Grrl Power #513 – Robo regen
Well shoot, I wrote this post then somehow refreshed the page before I uploaded it. :P Well, here is the slightly less coherent 3am version. Edit: It turns out CTRL+R reloads a page in Chrome (at least). I guess I hit that instead of SHIFT+R when I went to type the page title.
This Super Husk is weird in that in seems to be able to copy super powers when no one knows how they work. Plucking some attribute out of Lycanthrope blood is relatively easy by comparison, but Super attributes – this suggests that Sciona might have some workable ideas about it, or she’s found a way to fake it somehow. This would be a puzzling tactic, because if Sciona can fake super powers, why make the thing have to go through the motions of scanning blood, and more importantly, why not just give it a bunch of powers from the get go? Probably some limitation of the blood magic, but still, that’s not much of a limitation.
Of course the next questions are; how many powers can it duplicate at once? Can it store and rotate them out or is it limited to X number and it’s first in first out, and also are the powers it copies at the same power level or does it have its own internal power source to feed them? And most importantly, is there anyone without blood available to fight it?
Oop, I just realized Sydney has all 7 orbs over her head while she’s got her shield activated. I’ll get that fixed when I get up.
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Must be playing too much dark souls recently. My immediate thought was “cut off that’ll make a bad-ass weapon”.
It certainly would. That would be a silly place to try and hold it! Unless you could adopt it to serve as tail-spikes.
“I am.. The ANKYLOSAUR!”
Wasn’t there a villain in Champions by that name? IIRC, he wore a suit of power armor that included a spiked mace tail.
And the winner of the “Weatherheight’s Seriously Obscure Gaming Reference” is the estimable MSpears.
Well played!
Hm, you know I think Pixel probably has the glutes for it in her were-form. Probably would have some synergy with her as a symbiotic weapon, given that it blueprinted off her blood.
I really am going to have to get glasses, more often than not my picking of a suggested typo correction is determined by ‘that looks like the right length to be the word I intended’.
adopt = adapt
Hehehe hey at least you bother to spellcheck,My attitude to spelling and punctuations purely ballistic!XD
I always see them after I post…
“I’ve gotten to the point where clarity is more important than vanity”.
Red Skelton, after a trip to the Optimist.
Battle Plan: Destroy it quickly and completely (one shot it) so it doesn’t get the change to learn more stuff.
D’oh! Chance not change.
Well it does change when it learns new stuff.
No wonder Sciona was confident about this construct. Power replication is a powerful ability. And the more powerful the opponents, the greater the risk of it becoming even more so.
Peggy would be the ideal one to try the one-shot, from that point of view.
…& now for our regularly scheduled comic-book trope:
It’s just a matter of time until this “Uber-Husk” acquires enough powers to overcome whatever programming keeps it loyal to its creator.
You mean like Amazo?
I’m not sure…
…did Amazo ever betray/attack its creator, Professor Ivo?
Yeah Im having to eat my words alot about this upgrade sucking,Just hope it didnt also pick up Pixels invisibility as well or things could get really messy.
Wasn’t there a… robot… in Superman… that did this?
….Amazo was it?
If the abilities aren’t temporary (however, usually blood magic consumes blood which the ability came from) this could get… unfortunate.
Regenerator killing 101: Theres no such thing as overkill and headshots the way to go ^^
Unless the processing unit is not in the head…
Even worse for golems, as they are animated by magic so do not even have processing units. Lopping the head off and poking at traditional vital organ spots would yield no critical damage. The most it would be doing is contributing to chipping the enemy into small pieces.
Well unless its being run by remote it almost certainly has to have some kind of core where its primary programming is installed,If Sciona had cracked programming every millimeter of this thing as separately sentient Halo would be waking up in her room four months later with a sentient hive of golem shards trying to strangle her for “disarming” itXD.
Although, of course, there is that bit of a sword. Assuming the same technique has been used here. Find where that is and you may be able to get an instant kill. That may not be something that can be regenerated.
If I were a smarty-smart golem creator. The part of them that is most vital and controls the regeneration and such. Would also be subject to its own regeneration.
Just as well they are outside an abandoned Mars warehouse and not a Smarties Candy Company building.
Was always more of a Smarties fan than Pebbles, but wouldn’t pass up Pebbles given the chance ;)
Then we go back to plan overkill<3
I don’t think Pixel’s feet are supposed to be white…..shouldn’t they be pink fur?
Comic is correct. Pixels hands and feet are white.
Dat Pixel, she’s gots bootsies…
*examines sentence carefully*
Yes, she has those too. But oddly only in her were-forms.
They might try feeding it snail blood. If they are lucky it might make it really slow. If they are extra lucky adapting to the copper-based snail blood will disable any other iron-based blood powers it has already accumulated.
If all else fails, just have Sydney grab it with her lighthook, reel it out past whip range, swap shield to flight and then fly it over to suspend it above the handy forest fire for some roast golem.
That is assuming Sydney’s tentacle is longer than the golem’s. Whereas they look fairly comparable, from the uses we have seen so far. Plus the golem clearly has a weight advantage over Sydney. She might turn out to be the one being swung around and slammed into something. Just as happened to Pixel. Without the flyball to attempt to counter that, Sydney would find herself smashed against the side of the shield.
Unlike Pixel though Sydney does not have regeneration.
Sydney’s only hope is that her force field would prevent her moving. But we have no evidence to show that it has that property (the only immovability has been shown if trying to separate orbs from Sydney).
This page ( https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1506 ) suggests that it is possible to move Sydney by applying force to her tentacle whether the shield is up or not, though the fact that she can resist it at all suggests that only a tiny fraction of the force actually ends up being applied to her.
