Grrl Power #1223 – Their Demon High School Mascot was the Fightin’ Fighters
The short-haired not-Sydney in panels 1 and 2 is a girl who mans the Archon merch counter on their high traffic days. Which, most of them are now, but like, Wednesday through Saturday specifically. She hasn’t been named in the comic yet.
Parfait told Sydney that the biggest difference between most human societies and demons is suburbs, and from a civil engineering perspective, she’s not wrong. Well, also a lot fewer above-ground power transmission lines, or even centralized power generation and distribution in general.
The other major difference is that there’s a lot more casual violence in day to day life in demon-majority societies. Demon Lords have soldiers that keep things from getting too far out of hand, but resolving minor conflicts with fists, claws and teeth is de rigueur. When demon folk start throwing spells around, that’s when the gendarme might get called in. No one cares if two guys fighting over the last grocery cart limp home missing bits of flesh here and there, but if it looks like they might fuck up the entrance to the Farmer’s Market or collapse a bridge, demons suddenly find themselves more civil-minded. Sure, they’re beings of chaos and violence, but everyone draws a line when traffic or access to artisanal jams is involved.
The new vote incentive is up! Crimson and Scarlett have a present for Ingsol!
It’s them, they’re the present. They’ve decided that “Sire-versaries” are a thing and Ingsol has to be convinced this is a good idea each time. Everyone thinks his pair of names-that-are-synonyms-with-red sirelings who are both women and who were both turned in that age range that ensure peak hotness means he’s a dirty old man, but he actually isn’t. It just worked out that way. And don’t forget that while it looks like there’s a 25 year age gap between the girls and him, it’s actually much worse, as he is 700 years old, while Scarlett is something like 180 and Crimson is only 40. But at the same time it’s meaningless as they were both fully adults when they got turned, so it’s all copacetic.
As usual, Patreon has the pair of them in various states of undress.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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So all the demons will think that they need to do is glue Sydney’s shield to the ground, and then calmly carry Parfait off into the distance…
Nobody is gluing Sydney’s shield to the ground for more that a handfull of seconds. In case of dirt she can move as soons as she uses also the fly orb. For harder soil she can use the lighhook or PPO to shatter it.
Sidney can easily change the size of the shield and we do wenn know that it repels matter. So trying to glue it to something or bury her with it will not even require her to use any other orb.
Doesn’t she have to bring the shield down before she can adjust the size?
I can answer this one!!! no she doesn’t. she did this at the press conference at the start of the story. she had it up already and then changed it’s size. actually I think it’s one of the features that she has to be actively using the shield to adjust the size. at least this is what I have observed…..
I may have reread this too many times now…..
I don’t think she had it up before she adjusted the size, and she later turned it off before increasing it, but that’s probably to ensure that it included her teammates, rather than pushing them aside.
Probably bury the shield.
Burying it does not prevent her from using teleport nor annoying the crap out of them via reaching thru their skulls.
I agree. It is probably bury shield and share geometry dash lite
Sydney wasnt joking when she said that she is powerful enough to take them all at the same time no problem, there really is no easy way of dealing with her aside from grabbing her orbs before she can raise her shield and once she raises the shield she is pretty much unstopable taking into account the only time we actually see her shield getting excerted was when a giant planet shattering abomination nuked it
for everything else she pretty much has a responce from teleportation, flight, automatic generation of atmospheric conditions, a fucking laser beam that can cut through tanks like they are made of butter, she is stupidly versatile and powerful
That is if her orbs are recharged yet. Had no confirmation that they are back at full strength since she melted the desert.
look at all those hostages just waiting to be captured.
that works because heroes are idiots. these are law enforcement in the US they can kill you if you even look threatening. .
Mr. Bubble is an energy field, how do you glue down a shield that repels impact? Chains maybe, but I’m quite sure the LH or her teleport would make short work of that. The only thing Brelx can do is yell, beat his fists on her bubble, and try to grab Parfait, to which Sydney grabs him with the lighthook and plays “make a wish.” She does have 2 of them now ;)
And with comedic timing, this is an excellent moment for Stalwart and Achilles to show up.
Demon A takes a swing at Stalwart *wrist grip & dead stop* sound effect – “I hope you don’t want the bill i have for ironing my suit”
Demon B takes a swipe at Achilles *blinding and shredding all over the place* sound effect and bits and pieces of clothing all over the place. “It’s a good thing that wasn’t my favourite shirt” (with ooh and aah noises from the backgroud from the ladies).
“And now priorities, that fire needs to be out and please no civilian damages, thank you. You, yo and you with the horns on the left, we take the right.” Que ruthless efficiency and some stunned but obedient demons.
I would like to see more of Stalwarth. And so would the present ladies I assume. If Hiro isnt coming someone have to do shirtless duty. Such is the life for male supers.
This is accurate. I want to see more Stalwart.
Math on the other hand hasn’t gotten the memo, or hasn’t gotten it right, and believes he is on permanent pantsless duty.
proceeds to continue shredding any memo of male supers needing to be appropriately clothed……..
accepting applications for assistance. some determined intern keeps finding stalwart and the others and giving them these….
WHAT ARE YOU DOING SYDNEY! You are Genre-savy enough to say something like that is just setting you up to be humbled.
