Grrl Power #1363 – Luckily I’m still under warranty
Panel three may not be quite how Scion usually acquires his DNA samples. Not that he hasn’t considered it, but he kept ripping the stockings with his tentacle toes.
I will cop to it. In that last word balloon, I don’t know if I used the semicolon correctly. I’m partially admitting to it because this way someone will either affirm or correct me without me having to not only google it, but, like, comprehend the results, but also it gives the grammar nerds an opportunity to strut their stuff. Maybe there’s an even more appropriate bit of punctuation, like three dots in a triangle that looks like the Predator is sighting in on you. I like interrobangs, personally. Not the right mark for that sentence in the last panel. I just like an excuse to say/type “interrobang.” ‽ Also, as a comic writer, there’s a lot of cases where people are shouting questions. Though I will say, in my head, there’s a difference between “?!” and “!?” The former denoting incredulousness, (What are you doing?!) the latter being for exasperation or alarm. (What are you doing!?) An interrobang lacks that distinction.
The vote incentive is finally done!
The update to the TWC image is pretty minor, but the Patreon version has the bonus comic as well as nude versions. I will strive to make the next one more timely.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
Colon. This is a preface to the thought. Also, I was wondering when this brick would land. Nice.
To explicate further, a semicolon is used to link two phrases which could each be a sentence in its own right, but are connected. For example, in the last panel you could have written “This is unacceptable; hence, this meeting.”
Actually, that semicolon should be a comma; the second clause is not a full sentence.
The second clause is just a fragment, yes. But it is an intentional fragment with an implied action behind it. Changing the semicolon to a comma does nothing to amend the fragmentary nature of the clause, and a comma would definitely be less clear than a semicolon for communicating the implied action; thus, using the semicolon makes more sense.
A more correct version of that would be “This is unacceptable; This meeting aims to alleviate that problem.” THAT is proper semicolon use!
But do NOT capitalize the second “This”.
“I don’t know if I used the semicolon correctly.”
After my colonoscopy found no polyps, I commented t some friends that I got the good news that my colon didn’t need to be edited to a semicolon. One of them replied “That is good news, because no one knows how to use a semicolon.”
Now if only they got rid of the “because”. They could have said it as “That is good news; no one knows how to use a semicolon.”
Perfect. Also self-canceling, which makes it even more perfect.
Pro writer and editor here. Some great and accurate discussion on colon vs. semi vs. comma. If you want *maximum* editing points, there are 5echnically different rules for characters speaking aloud. You use an em-dash (an elongated-looking hyphen) to replace both colons and semicolons. They also replace parenthesis in speech.
There are Nazis–yes, actual Nazis–on the ship with us. Can I please go punch them?
Pro writer and editor here. Some great and accurate discussion on colon vs. semi vs. comma. If you want *maximum* editing points, there are 5echnically different rules for characters speaking aloud. You use an em-dash (an elongated-looking hyphen) to replace both colons and semicolons. They also replace parenthesis in speech.
There are Nazis–yes, actual Nazis–on the ship with us. Can I please go punch them?
So pertinent, the chat wanted it stated twice. LoL
Now I’m wondering what you lot would do with the declaration of Arbroath.
As Njall said, a colon would be correct.
The Em-dash also works nicely here.
I am firmly in camp: There is just one ‘dash’ mark, length does not matter.
The em-dash, en dash, minus sign, horizon bar, and hyphen are all just dashes, and do not need different names except for maybe differentiating hyphen from minus sign as those are distinct use cases.
I fervently wish it were that simple. Unfortunately, it isn’t; I’m required to know the difference.
Functionally, there is the dash – used to set off a thought in a sentence – and the hyphen, for word-internal use. If one includes math, add the minus sign. These are the functional roles of the mark. (I have no idea where to put “horizon bar”, which I’m only familiar with in the context of a cockpit.)
Em-dash, en-dash, and others are typographical descriptors of the mark used to display the dash/hyphen/minus, not descriptive of the role. Differences between them did not matter when hand-writing, but since print had to use physical blocks, if the author wanted different lengths they had to be described correctly.
Both functional roles and display elements need precise language to describe them accurately, but words describing one category do not always map to the other; they do not mean the same things nor draw the same distinctions.
Oh, and the original quote is just begging for a colon. A semicolon is… not quite wrong, but definitely sub-optimal.
That’s like saying there is only one pasta: spaghetti. Sure, spaghetti, capellini (angel hair), vermicelli, linguini, penne, rotini, lasagna noodles etc can all be substitutes for each other, and give somewhat the same effect. But each has BETTER uses and MOST CORRECT usages.
A decaying golem with possible brain damage knowing that it will get worse as time goes on… But can be easily fixed if someone hands over an instruction manual on how it was made in order to fix itself.