Agreed, that is the way I have always interpreted it. Clearly the tentacle would be resisting Vehemence, to its 16 ton strength could be offset against his. At that point he had not boosted his strength to Maxima levels, so he may have only been marginally stronger than the tentacle at that moment. Hence providing a possible explanation why there was so little effect
Although maybe the force field dampens such hostile manipulation, giving a similar looking result? But with different implications should Sydney attempt that without the shield, as being suggested in this thread. Finally, and most in line with your comment, we can deduce that most forces are not channeled through the user, by virtue of the fact that Sydney cannot lift 16 tons.
So the amount of feedback she gets may be little more than ‘haptic feedback’ to give her an accurate feel of what forces are in play. Thus allowing her precise manipulation of the tentacle (picking up her colleagues in the restaurant, for instance, without harming them). In this case though her very slight build is being rather overwhelmed even by the haptic feedback.
Analogous to a vibrating joystick which could cause discomfort if playing a game that over-used the facility. But not otherwise of any real risk. Sydney might loose her balance, but could not otherwise be harmed, via such a system.
>That is assuming Sydney’s tentacle is longer than the golem’s
Page #404 panel 2 – Sydney’s tentacle can be extended pretty far
Good point. I had forgotten that panel.
Snail blood?
If they’re very, very unlucky…it’ll end up with a chainsaw tongue.
Or fluke larvae.
I hear they can be super lucky.
Snail blood? You realize those things have a penis out the side of their head like the size of their own body, right? You don’t want to POWER THE THING UP!
Though maybe the smug overconfidence would create an opening to defeat it. Perhaps while it is bragging.
Maybe that explains that ‘thing’ sticking out of Rob-Venger’s head :eek:
Just noticed, in #507 – Not so mini boss, Pixeltastic was scratching her nose with one of her laser claws. Either she’s immune to (at least) her own laser claws, or they are properly cat-like “retractable”.
Her physical claws are retractable and the laser ones can be turned off.
In that case, although I agree that it looked like a nose-scratch, I came to the conclusion that she was actually gesturing, to emphasise her dialogue. She was talking about ‘Sciona having had most of her head chopped off, but it did not take’, so pointing at her own head would be a natural thing to do, at the appropriate part.
I’ll take your word for it. I’m seeing the low-res non-Patreon version on a mobil phone. It’s blurry enough she might even picking her nose.
I had a platoon sergeant who shaved with his Ka-Bar. Never nicked himself once…
Was his last name ‘Ventura’ by any chance?
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ab/3f/1c/ab3f1c044bbe341cef439509fb6561b3.jpg
(Hey Jesse, I know a lieutenant that can hook you up with some bayonets for that thing.)
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1760
It’s not any harder than using a straight razor. https://www.westcoastshaving.com/Straight-Razors_c_9.html You just have to keep it honed properly…
Better than attempting to shave with a K Bar :P
What we need right now is a swarm of golem mosqitos.
Mosquitoes are what happens when you chop up a Brazilian Vampire!
You make bald points.
I’d think that just one vampire, finely diced, would produce a Brazilian misquitoes.
sorry, had to, even tho it’s an oldie.
I’m always up to learn a new recipe.
are we about to see the origin of Sydney’s “lasers can get through clear forcefields” argument from the first few pages here?
Possibly. Although maybe not for the reason you think. In the Battle at the Steak House Car Park ™ we did see a laser-like attack bounce off Sydney’s shield. So unless it just looked like a light-based attack, but was actually something significantly different, then Halo’s shield is proof against that.
However the manikins did have shield-penetrating claws. Whilst the general assumption is that they were doing that by means of anti-magic, I would not be so certain. They could just have the ability to penetrate force-fields, regardless of their origin.
So it is entirely possible that these are shield-cutting laser claws!
But, if the car-park attack was not a laser, then you could very well be right. Either way Sydney might be just about to see her blood being spilled. Again.
I think the force field is smart enough to know when to stop something.
Here’s Vehemence leaning through it https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1422
It stopped him later on.
That was the holo-bubble
As Guesticus pointed out that was actually a lightbee projected-image.
A better example (but not for helping to prove your case) would be preventing Harem from teleporting in. Better from the point of view of either pointing out that they have no intelligence, but are just operating by simple rules*. This could be proven by the fact that Harem was trying to help Sydney, who was under attack by Shadow Boxer. So keeping out an ally is not something they should do, if intelligently deciding what things to let pass.
Or it shows that they are profoundly intelligent (or are well informed by some means) in realising that Harem is not actually an ally, but is rather a traitor pretending friendship.** Far safer to always block her, than to risk letting her in, under dangerous circumstances, and find out that she chooses to help the wrong side!
* The shield is designed to keep things out, so should block things that may be able to bypass that, including teleporting.
** To the best of our knowledge, from this side of the 4th wall. There exists the possibility (as indicated by Deus) that she is actually still playing for the good guys, but just pretending to be a traitor, as part of the job.
I would still block her though, because she has shown very poor decision-making and clearly enjoys playing the traitor too much. With the corresponding risk that she will get carried away with her role, and slip over to the dark side.
A real risk for any long-term undercover operative. Something that we should sympathise with, as being a danger of the job, but still one that we should guard against regardless.
We do not have knowledge that Harem is a traitor, all we have knowledge of, is she had a chat with Deus (as an excuse to chat up Vale) telling him about Sydney
Personally do not believe the friendship is false
Actually I do agree that she showed genuine concern for Sydney and, despite her lapses such as blurting out Sydney’s vegetarianism, is building a friendship with Sydney.
As for her motivations with Deus what we have seen is her passing on classified information, whilst ensuring that she could not be monitored by Archon (by leaving her choker behind). Plus we have Vale and Deus’s conversation which clearly indicated that she is behaving as a double-agent (or treble).
So much as I do like to consider alternative options, the fact that she is a double-agent seems inescapable to me. Do bear in mind that even if she is doing this for affection, that people have been executed for betraying their country, regardless of whether it was done just for sex or even love.