Especially since it’s happened to her before, against Math.
Trying to avoid a fight. She doesn’t really want to beat Brelx into submission, where all sorts of things could go wrong, including collateral damage.
Declaring yourself invincible and then challenging someone to a fight, like against Math, is to be avoided, but Brelx already wants to fight, and dissuading him by convincing him he can’t win is worth trying,
When the school bully has declared that he will fight in front of his peers, there is usually no way to avoid SOME kind of violence.
Now, as to how bad it gets? I am sure that the visiting demons have some kind of plan in place to deal with supers (because only a total idiot or Chuck Norris would walk in there completely unprepared) , but Halo is NOT a street level hero.
The school bully had better be VERY careful here. Most bullies are, after all, at heart cowards (even if they hold high offices in whatever country) and only pick fights they think they can win. This guy is acting thew quintessential bully.
Notice how no one else is saying anything? This is either going to be very messy or very quick.
It has already been shown that this group has NOT done thier homework, and have no clue who they are dealing with or her capabilities.
What do you mean “or”?
Everything you said is true of HUMAN bullies, but I don’t think it applies to demon bullies. I’m sure Brelx fully expects to win, I’m not on board with the “at heart (he’s) a coward”.
Furthermore, she’s drawing aggro because she’s the tank. Shield can take whatever they want to try and throw around, and that way it won’t hit innocent bystanders.
I’m just waiting for one of the demons to go “I AM A GOD!” just to give Sydney an excuse to use Lighthook to smash them repeatedly into the ground and make the ‘puny god’ reference.
> she’s the tank. Shield can take whatever
If it can’t, then the neighbourhood is toast, and Syd gets to bring out the “this shouldn’t be used inside an atmosphere” toys.
> make the ‘puny god’ reference.
She totally would, wouldn’t she?
… Maybe, if that movie had been released by 2011
Hulk vs Thor 2009.
Uh, Hulk vs Loki
Quite.
And 2012, not 2009.
Dave has mentioned that it’s a sliding times ale that doesn’t like up with ours when “rule of funny” applies (unless it would mess up plot stuff).
The shield only once showed that it wasn’t infinite, and that was when it took a direct hit from a world-breaking alien creature. If one of these guys can so much as scratch her shield it’s time to drop them in outer space, no questions asked, consequences of THAT be damned.
I went from “that’s not Sydney” to “that’s not Peggy” to “oh, whatever.”
I was like “Why is Harem dressing up as Sydney?” at first.
Okay, The Daphne’s haven’t been on-screen for far too long, but none of them look like Fauxney (no freckles for a start)
I assume Fauxney is pronounced like phony? Nice.
Yes :)
Hey, Dave B.! The blonde with the Halo-hat: she looks like a “Brenda” to me.
I think she looks more like a Q.T.
I’m thinking she’s more of a “Cindy”, just to mess with people.
I am soo cheering for the demons here.
Sydney’s arrogance in her shield is a little grating.
At some point someone got to find a bypass.
– At some point someone got to find a bypass.
Shadow-step guy did waaaay back at the restaurant brawl.
He got hit in the balls by Syd’s balls.
Also, Nth tech is generally considered “cheating” by everyone who doesn’t have access to Nth tech.
He didn’t quite find a bypass though, he was just too nearby and Sydney bubbled him in with her.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-205-hyperactivity-bonus-vs-backstab/
No, she put up her shield too late, after he had already ambushed her, leaving him inside with her.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-205-hyperactivity-bonus-vs-backstab/
I’d say she should have been bubbled up sooner than this, it would have been quite demonic to have sucker punched her while she was watching the match.
In fact, I suspect there were magical ways to delayed action sucker punch her, and bubbling up might not counter a spell that was invoked before she bubbled up.
She really needs to buy that passive on the shield orb.
It might be too late. They may have already sucker punched her. Magical poison or some other delayed attack.
They HAVE to have a cunning plan.
Even the most idiotic of school bullies ALWAYS has a cunning plan.
Can they match cunning with the ‘dark and terrible mistress’ of cunning plans?
Tune in tomorrow (er, Thursday), same Halo time, same Halo channel!
They have the most classic bully cunning plan and that was to convince someone to “bet” for the victim to do something they don’t want to and the bully has no right to demand.
That didn’t work so they are going with the classic bully backup plan, they are going to renege on the bet and try to beat Sydney up and just take what they want.
When that doesn’t work I expect them to go with one of the 3 cunning classic bully backup backup plan they will either pretend that it was all a joke and they didn’t want it anyway, they are going to find an authority figure and try to convince them that the victim is the real bully who stole the prize, or they are going to throw a tantrum and cause a scene.
It’s a Baldrick-tier cunning plan
Only if a turnip is part of the plan
From my experience the bullies normal plan was “target somebody who you think you can beat up” and that was about it for cunning
This appears to be a massive failure
Yeah. Kind of like the bully I saw in high school who decided to physically assault (slap) a small girl of Asian decent who was half his size to ‘learn her place’. She knew her place, considering that she was a third degree black belt in two different forms of karate and a first degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do.
