Grrl Power #319 – Armored with advice
It occurs to me that half the gags in this comic seem to come from the fact that I get bored drawing talking head panels, so I throw the dialog to captions and draw whatever nonsense I like. Seems to work out ok, but sometimes those panels wind up being smaller than I’d like cause I’ve already drawn the rest of the page. In case you can’t read it, the three in the background of the last panel have Wrath, Lust and Gluttony written on them.
I have no idea if ooblek normally has much if any tensile strength when you smack it like Claire is having to do in panel 5, so I don’t know if that particular setup would work, except to say of course it would since that deathtrap uses the kind of ooblek that does have incredible tensile which makes it perfect for that sort of 2 person deathtrap.
Predictably, Claire is the competent explorer, and her bumbling friend was the one who touched the idol that gave her the somewhat unreliable powers of Distress Damsel. I tell you, if Empowered wasn’t already a thing, I could totally do a Distress Damsel comic. You know, along with Grrl Power, Demon High and Grrl Power After Dark of course. (And two others I have ideas for that are super smutty.) If I could have any power from my comic, it would definitely be Harem’s.
Oobtek is brought to us by Machina Industries predictably. It almost sounds ridiculous to have armor made out of goo, but I didn’t make this up. This exists in the real world, at least in prototype form. Apply it over kevlar and it’s practically impossible to get a shiv through it. Its ability to dissuade even armor piecing bullets is significantly improved as well. Google “oobleck armor” for a bunch of info about it.
The Oobtek inserts were my idea, so I don’t know how realistic that is, but we can assume Machina Industries has razor edge tech which at the very least prevents the Oobtek from just pooling in the bottom of each pouch. The inserts more than double the weight of the AFDs, but enormously distribute the energy of any sort of blow. By the way in the third panel, Ashley isn’t saying armor piercing pistol rounds are no sweat for the AFD’s, he’s letting her know where the definite cutoff is. The take home message for these outfits is, as with any armor; “don’t get shot, but if you do, you have a better chance of not dying, assuming you don’t get hit in the neck or head. It will still probably hurt.”
The major disadvantage to this sort of material is that I imagine it probably doesn’t breathe well. The Kevlar/ooblek stuff I found online looks like waterproof canvas, so probably hot and generally not that comfortable. We’ll assume the Q-vex/Oobtek version overcomes this to some degree, as well as lining the inside with a wicking fabric that channels sweat to the seams. They’re still working on variations for extreme environments, but as a domestic force they don’t have to be worried about being deployed in a 120 F desert unless some supervillain decides to build his base in Death Valley. You’d think that would happen more often just for the name and the ambiance, but finding henchmen willing to make that commute is tough.
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Was it just me who didn’t even notice Gluttony in panel six until they read the write-up? o_O
You are not alone. She has the dangerous power of innocuously standing in plain sight, and not being noticed. Despite having “Gluttony” written across her! Clearly some kind of super-ninja! Probably an alien one, in disguise. With all sorts of tentacles and ooze.
when they send in a kid in a super fight RUN
relevant comic by another Artist https://www.superstupor.com/sust04092008.shtml
On the subject of gluttony. As our most honoured New Zealand representative (not that the two things are otherwise linked), and hoping that your system continues to let you respond…
Have you gotten used to thick filling Cadbury’s Creme Eggs yet? Did you consider the runny version to be superior, in the first place?
The runny version was actually made in NZ, something to do with our machines being older or something, but no, never gotten used to thicker filing, nor the reduced size, and not sure what to think of the new Vegemite-flavoured chocolate bar they have come up with (at least the disgusting brownish-black goop is mixed into the chocolate, and not as a filling like Caramello)
You really should use pngs for these images. The jpeg isn’t that bad, but it’s definitely noticeable.
I don’t know what it is you’ve noticed. :S
So, ARCHON needs to test to see how much of Halo’s palm/inner finger skin needs to make contact with the orbs. Could she get away with having fingerless gloves? Or a glove where the palm is a Velcro patch that can be peeled back and stuck to the wrist? Even if she needs inner fingers and palm nude contact, then I believe Ashley should be able to come up with gloves that grip the outer portion of Halo’s hands.
kind of like an archery glove but for the whole hand?
We’ve seen her using fingers from an orb wearing hand to type and toggle controls on other orbs and I think at least some of those situations she was using the orb in question (won’t swear to it till I go look). She usually had some fingers still touching the orb but I noticed she only seems to make sure the palm is in contact so I’m gonna go out on a limb and say she could get by with either just all her inner fingers OR her entire palm which have kind of the same surface area.
For combat situations, I would supply Halo with a full helmet and sealing body suit, under the armor clothing. The suit would monitor Halo’s vitals, especially O2 levels, and protect her from things like gas attacks, link into an air supply, etc. I would also have a top-end computer linked into the helmet/suit combo, to act like a Jarvis entity to keep Halo apprised of when a vital is out of whack. Also, the helmet would provide communications with a handler, who’s primary job is to be the voice of reason, and an advisor in combat situations.
So not only is Arianna attempting to control what she does out and about in her regular life but now she is gonna have somebody remotely riding her above and beyond the field commander telling her what to do. Too much more of this will clash with her personality so bad I would expect it to plant the seeds for the creation of Dark Halo…
A better idea would be to link into that universe’s version of comic wiki’s.