Yep… I can see how this has gone both good and very badly.
I am under the impression the issue is slightly different. The golem thinks they know how to fix themselves on their own (ofc, they may or may not be factually right), but they lack the necessary material and they do not know where and how to find it. In all likelihood an instruction manual would be far from useless to them, but what they need and want from ‘Mother’ first and foremost is spare parts.
Huh. If the golem is that damaged, to be able to achieve what they did is even more impressive. And if they need to acquire probably rare and expensive magical supplies on the black/grey market, it makes all the more sense they are extorting organized-crime groups for cash.
ThatOneGuy sez: “Yep… I can see how this has gone both GOOD and very badly.” (Emphasis by me — kd99)
Gone WELL, please.
Very blade runneresque.
Just say the sentence out loud the way you want, and use commas for short pauses, semicolons for longer ones, and colons for ones that are full stops that might as well be a new sentence almost (if they ARE a new sentence, capitalize the part after the colon).
That’ll get you 90% of the way there 90% of the time; elipses and em-dashes are next week’s advanced class.
Use colon only when it introduces an example or a list. Never capitalize the part after a colon unless it is a single full sentence down to a period and you are an American.
Use semicolon for two things: First, if you could have used a period but you want the sentences more closely tied. Second, to separate items in a list after a colon and at least one of the list items is complex enough (using internal commas, for example) that commas will not clearly separate the items.
Use commas to separate simple list items, to represent brief pauses, or to set off names or titles for the person being addressed (even if you don’t hear a pause in the sentence, put the comma there anyway). If the things on both sides of a comma would be full sentences, then upgrade it to a semicolon or a period.
Doctor Spock? This thing has either been watching Earth tv or it absorbed some Sydney blood. If it can used the orbs from that then we may need to worry.
Doctor Benjamin Spock was a pediatrician who wrote a very popular book on child care which has influenced lots of parents since.
That raises entirely different questions on how this golem knows that. Is it like connected to the internet? Does it read books in its spare time? I guess it is sentient and thus could do whatever it wants.
It knew about Deus’ public activity and the Olympics. It’s clearly monitoring general media. It was even doing so during the “battle” with those mob goons.
Along with the side tracked comment, it seems possibly.
Even if the golem was aware of Dr. Spock, would Sciona know? Even if Sciona had full access to Escorpia’s memories it seems unlikely that she would have much knowledge of the good doctor. Not for lack of intelligence on Escorpias part but just because he has become increasingly less a part of popular culture since the 1970’s
For what we know, Sciona is long-lived and spent at least a few decades on Earth so she may well have known of Dr. Spock when he was still popular. The golem got aware of him in the 2010s, well past his heyday. Sciona seems to have developed a fairly good knowledge base about Earth (pop) culture.
man, that’s some aggressive contract signing right here
Maybe he’s concerned that if she can speak, she can activate some failsafe and take control of him again? So he wants her to reply by writing.
Regular colon there, Scion. Semicolon is close enough for government work though.
Also, if she of course knows a thing, then don’t tell her. It’s not relevant to this page at all, and the fifth panel on its own would have already clued the reader into the fact that he can steal powers, without revealing how. It’s fine to save the how until he actually does it, we don’t need that much detail/exposition.
Of course, a reader with a better memory than me might even already know that he can steal powers by taking blood, if they have any idea who the heck he is. I do not, and his ID tag below the comic is not helpful. He seems to be referring to his “birth” as an earlier event that happened in Sciona’s “lair.” But if she ever had a lair at all, it was so long ago that I can’t remember it, much less remember this guy. I guess it must have been more than 6 years ago, before character tags started getting added to comics. So I have no idea if any of his powers have been previously established.
Maybe this is his first appearance, and the way the dialogue is phrased is just tricking me into thinking I’m supposed to recognize him. No clue.
Read #507-528. It is their first appearance (even if they were rather different back then) when it was shown they can copy powers by sampling blood, they battled Arc-Swat and Semper Vigilantis as Sciona’s elite minion, and part of them survived the battle and escaped. We next saw their evolved and current form in #1264-1269, when they were busy shaking down organized-crime groups.
The Robo-Golem was introduced in January 2017 and fought Sydney in March.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-489-two-liter-minimum/
It gained regenerative abilities during that fight after scanning Pixel’s blood.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-513-robo-regen/
Is another cup warranted for those of us who made the hypothesis the golem wanted a fix/upgrade from Sciona? ;-P
A need for special spare parts is an entirely plausible reason why the golem is taking the risk of contacting and confronting Sciona, despite their extreme wariness of her reasserting her control on them. The issue remains of how they can trust her with operating on them. Maybe they think they just need the spare parts, and then they shall be able to fix themselves on their own, if what they need is the magical equivalent of plug and play.
