Grrl Power #1488 – Unstoppable blade vs the other unstoppable blade
I’m sure no one was surprised that Max wasn’t for real murdered by this attack. But for the record, without ManaVore, Final Blade would have actually been able to pierce her armor, because of the crazy amount of magic behind the attack. It wouldn’t have killed her outright, but it would have hurt.
I read/listen to a lot of LitRPGs, and so many of them have abilities like “This Skill can block any single attack, but has a five minute cooldown.” or “Activating this Skill makes you undetectable for 3 minutes, or until you interact with an object.” The problem with a skill description with an absolute in it is either there’s some fine text The System isn’t telling you about, or those skills are wildly exploitable. I mean, really, ANY attack? You could block the Chaos Titan Gamemaster’s Reality Schism? Zeus’s lightning bolt? The Death Star’s main weapon? A stinging comment? Which is a sort of social attack, but still an attack!
I’m not suggesting using The System should require fine text or a 38 page user agreement or that the most common class should be “Lawyer” because everyone has to initial in triplicate every time they acquire a new skill and store a copy at The System Hall of Records. Just a little clearer wording would be immensely useful, like “This Skill can block any single attack up to three tiers higher than itself. Has a five minute cooldown.” Something like that.
Now, with all that said, “Final Blade” was genuinely supposed to be an unstoppable attack, because it was a skill Ryzyl got way back when he was Bronze Tier, and now he’s S-Tier… or uh, I guess he’s be Platinum tier if the lowest tier was a metal. The skill is also a Platinum Tier attack and is the sort of thing you’d use, pretty much exclusively, on other Platinum Tier adventurers, demi-gods, Armageddon level monsters, that sort of thing.
Originally, I’d planned on Max catching the blade, (because she’s ridiculously fast) but it would keep inching toward her sternum no matter how much strength she put against it, while Ryzyl explained how the attack is unstoppable. In that scenario, Max would have flown into space, dragging Ryzyl along, and wait for him to expire in the hard vacuum. While kind of a cool solution, it didn’t really make sense, since the boundary of the arena is only 5 KM up, and it would take Ryzyl longer than the allowed 30 seconds to expire, since he’s a high-level adventurer, and not a 3rd level Rogue rolling D6/level for his hit points.
The only goofy thing about this result is that ManaVore doesn’t have a fuller, which is the indent that runs down the center of some blades, usually from the cross-guard to halfway or 3/4 of the way up the blade. Supposedly it “reduces its weight and improves balance, handling, and flexibility.” You can see one on Ryzyl’s dagger in panel 6, though I’m not sure how helpful it would be on a ten inch blade. What that means for Ryzyl is that his knife is just pressed against the flat of Max’s sword, and it seems like just a tiny readjustment of the angle or a little twist of the blade could cause it to skid off into her back. But I guess that’s not how Final Blade works. Once activate, it’s just straight in to the heart. (Final Blade has no effect on creatures without hearts.) <- See how easy that is, The System?
Oh, look who it is in the vote incentive. And a not-quite-yet-but-it’s-coming NSFW version over at Patreon.
Vote incentive and Patreon updated with some shading. Not finished yet, but progress.
I think she would get in trouble for doing this. She’d mess up the… floor of the waterfall? Is that what it’s called? The receiving pool? No, probably not that. Anyway, she’d churn things up and cause a ton of weird erosion.
Since you might be wondering, Niagara Falls is about 165 feet high, so Babezilla obviously doesn’t have to be full sized. I’d say she’s about 175-180 feet tall here?
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
Well, if the sword has an intelligence and is capable of communicating, this is where it would thank Max for the 12 course gourmet dinner.
Sapient weapons are often of the snarky type of personality so it could be fun if ManaVore is a very intelligent and educated gentleman.
HARK, SUPERLATIVE WENCH! FIERCE FELICITATIONS ARE IN ORDER OBLIGATE, FOR YOUR MEAL THREE-COURSE HAS SATISFYINGLY SATED THE ALL-SEEING AUTARCH!
(Yes, it was the Caged Demonwolf all along. Read Empowered by Adam Warren if you’re not afraid of boobs and early-days awkwardness, but the former is already in Grrl Power and the latter is an artefact of early 2010s societal bigotry and kind of permeated culture soooo)
THE MOLESTER OF WORLDS IS MOST PLEASED WITH THE FEAST PROVIDED BY THE NEW ALPHA WENCH.
THE FONDLER OF THE UNIVERSE’S ORBS FINDS YOUR PATHETICALLY IMPOTENT SCRAPMETAL CHODE-BLADE LAUGHABLE!!! Poissant paramour, please allow me to celebrate our victory fully by caressing your prodigious bubbies against my glorious length!
The Blazing Demongoat demand to be present the next time the Maximal Alpha Wench perform ritual of mating with the Princeling Man of Fire.