In this case though there is every chance that she is only doing this under orders, and is actually every bit a hero. If so you are fully justified as to your faith in her.
It would take a lot for me to loose my wariness of her though. None the less I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Even if I keep a wary eye on the negative possibilities too.
I agree with Yorp. It doesn’t matter if someone is a good friend when they turn around and sell your top-secret dossier to a third party. Now someone knows all your tricks? That’s a good way to get a “friend” killed.
Admit that it is highly suspect, but we are not privy to the full details, and, until then, will give the Daphne’s the benefit of the doubt
Talk about a blast from the past. If Dave B. goes there with the “laser through a clear force field” shtick from page #1-3, it’ll be a heck of a “brick joke”. Now that you mention it, wasn’t Omnigal (Sidney) fighting a foe who could DUPLICATE POWERS with his CopyCap? It’s like deja vu all over again. At least Sidney has some (theoretical) experience with this type of foe.
Not yet she does not. Whilst we were introduced to the comic via that flash-forwards, that gaming session has not happened yet.
In fact, should events end up with this action becoming public knowledge,* then it may be the games maser who, directly or indirectly, had his game scenario influenced by these events. It is likely that any super-hero RPG manufacturer would ensure that all the known super-powers were incorporated within the rule books.
Further any which were known to have been used ‘in anger’ in a real fight would be exquisitely detailed, and likely have good enough game mechanics, that it would attract both players who liked stylish powers and those who opt for power. Likewise as regards games masters, when creating their super villains (or scenario writers, if it happens to be an off-the-shelf scenario).
One way or anther though, the flash-forward pretty much ends up like a war-gaming group (sometime in the Napoleonic era), playing a game loosely based on Waterloo. Only to find that their team includes Wellington himself!
* With appropriate spin, by Arianna, to imply it was a super incident, rather than a supernatural one. Presumably due to an uncontrolled situation (such as eye-witnesses report or even smart-phone footage ending up on TV).
Finally I was right on something! It does have laser-bladed tentacles now.
And now we find out if it counted as getting Halo’s blood or not.
Nicely predicted!
Albeit that it appeared to do it from analysing the blood that it just acquired in this fight, as opposed to the stuff that got drained before the reset. So whilst the prediction turned out to be correct, it does not imply that it sampled Sydney’s blood, as it did not manage to lay a tentacle on her, at any point.
I have the sneaky suspicion we will not get to find out whether Sciona managed to keep Sydney’s blood, despite the ‘reset’. Not in this arc, anyhow.
Dave might follow up with another story of some specialists in magic recovery going back to the lab to collect whatever was left behind. It would be the ARC-Dark Arc.
Well perhaps Sciona will try to smuggle the samples out, using a narcotics network, that hides them in shark meat? Hopefully catching them before they get further than Central Park. But requiring the Archon canine unit to deploy their sniffer dogs. If Sydney joined them, we could see it all, and she would make it fun!
That would be the ARC-Bark Park Narc Shark Lark Arc.
We *really* don’t need a Sydney clone with shark teeth and scales.
Do we really need a clone of Sydney at all? o_O
One to hang with me, whilst the other one goes off super heroing, would be nice.
Do grrlpower weres run on pretty similar power level / rules to Gold Digger weres? Because that’s some pretty good regen and, well, I know it’s an influence ^^
Dave has indicated, in the past, that these weres are specifically designed to be compatible with Gold Digger weres, in the hope of a crossover story someday.
Pixel though is also a super (in her current form) so can break the normal power level with impunity. Just like a human super is far fitter and healthier than a normal human, it could be taken that a super were will automatically be at the top end of regenerative ability. Plus her specific super-powers may further enhance that too.
Her superpowers have not yet been shown to extend past light manipulation but it is possible and the top end of the norm would make a lot of sense anyway.
Id say the only things that would make grrl power crossing over with GD odd is in the Golddigger universe supers have been common knowledge since at least the 1960’s and for a time had its very own “Justice League” which was eventually disbanded since instead of discouraging supercriminal activity wound up becoming a bragging rights target for the more powerful supers….which was fine til folk like Ex Mortis turned up who was a fatal mix of supersmart with abilities that might even be able to chew through someone as tough as Maxima in one shot.
That said Id love to see Agency Zero and Archon interact.Though if Kevin escaped again Agency Zero might wind up embarrassing Arcswat some depending on who in the Agency turned up to deal with him ^^;
Those would be issues if trying to merge the settings into one. But if you view them as parallel universes, where some characters manage to slip over, from one to the other (and possibly vise versa), then it becomes no problem.
Provided their universal laws are similar enough that it is plausible for the two to be divergent universes, where some simple change has ended up with different present-day situations, then it will feel plausible. Plus the relative challenge-levels and capabilities will stop one side’s characters from overwhelming the other.
Yeah a crossover would have to dodge characters like Debra(Who could solo Vehemance without even trying-Thats kind of expected when youre potentially in the top 3 for most powerful dragons on the planet) but less powerful characters like Crush and Xane would fit just fine.
Though outside of supers youd have to keep Gina out of things too since her average tech level on an outing makes even Dabbler look like….well…..a mere dabbler.Come to think of it GD has a lot of high tech and high magic users casually around,Might be why that verse didnt bother with setting up the Veil.
Someone else knowing her tricks is one thing. The dangerous part is not for Deus to know what she could use, but for him to know how rare and usefull for him her abilities could be. He could want to abduct her, make her an offer she can’t refuse or kill her in the hope he can inherrit her spheres.
If there was a crossover, it could easily be a dimension hoping or timeline thing… or a ‘just don’t mention the differences’ thing ^^
Debra’s off Agency Zero and on Jade right now, so that’s not a big thing… Maxima, while below the top GD hitters, would still be pretty formidable by Agency Zero standards….
