone else controlling said overly powerful being is IMHO a whole lot more scary.
Sorry – I thought about this angle of superhero-ing since I read Watchmen and another comic on DrunkDuck (don’t remember the title) years ago. My conclusion was and is that anybody who will follow any order is generally a tool and not trustworthy on their own. You have to put your trust on those who command them. If you even know the commanders.
But what you have when superheroes running roughshod over the government, you get the Justice Lords. Or Red Son Superman. Or Uberman of the Crime Syndicate. Or Injustice Superman and the Injustice Justice League. Or, if you want to move away from DC for a moment, you have Homelander from The Boys.
There are just too many examples of a small group of superpowered beings being able to effortlessly take over the world for the US in those situations to not want precautions and oversight. Checks and balances.
1st paragraph: Absolutely correct. But are any of these good heroes? Red Son Superman turned around at the end and threw off the education/indoctrination that made him a good soldier, AFAIR. From the snippets I watched on YT about The Boys, I figured that Homelander had government support. I don’t know the rest.
2nd paragraph: Did you really meant to say that? Take over the world for the US? Sure there are! You wouldn’t even need a lethal weapon to force them to do that, strong indoctrination might be enough. So how would the situation be any better if the US had a weapon against their own super heroes? And just imagine there was a way ti assassinate Superman, who would not want to get rid of him? I’d say the majority of all people would, just think of all non-US governments (and most on their people), and in the US: Everybody who breaks the law once in a while plus everybody who is (irrationally) afraid of him plus everybody who wants power over and of course the few who want nobody to have more power than themselves. Who’s left? Only the ones who need his help, the victims of physical force and natural catastrophes. This is also true for the other very powerful heroes.
I could go on (e.g. see Iron Man).
It boils down to: Can you trust those who want to control the heroes more than the heroes themselves?
Oh by the way: Green Arrow being scared by Superman and the other powerful heroes is pure nonsense. The Green Arrow I know was never afraid to say what he thinks, even if he disagreed with the powerful ones.
I meant ‘or’ the US, not ‘for’ the US. Sorry, my bad :)
Also being scared does not preclude being brave. Any intelligent person WOULD be scared of a Superman not being restrained by his morals, or if his morals were being directed at something that wound up being incredibly immoral or counter to liberty. Green Arrow would still fight him, but he realizes that the odds would not be remotely on his side.
Take ‘Injustice’ – Green Arrow does manage to get the super pills to his friends. But it’s at the expense of his own life, being beaten to death by Superman in the Fortress of Solitude, even as Superman’s human parents, the Kents, pleaded for Superman to stop. And Green Arrow knew it would be the most likely scenario to happen, and he WAS scared of it happening and him dying without seeing his son or daughter be born and grow up, since he had a baby on the way (Black Canary was pregnant at the time).
Dammit. “a way ti” -> “a way to”, “power over and” -> “power over others and”
“It boils down to: Can you trust those who want to control the heroes more than the heroes themselves?”
Yes, for the same reason I want police who are held accountable by a series of laws and rules and regulations, rather than getting together a posse every time a possible crime has been committed. With police, even if they do something illegal, there is at least a framework set up to, at least in theory, hold them accountable and punish them. There is not the same framework set up for a posse if there are no police and laws. There are definitely no frameworks set up to stop superheroes from giong out of control – you don’t vote a superhero to have powers. You’re completely at the mercy of their own sense of good and evil instead of the rule of law.
Don’t get me wrong, the government is not immune to this either. But it’s just a little better to have a government accountable to the people than a government or vigilante group that is not accountable to the people. It’s the lesser of two evils.
“Take ‘injustice'” – a compelling argument, I’m tempted to agree, but the Superman of ‘Injustice’ already dropped his moral code and is not a hero anymore.
And “Yes, for the same reason I want police who are held accountable by …” IMHO rather helps my side because we have seen how the police acted during some protests, they are to heroes at all, they do a job and sometimes poorly or outright wrong. Were they held accountable for their misbehavior? Hardly. The law should apply to anyone including the police but in practice it favors the police. That said, I still prefer police over posses. It’s the better of two options.
In the case of Superman (especially) and true good superheroes I’d still be more scared of those who seek power over the heroes than the heroes themselves.
Oh and: “for the US” / “or the US” – nice typo. Makes a quite different story. But please note that I said “a weapon against their own superheroes”. Now what if China would try to develop a weapon against Superman? Or Russia or North Korea? (Superman lives in America but he actually protects the whole world. And again, I’d consider every organization or government that tries to develop a weapon against Superman as evil, be it in the USA or outside.)
We can agree to disagree at this point about that point :)
F’ing typos. “they are to heroes” -> “they are no heroes”
Can’t guarantee that there isn’t another one.
It’s fine. I’m full of typoes as well which can massively change the point of my post, like the ‘for’ instead of ‘or’ which sort changed the basis of your entire response post. My bad on that.
I’m less scared of someone human (or preferably a large group of humans, held accountable to the voters) than Superman just doing willy nilly whatever he sees fit, because Superman is still subject to human foibles (even if he’s not technically human). Absolute power corrupts absolutely, as they say. And there have been enough examples of even superman succumbing to that to not want to take the chance..
I’m also not saying that the government should be in control over what Superman CAN do…. just that the government should have the ability to PREVENT him from doing things. There’s actually a difference. The former would give the government far too much power. And I’m not in favor of the government ever getting too much power, because the government constantly messes up. On the other hand, the government is tailor made for making sure things do NOT happen. If anything, that’s the whole point of the US government by the Founding Fathers – to keep the people in power from doing too much too fast. Again, because people are stupid and subject to human foibles.
It’s why Superman even gave Batman the kryptonite ring – to keep HIM in check…. not realizing that Batman has a stockpile of Kryptonite already because Batman realizes that, to quote Justice League: Doom’s Batman:
Batman: “The members of the Justice League are among the most powerful and potentially dangerous people on the planet.”
Flash: “You think one of us would go to the other side?”
Batman: “Or succumb to mind control. Yes, it’s possible. That’s why i developed plans for containing any or all members of the JLA, should the need ever arise.
Superman: “None of us would ever do that to you.”
Batman: “Then you’re damned fools.”
Several of the Justice League, like Green Lantern, agreed when Batman gave his reasoning.
Then later on, it’s discovered that Batman even made a contingency plan for HIMSELF, because he’s not an idiot being full of himself, unlike most of the Justice League thinking they’re above corruption. When they’re not.
Batman: “My actions don’t require any defense. In the same situation, I’d do it again.”
Flash: “Aw come on!”
Batman: “As individuals, and even more so as a group, the Justice League is far too DANGEROUS to lack a failsafe against any possible misuse of our power.”
Wonder Woman: “We use our power to protect the world. We always have.”
Batman: “And what if we ever used it for some other purpose? If you people can’t see the potential danger of an out of control Justice League, I don’t need to wait for a vote. I don’t belong here.”
Batman then walks away from them. LIKE A BOSS.
Superman does follow afterwards to try to get in one quip though.
Superman: “Got a minute?”
Batman: “What do you want?”
Superman: “You made contingency plans to stop everybody in the League, just in case any of us went bad.”
Batman: “My contingencies were to immobilize. Not to kill.”
Superman: “But Savage came up with the plan to bury you.”
Batman: “I assume so. It wasn’t one of mine…… was that it?”
Superman: “With all that…. talk… about unchecked power, you’re so arrogant that you didnt come up with a plan to stop yourself?”
Batman: “I do have a plan. It’s called THE JUSTICE LEAGUE.”
Superman: “Just wanted to be sure.” Then he gives Batman the kryptonite ring, having no idea that Batman actually has a huge storehouse of kryptonite – and not just green, all different versions of Kryptonite, including black, white, yellow, red, blue, and gold, in addition to a huge amount of green.
Superman even admits that the League needs policing. The only difference between us is Superman only trusts Batman to be that police line, not the government.
Superman: “If the League ever did go over to the wrong side, I’d want there to be someone I can trust to keep the planet safe. Even from me.”
Which is the whole plot of Injustice. Batman was the only one capable of standing up to Superman. Especially since the government capitulated to Superman once he went tyrant, since they had no way to stop him anyway. If they DID have a way to stop him, they could have worked with Batman and Batman wouldnt have had to rely on such a last ditch plan of finding alternates from other universes to help. Even on Earth 3, the only reason the Crime Syndicate could not completely take over the planet was President Slade Wilson (Deathstroke to you non-comic afficianados) managed to hold an unsteady peace by threatening to nuke everything. It’s too bad he didnt have a better plan, but Lex Luthor’s Justice League was killed off, except for Lex.
