Grrl Power #911 – The luxurious backhand
Sydney’s reaction legitimately started off as a runaway interaction between the serum and her ADHD, but did morph into an intentional stalling tactic.
This dude in the mask is a dick for aiming a gun at Sydney, but he’s hardly the first person on this world to wonder what happens to the orbs if she dies. You can be sure there were people above Maxima who gave it some thought, especially once they realized what an unfocused goof she can be. The fear of leaving someone like her with that much power is only baaaarely balanced out with the fact that no one knows what would happen. The orbs might go inert, leaving America/the Earth without one of the most powerful supers around to defend it. Some people might be willing to take that risk, but then someone pitched the idea that the orbs might react very badly to her death, and considering they obey her mental commands, it’s not inconceivable that the orbs could even understand the intent behind such an act, thereby increasing the likelihood of a bad outcome. It’s one of those “probably not, but is it really worth the risk” scenarios that keeps the heads of the off the books intelligence agencies up at night.
Guys, look… no spoilers, but fair warning, there is a teeeeeensy bit of gore on the next page. A skosh. A… soupçon, if you will. Barely worth mentioning. >cough<
So APPARENTLY, the previous page reminded some of you guys of a scene from a book series called the Vorkosigan Saga. I had never actually heard of the books, but I guess it must have been required reading or something, because about four hundred sixty of you mentioned it. For the three of you who didn’t, the 17 book series starts with Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga) (Miles Vorkosigan Book 1) by Lois McMasters Bujold. (Whose name I always thought was Louis even though I knew she was a she.) And apparently the series has a plethora of piñatas awards. The first book is chronologically the second book, and the fourth book is chronologically the first, so I’ll leave you to figure out your own optimal reading order.
I saw that someone posted that Baen Publishing thought audiobooks wouldn’t be a big thing, but recorded a bunch of them as free promo material that would ship as a CD with certain hardback editions or something. So, hey, good on them for keeping them free even if their prediction about audiobooks didn’t pan out. So about 13 of the 17 books have free audiobooks. They won’t download through the desktop Audible app, but hey, listening to them through a tab in my browser won’t be too awful I guess. Glad my keyboard has those media keys.
Check the vote incentive to see Sydney not naked.
Guess what’s over at Patreon?
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Yay, the cavalry!
Also, I was wondering when someone would try and murder Sydney for the orbs. This is going to happen again.
Honestly hoping for a Akira type event horizon to pop up to stop Sydneys untimely demise. https://youtu.be/vo2X-SkAJMU?t=345 it did not show up previously since was not really in danger with the save point. =P
Technically Sciona tried it too and the save point from Krona saved her. Although for her it was wandering if taking Sydney’s blood would allow her to use them.
Did she try it for the orbs, or just because it’s what she does?
she mentioned it while holding Sydney in the air by her wrists a “I wander if I can control the orbs if I take your blood” sort of dialogue. Right before she was about to stab Sydney with what looked like a sharp vacuum hose and Krona’s save point teleported her and Pixel out of there.
And that’s when we’ll find out what that last orb does.
Unleash the Cora in her full murderous might!
I was assuming its Peggy.
Also: why I am only now realising that the character with one leg is called “Peggy”. God I am slow sometimes :(
Peggy having one leg is just an unfortunate co-inky-dinky, it’s not like DaveB came up with the name and then wrote a backstory where she almost died in a helicopter crash just to make a punny…
If I know Dave B right he is a unapologetic punster, so I think he would do that without shame.
Her name could easily a double-pun, referencing both her leg and her marksmanship.
It’s one thing to be a Punster, it’s another to give someone a near death experience to enforce it
Shirly you mean “Punister”…
can you imagine ‘The Punnisher’?
That would be bad, but even worse: a Pundemic
Sorry it took so long for someone to say this. I assume you’ve been waiting patiently.
I am serious. And don’t call me Shirly.
Okay Sam
OK, Serious.
Sydney has alien tech glasses that can communicate with other aliens, and Cora just got “an alert” that she had to respond to.
Anyone else really hyped that Halo’s turned into a real BAD ASS after her (Batman) training???
That look in the next to last panel gives me chills!
BRING THE GORE!!! Let’s see some melted femurs.
Thinking beyond blood lust, this would be a good time for Concretia to turn on her captors. Insta-kills all around, will leave their larger organization in the dark as to her status.
BUUUUUUT, what if they have spotters watching this whole thing? Could also be a bad plan.
“Barely worth mentioning.” Eh?
It’s chunky salsa time isn’t it?
Return of the flay-thrower
Nope, it’s meaty pasta time.
Red mist time.
Redux of Sidney v mugger with even less restraint than the first time.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-79-a-history-of-violence/
The cop’s notes say it all.
Nice to see you Peggy, you missed though, must have been shit aiming through that plastic sheet
if it’s peggy maybe a thermal scope? (who knows what kind of tech ARCHON has available to it only that the lowest level is standard military.) along with a few specialists could also be cora (and crew) or an arcdark “recovery” team.
Or trying for possible prisoners.
I would love to see what Peggy could do with one of the “X-Ray Scope Rail Guns” from the end of the movie Eraser.
(I had a character from a homebrew RIFT game who had a stealth suit and basically one of those guns as an ace sniper. The other players convinced the DM to boot me after one game session because my character was so focused on his sniping skill that they felt he was OP. That he one-shot killed six people in a single round because of good rolls and point bonuses before they had gotten the chance to down even one was the primary point of their argument. I’m pretty sure Peggy could match or top that with her skill. Especially with almost no bullet drop or recoil to compensate for.)
Or just the railgun dabbler used at the press conference.
If it was the the rail gun, his torso would be gone.
And half the building
The railgun at full power, certainly. Either that, or a very small hole through the squishy Human followed by a big hole when it meets something solid enough to notice. It may be possible, however, to adjust its muzzle velocity and/or projectile mass to optimise for different types of targets and/or environments – certainly easier than with an Earth-tech explosive gun with its well-defined barrel and breech dimensions.
I doubt it was the railgun – when she used the railgun on Sciona, it clear off removed her entire leg and I think part of her wing as well. Basically removed anything that got in the way.
As we can see, he so far still has the right side of his body. Mostly.
I don’t think Peggy would go for the kill unless she has no other choice – and taking out his arm and therefore the pistol threat works for saving Sydney.
Generally agreed – maybe because he has a gun pointed at Sydney, but… still a bit incredulous
Reading the note, I have one question: Do I have to stock up on red Pixels?
Order some extra.
Get the bedrockium drum full (mod minecraft)
Bit of an over reaction there buddy
Downright luxurious backhand. I just love it when a plan comes together.
> “teeeeeensy bit of gore”
Says the “oh… no, it’s a melted femur” guy? The one who showed us in detail (and without warning) what happened to Cooter-the-living-bomb? This makes me teeeeensy bit worried (j/k, bring it on! Whatever happens to this guy, he probably deserves it just for what we have seen).
Yay, goes extra chucky and crusty bits too!
The baddies don’t seem to be all on the same page.
Sure they are. They all show up in panel 6 at the same time, which is clearly fitting on one page. ;)
slowclap.gif
There’s one missing actually: the guy who can pull an assault rifle from his arse
No, it’s from a book, and she’s on the good guys’ team.
