Grrl Power #903 – Sole searching
While I was drawing the “vibration propagation” sequence, I couldn’t get the Aquaman “Loobloobloobloobloob” noise out of my head. Hopefully I’ve gotten it stuck in your heads for at least a few minutes.
I haven’t decided if Concritia can straight up fly in her astral form… It’s not really astral though. Let’s see, she can project an energy form of her body into stone… Let’s call it her asphtral form. Like Asphalt and Astral? Really forcing that portmanteau there. Anyway, I think she can hover a few feet above rock, like one of those shitty dreams where you can fly, but only at waist height?
Concretia could probably feel the elevator moving, but maybe she didn’t have her toe in any stone when it started up. The vibrations from it moving could probably be pretty easily swallowed up by the background thrum of the average metropolis. There’s probably 20,ooo people and 2,000 cars moving around the streets within a few blocks of Times Square at 9pm any given evening. So basically vibration pollution would be on par with light and noise pollution.
In a world with actual superpowers, there’d probably be some ISO for naming conventions. Techtonapathy, vibralocation, tremor sense, tactile sonar could all mean the same thing, or wildly different things depending on how many near the same variations there are of the same powers. Though honestly, techtonopathy sounds more like you can feel the emotional state of the ground or something.
Evidently I should keep pimping the incentives, because people who swing by the comic on days other than the first post of the month don’t always catch them, and it would be irresponsible of me not to point out that there is a modest collection of nude pinups over at Patreon.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like!
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Toph tingles gotta love TLA references.
My thought as well. +1
Sydney makes the perfect Twinkle Toes.
Toph Tingles ftw.
(Also, so disappoint that Toph and Aang weren’t a thing.)
Elephants can hear with their feet. Also, did ou know elephants are pointigrad? That is, they are on tiptoe not digigrad, on heels like us.
Halo is in trouble. I only hope her distress call got through.
YOU know. Also I messed up the ‘grade’ thing.
Elephants are digitigrade and walk on their toes. WE are plantigrade and walk on our heels. There is also ungulate like horses who walk on their actual toenails.
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Digitigrade
it’s “plantigrade.” Bears share that with humans.
Oh come *onnn* people, it’s obviously ubovurpaigrade.
lol
The horse version is “unguligrade”.
I think you may have some of your terminology confused – walking on toes is either unguligrade or digitigrade, depending on whether they’re walking on just the tip of the toe or on more than one toe segment. Humans walking on the balls of their feet (as is common in martial arts) are temporarily digitigrade (if imperfectly), while humans walking using their heels are platigrade.
This has been your useless trivia for the day.
..and I should’ve reloaded before posting. Oops.
With those huge ears, why would they need to hear with their feet?
Because those huge ears are more radiator fins than sound catchers. I mean something that big would be pretty good at catching sound just by its sheer size, but they’re not optimized for it the way the more standard pointy ear on a swivel is.
Now having said that, elephants apparently pick up subsonic vibrations with their feet, so really they’re very specialized detectors. One presumes that those big ears are better at picking up higher frequency stuff.
They are.
On a separate, completely unrelated note, NEVER use a dog whistle while within poop-throwing range of an elephant. Just…. Don’t do it.
I have since then learned to use assistants for such… Risky… Experiments.
also the ‘sounds’ that are most relevant to elephants are very low vibrations that are easier to hear through the ground over long distances; earthquakes, stampedes, climactic events like like storms or floods heading in their direction, landslides, etc.
I believe they also do the majority of their communication via infrasound, which is very low-range rumbles that travel a long distance through the ground.
Most of the time, Sydney, if you’re not fangirling about something.
And the evil scientist either trying to make the perfect super or a “cure”….or both to try and monopolize supers has become a looming possible threat… although the cult option is still on the table as a side variant of that or a Smythe working for the Kinpin to make Super enforcers.
Another possibility,
they are supernaturals who want to discover how to gain the powers of supers. Like vampires who are outclassed by so many supers despite their age. Has to be hard being on top of the food chain only to find your prey increasing in numbers individuals that can turn that back around in you. So find any way to study and enhance yourself to stay on top.
I wonder if the people behind all of this are the same people who sent Aranea after Tamatha?
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-801-the-heliotrope-lantern/
past pages I also mentioned the mafia and mafia enforcers who could have been in the Vehemence fight and had no known criminal record so walked off and might have taken her too…or because the fight was on the news they tracked down some of the civilian supers and abducted Concretia as they had a way to leverage her to work for them via threat to her body.
Honestly if however “they” are know that Sydney’s orbs are N-th technology (and they know what N-th technology is and that it exists) then I would be even more worried if I were Sydney.