I prefer ‘wide eyed innocence’ as a superman weakness
They invited krytonight so the poor radio actor could have a vaction
I am still betting on these aren’t weapons or tools for the Nth level higher dimensional beings but a toy; and this is basically their version of a wrist strap; which there may be a parent lock to undo.
I like the theory that the orbs were made by an advanced species, somewhat akin to the Q from Star Trek, and they are a prosthetic device for the disabled among their species. Everything the orbs do a normal member of their society can do naturally.
I am also partial to the idea they are key components for a bio-ship that lock into place like the power cores of a golem or some magi-tech mech like in some anime; and the design being made by “energy” beings never considered that the orbs could bond with regular organic beings. (Thinking like how the Vorlons and Shadows had organic ships); although in this setting both of them would be closer to 3rd tier civilizations but the idea is still there.
the skill tree aspect is what leans me towards the hyper dimensional being dropped their toy trope.
while the space ship like aspects lean me towards the components of a bio-ship idea.
(heck Maxima’s “symbiote” could even be a bio-android soldier from the same species: think like the Guyver and the Creator aliens with their bio-ships).
Could be a training device for young or inexperienced members of an Nth civ. Like… assuming they’re not all immortal and have a static population, then presumably some get “born” or made or… come into existence… at least once in a while. Or maybe it’s their way of ushering in new species so they don’t go bonkers.
So the skill tree is there to gently walk them towards the full capabilities of an Nth being, or at least to a point where they can graduate and go to Nth college and start using the big boy toys.
And as Nth are a potentially intergalactic superspecies, I would imagine being trained on how to navigate the universe would be pretty important.
So, because these are a training device, it’s pretty natural they’d have some limits and safeguards put in place. I hardly expect these are the height of Nth tech, as others have posited with the “toy” theory. I’d imagine the whole “can’t go far” thing is just a basic anti-theft thing, or maybe simply an anti-oops-I-dropped-them thing. Like strings on mittens. Useful for literally one thing, but generally pretty inconvenient in pretty much any other situation.
It would be extremely weird and disturbing if PPO who was the equivalent of a signal flare.
be hilarious, imagine finding out your deadly weapon was some higher being’s version of that spider-man wall laser pointer toy, laser tag, or those noisy spark gun toys.
Nah, it’s just some dude who’d locked his keys in the wrong dimension
Maybe they are attached to a metaphysical body part that humans don’t have any control over, so she can only control them when she is touching them, but the people who made them are connected to the orbs through more than three dimensions so can use them all at will.
Basically, they are the equivalent of a Caveman using a Gun as a club.
Easy way to avoid it:
Keep. The. Shield. Up.
Sydney still needs to learn that lesson it seems.
As the balls are on the inside, there is no way to attack her or the balls in anyway – unless she forms the shield to include you, but with a body sized bubble the chances for you to sneak in are few
Unfortunately she needed the Lighthook to carry the thing and the Flight Orb to, well, fly and she doesn’t yet have three hands. Shields up when in view of the enemy is a good rule and she tried when she first suspected something was wrong, but she got jumped by someone better prepared to grab her and that happens.
Shield orb would have been unnecessary. All she’d have to have done is not release any orbs until she’s surveiled the area before dropping her guard. Tentacle orb could easily have smashed the concrete.
This really would have been a good time for a security sweep. Too bad Peggy discouraged her from doing those. She could probably see Concretia’s astral form with the Truesight orb.
that is a really good point. Most the arguments I am seeing about her not dropping the shield would be paranoia given the situation but yeah, given everything she knows regarding supernaturals and supers a quick glance around with the True Sight very likely would have labeled Concretia out just like it did with magic inside the Mannekillers and labeling the magic items in the secret room. It may not be able to see through a physical disguise to a physical person but it zones in on metaphysical signatures right away.
She can carry things inside the shield with her, and has transported team members that way several times. No need for the Lighthook, just the Flyball and Mr Bubble.
Honestly in this situation the second word out of Sydney’s mouth should have been help. Why not her special word because if she is indirect conflict not being held as a prisoner and used to negotiate
Honestly? Having worked in Quality Assurance professionally dealing with hardware, software, and firmware I can say that this is 100% believable. I mourn for the poor QA person that had to deal with the engineers and management, but I have seen just awful things go out to the customer.
I’ve long have a hypothesis that the orbs have actually become limbs of her body connected remotely or possibly through an unknown fourth dimension, and that touching the orbs isn’t necessary to operate them, but it’s how she uses them because it’s the only way Sydney’s tool using monkey brain currently understands them. Once she realizes that she flexes them around like flexing muscles, she should be able to begin to learn to use them without touching them.
Also that one point she put where it changed a value of 2 to 3… I think that’s how many orbs she can use simultaneously, hence why Dave went through all the trouble to have Sydney explain that she can’t operate a third orb with her feet.
This may end up being the moment when she learns that she doesn’t need to touch the orbs to use them, but maybe not when she figures out she can use 3 orbs at once now.
If I recall correctly that Center pie thing had six slices in it but Sydney has seven orbs.
Actually, there are totally seven slices in the middle (see page 672), so the theory is plausible.
I guess I misremembered. Thanks for the comic number so I can go look up. I wonder if the number of Center slices she has has something to do with the layers of powers she can use.
#900 Approaches as someone gave Sydney the chair.
Oh no Sydney has become Aizen!
Time for the last orb’s ability: teleporting the other orbs to Sydney!
But based on the other orbs, doesn’t it have to be in her hand to begin with? But that gives me an idea. Maybe the last one is a master orb that lets her use the functions of other orbs? Base level maybe. Or only one at a time and she has to manually switch doing amusing finger tricks.
That’s been my theory all the long. It’s a master control orb for the rest. Maybe even an AI to control them without even having to touch any. After all, every ship has to have a bridge.
Based on what we have seen earlier, that orb is always active, even when it is not held. That sounds like the brain or the power source. Maybe both.
“No touchy my monkey!” – Shigo, a Stitch in time.
Oddly the balls themself saying that would be somewhat insulting!
Hench Wench: “We will release our hostage unharmed after the President signs this full pardon for all members and employees of the LLC…”
Maxima: “…”
HW: “… And the governor of New York, in case there’s any state-level crimes …”
Maxima: “…”
HW: “…And the mayor of NYC, in case of any ordinance violations including but not limited to littering.”
Maxima: “D@MMIT!”
*2 hours and a lot of phone calls later*
“Okay, you’ve got your pardons. Just sign them and they become official.”
“Yes! It worked! Okay, here’s your Halo back! We’ll just be on our way-”
“One more thing. It may interest you that you’re an accessory to the crimes of these clowns that were fighting us before you got here.”
“But we didn’t-”
“Sure you did. You carried on their criminal acts of assault after they were down for the count as well as their mission of kidnapping a super-powered individual.”
“But we’re the ones who put them down for the count!”
“Turns out the law doesn’t care.”
“I’m pretty sure it does… and what does it matter? We’ve got PARDONS!”
“It might ALSO interest you to know that treaty negotiations with the Galactics have just had a breakthrough. Enough to sign an extradition treaty, at least. These clowns violated Galactic anti-slaving law, and you’re an accessory to that. And Galactic law DOESN’T care that you’re the ones who knocked them out and took over. Turns out Galactics take the exploitation of pre-FTL civilizations very seriously.”
“But-”
“And you were also extradited. Including jurisdiction of your LLC. Which Galactic officials are legally dissolving even as we speak.”
“What? How can they do that! Don’t we get a trial?”
“Nope! Signing a federal pardon requires you to acknowledge guilt, and the Galactics are willing to accept that signature as equivalent to a guilty plea. And to save on transport costs, they’re also willing to have you serve your three-hundred-year sentences in our prison system. They’ll be paying us for the cost of incarcerating you, by way of liquidation of your LLC’s assets.”
“What the hell kind of treaty is this?”
“A really bad one. Both sides have already decided that it’s problematic, and they’ve agreed to retire it and negotiate a new one. But not before you got extradited.”
“….”
“Should have demanded a Galactic pardon as well!”