“Poissant paramour?” Didhe just say that she was the girlfriend of a fish? Or is “puissant” spelled differently on his planet?
THIS FIEND FANTABULOUS HAS NO USE FOR YOUR ATROCIOUS ATTEMPTS AT ELUCIDATION OF ITS VARIANT VERBIAGE!
BE NOT A GRAMMAR SUPERIORITY FIXATED HUMAN ON THE PRONUNCIATIONS OF THESAURUS SHAMING SEEING ALL BEING SUPREME
Bah! Mere mortals can not comprehend the eloquence of the Marvelous Multiversal Master of wordplay. Bah!
Google didn’t correct me when I checked the spelling. #SesquipedalianFail
Pescatarian Sesquipedalian
Shout out to the various talking, sentient weapons of webcomics.
Two that instantly come to mind for me are, Chad from Sluggy Freelance, and the rather sinister blade in Darken.
While not a webcomic, I will also suggest Excalibur from the manga/anime Soul Eater.
Little blade should have little passed out swirls around it. Little hard to win an eating contest against the champion
Kinda getting the vibe that this chapter’s mostly been an excuse to draw Maxima naked with plausible deniability. That, and to let her curbstomp things and creatures that can take it – somewhat – while virtually naked.
The artwork is good, but these fights aren’t very exciting. Not to me, anyway. This shadow elf assassin and the faerie came closest to being serious challenges so far, as in fights Max couldn’t power through without needing some special equipment or healing afterward… and yeah.
I know not every arena arc is going to be like in manga, where a single fight can cover whole volumes. I’m honestly not trying to yuck anyone’s yum. I understand Max is the apex super. But when it comes to fights in Grrlpower, I get more of a kick out of seeing Sidney use her cunning and comic book lore to use her powers than this.
Right now, I’m just more invested in what’s going on with Nthaniel, back on Earth than what’s happening here.
Fights are never what the comic’s been about. It has always been about cheesecake, between-fight comedy, slice-of-superhero-life, and genre deconstruction. I suspect that maybe the 10-month-long parking lot brawl may have confused a few readers, but there’s a good reason DaveB hasn’t repeated anything like that. Max’s overwhelming power, and presence in the comic as a supporting character, rather than the lead, should make it clear that the story doesn’t hinge on whether or not the heroes are going to win. That’s not where the narrative tension lies.
I’m thinking about the “world of cardboard” speech from Quperman (the comics)
“Superman: That man [Batman] won’t quit so long as he can draw breath. None of my teammates will. Me? I’ve got a different problem. I feel like I live in a world made of cardboard. Always taking care not to break something, to break some one. Never allowing myself to lose control, even for a moment. Someone could die. But you can take it, can’t you, big man? What we have here is a rare opportunity for me to cut loose, and show you just how powerful I really am. ”
this chapter is a way of showing Maxima using her powers at the fullest instead of telling the readers “take our word for it”
The problem is all the webcomic writers and artists started reading “The Cummoner” (which has been top 50+ on topwebcomics for years now) and decided their webcomic needed something beyond gratuitous fan service on the regular.
Honestly, I blame it directly for amazing webcomics like Merceneiress becoming little more than porn with a weak story.
I think Mr. Barrack even mentioned The Cummoner several years back right before the pool shenanigans arc started.
When was the last time you read Merceneiress?
Sir, I just opened it for the very first time and saw exactly that. What did I do wrong?
Maybe go back to the start, or at least the start of the current chapter: there is a reason for the current page (TirTeen and Big Betty in a fatal 69, and the other two doing what they are doing), and it all involves a joint rescue mission and imperial ass-assination
I dunno… Like a year ago? Whenever it was that boob boxing came up. I was pretty sure I was over it as soon as the Young Tirin arc started.
Isn’t that kind of the case with all spandex superhero stuffs? Naked but for a paint-job?
Also, I Roved Out (In Search of Truth and Love) and Alfie are both strongly superior to Cummoner, which makes me wonder whether TopWebComics actually does something.
Yeah pretty much the only thing of value this arc is once again seeing hot naked or nearly naked skintight women. Which fair just wish at this point it was more out in the open.
I disagree. I’m not sure that there is any need for all the space dollars Max is gonna win and I don’t think we need more new characters but it was my understanding that some of Cora’s friends are characters that Dave has created backstories for. So I assume this is an attempt to introduce them to the story. Plus he clearly wanted to try his hand start drawing manga fights. He said as much on one of the previos pages where it was hard to understand wanted was going on. Plus we had the introduction of that alien with advanced technology who was shocked to notice Sydney’s orbs and all the super heroes. So I think there is a lot of stuff he is trying to do in the arc, not just draw fan service. I do agree that the fights are a bit too one-sided but he already implied that the later rounds are going to be more impressive. Plus, even if the fights are one-sided, it’s nice to see Max actually fight. Her last real fight was that Suckhole and he wasn’t a proper challenge, more like a puzzle to solve.