Unless they’re aliens, I doubt they would have ever heard of the term ‘Nth Technology.’
They don’t necessarily need to know the sort-of-classification system that leads to the term ‘Nth-level Technology’, they just need to notice that they are very powerful and look like Tools rather than Powers.
On-Earth observers in-story have now seen that there are many types of Off-Earth technologies, not all of which are equal and many of which are more advanced than those of Earth. Some of them are close enough to our level that we can at least recognise them as technologies (even if we don’t know how the technology works); others are beyond our ‘Clarke-III point‘, where we cannot distinguish technology from magic. They don’t need to know that the Orbs are beyond everybody’s Clarke-III point , just that they’re beyond ours.
Man speaking to a being that looks like a living sun wearing an anime character costume
*Just how advanced is your technology
(Its magic)
*Ah, no, see I am a sorcerer as well as a technician for the Xevoarchy. Technology so advanced it is indistinguishable from magic is my forte, I can see your tech interacts with magic; but how?
(I see the confusion; very well. Our technology is trans-multidimensional; it utilizes the very fibers of the various fabrics of reality as components for the machinery as it were to produce the very foundation via control and fabrication of what you have come to call magic)
*on that note: Zeph stated the orbs resembled known magical items, elemental spheres, spirit seals, and so forth. Chances are anyone looking at them who is aware magic is real will probably not even mentally register them as tech but some sort of sorcery. Dabbler didn’t even realize they were tech, although her magic was having a hard time getting a read on them; Cora only suspected it because they have so far displayed ONE ability outside rational capabilities for technology or even magical items of their size and appearance. Its like finding a magic carpet, not questioning it is a magic carpet till it slips between dimensions and forms a worm hole in its center and you register that its not enchanted fabric but somehow a sheet of pure dimensional distortion which shouldn’t even be possible.
Well, yes, the whole concept of a Clarke-III point starts to break down when actual magic enters the setting.
Unless we take the interpretation where the whole universe is a simulation/sandbox created by some God-level being, and ‘magic’ works by persuading/hacking the simulation to depart from its normal behaviours. In that case, someone with knowledge about the basis of the universe (even if not the knowledge of how it works or how to ‘magic’ it) could be argued to have a Clarke-III point beyond the level of the universe, because to them everything is recognisable as technology. Or they may decide to draw a deliberate distinction: ‘technology’ is anything that works entirely within the standard rules, ‘magic’ is anything that involves tweaking the rules. Doesn’t mean they always have enough information or perception to distinguish them in practice, but at least they know the distinction is there.
When it comes to magic in relation to an artificial universe (simulation and constructed *or started* artificially and allowed to expand and evolve naturally on its own) there are a few ways to go about it.
Matrix style: The universe is a full simulation only, and magic is hacking the system, rewriting code *even if the code corrects its self after words* to produce phenomenon that should be defiance of physics.
Star Ocean style: the universe is a complex simulation, but may have been left to advance on its own thanks to care taker AIs designed to improve and provide regular updates, where magic is part of the code. The use of special words, symbols, and combinations of materials and thoughts trigger deep code in the system to activate pre-designed phenomenon. Possibly hacking from within can alter the code slightly to produce new spells; which is not outside the design to self evolve.
Tenchi Muyo style: A mix of divine will (Slayers, Dragon Ball), and artificially produced and maintained universes. The Chousin created the infinite multiverse and maintain the balance and structure through locations, devices, and administrators which can be perceived of as technological in nature but hyper dimensional (placing them above the poorly built and easily broken limited number of universes set ups of Slayers *4 made from the body of an Omni being* and Dragon Ball *12 made by an Omni being but really fragile realities and easily destroyed just by disconnecting from them…I swear when he destroyed universes the motion looked a little too much like a kid letting go of a balloon to be coincidence*.
Anywho in Tenchi Muyo magic exists but it is based on the multidimensional foundations and machinery the Chousin put in place and maintained by them. So not “code” directly as it is a complete solid self evolving reality, but not entirely random chaos either.