I am BETTING any fight between Syd and ‘Obviously not compensating for something with the size of the axe’ guy will over be almost as fast as that real life situation was. It was a ‘blink and you will miss it’ fight.
The demons might have already done this – snuck something in when she had her shield down, like a “paralyze me” note spell stuck to her back. It’s what I’d do if I had to fight a super in their home turf – I’d come prepared.
We have also seen way back in Vehemence Arc that bubbling up inside a spell crossing the lines negates the spell, yes? So if the spell caster has to have a connection to her for it to stay up, bubble will cancel/dispel.
Shadow Step guy did not find a way to bypass Sydney’s shield. She put up her shield AFTER she was already by her, so he and her were both trapped in the shield together.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-205-hyperactivity-bonus-vs-backstab/
1) Shadow Step Guy comes in on panel 2 behind her.
2) Shadow Step Guy punches Sydney in the face on panel 4
3) Sydney puts up the shield on panel 5.
The problem there was Sydney did not resize the shield back to a small size (after the demonstration at the tank range for the press) to encompass only her, and it instead encompassed her AND shadow step guy. But he did not ‘bypass’ the shield. That was just Sydney making a mistake and being too slow to shield up with the right size shield.
There’s one known “attack” that gets past the shield, and it’s even on the field here: Succubus hypnoboobs.
It won’t hurt her or make her drop her shield, but it could give Brelx the opening he needs to grab Parfait.
I’m not certain the hypnoboobs can actually get through the shield – Vehemence may have just been distracted because Dabbler has a really nice pair, rather than being hypnotized (note Sydney was using the lighthook as a jumprope to add some jiggle, which thus far hasn’t been necessary to hypnotize a target). And Sydney did break out from under Parfait’s hypnoboob influence when she activated her shield, but she also knocked Parfait over at the same time, breaking her line of sight, so it’s hard to say for certain.
It’s confirmed that Vehemence being distracted was the hypnoboobs (WoG from #282), hence they can get through the shields.
> Vehemence may have just been distracted because Dabbler has a really nice pair
I actually think hypnoboobs is just that: boobs so nice they’re literally hypnotic. There isn’t a spell on them or anything, which is also why it works through the shield.
I agree with Voyager. I don’t think it’s magic – it’s just Dabbler has amazing boobs that are literally hypnotic – it’s not a magic spell, because we’ve already seen that Sydney’s orbs also prevent magic spells from going through the shield with how Vehemence’s anger aura did not penetrate the shield (or anything BEHIND her even).
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-277-aura-you-having-chowdah-at-the-cah-pahk/
And once he was insize her shield it wasn’t able to bypass going out either.
I recall a time in college when I and some friends were sitting around in the student lounge. One of us was a very well endowed girl, and as she was leaning forward, gesturing as she talked, her shirt was gradually coming unbuttoned.
Only one of us made that saving throw, and pointed it out to her. The rest of us were frozen in place. She ended up marrying him… So, real boobs can have that effect on most guys, without any magic.
Sydney was clearly zonked by Parfait’s hypnoboobs, and yet she was still able to summon the shield orb, that freed her. I’m guessing that the part of her brain the orbs interface with for control is immune to mind control, not so much from active shielding, as just being totally tied up with the orbs already. The rest of her brain was vulnerable, so she was locked up but still able to think.
Vehemence wasn’t stoned by the magical component, Miss January probably could have done the job, too.
> Sydney was clearly zonked by Parfait’s hypnoboobs, and yet she was still able to summon the shield orb, that freed her.
No, the boobs are actually distracting, not “locking up” anything. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-196-girls-go-to-the-bathroom-in-pairs-to-talk-star-trek-and-boobs-right/ Here we can see she’s completely distracted, but still able to talk and move.
I’m pretty sure what happened was she broke out of it herself, with a bit of help from being mocked, then pretended to still be under while bringing the shield up to get back at them.
> Vehemence wasn’t stoned by the magical component
Yes, he was, WoG from #282 confirms it was hypnoboobs. I’m also unsure how much there really is a separate “magical component”, and how much it’s just supernaturally nice boobs.
If you read the notes on that page, you will see that hypnoboobs don’t show up under detect magic. I think Dave’s deliberately smearing the line for several creative reasons. Hypnoboobs cross the shield because they are huge…plots….of something.
Agreed. Sydney is suspectible to psychic stuff, at least if it is vision-based (no opaque shield, which takes us waaaay back). However, the demons’ apparent expert in psychic combat seems a bit pre-occupied at the moment.
The tactical error Sidney made was not to include Parfait in the shield and possibly the innocent bystanders or to pre-emtively incapacitate the whole lot of demons after they had stated their intentions. But then, Sidney is not only genre-savvy, but also genre-bound and basically a rather nice guy, despite nominally belonging to the “even merely threatening them will make you hurt”-department.
Anyway, I strongly believe that Sidney is going to wipe the floor with them, as should be the fate of all bullies.
Except his team’s Succubus is currently unavailable.
Yes, but that only means Brelx will have to time it right.
if something can actually pierce her shield then that thing must be pretty damn fucking powerful taking into account the last time we actually watched the shield get excerted is when a civilization ending super alien nuked it
Still curious why she didn’t do so much, much sooner to avoid sudden superstrength jabs that cannot be handled by baseline human reflexes.