To be fair none of them have been real fights they’ve all basically been problems to solve the only difference was it was Sydney solving the problems and now it’s Max having to stand on her own, and for some people she doesn’t have the chutzpah to stand on her own as the mc for a bit.
When Maxima “stands on her own” as the MC, she’s just an annoying Mary Sue with issues (not completely unfounded, mind you) with most men that she’s maybe a little too militant about.
I don’t dislike Dave’s Maxima, but to me she’s just another “Apex Original Character, don’t steal please” even though the nom de guerre ‘Maxima’ has been associated with a DC character for three decades.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxima_(DC_Comics)
We get it, she’s a super bad ass, but she’s also serious and deadly in combat, unlike other heroes, so she’s better! Also well rounded with a full personality and backstory that explains why she’s such a hard ass about male authority, even though she’s an authority figure herself.
Sidney is significantly more fun and amusing than Maxima. IMHO.
That might explain why Sydney is the MC and NOT Maxi
Exactly. Maxima is the anti Sydney. The lawful neutral contrast to the chaotic good Sydney. The serious and stern person as a contrast to the silly Sydney.
Maxima as a character should be put in the context of a superhero comedy.
Oh yeah but the serious character in a comedy either has to be the punchline or just there for commentary to be truly effective, when it’s just battle shonen they fall a lot flatter and have to rely solely on what they bring as a character.
Good point. But the story don’t have to center around Sydney and her chaos all the time, some times someone else can have a few super battles for a change.
hmmm, delicious mana
Bade; YUMMY! ❤️ I was starving being in storage for so long. That storage mama is so bland.
If you’ve got two hearts, Final Blade comes in at an awkward angle that skewers both of them. If you have three or more it goes into an infinite loop, and you can’t let it go, because the guy who devised it didn’t consider that case.
Always fill your entire state table when spell crafting, people!
Perhaps spell crafters should ask lawyers for advice.
I have to wonder if “lawyer” is a supporting skill for spell crafting, like “weaponsmith” would be for making magic weapons.
Not “blacksmithing”, that’s for making horseshoes and hoes. “Weaponsmith” is a distinct skill.
The unstoppable/undodgeable/unblockable things must have a resolution. The universe doesn’t do infinite things, or paradoxes, so things will resolve.
A blacksmith does make weapons. There is no evidence of something called “weaponsmith” in English outside of video games…
It may not be their main trade, but they can and do make weapons when required. Quite a few blacksmiths did specialize in making weapons, but from what I could find they were not called “weaponsmith”.
Although, some were called “bladesmith” if they specialized in blades, but that also involved some other skills like woodworking and leather working, either by the same dude, or in association with other artisans, that term was not apparently common. There was also an armourer if they specialized in armours.
Did you ever hear about the difference between a civil engineer and a mechanical engineer?
A mechanical engineer makes bombs.
The civil engineer makes targets.
Okay, and?
> The universe doesn’t do infinite things, or paradoxes, so things will resolve.
It does, actually. It’s just shy about letting you see them.
No, ask a programmer. A guy walks into a bar and orders 10 beers… zero beers… -99 beers… 10 bears. Need to make sure none of those will break the game before you ship.
Was that 2 or X beers? That will be 1 copper service fee. Delivery is in the back and we don’t serve no BEARS here
I honestly don’t know why he thought lawyers do Karnaugh mapping. Though maybe they should.
As an attorney, I have absolutely no idea what ‘Karnaugh mapping’ is, but from context (I’m guessing Maurice Karnaugh who was a mathematician and worked for IBM), I’m going to assume something with either computer science or math or both.
Ok I just googled and yeah apparently it’s how you do Boolean algebra. I actually remember learning boolean algebra (which is why I had any idea who Karnaugh was), yet never heard of it called Karnaugh mapping. Despite knowing who Maurice Karnaugh was.
No, we don’t do Karnaugh mapping. :) Lawyering is clearly an advanced conjuring skill, since we can pull arguments out of the aether and transform it into cash.