If it could display on the inside of the helmet Sydney would stop paying attention to the battle part way through.
In super fights Sydney is the advisor!
Sydney could become one of the most hated “advisors” that ever lived; Invulnerable behind her shield, with her Comm Orb & the pipboy on her wrist, she could easily be that “unscratchable itch” for everybody.
Of course, that’s the very same quality that makes her so good at Operation Draw Aggro.
I can’t help but think that the slender half-circle insert in the fourth panel (which I assume is for neck protection) could be used as under-boob protection/support. Thinking about it after writing that, even if they’re use would be for the neck, knowing the vast potential in mass of the breasts within Arc-Swat, I’m sure some have probably jerry rigged the inserts for just such a reason. (Since there’s no real need to feel like padding one’s uniform. …no the pun was not intentional, but I’ll still take it. )
Since i’m not seeing it mentioned anywhere, the Ooblek name for the corn starch and water (and that stuff is AWESOME. ) actually comes from a doctor suess book.
My favorite Dr. Seuss book. Also the 7th book he wrote under the name “Dr. Seuss”.
What, I like the book.
Oobleck
Both in the Dr. Seuss book and for the special fluid the word is oobleck.
Just in case DaveB is reading.
DaveB, did you try to contact Adem Warren for permission o use Empowered in your comic? Or did you want to use your own character?
You might want to re-read DaveB‘s blog. He was making a list of things that he is not doing. Albeit that he would like to. If he was not doing Grrl Power.
So there is no need for permission, or doing a different version of the character. It ain’t happening.
I am refering to a cameo appearance in grrl power, which would be cool.
Ahh, gotcha. :)
I think he’d be okay with a credited cameo.
Wait…Wait…was that a Dune reference?
Yes, but what is in the box?
Pain.
Nothing! Absolutely nothing is in the box!
I’ll take what’s behind door number three.
*walks out with a goat, on a lead*
This is Betsey. She likes chewing on stuff. Mostly plants.
Be sure to milk her daily. You can make some nice cheeses.
Take good care of her.
Non-Newtonian fluids can also dance.
Ferro-fluids can also dance. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WXvar-4M6VA
I wonder what a non-Newtonian ferrofluid would be like…
Can’t believe nobody mentioned this. The word Ooblek comes from the Dr. Seuss book “Bartholomew and the Ooblek” (1949) the sequel to “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins” and in the vein of “The King’s Stilts” (the good Seuss stories from BCITH (Before Cat in the Hat) that forced him into writing all his books in rhyme). The King wishes for a new kind of weather nobody’s ever seen before and his royal wizards make it rain “ooblek” a green goo that nearly destroys the kingdom.
Somebody got it said just a hair before you did.
You both spelled it wrong though. (so did Dave though)
Hey Dave, you can pass on an idea to Dabbler for her non-lethal tech project. If she can make the oob goo very sticky it can be used as a kind of anti-speedster taser. Hit him with a few slime rounds and he will not be hurt. But if he tries to run while covered in it, it will stiffen up and prevent him from using his speed.
Just don’t let Sydney name them. She would call them booger bombs.
From DaveB: “…the three in the background of the last panel have Wrath, Lust and Gluttony written on them.”
I’m glad you didn’t have to reduce the artsize any further in order to include the missing 4 Sins…I can barely read what’s written on them now.
“… include the missing 4 Sins…”
can you name them?
pretty sure sloth is already there… and i am pretty sure there were 7 total… am i mistaken?
Pride and prejudice. Umm plus sense and sensibility. See four. Easy.
Ah, memories.
You made my day.
Envy, Pride, and Greed, there are only seven.
A sin for every orb
So THAT’s how she earns experience to level up!
you were you not the one to see it first?!
Is this not the first time leveling up by committing sins has been suggested?
I believe Dabbler has been leveling up that way during her whole life…
So, how did she get her first power-up – Pride, maybe?
Certainly not Gluttony, after two aborted lunches…
As the Romans knew, it how much you eat not how much you vomit that qualifies you. They had vomitoriums (or whatever they were called) where they could eat all night occasionally puking up a stomach load so they could eat more.
glut·ton·y
ˈɡlətnē/
noun
habitual greed or excess in eating.
However yeah she didn’t actually get much down at either meal.
I suppose Envy is another possibility since she not only wanted to be just as good as all the cool super beings she admired she also felt inadequate compared to them in the shower/locker room scene. If Dabbler keeps winding her up Lust might be next.
Kind of surprised she didn’t level up Anger after V did what he did to her but perhaps that was artificial and didn’t count.
A vomitorium was a type of exit, not something used for vomiting.
Huh, turns out it was a very popular and long term myth? Jeeze I’ve been hearing about that and even seeing versions of it in media for like ever… I think even a supposed history show had that in it once. So much so and for so long I didn’t question it. Its not like its not their style.
Oh well…
https://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/vomitoriums-fact-or-fiction
But… how would you pair them up?
All I can get is ‘Wrath = PPO’ and ‘Lust = Hentorb’.
• Wrath – PPO
• Lust – Hentorb
• Sloth – Flyball Panel 1 of the previous page. Why use leg muscles, ever again, when you can fly?
• Pride – Forb. Sydney has already managed to tick off the two most powerful supers on the planet with this! First Maxima, then Vehemence. Being proud that her force field could protect her. And then flaunting that pride, in such a way that it severely vexed them.