Ha – well done! *Nobody* remembers to include Galactic law, even when committing super-aggravated battery (it’s like aggravated battery [due to the knuckledusters] by a super) against a Galactic citizen.
“But she was committing a crime!”
“Irrelevant, since you didn’t batter Torchy to stop her crime but rather to commit one of your own (steal her stuff) and to continue her conspiracy to kidnap etc.”
“I’ll fight that charge…”
“If you really want to be sent to a foreign planet for trial, ok. Will you argue your own defense, do you have any assets the Galactics will accept to pay for counsel, or do you want to rely on their equivalent of free legal aid?”
“They have that?”
“I am told they it’s very much like we have in the United States…”
“Great!”
“…super underfunded.”
*sad trombone*
I think I enjoyed that read just as much as I’ve enjoyed some of the episodes here.
Well done.
Uhm, pardons don’t involve admitting or signing anything on behalf of the pardonnee. I think you’re conflating plea deals with pardons.
Actually, it…
… *rechecks something* …
… okay, I was misremembering how the Joe Arpaio pardon played out.
… but it wouldn’t be too hard to draft the pardon so that the document contained an admission of guilt. Hench Wench should really learn to read things over carefully before she signs.
Which means, Henchie would be signing a false or misleading document, which would make it invalid
Also, I seem to have forgotten that the Senate needs to (resolve to) ratify treaties. …. maybe there was an emergency midnight session to declare war upon the space pirates who assaulted NYC, and a rider attached to the war declaration involved the senate approving an “Alliance” that actually involved the extradition treaty?
Let’s hope HW concentrated on Contracts and slept thru ConLaw ;-)
Con Law’s actually one of the more fun classes. :) Con Law, Torts, and Criminal Law, because those are the courses where you think ‘lawyer!’ like you see on TV.
Perry Mason (from Perry Mason), Alan Shore (from Boston Legal) and Jack McCoy (from Law and Order) didnt get their legal fame on the TV shows from arguing about the Uniform Commercial Code Section 2-207 and the Mirror Image Rule or Battle of the Forms :)
I seem to recall her independently commanding the orbs to hit individuals… Since they appear to take no actual damage themselves, she might use them to bang the concrete until cracked. Then again, if they can’t move further away from her, that will leave them no distance to get the necessary inertial… nice. I like this trap.
yeah I am betting on that, if they are basing their actions on public records aside from being called to her hands Sydney hasn’t shown the spinning around at her command feature before (the spinning around on their own to form a skill tree yes; even if the skill tree its self wasn’t visible on camera);
but yeah, unbreakable, a few inches of concrete, could probably break through that concrete with a big hollow bubble in it with a good pair of steel toed boots with a few good kicks so the balls spinning around should do the trick.
> Sydney hasn’t shown the spinning around at her command feature before
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-132-clash-of-the-egos/
That wasn’t public.
I am referring to public records that these criminals would be able to see, IE, bank footage, news footage, the tank demonstation, and brawl in the parkinglot.
As in what we the audience know is not what every character knows. I guess I should have repeated in this conversation string what was said in other ones, my bad, we are operating under the assumption Concretia has studied Sydney and her orbs, and could only do so based on footage available to the public. What she did with Math is not something the public saw. Sorry If I wasn’t clear when I said
” if they are basing their actions on PUBLIC RECORDS aside from being called to her hands Sydney hasn’t shown the spinning around at her command feature
But she did control the orbs in the restaurant when she got her glasses knocked off if I remember correctly (sorry I don’t remember what page that was). She was in the bubble with the guy who could control shadows or whatever his actual power description was. I don’t know if the restaurant had cameras though, but even talking to some of the people there might have yielded that information
For reference, it’s #206 – The Velma reversal
That gives us evidence that she can control them at-will with enough force to injure a Super, but there’s nothing to indicate that said Super has any greater damage resistance than a Baseline Human. There’s a wide margin between ‘can Homerun a Human’ and ‘can crack concrete’, and Concretia may be confident (rightly or wrongly) that the Orbs’ available force falls in that gap.
The Press was still there, they just weren’t able to record the spinning on camera
I’ve been expecting this to happen at any moment for almost 800 pages now. We’ve barely touched on the mitten weakness, but the ‘can’t move too far away’ weakness hasn’t come up at all since back in the orange tube days. No way an author as good as Dave would just forget about that major detail, so it had to be coming. Surprised it took this long.
Panels 5+8 appear to show motion lines indicating how they are trying to klonk away on at least 2 inches of concrete, maybe making a few cracks. How long it takes til breakthrough who knows? and will Concretia stop every now and then to renew the concrete?.
Oh bother. Will the orbs pull a Mjölnir and go to Sydney without any regard to trivial things like obstacles?
That could get messy.
contrary argument: Concretia is Marble Maiden, and is playing hood to infiltrate the villainous LLC.
Must have a pretty powerful earth manipulation ability if they can make a rigid body-form like Concretia and one that selectively ‘bounces’ like Marble Maiden
Not necessarily all that unbelievable. Concretia rigid because she’s actually concrete, formed into a body. Every movement she makes is managed with additional geokinesis. Marble Maiden has selective bounce because that’s her real body.
She got some words out. Arc light should know where she is at this second. It would be so satisfying if the next panel is Maxima just suddenly there like “You got cut off, Concretia is what now?”
But the narrative need for dramatic tension says that is almost certainly not going to be the thing that happens…
There is an aspect of Concretia’s power that if understood could give some options.
That being, what is this spirit body:
Is this Concretia’s permanent form?
Is this actually an astral projection and her physical body is else where?
Does she transform her physical body into this spirit form?
which of those three it is would give Sydney very different options to deal with her.
The astral projection is what makes the most sense to me. Probably has her body held up at a safe house or van while controlling the spirit body. It makes the most sense to me anyway
If its astral projection there is a chance If Sydney raised her shield around her that the astral link would be severed and the projection vanish forcing her main body to wake up.
if its permanent she may just trap her without anything to become solid with, like an earth elemental spirit cut off from earth materials, basically just a low level ghost at that point.
if its a transformation she could become human again and fight normally if trapped in the shield, still an improvement but the least wanted in that scenario.
Funny enough this reminded me of something else because people have compared Concretia to Marble Maiden…what if they are the same person…but don’t know it. There is no evidence for this just spit balling the idea. A dream based thought form astral projection. Where when someone sleeps this other uninhibited, or acts out, limited or separate memories, impulse based, ect… version of them is created and travels about behaving like tis a dream; but the wake person may have little to no memory of it.
*personally I have a character like that; who has weaponized it via stasis pods and forced magical hibernation to direct these thought forms that lack her morals, ethics, restrictions, specialize in different powers, ect… for various purposes. But can happen just because she took a nap as well.
So idea what if Marble Maiden or someone else (doesn’t matter) projects this criminal persona when they sleep; and isn’t consciously aware they are “Concretia”.
…Sydney’s not going to get tortured while her own powers hold her down, is she?
most likely, Concretia just wants to have a chat. She could easily have made that lethal, and didn’t.
So Sydney suffers… THE COMFY CHAIR.
point of order. there is no upholstery or cushions. and tea and cakes are right out!
COMFY? Is made from concrete. Can’t really be comfy.
And while Concretia definitely could make that lethal and didn’t, the option of torture is still here.
depends on how formfitting it is.
The reasons that concrete can’t really be comfy, in our experience, are:
– Hardened concrete has no give. Its primary feature is its immense compressive strength, which is basically the opposite of being pillowy soft. It may not be that high on the Mohs Hardness Scale, but that’s measuring the lack of a different kind of softness.
– Hardened concrete has a tendency for having relatively sharp roughness. Skilled workers can make it quite smooth, but concrete sidewalks generally aren’t that, and everyone has experience with those. If concrete breaks, the exposed bits are definitely not smooth. Thanks to the lack of Mohs Hardness, it’s not that difficult to grind it smooth again, but you need tools that are far more durable than human skin to do it.
– Soft concrete combines both water and limestone, which is quite caustic. It’s a lot less caustic than quicklime, but that’s because most of the resulting liquid is not calcium oxide – but there will still be some calcium oxide in the mix.
If someone actively uses geokinesis to make some concrete soft, and they have enough feedback to accomplish it, they can overcome the first two issues without bringing water into the equation, so it’ll still be mostly inert, but soft.
Totally not saying that Concretia is actually doing that here, just that for all we know, she could be.
You mean, there might be NERVE WEASELS?!