I wonder if Brelx is correct when he says “we”.
Aster probably isn’t going to help, giving that he wanted the succ-off to be fair. And since he’s the one with the “claim” to Parfait, there’s a good chance the others will accept it if he does.
Lulu could be ordered to fight by Brelx, but she’s currently still tied up.
“We” could easily mean “You (Sydney) and I (Brelx),” in which case it would make sense here.
We could be seeing either Aster showing why he’s Brelx’s boss, by stepping in. Or, alternately, Sidney might push for a “Double-or-nothing” to claim Brelx’s Succubus (so she can find a proper master).
I think Brelx is the boss, not Aster. Aster doesnt even seem like he wants to fight and already accrpted Pardait’s decision.
The Succ-off has ended with the Parf-flip, the fight with The Mighty Arrogance is a different fight altogether
My point is that if Aster doesn’t want to win unfairly in the succ-off, he’s going to respect the outcome of it.
Again, this is a different fight, not a continuation of the Succ-off (unless you mean, he won’t ‘help’ Brelx)
You’re still not getting my point. Aster will consider the matter settled by the succ-off (frankly, he already did before.) He will disapprove of Brelx trying to fight again instead of respecting the outcome of the succ-off. He’ll tell Brelx to not be a sore loser, perhaps even interfere against him.
What about the fire,hope someone in Archon has the ability to put it out!
Also,I loved Sydney’s impression of Arianna…!
Yeah, even if they weren’t going to send the Man Candy, they should still do something about the fire (not to mention the potentially illegal demons trying to start a fight and a kidnapping)
We saw Heatwave putting out a previous forest fire.
And she hates that part of her power
She prefers to radiate heat, not suck it in
suck to be her then.
putting out fires get precedence over her feelings.
Yes, good thing there are others who can put out fires just as well
It’s not just her emotional feelings, it physically doesn’t feel good for her
I don’t see why Archon even needs to be involved in putting out the fire. It’s a normal fire, the fire department can handle it!
I vote the not Sydney be named Perth for ironic reasons
Adelaide?
The less impressive version that people think is in charge?
Adelaide
Yup, Adelaide is the best funny choice.
Oh Sydney, for someone so aware of tropes, saying that was really stupid. Now he’s going to do something to you that doesn’t require getting past your shield.
The most evil spell ever used, for cruelty, involved copious bribes, planning appeals and subtly changing some significant lines on blueprints to form arcane sigils. Then going out on several wet nights to muddy fields and moving marker cones small but important distances. It brought us….
The M25 orbital!
Demons upon seeing it shudder, wince and nope out. Anyone willing to do that or suffer through it just isn’t worth tangling with.
And… we find Brelx has a power that can bypass Mr Buble
Well if he can’t get past Michael Buble he’s a pretty weak demon. Now getting past Mr. Bubble is another thing entirely.
Seems unlikely, if there were demon powers that could do that Dabbler should have warned Sydney about them when they went to check on a demon army
On the other hand , we have stop-oil now , protesters, who start at blocking the street, thinking that their goals supersede any other goal, like simply driving down the street.
They’re encouraging you to use the superior form of transportation:
The Train.
They may think that’s all they’re doing, but blocking your free movement goes a bit beyond “encouraging,” even presuming their insisted alternative actually qualifies as “superior” for that person at that time and location.
Even more superior, feet or bicycles. Bicycles are the most energy-efficient mode on the planet, even accounting for the differences in speed between modes changing the air resistance.
“Bicycles are the most energy-efficient mode on the planet”
Only for very small distances. When you get into anything longer, you run into the issues of “providing fuel and other maintenance for the walker”, due to the incredibly slow speed of walking. That REALLY changes the efficiency numbers.
《eyeroll》
There’s also the matter of cargo capacity.
It’s almost like they think a protest has to inconvenience people to be effective. Why can’t they protest somewhere where they can be ignored and won’t get any notice?
The ones who block ambulances from reaching hospitals are doing a hell of a lot more than inconvenience people. Not ot mention the protesters who block off major roadways and refuse to move until their local government does something about an incident that occurred in a different country. I rather doubt those folks are legit.
Because if they protested in those countries, no one outside of said country will ever know what happened to them
Yes, it’s not like the USA has any influence with any other countries, particularly ones where it’s committed to at least 3.8 billion of military aid per year, with a special allocation of 14.5 billion in the last few months
“It’s almost like they think a protest has to inconvenience people to be effective. ”
there is a name for it when you want to FORCE people to do what you want. its called fascism.
DEMOCRACY is where you express your opinion and people are free to agree or disagree and can then vote according to whether or not you PERSUADED them. persuasion would be the alternative to FORCE. Force is what the ‘just stop oil’ protestors are doing.
in the definition of fascism is this “the violent suppression of DISSENT” in other words you are not allowed to ‘just ignore them’. They will FORCE you to do as they say because they hate democracy and will not rely on persuasion.