• Envy – Truesight. You can get to see what others have. Either by seeing through the illusions that they use to hide their attributes (think Sydney looking at the true Dabbler, rather than the dialled down version she was showing). Or by spying on others via telepresence. Sydney has already suffered from this, in the shower room, when being tempted
to spy on the boy’s locker room.
• Greed – Green mystery orb Once you have turned green with envy, you turn to this orb to acquire that which you want. Possible Spoiler (a bit tongue in cheek, but maybe…) If you check out Halo’s power list, you will see that she is rated as…
having a form of teleportation. Normally I rationalise this as being a way to represent her telepresence. But that is not actually teleportation. However, the ability to teleport small objects to yourself? That is. And, power wise, would match her rating. Being below that of Harem’s. Yet would lead to all sorts of temptations, much of it greed related.
• Gluttony – Brown mystery orb Quite obviously granting the ability to create any kind of chocolate you want, on demand!
Its only a spoiler if you A) Know something and B) Its not something that anybody reading these comments should have had a chance to see for themselves by now.
You just did a good job spotting something in a section that hasn’t been updated in a while so many haven’t really LOOKED at it for some time. Which is neat by the way.
I feel if Dave left a clue like that there then it was for us to find and conjecture about.
I also thought it was the telepresence and didn’t really look at all the other symbols in comparison to it. But you are right it must be teleport which would probably be one of the unknown orbs. I imagine it will take a long time for her to hit upon the right visualization, toggle or combination of same to make it work. The low rating is probably that it is short range line of sight only. IF that was true one wonders if using the telepresence orb in conjunction with it would increase its range or at least allow it to bend the “line of sight” rule. Be cool if one of the point buys would be that she could make the two orbs work together so that she could quickly switch real Sydney with illusion/telepresence Sydney without shutting off the telepresence illusion so in any given moment she could be where the other one is and still be able to see and talk in both places. It would make it very hard to hit her with an attack or know where hers was coming from. (though with both orb slots used up it would have to be a normal human attack)
It is also a spoiler if I accidentally stumble upon what Dave has actually planned. Given that I (and others) speculate on a huge range of things, it is inevitable that some of them will either match or fall close to his intentions, for some aspects of the story.
Should my prediction spoil someone’s enjoyment, because they feel disappointed that ‘oh this is not new, somebody predicted that’, then I would feel bad for spoiling their fun. Accidental or not, I would have been responsible for that!
Hence my providing the occasional warning if I am veering towards something, which feels viable enough, that it might be true.
But I have no insider knowledge, true enough. Hence only calling it a ‘possible spoiler’.
OK, I can see why you would but I think these sections are made for discussing theories like that and I’m averse to using tags unless I absolutely have to. (probably just mess them up or typo them anyway in a long conversation since I don’t do them often)
After all this is a decently active comment section and eventually we will throw all the more likely and some quite unlikely theories out here to kick about. That’s a lot of spoiler tags. I’m not trying to bully you into doing it just saying I probably won’t respond in kind unless its insider info or future info if we are back in the archives for some reason.
Oh gods, I would not expect folks to do the same. Not unless they felt inclined to do so. Besides which, as the most prolific commentator, I am the one at highest risk of creating such an accidental spoiler. So there would be a greater onus on me to take the precaution, than for anyone else.
And, of course, sometimes I do it just for fun. It can be a good way to deliver a punchline, for instance. Or even just to break up a wall of text, in an interesting way. But, again, that is to mitigate one of my flaws. So should not be taken as a hint for others to do likewise.
Truesight envy personified.
Gluttony isn’t there; he’s a round fat guy with a giant tongue. That on the page is just a fangirl or something.
She ate that guy in an attempt to steal his power.
It worked.
Take a look at d3o motorcycle armor. It has many of the same qualities as the mythical Oobtek armor. Being a foam, it doesn’t move around too much, but hit it with something, and it locks up as if it were solid. Cool tech! : )
Ooh, looks like the Dune quote was quite appropriate. The actor who played Paul Atreides may well get to reprise his role in Twin Peaks. And even if not, it will still be directed by David Lynch. 25 years after the last showing!
I wonder if they will collaborate on a Dune remake, or sequel too? I felt the only problem with the original was that they tried to fit a book this big
*holds paws the width of a huge phone directory apart*
into a regular length film. Whereas nowadays the industry and public have gotten used to multi-part films, so a story can be told at the pace it deserves.
Rather like Grrl Power. :-D
Much as I would love to see the entire Dune saga (well, maybe just the first 3 books), trying to do a multi-part film of each one would be difficult to do without wrecking the storyline. They really don’t lend themselves well to breaking up into multiple, same-sized pieces with coherent narrative structures.
Long time since I read any of them, so I will take your word on that. But Dune itself? Easy.
Part 1 The Water Planet. Life in the ducal palace, and growing up as the heir apparent to one of the powers of the UNIVERSE. The existing film really skipped over this. Audiences leave the cinema, from the current film, under the impression that there are just a handful of planets involved. The vast scope of the setting is massively underplayed.
You can easily do an entire movie on this. No Hobbit style padding required. The source material is rich enough that you need merely film it, rather than need to do stuff ‘inspired by’ or drawn from other tales in the same setting, which referred to it.