(this model is closer to what I based my own set up on). What allows magic to exist is a construct within a construct but based on a system set up so new things can be discovered and added without ever realizing it is artificial by mortals and even gods as its not limited code but rather a full on system that is so ingrained into the reality’s dimensions that it can only be conceived of as natural by those unable to imagine how it could have been created and added to the universe (or parts of it).
which is another model, the universe isn’t artificial, but something developed a way to manipulate the raw dimensional potential to construct such (zones of magic) around certain planets, systems, and so forth; where magic can be used and exists and has a source and rules and to anyone who evolved in those zones just seems like a completely natural thing. An outside would have to point out that magic doesn’t exist where they are from, and things that seem completely ordinary and basic physics to them simply wouldn’t work in this other galaxy. But no one researching magic would ever realize it is artificial (other than as an out there wacky hypothesis) because…oh its just these dimensional layers and through the ether net or mana stream we can tap into and by using these symbols produce a sympathetic response for specific phenomenon to occur. Never being able to tell that some trans-multidimensional machinery is what they are really tapping into so advanced that via magic or contemporary physical science be able to conceive of as having an artificial source simply due to the impossibility of the (energy needed, or breaking apart the laws of physics)…sort of the thinking outside the box when you are part of the box limitation.
telling syd nit to be beligernt tothe bad guy is like telling water not tobe wet
I AM NOT BEL- *ahem* – I am not belligerent!
Just freeze that water and problem solved.
So some sort of secret organization trying to unlock the secret of super powers? This will be interesting. This isn’t my organization, but it might be something similar.
I actually hear the “PING” from Red October
Can I have one ping comrade, just one ping.
Well, that is sonar. Mind you, Concretia is just using passive sensing. She does not appear to be putting out a sound to see how it interacts with objects and return to her.
Ex-Sonar Technician here. Sonar can also be passive, just listening for the noise made by other ships. Submarines mostly operate their sonar in passive mode.
Because active mode is basically screaming “Submarine over here! Hello! I’m a Submarine!”
it’d be so funny if the actual sound translated into fish as: HelLo! Thalmon here! (Salmon with a lisp)
“HellOO!!“
Oh, it’s better than that. Good navy sonars in passive mode can identify things miles away just because something *else* made noise. “Oh, listen, that ship five miles over thataway has a propeller cavitation! Nice of them to save us the risk of making noise ourselves, now all we need to do is map everything by the echos off of *their* noise….”
“One ping, Mr. Vassilli. One ping, only.”
Could be Sciona coming to say thanks for killing the Kaiju on my home planet allowing me to come here and enslave you all.
Unlikely, she’s busy with the souls of her people, and not yo mention I don’t think concretia was working for sciona anyway.
But besides, I’m pretty sure sciona has turned over a quarter of a new leaf, on account of her now being responsible for the souls of her race. I mean, harbinger and last of your species means you gotta get them bodies, and making kids, before you take over somewhere else, unless taking over let’s you get one or the other.
IIRC, last we saw Sciona, she was busy harvesting corpses in South America [https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-744-recycling/]
South America? I thought she was somewhere in Spain, based on the local dialect of Spanish. Her next step is to figure out how to convert their human corpse bodies (hers with an apparent super-power) into Alari forms. Mind, she might not want to lose the powers her new body possesses, so let others do the switch first.
I’m making a guess that it’s Konstantin Zaitzev or one of his people who work for the Russian mob.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-367-collar-commandeering/
If we are throwing out wild guesses…
I’m going to guess that it is Deepstate Conspiracy Schmuck #2, who got lost on his way to the Supersecret Tagalog Hotdog Demagogue Deep-fried frog, Rodeo Clown Hoedown, and Orgy. But only because his contact on the mailing list purposely gave him bad directions.
It’s a guess but I wouldnt say a ‘wildly unfounded’ guess.
Concretia is being forced to work for someone against her will. Someone who is a criminal and would have no trouble resorting to kidnapping her body to force her.
Concretia just alluded that the person who is making her do this does not work for a corporation, a government, or a university. The russian mob would not be any of those things.
They foreshadowed Konstantin Zaitzev in particular as a possible future problem that Archon would have to deal with, and that he’s more subtle and long-range thinking than most organized crime bosses when it comes to supers.
Brut mentioned a few strips ago that there were bounties on certain super’s heads. Which might make sense for an organized crime boss who would want to either get certain powerful supers out of his way if they’re investigating him (ie, Maxima) or if they have devices which he might be able to use to put him on a more even footing (Halo).
So I’d say it’s not so much a wild guess as it’s an educated guess, even if a longshot. Whereas what you wrote has nothing to do with anything that’s been in the webcomic so far.
Scionscorpia and her “people” (“gang”? of possessed corpses) would also not be a corporation, government, or university, and might want to either get Sydney out of her way, or figure out how one person could have enough firepower to do what her entire planet could not do – take out the squidward/carrier thing – (and maybe to get that power)
Sciona has postulated if taking Sydney’s blood would allow her to use the orbs.
the second point however: Unless the Alari had military satellites still in orbit to observe what happened,
(AND) Sciona was able to get in contact with them to learn about this. Neither she nor the Alari souls would know about the battles *and assume seeing Sydney on the news had been rescued*, as Sciona and the soul posse booked it through the blood gate before Sydney fought them.