You gotta admit that Sydney’s training is paying off. She immediately went to radio for backup as soon as her initial assault failed instead of trying for classic hero/villain banter or simply spazzing out.
Earthquake Liquefaction is a thing.
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-liquefaction?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products
The orbs are not set in stone, just loosely entrapped, hence they move around. Anything that can move around, can start rattling like a Western Diamondback, and we are gonna see those orbs bust loose. Whether or not they take the whole building down along the way is yet to be seen. Sydney might actually break… Harlem.
Except: both Sydney and her balls are at the end of their tether, neither have the room to move
I notice that the blue orb has left an ever so slight crack in the concretopod. Knowing DaveB’s knack for small important details, I hope that this is relevant and not just a Red herring.
Unfortunately, i’m not sure it will matter. the crack is on the top and the balls were pushed through the floor into the floor below. So, they would have to drill through quite a lot of concrete to actually reach her at this point.
OK, her Alien Ware glasses can send signals, right? Other than that, I thought Concretia got away. As for Halos orbs, yes they can break free, considering the amount of force they can project. Concretia may not be able to repair the damage caused by the orbs if she can’t sense what’s going on in the cell.
The crack is there after Sydney tried to sit forward. Sydney has cement cracking abs lol.
Also have we determined what point on her body the teather applies to? This seems to indicate it would be somewhere in her torso
No idea how this doesn’t contradict the thing with Max early on. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-66-hero-baiting/
You can’t make sidney move by moving the orbs BUT Sidney can’t move away from the orbs either. concretia moved her with the concrete and now taht she is at the range limit she can’t move FARTHER. Concretia would not be abel to move the orbs farther form sidney then they are.
While logical, Sidney had no such reaction back then. Makes no sense that she would now.
I am with you VG, what is happening seems to imply that, while you can’t move the orbs further from Sydney, you can compress their formation. I always assumed the formation was set until Sydney directed otherwise. It also implies that the force that moves the orb to Sydney’s hand (I am not imagining this right, she has willed the orbs to her hands?) is infinitely weaker than the force that binds the orbs to her. It is entirely likely that all of this was definitively established and I missed it, but this scene very much bothers me nonetheless.
My guess is the force with which she moves the orbs to her hand is directly related to the amount of force she’s willing for them to impact her hand with. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not much.
The force with which they’re tethered to her, and her to them, however, is basically at or near the limit of what the orbs could do.
What this means:
1. Nobody’s moving those further away from Sydney than they are right now.
2. Sydney can totally call the orbs to her, she just needs to be desperate enough to make it happen.
2a. If she manages to call one or more orbs to her, she maybe could hurt herself in the process.
Note that if she gets out of this without calling the orbs to her, it doesn’t necessarily mean I was wrong – she just might not have been that desperate.
The last time someone tried to do this, Sydney’s balls were asleep inside Tubey
Dabbler :- “That’s what she said!!!”
If the orbs are trapped somewhere, Sydney also can’t move away more than a certain distance from them.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-31-urge-to-kill-rising/
Ordinarily, calling in Maxima would be a smart move. However, she’s kind of busy at the moment, fighting the Maryest Sue since, well, herself.
She’s busy in that fight until the exact moment she decides to laser beam a hole into Henchies head. Then she just has a funny looking corpse.
This again,
No one in this is a Mary Sue. Not even close.
As I don’t feel like typing out the whole rant again as to what a Mary Sue actually is, here is a helpful link to define the trope properly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2-GIY9RTqU&vl=en
to paraphrase what makes a character a Mary Sue is their relation to the story and its world;
Hench Wench is exotic, but I can list over a dozen different variations of that same basic power from a wide variety of super themed series. In fact her specific limitations actually makes her one of the weakest and most restricted power copiers I have ever seen.
Concretia is using a strange form of “mittens” to prevent Sydney from fondling her balls…
why is it when concretia got head shot by Peggy she dropped but when Sydney emptied a clip in her head she didn’t. in an 1=1 situation concretia should have dropped.
Concretia also didn’t display petrakinesis(or) geokinesis last time either. She has improved in the half a year since then, been practicing. She can now keep the petramorphic possession puppet stable even when damaged and can manipulate material her spirit form is not in direct contact with.
or she was sandbagging in the earlier fight and losing a chunk of her head was never enough to stop her.
being under the influence of the Aggro Aura from Vehemence makes that unlikely.
She didn’t drop, she just got really irritated. Also Sydney uses a hand gun, Peggy a 50 cal.
Why she didn’t use geokinesis before? Aggro aura or cockyness. Remember that she explicitly states to Math that he is “just a mere human” before he slams her to the other side of the field and she doesn’t know about the sniper until she loses half her head.
Bad guys get to level up, same as good guys. We just don’t get the training montage.
We don’t know that Concretia had to drop her shell when Peggy sniped her, only that she did.
In that case, she had no overriding reason to stick with the damaged shell rather than bailing out and taking a new one. On the contrary, she had a very good reason for respawning elsewhere, namely the knowledge that she was in the sights of a sniper with a big enough gun to keep damaging her shell if she stuck around.
In this case the situation is reversed. There is no immediate threat to Concretia besides Sydney, and her current shell is in exactly the right position to neutralise that threat despite being damaged. She therefore has an overriding reason to stick with this shell for at least as long as needed to finish pinning Sydney, even if she then (i.e. on the next page) swaps to a fresh shell.
A BMG, can crack concrete! So can many other calibers!
to be fair it looks like a hollow bubble with only like six inches of cement. I could kick through that with a good pair of steel toed boots.
bullshit, remember when maxima tried to pull sydney from under a car by pulling tubey? sydney didn’t move an inch, there is absolutly no way concretia can pull that move.
Maxima also stopped Sydney by stepping on the strap of tubey.
What she is doing here is that she instead of trying to move the orbs out of reach of Sydney moves Sydney out of reach of the orbs, which Max showed was a possibility by stopping running Sydney with tubey.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-31-urge-to-kill-rising/
Naw, Sydney has nothing to be ashamed of, she is just a fictional character. The author had to set up a ridiculously contrived set of very stupid circumstances in order to get Sydney into this position, while also handing Sydney the Idiot Ball, in order to enable this dumb-ass “ambush” to succeed.
So the author should be the only one bummed out about this. Other than perceptive readers, of course. Really, just kill the character and get it over with. That would be vastly preferable to forcing this kind of bullshit plot idiocy on the character. Shame on you.
In what way is Sydney holding the idiot ball? Her actions seem pretty reasonable — she was documenting where the thing was, so her hands were occupied. Concretia sensibly approached from behind and trapped the orbs before Sydney could use them. Sydney immediately went for her gun instead of wasting time on anything else. She went full lethal right from the start instead of taking chances. She called for backup as soon as she plausibly could have. What did she do that was stupid? (Note that she couldn’t run, since she can’t move too far from the orbs and they are currently restrained.)
Flying away from the entire team, in the middle of a fight with multiple unknown factions, to hide an invaluable alien artifact in an unfamiliar location, doesn’t seem dumber to you than just bubbling up with it and staying close by? Sure, Dabbler told her to go hide it, but both of them should know better than to split the party – during an encounter, no less.
Sydney is following the orders of a higher-ranking member of her team, trusting her extremely powerful and much better trained companions to do THEIR jobs properly and end the altercation. Whether one believes she should be where she is or not isn’t a question for Syd, it’s a question for Dabbles. Sydney has honestly shown remarkably good combat instincts here, considering she’s never used her gun in anger before. Recall that the last time she was ambushed, she _died_ after being completely ineffectual and is only still here because of a Deus Machina world hack. The lady’s come a long way, Max would be proud of Sydney’s reactions here. Orb first; when that failed immediate maximum defensive force; when THAT failed, immediate and concise attempt to radio for help. Good girl, Syd.
No. Dabbler is a “civilian contractor” and therefore is not higher ranking than anyone on the Archon team. You could argue that Sydney respects Dabbler, and that is likely true despite some issues they have had which appear to have been played for a short term joke and then forgotten. (“Side effects?” “Yeah.”) But you can’t argue that Sydney is under any obligation to obey Dabbler’s orders or even suggestions. She should use her own intelligence to decide if what Dabbler asks her to do is something she should actually do. But that intelligence was turned off in order to set up this conflict with Concretia.