It’d be fun to, say, drop the younger generation into Grrlpower for a bit- or the grown-up younger generation (that is to say, Tiffany, Brianna’s daughter, Pojo, and Charlie, and we’ve already seen Tiff have to rescue her cousin from time hijinks). They’re less powerful than the main cast but still familiar with super stuff, so that’d be fun!
Good to know, thanks :) And not a surprise!
*wags tail pleasurably*
O_O
Are….. are the Pink/White boobies gonna be OK? ;_;
She “will heal in a few minutes” although presently Pixel has a girder-shaped hole disfiguring her. Fortunately probably not affecting the anatomy you are concerned about, as she is presently able to speak, and a hole through the lungs would probably prevent that.
Although she is bound to be black and blue, underneath her fur, from all the bruising, until the regeneration has finished its job. So no copping a feel, if you want to hug her, until she is better!
I seriously love that Halo has the appropriate powerset to just chat at her own pace while a murderous mech mends the means to mash her.
oh snap, your going Sentients from warframe on this one, adapt by using your enemies abilities when they attack you…… Yeah so not good,
Has anyone mentioned the X men reference?
Super power copying robots that scan a DNA sample?
The Sentinels? Don’t believe so
Good call though. This is very much a magical version of them. With the appropriate differences that such causes.
Movie spoiler: And those beat the X-Men and all the rest of the world’s mutants combined! So that should allow folks to appreciate the level of danger Halo is in. And the danger potential goes UP when Maxima arrives, if it is capable of making her bleed (which Vehemence did manage).
One can only hope she’ll remember to tell Maxima this critical information. She completely blew it on Vehemence. But who can blame her? She was still a total newbie back then. You don’t get someone saying “Commander, we’ve got a highly intelligent super manipulating the battlefield; powers unknown, but he’s paying attention to the guy with the cape” without experience.
It was Halo’s timely report on the incoming ‘SWAT’ manikins which alerted Maxima and allowed her to prevent what would clearly have been a massacre.
I don’t think that identifying and reporting on the presence of, what turned out to be, the arch-villain, actually justifies claiming that “She completely blew it on Vehemence”. Especially given that she did figure out how to beat him, and not only passed the information on, promptly, but also coordinated the action to take him down! Likewise as regards For-Whom-The-Bell-Tolls.
Sydney has consistently been eager to pass on any information she can glean, both on the battlefield and off.
Now whether she makes the kinds of intuitive leap that ReaperD demonstrated above, in her present sleep-deprived state, will determine whether Sydney can give an insightful piece of advice, in time for it to make a difference.
Were she bright-eyed and bushy tailed, I would very much expect her to mention this development. And she probably will. But Sydney was so far gone earlier that she did not blink at Maxima looking like a Muppet. And that was probably a couple of hours ago. A lot has happened since then!
Not that it is all down to just Sydney mind. Underground her pip-boy probably would not have been in contact with Archon. But here it should be able to (covert mission permitting of course). If it is feeding footage back to HQ then Lucas and the other Arc-Light analysts can be doing their job too.
Oh, I agree she had it nailed when it came to the cleanup operation. But let’s not forget she was forced to put the bad guy inside her own forcefield, not even counting all the other destruction and injuries. She risked dying for her untimely information – information she clearly saw fit to convey, even though the explanation was utterly bungled. A proper notification could’ve headed that off at the pass. Which, I agree, she has learned in spades since said op.
That said, she has again failed to relay contact with Sciona, which should’ve been top priority for the op organizer – Maxima. After the fact it became “less important” according to her immediate superiors, but one could argue that encountering the enemy’s nuclear arsenal still merits interrupting a routine sitrep. Let’s not forget this is the same immediate superior who just got their ass handed to them and would likely be dead if that was the enemy’s intent. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that the “dead” super who fought Maxima to a standstill was none other than that ogre. Assuming Syd was paying attention at the press meeting, which, she may not have been.
By all accounts Syd has been “correct” more often than not, she just fails to convey that information clearly and with effective haste… At least when it’s not her own ass on the line.
Maxima is an ex-nerd (and now says it with pride). Which means that she can translate Sydney-speak.
Besides which you have clearly missed that they have been updated in between the ‘setting the forest on fire’ page and the ‘casing Sydney’s shield’ page. For example, the former included the line “…do you think I should call the fire department?” The reply for which must have come between the comic pages shown.
Although Dave does have very detailed scenes, there are sections which get missed, due to being boring. Here he has conveyed the beginning of her doing that, on one page, but then skipped on to the next point of interest, on the following page. Namely the situation developing by the golem trying to find a way in.
This inference can all be corroborated by simply checking out Peggy’s responses. She has not replied about the fire department issue. Whilst Peggyhas been able to come to a firm conclusion about what to do, despite (if going just by the dialogue shown to date) having no idea about what is happening.
Had she not had the update, she would need to have been asking “what is happening?” and pressing for enough information to make an assessment.
Or, as I indicated, Peggy (and doubtless Maxima too) is remaining up to speed by virtue of the Pip-boy feed, having been prompted by Sydney’s earlier indication that assistance was now required more urgently (translating from Sydney speak). So no report required.
Uh, it’s the military’s job to act upon threats, which they either do rapidly or not at all. The fact Peggy “knows what to do” despite not being fully informed is alarming in itself. First they were behind the eight-ball on Sciona and now supers are arranging to fight her, not the power-stealing golem. If Harem were nearby I’d say otherwise, but currently only Syd is on scene and she’s not yet reported (again). Yes, they know it can “regenerate” based on her comments but notice there’s no mention of its ability to adapt to supers in addition to lycanthropes. The team is trying to make up for her inexperience and may very well step on a landmine. I foresee her getting chewed out for this even if they do successfully subdue the golem.
(And no, I did not miss the inference. It’s clear they have open coms given the three-way conversation on today’s page.)