The QA lead programmer walks into a bar and orders 0 beers to make sure the barkeep’s response is suitably acerbic, then 10 beers and 11 beers because the barkeep is supposed to cut the character off at 10, then -2 beers to make sure the character gets laughed at, then 1 beer to make sure he didn’t get himself un-cut off by ordering -2 beers, then 128, 256, 32768, 65536, etc beers to make sure number handling doesn’t break on variable size or signedness, then ‘+$Inventory_size+’ beers (and a few dozen other forms depending on programming language, string libraries in use, and internal variable names) to make sure string sanitization doesn’t allow the character to invoke the values of in-game variables, then two beers to see if string handling converts typed numbers, then yogi bear beers to see if string handling breaks on unexpected typed input, input, then 4 beers to set an internal variable and then beers to see whether the internal variable’s value is re-used when an empty string is given for numeric input, then ðþŦſɤɷʤ beers to see if characters outside the expected range break it, then eighteen quintillion four hundred forty-six quadrillion seven hundred forty-four trillion seventy-three billion seven hundred nine million five hundred fifty-one thousand six hundred and seventeen beers to see if the character can bypass numeric overflow testing by making it translate numbers expressed as words (and also to test whether a long input can provoke an error where something attempts to get crammed into a fixed-length string variable), then a few hundred examples of characters into roleplay bantering at the bartender like ‘aye good man, I crave the company of wenches and a round of fine dark ale for myself and each man of yonder quartet of my retainers’ and the list just goes on, and gets organized into regression testing for each new build….
Software QA is a skill where you have to write test cases anticipating not only the normal use cases, but also user errors, users who will treat the system as though it understands far more than is reasonable for a machine to understand, and the way people trying to hack the system will test it and troll it.
Three hearts, that move around, now that’s a problem!
Depends. If the pattern is predictable, Final* Blade could pick an angle where all three hearts would eventually move into it.
* Some restrictions apply.
Alternately, the blade could either select the primary heart (if one is primary), the most survival-critical heart (if they are feeding different body sections), or select one at random if multiple hearts are equal/redundant.
Sad that my targeting guess for final blade was not accurate, although I suppose this a less controversial outcome.
Also, her arm is twisted at a very awkward angle. Realistically her elbow should be further back, with her forearm parallel to the shoulder blades. On a normal human, achieving her current position would require dislocating the shoulder and/or the forearm (either of which would be painful and would compromise her ability to hold the position).
So the Hard Counter to Final Blade is Link at full 20 hearts.
Wouldn’t it end up folding space to line up the hearts in that case?
So the classic unstoppable force meets immovable object, though they were both on a timer in this case based on how much mana ManaVore could absorb before the surrounding mana was depleted.
Yeah…
Maxima is basically just a Mary Sue, she never loses, is never challenged (except by villains), has everyone validate her, and is the most powerful being no matter where she goes
Clearly you need to re-read the comic. Vehemence nearly killed her, and it was only *Sydney* who saved the day there. Same with the fight with Darude. And Hiro’s the only reason why that Golem Sciona made didn’t managed to absorb her powers. Also worth pointing out there are people *on the team* who’ve fought her to a Standstill, one of which is Dabbler.
She’s only a “Mary Sue” if you’re an idiot who didn’t pay attention to the comic for the last… 1000+ pages. Like, at all. Also worth pointing out she’s never had “everyone validating her.” There’s a bunch of members of ARC who literally live to *annoy* her. Dabbler, Harem, Omar, for example.
Ngl tho I’m kinda rooting for something or someone to beat Max.
Agreed
You do know that a character been bailed out when backed into a corner is a sign of a Mary Sue, right?
Umm, no it’s not, because a Mary Sue never gets into that position
They do if the writer is trying to pretend the character isn’t a Mary Sue
The difference is whether or not the character is saved before or after they lose
Don’t move the goalposts.
You’re just wrong. She’s not a Mary Sue. Deal with it.
You do know that’s the exact OPPOSITE of a Mary Sue?
A Mary Sue is just a SPECIFIC TYPE of badly written character. Not all kinds. And Max isn’t even that.
Not really
If a character is bailed out after they lose, that’s plot armor
If a character is ALWAYS bailed out before they lose, that’s a Mary Sue who the writer is trying to pretend isn’t one
Do you know what a Mary Sue is? I don´t think you do.
A Mary Sue is perfect in everything she does, liked by everyone or is a self insert wish fullfilment of the author.
In the urban dictonary for example:
“A Mary Sue is a character who is so perfect that he or she warps the world around them to display their perfection. It seems as though nothing in this universe except Mary Sue is even real, and is instead a plot device to make Mary Sue seem flawless and loved…”
Max is a brawler type of character. She is not as good in strategic thinking as others and often she has not as she is incredible strong or durable or fast or…. you get the picture. She did not excell in all fights, got basically defeated, needed to train, asked for help, agrees that others are better than her in some things…
She is a belivable nuanced character that is more of the side of lazy usage of powers because thought is normally not necessary except for restrain from using full power.
Again, you’re using an overtly narrow definition of a Mary-Sue
Oft used by those looking to defend characters from Mary-Sue accusations, or by writers trying to pretend their character isn’t one
The Best way to ACCURATELY define a Mary-Sue is “A Character to whom the plot bends in favor of so much that it breaks narrative immersion”
Basically, if you get the sense that things are constantly going to go in their favor, no matter how improbable, then they’re a Mary Sue
Like how here Maxima is creaming intergalactic champions, who should be way more experienced than her, WHILE HOLDING BACK, and having only minimal training with a sword
Or for a non-combat example, her feminist rants, in a more realistic story, nearly everyone would hate her for been a constant killjoy, for assuming the worst in everyone, and CONSTABTLY having to overexplain themselves around her. Instead, everyone validates her for it and eagerly complies, even though they otherwise display drastically different views from her
We’re using the ONLY definition of a Mary Sue. There isn’t another one, you idiot.