Dabbler is also supposed to be a super intelligent person, and so having her ordering (requesting/suggesting/whatever) that Sydney, the member of the team who is probably in either second or third place on a raw power level and who also has a power set with a lot of utility, in the middle of a combat situation with opponents who are unknown in both number and capabilities, to hare off to “hide” (not an ability within Sydney’s power set in any straightforward manner) and then leave unguarded in a city of 8 million people is simply stupid beyond all ability of suspension of disbelief to dispel.
She is still a higher-ranking member of the team, just because she is a civilian contractor just means she doesn’t answer (to much) to the US Military
Or are you claiming Dabbles isn’t part of Archon? o_O
Currently, there were only three members of Archon on-site capable of flight, and the senior was currently forcing her way out of stasis
She was simply asked to secure the Pod for the duration of the fight (which was believed to be ending shortly, at the time of issuing the request), not permanently hide it. And fairly sure ben le to hide something should be quite easily within Sydney’s abilities (she kept her balls hidden long enough, even from her co-worker)
No, you utter lackwit. Even though I had just explained that Dabbler outranks no one because as a civilian she holds no rank, you turn around and insist that she does anyway. You really need someone to hold your sippy cup for you, don’t you? How long did you piss on the toilet seat before figuring out how to lift the lid?
> Recall that the last time she was ambushed, she _died_ after being completely ineffectual and is only still here because of a Deus Machina world hack.
I think you’re right on the money about “her being here is reasonable because she was ordered to by a more experienced team member and it seemed like a reasonable order at the time.” I would quibble over this particular part of your statement, specifically the ‘being completely ineffectual’ bit. Sydney was *extremely* effective — she gave her captor a compound fracture that would have caused anyone else to let go and collapse in pain, giving Sydney time to bubble up. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-500-bravery-in-the-faces-of-danger/ Unfortunately, her assailant had a specific power that allowed her to no-sell that attack. Can’t blame Sydney for that one.
That was all done before Juggernot and his crew showed up, after Maxi started to break free from the stasis
Dabbles believed it was all over bar the teabagging and was heading for a spot to record the action on camera
If Dabbler believed it was “all over bar the teabagging” then there was absolutely zero reason for her to send Sydney off with the stasis pod.
So since Dabbler did send Sydney off with the stasis pod, we must assume ipso facto that Dabbler did not believe that the combat was “all over bar the teabagging.”
Then… why was Dabbles going off to find a secure vantage spot to watch Maxi clean up? o_O
Because Oberon forgot that page. :)
He also forgot that Sydney left the area before there were even super mercenaries around, after the alien mercs were already -mostly- beaten.
He also argued with me for quite a while about how he didnt think Sydney was far from the combat zone, even though Dabbler said to take the container ‘far out of sight.’ Which is why Sydney did not even know about a new enemy merc group arriving after the alien mercs.
Most of his arguments could not be legitimately made if he remembered the below page.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-883-garbage-duty/
PS – Sydney has to be several blocks away, since where she is wasn’t blacked out in the buildings around her.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-897-hide-and-go-document/
(check out panels 2, 3, 4, and 5 – lights are on in all the buildings)
So therefore Sydney has to be further away than where the blackout happened (see below, since Oberon insists on citations).
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-896-vive-le-testicules/
Nope. But I am amused seeing you rush to defend Guesticus after I destroyed him. I note that you don’t bother to address the point about there being no need for Sydney to fly away and hide a piece of alien tech, unguarded in a city of 8 million if the fight is “all over bar the teabagging.”
I see that with the both of you now I need to repeat myself slowly and carefully, because you both are just too fucking stupid to follow a train of though. You get all wrapped around your own idiot ideas that you turn off your capacity to reason.
I’ll try one more time. Try to stop your knee-jerk reaction to think or say something stupid, and just listen carefully:
If the fight is wrapped up, there’s no need to hide the stasis pod.
This is a fact that does not change regardless of whether “the fight” is between Archon and aliens, or whether “the fight” is between Archon, Aliens, and human supers, or whether “the fight” is between Archon, aliens, and a bunch of hot dog vendors who’re pissed off that the fight is interfering with their sales.
If. The. Fight. Is. Over. Why. Hide. The. Stasis. Pod?
Answer the question, please.
And really, fake lawyer: You need to up your game if you’re going to pose as someone who should be capable of reasoning their way out of a paper bag. You’re either lying about being a lawyer for whatever insecurities make you think that claiming that profession makes you more credible, or cool, or whatever your issue is, or you’re just a really crappy lawyer who I’d never want representing me for a parking ticket much less anything more serious.
Allow me to point out your ridiculous train of “thought” here:
Sydney doesn’t know about the Earth supers because she flew away before they got there;
Sydney has to be far away because the Earth supers caused a blackout, and Sydney isn’t in it;
Really? What lawyer is going to say in court:
“The thing I just said she left before it happened therefore must have happened before she got where she went”?
No opposing council is going to allow you to assert that without evidence, which is what you’re doing. Your “citations” don’t prove anything, so they aren’t valid citations. The fact that the lights are on where Sydney is could just as easily mean that the blackout hasn’t happened yet in Sydney’s time frame. Or it could mean that Sydney is outside of what looks to be about a 2×4 area of blackout, and you’re calling 3 blocks “far away” because you think that supports your prior idiot claims. You suck at lawyering.
Wow, you are really big on arguing after we’ve gone to a new page. I guess it’s because you hope no one will see your poorly made arguments and refute them.
“Nope. But I am amused seeing you rush to defend Guesticus after I destroyed him.”
I don’t see where you destroyed him at all. You arguments are rather bad, and you ignore key things in the comic to make those arguments.
” I note that you don’t bother to address the point about there being no need for Sydney to fly away and hide a piece of alien tech, unguarded in a city of 8 million if the fight is “all over bar the teabagging.”””
I note you don’t address that the fight against the alien mercs was already essentially over when Dabbler told Sydney to put the container somewhere that people wouldnt get at it, out of sight.
“I see that with the both of you now I need to repeat myself slowly and carefully, because you both are just too fucking stupid to follow a train of though.”
You are the absolute most consistent troll on the question board :). All the ad hominem attacks, so little logic in your arguments.
“You get all wrapped around your own idiot ideas that you turn off your capacity to reason.”
Well I admit that I don’t go around using the reasoned strategy of calling people idiots as part of my debate strategy. I leave that to you, since you seem to follow the ‘Guest on The Jerry Springer Show’ school of debate rules.
“If the fight is wrapped up, there’s no need to hide the stasis pod.”
Except there are hundreds of human beings AND non-merc aliens there, and aliens who they do not know if they are or are not mercs there and they don’t have the area cordoned off to prevent theft of high tech equipment. It’s easier to just hide the container until everything is fully wrapped up.
“This is a fact that does not change regardless of whether “the fight” is between Archon and aliens, or whether “the fight” is between Archon, Aliens, and human supers, or whether “the fight” is between Archon, aliens, and a bunch of hot dog vendors who’re pissed off that the fight is interfering with their sales.”
It’s easier to hide the object than to leave it in a combat zone for someone to potentially take while they’re busy wrapping up the situation. Plus it would supposedly keep Sydney out of the danger zone, since she was told to take it somewhere ‘far out of the way.’
“If. The. Fight. Is. Over. Why. Hide. The. Stasis. Pod?”
Adding periods between each word doesnt change how badly thought out your question is. See my answer above about why she was hiding the stasis pod.
“And really, fake lawyer:”
Oh no, the troll is trying to negate my profession. Well I guess he wins. You do realize that even if I wasn’t a lawyer (I am, but lets play your game), everything I’ve ever said regarding the law is not only accurate, but easily proven by a cursory search of the citations I constantly give.
“You need to up your game if you’re going to pose as someone who should be capable of reasoning their way out of a paper bag.”
I really don’t need to up my game with you. :) You’re spending more time accusing me of lying about being a lawyer than arguing your point.
“You’re either lying about being a lawyer for whatever insecurities make you think that claiming that profession makes you more credible, or cool,”
Yes. Intellectual property lawyers and ADA offices are the coolest of all professions.
“or whatever your issue is, or you’re just a really crappy lawyer who I’d never want representing me for a parking ticket much less anything more serious.”
Okay? I have mentioned I’m an intellectual property attorney and worked for a year in the ADA office in the second department in NY…. we don’t generally do parking tickets. But you are really on a roll on throwing out insults. You go you.