Part 2 Wheels within wheels. The politics and plans within plans which leads to House Atreides being assigned control of Dune, and the all-important Spice production. This is, of course, the area that the existing film focussed on the most. But, without having to devote time to the subjects covered in Parts 1 & 2 it can be given even more depth. Ending, of course, in their betrayal.
Part 3 The Quizarts Haderach. House Atreides is reduced to just a mother and son, walking alone in the deep desert. This part of the story, the winning over of the Fremen, the entirety of the battle for Arrakis absolutely begs to have an entire movie devoted to it. It is rich Hollywood material. Yet much of it had to be compressed into just single scenes, to give an impression of what happened.
Omitting many wonderful scenes and, whilst capturing what ones they focussed on well, it none the less looses the build up and heightened emotions that go with having such. There are a number of one liners in the film, such as ‘Usul has called a big one”, which are well placed to give an impression of the deeper story. But, unless you read the book, you do not actually appreciate it.
And this is the part of the movie that I felt was most lacking. Much as I liked what they did with the time that they had available, they did have to miss out far too much good stuff!
I can sort of see that the first book had potential for this (though your proposal for the first book would be pretty lacking in actual narrative – no overarching build, no macguffin (yet)… just day-in-the-life with a couple exciting scenes (“Is Gurney a traitor?” & “My Hand in a Box”)) – perhaps simple parts 1 & 2 for the first book, a stand-alone for the second, and maybe parts 1 & 2 for the 3rd?
Whilst my DVD of Dune is readily to paw, and I have watched it within the last few years….
*points a claw towards the South Wing of house*
Up there there is a room. It is a very big room. Within it there are boxes. Some of the stacks of which reach all the way up to the rafters. The room is so full of them, that I have to move them around to get from one end to the other.
Every box is full of nothing but science fiction and fantasy novels. But in no particular order.
Somewhere, within one of them, is my copy of Dune. If I happen to stumble across it, I can give you a better script outline. Until then, all I can do is hope that David Lynch has something in mind for a multi-part reprise.
I should hope so. He ‘s been doing that Agents of Shield thing for a quite a bit. He could use the work.
as for a remake or sequel …
The SciFi Channel (before the NBC buyout made it SyFi) did a remake of Frank Herbert’s Dune. They did not fuk around with the “edited to run in allotted time” concept and the whole thing became a month long Mini-Series. (not that they minded they saved it for sweeps month)
It was the only way to give the material any justice. And it worked out very well.
Its only real down side to the whole project was that as much as the special effects were not a Joke (unlike the original); the set and costume design was a bit lacking compared to the original movie
(which more resembled an Italian opera. minus the singing. or italian)
YMMV on that last part. But I happened to like what Dino de Laurentis did for Sci Fi and Fantasy in the 80’s
Kyle MacLachlan played the father of Skye. It turns out he had originally named her Daisy. In the finale (spoiler) they gave him a new life after wiping his memory with the ‘Tahiti’ machine. They did not actually show the use of the machine, but I think they missed an opportunity for a good Sci Fi homage scene. If I had a say in it, right as they were about to activate the machine that would erase the memories of his family, I would have liked them to have his character start softly singing “Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do.”
“Try not to get gradually stabbed” is the advice my dad gave me in high school when I got my first girlfriend.
Usually, under those circumstances, that is the advice given to daughters.
I think most teen boys would be fine with not gradually “stabbing” their daughters. I bet they can go quite fast indeed. (not entirely sure why a parent would think this is preferable but to each their own I guess… )
Well my dad always said “you’re the daughter I never asked for”.
Heh.
Well, that explains why your Dad named his little girl as Spike…
;)
*Single tear
Aww. Don’t let the bad ninja make you sad. Spike is cool!
Dave: Your vs You’re
:p
BB: Reading comprehension
Speaking of Death Valley and/or secret lairs, Scotty’s Castle is a really cool place.
https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/historyculture/scottys-castle.htm
And not just culturally cool, it’s in one of the valleys around the edges so the climate is fairly temperate as well. Also, there’s a really nice pipe organ.
But if I was building a supervillain lair, I would build it into the cliffs near Devil’s Slide with a secret underwater entrance for submarines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Slide_%28California%29
The stuff exists for both sports and tactical use. Check out zoombang.com (I don’t work for them, just am aware of their products)
“Have you tested it against a bunker buster?”
“No, I tested it against Maxima. Same thing, right?”
well an energy beam still have a circular shape that is not designed to penetrate structures but let it have a point of impact. But it may not have the physical presence (like how Sydney argued light beams should pass through transparant shields) so if you survive the contact it does not have any danger other than heat (and depending on type of beam radiation) a bunk buster on the other hand designed to penetrate structures and it can still be dangerous even after impact to the structure it hits namely the shield in here.
Ofcourse this is just one type of explanation. In reality if something is doing damage (or heating) than it means it is making physical contact no matter how minuscule that physical contact is (light beams have particules in them too which is why they can reflect from certain surfaces or if focused enough they can burn the paper, wood etc)
I would think the knuckles on V’s fist focus the power enough but he wasn’t all the way up to fully challenging Maxima’s strength then so maybe that’s not the best point. Still that had to be the equivalent of getting hit with some kind of solid projectile of great force?
The military has been actually looking into a special gel for armor that deflects bullets.
THAT DUNE REFERENCE! OMG!