People who believe that their desired outcome MUST occur no matter what are evil. they hate democracy and the rule of law, what they want is to be a dictator in a fascist authoritarian state. to live in a democracy or any kind of free society you MUST at a minimum accept the concept that other people can and sometimes will refuse to do what you tell them to.
if ‘just stop oil’ protestors believed in democracy or freedom they would restrict themselves to PERSUADING people and no force would be necessary. they do not do that because at its core ‘just stop oil’ is a fascist authoritarian movement. that is why they resort to violence and force for everything they do.
You really might want to look at what words mean before you start ranting…
That’s massively misunderstanding what fascism is, what force is and the basis of democracy and freedom
The rest of the post is just ludicrous
Yeah, nah, that is exactly what they are trying to do
You probably agree with those fucknuggets who think desecrating art will stop global warming (or suddenly get the Illuminati to turn down the thermostat)
desecrating art got women the right to vote. that was one of the things suffragettes were known for.
Depends on the country, and the idiots in charge
And getting the right to elect said idiots to power is not the same as getting anyone to just flip a switch and reverse a natural event (and yes, global warminging is a natural event that has happened before more than once)
True, global warming is a natural event in the sense that supernatural things don’t play into it (because they almost certainly don’t exist). It’s a natural event that is caused by human action, specifically by the release of CO2 and other gases into the atmosphere in amounts that, while small in comparison to the total volume of Earth’s atmosphere, are slightly more than the normal carbon cycle can absorb. This causes them to build up and trap more heat from the sun. As we pass certain tipping points, the problem gets worse — for example, when it warms up enough to melt the Russian permafrost, that releases large amounts of methane (a strong greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere and thereby accelerates the problem.
If you’re interested, I can point you to a lot of primary sources on climate change, things such as peer-reviewed journal articles from experts in climatology. They essentially all say that yes, climate change is happening and yes, human action is the primary cause. There are also a lot of high-quality explainers by science communicators that make those articles more accessible to non-experts — potholer54 on YouTube is a good example, and I can offer links to some specific videos that make good entry points. Would that be of interest to you?
“[Global warming]’s a natural event that is caused by human action, specifically by the release of CO2 and other gases”
The fossil record, the ice-core record, and numerous other pre-human history records show many ups and downs in temperature MUCH larger than what we have seen in human recorded history.
Also, the ice core record shows multiple times where CO2 went up in *response* to warmer temperatures, but literally ***zero*** where temperature went up in response to rising CO2. This disproves the CO2 theory of global warming about as thoroughly as it is possible to do.
But in case that’s not enough for you, there are multiple examples in the fossil and ice core records of higher CO2 than we have today, both with higher temperature and lower temperature. This, among several other things, makes the “tipping points” claims very hard to take seriously.
Plant life needs CO2. Commercial greenhouses use MUCH higher levels of CO2 for plants – it is very, very good for them.
In fact, global CO2 levels were so low (due to the geologically recent ice age) that it was nearing the point that most terrestrial plants would be unable to photosynthesize. This is abnormally low, on the geological scale. With literally no human beings at all, CO2 would be expected to be rising, as we are still leaving an ice age.
Of course, the silliest part of the whole thing is the lack of even an attempt to account for changes to water vapor levels (a MUCH stronger greenhouse gas than CO2) or cloud formation.
Leaving out cloud formation in particular is really quite ridiculous, as clouds affect planetary albedo (how reflective a planet is), and planetary albedo is the single strongest planet-side influence on planetary temperature (total energy received is stronger, but that’s off-planet).
“If you’re interested, I can point you to a lot of primary sources on climate change, things such as peer-reviewed journal articles from experts in climatology.”
And I can do the same. I suggest you branch out a bit, because that some level of climate change is happening is utterly undisputed, but the cause is very, very VERY much disputed, and yes, by both climatologists and many, many other highly-respected and accomplished scientists.
But I will complement you on your lack of screaming insults and your very well-written recounting of the talking points. That is not meant to be condescending – in my experience, that is legitimately rare for those following the “official” talking points like you are. Thank you for being civil.
Thank you Deoxy
And thank you for the courteous response, Deoxy. I’ve heard rebuttals to all the points you made and I don’t think the opinion of serious academics is as in doubt as you suggest, but I appreciate the way you presented it.
A separate question for you: let’s grant for the sake of debate that serious climatologists are exactly 50/50 on whether climate change is anthropogenic. I don’t think that’s even remotely true, but let’s grant it. I think we would both agree that most news and science-communicator channels assert the anthropogenic version (right?); assuming we do in fact agree:
1. Who do you think is motivating this message that climate change is anthropogenic?
2. Whoever it is, why are they doing so? What do they have to gain by pushing this idea?
Coming from the other direction, I have an easy answer to these questions: the fossil fuel industry is pushing the “humans are not causing climate change” position and they are doing it in order to prevent regulation / loss of business that would cost them money.
It doesn’t make sense to me to get all up in arms about whether or not climate change is anthropogenic. Here are the important questions:
1) Are events happening that are hostile to life or property?
2) Can we do anything about it?
Burying our heads in the sand just to save our egos might end up with our heads underwater.
@Torabi
The reason it matters if it’s anthropogenic is because that means we are doing something to cause it and, by extension, can do something about it. If the problem is “sunspots be running wild, yo” then we’re hosed. If the problem is “we’re burning too much oil” (which it is), we can stop burning oil.