Well, the last Sci saw Sydney was on Alari Prime, and then she shows up aboard a space ship, the least she will be wanting is to know how she survived with no way to communicate with anyone!
a space ship belonging to a famous band of adventurers who saved Fracture station and may be the equivalent to the Guardians of the Galaxy for their galaxy. So simple guess, decimated world, maybe distress call, months have gone by; was rescued by Cora and crew.
additionally add Sciona may believe Sydney has a power she doesn’t have. From Sciona’s perspective when she was about to jab a blood draining needle into Sydney, Sydney suddenly teleported, with Pixel, out of her lair.
Now aware Krona was behind that. Remember it wasn’t actually time manipulation it was a save point for them affected by the reality hack. So for everyone things kept going. This means Sciona was unaffected by it as well.
communication issue: Sciona wouldn’t know that, plus ruins of semi-advanced technology including interstellar communication equipment.
Yes Sciona’s another possibility, although we don’t know how far she’s gone in taking over the cartel to get enough infrastructure for an operation like this (coordinating with an evil super LLC (possibly?), kidnapping Concretia’s body to make her work for them, etc.
But yeah, she’s definitely a good alternate guess. Plus Sciona does have a specific reason to want to single out Sydney in particular.
The location fits, and crime syndicate is on the list. as does the idea of “getting over confident” or his supers he sent to lift tech from the aliens in their own backyard jumped the gun.
Weird. Sydney should have known enough gamer lingo to know about the tremorsense ability.
She probably hears with her everything. It just happens to be her feet right now.
I’m both hoping for, and dreading the possibility, that when the elevator doors open to reveal the newly arrived members of the gang; one of them is Cooter.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-531-the-gangs-all-here/
You mean, Wormer, the old Coot now has a Worm inside him
No, they merged together, now a gestalt being!
Same difference
Was failing at making a funny
Wormcoot?
Cootworm?
Whatever…
He’ a wormy old coot.
It’s almost sure to be someone she’s already met but someone she didn’t expect.
No, not Deus.
Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj8n4MfhjUc&ab_channel=turbosoy
I suspect you may be closer than you’re making clear, except it is more like the hispanic inquisition – i.e. Sciona and her people.
I wouldn’t call it “techtonopathy” Dave. That sounds too close to “technopathy” – a psychic ability to control electronic machinery and/or read electronic signals.
Stonar.
This one wins.
Indeed, that’s a solid pun.
Yes.
::thumbsupicon::
More than 360 words end in -pathy. several are going to overlap like that.
Myopathy, You’reopathy, Hesopathy, Shesopathy, Wouldn’t you like to be a pathy too?
I’m a ‘pathy, too bad it’s punopathy, or was it psychopathy, too closely related to tell apart.
Now I can’t get the Dr. Pepper theme song out of my head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQPN3UKQM-U
Don’t believe we ever had Dr. Pepper ads down here, thank you
-pathy
word-forming element meaning “feeling, suffering, emotion; disorder, disease,” from Latin -pathia, from Greek -patheia “act of suffering, feeling” (from PIE root *kwent(h)- “to suffer”).
In most cases, ~pathia/~pathy is apended onto diseases, but some sensory abilities can also be apended with it, such as
telepathy (n.)
1882, coined (along with telæsthesia) by English psychologist Frederic Myers, literally “feeling from afar,” from tele- + -pathy. The noun telepath is an 1889 back-formation.
Theoretically, the apendix ~mancy/~mancia may also be valid
~mancy
word-forming element of Greek origin meaning “divination by means of,” from Old French -mancie, from Late Latin -mantia, from Greek manteia “oracle, divination,” from mantis mantis “one who divines, a seer, prophet; one touched by divine madness,” from mainesthai “be inspired,” which is related to menos “passion, spirit,” from PIE *mnyo-, suffixed form of root *men- (1) “to think,” with derivatives referring to qualities and states of mind or thought. Compare ~mania.
geomancy (n.)
“art of divination by means of signs derived from the earth,” late 14c., from Old French géomancie, from Medieval Latin geomantia, from late Greek *geomanteia, from geo-, combining form of gē “earth” (see Gaia) + manteia “divination” (see -mancy). Related: Geomantic; geomantical.
Piss off all the linguists: Mancypathy.