“Sydney doesn’t know about the Earth supers because she flew away before they got there;”
That’s… literally true. That’s the timeline. Go back a few strips and you can just see for yourself.
That doesn’t require being an attorney btw. That requires being able to read a webcomic and understanding that linear time exists.
“Sydney has to be far away because the Earth supers caused a blackout, and Sydney isn’t in it”
She’s at least a half mile away (a couple of blocks at least) because you can SEE outside that the lights on the building are on, meaning she’s not in Times Square. Which on the next page, you see is TRUE because Concretia gives the address into Sydney’s phone and it’s over half a mile from Times Square. You have got to be the most stubborn troll I’ve ever seen.
“Really? What lawyer is going to say in court:”
Why would I be arguing this in court?
“The thing I just said she left before it happened therefore must have happened before she got where she went”?”
I’ve read this sentence three times and it makes about as much sense as the rest of your argument.
Sydney left before the super mercs arrive. That’s indisputable fact.
Sydney flew a few blocks away – far enough that when the blackout happens, Sydney would not be aware of it because she’s just outside the range of the blackout.
Sydney flew to an area about a half mile AWAY from the combat zone, where the fight was pretty much over as far as she could reasonably figure, yet you think it would be utterly unreasnoable for her to take down her shield for even 5 seconds to take pictures of where she’s hiding the container in a building that’s under construction.
Your arguments are just awful… just awful. That’s why you have to supplement them by calling people idiots and stupid. Because you don’t have any good reasoning on your side.
“No opposing council is going to allow you to assert that without evidence, which is what you’re doing. ”
1) I don’t think you understand what evidence means.
2) I still don’t understand how this would be something that would be in court.
3) I’ve literally given evidence for each thing I said – I gave the link of when Sydney left, which was before the super mercs arrived. I’ve also given evidence that she’s at least half a mile away from Times Square, based on her being outside the range of the blackout. Not to mention tomorrow’s page shows the address of the building that she’s in is several blocks away, about a half mile (plus 28 stories up). Wow. I was right. And you were wrong, Oberon. Again.
“Your “citations” don’t prove anything, so they aren’t valid citations.”
My citations prove, as FACT, when different things happened (ie, when Sydney left the combat zone, how far away she is from the combat zone), which refutes your claims.
“Or it could mean that Sydney is outside of what looks to be about a 2×4 area of blackout”
You can SEE the lights in the surrounding buildings being on, which can’t happen if they are in a blackout. You see…. lights require electricity. In a blackout, there is no electricity. I think your pride is getting in the way of thinking things through logically. Either that, or you’re so into flame wars that you don’t care. :)
“and you’re calling 3 blocks “far away” because you think that supports your prior idiot claims.”
I’m calling that far away because New York blocks in Manhattan are REALLY big. Especially around Times Square. Even a couple of blocks away is at least half a mile, and 3 blocks away is almost a full mile. Not to mention… for the umpteenth time…. she is outside the area of the blackout if you just check two strips ago.
“You suck at lawyering.”
1) Still not sure what being a lawyer has to do with arguing this.
2) I’m actually really good at lawyering.
3) Amazing closing argument.
I dunno, all I can see is some idiot musings from you like this:
This doesn’t answer the question. I’ll avoid the periods since they seem to break your tiny, little mind:
If the fight is over, why hide the stasis pod?
You want things your way from both sides, and it doesn’t work like that. If the fight is over, as you have claimed many times, then there is zero need to hide alien tech from a defeated foe. If the fight is not over, then there is no reason for Sydney, a very strong combatant, to leave the fight.
1) Lawyers are typically good are piecing together a logical argument. A skill you have proven that you do not posses.
2) You claim this without any evidence, just like you claim a lot of things to try to support your idiot arguments without evidence. This is evidence that you are not very good at lawyering. Good lawyers dazzle their debate opponents with facts, backed by evidence, which are indisputable. You on the other hand offer up limp arguments, with no backing evidence, mostly consisting of “Nu’uh!” and are clearly not a good lawyer.
As the joke goes, what do you call the person who was last in their class in law school? Answer: A lawyer.
You are that last person.
“I dunno, all I can see is some idiot musings from you like this:”
You literally can not go one paragraph without calling people idiots. It’s rather sad and pathetic as a debate form. More suitable for the Jerry Springer show.
“This doesn’t answer the question.”
Then you didnt read the rest of my post. Which isnt surprising. You don’t read people’s posts. You just strawman them, because you’re incapable of arguing like an adult.
“I’ll avoid the periods since they seem to break your tiny, little mind:”
Case in point. You’re incapable.
“If the fight is over, why hide the stasis pod?”
I’ll repeat myself, word for word, since you did not read it the first time:
Except there are hundreds of human beings AND non-merc aliens there, and aliens who they do not know if they are or are not mercs there and they don’t have the area cordoned off to prevent theft of high tech equipment. It’s easier to just hide the container until everything is fully wrapped up.
It’s easier to hide the object than to leave it in a combat zone for someone to potentially take while they’re busy wrapping up the situation.
Did you forget I wrote that stuff? Either you did, or you’re disingenuous. Normally when I have to choose between someone being malicious or dumb, I’ll just go with dumb, but I think with you, it’s maliciousness. Although I don’t think you’re particularly intelligent either (it does not help that every post you make is an insult), but I’m not using how intelligent I think you are or are not as an argument against your posts. I’m just using the fact that you disingenuously ignore other posts and create strawman arguments to respond to, while using metaknowledge as the basis of your own arguments.
“1) Lawyers are typically good are piecing together a logical argument. A skill you have proven that you do not possess.”
Aside from the current legal decisions during the 2020 election being a clear example that that is not so, I actually have put together a consistently logical argument with you. And I didnt even need to call you an idiot or stupid in every single paragraph, unlike your arguments to me.
“2) You claim this without any evidence, just like you claim a lot of things to try to support your idiot arguments without evidence.”
I literally have given point after point of evidence. Including links since you required citations, since you don’t bother reading the past comics when you make your ‘arguments.’ Not my fault that you ignore it.
I also don’t call you an idiot, and you make it really difficult to take the high ground on that.
“This is evidence that you are not very good at lawyering.”
Your evidence of my not having good lawyering is that I give evidence that you ignore or don’t like. Gotcha. Hopefully you’ll never be in charge of any state bar association.
“Good lawyers dazzle their debate opponents with facts, backed by evidence, which are indisputable.”
And people with trollish behavior call their debate opponents idiots and stupid in every paragraph since they cannot rely on the strength of their arguments without ad hominem attacks.
“You on the other hand offer up limp arguments, with no backing evidence, mostly consisting of “Nu’uh!””
You literally said this in an earlier post, and I pointed out all my actual arguments, none of which were ‘nu’uh!’ Again, you are trying to make a strawman argument to knock down, since you can’t knock down my actual arguments. Now you’re even repeating yourself.
“As the joke goes, what do you call the person who was last in their class in law school? Answer: A lawyer.”
Again you’re repeating yourself on a joke that you made up. Which isnt even a good joke, since graduating law school does not make you a lawyer. Passing the state bar makes you a lawyer. Funny thing – you don’t even need to go to law school to be an attorney although it’s rare that people don’t. You just need to be certified by a state bar association by passing a state Bar exam.
So not only is your joke bad, it’s incorrect.
“You are that last person.”
Actually I was in the top 5 percent of my class and received a few academic awards when I graduated (although not valedictorian or salutorian). And btw, if you get below a certain GPA in law school, you get dropped out of most law schools. So another reason that your joke doesn’t work.
This was covered last comic. Here’s a partial recap:
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) Drop off the alien tech where it will remain unguarded in a city of 8 million people. Stupid and unnecessary.
This eliminates the need for the Lighthook orb, and frees up a hand, which she then fills with her
4) 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. 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.
5) 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.
So, your argument is basically: “If a person with very little combat training and every reason to believe that they were not in any danger had reacted optimally then she would not be in danger.” I mean…sure? That’s like saying that if Sully had headed for Teterboro the moment something seemed to be wrong then he wouldn’t have had to ditch in the river.
Not even optimally, just behaving intelligently would suffice. The Archon team is in an active fight with an unknown team of aliens, one of whom she took the pod from directly in the first place. After listening to him talk with other teammates, and also listening to her team’s active engagement. She’s had no indication over the comms or in person that the fight was over or even under control when she dropped her shield and flew off by herself with a MacGuffin. She and Dabbler both know better.