It would be very interesting if, rather than just Sciona giving the golem the necessary clues on how to find the material, they somehow need to actively cooperate to acquire it. A teeth-clenched team-up between supervillains that share a dysfunctional family bond and an origin background yet they have so many issues would be fascinating to read about. If so, however, they probably need a more functional way of communicating and cooperating than her being bound and gagged and answering by writing.
If warranted, I get a cupcake! This was my #1 guess for what the golem wanted!
I’m actually feeling sorry for this guy. I hope ARC adopts him.
Odds on this happens, and Scion becomes the deus ex machina (no pun intended) that proves to be vital to counter the threat of a post-Gygaxia Hoss.
Assuming Arc people are able and willing to fix him.
It’s fine, Scion probably doesn’t whether that semicolon’s correct either.
Linguist here! (oh how I love saying this)
Style guides tend to advise the use of colons when you’re rephrasing or specifying. The semicolon does work in some cases though. One is possible in your context, but maybe by changing the sentence a bit. Allow me to explain:
The “normal case” is that commas mark a small pause without changing sentences. Semicolons are most commonly “super commas” for lists so you don’t get it mixed up with commas, as in the following:
“Each set had a different amount of people. Lucas, Jim, and Emily; Santa and the Pope; Dave; Sciona, Dabbler, Deus, and a random mook.”
If you only had commas, this would be extremely hard to parse. If there were only commas AND I only listed the names without adding the “and”s it would be plain impossible.
This is the “basic” use of semicolons, and this is why formal writing will usually only use semicolons to separate elements of lists (in both meanings: they use semicolons and nothing else for lists, and also they barely even know semicolons exist outside of lists).
There is another* use of semicolons though: supplementation. Before “that is” or “namely” or “in specific” – you get my meaning. Before specifying. In this case you can typically both use a semicolon with “that is” or somesuch, and just a regular colon.
“I made my decision; that is, I will be leaving tomorrow.”
“The signs were clear about which calamity would happen; namely, gonorrhoea space aliens.”
=
“I made my decision: I will be leaving tomorrow.”
“The signs were clear about which calamity would happen: gonor- wait, what?”
That is the Quirk & al. approach, but Huddleston & Pullum’s grammar does mention that in the first set, you can replace the semicolon with a comma or a colon and it’ll still be correct. Quirk’s grammar doesn’t really say it’s “wrong,” just that the second set is “appropriate” for the colon. Both approaches are right, in a way. Just because it’s less common doesn’t mean it’s wrong and just because it’s correct doesn’t mean it’s how people would naturally do it.
Sorry, got sidetracked a bit. My point is that you can use it before specifying if you add something more. If you’re just plain going to explain, a colon is probably going to do it better. The two doorstop grammars (1800 pages each! show some restraint!) that are Quirk’s Comprehensive Grammar (1985) and Huddleston & Pullum’s Cambridge Grammar (2002) are long enough to expand endlessly but in short they agree that when you use a semicolon outside a list, a colon is going to make things easier.
But if you like the semicolon (and who could blame you?) it’s easy to work it in:
“That is my problem; that is to say, I do not know where to source additional core material.”
(If “that” in “that is my problem” is correctly interpreted as “all the stuff I just told you.”)
*: fine, not “another” use. There are yet other uses. But the 2002 Cambridge grammar is the driest thing I ever read.
Sciona better appreciate the treatment she’s receiving. They make you pay for it in Japan. Actually, scratch that callback joke. I’ve got another one. I’ve seen enough henta- damn it, that was also already said in-comic. Welp. Sciona better appreciate that moment, s’all I’m saying.
Years ago, Mom took a course at university and I got to look through some of her books afterwards. One was for a topic I never heard before but sounded cool – linguistic anthropology. Had some neat stuff about hieroglyphics too. Makes me wish I had gone to post-secondary for something like that – I love languages :) (And I constantly wonder why “to be” is irregular in every language I come across – at least the Western ones…)
Most of the Western languages have a common ancestor language, so not that much of a mystery why “to be” would be irregular in most of its descendants.
I would think that another factor would be that “to be” is a fundamental, basic verb. I would wager that it is irregular in non-Indo-European languages as well. Similarly, the ordinal forms of ‘one’ (‘first’) and ‘two’ (‘second’) are irregular, as compared to later numbers (three/third, four/fourth etc.)