And what about things that aren’t anthropogenic, and yet within our ability to address?
In terms of solving the problem, it doesn’t really matter whether the cause is anthropogenic or not. Either way, you identify the cause and address it if possible, and mitigate it or come to terms with it if not. Assigning blame doesn’t really contribute to that process.
But in terms of people, there’s a certain cohort that will immediately respond to any suggestion of culpability with “nuh uh!”, no matter what the facts are. They don’t care. They don’t care what happens, as long as they don’t take the blame for it.
So I would ask you: what’s more important? Solving a problem, or getting people to accept blame?
Yeah …. No,
That’s not the definition of fascism. Nor democracy for that matter.
Democracy is derived from the Greek words demos and kratos, or people and power/rule. It is the name for any political system where the rulers are regularly elected by the people. What makes ‘the people’ in a democracy is somewhat flexible, as is the amount of power the elected leaders have. We are most familiar with a parliamentary (or representative) democracy, where the people elect representatives who in turn supervise the executive powers (who generally also are elected in the same or different elections). This is not the system the inventors of democracy used and is not the only possible form of democracy.
Fascism is an ill defined term for certain political movements. The name originates from the political movement started by Mussolini in Italy. There are many definitions in use, some more useful or broad than others. Umberto Eco gave a list of 14 characteristics that most or all need to be present to call a movement fascistic in the narrow sense.
Other common definitions resemble this one: a far-right form of governmentthat prioritizes the nation over the individual, who exists to serve the nation.” and as “an ultranationalist, authoritarian political philosophy. Usually found in fascistic movments are: a focus on traditional (gender) roles, a primacy of masculinity in all aspects of society, backward facing historicity (i.e. they claim to restore a superior past), a current of militarism, strict discipline and obedience, externalisation of enmity (there is a ‘they’ who must be fought by any means to ‘win back’ that mythological past. And a tendency towards violence over ‘softer’ forms of conflict resolution (see also the disdain for progressivism, femininity, art, etc)
Fascistic movements tend to be hostile to (among many many other things) democracy, because that is fundamentally opposed to the rigid hierarchy they want, not because they want to force people to comply.
Protest movements like Extinction Rebellion are not fascistic in nature or organisation. They are not anti-democratic either. A (poor) argument could be made for them being terrorist, but that is really stretching it.
What they are really doing is shouting really loud and really obnoxious about their favourite subject, in a way that is impossible to ignore because they inconvenience (to put a mild term to it) everybody.
They do this because for a protest or argument to be heard, it must be repeated by the news media and/or politicians. The first has been shown not to move unless there is a way to use the story to feed the outrage machine. People blocking highways to demand attention for a subject, for a while at least, got their protest in the news cycle. Politicians on the other hand have shown to be both bought by the industry that this movement protests against. Plus politicians will not make a movement that inconveniences their voters (if you do not vote, are too small a minority or vote for the ‘other’ then they will do whatever), unless their voters demand it. Which leads back to getting the message out in the first place.
So, much as we dislike the fact of these protests and the impact they have on our daily lives, this is also one of the very few remaining options that exist for getting an opinion heard that is not supported by the big political narrative. Like talk radio it emerged and continues because it is effective. And like talk radio it is effective because it is so annoying.
Over all, not a bad post. You skim over the violent, authoritarian aspect of the types of protests being discussed, but you don’t really excuse them, per se.
You do seem assume certain things (“Politicians on the other hand have shown to be both bought by the industry that this movement protests against.” Politicians are bought, it’s what most of them are after, and there are bought politicians on both sides of most issues, and in particular, the issue with the recent protests very, very much has bought politicians on both sides.) which are not accurate. I could be wrong, but it seems pretty strongly implied.
But the main error I would point out in your post is this, in reference to fascism:
“a far-right form of government”
The first point is that, with the relatively even-handed and thorough tone of the rest of you post, that you didn’t use better terms than “right” and “left” (which they are so very subject to local variation) is surprising and very unhelpful.
The larger point is that fascism was “right wing” at the time it was created in Europe. It was right wing for an environment where all the movements with any power at all were socialist. By American standards of the last few decades (or more), they were “right wing” the way the least-morbidly-obese contestant at the beginning of a season of The Biggest Loser is “thin”.
Fascism, as defined by the guy who created term, is a form of socialism, and the most famous fascist group (the Nazis) explicitly agreed, both publicly and privately.
This leads to a much more useful point about fascism – it is, both inherently as a form of socialism and in keeping with many of the trappings and commonalities you pointed out, very much authoritarian. That is one of its defining traits.
That does make it suck less than communism, which in practice is totalitarian, which is basically authoritarian turned green from gamma radiation.
Where’s the violence in the protests?
Where’s the authoritarianism in the protests?
you appear to be confusing “I don’t like it” with fascism and violence…
You’re also completely wrong about fascism being related to socialism.
https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/fascism-vs-socialism/ has a breakdown of fascism vs socialism
Mussolini was kicked out of the socialist party and moved far away from their ideals before he came to power, he moved to nationalism rather than socialism.