That has literally just happened, so stop bitching just for the sake of it.
Already answered. Again. *yawn* Which also makes a nonsense of your ‘eight ball’ comment. Boring stuff is being omitted, in the interests of keeping the action flowing. There is no psychic intuition happening.
*curls up into a ball, and naps*
Well gee, if I’m so wrong about this, maybe that’s why the comic’s popularity’s been slipping. I don’t recall action scenes being so ad-hoc in the past. Nor do I recall you being so willing to defend what is assuredly bad writing (if true).
*opens an eye*
The usual criticism is that Dave puts too much detail in to his scenes, and does not skip as much as modern writing best practice dictates. So let us just put yours in the other side of the scales.
Perhaps you will be the one to step up, and defend the camp you support, next time such a complaint is raised? They might be interested to hear why you think “boring stuff being omitted, in the interests of keeping the action flowing” equates to ‘bad writing’.
Personally I feel Dave does fine, using his own particular style.
Oh, are you privy to readership statistics then? Because going by the ever-growing size of the commentating community I do not get that impression. If, however, you are going by the voting, that is a very poor metric, as it depends more on whether there is a recent vote incentive or not. Whenever there is a new one the comic usually jumps back up to 1st place.
Likewise if we make a concerted drive to remind folks to vote. I have not bothered with that myself, of late, precisely because the community is large enough that it is not a concern. Plus it gives other comics a chance to have their share in the limelight.
If anything is good enough, to get above Grrl Power in the rankings, then it does tempt me to check them out, once in a while. For those that I am not already familiar with, that is.
Apologies if I am more terse than usual though. No point in creating a downer in detailing why though, not on top of being less tolerant and diplomatic than I could.
Yorp, it’s not “boring stuff” if excluding it makes the plot progression unclear. Perhaps you don’t remember but Grrl Power was solidly in the top spot of multiple voting sites regardless of voter incentives for the better part of a year.
Dave’s been talking about not getting enough sleep and memory loss, so although I admittedly do enjoy a good spat, I’m also not making this argument for the sake of debate. He’s an excellent artist but he needs to take better care of himself.
Sydney tried to give the heads-up about Sci-fright, but her immediate superior told her to ‘pipe down and wait your turn’ and follow military protocol (as such it is), several readers pointed that out at the time, including how the Daphne’s could have quantumly updated each other and then figured out which one had the most important and pertinent field report
Speaking of the Daphne’s: it’s possible that they are co-ordinating ‘behind the scene’ getting things sorted, including medical items for Pixelicious and Kronachrome
As Yorp pointed out, the fact Sydney is making enquires about Pixelicious immediately after last pages ‘re-arming denial’ implies that more is going on between the pages (we already saw at the start of last page that Sydney has been keeping Peggy informed on what is going on)
The real question has to be: Where Is Maxi? Unless even less time has passed than it seems, she should already be there by now
As the fastest flyer, Max will have been sent to the furthest location that needed investigating. Given that the Twilight Council is a global organisation, and its enemies probably have similar scope, she could be anywhere on the planet (or maybe off it).
Our biggest clue is that Peggy is the one issuing orders, despite Maxima being in contact. Strongly implying that Peggy is the first expected to arrive and they are ensuring continuity of command, for when she does.
Yeah, I recognize that she didn’t want to violate her immediate superiors’ command. But this is a joint op, and in a joint op, your original commander holds precedence over the joint commander. In which case she should be seeking someone from her team to override the joint op commander’s demonstrably poor decisions.
Not that she would know that, obviously. I’m just making the point that a lot of communications options have been missed. Once she learns from these mistakes then she’ll be a top player – but in the meantime there’s likely hell to pay.
I agree with your assessment of Harem, but I don’t know if she’ll manage to offset this one yet. We’ll have to see.
I was thinking more the super adaptoid from Marvel comics since its more powercopying,The sentinels were especially worrying because they had a nasty habit of adapting hard counters to superpowers on the fly which was much deadlier than powercopying to an extent.
I was thinking Amazo from DC.
DaveB has always said you wouldn’t see extreme injuries (missing limbs and such), so the fact Pixelicious is obscured by a conveniently placed wall implies that, yes, she is still seriously injured, specially when we see how much of her is on Bodie…
Yea, and the dialogue makes it clear how critical the injury was. “Run through on a beam” is not something people normally survive, even with prompt medical attention.
But clearly the worst has passed, due to Pixel’s regeneration, and thanks to Harem’s help.
Had Pixel recovered consciousness to find that she had fully regenerated, with the beam still sticking through her, she would be in a heck of a lot of pain! Plus some parts of her may not have been able to regenerate, or may have caused her to be permanently deformed.
But at least Pixel could use her laser claws to cut herself free, without too much risk of causing more harm to herself, in the process.
Unless her regeneration caused the beam to become part of her, bonded on the molecular level (or at least as though the beam became similar to a bone) which would require a team of highly skilled surgeons to remove it
Can vaguely recall a movie where something like that happened: someone with enhanced regenerative abilities was impaled by something and was told if they didn’t manage to get it out before the healing kicked in, it would fuse with their body (or something)
Erg now youre reminding me of all the occassions in superpowered comics where the massive weaknesses of regeneration have been explored,I can think of too many comics where a supers had to have their bones rebroken because they didnt heal in the original shape for various reasons x,x.Savage Dragon being one of the worse ones if you want to look it up.
Bart Allen, in his ‘Kid Flash’/Teen Titans days: both knees…
Not nice.
I can’t tell if Sydney is amused or annoyed.
Very much the latter, in my opinion. The furrowed brows, in the final panel, along with her down-turned mouth would not fit the former. Even wry amusement would have a less grumpy look than that.
Annoyed, and on her way to pissed…
I still wonder, if this was made into an animated series, how would they handle the sound effects?
