Grrl Power #1231 – Dark The Mighty Halo
I think everyone guessed this page was coming. Also, it being a 4 panel mostly full of Lapha reveling, I expect there won’t be too much to really talk about, other than how Sydney is getting another stamp on her “Things that happen to superheroes” Bingo card. This is separate from the “Make Maxima Say” bingo card (that hasn’t been revisited in a long time, admittedly.)
The next page more or less returns to the higher panel count, but I’m not done with experimenting with different layouts. I’d like to get caught up on the Vote Incentives and I’d like to do more writing, like Tamer: Enhancer 3 and other original books, but I haven’t had the time in a while. I think maybe one or two lower-panel-count pages a month might help me out toward those goals, so I’ll probably mix them in on occasion.
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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Wait for it.. in about 10 minutes she’ll be screaming to be let back out of Sydney’s mind.
You mean 10 seconds, right? By 10 minutes she’ll have entered mental shut down to preserve her own sanity, if it remains
Alan Dean Foster’s Trilogy of the Damned. “Kill it! Kill it!”
More like 7 days – the webcomic doesn’t release new episodes every 5 seconds, and I expect at least one more page demonstrating just how bad this is.
Not gonna lie, I would love some Tamer: Enhancer 3
I think you try to explain to much below the comic panel.
Some of us like insight into how inw approaches scripting and drawing these. If you don’t, you are always free to ignore the author’s comments.
If they possess her, wouldn’t they constantly be hearing her thoughts? Since when they possessed the lizard guy they could “chat” with each other. I can only imagine how bad it is for Sauro-err… torch lady to have uninhibited access to ALL her thoughts, not just the ones that come to mind and she speaks first.
I bet the unknown orb will be a defense against exactly this.
I was thinking the same. Lind of a counter-measures orb
I mean
“Healing” is a very reasonable power to have that’s not really covered by other orbs and most definitely includes removing weird memetic aliens from inside you
Not sure if previous testing already disqualified that though
She’d have to grab the unknown orb for it to work though, which makes it hard to do in time to protect against mind control. There is also already an orb that focusses on defense, I’d expect mental defense to be slotted under that, perhaps as the passive or the singular node branch.
My bet is still on the unknown orb being a translator. It has only two branches, plus the passive, and the two mirror each other, which for a translator power would be the direction of communication that is translated, the passive could allow understanding without touching the orb.
Healing might still work for the two mirrored branches too though, one for self healing and the other for healing others. The passive could be accelerated healing and / or immunity to toxins (if alcohol counts she’ll be able to drink anyone under the table and still be cleared for driving herself home!)
If the unknown orb was offering passive translation for Sydney, I’m fairly sure she would have noticed by now when she understands all the foreign languages people have been speaking in front of her.
Except that she has not attributed a skillpoint to the passive node of the unknown orb, thus that power isn’t active yet.
Her translation ability comes from her glasses, remember? She’s wearing alien tech.
I’m hoping that the orbs will reject their new hijacker; they’ll recognize that Sydney isn’t in the driver’s seat anymore, and simply refuse to obey the interloper. Or that Sydney’s innate, stubborn willfulness will fight back and give Lapha the boot. Either way, I think Sydney is going to make her saving throw in a most spectacular way.
Sydney’s obscenity rant when she gets control back is going to be a thing of legend.
Can’t help but think that being possessed by a demon so soon after publicly “kissing” a demon is going to be a PR disaster
Would people think it was some kind of Demonic STI?
It’s a different kind of burning sensation.
Something tells me this is going to end badly for that stupid alien.
I already pity Lapha for what is about to happen to her on a mental level.
On the other hand, it will be incredibly amusing for us.
Late to the game here, but iirc, the dual possesion only offered sensory/motor control. It did not appear to offer any internal access to the mind. Communcation between the two entities required actual speech. There may have been stuff happening internally, but we were not privy to it. So the inanity of Syd’s mind may not be a factor (which would be very disappointing). Additionally, if not psychic link is available, there may not be any skill tree upgrade access for the new orb operator. ooooh, random thought, would that also mean Varia would only have basic access if her gesalt gave access to the orbs? … Think I better stop here… too many tangents…
I’m sure we’ll get some interesting back and forth between Sidney trying to fight for control of her body
plus Lapha doesn’t know how the orbs work – so… there’s that
She has an inkling because they just saw her use them.
She should be able to access Sydney’s knowledge and memories.
If the possession doesn’t allow access to the mind can she even control the orbs?
I’m calling it: this is where we find out what that final orb does.
Hmm, previous postulates indicated power source…Now we find out how it powers up… ooooh, yummy, another soul…yah, too much elder scrolls V lately…
Threat causes shield to be used (if not max or several others could force shied ball to touch her hand in all likelihood) then com to aliean probably goes dead.
It’s not a comm, that eye is literally the true form of that kind of alien. The body they use is a meat puppet.
This is one way to see who would win in a fight between Sydney and Maxima
Maxima is far more powerful. Orders (plural) of magnitude more powerful. Sydney might be able to pull something tricky and sneak a win, but Max is going to come out on top in any other scenario.