Ahh, divination through emotions or illnesses…or sensing divinations?
easiest divination ever,
seer looks over man with the plague, “ah yes, I can tell you by divining over this man’s illness, that there is a plague in this village”
While they could all mean the same thing they sound like they work at different scales or magnitudes. T
echtonapathy sounds like the psychic ability to detect tectonic plate movement, which would be great at predicting earthquakes.
vibralocation sounds like it could work with any vibrations so it wouldn’t be limited to stone.
tremor sense, well that could mean a lot of things.
tactile sonar could be exactly what we see or require you to tap on a surface to get a reading
Hey, it’s her pathy, she can call it the dam she wants
Greater minds invent their own words.
I agree most rephalliously.
I always used Geopathy to detect the presence and location of all earthy materials and anything in direct contact with them.
Geomancy to divine through earthy materials, mainly to detect the condition of the soil, its composition, and what elemental forces are working through it and their lines of power.
(like telling a farmer which part of their land to build the house on vs the field because the richer soil is where you want the field, but the sturdier foundation the farm house)
also I think both may be able to detect a sink hole on the property or where to draw the well…hydropathy can help with that as well…or hydromancy I suppose, hydropathy may just be communicating over long distances via water and water locations…although hydromancy can do that too via scrying with water.
(some of these are more alike than others)
Pedisonar?
Toenar?
Unbeknownst to the villains, but knownst to us, Halo’s glasses can livestream. Hopefully, Arclight is watching this go down in real time.
Does anybody other than Cora know about her upgraded glasses? I think she’s kept that a secret, so Arclight or any other allies probably aren’t in contact with her.
So maybe it’s Cora or Frix who may be watching, but they’d patch in Archon as soon as they realized what was happening.
Cora’s back in Times Square, so I doubt she is looking at the livestream from Brooklyn (that is where that address is). Frix might want to check out what is human girlfriend is up to, however.
I suspect that if Frix is monitoring, two things are going to happen.
First, some bad guys are are about to have a very, very bad day, when The Lads arrive to demonstrate how badass they can be (advanced tech can level the field with plenty of supers).
Second, Sydney will be doing _ALL_ the burpees, for ever (or at least a day or five) when it gets out she was using alien tech glasses to cheat at the range.
I suspect both of these events will be entertaining as heck for us, though. X’D
Pink Latex Gun time, Sydney!
No way are they going to make her do burpees.
Sydney’s bosses know damn well that it’s running laps that she hates.
Why would livestream glasses telegraph the fact that they also do rangefinding and target indication? Incidentally I wonder whether they compensate for bullet drop in different strength gravity and atmospheric density and weather conditions?
As soon as they’re identified as being alien tech, Max will ask about their functionality.
I don’t imagine Sydney will lie about it (or ‘forget to mention’) …though she’ll probably squirm when she fesses up.
Unless Sydney thinks they could be crucial in case Maxima ever turns into Dark Maxima.
We’re not sure if they’re aware of her glasses’ enhancements – unless I missed something?
Someone needs to make a list of when Sydney acted belligerent around other (important type) people…
Hope you are comfy, it’ll be a long list!
That list includes President Obama, IIRC.
Most recent entry: shoving her gun into Concretia’s mouth and shooting through most of the clip.
I’m curious as to how she makes sound in her “astral” form, let alone in her rock form. It isn’t like she’s breathing or has vocal cords.
Probably the same reason why she can see and hear
I thought that last week too. At least as rock/concrete/asphalt, etc., she has something she can vibrate. As a “ghost”, how can she cause vibrations in the air?
There is quartz everywhere, there is concrete, telepathy via crystal radio?
Piezopathy ?
This is about to be some very bad people, who are going to embody Halo’s original fears about being kidnapped and treated as a lab specimen, isn’t it?
If nerve weasels didn’t exist they would have to invent them.
imo “techtonopathy” sounds too much like “technopathy” – aka the power to immediately understand any technology.
And the folks from The Twilight Council pop out of the elevator…
Technically that’s true. Sydney is rarely deliberately belligerent. Mostly she’s just annoying – and often she’s annoying in a strangely endearing fashion; Vehemence quite liked her.
Sydney is “someone on the team with a very disarming and human personality.”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-113-secret-meetings-in-smoky-wood-paneled-rooms/ (panel 7)
I think Sydney may have gotten a little too comfortable in her invulnerability hanging out with the rest of Archon. She’s alone with no protection or weapon, cut off from the orbs, and mouthing off to her captor who – in spite of being slightly friendly – is about to manage the hand off to the villains. Points for style, but minus several thousand for self preservation.
She’s done a pretty good job though of improvising.