I noticed it too…
the existing NonNewtonian armor is a semirigid cast foam (alike) or jello-like gel, so the Oobtek panels are perfectly plausible
Cool so now all she needs is some flexible stab resistant armor panels –
https://www.turtleskin.com/Body-Armor/Body-Armor-MFA.aspx
– and all she has to worry about are toxic liquids and gases. We’re getting there people. Project Save Da Squishy Cutey is going well.
Still would like to see some power armor in the future years to come. Maybe after confiscating some villains power suit to study. But at least this comic and Dave’s comments on it are showing that, when she isn’t caught in civvies, she will have some protection and if they see a special need coming they could maybe get her some of that hardened armor Dave talked about from the early comic with the “space marines”. I think she qualifies for the hard armor’s expense cause with enough protection she can effectively double her usefulness and she was already extremely useful. That seems like a good return on their investment and more than they would get for giving it to anybody else. (Dave was talking about the hard armor’s high cost on another page if you wonder why I’m talking about the investment)
“…and all she has to worry about are toxic liquids and gases…”
gas mask would protect from those?
unless you meant corrosive/acidic.
gas mask would prevent breathing them in, but i don’t know about the skin contact… HAZMAT SUIT!
but wait that would slow her down…
HAZMAT BODY-TIGHT SUIT!!!
Gas masks can deal with being covered or submerged in liquid?
Also, I think some gases and certainly liquids can affect you through the skin and so far none the only canon suit that MIGHT be able to be sealed air tight would be the space marine hard suits. (assuming they have helmets… )
Then of course you are overheating and sweating to death in the darned thing so you need some kind of temp regulations. Oh, and a short term on board air supply/rebreather/something to deal with breathing while you are buttoned up air tight. Eventually you’ve added so much stuff it gets heavy aaand THEN – nah, I think people see where I’m going with this.
when you wrote that bit (“…and all she has to worry about are toxic liquids and gases…”) i was sure you meant “poisonous” (and missed liquids) and, wrote more in case it was not just that.
also, you don’t need “space marine armor” to be air tight.
as for overheating, you just need the heat to go somewhere, so it should be fine if the material is conducting heat well enough. but then i guess she would not be allowed to visit a volcano…
as we think about it there are problems with all the possible solutions so lets stop at that.
Heh, nice Dune reference.
“Easter egg”: In panel 3, the loose strands of hair on Ashley’s forehead are missing.
Ashley has control over fabrics. And hair is akin enough that he probably has no problems controlling it. If you follow his eye-line, he needed to be looking through where the hair would fall. He just told the hair to get back in place.
Ok, anybody else might have just tossed their head back, to do the same trick. But he seems to like the stylish option.
*You’re.
“. . .because you’re walking around in. . .. ”
Not your.
“Your walking around clothes”, not “you’re walking around in clothes”
*shakes head*
“Y’alls’ walking around clothes.”
;-)
In this case though the apostrophe, after the “s”, is the possessive. Although your sentence is perfectly correct for the singular usage, of course.
Ashley: *covers Yorp’s mouth* “Nope, don’t share my accent!”
Heh, my accent remains very much South East of England. Or ‘BBC English’ (without the posh pretensions that older viewers/readers might associate with the term). Today they very much have the policy of encouraging regional accents. Both internationally, when dealing with world news, in having reporters appropriate to the regions being reported. And similarly with encouraging the rich diversity of regional accents within Britain.
Both of which I totally approve of.
But, even today you have a default accent that predominates, in other circumstances, due to it being their cultural legacy. And that is the package I have ended up with.
“Y’all” is a very useful word. That replaces archaic ones that were dropped from mainstream English. But which I find have left a void that it nicely fills.
However, if I am to promote it’s usage, I have to break the deep-rooted association it has with being purely a Southern American word. So I purposely retain my usual accent, when using it. On one paw it is useful to break down the prejudices to the word, suffered by those from outside the South. But, on the other, I also have to liberate self-conscious Southerners too!
I personally know several who actively avoid the word, because they do not want to have themselves stereotyped.
Y’all should be proud of the word, it is a good addition to the English language, and we should all adopt it! Allow the South to export more of it’s cultural heritage than just Tabasco sauce!
Besides you made a mistake if you were trying to do a southern accent. It should have been “Y’alls’ walkin round clothes”
I’m not a Southerner, but definitely feel that “Y’all” is one of the South’s greatest inventions. Along with some incredibly fattening but delicious cooking.
Come to think of it, the old Confederacy may have taken a page out of Sloth’s book: slow death by cornbread and chicken.
Don’t forget a good coleslaw, taters n gravy, and some pecan pie for desert.
Ok, let’s do this right.
We start with the chickens fried, roasted, broiled, or however you prefer .
Sides, you need the cornbread, also coleslaw, corn on the cob, peas, and potatoes, boiled works best though any type will do, and also gravy.
For desert I would go with warm from the oven cherry and/or peach pie with fresh churned ice cream.
To drink serve ice tea, lemonade , or fresh milk.
Finally have at hand fresh churned butter, you choice of homemade jellies and preserves and honey.
If you can walk away from that feast you are not human.
*waddles away, feeling sated*
Mmm.
I find it stange no one mentioned grits.
Ahh, that is because we already have true grit and wash it down with chutzpah!