No, go back a few pages, the second sub-goon, the big guy
Chunky diced canned tomatoes, strawberry jam or plum sauce?
If it’s Cora I’m thinking a nice, hearty Minestrone.
You know… leaving him to where you can’t tell that it was human without a DNA test of the sauce.
(Just… as a warning to the other baddies, of course.)
As far as the villains should be concerned right now is that it’s all going to grakt. We all know how messy that is.
huh – blood, gore, guts don’t faze me in the least, but you mention minestrone, and suddenly… :-/
I’m the same way with oysters.
Stomach churning just to look at.
The Amazon, (I feel squicky about pointing anyone in their direction after what they did to Parler.) pages for Bujold’s books have an entry by the author giving a recommended reading order.
Check it out, then buy someplace else. A book store that’s into censorship, what a world it’s becoming…
Your sense of history is lacking. Banning books has been a fine tradition by booksellers societies and nations for centuries.
But Parler wasn’t censored for it’s views. It was booted for repeatedly and egregiously violating the terms of service they agreed to when they picked Amazon for a provider. The fact that it’s also the preferred platform of people who want to overthrow the elected government of the hosting provider’s country doesn’t help it’s cause, either.
I have an excellent sense of history. I also know a pretext for a politically motivated pile on when I see one.
Yeah, yeah, they found 98 death threats on Parler, and took Parler down before they had time to deal with them. 98 threats on a platform the size of Parler is a rounding error. You have any idea how many death threats you could find on Twitter at any given moment? It numbers in the 10’s of thousands. TERRORISTS have live accounts on Twitter!
Parler was actually in negotiation with Amazon to implement Amazon’s own threat detection AI system on their platform, when they cut them off.
It was a political hit job, nothing more, nothing less.
Here, here …
You can do a Google image search for some of the more “interesting” things on Twitter.
That platform most certainly has a bias (be it political or otherwise).
Oh for fucks sakes. Parler was a terrorist planning site.
Taking it down is nothing worse than taking down whatever comms ISIS use. It’s just easier with Parler because they’re fucking idiots for doing all this out in the open.
After you stage a violent coup and try to hang the elected representatives of a coutry, companies in that country are going to fuck you up if they can. It doesn’t matter if it was sucessful or not, what matters is you tried.
Everyone could see this coming, and Amazon were fucking pansies for waiting as long as they did before acting on it.
Thus proving my point about NOT censoring ….
Now where are the “terrorists” going to go plan their “Coup” now???
They are going to the shadows where no one can see and no one can hear them … in the dark away from prying eyes and ears.
So when the attack does come … YOU will be taken by surprise because you chose to be ignorant of the voices espousing violence and action.
Better to have their voices heard and their intent know so that one can make the necessary preparations to prevent such actions.
I mean… that’s a decent way to make radicalization a little harder (make it harder to access those forums and messages)
Intelligence agencies will still be able to gain access in order to monitor for threats to any given country.
Whether and when they share those observations with a populace… well… that’s a different story
That’s OK– parler’s coming back, via DDOS-GUARD, a network of sites hosted by Mother Russia. They host a number of the QAnon friendly sites, and a little organization called “Hamas”.
That should give you some pause for thought, but I doubt it.
Okay … wow … should I … hmmm.
Alright … Parler WAS removed from the various app stores because it would not “moderate” the language used on its platform. According to Paler … IT DOES engage in moderation of it posters IF AND ONLY IF that speech is Illegal (ie calls to violence and direct threats). Otherwise … its FREE Speech. Just because someone doesn’t like or agree with said speech is irrelevant. We have the First Amendment in this country … and we are allowed to say what we want when we want and how we want.
The actions that you stated were organized though Parler … were in fact organized though … FACEBOOK …because FACEBOOK has the necessary tools available to organize groups and the like, Parler does not. Sadly I can not provided links to the various articles showing the proof of this because they have been removed from the internet (if you look around you can find them … but I’m not doing your homework)
AND … Amazon has no “right” to get all high and mighty about censoring groups or individuals about their speech when you can buy copies of … The Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf, My Secret Garden & Forbidden Flowers (which have very graphics descriptions of child interactions) … and I’m sure there are many others that talk about inciting violence and various questionable acts.
Do I think that those things should be banned or censored … NO …
Do I think that the speech of others should be banned or censored … no matter how controversial … NO …
Once you start banning / censoring speech … doesn’t make it go away … it just moves to the shadows … where it can grown and fester into radical / extremist talk.
The best cure for “bad” speech is exposure to others where it can be engaged in debate and shown for its short comings or … in some cases its relevance.
Some may say that all “bad” speech is bad / evil … say that to some of our greatest thinkers whose controversial ideas and thoughts were censored because of religion or the authorities of the day. Think of all the great scientists who were thought be wrong and censored only later to be found to be correct … years … heck centuries after their deaths.
To censor speech / thoughts / ideas that you don’t agree with … is to live in ignorance … and if you want to do that … go right ahead … but DON’T … force your ignorance on to others.
Sure, I’ll get involved in this.
1) Amazon doesn’t want to be responsible for otherwise non-radicalized people getting sucked into an easily accessible radicalization program. I.E. Parler. Look at all the ‘normal’ people who were tricked into invading the Capitol. They’ve now committed an act of domestic terrorism and treason; because they were misguided and for whatever reason were susceptible to such lies.
2) If you really think that getting kicked off of the open web means that law enforcement, NSA, etc, can’t track the terrorists doing their planning…yeah, sure. It might mean the local county sheriff can’t; the NSA, or their international allies, I suspect has the ability to get into any of these.
3) Few people are getting radicalized or becoming pedophiles by reading Mein Kampf or the other books you reference. Having them publicly accessible is demonstrably harmless to society. The same is demonstrably not true for parler, et al. Mein kampf and the others may have been harmful once, but society got past them – we just had to fight a world war first, and then suffer through a cold war. Let’s try something different this time, hmmm?
4) Think about drugs. Plenty of medicine is available OTC. Some helpful things are not, because some things, I.E. cocaine, meth, heroin and morphine, are hellishly addictive and extremely harmful if freely accessible in a society. Do we draw the line on what requires a prescription and supervision and what is easy to get in the right spot? No…but we acknowledge some stuff requires supervision, some doesn’t, and we try to get it right. Getting it closer to right, while accepting we’re not there yet, is the ‘democratic process’ and ‘more perfect union’ part of the American Way.
5) Free speech doesn’t mean free access to a platform. They can speak all they want to the public, now they just have to buy advertising on TV or the radio. And when they become too disgusting for the owners of such media platforms to take their money, they can stand on a street corner and distribute flyers, or outside security in airports and sell flowers – I haven’t seen Hare Krishnas doing that in a while, so the location seems open and about right.
You have the all-too typical misunderstanding of the First Amendment. It protects citizens from censorship by the government, with a great many exceptions. It does not protect citizens from being denied access to a platform owned by a private company such as Amazon or Twitter.
You are allowed to say what you want when you want and how you want, again with a great many exceptions, just as long as you aren’t demanding that someone else facilitate it for you against their will.
And learn just a little bit about the Constitution before you go off on a rant that requires that everyone who reads your words be just as ignorant as you are. Odds are, no one is.
Take your own advice. Stop forcing your ignorance on others by ranting about things about which you clearly have no knowledge. Pick up a copy of the Constitution and read the thing. You might look like less of a fool the next time you break into a rant that cites rights you do not have as your basis. But probably not.