1) She’s cut off from the orbs – she uses her gun in a way which, in the past, was effective at dealing with Concretia
2) Concretia’s obviously gotten better since the parking lot fight, and isnt disabled from losing the top of her head. She disables Sydney’s gun. Sydney’s immediate next response is to try to contact Maxima without pause.
3) Concretia manages to disable Sydney’s communications before she can get out more than 5 words to Maxima (who she does not realize currently can’t receive calls since her comm was blown up by Brut. Sydney’s IMMEDIATE next reaction was to go for something in her utility belt.
4) Concretia manages to remove Sydney’s utility belt and then for good measure takes her jacket, which also has her phone and any other possible doodads Sydney’s hidden on her person. Sydney’s IMMEDIATE next move is psy-ops – to try to talk Concretia into changing sides because of how well Archon pays. She also ingratiates herself upon Concretia with complements to make it a more friendly encounter, to get Concretia to open up in conversation.
5) Concretia says she’s not doing this because of money. Sydney’s IMMEDIATE next move is to say how Archon can help with retrieving her body or giving her some other way to get into a body. She’s well on the way to turning Concretia when the bad guys are arriving.
Sydney’s been super-pro at this so far, even though she’s had setback after setback in this encounter.
If Concretia is actually a hero at heart, she’s likely to “accidently” allow Sydney’s orbs to get loose. She just has to do it in a way that doesn’t get reprisals inflicted on her meat body.
No, Sydney’s done a damn good job of being lucky
If Cree had gone for her head instead of her balls, Sydney would be dead right now
You don’t ‘luckily’ continually do the most appropriate backup move 5 times in a row. That’s intelligence and organized thinking, not luck.
Oh she’s handled being captured pretty well, sure (ignoring the fact that it was dumb to split off from the team in the first place). I was actually really impressed that she used her sidearm so quickly and effectively, and I think she may have made a new friend and possibly flipped her. It’s the last-minute mouthing off I find unwise, she could be undoing all the rapport she just established.
While I disagree that it was dumb for her to leave in the first place (since as far as ANYONE could tell, the fighting was mostly over already, and she was ordered to do so by Dabbler, who does outrank her within Arc-swat at least, and she did not know that a second faction would attack completely unrelated to the first, AND she’s half a mile away from where the combat zone was), it’s a moot point to what I’m saying. :)
I’m just saying she’s been very organized and intelligent at how she’s handled this encounter, even given it not going her way.
I agree that the last minute mouthing is unwise though, but I think that’s mostly because she sees that Concretia’s actually probably a good person, being forced to do bad things, instead of a bad person doing bad things. :) Soooo she might be letting the psy-ops tactic slip a little. I don’t think she’s undoing any of the rapport though, as Concretia even afterwards is saying she was going to try to help, meaning she probably will change sides still, but doesnt want to risk anything happening to her body so wouldnt be doing it too blatantly.
Never said she didn’t handle herself well once she was captured, just saying she was lucky that it was a capture and not a ‘pest removal’ operation
Fair enough. But anyone can respond well when things are going according to plan. :) It’s impressive when someone responds well when every plan has been going wrong. :)
The fact that she’s lucky this wasnt an assassination attempt (and yes she is lucky about THAT, I agree with you) doesn’t diminish how well she’s been trained to react in a situation like this. :)
But I see what you were saying now, and I agree. It’s just different that I was originally responding to re: Brichin’s post. :)
I’d describe Sydney more as occasionally annoying rather than belligerent.
I think I’d go with “lithopathy” myself.
Making a guess/bet on who’s behind Concretia’s predicament.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-367-collar-commandeering/
Russian Mob Boss Konstantin Zaitzev, who hires supers (and probably also forces them to work for him if money doesnt work).
PredicAment? More like predicEment am I right?
Damn you.
Just… just…. DAMN YOU…. :)
Ok you and me, outside in the parking lot, 3pm *puts up fists*
I can see the headline now, “Pesky Punster Perpetually Pummeled by Pedantic Pundit.”
Even though that was mildly insulting to me (I guess I am a little pedantic admittedly), I will give you +3 internet points for the well-done alliteration.
And for the headline saying I’d win the fight. :)
Nothing was said about you winning, just perpetually punching with puny puffs, with Ro going “Quit it!” every minute or so :P
My first draft called you Parsimonious, but I decided it was too personal, as one should always give freely of their joy. Besides, Mister Rhopalocera Mandibles here probably has punches that are like butterfly farts, but puns are heavy hitters. They are all gutpunches.
Yes Ro Jaws is like Garak from DS9, but with puns instead of cutting remarks. And instead of attacking egos, he attacks my will to live with the puns and relentless dad jokes. :)
Doctor Bashir: They broke seven of your transverse ribs and fractured your clavicle.