Depends on the director. One might choose to go the cheesy original Batman live-action route, and put the onomatopoeia on-screen. Another will ignore that aspect, but pay full attention to the intent, which is to make clear what is happening in a scene. With the ability to show motion, that will be a lot easier than in a comic.
Personally I would favour the latter, but enhanced with strong audio effects. For example when Dave wrote “Dolly-zoom” that is a very clear indicator to a director to do just that. But a clever one will add an elastic-like, or other stretching sound-effect, to enhance the actresses expression and the effect of the zoom, in a comical way.
I think an elastic sound effect on a dolly zoom would be just a little too Sam & Max to really work
Probably. I do not pretend to have the skill sets of a director though. That kind of thing would need to be thought through carefully and maybe tested out, to see how they played together. But a good director, working with a top-notch sound effects guy, would find something that sounded good
Rather than being unobtrusive though I think they could ‘ham it up’ a bit, to enhance the comedy. We have plenty of cartoon-references in the comic, not to mention the occasional chibi, which means that going ‘loony-tunes’ would be in keeping with the tone of the comic. Used at suitable moments of course.
In other words this would be making the sound as much a feature as Dave does the onomatopoeia.
Likewise the director could keep an eye open for a way to get a laugh out of a sound, like Dave does with “KA-BUN”. But that would require a holistic approach to a scene, which takes into account all of the elements present to make sure it worked.
Other things (eg dialogue, outfits, sets) could be direct duplication of Dave’s work, so would be a safe bet. But this would require fresh creative input, requiring someone with a comedic talent of their own. If the directors talents do not lie in this area, then they should play it safe and keep to using sound to emphasise mood, emotions and pace. It would be all too easy for it to fall flat otherwise.
I hope they would do something like make a good laser-energy sound, and then mix it digitally with someone’s voice saying “Laser spikes!” So it sounds like the laser spikes themselves make a noise that says “Laser spikes!”
What you’re talking about there is called a “vocoder” effect. The effect is made by impressing the timbre of a voice onto a carrier signal. Vocoders work way better with musical instruments than with most other forms of sound effects. I’ve never tried it with a laser though. Music works really well because you can either time it with the vocals better, or because you can just put paper weighs on the keys of an organ and use that, such as in the case of the G1 version of the Transformer Soundwave.
Soundwave’s voice was Frank Welker doing the same voice he did for Dr Claw on Inspector Gadget, but they vocoded it with an organ to produce Soundwave… Sometimes they messed up and forgot to do the vocoder, so if you go to YouTube: watch?v=bkxLgjGT3Go you’ll hear him with the vocoder in the beginning, and then he sounds like Dr Claw at the end of the clip.
Good luck to any readers in Queensland or with friends and/or family there. I hope you weather the cyclone OK!
Uhm… Yeah… I don’t think Mr. Robot there is going to last too much longer… That expression on Sydney’s face makes me think that she is now seriously ticked off! And we’ve already seen how much damage that she can inflict unintentionally.
Just think how much hurt she can inflict on someone she’s truly focused on! Trust me, you don’t want someone with ADHD who has THAT much power to focus all of their attention on one target!
ADHD people who get focused on anything for long can get VERY, VERY… Creative…
Depends on the specific variant of ADHD, but yeah. Very much so.
Sydney may finally get to try the move seen in the last panel of this comic.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1608
Lol, for some reason I never bothered to pay attention to that panel until you pointed it out. Good stuff.
So much for her being on the “A” team.
Sydney’s probably not A-Team material anyway…!
Harem is on every team, so she does not count. Further it sounds like Peggy might arrive before Maxima. In which case the “A” team will be complete!
And Sydney certainly is A-team material!
*hackles rising*
*growling*
Simmer down,Yorp. Don’t make me get the spray bottle. What would a plant based life form know anyway?
Daphne was never on the “A-Team”
As for Sydney, she would give Murdock a run for his crazy seat on the team :P
And B.A Baracus would love her cause hed never have to get on a plane again!
:-D
Both well said!
Sydney even managed to fulfill the series criteria that, even on full-auto, she never killed anyone!
Lets see-the A team never kills anyone no matter how much firepower they use to save the day,and B.A is not only ripped but an pretty much weaponise anything if he has a blowtorch handy-BA confirmed for superpowers?lol
Sorry. I confused Harem for Peggy. I was half asleep. I remember Peggy telly Sydney that they were the “A” team due to their figures. The top image of Harem totally destroyed that idea when I thought it was Peggy. Derp.
Heh. No probs. I have a serious problem with names, so have similar problems myself. And being sleepy sure does not help.
Robo-Venger!
Coincidence, or is it listening in on their communications? It’s an awfully big leap to think that it’s only considering adding new, unknown powers to its repertoire AFTER Harem mentions Pixel’s regenerative abilities.
Agreed. Awesome avatar by the way. Subtle palette, with the exception of the horns, which really draws attention to them.
That…..is scarily clever!Jeez that would make any planning on how to fight it through communications a complete disaster too.
Just have Sydney and Maxi talk in geek translated into nerd and watch Robo-Venger’s head start smoking :D
The Google executive who decided that all keyboard shortcuts should be turned on, by default, should be tarred and feathered! Every single one who did not fight, tooth and nail, to give a way for them to be turned off, (individually or otherwise) should be likewise. Then set on fire!
How dare you question the great lords of the G…..
No need to question piles of ash. Just keep them where their replacements will get to see a reminder of the price of interfering with the creative process!
Bad for the environment, drifts of toxic idiocy.
Small detail clue.
Between panel 4 and 5, in addition to the obvious regeneration of the arm, some of the smaller battle damage, on its shoulder, also healed up. This is significant, as that was probably inflicted by Sydney’s volley of fireballs. Meaning that fire is not preventing this regeneration!