Dunno, I’m not sure it’s clear that Max can get through the shield quickly
If it takes more than 1 hit then Sydney can probably evade by a hyperjump
I don’t know if there’s any thing Sydney can do that would be high enough impact to actually take Max down but let’s not forget that Max was injured, and probably would have died, against Vehemence (admittedly he had to be highly powered up) so she’s not completely invulnerable and Halo has some tricks like possibly dumping a large asteroid on top of Maxima
If Sydney has her shield up it’s probably a draw at worst (if Halo is free to get away)
Lappie may have taken control of Syd’s Body, but does she share her knowledge? The orbs have controls on them, so would she even know how to use their functions? Sure, turning the FF on would be easy, but does she know about the air refresher orb? Max would just have to wait her out til she passes out.
My other post never showed up, but I was pointing out how Lappie overheard Harem bragging for Sydney about how unbeatable she is now, and that’s what made Lappie just do it right away.
I agree and was thinking the same thing, she has NO idea how to use them and I’m sure there’s enough of an AI in the orbs that would resist her control. Besides, as fast as Sydney can think plus Lapple hasn’t a clue what ADHD is and how to function with it, she’s going to find out no one can handle Sydney’s mind on full race mode.
Lappie: Hey, why do I keep thinking of a man in a black cowl and cape, singing?
Mustn’t forget the speedo too! Or wolverine bare-chested with a bow tie….
am I missing something? Why take the college students body when the body left at the dorm is identical? Shouldn’t the body at the dorm be different?
The body at the dorm has a tail and probably other subtle differences that we’re too imperceptive to pick up on.
Also, stealing Tenri’s identity was an excuse to get closer.
The bodies are quite different. Face shape, horn shape, hair color, one has a tail while the other doesn’t…
Lapple had shorter horns and a tail, Tendi didn’t have a tail.
… Evil Bangs works surprisingly well.
Sydney’s body has ADHD, and her meds may be wrong for it since the orb may actually alter it and Sydney has not realized it yet, leading to EXTRA hyperactive-adhd which Sydney’s personality is adapted to.
The possessor is not adapted to either the possibly wrong meds nor the super ADHD.
Watch the possessor’s plans fall apart for OHHH SHINY with a side order of narrating evil schemes to people in very very slow deathtraps!
Yes….
She’s stolen a car with a stick shift.
Thought Sydney was female…
Heck the laughing alone is giving me the impression Sidney’s ADHD is going to interfere with this, or Lapha isn’t as in control and some aspect of Sidney is mixing them and making a crazy sauce mental state.
Prediction: Tenri may be in control of the body, but Sydney is in control of the orbs…. Sydney: “Stop hitting myself” *orbs beating up Sydney’s body* Sydney:”Stop hitting myself” Tenri:”Help me. She’s crazy! ” Harem:”Duh.”
I know that Harem could grab that “flame” and throw it back to her body, or Sydney is suddenly going to go “oh HAIL no” and fight for her body. Right at this moment, Sydney is in shock, but we have all seen how stubborn she is and she’s way to fond of her mind to let someone take over that easily! This is the very same gal that thought a stasis beam could hold Max, she has NO idea how strong willed supers can be.
I will be really amused if Max takes the word “immediately” seriously and therefore arrives holding a bowl of chili. Bonus points if the chili is used in the takedown of Dark Sydney.
Comic Book Trope #9873: The villain riding the hero’s body discovers a heretofore unknown aspect of her power. What does the brown orb do?
They just need to grab Sydney’s hands before she can use an orb.
Isn’t the brown orb the FTL one?
FTL is part of the Flight orb.
Which is (dark) blue.
And now the moment she can’t figure out how to get the orbs to work properly.
…or… get stuck with a level-up.
If Harem had as much time to think about it as we all do:
* Plan 1: Distract Tenrisydney with chat, teleport in another Harembod with their famous Sleepytime Injector, and use it. Potential flaw: some Orb’s passive ability may include antipoison.
*Plan 2: Grab both hands; disappear 3 or 4 Harembods to makes the remaining Harembods stronger; break Sydney’s fingers and hands so they can’t grab anything; apologize later. Potential flaw: the alien may be able to override pain receptors.
* Plan 3: Similar to Plan 1, but use Rear Naked Choke. Potential flaws: alien may be able to use orbs to smack attacker, or Harem may have gotten the wrong idea of what “Rear Naked” means.
**Flaw in either plan: the plot would be less interesting if resolved by page 1232.
@2. Sydney doesn’t need to grab anything, holding the orb to her palm is enough, and she can do that with telekinetic control. Breaking her fingers won’t be enough.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-804-the-hero-we-read/
3. won’t work either, choking is too slow. Laphney would need only a few seconds to deploy some of the orbs against her.
4. Harem takes off her blouse and depends on Sydney’s ADHD plus the demon’s nature to distract it for the seconds necessary for Max to show up.
I wonder if the orbs are smart enough to disallow usage from an inhabiting intelligence. just like they dont work if she uses gloves or other parts of her body. in fact i’m honestly surprised they didn’t test if a telepath can make her use her orbs against her will
Sorry to tell her this, but the “Number of Things Floating Near One’s Head” award is still solidly in the grip of Morrieon from the eponymous Jack Vance story in the Rhialto the Marvelous anthology. The guy’s had a fair chunk of eternity to collect all his ioun stones, you know.