Elim Garak: But I got off several cutting remarks which no doubt did serious damage to their egos.
PS – Ro, I compared you to Garak. This is high praise.
I suppose ‘perturbed’ would have served just as well.
Ro does indeed make me perturbed with his bad puns and dad jokes lol :)
You will surely win that. If it’s a fistfight I will lose because I don’t hit women. If it’s a legal fight I might as well knock myself out to spare myself a likely humiliating legal beating.
The elevator says 28 down? Are they coming from the roof?
Fantasy time:
The elevator door opens. Deus is standing there.
He looks at Sydney for a second.
“Sorry, wrong floor.”
Then reaches over and pushes a button.
The elevator door closes.
I’m kinda hoping for Deus to be connected to this somehow, but as much as I love this hypothetical exchange I think whoever is coming knows it’s Halo.
This hostage situation is not Deus’ style.
Ground floor helicopter pads are rare – but this is a building that looks to be under construction, so not sure if there would likely be a helicopter pad yet
“Ground floor helicopter pads are rare”
That’s because the building gets in the way. Far more common for the helipad to be on the roof.
yes.
but as I said if you read a little farther, “this is a building that looks to be under construction, so not sure if there would likely be a helicopter pad yet” – this was meant to refer to a helicopter pad in its normal placement (at least normal in a city type environment). On the roof. Where it is dependent upon the building being able to support it, rather than the ground. So not under construction. Like this building appears to be. Unless the helicopter pad was a priority. Bigger than things like the walls and such.
Many more suburban or roomy places that still benefit from frequent helicopter access like hospitals and police stations do have ground-floor helicopter pads – several tens or hundreds of feet from the building, depending.
I doubt that he would come himself, too much risk of being directly connected to kidnapping. It would be more in character for him to visit after she was already secured in a facility that they were sure the victim would not be found/escape from/be rescued from.
The thing about being belligerent, for most of us, is not being able to tell when one is being belligerent. It tends to be experienced as just sticking up for yourself, or demanding your due, or just talking – any negative response can be blamed on the other person.
I don’t recall Sydney being especially belligerent as a habit, but Concretia may be wise to give the warning since a typical member of a super-team, when captured by the baddies, can have a habit of threatening Dread And Awful Vengeance When My Friends Get Here. One suspects the organizer of this crew may have thought about this already.
Yeah, Syd is not deliberately belligerent, that’s just her personality
I’m going to throw in my vote for “she can fly.” If you can hover a foot above ground, you can fly… although there are some limited exceptions to this.
She’s not using wings to fly, so ground effect is not an issue. She doesn’t appear to be using force fields or repulsion fields, so the proximity of the ground isn’t an issue. It looks like she’s simply projecting a visual manifestation of her consciousness, which means that flying, floating, or even swimming through solid rock are simply an act of will. In that case, she should be able to soar as high as she wants.
I’m also guessing there will either be a tether to her body, hence a physical distance limit (not unlike Halo’s balls) or a time limit to how long she can stay outside of her body. if nothing else, leaving your physical form unconscious on the couch for days on end will result in malnutrition and bed sores.
“… leaving your physical form unconscious on the couch for days on end will result in malnutrition and bed sores”
Yes, but easily solved by having someone look after the body, including inserting intravenous feeding, or the like.
“I’m going to throw in my vote for “she can fly.””
She is a ghost. I think ‘ground’ is not much more than something which blocks her vision. ;-)
“… or a time limit to how long she can stay outside of her body.”
Naa, you are forgetting Concretia’s point about having been missing using her body. If there is a time limit it is a really long one, for her to be pining for sandwiches and … ahem … other things.
No, there is a difference between hovering and flying, other wise, why can’t it go the other way? If you can fly, you should be able to hover, seeing how hovering is simply ‘flying at low altitude without moving’
If you understood the mechanics of flight, you’d know that statement is baloney. I’ve studied the subject a lot, and I’ve even written flight simulation software used to train new pilots.
Hovering is very, very hard. It’s actually the hardest thing in the world of flying to do, since it requires continuous adjustment to balance the forces acting on the aircraft. Lift must precisely balance gravity and buoyancy at any particular altitude, thrust must be vectored to precisely balance the air movement, and usually you’re also trying to hold a specific attitude and heading while doing so, so there’s all that to manage.
All that is to say… we don’t know the precise mechanism of Concretia’s flight. If she flies by being lighter than air due to reduced density, then she should drift with the wind, like a balloon. If she flies by exerting telekinetic force, then she should be able to go wherever she wants, at any altitude she wants.