The Nazi party had started taking ideas from socialism and right wing groups but the socialist ideas were dropped over time (in some cases quite violently)
“The word “Socialist” was added by the party’s executive committee (at the suggestion of Rudolf Jung), over Hitler’s initial objections, in order to help appeal to left-wing workers”
“Hitler’s strategy proved successful; at a special party congress on 29 July 1921, he replaced Drexler as party chairman by a vote of 533 to 1.[78] The committee was dissolved, and Hitler was granted nearly absolute powers in the party as its sole leader.[78] He would hold the post for the remainder of his life. Hitler soon acquired the title Führer (“leader”) and after a series of sharp internal conflicts it was accepted that the party would be governed by the Führerprinzip (“leader principle”). Under this principle, the party was a highly centralised entity that functioned strictly from the top down, with Hitler at the apex. Hitler saw the party as a revolutionary organisation, whose aim was the overthrow of the Weimar Republic, which he saw as controlled by the socialists, Jews and the “November criminals”, a term invented to describe alleged elements of society who had ‘betrayed the German soldiers’ in 1918. The SA (“storm troopers”, also known as “Brownshirts”) were founded as a party militia in 1921 and began violent attacks on other parties.”
Which gives some idea of how much the Nazi party had to do with socialism within a couple of years of the founding
Goes back to the 60s, starts complaining about those damned uppity civil right protests
Honestly, it’s the Halo ™ headband with the blonde ponytail off the back of it that does it for me.
You_just know_ that talktok stylists wil be reimagining it as a faux-hawk, a unicorn horn (with enough gel & hairspray), redyeing it to their own hair color…
Unless one of her interdimensiobal friends hexes the production line to keep the look as per copyright.
I think Sydney is starting to wander across the line from “cheeky” to “smug” again- is about time for someone to take her down a notch or so?
Ohhhhh.
That’s one of Halo’s fans at the shop wearing a Halo halo crown and shirt over shirt.
PS: Due to the inability to edit posts be very careful typing the word ‘shirt’.
Not a fan, employee
So are demons partial to Lingenberry or Gooseberry jams? What’s the blackmarket on jams smuggled from earth to demon worlds?
D1- Psst, I got Smuckers sample packs and jam single serves from seven restaurants and diners.
D2- Pffft. I was sent to Earth to make deals to gathers fresh souls. And I met a Grandma in this place called Pennsylvania.
D1- What’s that got to do with Jams?
D2- well the short of it is I spent three days helping her make and can all the preserves she had hand made. She also took me out for this thing called Cheesesteak.
D1- And the souls?
D2- I owe her four, but I got a great deal on the next two batches.
Why is Parfait so adorable? Seriously… I have no explanation for her cuteness outside of her being succubus.
I think, you just answered your question…
Baby faced succubus equals supernaturally cute. Simple physics.
It’s the horn. Definitely. The horn.
With the idea that demons start to reign in the fighting to avoid traffic jams…. that’s what happens to me in Cyberpunk. As soon as a bunch of gangers make a burning roadblock I get angry and then there’s a bunch of headless gangers. I imagine with demons there’d be a similar reaction, just larger scale and more burning cars.
Or quieter and lots of blood with no other sign of any enemies except a suddenly vacated roadblock , depending on the demon who took offense. Some DO like to eat what they kill, after all.
Took me a moment in panel 2 to realize that not-Sydney was fanning herself with one hat, and not instead holding two. I’m slow; I figured it out when I saw 3 hands on one wrist. Maybe some motion lines/streaks/blurring between them, to lend a clue?
You’re not alone. I had to zoom in to figure out what was going on.
It’s ether that or AI art having a problem with hands.
It’s not AI art but I’m not going to get a better use of that joke.
It’s possible that I missed some crucial lore, but I thought Sydney was having performance issues.
There’s a difference in power requirements between “travel halfway around the world at hypersonic speed” and “keep someone from punching you”.
I guess Thursday we’re going to see if the demons came prepared to deal with a Sydney and/or have access to magic that can bypass her shield, or Brelx is really an idiot and a bully who is biting off much more than he can chew.
“Oh, you think a stupid SEE THROUGH forcefield is going to protect you??
BRAINWASHING VISION!
Now, tell us how cool we are, and beat yourself to death NICE and slowly, there’s a good slave!”
I don’t think so. It’s been able to block auras and teleports, I doubt gaze attacks will work.
Hypnosis CAN get through the shield, it’s been shown before with Dabbler’s hypnoboobs
I guess the ladies in the second panel can’t see through the Veil, so we are seeing what they are seeing there.
The demons behind them aren’t being protected, and… didn’t the Dooby Squad comment on not needing disguises when they illegally entered the planet?
This would be a terrible time to discover they can negate the effects of the orbs.
No, this is a perfect to teach a valuable anti-smug lesson to Sydney (specially if Brelx can simply reach through the bubble as though it wasn’t even there… bet Sydney will cry all manner of foul, including language, if that happened)
I think the readers would rightfully cry foul if a small-time demon can just ignore Nth level tech. I doubt there are many other readers that find the main character of the comic as annoying as you do, and yet keep on reading it.
Good thing Sydney isn’t the main character then
Who is the main character?
Huh. Why do you think the author has repeatedly stated otherwise then?