Yeah, but he spent almost all of that chunk trapped on a small anti-gravity patch on the surface of a neutron star, so it’s not like he could endlessly expand his supply. It’s been a while since I read it, but my impression is that Halo has him beat.
hmm, specifically around the head may be a hard find.
Plenty of characters with lots of stuff floating around their back for some reason, various gods and other celestials often have these wings, light blades, floating circles and gears, not that I have room to talk my giant space goddesses carry around pocket dimensions and entire galactic clusters sometimes…but on their backs like so many of these characters inspired by East Asian gods.
The crown thing, I mean if we count eyes individually there are some biblically accurate angel characters with rings of eyes about the head or eyes on halos, I think I saw someone with a system of planets over their head once…I would think antlers and horns, but that is points like Hela in marvel has twelve points to her antlers but it is just one head piece with two antlers that branch and not individual orbiting objects.
Simply put, this is the best cliff hanger in the series, for me. So many possibilities, such options for clever twists and cutting dialog. I wish the next page/episode/chapter were here to load NOW!
Nicely done, O Master of delightful and colorful entertainment!
I predict Dabbler handing out anti-possession charms to everyone in the near future.
My Wild-Ass Guess right now is that while Tenri is able to control Sydney’s body – with some resistance – she won’t be able to use the orbs. This might even result in Sydney finding she has some ability to use the orbs (other than just moving them around) with her mind.
Minor correction: That’s not actually Tenri. It’s Lapha. Who was in possession of Tenri’s body.
calling it now. lapha will try to use the orbs and while they can touch them they cant move them from their position let alone use them. then suddenly they will start hearing a stream of creative expletives like they are playing fortnite with voice chat enabled. hearing sidney in their mind but at hyperspeed now since its just thought and not having to take time to go down her neural pathways. to the point where either they either transfer back to their body post haste or maxima comes to find lapha in sidneys body catatonic in the fetal position
Super ADHD activates and the alien goes crazy trying to handle the overload.
Where are these mind control protections Maxima mentioned.
We’ve seen two mind control arcs and no defenses.
On one hand, it doesn’t make for much of a story if everything goes as planned and your defenses work perfectly. But so far those “safeguards” appear either completely ineffective or non-existent, and it would be nice to see some hint of them.
So who wamts to bet the orbs dont work because their tied to not just body but also mind.
Sydney is not exactly the strongest or most durable of the team. I feel that Harem could easily ‘mob’ Sydney and knock her out if she’d just punched her rather than call Maxima.
Agreed plus Parfait has that mummification spell.
Then she stars singing “They’re coming to take me away!” and only the Dr. Demento fans realize she’s still in control.
*Laughs maniacally,…it goes on a little too long*, Lapha: What is happening?
Sidney, “You think you can possess me? ohh my eyes are awesome..*cough*….Possess me little alien? I am chaos personified, the be all end all of the universe, my mind is my power, my power is my mind, and only my mind exists in this place” *trails off other cosmic being and psychic quotes in panel half hidden behind characters*
Lapha, “This isn’t a human brain…someone, get me off this crazy thing!”
“You who so desperately seek destruction? As you wish, you shall be destroyed.”
10 bucks says she’s just letting the demon laugh because she thought it was funny. Or just getting her bearings and will immediately take the leash back comically easy. OR WE GET TO SEE MORE WHAT THE ORBS DO!
Or maybe this is just how Sydney looks and acts on realizing she’s trapped an alien bodyjacker inside herself.
Brig orb, something involving Sydney’s lunch again, or adhd mind shenanigans
While she might have control of the body, does she also have control of the orbs?
Or are those still under Sydneys control?
There’s a lot of interesting stuff that gets answered here.
Like, we saw with the “rapid fire” setting of the PPO during the blood mage arc that Sydney sees all kinds of HUD elements on the orbs when she’s using them. But while they’re intuitive they’re not INSTINCTIVE.
So there are several layers of control question:
Can Lapha throw them around? They haven’t gone dormant like when Sydney sleeps.
Can Lapha see the HUD because she’s in Sydney’s body, or is there a separation of souls that keeps the HUD invisible to Lapha as Not The True User?
Even if she can see the HUD, does she know what the hell any of these buttons do? Is orb use actually THAT intuitive or is it like a videogame Sydney’s been playing for years while Lapha’s picking up the controller for the first time?
There’s a lot of this that reminds me of the Copycap shenanigans ze Kopykraut got into back on pages 1-2. Lapha may have all her powers, but just copied her powers and doesn’t have any power stunts with them-
“Oh my god, whatever! Just roll!” -Lapha, probably
I must say that seeing those eyes in a human face was more than a little unsettling.
I wonder how Ariana will deal with the PR when images of Sydney and her new eyes hit the internet after the whole “Blondes & Demons” media blitz. :D
ITYM ‘Dork’ The Mighty Halo.
Okay but that expression in the last panel is kinda hot tho