Some times, in a combat situation, you have to prioritize things, namely, in this case, securing (temporarily) an alien device
Did you miss the part where Sydney arrived back at the main fight area where Maxi had already started to overcome the Stasis?
SYDNEY DID NOT DECIDE TO HIDE THE POD ON HER OWN!!! Dabbles told her to
I’ve argued this with Oberon quite a while in the previous strip’s forum.
He doesn’t seem to get it, because he doesnt remember past pages of the webcomic, or he does remember and he’s just doubling down out of stubbornness.
Actually brichins, at the point where Sydney left, most of the aliens were already beaten except for the reptile pilot (who was not shown yet) and the flamehead girl (who was going to be beaten soon since her stasis gun was about to fail).
There were no additional alien mercs still up, and the super mercs had not even arrived yet.
Plus Sydney must be a SIGNIFICANT distance from the combat zone, since she’s outside the area of the blackout of Times Square AND its surrounding area. Sydney would not be expected to keep her shield constantly up even when blocks and blocks away from the battle, stories up in the air. Her belief that the fight was mostly over is very understandable. I mean… look at the title of the strip where Sydney first leaves the combat zone. It’s called Garbage Duty – it’s the cleanup after the fight is done. Meaning put the stasis pod somewhere far away from the battle, in a place that no normal humans would be likely to stumble upon it until the defeated alien mercs are fully contained, even though they’re already beaten (save for the two I mentioned).
You’re really rather pathetic. You argue against anyone with the common sense to see things as they are instead of how you’d like them to be.
Right here you’re saying “most of the aliens were already beaten except for” all the aliens who were still in a fight with members of Archon. But let’s assume you’re right, and that the fight is all over “except for the teabagging” as Guesticus put it and which you apparently also believe.
You’re insisting without any logic that Sydney should fly away to leave unguarded a piece of alien tech in a city of 8 million, while at the same time you’re insisting that the fight was over. Which obviates any need for Sydney to do that in the first place.
If the fight is over, why can’t Sydney just stand next to the stasis pod and make sure no one grabs it? She’s not guarding it from the aliens, they brought it after all, and you claim that they are beaten. So she’s fling away with it to keep exactly what from happening? Some normal human running up and hoisting a coffin sized piece of metal over their head and running off with it?
No, it was clearly stupid for Dabbler to tell (or order as some people are calling it despite Dabbler having to rank) Sydney to do this. And it was stupid for Sydney to agree, since she is a smart girl and should be able to reason her way out of a wet paper bag even if you cannot.
It was also stupid for Sydney to drop her force field while only a short way away from a fight which was still in progress when she left, regardless of how “done” you seem to think it was, or of how far away Sydney got since she both has orders to keep the force field up, it is just common sense for her to keep it up, and she presumably is going to fly back to that same combat situation. You don’t drop your guard just because you round a corner, or fly 1-3 blocks, which is the minimum needed to exit a 2×4 area of blackout that wasn’t blacked out when she left and so may not even have happened yet since we don’t know if time is being shown linearly or not.
There’s more stupid going on here:
Sydney radios to Maxima. Who last she saw was in a stasis effect and could not receive her signal.
Sydney was not notified at all about the group of supers attacking. Why not use your coms equipment for what it is intended, and keep the team informed of new threats? Maxima is dropping the ball on leadership skills here if time is being shown linearly.
“You’re really rather pathetic.”
Another stunning opening statement, Oberon.
“You argue against anyone with the common sense to see things as they are instead of how you’d like them to be.”
No, I’m giving brichins an argument because I think he’s wrong. But unlike with you, brichins isn’t a troll and does not call people stupid. He’s what we call ‘mature.’
“Right here you’re saying “most of the aliens were already beaten except for” all the aliens who were still in a fight with members of Archon.”
Way to strawman! No, I said most of the aliens were beaten except for TWO. 1 being the one who was about to be beaten as soon as the stasis gun ran out of power and she was in no position to do anything, and the reptile pilot, who was not a threat. EVery other conceivable alien merc who was a threat was already beaten.
“except for the teabagging”
I have no idea what that means and you sound very dumb focusing on what seems to have been a kitchy little quip that Guesticus made. Mostly because you argue by strawmanning, not by actually making sensible arguments to the statements being put forward.
“You’re insisting without any logic”
No, I’m using quite a bit of logic actually. You’re not using logic. You’re using metaknowledge. Because you don’t know how to argue properly.
“that Sydney should fly away to leave unguarded a piece of alien tech in a city of 8 million,”
No, she was told by Dabbler to fly away and HIDE the tech somewhere that most of that 8 million (actually there’s 1.6 million in Manhattan, btw, since you seem to be someone who needs a lot of correcting, not 8 million) could not find it until they’ve wrapped up the aftermath of the fight. Most of the population of Manhattan are not going to be in a skycraper on the 28th floor, under construction and cordoned off. A lot more would be on the busy streets in the intersection area of TIMES SQUARE.
“while at the same time you’re insisting that the fight was over.”
For the umpteenth time, since you don’t seem to read arguments and just formulate straw men to argue against, she’s hiding the container so CIVILIANS don’t get it, not so the alien mercs don’t reclaim it. Please learn to read.
“Which obviates any need for Sydney to do that in the first place.”
The fight with the alien mercs being mostly over does not mean there are not hundreds or even thousands of human civilians in the area.
“If the fight is over, why can’t Sydney just stand next to the stasis pod and make sure no one grabs it?”
Again you’re using metaknowledge. You’re probably one of those people who watch a movie and say ‘the main character should have done this and that and this so that no movie happens, while if it happened to you in real life, you’d have been useless and not done any of the woulda coulda shoulda options. 20/20 hindsight.
“Some normal human running up and hoisting a coffin sized piece of metal over their head and running off with it?”
1) The container is supposedly collapsible
2) Getting it out of the area precludes someone even trying to do that.
“No, it was clearly stupid for Dabbler to tell (or order as some people are calling it despite Dabbler having to rank) Sydney to do this.”
Sydney is the lowest ranked cadet. She holds no power to dispute anyone’s orders in Archon who’s above that of cadet. Dabbler, despite not being military, is still higher up in the chain in ARCHON and can, in fact, give her orders. Civilians can give orders to military depending on their position. Case in point, The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS A CIVILIAN. There are also a lot of other civilian superiors to lower ranked military, capable of giving orders to military.
Here you go. Happy reading. But who am I kidding, you won’t read it – https://publications.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/2354.pdf
“It was also stupid for Sydney to drop her force field while only a short way away from a fight which was still in progress when she left”
She’s over half a mile from the fight! This isnt even a dispute anymore. We know the exact address and it’s over a half a mile from the fight in Times Square.
“regardless of how “done” you seem to think it was,”
How are you arguing she’s right by the fight still? You know the ADDRESS OF THE BUILDING now. You know she’s over a half mile from Time Square with all the neon signs. Even if you ignore that she’s outside the range of the blackout, YOU HAVE THE ADDRESS.
“You don’t drop your guard just because you round a corner, or fly 1-3 blocks, which is the minimum needed to exit a 2×4 area of blackout that wasn’t blacked out when she left”
Again…. you have the address of the building she’s in, and the floor that she’s on. She’s clearly 2-3 blocks from the fight, and over a half mile away.
“and so may not even have happened yet since we don’t know if time is being shown linearly or not.”
Sydney does not fly instantaneously, so your supposition that time is not shown linearly is not supported by what we see. If it was not linear time, there would have been some sort of block saying ‘A few minutes earlier….’
“And it was stupid for Sydney to agree, since she is a smart girl”
She’s literally under contract to follow superiors in ARCHON. Plus she trusts Dabbler’s experience, which is about 160 years more than Sydney’s experience.
“and should be able to reason her way out of a wet paper bag even if you cannot.”
1) Sydney does not have metaknowledge of the situation and what will happen next.
2) You’re incapable of making any argument without insults. It’s sad and childish and shows how little logic you have on your side.
“Why not use your coms equipment for what it is intended, and keep the team informed of new threats?”
Maxima couldnt have let Sydney know about the new threats, even if she had any idea where Sydney was (she was in a stasis field at the time in case you forgot. And a minute or so later, her comm was blown up by Brut after Sydney had left. Also, letting Sydney know was not the priority, since Sydney would have been outside of the field of fire anyway. Concretia being where Sydney went to is completely unforeseen and could only be prepared for if you use metaknowledge.