Potentially a problem for both Halo and Maxima, given the similar nature of their energy attacks. Then throw in the fact that Sciona’s magic is quite capable of sustaining life and function, even with the head mostly decapitated, and defeating this construct becomes a significant challenge!
Could probably just be artistic error, because if you look at the leg damage in panel seven, it actually gets worse in panel eight
Oh it is entirely possible that I am reading things into it that are not intended, no argument.
As regards the supporting evidence for that though, personally I read that as being the shadows, cast by the regenerating limb. Some of which are overlaying the damage you refer to. But when the spikes grow, so do the shadows. Hence giving the optical illusion that the damage has gotten bigger.
If you ignore the grey shaded bits and only look at the clearly missing chunk, that retains its distinctive shape (when you compare the two images). Which I grant does not support my argument, but at least it is not showing damage deterioration (which would not be logical, in any event, from what we know at the moment).
But if you examine the shaded bits carefully, you can see some parts which do look like cracks. Distinctive darker veins, at least one of which is protruding too far to be accounted for as a shadow. Yet still also having the lighter grey areas that I do attribute to being shadows.
To me it looks like those darker “cracks” get fainter in the final panel. So could be signs of the regeneration working. Albeit at a slower pace than on the panels I cited.
However I did totally misinterpret a wall as an opening in the shield the other day. So my interpretational credibility is down there.
*points nose towards floor*
Regenerating and getting more badass every time… deja vu.
It’s Robo-Kevin!
We finally get to see inside the building in this scene. I was hoping that since this was a MARS candy warehouse that she had landed on top of shipping crates filled with Skittles. Then she would be ‘some were over the rainbow’.
Kudos, on the clever topic.
*snickers and revels over the treat*
We should commence celebrations! Set off the firework starbusts and let the minstrels play M&M tunes!
Heh Robo-Venger. I wonder how many people reading this are actually old enough to understand that reference.
Remember the show, didn’t catch the reference
Like Guesticus above, I remember the show but didn’t catch the reference till others pointed it out. (And still had to google the name to remember the specific character)
Since her primary task is to keep that thing occupied until reinforcements arrive, I say get experimental. She could cycle through Truesight orb modes to: 1)see what she can see; 2) use the “Light Bee” to provide an intangible distraction; and 3) when it adapts, teleport. She could also give the unknown orbs a shot, provided that her shield hasn’t been compromised.
Well thought through on most points, in particular the truesight, which nobody has suggested recently. I however agree with Krona’s words of advice, as regards the last (paraphrasing).
Bear in mind that Sydney has tested these thoroughly, in private, for months. But one reason she might not have had results is that it needs another person (or golem) to use. For example:
Green mystery orb (The Eternal Orb), powers unlocked:
• Grants target True Strike, on any future attack (any attack will automatically hit, destroying any defenses blocking it)
• Grants True invincibility (Although he does not remember, this is how Achilles gained his power)
Brown mystery orb (The Love Ball), powers unlocked:
• Bonds target and user, as soulmates, fanatically devoted to one another, to the exclusion of all others.
• Transfers full control of the orbs to target
All effects last permanently., for both of the mystery orbs.
ok, I gotta take a shot at guessing what the mystery orbs are for:
Green Orb – Aquafier. renders enemy’s superpowers to those of Aquaman, thus neutralizing him/her/it/them. secondary skill, requires an upgrade point: and changes their costume to look like the Boy Wonder’s outfit, complete with the underwear on the outside.
Brown Note Orb: Causes all of the target’s enunciations, sound effects and most importantly, sonic superpowers to output at the exact frequency of the South Park “Brown Note”. Upgrades include immediate destruction of any that the target possesses that resembles toilet paper.
So you’d want the golem to gain superhuman strength, stamina, endurance, durability, reflexes, agility, senses, healing, and mind control over marine life and anything evolved from it (including humans)?
no, I’d want him to suffer supervillian-sized embarrassment at being caught wearing Banana Splits briefs.
probably ain’t gonna happen.
I don’t think Sydney’s blood would confer the powers of the orb… I’m not even certain it would confer the ability to use the powers…
Although Sciona considered that it may be possible.
I don’t think Sydney’s blood will do that either. I was talking about Garbler’s (joke-)idea that the green orb gives the enemy Aquaman’s powers. The abilities I listed are some of Aquaman’s powers.
Just to set your mind at ease, I took it that way
I just replied to Tokumei‘s comment about its own assertion, without checking back to the comment that inspired it.
How would lazer spikes be a useful addition to a golems mace arm? Seems pointless since a maces job is to smash the crap out of stuff not cut.
By being able to cut through things which are not harmed by a mere blunt instrument.There is a good chance that those spikes can destroy any shield they hit. Just like Dabberl’s fell against the Wolverine spikes of the smaller construct, in the previous fight.
Rule of cool?
Also, anything that is able to resist the blunt force of the mace will get cut on the laser spikes.
It’s a powerful floor cleaner AND a delicious dessert topping!
If you’d said “AND a minty mouthwash” I’d have though “oh, you mean Listerine?”
No seriously, Listerine started out as floor mopping fluid.
Was referring to this: https://www.hulu.com/watch/61320 . sorry, apparently this video has been scrubbed from either google or youtube. first time I haven’t found a SNL sketch out there *somewhere*.
Just a thought. I know it won’t happen, as the slow revels are too important. But, couldn’t the reality hacker ‘hack’ the upgrade chart to show more information/tooltips.
Granted, it would have to wait till the next upgrade and she might need time to prepare.
Unless, she already can help Sydney bring the chart up at will.
As you figured out it is probably better for the story for Sydney to discover her powers in a more organic way. Readers wanting to find out what is in that tree is a powerful draw to keep coming back for more. No need for DaveB to throw that away.
Plus do not forget that the orbs use a deeper level of programming language than Krona does herself. You do not want someone (who is clearly not fully competent even in the language she does use) to go tinkering with super-powered objects using one she is not proficient in!