Well, damn …. Fair point … I am incorrect in my interpretation of the first amendment (as many people often are … as you pointed out).
As I’m sure you are aware … The First Amendment only protects us from government intrusion (be it local or federal) .
Also you are correct that … my private company … can do what it wants when it come to removing content that the deem “offensive” … with section 230 providing protections for those companies.
However I still stand by my statement.
To censor speech / thoughts / ideas that you don’t agree with … is to live in ignorance.
Whether your are a private company or not … doing this is akin to a platform being the arbiter of morality and thought (ie. the thought police)
If you are comfortable with a private company doing this then by all means feel free to support them in their continued deplatforming of thoughts and ideas that you don’t agree with.
Once you start banning / censoring speech … doesn’t make it go away … it just moves to the shadows … where it can grown and fester into radical / extremist talk.
To reiterate …. Some may say that all “bad” speech is bad / evil … say that to some of our greatest thinkers whose controversial ideas and thoughts were censored because of religion or the authorities of the day.
Ideas / speech … not matter how controversial … should be allowed to be discussed in open forms … whether that is in the public park on a soap box … or the digital public square (twitter, parlor, minds, etc.).
The best cure for “bad” speech is exposure to others where it can be engaged in debate and shown for its short comings or … in some cases its relevance.
To continue to deplatform / censor / ban people, groups, or ideas doesn’t make them go away … living with your head in the sand doesn’t mean that things don’t continue happen around you … you should be open to idea / speech that you don’t agree with because that is how your grow as a person or society.
Lastly … if people don’t stand up against this sort of censorship / deplatforming … don’t be surprised when it happens to you.
Slightly confused about why there’s a thread about Parler or how it relates to the webcomic. Usually when there are legal arguments on here, it has something to do with the webcomic. I don’t think the half a sentence in the OP really merits a huge flame war here about it, since we usually keep pretty much to comic-related stuff, or when legal stuff, legal stuff which can be pointed to in the comic. I’m sure there are a lot of other places on the interwebs that there can be arguments about this, and I’m sort of regretting putting my post in to describe the sherman antitrust act and the Parler v AWS legal briefs when it really has NOTHING to do with discussion that is related to the comic, since it probably would further an unnecessary flame war.
To Pander: this isn’t a flamewar, it’s so far an actual discussion. I’d have the teakettle on if it were a flamewar, those are a renewable source of heat. If we could tap them, we could put a few key individuals on shifts with keyboards and end all need for other energy infrastructure projects. Not sure the toxic psychic damage would be balanced by the reduction in toxic environmental damage though.
To Reply: Right, so your driving point seems to be if people are kicked off platforms, we’ll live in ignorance of them to our detriment and risk.
I’ll counter with a few more enumerated points.
1) de-platforming, censoring, and banning are three different things. I don’t like conflating them.
2) I agree to some extent, a very good ‘cure’ for inaccurate, harmful, or damaging speech is to engage it with factual, beneficial, and constructive speech. I try to live that when given a likely opportunity.
Note; I’m intentionally being more precise than to use the term ‘bad’. A kid and their parent can disagree on whether broccoli or sugar is ‘bad’, but they can’t really disagree on more precise terms of flavor or health benefit. A lot of argument is actually rooted in imprecise terms, or a lack of shared connotations; not in actual disagreement.
3) However, we can clearly see that with online platforms, people don’t engage with alternate speech; they seek out, and algorithms present them with, speech that reflects their existing opinions and beliefs. That’s very useful if all you want is cute cat videos, or comedians’ feeds. Less so if you’re going for political thought. And actively harmful for society if a critical number of citizens have stepped into a quicksand of political lies and disinformation.
Which means your concern about de-platforming is incomplete – if you truly want people to engage in speech that challenges their ideas and beliefs, and thereby results in a better informed public, then getting politics off of social media and back into some form of multi-lateral town-hall or live debate format is what you want.
Alternatively, social media can create alternative algorithms for ‘political’ posts, which create a feed of countering opinions and facts; one where people will have more and more countering viewpoints presented the more they try to ignore them. That may meet your requirement, but it doesn’t exist right now. I’m not sure I want it to either, but it is an option to de-platforming.
4) We are all, in an objective sense, censored. I mean no insult or shade when I state this, it is simply to draw a parallel in real life. Consider a person at shopping mall trying to persuade people to join them in a pedophilic life-style; they will be escorted from the premises and banned; more likely arrested and on a watch list. Consider a person handing out flyers on a public street corner with instructions on how to engage in some dangerous act, bomb building or sarin manufacturing. If they’re relatively harmless but distasteful, like ‘get away with bullying’, they may or may not be freely tolerated, depending on a lot of localized factors. Actually harmless, like ‘buy girls-scout cookies’ or ‘the girl-scouts should be disbanded’, and they’ll be free to hand out those flyers until they get tired of it. Harmful, and the cops will likely take their bomb-building flyers away and detain them for questioning.
Does that kind of censorship bother you? Do you agree it’s reasonable to disallow such speech in private or public spaces? Where do you draw the line?
5) ‘a more perfect Union’ is what we work toward. We are not perfect yet, nor have we ever been there, nor will we ever get there. That’s okay, ‘more perfect’ is the point. The forefathers saw that pure idealism is not a beneficial goal. Absolutism is almost always harmful. ‘More perfect’, not ‘perfect’ not ‘eventually perfect’ – but a continual effort to get better. We already accept a lot of restrictions in order to preserve society and work to get ‘more perfect’. It’s a matter of identifying, based on everything we know as of right now, where the line should be drawn. To abuse an old phrase, we need to figure out in this instance, where the fist can swing, and where the nose begins. Right now, we know that invading the Capitol is well past where the nose begins…so we need to back up the fist pretty far.
This is a very good point, and one which deserves a lot more thought by a good many more people.
To give an example, several large news sources have apparently (I say apparently only because I’m not privy to their internal decision making, or indeed to how long any decision they may make might stand) decided to only mention the names of mass murderers, the kind that shoots up schools and churches and gay discos and what have you, in their first few days of reporting. And then they refer to the murderers only as “the accused” or “those arrested” or other ways to refer to them without using their names. And this is because they know that one strong motivation for people who commit these atrocities is to “go out in a blaze of glory” and to try to make their names known just as we all know the name John Wilkes Booth and other notorious murderers. Their intent is not to censor, but to avoid feeding in to this psychosis and making a stronger basis for this kind of twisted mind set. And I applaud that. Because people who would shoot a bunch of innocent kids, or unarmed church goers, or really just kill any people with whom they have never had any interaction and have no real grievance, those people do not deserve any place in our history. They deserve to be forgotten forever, and their names should never be mentioned again.
But you could call it censorship. And you could make a cogent argument that censoring the names of these criminals is a bad thing. I’d disagree, just like I disagree that taking down a right wing social media site like Parler that appears to have very little purpose other than to provide a place for criminals to plan crimes and for hate speech to flourish is a bad thing. And you might go on a “whataboutism” rant about other criminals and other hate speech which is allowed on other social media platforms, and how it’s all just so unfair. But you won’t find a sympathetic ear here. Life isn’t fair. Grow up and realize that before you find yourself storming the Capitol building because your candidate lost an election fair and square.