You just don’t want to admit you’re wrong.
At best, you’re using the original definition
Definitions can evolve and change over time
The same has happened for Mary Sues, as writers would create one, then add in one or two technicalities, like a small flaw that has no real impact on the story, just so they can say the character isn’t one, while still affecting the story in the exact same way
Anvil, possibly her bestest friend, often calls her out on her feminist rants, and Omar at least likes to rage-bait her over it
And that is what is called “Token Resistance”
Where a writer adds in a small amount of push back to an idea, but without it having any actual impact or consequences
By those standards it’s impossible to not write a powerful character as anything but a Mary Sue, especially in a superhero setting. Superheroes are supposed to win against the odds all the time. We know they will win but we don’t know exactly how, that’s how you write a good superhero story in my opinion and I think Dave do a good job as a writer.
No, it isn’t
If a character loses before been bailed out, that’s plot armor
If they are bailed out before they can lose, that’s a Mary Sue who the writer is trying to pretend isn’t one
Over the course of the comic’s history, there’s been a fair number of comments that made it clear the commenter didn’t even pay attention to the page they’re commenting on, let alone any of the previous pages. Literacy is on life-support.
No need for the name calling to make your point. Accusation is confession.
You’re forgetting that she’s a ringer in this fight. She is only here for a good workout, and has been allowed to be here because her superiors have been reassured that nobody here is really going to be a danger to her anyway. She was EXPECTED to have an unfair advantage over all comers in this contest, and you’re whining about something we knew going in.
Just get some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the pretty art of the fight sequences. Defeat in combat is not Dave’s chosen route to plot advancement and character development. Whatever developments Dave has planned are more likely to be triggered by the unforeseen consequences of the preordained combat win.
Not sure if you understand the full scope of what constitutes a Mary Sue. It isn’t just about combat or even power. Mary Sue characters are always in control of every situation. They do not ever get upset or annoyed or frustrated, and if they get flustered or surprised it is always portrayed as endearing rather than detrimental. Anyone who disagrees with a Mary Sue’s opinion is portrayed as objectively wrong. Mary Sue characters are not bailed out of difficult situations by the independent efforts of others; they are rescued by the consequences of their own actions, often described retroactively rather than being foreshadowed or hinted in advance.
If anyone in this comic could be considered a Mary Sue archetype, its Deus, not Maxima.
Deus feels more like a parody of the Mary Sue archetype for me. If it was a serious story he would be one for sure but this is a comedy.
Maxima is more of the straight man archetype who have to endure the chaotic Sydney and the smug Deus.
Agree with most of what you said, but I disagree with Deus being a Mary Sue. Sure, we don’t get an explanation of what he’s done until after he’s done it (otherwise there would be no suspense in the comic), but we’ve seen him steadily and steadfastly accruing his money and power, gathering allies, and generally have plans within plans within plans.
Mary Sues have the story bend to their will without much if any effort, Deus has been shown to always be doing things in the background, he’s putting the efforts. Sure, his super-intelligence is a cheat code that make it seem like he’s a Mary Sue, but I think the distinction is important.
Honestly, I agree with your disagreement. Deus isn’t a full-on Mary Sue, he just hits more of the qualification bullet points than Maxima does. And yes, it’s mostly (but not entirely) because of his super power. Also I don’t know if a villain counts as a Mary Sue or if it has its own equivalent trope.
¤ Has a solution ready for every problem
¤ Is in control of every situation where he appears
¤ Is liked by people who have no discernible reason to like him, as well as by people who should (or even do) actively dislike him
¤ Never loses his composure (confident to a fault)
¤ Any observed flaws or mistakes are portrayed in a comical or endearing way
¤ Circumstances go his way, even when it seems like they shouldn’t (because he expected it and planned ahead)
Max is a better fit for one of the Powerhouse tropes. In this specific story arc, she might be considered a Pint-Sized Powerhouse exclusively due to the relative sizes of her opponents.
Why would a hero even want to challenge her? They are allies, not rivals
Fun fact of the day…
In Norwegian the word for fuller is ‘Blodrenne’, and the first part should be pretty obvious…
That’s weird, as the purpose of a fuller is to lighten the blade it’s part of while retaining the blade’s strength.
The experts I know always said that fuller’s being a channel or groove for blood to flow is a modern myth.
That’s if understand what ‘Blodrenne’ means.
The fuller was also historically called “blood groove” in English, probably because there were a few hundred years in which nobody was that interested in HEMA and blade geometry.