Mind you, I would like to try grits some day. Not too keen that they are loosely analogous to porridge though. As that is not a favourite food of mine. Not that I dislike it, but there are many alternatives I would opt for, given the choice, before settling for that.
But, on the other paw, I absolutely love a lot of different types of corn (maze) based snacks. So it may actually play very well to my tastes.
I wonder if Barack Obama gets a briefing of any interesting references to him. Including purely socially (and artistically) intriguing ones, like the one a few pages ago.
If so, somebody in the White House may have become a fan and be keeping up with the story! Probably an aid, rather than anyone in the Oval Office mind. It would be nice to think so, anyway. It does make me imagine scenes where it could influence current policy.
For instance they do not seem to approve of the current plot of giving military gear to police. Well, in a world without super-villains, anyhow.
The usual term for this when talking about armor is shear-thickening fluid, not oobleck. Silly putty is another example. In any case, the effect is that it’s solid (of some sort) when moved quickly, fluid for slow movement. Usually it’s done in combination with flexible armor, rather than as its own layer.
On the other hand, given the nature of superheroic threats, those blocks might also be electrical insulation and/or phase-change materials to absorb heat.
Dune reference not withstanding, this page seems like something that would be good to leave out of the next book… I feel it could have been better explained, or more succinctly explained, without using a whole page…
Well, somebody’s gotta say it. Dabbler has Lust beat all to hell and back.
Dabbler would beat Lust to hell and back.
And make her enjoy every second of the trip.
Sydney’s imagination goes into overdrive. I love it!
Based on how easily Sydney’s shield strugged off energy blasts from Maxima I’ve fairly certain that it could be considered ‘bullet proof’ for anything that a person would care to argue as a bullet made with the apparent tech level of the setting, and even some stuff that would be low-level Verne-tech. I get the feeling that anything shy of a true significant-fraction-of-light-speed rail-gun or a charged particle cannon won’t have a chance against her shield, and based on the degree of effort Maxima appeared to be putting out I’m not entirely sure those would break, just strain it enoungh for Sydney to notice.
Miniguns have quite a bit of force. Achiles would be more than a little annoyed if a minigun was focused on him. It might be comparable to a firehose.
But only until they run out of ammo, or he manages to brace himself to do his ‘walking-in-the-wind’ trick. Then they find out that, whilst Achilles has limited options, versus powerful supers, he has rather more when facing folks who have to use firearms.
I daresay it will be much more annoying, but for them, rather than Achilles, to have to keep explaining, to hospital staff, firemen and reporters, just how the mingun got lodged in their bodily orifice.
These have already been used and named in several other fiction sources. I prefer “Goober rounds” personally.
I don’t really remember in detail whether there is an actual physical resemblance. But Gluttony reminded me of a character that showed up in Super Stupor.
Some guy/ Inventor/Mad Scientist type is carrying around a device of some kind. He ends up in an alley. There is a kid there, looking really pitiful and asking for food. The guy says how his device is supposed to detect superpowers. The kid admits that he has a power that won’t let him starve to death. So the grownup weirdo says something about the kid being protected from the discomfort of starvation. And the kid says no. He has SOOOO much pain from hunger. He just doesn’t die.
Sort of like the kind of problems that faces an immortal…who still ages physically even though it can’t kill him.
If you think grandma Florence is wrinkled…
Is this Claire in any way based on Claire Farron, by any chance? She looks kinda similar.
Huh–two pages, no discussion of Distress Damsel?
She isn’t powerless–she specifically says her powers are charging up.
So her power presumably works in a similar fashion to Vehemence and Dabbler–she gets boosted the longer she is in peril. (My head-canon now says that her alter-ego’s name is “Pauline”.) Once at full-charge, she can either get out of the situation herself, or it may be that she also needs to be rescued (with the resulting emotions of gratitude, etc) to fully activate them.
Oooh, perhaps she even puts out a low-level field that encourages people to either put her in, or help her out, of complicated death-traps (rather than simply killing her). Again, this puts her power in the same vein as V & D.
Probably because it is just a wild imagining. Albeit a funny one. Not quite no comment, but minimal, true enough. But easily rectified.
I think I detect a flaw in your theory. Not all super powers, in the Grrl Power universe, are useful ones. Whilst Archon have recruited those which are helpful, and (for Arc-SWAT in particular) combat capable, there are also many other supers who fall far short. Although being able to do things that no normal human can, they might nonetheless actually be fairly trivial (‘spot on the wall’ powers). Or simply be ill-suited to what the owner would actually want themselves.
Notably Distress Damsel appears, to me, to have a cursed power. Super bad luck, or something equally nasty, which causes her to end up in death traps multiple times every day.
In no way sounds optimistic to me. If she had control over her powers she would not get into these predicaments so frequently. I think that when her power charges up, it goes off automatically and uncontrollably. In other words, Claire will know this to mean:
Hm… You may be right in how you read her statement (I was reading it as saying, “It’s going to take ten minutes in here for my powers to recharge, so you need to hit that tether faster, or else it’s going to stretch far enough to kill me!” So more panicky than optimistic.) That said, I’d suggest that someone whose powers are totally non-useful/self-harming wouldn’t bother donning the cape at all. And I can’t see someone else being willing to team up with her if they are–if only to try and discourage Distress Damsel from adventuring.