The assumption that most people will choose unpleasant truth over self-serving lies is kind of like assuming children will choose vegetables over candy. Decreasing the availability of lies reduces the number of people taken in by them. Providing them a platform legitimizes them, makes believing those lies seem like an equally valid position to believing truth.
Where this becomes an issue is identifying truth, and whose beliefs are treated as valid. We do not have a way of determining whether most statements are true or false without information external to the statement itself. Most people resort to asking whether the statement is compatible with their existing beliefs, and the quality of that strategy is dependent on the quality of their existing beliefs.
Here’s a particularly pertinent thought experiment: when faced with a deadly virus, should our strategy be to attempt to expose as many people as possible to it, hoping that they either develop a resistance to it, or that the quality of the gene pool is improved by those who do not have a natural immunity are killed off, leaving only the immune? Or should we attempt to eliminate the virus through quarantine and vaccines?
Who decides what are lies and what are truths though? A self-selected group who filters out things that they don’t like?
Regarding your experiment: that largely depends on how fucked in the head the people are. Just look at what has happened: even when they were told to quarantine and avoid unnecessary groups, they deliberately held mass parties with no protection, just because they were told not to
For better or worse, almost all systems that rely on people to implement them are ultimately democracies. Even a dictator requires the cooperation of the populace — though they may have little choice between obey or die, they still have the choice to bring the system down through non-compliance, if enough of them choose it.
So while some people may be in a position of power, or have a bigger megaphone, we collectively put them there, and we can collectively take away that power or voice. And that certainly has potential for abuse. To curtail the tyranny of the majority, we devise elaborate rules, both social and legal, to convince people either that they do not have that power, or that they should not use it.
Tyranny of a minority is no better — or rather, it’s better for those aligned with that minority, and worse for everyone else, so people will disavow it when they’re in the outgroup, and seek it when they’re in the ingroup. Not that the same cannot be said for the tyranny of the majority.
Speech may be a neutral tool, but that doesn’t mean the consequences of its use will be neutral, or in favor of truth. A tool is most beneficial in the hands of those unrestrained, willing to use and abuse it to its fullest extent. Someone who pulls their punches will most likely lose individual battles — but we can decide that they win the war. The first to strike has an inherent advantage, but we can collectively decide that the first to strike automatically loses. I don’t think honest debate about truth can be had until violence is taken off the table.
“Free Speech” ultimately requires rules to maintain equal opportunity to speak. Otherwise, those who shout the loudest or longest drown out everyone else. No actual discourse can take place if the most aggressive individuals can intrude upon and dominate every conversation. It is not speech that should be protected, not some right for a speaker to demand that other people listen to them, but the right of people to communicate unimpeded, the right of a willing listener to hear a willing speaker.
I would like to say that Reply deserves some respect for accepting his failure to use the First Amendment as his basis for his argument. It is not often that people who make arguments like he did will turn around and admit their error. This is a rare occurrence, and I respect that.
Thank you for that acknowledgement …
Also to RLN …. A fair point … Conflating the terms Censoring / Deplaforming / Banning are fundamentally different things … by literal definition.
However in this digital age … I see these terms are often used together to mean the same thing … after all … If you are deplatformed you are effectively censored and your voice silenced.
Used of the word Banning … I agree … I used this in the incorrect context … after all we have a block button available on most social media platforms to silence the voices that we don’t agree with (or just simply don’t want to hear).
What is the solution … I honestly don’t know … I am not here to offer solutions … just question these actions and caution that Censorship … no matter how hard or gentle … is a dangerous thing.
An oft used quote … “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” or “Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it”.
Should we forget Hitler or the atrocities that were committed under his rein … No …
As egregious as this memory is … it needs to be remembered so that we can remember the actions that lead to it and ensure that such atrocities can be prevented.
To OBERON … As to the not naming of mass shooters and their ilk … this is done because that person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If not naming them also has the side effect of preventing copycats … then cool. But … once convicted … that people should be remember, their actions condemned … and their history know … so we all can be aware of what led this person to commit those actions … so as to be better able to prevent such action. Should such person be remember by the general public … that’s for the individual decide on their own … not an overreaching authority … be it a government or a company to decide for us.
To Torabi … I have to disagree with you here … reducing the number of “lies” is a good thing … BUT … those “lies” should be removed though factual discourse. Remember this one …
The Earth is the center of the universe … A voice spoke up to challenge that “truth” … and he was force to resend his voice even with evidence proving that his “lie” was more correct. Yet the people and authorities of the day chose the comfortable “truth” over his factual “lie”. They chose to live in ignorance.
How many other ideas were deemed “lies” and then removed?
How many voices that spoke “lies” were silenced because they went against the consensus of the day?
I can only speak for myself here … I often catch myself believing a comfortable “lie” than recognizing a hard “truth” … however … when I discover this “lie” … I have to force myself to face the hard “truth” … and I find that painful … but a liberality pain … like ripping off a band-aid.
Yet for many I know personally … they would rather leave that comfortable band-aid on … and when it starts to fester … then simply place another comfortable band-aid on top … and so on and so forth.
This is the danger of censorship in any form … “truth” and “lie” … facts and ideas … need the light of open discourse so we can reach a … “more perfect” … society, knowledge, or republic.
RLN … made some fair points as well … where do we draw the line?
I honestly don’t know … and if anyone says that they do … I would be very wary of that person …
However … to reiterate … removing / censoring ANY idea or speech doesn’t make it go away … it just goes some place where you can’t hear.
No, it is not.
There is already a practice in place for using the word “alleged” when describing a person who has committed a crime but who has not yet been convicted. The recent avoidance of speaking the names of mass murderers is purely to do as I have stated: To not give these despicable people any press or fame/infamy, to not allow their terrible acts to grant them any kind of “glory” or notoriety.
And again, I (obviously) do not speak for any press outlets. But I’ve heard more than one of these sources express that this is their intent when avoiding using the names of garbage people who think that killing others is their way to achieve fame or recognition.
Again, no.
The crime should be remembered, so that it might be prevented in the future. The victims should be remembered, so that their loss might not be in vain or forgotten. The methods should be remembered and held up to scrutiny as a means of preventing a repeat of the tragedy. The name of the perpetrator should be only a foot note.
I think the horse is dead for the nonce; we won’t agree and that’s okay. We’re all willing to observe, learn, move the line, observe, learn, rinse and repeat, until it’s time for our successors to take the reins to the dead horse and the metaphor is well shaken – not stirred.
If we all agreed, then we’d be in group-think and at high risk of some critical mistake. Disagreement is healthy; as is knowing the likelihood any one of us is in a position to actually act is small and therefore the stakes, here, are so low that this may as well be a game of dominoes.
High fives all around for not turning it into a flame war, but having a good exchange of ideas.
I agree that ideas should be freely discussed, and that particular ideas shouldn’t be excluded from debate or conversation. Particular ways of expressing those ideas, however, are not something that should be tolerated. There’s a difference between “I disagree with you political position, and here’s why”, and “You and everyone like you should die horribly!” I contend that conservatives are not routinely being censored or deplatformed for their conservative ideas, but because they can’t seem to distinguish between threats and constructive debate.
Buy straight from Baen – that way you can set them up on ANY reader (DRM free) and download any or all of the formats.