Having said all that, there’s some suggestion in (other) Superhero lore that one’s powers are largely actually mental. In effect, everyone with paranormal powers has the specific power they do because they subconsciously chose that power. That explains why their bodies always form an idealized form – despite the fact that huge secondary sexual characteristics have nothing to do with healthy bodies. Look at gymnasts and Olympic athletes. Large chests are very uncommon in those who perform extreme feats of strength and agility.
So the only possible explanation for Concretia’s ability to float – only a few feet above ground – would be that she doesn’t _think_ she can fly higher, so she doesn’t.
*giggling* imagining a bumblebee and a hummingbird reading your post and one turning to the other and saying ‘hovering is hard?’ and then ‘tripping’ in their hover for a quarter second…then they both laugh uproariously (and yes, their laugh sounds like ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ played by giggling through a kazoo)
Sydney missed a real opportunity to dub it “Stonar.” Just remember, Sydney, WWCRNI? (What Would Cisco Ramon Name It?).
The ground is filled with unforgiving rage
The ground feels… stoned. But that’s what happens when you use crack.
Streets of rage.
Hmm. Road Rage.
Enter Sciona…
Been a minute since we’ve seen her, and Concretia’s ‘recapitation’ was reminiscent of her first appearance…
Of course Sidney will have no clue who she is. Cue belligerence.
Sydney has met her. She got killed by her. Probably. Pretty sure she will remember that.
Technically, Sciona was not killed by Sydney. Rather she sacrificed her body in order to release the souls in a large “soul battery” and then fled back to Earth.
She might blame Sydney, she might not. At that point, Sydney did not do that much directly to Sciona.
No, Sci-pina won’t blame Sydney for sacrificing her body, but she might blame Sydney for fucking up the worm hole that caused her to arrive too late
Also Yorpie? Sci-pina is in a new body, one that Sydney has never seen before
Yes, Sydney saw Sciona in her alien form… But not in her recently killed and rezzed Hispanic female human form. New body, new face. Sydney has no reason to recognize her (or the other group of alien body snatchers).
Also key note: “They have my body”
Bonus points if one of the aliens is wearing Concretia like a suit…
Keep in mind that the Beast from the original X-men actually had the ability to detect bombs through his feet early on by some kind of location-ability. It’s a wonder they didn’t have him detecting other things like this as well.
Would she get all messed up and forced to run away for awhile if someone drops a stick of dynamite on top of her ala Tremors?
Peggy has proven that claymores work, in terms of destroying Concretia’s body. I suspect that the only reason that Concretia gave up at that point though, was because Peggy’s sniper vantage point was beyond Vehemence’s aggro aura. So when she returned to ghost form, Concretia was wondering “what am I doing here?” and bug**ed off.
Were it not for that I think Concretia could just form body after body. Unless she has some limitation that we are not aware of.
But nice reference on the Tremors, I had just been thinking of that movie myself, when replying to another comment.
Regardless of how this turns out I’m fairly certain that Sydney knows she’ll be fine. Because if she isn’t… Well, short answer is that Maxima will stop trying to take them alive.
Also Sydney will be fine because we are still in a flashback.
Grrlpower is being told in medias res.
Anyone who plays D&D knows this is “Tremorsense” and DaveB made a boo boo by forgetting that one.
Sydney as a Gamer girl would / should have gone strait to Tremorsense.
New to me, and a lifelong D&D player.
Mind you I have been out of new publications for a couple of decades. But that probably puts me (losely) on a par with Sydney’s timeline.
What year is the comic taking place in, then? I mean, I know Obama is still president, but I was pretty sure it was after D&D 5e came out.
Playtesting began in 2012, game released in 2014. Are we before 2014 in the comic?
It is the year 4030 of the Albarta Calendar, D&D has had fifty editions in this world after TSR was bought out by Nintendo and merged D&D with The Legend of Zelda.
The Avengers movie coming to theaters (which should answer your question for real when the time is set as that was brought up in comic); is going to have Iron-Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Tigra, and She-Hulk in it; and a Squirrel Girl movie is the next one plan followed by Spider-man 20 *which was bought by Fox instead of Sony in this universe* and Disney has full Hulk movie rights.
Also aliens have openly visited Earth and supers really exist.
Oh oh. Sydney is doooooomed!
Sydney is very good at making friends.
and influencing people.
And annoying people.
We found Sydney’s Kryptonite……..
The Ball Sack of Despair….. Dun Du Dunnnnnnnnnn
VERMILLION!
Is it me, or does it look like Sydney is STANDING in the last frame?
Angle of perspective, we are looking at her basically front-on