In Japanese, the copula.da/desu and “to exist” for inanimates, aru, plus a polite form “masu” to end verbs, are so irregular it’s debated whether they should be considered verbs or some extra category. “Masu” ending can be considered an irregular auxiliary, da/desu and aru are just very very weird. I don’t know much about the language but at least it’s not Indo-European and follows the pattern :)
Damn, I answered the wrong post. Here’s a copy-paste:
Big reasons why “to be” or something close would so easily be irregular is that these verbs tend to be old as balls and foundational, so they can be fossilised in earlier versions while everything changes (source of irregular past form for “be”), or several verbs might merge into a single “exist/have a property/be relevant/be there/live” entity but then their forms get mixed (why “be” and “am” are forms of the same verb), or overuse may have interesting pronunciation effects that actually make them more diverse than other verbs just because we speak first and write second (innit and ‘s and ain’t etc.)
Of course every language will have its particulars, and you need a verb for that to begin with if it’s going to happen – which not all languages need. But when you do have it, it’s not going to be a new addition to the language. It’s going to be such a living fossil that all sorts of interesting things happened to it first!
So if Scion gets powers through blood, is it possible that’s also a way to gain knowledge? If she got a sampling of Sydney’s blood, that would also explain the reference to Spock…
As mentioned above by David Nuttall, it’s the real-life paediatrician Dr Benjamin Spock, not the fictional alien Spock.
If he were 100% functional, quite possibly it would be able to copy skills too. In his current damaged state, he is almost surely unable to, or at least unwilling to waste his precious few functioning resources for. He developed his knowledge base by mundane means such as consuming media and surfing the net. We saw him monitoring and commenting news about Gaitlyn, Deus’ public activities, and the Olympics on his mobile during his confrontation with mob goons in #1268.
What David Nuttall and RBZ said about Dr. Spock.
So are you saying the blood-bot is going to act like the Nomad space probe in Star Trek (1960s version) which mixed up the names Kirk and Roykirk?
Big reasons why “to be” or something close would so easily be irregular is that these verbs tend to be old as balls and foundational, so they can be fossilised in earlier versions while everything changes (source of irregular past form for “be”), or several verbs might merge into a single “exist/have a property/be relevant/be there/live” entity but then their forms get mixed (why “be” and “am” are forms of the same verb), or overuse may have interesting pronunciation effects that actually make them more diverse than other verbs just because we speak first and write second (innit and ‘s and ain’t etc.)
Of course every language will have its particulars, and you need a verb for that to begin with if it’s going to happen – which not all languages need. But when you do have it, it’s not going to be a new addition to the language. It’s going to be such a living fossil that all sorts of interesting things happened to it first!
You sound like a smart language expert.
Thank you!
You need to add another semicolon. That’s how colons work, right? Two semicolons equals one colon?
The semicolon in the last panel should be a colon. Colon is for a direct follow-up, especially if the previous sentence says it has a follow-up; semicolon is for a similar but not direct follow-up. You could replace a semicolon with a period and have the sentences still make complete sense; you can’t do that with a colon.
Meet the next major threat. Henchwoman could be cut off by legal means. This thing is going to be much more difficult to deal with.
I mean Henchwench. Or whatever her name was.
Henchwench has a silly power anyway, one that can be defeated with a rubber stamp on a sheet of paper. Now that is known Ariana can easily shut her down anytime, anywhere. As can any other lawyer that is a prosecutor. It might be smarter for HW to get a trip off-planet for her future. A simple injunction denying her to be able to create a contract with anyone legally wouldn’t be that hard to do. Sooner or later running to other countries would end that as well, off-world would be her only option by then.
No way would the courts uphold an injunction denying the right to contract. That would make it impossible to own or rent property, for instance. You’ll run into the same issues about an injunction against employment, especially since “living without visible income” is itself a crime. (I don’t know the actual name, but if you clearly are living beyond the means you report to the IRS, expect to have a/get hard time).
Given the political freeforall, claiming that the courts would rule sensibly on any specific issue is … reaching.
However, Henchwench could 100% get another judge ANYWHERE to rule the other way, and then make her contracts reference that jurisdiction. Or, she could make a deal with the devil (any devil) and the jurisdiction would be not affectable by American jurisprudence.
True. Or any fae, for that matter.
I don’t believe there is any valid use case for !? at all. It grates on my brain.
the same use as an upside-down question mark, honestly
That’s a thing in Spanish, at least–and I love it! You don’t have to scan to the end of the sentence to know what is happening at the highest level. Wish we had them in English.
What is supposed to be happening in panel 1 and 2 with Sciona’s… finger pen?
I believe the “hentai” golem is wanting her to write it down and is limiting her ability to use more than one finger is a good idea. It’s got her completely immobile to prevent her from casting any spells on it.
So she can write, without the risk of her making any two finger gestures over the written stuff.
Sciona knows runes. Letting her write is dangerous enough. If she has a shutdown code, she can probably hide the elements in any answers.