After my “free taste” from a few CDs, that’s what I did. So my Kindle and my Nook both have all the Bujold Vorkosigan universe books….yeah! Including the ones that came out after they stopped the CDs.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSHOP!
You can still get things mailed to you from them; many local shops set up sub-shops on bookshop.org so that they get seller credit, and can stay open until we’re back to what-passes-as-normal.
Some have set up photogalleries of their used inventory with curbside-pickup lockers so we can get the stuff, just without the pleasure of physically walking the shelves. My favorite is https://www.pegasusbookshop.com/ but I hope you have one or more in your town!
Support your local bookshop and it will support you!
A bookstore choosing not to carry a particular book is not censorship, regardless of their reasons for doing so. Maybe they think it won’t sell. Maybe they believe carrying it will harm their reputation. Maybe they believe it’s socially irresponsible. It doesn’t matter, because the First Amendment isn’t some kind of gotcha card that you can throw out in order to force a business to do business with you.
Parler engaged in plenty of censorship of their own, on their own platform, despite proclaiming so loudly the importance of Free Speech. I can respect and engage with people who stick to their principles, even if those principles are different from my own. I can’t trust people who violate their own principles.
Can’t believe I’m getting involved in this at all. It has nothing to do with the webcomic at all and it’s basically political flame bait.
Oh well….
“A bookstore choosing not to carry a particular book is not censorship, regardless of their reasons for doing so.”
Unless that bookstore starts colluding with others to make sure that all other bookstores that get started are put out of business. Then it’s an illegal monopoly or oligopoly in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. :) The laws about private companies have some changes when the companies are quasi-public spheres (ie, Sallie Mae and Freddie Mac with mortgages), or when they are monopolies or oligopolies (which are allowed but highly limited because of the difficulty of a free market to regulate an oligopoly or monopoly to protect the consumer or allow for competition.
“Parler engaged in plenty of censorship of their own, on their own platform, despite proclaiming so loudly the importance of Free Speech”
Actually Parler uses (or used) an FCC level of moderation, based on something slightly stronger than, but related to, the First Amendment, which means no defamation, no obscenity (as defined by the law), and no direct calls to violence. Also, no pornography (because FCC is a little more strict than just first amendment standard).
However, Facebook and twitter have allowed pornography, direct calls to violence (and the means to organize in the case of Facebook), and defamation, without removing those aspects. Parler never claimed that anyone can do anything on their website – they just are using an FCC standard for free speech, which is pretty much equivalent to what you’d see on radio or television.
The current lawsuit that Parler has against Amazon is based on Amazon’s collusion with Twitter is based on the Sherman Antitrust Act and Amazon acting like a publisher instead of a platform in violation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 USC sec. 230). There’s also an argument of breach of contract and there will probably be a tortious interference with a contract civil lawsuit, which will probably also be made against Twitter directly. Viva Frei did a pretty good, in depth analysis of the lawsuit, which is probably a good thing to watch since it analyzes the actual briefs, instead of relying on newspaper articles.
wow she totally filibustered being kidnapped
A bullet?
So either the blue skinned captain I’m too sleepy to remember the name of, or Peggy?
Would seem silly if it was Maxima, considering her speed.
Cora’s just had a massive wall of text moaning about the less-than-lethal take down tactics employed by local law enforcement while demonstrating she’s totally cool with corrective torture.
This is going to be her demonstrating there are far worse things than being immediately dead
Took me too long to realize the hand in the last panel belonged to “other masked bad guy”, and was doing something like recoiling – my brain was convinced it was someone using blood-kenesis to pull something out of “main masked bad guy”
Damn, can remember audio books in the 80’s!
There were two packs of LotR audio books, one had two of the books and the other had one book and… either Silmarilon (or how ever it was spelt) or a book of dorf love songs (or some shit), we could only get one (because we was poor in the 80’s) so we went with the love songs pack (it also came with a free portable cassette player, not a Walkman though, still a good player as we still have it)
I cant be first can i? Its 18 minutes past the hour…
Dude you didn’t even make 50th…
Dude, many posts had to wait for manual-approval for at least 20 minutes, which means that when Varia posted, there were no posts showing
Cora is here.
Lol the Patreon incentive
I want a luxurious backhand now :(
Tag, you’re it.
The next biggest question brought to you by Totally Inconsequential Bets Inc. is what is the cause of the swirly colors when people get hurt in this strip?
Is it:
A: artistic license
B: hallucination caused by drugs (as seen from Syd’s perspective)
C: visual effects of an orb
D: some other unexplained phenomena but probably an allegory for something philosophical
if I had to guess A. artistic licence. since it saves having to draw a background as well as focuses the reader of the blow (without being as dull as to just have nothing there)
Having taken some solid punches and kicks to the head, I would vote this to be mildly artistic license. Vision does weird stuff when you’re taking blows to the dome.
Am I the first one in? I love the keyboard graphics throwback porn. Also I love the quip about the luxury backhand.
I commented minutes ago, but my comment “is awaiting moderation”
Mine too. Glad to see it’s not just me. Wonder why some go through and others don’t?
Silenced bullet or Kinetic attack?
If Cora Decided to only bring Dabbler this could get nasty.
Here comes the artillery.
That would be Cora.
A lot better description than “cavalry.”
Yeah, I doubt Cora would bring horses, or even armoured vehicles.
She might have a centauroid energy body in her swap-out options…
It may be possible, but I doubt it. All the ones we’ve seen so far have had four limbs, usually mapping to Cora’s two arms and two legs. The Naga-type (or we’re calling it) has four arms plus effectively a caterpillar track, but the track doesn’t really have separate parts needing discrete control; this lets her use all four of her brain’s ‘limb control blocks’ for arms.
Perhaps an armored war bear?
Something must be wrong: I’m seeing no comments even though it’s a half hour after the comic went up.
Some kind of glitch in moderation, comments apparently requiring moderation and then spontaneously disappearing. No telling why some go through and others don’t.
Posts in moderation ‘disappear’ when you make another post
also I remember Cora getting charged with “littering” after her last fight, and that was when she’d barely met Syd. I hope she leaves a couple alive for questioning. “I only need one of you for information, I don’t need the one that chooses to talk LAST of the two of you.
‘Leave one alive’ does not mean ‘viable limbs intact’. Hard to push a Concretia-zapping button when your arms are just a memory.
Littering was just the strongest thing the officer thought might stick; Fracture doesn’t normally allow mass slaughter even in self defense.
Why does every action of burgundy cowl remind me of a power mad school principal?
“SKINNER!!” :P
Bart finally broke the Skin-man :D
I am hearing him in Skinner’s voice now. It works ;)
“This is the prerecorded voice of your prerecorded principal, Dr. Principal Borous!”
No, wait… not even Dr. Borous would stoop to this guy’s level. Which, considering he’s directly responsible for Cazadores, really says something.
Wow.
I really hope I’m not the only other one who completely gets that reference.
“ooooOOOOoooOOOOOOooooooooOOOOOOOoooOOOOooooo… Oh, my fleshy teddy bear. My brain is quivering after scanning you… I must… rest….”
and Cora has arrived, guessing Dabbler was knocked out by Henchwench (poor show for a demon adventurer to be honest) or Dabbler doesn’t know a gate spell…or does and took longer than expected. the time between the ping and now is imprecise but enough time for this guy to inject Sydney and have this rambling conversation so, at minimum 30 seconds to a minute, but more likely closer to 3 to 5 minutes.