It seems that in Danish and Norwegian, there are just no other established words, so Blodrille / Blodrenne is the word based on the myth.
To lighten the blade while retaining its strength is something that smiths would immediately understand, and is to them the purpose of the fuller.
But we don’t know who had the idea, or how or why. It’s entirely likely that someone clueless about physics and weight and momentum and balance really did just think the sword would turn out to be more deadly with a groove to let the blood out and the smith listened to his deluded ravings and thought about it for a minute.
A surprising number of good ideas happen when an idiot with a bad idea communicates them to someone with knowledge and insight who then tries to figure out what the idiot could possibly mean and why.
Even back in the past people knew a cool name for a thing, even if it wasn’t factually accurate.
Ragnar: Why does your sword have that groove in the blade?
Sven: I don’t know, the smith did it.
Ragnar: Ooh, ooh. I’ll bet it’s to let the blood out!
Both: Blood Groove!
So his plan was to hide until there was only one person left, then use the knife? What would be have done if literally any other contestant had been the last one standing? Did Kaboomoid or the golems have hearts?
He’s a high-level adventurer, he would have figured something out. Maybe not Final Blade, but Draining Arrow or something. He seems to be able to absorb mana from the environment, why not from kaboomoid? Then again, maybe he would have just lost. That’s what you get with random brackets, sometimes you get hard-countered.
Sooo, that dagger is like Gae Bolg-ish?
Max’s “plan B” doesn’t necessarily need her to fly her target into space.
At 15,000ft above sea level is where humans start developing hypoxia due to the low air pressure.
The Arena’s boundary is 16,400+ft in height.
Max would need to be sure they would become Hypoxic at that height, and calculate if she’d have enough time for it to incapacitate them before their attack incapacitated her.
I mean she could also just poke him to death with a superpowered finger or toe – killing him wasn’t really the problem.
The Hypoxia tactic means you can incapacitate them without killing them.
You just need them to stay unconscious long enough to time out.
And if she just wanted them dead, well she does have a sword.
I’m pretty sure being dragged toward space at mach-f*ck speeds while dangling one-handed from a dagger might, just might, cause even an S-Rank adventurer to admit defeat, assuming they still have an arm or even conscious…
High Gs forcing blood flow away from the head have resulted in loss of consciousness before. Somewhat of a risk for fighter pilots.
“How’d you solve the icing problem?” – Tony Stark, in the film Iron Man
According to Google’s AI, 5km of altitude means a temperature of roughly -17.5 °C (0.5 °F).
So there’s a lot of problems with just surviving at that point.
From what I remember reading on swords (a very long time ago), the primary value of a fuller was to add structural strength to the blade, while lessening the weight. It functions very much like an I-beam. When most common swords used in the Middle Ages and Renaissance weighed 2-5 lbs., ounces could matter. As Dave mentioned, it is a useful feature in improving the blade’s balance. Having it on the shorter blade, like Ryzyl’s dagger may still be useful when parrying with it (strengthening the blade while it’s being flexed).
Calling it a “Blood Groove” came much later, probably coined by amateur “scholars” (i.e. Victorian). There is no real additional effect on your target’s bleeding, or your ability to draw the blade out of the target.
As a note on Ryzyl’s dagger’s shape: it doesn’t really look made for thrusting/stabbing. More of a chopper. Of course, with the mana assist, that’s not really an issue in this case. But assuming it’s used without the Final Blade Technique, it looks a bit less useful for knife fighting.
Dave
Sincere thank you for a desperately needed belly laugh. It was the burp that put it over.
Even without a fuller, Max’s reflexes are fast enough that she’d be able to feel if that dagger was going to slide off the blade and twist it to make it slide the other way, keeping it centered.
It may be that the Manavore was holding the dagger, sucking every last bit of mana from it and not releasing it until the dagger was empty.
Now I’m imagining microscopic hands holding the tip of the dagger in place so Manavore can feed…
There is a manga about dragons coming to earth manifesting hyu-mon bodies, one of them had what looked like balls for hands and their friend asked how they could even turn the pages in the book they were reading, switch to a close-up of the ‘ball’ and it was made up of thousands of tiny hands :)
I would have thought that, during the first part of their fight, Ryzyl would have noticed the Manavore’s immense absorption capacity and planned his backstab accordingly. But I guess not.
In panels 10 & 11, the style change makes Ryzyl resemble Mojo Jojo.
Can anyone tell me what “Hax” means in Boomer slang?
For that matter, what does Dave B. mean by “The System”? Isn’t that just the rules or physics underlying magic in a particular story?
Hax is short for hacking, and in gamer circles its used to mean “overpowered ability thatbreaks the balance of the game” equating it to “its basically cheating”
Meanwhile “system” is a popular trope in fantasy novels where the magical physics are controlled by some sort of sentient entity that displays information as floating windows that mimic RPG game menus
“Hax” = hacks = cheating. He’s basically saying it’s not fair.