“Maxima is dropping the ball on leadership skills here if time is being shown linearly.”
Maxima has her hands full right now. And when Sydney left, Maxima was IN A STASIS FIELD AND NEEDED TO BE BROUGHT UP TO SPEED WHEN SHE WAS PUNCHED OUT OF IT. She wouldnt know what’s going on with Sydney. Stop using metaknowledge in your in universe arguments.
You’re not good at it. You’re not good in your critiques. You just act like a troll instead. Towards the author and towards anyone who points out your mistakes in logic or reliance on metaknowledge.
In panel 8 it looks like Blue Orb has managed a slight crack in the stone prison. I thought it could be a visiual klonk effect but it does look like hairline cracks.
I really hope so.
What’s Neat is how Concretia figured out the “Distance tether” for Halo’s spheres just by watching This: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-66-hero-baiting/ . That’s the only time the Tether effect has been publicly demonstrated, and then only if you correctly deduce that the orbs were in the poster tube.
It has also never been publicly demonstrated that SHE is tethered to them, only that they are tethered to her. Unless someone happened to have seen Sydney struggling with Tubey before and reported it somewhere accessible.
Actually, she probably somehow got her hands on the footage recorded here:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-31-urge-to-kill-rising/
Note the actual indication this is being recorded!
Ah, good catch. Back then it did not occur to me that anyone would even watch that part.
So the very setup by Arianna that lead to discovering Halo, also revealed Halos greatest weakness?
snapped her choker snerk
Hopefully, the communicator has some kind of fail-safe where if it’s suddenly removed that it will send out an SOS with coordinates.
Pretty sure their position is permanently tracked by off-field overwatch. A call and going offline should raise some alarm bells.
Supers are simply a too valuable asset to loose.
But it still will take some time before help arrives.
Why do I get the feeling that Math is about to lay a second smackdown on Concretia?
The more terrifying part of this that hasn’t occured to ARC is that sydney is arguably a MUCH better prize then maxima for a galactic civilization, because of her ability to make etherium causeways. If it had, sydney would be under watch if not guard pretty much at all times. (to be fair, this is the 1st time someone has come to the planet in a mercenary capacity)
I would also randomly point out… why would snapping the neck choker STOP anyone from being able to hear thru it / use it as a gps device? Unless somehow Concretia knows it could, which is another problem altogether
outside of Cora’s crew no aliens know about the Aetherium causeway (yet)
-I am still betting someone in the era of everyone has a phone saw Sydney use it outside the comic shop.
that said keep in mind the super mercs are not with the alien mercs, their objectives are not the same if that is what you are getting at.
Also yes, both Maxima and Sydney’s collars have now been compromised, someone at base has to be noticing that and trying to contact anyone still with coms there. But yes Sydney’s choker should still be functioning.
Did Concretia take Sydneys both hands up and Sydney let go of her pistol to touch her ear? Last page her right arm was up with pistol in hand and here her left arm is up and pistol probably dropped?
Cree had grabbed Sydney’s firearm, after bonking her on her head, with her own head (guess which was harder)
The way I see it, Concretias head hits Concretias shoulder, and Sydney says ‘Ow…’ because her wrist hurts when Concretia twists Sydneys pistol hand. The pistol disappears. It is not shown to be in Sydneys hand, Concretias hand nor on the ground this page. The hand up on first panel is the wrong hand, unless Concretia took both hands up.
I think she’s Concretia’s head bonked her because if fell off from the gunfire, not because Concretia actively bonked her.
Believe as both: Cree’s head-bonking Sydney and Cree grabbing and twisting the gun out of Sydney’s hand
Do agree about ‘where did Sydney’s firearm go?’
Possibly. That makes sense to make Sydney go Ow ow ow ow ow instead of just Ow.
And yes I agree about not having any idea where Sydney’s firearm went. I’m assuming Concretia either crushed it or tossed it away and maybe it’s behind the concrete structures or out of frame of the panel. Wherever it is, it’s not somewhere that Sydney can get at it now.
Concretia only took one of Sydney’s hands, although you’re right…. she’s holding the wrong hand now. I think that might be an error that was made in the comic.
I’m sorry Sydney, but… “She’s got you by the balls”
between that and the snapped choker there are several questions that syd could be asked.
Can’t Sydney summon the orbss to her hands, as long as they’re within range?
Not through solid concrete
Not summon like a teleport (at least as far as we have seen in the comic), but summon as in call them to her hand, yes sydney can.
The issue here is sydney has never tried, again in the comic we have seen, to FORCE the orbs to come to her, even if it meant trying to have them travel thru something.
It is actually possible sydney fell into her own superhero weakness by never trying to see if she can force an orb to her hand – which to be fair, she never had a reason to try/train for it yet.
Well she did force the orbs to come to her once, when they were being held by Maxima and Maxima was going to open Tubey
I would really design those neck things to send an emergency signal if they are disconnected without confirmation from its user.
would mean either.
user has been hurt (necklace is damaged)
user has their radio stolen
someone is blocking their signal
etc etc
So Math is banned from the Yoga wing of Archon I take it
Concretia seems nice enough, I’m betting this gets sorted out with a conversation.
Now I’m wondering, though – if Concretia keeps pushing in both directions, does Sydney get her back crushed to jelly because her center can’t move? Or are the orbs granting her a kind of pseudo-invulnerability as part of preventing her from moving?
The movement of the orbs doesn’t apply any force to Sydney. This was demonstrated by Maxima in the Parking Lot with her attempt to apply road rash. The orbs can be affected by Sydney’s movement, but all the orbs do to HER is prevent her from moving away at a certain point. If Concretia attempted to keep moving Sydney, the orbs would be forced through the shell she has around them before any damage would be done to Halo. The most she can do by holding the orbs away from Sydney is prevent Sydney from moving.
But we also saw the orbs prevent Sydney from walking away when she left them in the car at the restaurant. Max couldn’t move the orbs past a certain radius, but the orbs can still pull on Sydney if she’s the one moving.
Until Dave says otherwise, it seems consistent that the orbs couldn’t be pushed farther away and Sydney wouldn’t even feel the pull, but that pushing on the chair could still squash Sydney against the invisible tether. Hopefully this was taken into account in their design and there’s something protecting her even at a distance. But I don’t think we’ll need to find out, given that Concretia has taken pains to trap her instead of just crushing at least her hands.
At least Sydney was left comfortable, relatively. concrete isn’t exactly supportive.
Poor Sydney.
:-(
I thought I posted this but I can’t seem to find it.
1: Her orbs move fast enough to break the concrete once she gets them spinning. As was mentioned above, there is a crack in the shell.
2: Has she figured out how to make a call with her Alien Ware glasses?
1 – we, behind the 4th wall, actually don’t know any real mechanics for what the orbs can do at sydneys mental direction. We have seen them spin, and hit hard, but we dont know the limits yet – or even if there are any limits. For that matter, it the orbs are put to the limit they can be away from sydney, we don’t yet know where the attraction force might apply, or how, or where on sydney is the “focus fpr the orbs (like is it head or heart of feet? it changes the application of balance)”
2 If sydney does know how, we haven’t seen it yet, the closest we know is sydney can revive a text/email type message using just her eyes. So it is very possible sydney could
Heh lots of good ideas. BUT, I don’t recall anyone mentioning her utility belt. “If I could just reach my utility belt”
… What utility belt? Not sure if she is wearing one, doesn’t look like it in the last two panels
Remember, this started out as simply a makeshift Immigrations & Customs check, not a combat operation
She was not wearing a full utility belt, but she is wearing a military style one that has the gun holster plus a few other pouches. Its not Sydneys full belt with the oxygen generator and stuff, but it is probaly at least a basic one.
Although what sydney might have put in it extra is anyone’s guess
“I’m sorry ma’am, but we’ve seen the news. Your orbs are potentially dangerous weapons. You’ll have to check them.”
“I can’t check them.”
“Listen, I know you’re attached to them, but it’s the rules and you’ll just have to do it.”
“You have no idea.”
etiquette Lessons on sitting from Concretia, a new compulsary course ARCHON is putting Sydney though. No slouching.
Concrete is an aggregate, not a true solid. Therefore, vibrating the orbs, even if they’re pretty tightly packed, will cause everything to loosen, and very quickly. It’s how a jackhammer works.
Very good point! I hope that’s how she gets out of this, if she does and doesnt need to be rescued instead.