That is a nice Halo hat, I could see that selling well.
Forget who the gal on the phone is, who’s the gigantic corpse looking guy in the background? Looks like Slender Man joined the Hair Club for Men.
I believe that’s him in the first panel of page 1206, making him just one of the demon customers of Sydney’s shop, but he looks familiar to me for some reason, so maybe we’ve seen him, or another character of the same species, somewhere before.
He kinda reminds me of Ryuk from death Note.
The “Fightin’ Fighters” reminds me of this page, but maybe that’s just a bit too obscure to actually be a reference.
Am I the only one surprised to learn that Parfait wears underwear? I mean, you wouldn’t think a succubus would have much use for it.
It’s something else to take off, some people enjoy undressing.
Honestly, I’m picturing the final panel as an option if these guys start to really bug Sydney
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-290-after-action-action/
Optimal tactic is probably Light Hook here. Less collateral damage.
Any other thoughts?
I always wondered if she could move a few other orbs away and pop her shield INSIDE their orbit, giving her orbs to pummel people with while being protected? Like the unknown and the Lightbee, keeping the others inside for use.
Real risk of the orbs getting captured and used to restrict Sydney. Remember the stone controller who pinned her into a seat?
Actually what would happen if two of them get pulled away from her in opposite directions? How far apart can they actually be? Had it been tested of screen?
My theory is that the orbs are actually just 3 dimensional projections from some hyperdimensional construct that’s sitting just a little bit outside the 3 dimensional universe. They can’t get more than a set distance from her because that’s the size of the construct, and it’s centered on her.
So, if they got pulled away in opposite directions, they’d reach the limit, and then just stop.
The test of moving orbs in different directions has not been tested.
Early on Maxima tried to move the container that Sydney kept her orbs in and found that she could not move it more than a certain distance away. In that same bankrobber arc Sydney showed that she herself cannot move away from the orbs either (she left them in the car and was forcibly brought to a stop, much to her dismay and creative use of words).
It is unclear if somebody besides Sydney can move the orbs directly, but it is heavily implied that this is not possible. Concretina did not move the orbs. She encapsulated them in stone preventing both them and sydney from moving away. There are however two subtle details that have so far remained unexplained, or even remarked upon. The one time we saw sydney fall asleep we were shown that shortly thereafter the orbs stopped circling her head and dropped to the mattress. And when Varia touched Sydney to see what their gestalt power would be nobody noticed that the orbs started circling around both their heads. Given that this potentially allows the use of three, or even four, of the orbs at the same time, this will be revealed, if ever, at the most desperate moment…
Wait, they sell HALO hats, with attached orbs and ponytail? Cool!
If you’re unable to leave the orbs behind when you want to go incognito, add lots of fake orbs to the world.
If you can make people *pay* to get those and parade them around, watch your financial advisor break a happy sweat.
If later some opponent shows up with his own *real* Nth orbs, peruse your “varied vocabulary” superpower. :-P
“We’re going to fight anyway” *starts doing the male supernatural entity version of sexy dancing and stripping* “No, that’s not winning” *they turn into the chippendales*
Dabbler and Heat Wave are basically must send if available, beyond them who else should be sent to respond? One of the officers probably.
Just wondering if maybe Olive only managed to reach some bored dispatcher and not someone important, because simply saying that Sydney was in a kerfuffle with some demons shoulda had someone on Arc-Squad being sent out before the forest fire was even mentioned
In ANY reasonable world that IS what would have happened.
Then again, this is a webcomic and reason need not apply any more than it does in a real world where cold hard documented facts are FAR less important than ‘I CHEATED AND LOST SO I INSTIGATE VIOLENCE TO GET WHAT I WANT!’. Doesn’t matter which side does it anymore. They are ‘all’ acting like 3 year olds so I am going to treat them the way they are acting like. Act reasonably, get treated reasonably. Act like a brat, get treated like a brat. (and/or possibly spanked like one)
Axe guy might want to look at his backup team before getting too deep in the pile.
About Ingsol at 700 years in 2008-2009 – timelien in the comics –
The king of england at this time was Edward II ( 22 years in 1308) , and born almost 30 years before the 100 years war …
The king of France at this time was Philip IV of France Philip the Fair (French: Philippe le Bel) nicknamed the Iron King (French: le Roi de fer) accountable of the total destruction of the Knights Templar in 1307…
The King of Germany (Rex Teutonicorum, lit. “King of the Teutons”) was Henry VII aka Henry of Luxembourg
The Otoman empire as just begun under Osman I aka Osman Ghazi…
He could had travel to the Eastern Roman Empire even if it was a shadow of himself – fall of Constantinople 1453 –
He was older than Dracula inspiration Vlad the Impaler born between 1428 and 1431
Sydney knows that even a nuke-level attack could only weaken her shield, so this guy’s got nothing for it, as far as anyone just grabbing Parfait and running, she just proved to everyone there she’s no pansy either, plus if Sydney can get her inside the bubble, game’s over. Brelx just has to face it, games over, go cry to mummy now, he’s the ONLY one that wants to change things. But I think he’s that determined to fight, so Syd can just wrap lighthook around him and take them all to a portal. (Olivia should be asking for Heatwave)