“The System” = e.g. D&D or other roleplaying system of choice. The rules around how abilities are defined and the limitations of them. Dave B. is pointing out that most, if not all, are lacking clarity around the limitations and extent of a lot of powers, limitations that *must* exist if the powers existed in some version of a ‘real’ world. My counter to that is that a lot of said clarity surrounds ‘edge cases’, where people are trying to bend the rules, and that it would need to be 587 pages of legalese to prevent this for even the majority of such edge cases. Instead you get one person acting as the game master – the referee who can make a specific on the spot call about whether something counts for the power being used, or not.
“HAX’ is a gamer cry that someone is cheating using cheat codes or actual system /hacks/ to change how an effect works in the game server. The server admin has to pay attention because most of the time, its just the guy is actually better than the other players, its the rest of the time when it’s legit that gets spicy.
“The System” is likely just a generic call-out to the reader’s favorite TTRPG mechanics regarding super powers, magic, magic items, psionics, space tech, etc. -whichever might apply to a Space Drow, Magic Items, and Superheroics at the same time.
Of course, some might call his attack Final Blade the same thing as what it is. Unfortunate for him, Max did her homework and got her hands on a blade to counter magic-based attacks.
“Hax” is more or less “you’re cheating!”
And “The System” refers to someone essentially having a videogame RPG set of powers, often with a similar interface. So they can see they have a Strength of 13, and can invoke a Final Strike skill that has description text and things like “three minute duration” or “mana drain of 12 points per second” instead of it just being a matter of a fire lasting until the fuel runs out, or a person being able to run until there’s enough lactic acid buildup that their muscles start failing. It’s a whole “thing” in some manga/manhua/LitRPG where people know exactly what you mean when you say someone “gained a System”.
Max is a member of the US Military. One of the unofficial mottos is; “If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t really trying.”
Not just US Military, ALL Military have that motto: the point of a military is to win, by any means, leave it for the losers’ lawyers to whine about the ‘how’
It’s fine for the blades to stick without a fuller (which IS useful even in daggers). Metal when pressed together can bind and be difficult to slide and this can happen even with just human level strength in regular sword fights, so at super human levels of strength and pressure there’s really no reason to think it won’t do the same thing. The tip of a blade is a pretty small space for it to happen with, but it can and DOES happen in edge to edge impacts so there’s no real reason it wouldn’t happen here.
If she could fly to space as a valid tactic, couldn’t she also just move to the edge of the map so that he’s just over the boundary? If there’s concern about a struggle putting him back in she could stay on the edge of the boundary for 5 seconds then move them both out of bounds so his timer goes to zero first.
Her timer is lower than his if he’s not left – Dave said you only slowly get your oob time back to prevent people jumping in & out shouting “can;t touch me”. It’s been less than a minute since she got back.
Also, I would rule that if you’re touching someone who is in-bounds, YOU are in bounds. [Mostly to prevent a meta of “grappling people oob with giant tentacles”. If you try the reverse strat of touching people with a finglonger from oob… well, you can expect to lose it.]
Cue snarky “Spike Jones” clarinet or bazooka solos for the last 2 panels…
The Final Blade made her move. It IS strong.
Remember when Dave said he couldn’t draw butts? I think he’s improved.
Gasp! New name for the sword!
Haxbalde!!!
And, as anyone who has hung around RPG forums enough, those edge cases are why some segment of the population play RPGs, so that they can do Locate City bombs, or a Peasant Railgun. It falls apart in a system where the game master can simply veto the rules to do what makes sense, which not everyone likes to hear. :-D
“A stinging comment? Which is a sort of social attack, but still an attack!”
D&D’s recent editions have the spell Hellish Rebuke, where (if you do it right) you can give them a sick burn in two ways (burst of flame AND a mean comment). So it’s both!
Ooh! Ooh!
You have reminded me of D&D 5e version of Find Traps, which is functionally useless for actually finding a physical trap you’d think to want it for, since plain Perceptions checks and Searches / investigation can get anything it can find, but is Excellent for pointing out traps written into the language of legal documents. Nothing unintended is covered, so hire a good lawyer or barrister, but if the document writer plans anything untoward, the spell will point it out and make it plain to you.
Devils and Fae Lords HATE it when you have Find Traps prepared before a deal.
https://2014.5e.tools/spells.html#find%20traps_phb
“You sense the presence of any trap within range that is within line of sight. A trap, for the purpose of this spell, includes anything that would inflict a sudden or unexpected effect you consider harmful or undesirable, which was specifically intended as such by its creator. Thus, the spell would sense an area affected by the alarm spell, a glyph of warding, or a mechanical pit trap, but it would not reveal a natural weakness in the floor, an unstable ceiling, or a hidden sinkhole.”