But blocking her from doing 2 finger gestures might stop her from activatiing it.
Panel 1: holding a sharpie up to her free finger and wrapping it with duct tape.
Panel 2: slapping some paper down for her to write on.
A colon would be the right choice. You use a colon for categorizing, situating, contextualizing, etc one or more items and then presenting those items. “My problem is thus” is the context being provided, and then “I do not know where…” is the item being presented.
The rule for semi-colons is that they separate items in a list, especially a list of items after a colon. So if Scion had multiple problems, he might say something along the lines of, “My problems are: not knowing where to source more core material; not knowing how to extract, refine it to serviceable quality, and shape it into replacement components; and an inability to recover the powers I have already lost.”
… of course, this is English, so the rules are really more like guidelines. Informally, semicolons often get used for long pauses, like they’re a halfway-compromise between a comma and a period.
Agreed!
For education on how not to use a semicolon I refer to The Lonely Island’s song Semicolon. (Note: They use it wrong in exactly the same way as you did.)
https://youtu.be/M94ii6MVilw?si=YiZAOWbohdZUpbJ2
I’m curious what powers the symbols represent. I can guess some of them but others are confusing me.
Flexing arm=super strength
Wing=flight
Shield=defense/invulnerability/force field
Anvil=increasing your weight
Long wiggly arm=stretching?
Explosion cloud=you can explode?
Stick figures with arrow between them=teleportation
Then there’s three that are a complete mystery.
Triangle with circle next to a line connected to a spark
A weird angular representations of something with possibly a figure at the end of it
Three lines connected at right angles with spike protrusions at the right angles.
Anvil=telekinesis
Eye with line=eye lasers (“this power is idiotic”)
Leg with swish/impact lines/mark=super jumping? (not as good as flight)
3 Lines thing=bouncing off wall? redirecting your own momentum?
Yeah, I got telekinesis from the anvil one too. I didn’t notice that was an eye, I thought it was a cone flying from a point and assumed it meant piercing shots; eye lasers makes more sense. Leg one struck me as Hulk Hops. The line one is either 3d maneuvering or ricochet shot. I’m thinking the mushroom cloud is a nuclear blast.
Anvil is probably telekinesis, but it could also be Anvil’s momentum absorption if he’d gotten her blood.
Ah the anvil is telekinesis. That makes sense. The leg jumping does too, although super jumping is way worse than flight. Plus you gotta have some sort of shock absorbing ability or strength with it or you’re either breaking your legs after the first jump or not jumping much higher than the average guy. Golem can scrap that one easy. They aren’t loosing much.
triangle circle line: magic user/ wand?
angulars with figure: strobing motion?
spiky box: armored shell?
Numbering clockwise from top right (so corners are 1, 4, 7, for eye laser, blast, wiggle-arm; center wing=10) #3 seems to have a big bat with a stubby wing and a long wing; and small bat top right.
What might the different outlines mean? Ie rings bright & solid, #5, 8, 10; bright, 6 & 9; dim, 1, 4; etc.
As well as a semicolon problem, Scion (Sciona Jr) may have a spelling problem… panel 4, abandonded
Solid lines around the circle means that those are still stable, usable skill and abilities, the other ones are broken and fading.
I guess her best bet is to send him onto a deadly/longterm expedition?
Like saying that only Arc, the Council or Deus has the ability to make the materials he needs.
But I wonder if he might have already tried to get information from any of them?
Contacting Sciona must not have been his first choice.
I wager he at least tried contacting Deus first. Deus might have learned her Identity from the Golem.
It is debatable whether the golem was right in making Sciona his first choice, but I think he did and did not try to contact Arc, the Council, or Deus first.
To know Deus was a valid option, he would need to be well aware of his less public resources and activities, which seems not so likely. It also depends on what he could infer from Deus’ public activities. E.g. would a tycoon/warlord that is able to hire a demon army be likely able to find the magical material he needs?
As it concerns Arc and the Council, he may or may not have reason to assume they would able to help, but he also knows they are potentially hostile, and they are less a known quantity to him.
With Sciona, he needs to be wary of her reasserting her control of him (and boy, he does go to extreme lengths to protect himself), but as his creator she is well-known to him and she is the best qualified to fix him. He also knows she has potential access to the material he needs b/c she used it before to build him.
The comments on the fictitious Commander Spock and the real life Dr Spock made me think of something. Did the any of the original Enterprise crew have kids in the lore? Other than Kirks son who dies in III at the hands the klingon?
Can some trekhead out there fill me in?
There was a Demora Sulu in one episode who is said to be Hikaru Sulu’s daughter. Also the original script for Voyage Home mentions a child of Spock/Saavik but ended on the cutting room floor.