So assuming that she exists in-universe at all (I concede she might just be the imaginings of Sydney’s fevered brain, but I like a varied world), her powers would need to be useful enough to make her want to do this sort of thing, and yet not useful enough that Archon would actually recruit her.
Looks like my own counter-theory had a flaw. Or, at least a more likely alternative explanation.
It looks like humanity has a reliable historical record, vastly pre-dating the ancient civilisations of Europe, and the Middle East and the Far East. One which, if we were to dismiss knowledge and wisdom, which originates from a non-modern European point of view would be lost. And may yet still be lost, thanks to our (Western civilisation’s) arrogance, in the past and continuing to the present day.
Mind you this is nothing new, to me. In general principle or in the specific repository of knowledge.
But, thanks to the work of a couple of visionary individuals who did not fear the condemnation and contempt of conservative academia, for investigating folk lore, in an attempt to find scientific truth, we are on the verge of being able to prove that it can actively help to make a major discovery.
Hopefully, it will contribute to the recognition that the truth is out there, and we need to be open to every way of finding it.
But, realistically, will western academia significantly reduce it’s widespread arrogance and scepticism? Nope. The already enlightened individuals, who adhere to excellent scientific principles, and do not allow prejudices to overly interfere with their judgement, will be encouraged that colleagues have managed to do this excellent work.
The rest will just bury their heads in the sand and ignore this. Back to business as usual. :-/
As ever, the further away researchers are from the favoured hard sciences, the harder they will find to get funding. Let alone those folks who’s work edges close to paranormal research or actively studies … *gasp*… folklore.
*sigh*
Very good article, thanks for the link. Truely a unique resource, which may lead to further discoveries – IMHO, always to be welcomed. However:
I have to ask: where does this come from? Are there some particular incidents that have driven you to this view?
Accusing the majority of scientists of having their heads in the sand and being prejudiced seems really excessive.
Perhaps (unlike me) you know a number of scientists well enough to understand how they think and what motivates them. Or can point to studies that have been done which confirm your view.
Also, eliding “arrogance” and “scepticism” like you did is wrong. A sceptical approach is entirely proper until evidence is produced, or they run the risk of being led astray by freak results and charlatans. In this particular case, there was a uniquely reliable type of folklore and evidence that at least some of it was based on actual events. It would be wrong to argue from this case that folklore is a reliable guide in general.
I keep up with cutting edge research in many fields. And come across a number of incidents, as a result. These are the ones that have come to light. I am aware that for any that reaches someone like me (outside of academia) that there will likely be thirty that are either not newsworthy enough to do so. Or which simply get covered up.
I started listing examples, but they just created a wall of text, on their own. And you have other points.
I would not presume to say ‘the majority’. There are good ones, who understand the limitations of science and adhere to them. Then there are others who do not. Given that I have only my subjective observations to go on, it would be unscientific of me to quantify it.
Trouble is that science does not tend to study itself much. So how would I be able to? We get all sorts of studies about how the general public behave. But how many check that scientists are keeping to the principles of their profession?
Mind you, this is nothing new. Go back a few generations and it was theologians who held the corresponding power. Who provided the advice to the rulers, and who had the arrogance that they held all the answers. Now, as then, the institutions, which they set up, are there to promote their agenda. And ensure that their way of doing things is promoted.
Things which might disrupt the status quo get hushed up, marginalised and opposed. By an awful lot of mechanisms.
Which is a shame. Science could do wonderful things, to modernise it’s own practices, if it was properly applied. And I keep an eye on some attempts that get made to do just that. But, in the present era, bureaucracy, and institutional inertia, are far stronger forces than science.
I do not argue that. My gripe is that there are a lot of things which are dismissed out of hand, so do not get studied at all. A lot of it is through self-censorship. Where scientists do not want to harm their careers through studying things less likely to yield commercial results, or which might stigmatise them.
But, worse, is that all it takes is a single sceptic, in a position of power, to block something he is prejudiced against. Note the emphasis. I have no problems with budgets which prioritise the things we economically need. But the problem comes from the fact that, by these means, and others, some things are either ludicrously underfunded or, for practical purposes, banned from being studied at all.
Cross the wrong person, in your field, and he can quietly ruin your career. What means do we have to ensure that prejudicial, non-science based, acts like this are policed and discouraged? None.
Yorp, thanks for clarifying. I can’t say I’m convinced, but I suppose I could look for examples of this kind of “censorship”. If you can find it, I’m sure I can.
If I have managed to raise a bit of awareness on the issue, that makes me very happy.
*wags tail*
You will find that science journalists are a good asset, in this regard. They will have a broader awareness of such issues. Whilst scientists may become aware of individual incidents, in their field, they may not realise that it is symptomatic of a wider problem, rather than just being an isolated occurrence.
Given that each speciality tends to have a small number of individuals operating in it (enough that most will be aware of rivals, if only by reputation), it means that any one incident will get the message across the field, not to buck the establishment. So folks, in that generation, will be wary of sticking their own heads out. Thereby minimising the likelihood that there will be a repeat incident. In any given area.
And, of course, you could try talking to anyone who does study some of the more controversial subjects. They are much more likely to be aware of such problems, than people who keep to career-friendly research.
Although you might have difficulty finding many of the former.
Very interesting that. Thanks for sharing.
As an Aussie, I am pleased to note that the CSIRO, Australia’s top goverrnmental research body, is actively invovled in gathering and trying to interpret this knowledge.