“This spell merely reveals that a trap is present. You don’t learn the location of each trap, but you do learn the general nature of the danger posed by a trap you sense.”
So his whole talk about the final blade reminded me so much of the “My Blade” video by Dungeon Soup. If you do not know what that it is, its worth watching the Chaotic Good Barbarian.
I came here to see if someone had already made that comment.
I guess the mistake was that the final blade wasn’t forged by dwarves with autism (so you know it’s good).
Great example of someone putting all his skills into “X”, then hitting the hard counter to “X”. Lol!
A sensible adversary who realizes he can’t win and isn’t overly interested in a beating, so just noping out is always refreshing.
^ This, and also Max not murdering the opponent after rendering him helpless is a good reminder she’s one of the good guys.
I was gonna say the same thing:P
Alright… I lost my quatloo on that one. This also means Maxima went speed instead of defense.
Wow holy wshit max completely no sold that and was unharmed like her name was Hulk Hogan who could have guessed that she would just tank it and be completely unharmed with zero consequences for her actions ever, totally a real surprise pay off for that cliffhanger page last week makes it so worth it wow these fights are soooo cool…. But on a serious note I appreciate the solid shots of her butt and boobs gives something of substance to this fight, god thank the heavens for time tna they’re making this worth it.
Anticlimactic…I wanted pain and bitching out
Why is there not a single comment saying “Fist of the North Star”? Was the reference too obvious to point it out? Because I doubt that it’s too obscure.
“Omae wa mou shindeiru” is indeed probably too obvious in this crowd.
We all know it.
I remember it being referenced by “Fist Of The Sigma Octantis”…
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-824-fist-of-the-sigma-octantis/
Yeah, I guess that’s true.
But the main reason for deflection of a backstab is that it gives you a chance to to TWO panels of Maxima’s ass on one page. Well Done Sir!
Mmmmm, very nice buns on panel two. That’s a heart felt compliment Max, don’t punch me.
Yes, this result is betterer than if he got shanked
Sorry, this is stuck in my brain, help me…
“Mana mana, doot doo do do do, mana mana, doot do do do” etc etc
I guess I can see why Dabbler would’ve been able to fight Max to a draw. Magic in Grrlpower seems more broken than super powers. Ryzyl was able stab Max in the back because of magic with an “unstoppable” attack that was only thwarted by even stronger and more apparently broken and unfair magic. Super powers didn’t seem to even be a factor in this interaction.
Hey, I’ve met a Kenshiro, only he gets to say “You are already dead!”
“The problem with a skill description with an absolute in it”
Hey, Achilles, get over here, we have a dagger we want you to play with.
(He does fall into the “exploitable” category just because that’s his only gimmick and that’s allowed, it’s just amusing)
Yeah, that’s a good point. I wonder if it would work on Achilles or if the Final Blade would just push him until he got pinned against something. Or would the blade just phase through him to get to his heart? For that matter, can he be phased through or is he so solid that nothing can go through him?
Maxima’s arm is twisted at a very awkward angle. Realistically her elbow should be further back, with her forearm parallel to the shoulder blades. On a normal human, achieving her current position would require dislocating the shoulder and/or the forearm, either of which would be painful and would compromise her ability to hold the sword in that position.
(I mentioned this a bit ago but realized afterward that I should probably break it out as its own comment.)
The problem with LitRPG Systems ™ is not that it does not have enough fine print.
It has libraries’ worth of fine print.
The problem is that the point size of it is measure on the Planck scale.
Yeah, the system based stuff almost always goes that kind of direction. What’s “obvious” is just whatever the author’s unquestioned assumptions are. Sometimes it’s all *about* playing with what happens if you interpret that stuff literally.
I have in fact seen “this barrier will block any one attack,” and it nullified the harm from a thermobaric bomb going off, but it was gone before it could do anything about the thousand degree air full of toxic smoke, or the heat absorbed and re-radiated from the ground.
Funny enough, one of the story ideas I’ve often turned over in my head is one where a major type of magic is, in fact, magical lawyer. Spirits are utterly bound by their word, but there’s a lot of interpretation room in stuff like, “Who is really the transgressor here,” “What counts as breach of this contract,” etc
that blade is reminding me of one of Asta’s swords from Black Clover, the 2nd one specifically. For those who don’t know Black Clover, the MC in that series was the only person in a world of wizards and magic knights who had absolutely no mana or magical ability at all, but gained the power to use “anti-magic.” His first sword could disrupt or reflect magical attacks, but was so heavy that most people could barely lift it, the second one was a bit smaller, but pulled mana out of anything that touched it. Asta could wield it no problem but anyone else would feel their stamina drain out of them, the Wizard King, the most powerful magic user in the land, could only hold it for a few seconds before having to hand it back. The third sword was a cursed katana he got from his squad captain.