I’ve read that in one draft of the script for “The Way to Eden”, one of the space hippies was going to be McCoy’s estranged daughter. From his ex-wife Joanna.
Also is the consensus name for “Not robot” Scion? Cause it just makes me think of Worm.
The official name, currently, is Sciona_Jr, by the tags. However, DaveB is calling him Scion in his undernote, which works on many levels, so I’m leaning towards that.
If DaveB created Sciona specifically so that she could have an offspring named Scion (which means offspring), I approve.
“you abandoned me to spend the first few moments of my life being torn to piece by Arc-Swat” actually feels kind of uncharitable…
Make no mistake, Sciona has *a lot* to answer for, but unless this… “golem” could detect Sciona fleeing during its initial 4V1, or watched her do so before the fight even started(which I doubt, since in alt timeline she captured Pixel and stuck around) then that reading of events doesn’t feel right. She sent it out into a 4V1 it was ostensibly *winning*. Not handily, and Krona might have hacked it, of Pixel cut it to pieces, given time to regenerate, or Sydney or Daphne located a weak point… but it managed to take the most experienced of foe temporarily in an instant, and had it pressed its advantage instead of being distracted by the person who couldn’t hurt it, could have finished Pixel and maybe Krona off.
Then in turned into an 8(counting Peggy)V1, and things suddenly and dramatically swung the other way, then fight ending in what appeared to be a minute or two.
Like, I’d judge Sciona for sending it out as a test rather than going with it, maybe, though she may’ve been super confident it’d win already, because maybe they could’ve both cleaned up so fast they could’ve evade Maxima. But that’s not being abandoned. I might also judge Sciona for not coming back for it, but that depends on how well she warded the golem against detection and/or how well arc protected the area after the fight. She might’ve thought it was dead. Or for make it as a tool.
In the end, I know it’s a matter of perspective(and maybe knowledge we don’t have), but while it feels like “not a robot” has a lot to complain about, what it is complaining about isn’t it.
—
With the current formatting, as some others have said, colon would be more correct, but you could workshop it to work with semi-colon or other punctuation. You basically have a list with one entry,
Not to be a dick, but even if she *was* sending it out to die, would she actually be in the wrong? Her survival and freedom was essential to the accomplishment of the goal. A goal that, did it or Sciona not exist, would result in the golem not existing either. It fighting to defend her is it’s purpose. She’s not it’s ‘mother’ caring for her ‘child’, she’s a blood mage who created a golem to protect and defend her. And it did just that as best it could. Heck, she may not have even know it was sentient. It’s not like she’s used to dealing with the blood of supers given they’re only native to Earth so far. She could have made a regular, non-thinking, golem and decided to amp it up with some super blood to make it stronger and didn’t know in the slightest that it would result in it being sentient.
So not only is it questionable as to how much Sciona even knew it was a sentient being (not that I think it would have stopped her), but even if she did know, she was basically instructing a guard to protect her and delay the enemy to protect a misson-critical objective/person. Which is not unreasonable. Especially since she had good reason to think it would both survive and win. And the whole ‘mother’ dynamic seems to be a fiction invented purely on it’s end.
Sciona has a lot to answer for, but I also not only *don’t* think her beyond redemption, but even if she is… Yea. How she treated the golem isn’t one of those things. Her treatment of the hillbilly and ally were far more evil and malicious.
I’d argue, it it’s a sapient creature(or heck, sentient) that she’s sending, without consent *to* die… yes, she’d be in the wrong. “instructing a guard” presumes the guard is still making a decision and has the capacity to do so.
However there are a few other points, I agree on, or at least partially agree with. Tempering points, as well as stuff like the “mother” dynamic comment and some of the end.
As I see it, Sciona could not reasonably expected to know that, if the golem lost the battle, a part of it would survive, escape, and evolve to sapience. Therefore, for him to blame her for abandonment and neglecting a ‘child’ seems excessive. Sciona may be blamed for other things but this happened beyond her knowledge and expectations.
I can see how and why he may feel emotionally driven to do so and identify his creator as a dysfunctional ‘mother’ figure in his head. Fortunately, the personality he evolved seems centered on pragmatism enough to keep him focused on practical issues (starting with his fixing needs and her being the most qualified person to do so) rather than resentment and act accordingly.
I may also point out that, even if Sciona had known what happened to the golem, she was not exactly sitting on her hands since that battle. She was super busy doing the artifact heist, recovering the skybreaker, fighting arc-swat, going to Alari Prime and discovering its destruction, coming back to Earth as a disembodied soul, finding and possessing Escorpia’s body, setting up a new life for herself and the other Alari souls, etc.