My pleasure.
And, yea, it is great when new discoveries are actually acted upon. I look forward to seeing what further developments there may be.
I to enjoyed the article.
I also agree that a large part of the scientific/academic community suffers from a “cultural arrogance” when it comes to knowledge coming from so called primitive peoples.
“But the reason I call myself by my childhood name Is to remind myself that a scientist must also be absolutely like a child. If he sees a thing, he must say that he sees it, whether it was what he thought he was going to see or not. See first, think later, then test. but always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting.”
~Wonko the Sane, So Long & Thanks for All the Fish.
Yep, the Ivory Towers of Academia need to get out into the rest of the real world a bit more often than they do. The concept of Tenure actually degrades the Scientific Method of Inquiry.
Apparently I am thick today – I cannot work out what is supposed to be going on in panel five with Deathtrap Damsel and Claire. Why is Claire supposed to hammer faster? Because that won’t work? Because it will? And why does she say her powers will be recharged in ten minutes? Isn’t that a good thing? So there’s no hurry? It sounds more like a threat to a villain – “you’ve only got ten minutes” – but that doesn’t make sense in context. I’m confused!!!
No need to despair. Not everyone will get all references. I miss a lot of the pop culture ones. Whereas that panel plays to things that I believe I know the precepts for ok, so may be able to help.
Hopefully my explanation above will answer much of it.
As for the hammering faster, other than my ‘cursed power’ interpretation (which is only an opinion, but one I feel matches the situation), it is also elaborating on the counter-intuitive principle of the technology. The fact that “the slow blade penetrates the shield” * rather than the normal paradigm of using brute force to punch through the defence with one powerful, but fast fast attack.
Presumably the key part of the mechanism that Claire is trying to break is protected by a coating of Oobtek. The pink stuff we can see. So Distress Damsel cannot be freed by striking it with one powerful blow.** Claire is having to gradually tap it, slowly enough that the goo can be negated, but hopefully with enough force to still damage it slightly.
But freeing her that way is taking a long time. And they only have ten minutes until Distress Damsel’s power causes all hell to break loose! Again.
* Using the Dune reference as an analogy for the fact that the defence can be overcome if you bypass it slowly and steadily.
** This is a wild imagining. So we can ignore the fact that there are other, apparently much simpler ways of freeing her, such as breaking the other unprotected parts. Let alone the far far simpler one of just breaking the glass! We must just assume that they have even stronger, unseen, protections that cannot be overcome.
Or, possibly, Claire and Distress Damsel are particularly dumb (unlikely) or under a curse that makes them overlook the obvious (given the theme of my premise, much more likely).
I don’t think Claire’s trying to break anything. The 16 ton weight over Distress Damsel’s head is being held up by the tensile strength of a short ooblek rope. Claire is hammering that ooblek rope to keep it in high strength mode, and any time she waits too long between blows it lapses back into just being goop for a moment and lets the weight drop a little. DD is telling her to hammer faster to minimize those drops, because they’ll have ten minutes worth of them before DD can break out.
Gotcha. Yea, I am happy with that explanation.
Quite funny that a scene can have such radically opposed interpretations. Whilst mine still holds together, Occam’s Razor does point towards yours being the more likely. And, now that you have explained it that way, I see that it probably is what DaveB had in mind when he drew it.
I like these wild what-if scenes. Because they are so oddball, you can really let your imagination go wild when interpreting them. Even though it can also be open to confusion and misinterpretation too. :-/
Mind you, even though I agree that yours is probably the better explanation, I still prefer my one. It is more fun. If Distress Damsel ever makes a re-appearance, I know how I will be interpreting her scenes! :-D
Yeah this is what I was picturing. Basically Claire has to keep hitting the Ooblek rope to keep its tensile strength up. I imagine ten minuted of that and her shoulders would almost literally be on fire and she’d throw up if she hadn’t already sweated all the liquid from her body. Fortunately she still has just enough strength to punch Distress Damsel in the bladder for putting her through that.
Would all that hammering have made Claire dehydrated enough to even consider drinking the only fluid present, especially after hammering DD’s bladder?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Heck yea a Dune reference! I love it!
I’ve seen a couple references to the old Marvel FASERIP system here in the past… Dave, any chance you’ll be providing game statistics for all of your characters? I’d love to see a full portfolio in the style of the old Gamers’ Handbooks of the Marvel Universe.
I would love to see just some basic information on their abilities.
Not necessarily in any game terms, but say max lifting, maximum speed and so forth.
Any good gamer could then adapt the data to their preferred system.
As a gamer, yea, I would love to see it. As a reader though, I would not want the spoilers. Nor the inevitable complaints that would be directed at Dave, from then on:
“That is too heavy for Maxima to lift. According to her strength score she should only…”
Dave’s star system is abstract, but very fit for purpose. It allows us to know that X super is stronger than Y super. But without constraining Dave’s creativity by putting specific real world numbers on it.
As such I would really like it if a reader set up something. Preferably based on one of the more quantifiable game systems, like GURPs. Even though some people prefer specialised systems for actually running a super hero specific game. If the intent is to provide the critical stats, in a way that is easy to export to other systems, then that would be the better base.
That way we could have all the gamer fun, but without it either providing spoilers, or impacting on canon, in any way.