Also it looks like they had a plan, detain, question, erase memory of encounter. Not a bad super villain plan, of course his douchness made him impatient. Even without killing Sydney had he decided to wipe her memory anyway at this point he’s already struck her, pretty hard in fact, so she’d know something happened, and chances are between alien tech, psionics, and magic memory recovery of some sort has a high chance of existing at Archon.
yeah considering how ARCHON is about security (as well as how sydney is as a comic geek). Sydney would probably be off to arclight asap if she developed any injuries from blows she didn’t recall taking and a chunk of missing time
The chance of ‘interviewing’ Sydney without leaving a block of empty time is, as you say, small. But blanking that time does mean that Sydney can’t say anything about who was asking the questions and what she told them.
the assumption here being that between Archon, Dabbler, and Cora and the various supers, magics, and alien tech there could be options for memory recovery even if the receptors are blocked in Sydney’s brain.
In reality you can prevent new memories from forming, but they’d have to have done it before questioning her. After words you can prevent recollection but the pieces are still in there just need either the right trigger or in a fantastical and sci-fi setting a sophisticated method to retrieve them.
And here I was hoping it was Peggy and her British L115A1 Long Range Rifle.
Wounding the boss man and killing the rest with head shots.
You want to kill Cree? Bad Penguin!!
She can’t die in this form. She’s been shot before with a sniper rifle.
She can’t die from ballistics is a very reasonable assumption, I think.
As for psionics or magic, I think it’s pretty safe to say someone wouldn’t be able to do more than disrupt her connection to a golem or otherwise her ability to project, but… you never know…
This reminds me of Empowered.
Villains and heroes have an unspoken code where lethal violence is a no no, because once that comes into play, all restraints are of.
Now I know this is different, as Max already tried lethal force on Vehemence, but it clearly worries some villains that when that line is crossed, murderous rage will descend on the entire organisation.
Especially when it’s the morality pet of the most powerful hero in the world.
yeah, I got that vibe too that Sydney has filled the role of Maxima’s morality chain; its not a solid chain yet I feel, but given she makes Maxima laugh and lighten up a bit and Maxima seems to want to take this rookie on as many of her missions (yes Sydney has a wide power set but she is still a rookie, we don’t see the other recruits, who are now more trained than Sydney; and kind of were already; being tagged along on these missions).
But a general rule of thumb, when the powerful, especially if an S-class character has a morality chain, you don’t want to “break” that chain. Heck Sydney may even be filling that role with Cora too, rubbing off on her; not feeling it as strong with Dabbler; they may need some more on panel time together.
There might be a trope term name for not going after a character’s morality chain but I don’t know what it is.
Even in the Restaurant Rumble, Maxima only escalated as far as potentially-lethal in direct response to Vehemence taking the fight to that sort of level. Until he made clear his intention to kill her while he had the chance, she was still aiming to ‘persuade’ him to surrender.
I recognize this! It’s Miles For losing an beating a fast Pentagon interrogation!
Fast penta. Darned autocorrect
I am astonished so many people read the Vorkorsigan saga! Pleased, but astonished.
EXCELLENT writing. Shards of Honor was the first one I read and I fell in love with both Cordelia and Aral for all the wrong reasons. Funny thing? Everything always thought Aral the ruthless one of the pairing and then Cordelia dropped the head of the man who tried to kill her husband and son on a table in the middle of a negotiation. Everyone looked at Aral and he just shrugged.
‘I was so busy worrying about you that I forgot to worry for your enemies. Did ANY survive?’
Do NOT let them give you to the women!
“Where were you?”
“I was shopping in the capitol.” Tosses head on the table.
“That’s traditional for Vor wives.”
“I overpaid.”
“That, too, is traditional.”
Gore?
Well, let’s see:
1) Max was basically just enjoying herself in the fight with Hench Wench. When she realizes that Sydney is in this situation, the gloves WILL come off. Fully trained Spec Ops soldier who happens to be (arguably) the most powerful super on the plaet versus thugs. Ouch.
2) Who just shot the thug? Peggy hasn’t been seen recently, but most snipers LIKE not being seen.
3) Where is the REST of Archon? Achilles, Mr. Amorphus and Heatwave have show up. The others?
Many have said that there HAS to be a safeguard for having the neck band forcibly removed. No military worth anything would send out troops without such. Hell, Even the Empire in Star Wars made stormtrooper helmets shut down if removed from their users without consent.
That said?
Cora is now aware of a problem and and she has NO issues with ‘overkill’. Neither does her crew who like Sydney. Um… Is her boyfriend clued in? Um…
Yeah. Gore.
… If that’s the case, how did Luke and Han manage to walk around the Star wearing those helmets?
And don’t give that crap about how they ere ‘allowed’ to get away, bashing a couple Troopers’ skulls in and nicking their gear isn’t the same thing
Assuming kalenath to be correct about the Stormtrooper helmets deactivating when removed, the question is then what difference there is between an active and inactive helmet. If the active parts aren’t actually required for general base garrison duties, then it would be hard to tell the difference between ‘not using’ and ‘cannot use’ without deliberate inspection.
If the Empire’s designers were competent, then the core functions of seeing out, hearing the environment, and giving direct verbal orders/reports should not require power. And anything which does, such as radios, tactical displays, environment controls, etc., should fail or depower in such a way as not to hinder those core functions. It’s a trade-off between failure modes: is it more likely that an infiltrator will get their hands on a working suit, complete with all the day’s pass-phrases, or that a trooper fighting in a harsh environment for days on end will sustain damage to his equipment’s power systems?
Luke and Han were lucky in starting from well behind Empire lines, and even more lucky that the garrison were sloppy about internal security. But those are failings of the people, not of the technology.
they also had a hackmaster R2 unit
The people DESIGNING stormtrooper armor were not idiots. The also understood security.
The people wearing it now? They were often idiots.
Say what you will about plot armor or lack thereof and about stormtrooper aim, soldiers are soldiers. Even with the best brainwashing and mind control available, they will likely still be soldiers. Being a soldier is 90% boredom. The action moments are few and far between for most soldiers. That doesn’t make for good movies.
The stormtroopers in Star Wars movies are generic faceless minions. Cannon fodder and as smart as a rock. There were many in several books that are now not canon who were anything but stupid. The armor does not make them invincible, but it was always much better than the idiots wearing it in the movies make it look.
Max only took a small group to investigate a spaceship landing in New York City.
Everyone else is still back at headquarters, and even if they mobilized the instant things went downhill
Except for harem, backup is several hours away and by her self she wouldn’t be much help.
Remember, even though this is taking weeks worth of comics, in the story probably less
Then 30 minutes has occurred, and And less than 10 minutes since she was captured.
Cora uses the MELTA. It is Super Effective.
Too bad Sydney doesn’t have a rain poncho. I’m sure she’s seen a Gallagher Show or two (even if on video) and knows what’s coming.
I saw him live about 30 years ago.
You really start to understand why his live shows run about 2-2 1/2 hours and his specials were only an hour long. He was terrible. (Had no idea how to read the room or know his audience, joked about burning f*gs in a city with a strong LGBT+ community, very inappropriate jokes relating to a kid he had brought up on stage, and so on.)