I don’t think we know enough about golemcraft in this universe to really make assumptions either way. We know of an entire galaxy spanning race that essentially started off as golems themselves “succubus” that through the increasingly sophisticated demands and methods of creation became sentients beings even capable of reproduction. Who knows what Sciona did to create Scion here although I do really like the theory that super blood had adverse effects on it that lead to accidental sentience.
Either or though. Also I really think they’re just calling Sciona “mother” to further mess with her.
Well, yes, I agree that Scion’s sapience (and survival despite losing the battle with Arc and SV) were accidental and unexpected for Sciona. I think we lack too much info to speculate what exactly in his ‘recipe’ led to this outcome. Quite possibly it was an emergent property from a multi-factor mix.
Yes, the analogy with the rise of the succubus species from sexbot golems to one of the most powerful and successful galactic species (and poised to do even better if and when they realize the vast practical benefits of extensive interbreeding with humans) is compelling, with the obvious difference that in their case it was an incremental process occurring over several generations and at the hands of multiple creators.
Yes, he might call her that to further mess with her, although practically speaking, an artificial sapient being calling their creator “father/mother” just makes sense in cause and effect terms, even if they share no emotional parent-child bond. Kinda like a deadbeat dad or the dysfunctional biological parents of an adopted child may be gamete donors and hence part of their origin, even if there is no emotional bond.
Scion’s outcome may be called adverse from Sciona’s PoV in her current predicament and depending on which kind of deal they are able to make. Quite possibly from Archon and their allies’ PoV too, since if he does turn clearly villainous (say he becomes an Ultron figure) and more so if he does get fixed they are going to face a powerful and resourceful supervillain.
If you ask my opinion about the succubi, all turned well in the end since their outcome is close to optimal in practical terms, they do like what they are a lot, they have as complete control of their destiny as a non-transcendent species can get, and they achieved that long ago. As a matter of fact, I do like them a lot in several ways. Ofc, it helps my vision of the proper place of sex in existence is fairly close to their own, broadly speaking.
From my PoV I’d just strongly argue that persistence of the ‘soul hole’ is far too much a health hazard to be tolerated and should have been removed by the matriarchs long ago. It is obvious they do keep the (nominal) master bond since they greatly enjoy the extra pleasure and power boost it generates and their collective screening and monitoring made potential for abuse close to non-existent. OTOH, they could have all of that and not be at dire risk of quickly wasting to death if master suddenly dies and there is not a suitable replacement immediately available.
just ’cause no-one’s said it: semicolonoscopy
The predator laser sight symbol isn’t really punctuation, it’s formal logic and is called the “therefore sign”.
Looks like Sciona wasn’t paying attention to the recent discussions of AI safety.
I hada second look at the comic and just noticed…is that a female nurse outfit?
The cap and the red crosses are recognizable parts of the stereotypical female nurse outfit, even if RL nurses stopped wearing them quite some time ago. The jacket and mask is a unisex outfit I could well see modern nurses, physicians, or lab technicians using. The golem’s cape harness in the upper chest (a piece that Dave sometimes draws, sometimes doesn’t) creates the illusion of a breast-like bulge, but that’s it.
Late reply but I made assumptions on the supposed form of the outfit entirely off the garters and socks evident, but I could be wrong due entirely to my conservative views and more power to those who can dorn traditionally viewed feminine leaning garments with a masculine figure.
In chess notation, “!?” denotes an interesting move that is perhaps not the wisest, where “?!” is for a weird move that is hard to show isn’t wise because of how strange its circumstances are.
I am happy people are having fun, and I am often able to enjoy many kinds of scholarly or nerd pop-culture discussion, but from my PoV this whole grammar debate is as appealing as watching paint dry. Can’t wait to have the next update so we can move on.
There are other things we could talk about. What ARE Sciona’s feelings about Scion, who she’d probably given up as lost or dead at this point? How does Scion know who Sciona is? Can Scion learn magic?
Interesting issues and thanks for bringing them up for discussion.
As it concerns #3, in all likelihood yes. He is sapient, smart, and magical in nature.
Theoretically speaking, when fully functional he is demonstrably able to imitate magical abilities as well as superpowers. He did so for were regeneration (from Pixel) and vampire hypnotic gaze (from Sciona’s vampire mole in the Council). In practice, however, he needs his core repaired to be able to do so in a reliable way. Chances are he could copy spells as well, or learn them the normal way.
If he is fixed, he seems to have the potential to grow into one of the setting’s powerhouses.
As it concerns #2, the simplest and most plausible explanation is Sciona and her ‘child’ share some kind of magical connection. Sciona thought the golem was destroyed or in Archon’s custody, so she never bothered to check and use it. Scion, being in need of being fixed, cared to check if his creator was still alive and tracked her to her new identity and whereabouts.