Yes, if she can glean any clues just by looking at the code, then she will pass those on. Which will give a justification for Sydney’s future choices to be more informed than by random luck, whilst still retaining the mystery of the gradual reveal.
So next time that Sydney faces an update choice mid-battle, she has a reasonable chance to pick something that can actually help. But without the constant barrage from readers that “she should have picked X for this situation, not Y”.
Has anyone collated all the different theories about the skill trees? Is there a link?. I have seen various interesting ideas, but given the number of comments per episode, its a LOT of reading to track down every idea.
eg, – all 7 center options taken unlocks an 8th orb
– each center option selected gives the orb the respective selected powers of that tree. eg, the orbs have flying and invulnerability which matches the shield and flying center choices being selected out of the central 7.
– the simple option, the 7 central options are not interdependent in any interesting ways.
Sadly not no. As you say that would be a massive undertaking. Whilst somebody kindly started a Grrl Power Wiki, there have been very few entries in it. Perhaps, as the readership grows, we will attract more individuals who get a kick out of updating such?
Whilst I would like to do an entry on Sydney’s orbs,* I have yet to overcome my inertia in signing up to the website, in order to do that. Even if I did though trying to track fan theories would be far beyond even my aspirations!
From memory though I think your 8th orb idea is a first. Surprising though that may sound, for such a sensible idea.
The specific option you picked for that though does fall in the general category of ‘ways that Halo can overcome her two orb limit / use more powers simultaneously’, of which we have a mountain of such suggestions. Which I routinely downplay expectations about, as I consider that unlikely, given that Dave implemented the limit to make her character more interesting.
Much like Maxima not having all of her powers at full strength all the time. Which, by interesting contrast, very rarely gets suggestions on how to overcome that.
But it may be pointing in the right direction. One option that I suggested is that each one selected might add a specific power, from the relevant tree, to a particular power. The example I gave being giving one extra power to Sydney’s projected image. For instance filling in the slot corresponding to the tentacle would allow her image to handle things. And the the yellow orb’s one to allow her to use trusight in that mode (which she currently cannot).
So it is well worth continuing to speculate, as there is an infinite range of possibilities.
* Including links to key scenes, such as when each gets a close up. Made easier for the early stuff based on forum comments including such (which I made before we had the Who’s Who entry for the orbs).
ps
It would seem that this most resent skill point acquisition implies its tied to achievements, not xp accumulation.
In this case I would think it was
– Time travel (most likely)
– Use of X level magic power, as represented by time travel
– Experiencing a new type of power (reality manipulation),Although, I expect that happened earlier too?
– First use of an orb synergy (teleportation), Although this seems too simple for a point. Possible though, especially if the first point was for something simple like maxing out her flight speed?
What was the first point achievement? Something to do with high speed flying, or teamwork/racing with Max?
The first point achievement was at the end of the press-conference, after slicing up a tank and shielding everyone from Maxima nuking what was left of it.
The teleportation wasn’t first use of orb synergy though, it was her first use of the new ability she got from previously mentioned first point achievement.
Can I just mention that I really love the font changes when people are injured in a way that affects their voice? The first time it happened with Max, I could practically hear the growl in her crushed throat, and now with Pixel, I can hear her pain.
Probably a weird thing to fangirl over, but I always kinda liked when stories convey injuries well. There’s too much “Oh, he was just slammed into a building, but let me make a perfectly average quip as I stand up normally, maybe dramatically rubbing a trickle of blood off my chin.”
+1
Nice to see someone focusing on Pixel’s plight and the way it has been conveyed.
This page from “TMI” shows a similar change, although she was only faking :D
This thing is like a reverse Mega Man. It’s an evil robot that’s here to beat the 8 Organic Masters and steal their powers.
!ɒႱnin ɘƨɿɘvni ƚɔɘqxɘ ƨyɒwlA
@yorp
“– each center option selected”
With this option, (which I think is unlikely) I was not suggesting it affected the 2 orb max problem. I was suggesting it gave intrinsic powers to the orbs themselves.
eg
– Shield is checked = orbs gain their own shields, eg, are invulnerable (and can’t be directly touched by anyone other than sydney
– Flight is checked = orbs can fly
Now, it gets a bit more speculative and weird with the other orbs.
– Vision orb
— Maybe if this one is checked, the orbs can (at sydneys will) become invisible to spectrums that are checked on the vision orbs tree.
— Maybe the orbs could reveal on touch, ie if sydney crashes one into an illusion, its broken for her. So, yes, a very limited solution to the 3 hands problem
– Tendril
— Maybe this would allow the orbs to increase their orbit distance, in proportion to how long her powered up tendril can be
— Maybe this would make the orbs ‘stronger’, so when they impacted something they did more damage, or could even lift things
— Maybe this would allow the orbs to change size, becoming meaningfully large, or very tiny
– PPO
— Maybe this would allow the orbs to have a burning surface, so when they impacted something, they had another damage effect
-telepresence
— Maybe this would allow the orbs to appear to be a different orb. In that case, an opponent would think sydney is holding x orb, when she is really holding Y
Very cleverly thought through. And I can’t fault those on being most suitable uses. Kudos.
One particular use springs to mind for the final option, and that is concealing the fact that Sydney is actually holding the telepresence orb. Given that the team are so high profile and in the public view (when not on covert missions like today) the power is bound to become known, in due course. Along with the limitation that she has to keep the yellow orb in hand to do it.
So if villains suspect that Halo is not actually present, but just using an image, they need just check out the colours of the orb(s) in hand. No yellow and she ‘really is there’. Unless, of course, she has pulled the switcheroo that you propose.
@LordViking
Thanks for the answers.
Yeah, I had misunderstood the teleport, and thought she had used 2 orbs for that,