We almost booed him off the stage within the first 15 minutes.
I told a co-worker at the time about it. She said she had gone and seen him about two years earlier at the same venue and by the halfway point of the show 2/3 of the audience had walked out on him.
You should have upgraded those robes to kevlar!
if it’s loose fitting enough… it’s nearly as deadly to have a bullet shaped piece of kevlar shoved into your neck or your brain as it is o have a bullet itself. Kevlar is strong because it doesn’t let the bullet through, but if the bullet has enough kinetic energy to take the cloth with it… most bets are off
SHE SHOOTS, SHE SCORES!!! XD
Not a full score, only 3pts and not the full 6 they could have got stig. But, if that play came from as far as I think it did that was an amazing shot from a little further out than mid-field I’d say. Especially in this wind.
….also, when Cora’s eyes went “PING” a couple pages back makes sense now.
Yes, just a little to the side of the right goal post, still an incredible effort by the home team.
Please let us be about to find out that the remaining unknown orb is an autodoc.
*crosses fingers*
Also, let that fucker survive long enough to go into a cell. Forever.
Also, also, please let Concretia not be killed or permanently maimed/crippled as a result of this episode in her life. She deserves a chance to have a good, normal(qualified) life as a redonk sculptor/artist.
Also, also, also, Sydney needs a for real vacation after this. Like, her & Frix grabbing a restored old mustang and touring the backroad highways for a few weeks, discovering all the best (bad for you) food and whatnot.
The co-thugs should survive the next chapter.
They weren’t cool with killing Sydney.
Did they prevent her getting killed?
That should count for something.
i only feel leniently inclined toward Concretia, since she’s being coerced into doing it. the person in the mask trying to stop the boss only wanted to keep “…all of Archon and every other law enforcement agency in the country…” from coming down on them, so their motives are selfish anyway.
but at least one of the masks needs to survive, so they can be questioned. it’s unlikely Concretia’s been read into their project’s mission statement.
The argument one uses to convince their boss is not necessarily their personal preference or morality.
I think the only way we’d find out that the unknown orb is an AutoDoc is if somehow she leveled up from this adventure and put in the point to unlock it because if I recall right a power point hasn’t even been invested to open that tree yet.
If it’s unlocked and was one, we probably would have seen its effect when she was stranded far from home on an alien planet and had been hit by bits of stone shrapnel.
Though I do like the idea of that being its function as a future reveal. I could see her giving it a nickname from a comic or sci-fi show… like “Zimmerman” (the creator of the EMH in ST: Voyager) or “Bones”.
She didn’t play with the (?) Orb on Alari Prime. Which was wise, as under the circumstances, she needed to work with relative knowns. Also, we have no confirmation or denial of her “testing it” while injured, so it’s just possible that she might give it a go now, assuming Concretia can take advantage of the confusion to release them, either with a plausible excuse, or with a “oh no, they have, by some hitherto unknown means, thwarted my powers.”
And really, it’s the only thing she’s missing.
-Propulsion
-Shields
-Phasers
-Tractor/Manipulator
-Comms
-Life Support
-Medical …would be the final logical jump and make “I’m a Spaceship,” exactly accurate.
OTOH, and take this with a huge grain of salt, I also think that Maxima is basically a Space Dragon.
-Godlike Flight
-Apocalyptic Physical Attributes
-Senses Bordering On The Supernatural
-Basically Firebreath
-More Or Less Hatched Out Of An Egg…FROM SPAAAAAACE!
…I mean, it might sound weird, but if you think about it as a reproductive method, and you focus on conserve the key attributes of the species, rather than the “total package,” and the likelihood r new offspring will, in all likelihood, come looking for others of their “kind,” thus preserving their culture….and the fact that apparently dragons will f*** just about anything, and it starts to make sense.
Max is a Gold Dragon. FROM SPAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!1!!ONE!!
Panel 8: Serious Sydney is Scary Sydney!
Crouching Goofball, Hidden Badass.
…although, we already kinda understood that Syd was a badass by this point anyway, albeit not in the stereotypical ways.
What would Sydney do with those gloves?
She can’t wear them and use the Orbs.
Probably a stalling tactic. Every second she talks, she lives.
And she could do fingerless gloves
Sydney lost her glasses…! So no more high tech advantage on the gun range!!!
Cora can make a new pair, most likely. but the ones that got removed are likely to still be there, and are also likely to be pretty sturdy since they’re made from super-future-tech-unobtanium-type-stuff.
but even if they’re not, and she’s got to use ARC’s insurance to get new glasses, i’m betting her practice on the range has improved her aim anyway.
Knocked off, not broken. If she gets a chance to recover them, then the advantage remains.
If the next chapter is too much for Sydney to stomach,
a small dose of ‘Forget Juice’ would be advisable.
You seem to have forgotten what she has seen already.
(Not to mention what she would have done to Mr. Amorphous had he not been stretchy in the first chapter. She would have ended up tearing out his tongue all the way at the root with her bare hands if I recall right.)
Umm, you know how easy it is to grab someones’ tongue? That’s right, not easy at all, for a starter, their hand would have to be smaller than the person’s mouth
I stand by my comment…
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-42-unconventional-judo/
No, that was only possible because he was stretchy, and it was a comic (look at Sydney imitating that Bat Metal dude in panel three with her lips), if he wasn’t stretchy (and even the minimal or ‘real physics’) the worst that Sydney could have done is pinch his tongue
And there are humans out there with tongues that can be extended as far as his was WITHOUT being stretchy. (3-4″ out of their mouth is long enough to grab onto with a pretty solid grip. Even for hands as big as mine.)
My point is not focused on that Mr. Amorphous is stretchy. It’s on, as I noted, what WOULD as likely to have happened in that scenario had he not been. And she was willing to do that damage.
*
It’s like if I point out that in the Avengers movie, Thor attacked Steve with the full force of Mjolnir, a blow that would have killed him.
You’re essentially arguing that the point is moot because Steve’s shield blocked all the power of the blow.
When the real point isn’t that Steve survived, it’s that Thor was easily willing to kill Steve and attacked with clearly deadly force, having no way at the time of knowing that Steve had any way at all to survive the hit.
The point of my argument is that Sydney had no way of knowing Mr. Amorphous was stretchy and if able to grab onto a normal human’s tongue you’re as likely (if not more likely) to tear it out as you are to use it as a handle for a judo throw. (Inertia of a 250lb man vs. a muscle only attached at one end.)