As it concerns #1, she thought the golem was gone, so being ambushed and captured by him was a big surprise to her and she had no way to make an opinion about the issue. As things stand, and her being the kind of person she is, almost surely she is (justifiably) rather hostile to him atm. Whether her feelings shall change in the future depends on how this situation evolves.
I am a bit confused:
Nobody knows how the Superpowers for Humans actually work exactly or where they come from witht his encryped energy field, but he can just copy it ?
Deus has some insight in the nature of superpowers (possibily enough to create supers) and he hypothesizes the Nth built the Superion field in the framework of reality.
Sciona is demonstrably able to imitate superpowers with blood magic and the appropriate DNA samples. She did it for herself to fight Arc in the past and she built the same ability in the golem. Whether she is able to do so in a ‘black box’ way, or she has insight in the nature of superpowers similar to Deus, hard to say. She is a genius in her fields of expertise and interest, so either option is plausible.
This indicates the Thaumion and Superion fields are similar and related enough that one is able to emulate manifestations of the other in the right circumstances. If the pattern is symmetrical (quite likely) supers may well exist with power-copying abilities that are able to imitate spells and the abilities of supernaturals.
Forget the semicolon; my problem is this, not thus. “Thus” is an adverb indicating a consequence or result; “this” is, of course, a pronoun. You could say “my problem is this”, or “thus, my problem” (with or without the comma). As it is, you’re headed into Guys and Dolls territory.
No, this is character development. What “Thus” means in this circumstance is that Scion has a fragile overinflated ego and is seeking to impress Sciona by pretending to be smarter than he actually is.
Trust me on this: I grew up with grandparents who still said “ye” and “thee” and “thou” and having heard them from childhood my teeth still grind every time someone gets them confused but uses them anyway.
That’s actually what I meant by “Guys and Dolls” territory, in that the malapropisms are used in an attempt to appear smart/refined by people who aren’t. If that was DaveB’s intent, then it’s character development, sure, but kind of trope-y.
Instead of ‘Sciona Jnr.”, can we name this one “Whiny Tentacle-baby”?
“Maybe there’s an even more appropriate bit of punctuation, like three dots in a triangle that looks like the Predator is sighting in on you.”
∴ as an upright triangle isn’t technically punctuation, it’s a mathmatetical shorthand that is simply a stand-in for the word “therefore.” But is does get used as punctuation by freemasons to write titles as initials to distinguish from using periods for writing the initials of the person’s actual name.
∵ as an inverted triangle is a rarer symbol that is likewise to the therefore sign, but instead means “because.”
But Predator laser sights were shown to be a sideways triangle in the original movie, and have been shown in every other orientation since then. So just do whatever man. As long as people understand what you are saying, you can do pretty much whatever with language. Grammer and spelling aren’t real, words can be whatever you want. The alien big game hunter is going to murder you in the jungle anyway.
Scion losing 80% of his core material is an interesting parallel to Sciona getting most of her head cut off. They have more in common than they might realize, or want to admit!
Is Whiny Tentacle-baby forgetting what it did to Anvil and Pixelicious? And almost did to Hiro and Maxi?
Oh dear, an artificial being that got the core of his mind and body from Sciona, developed sapience from being a battle bot, and had his formative experiences being a fugitive and an orphan struggling for survival acquired an ethical/moral compass based on selfishness and pragmatic villainy. How could it ever happen? It is not like a lot of other people put in similar circumstances turn out the same way or worse. /s
You mean, blaming everyone else for how they turned out and denying any part in the choices they made?
The point was: they are acting like they went out there completely defenseless and was torn apart like a porpoise in a pod of dolphins, completely ignoring that they managed to superslam Anvil through the roof and almost killed Pixelicious, came very close to hypnotizing Maxi and then blew up the entire building
They were a battle-killbot created to kill and absorb powers, it was not some accountant-bot thrown at the enemy as a distraction while Sci-fright snuck out the backdoor
Sciona’s tentacle bot looks awfully similar to the thing on Alari prime. I’m thinking AI revolution not invasion now.
I just want to know how that guy went for a stroll in her neighborhood.
I would much rather see sketch, ink, flats, shading, month by month rather than a single completed image every 3 or 4 months. Each stage gives us something new to enjoy instead of a long wait for a single update.
Your use of a semicolon was exactly correct. Not in terms of the grammar of your particular sentence, but in the wider circumstance you describe. The purpose of the semicolon is to be the punctuation you use when you’re not sure what punctuation to use. This is allowed because no one knows for sure when to use semicolons, so you can’t be called out for using them incorrectly with any confidence.
Anyone else thinking the core material she used was probably from back home… I wonder how he will react to finding out how hard it will be to source more