Or even just the Forget Me stick, but given how she just rolled with that hit it might require a higher dose than previously expected.
i’m betting Dabbler. hypersonic from the hand-held mass driver. the message Cora got was from Dabbler giving her the information so Dabbler wouldn’t be going someplace without backup.
how did Dabbler know? further betting Sydney was actually having a conversation with an entity only visible to Sydney and Dabbler, and her 3-minute-warning was legitimate.
i feel that Sydney wouldn’t lie to a villain for a variety of reasons, ranging from Heroic Code to Make-Sure-That-The-Bust-Is-Legitimate. i don’t know if that lie would cause an arrest to get thrown out or not, but i also don’t know if Sydney doesn’t know. regardless, i think Sydney sent Dabbler a message via an invisible messenger.
that, or whomever is on Overwatch saw her choker go dead, tracked it, and sent Dabbs to investigate, especially with the partial message she sent when the collar was removed. granted, a hypersonic round can come from a variety of sources. but Dabbler is there, her mass driver can be wherever she is almost instantly, and Dabbler can quickly get to Sydney’s location. Peggy would have to have got in position for the shot. that position would likely have been a distance away in order for us to hear the hypersonic round, but not the rifle report. and, most tellingly, Sydney said “…I just needed to stall until she got here.” so it’s clearly not anyone firing a hypersonic round from a Barrett. what else fires hypersonic rounds with little to no sound? and which member of the team has a mass driver?
okay, Cora probably has one of those too. i’m still betting it’s Dabbler, since Sydney was clearly expecting someone, and it’s likely to have been Dabbler if Sydney’s conversation with the (possible anthropomorphizatition of the orbs’ A.I. assistant) “ghost” was legitimate.
plus, it advances both Sydney’s skill tree, and the plot.
oh, almost forgot: Dabbler could also follow the A.I. Ghost back to where Sydney’s being held.
We are fairly certain there is no AI ghost and that entire conversation was a coded conversation through the high tech communication system in the glasses. She was covering up the real source of her communication by pretending there was something else the bad guys couldn’t just remove from her person.
we are?
why are we?
Because no AI Ghost was ever established prior.
We know from events that take place in the future that are still considered canon via a cross-over that Sydney can’t talk to the orbs.
We know that while Concretia removed every mundane form of communication from Sydney she missed the secret one Sydney has; her glasses.
Context also tells us the things she was saying were indicating who is a threat in the room and more stalling for time.
Cora received a *ping* and said she had to go somewhere.
Context implies that Cora was on the receiving end (as she gave Sydney the glasses in the first place), and Sydney was trying to hide the fact she was talking to Cora from these bad guys so they wouldn’t realize she has another form of communication on her that they missed.
Making them think she has an additional orb power instead, which should help throw off other bad guys in the future if they spread that around, much like how other villains have misunderstood Maxima’s fight with Vehemence to assume electricity makes her weaker as they don’t know (and its classified) how her powers modulate.
Sydney likewise is trying to send a distress call without revealing that she is doing so or how.
Not everyone has read that cross-over, to most, the only ‘future’ they have seen has been Sydney partaking in that role-playing game
The rest of your points are spot on
Warning: rambling that answers itself.
Non-counter engineered real world physics would tell me that this round is in no way hypersonic, since mr. evil mind there, because didn’t explode due to the heath hypersonic velocity generates and the volicity of the bullet..
Technically one can engineer themselves around this by using highly heath conductive materials, a coolant of some kind, a proximity sensor and aerodynamics.
I guess my question is: “Why can’t this be a normal round or an ultra-sonic round from any mediocre gun carrier in Archon with aim good enough not to hit Sydney.”
The normal round question I would answer with: because we don’t hear a sound and thus the round traveled faster than it’s sound, but that still leaves the ultrasonic round.
The option of any ultrasonic round I would answer with: “because he hasn’t exploded from the impact.”
That only leaves a counter engineered sonic round and that one I would answer, because that seem like something worthless from Dabbler and Cora’s perspective to carry besides a hypersonic one and earth doesn’t have those.
The term is “super-sonic”, “ultra-sonic” is reserved for sound frequencies above the range of human hearing.
“Hypersonic” starts at something like 5 times the speed of sound. Peggy’s Barrett falls just short of that if she’s using saboted rounds; You can get to hypersonic using guns, but it requires a second stage using a helium gas working fluid. (You can’t get a muzzle velocity higher than the speed of sound in the propellant.)
Oh, sorry.
How do you call speeds above the one of sound, but under mach 5?
That would be Supersonic. I’m not sure that there’s really a well-defined boundary between supersonic and hypersonic, the way that subsonic and supersonic can be defined by the velocity of sound (in the surrounding medium). Even that transition has a grey area of Transonic, where the variation in air speed across different parts of the projectile’s surface due to its shape includes areas of subsonic and supersonic flow.
Could it just be the 3rd masked man’s gun? Dabbler could have snuck in while they were distracted and kissed him.
1. I’m pretty sure the Rescue Gal is Cora, since she’s the one who got a message, immobilized her prisoners, and went off to deal with something the page before last.
2. From the limited blood spatter and energy weapon sound, I would say she shot the Hooded Creep Leader with something big enough to settle the argument, but not too big to use around hostages. Equivalent to a minor caliber pocket pistol, perhaps.
3.Or, she just inserted something that will turn him inside out next page. Given his overall level of nastiness, i would be cool with that, but the NYPD might complain to Archon Command..
1. Assuming Sydney talking to imaginary “Orb AI” was actually Cora, Dabbler was mentioned and is possibly helping.
2. The sound could be energy weapon or the sound of a bullet coming out of silencer. We cant distinguish the sound till we see the weapon. The limitation of comic book story telling. Also, energy weapons would burn, not splatter blood. Also also, limited? Thats a lot of splatter that only a physical object can cause dude.
3. No one is behind him other than the other baddie so no one ran up and stabbed him. Thrown maybe but we dont see a thrown weapon in him.
Burn versus splatter for energy weapons depends on how it acts. If the heating propagates further/faster than the cauterisation, then a blood-fueled steam explosion will give plenty of splatter.
That would definitely be an interesting gun design. Focusing on the blood and causing it to boil sounds frustrating though if you are trying to create something that only affects the blood. The blood exploding out of his body would not be concentrated in a single area though. It would shoot out everywhere, and a blood boiling steam explosion would probably just explode the entire arm and shoulder off. or at least leave a massive gaping hole.
I doubt it would be at all practical to design for deliberately*. Blood has more liquid and less assorted organic bits relative to coherent squishy tissue, but there’s nothing qualitatively different at which you could tune the energy deposition.
Concentration in a specific area and severity of explosion are probably a function of energy focusing, pulse modulation, and target circulation. A relatively low heating rate, especially with a fairly wide focus on an area with rapid circulation, would heat up the circulatory system as a whole: any given bit of blood is out of the target area before it can pick up a lot of energy, but a lot of bits get a little energy each. Tightening the focus, or aiming at an area with smaller blood vessels (for slower flow) are the easy fixes; swapping from continuous-wave to pulses lets you get higher peak power from the same overall energy input. Pulsing also allows debris to clear, so subsequent shots get through to fresh target rather than being absorbed too early. A smaller amount of blood, picking up energy at a higher rate; the rest of the circulatory system doesn’t need to get involved, if the local structure can’t handle the local input.
* Assuming a ‘scientific’ approach, as opposed to a ‘magical’ one. I’m sure Sciona could selectively affect only the blood, as that’s kind of her thing, but until we know how it works for her we can’t copy it.
Interestingly enough, most homes these days have at least one appliance that is specifically designed to heat up organic materials by depositing energy into their water molecules using synchrotron radiation. That radiation can be reflected using reasonably close-woven wire mesh, which should allow for the shaping of a collimated beam from a near-point source (tip: an axial parabolic mirror means the emitter shadows the aperture, so it’s worth the extra complexity to make it off-axis).
Now I stopped at that point a few years ago, and chose not to dismantle a microwave to turn it into a death ray (not least because I didn’t really have any good targets in mind worth the hassle). Someone with more time on their hands, however…