Grrl Power #542 – NCC Scoville
Actually that is a pretty fair question. The more powers you’ve got, the more earning potential you’ve got in the private sector. But in the military, I’m pretty sure you’re worth your pay grade. Of course, Sydney isn’t an E-0, she’s an ES-0, and makes more than a four star general. That might sound ridiculous on the face of it, but considering what she could make with her cutting beam alone, doing demolition, fracking, anything involving mining, or any number of things. The team needs be competitive with organizations like the NFL.
A few of you came to a similar conclusion as Sydney on this page. I’m not saying you’re right, but, congratulations I guess?
Death traps are pretty absurd. To the point that it’s weird they’re such a common trope in superhero comics. I mean, in the history of comics, has a single death trap ever worked? The 900th time Batman escapes from one, doesn’t the Joker… ok, maybe that’s a bad example cause he’s properly looney tunes, and it can be argued that he has no interest in killing Bats, cause then who would he play with? But then, the Penguin or Two Face. After they fail to dispose of Bats the umpteenth time, wouldn’t they think “Hey, maybe it’s time for a change in tactics.” And it’s not like death traps are weekend projects either. Sure, some of them are just a motion sensor and a claymore, but usually they’re considerable installations involving pits in the floor and giant sheets of plexiglass over top and/or spikes with moving parts, motors and gears. You don’t just make that stuff on a whim. Are Doctor Octopuss’s henchmen primarily comprised of contractors and day laborers? Or is he actually hiring people to make that stuff for him?
When they get together at Villain Con or their Legions of Evil, do they compare notes on death traps. “Ooh, this one almost got him.” “Next time I’ll add glue to the switch.” “I took his utility belt, but didn’t search his boot heel.” Meanwhile, the noobie henchman in the back is wondering why they didn’t just shoot him, and beyond that, if you’ve got him unconscious long enough to put him in the trap, just… take his mask off. Just a peek! Maybe these guys are knocking over armored cars to support their death trap making addictions.
Maxima was in the Air Force and fought in Gulf War 2, but if she had been somehow captured, she wouldn’t have been stuck in a death trap. She’d have either been put in prison or killed outright. Assuming they had a prison that could hold her, which they didn’t. No one does. You can’t pour a concrete wall thick enough to hold her. Ok, so a death trap might actually be the only way to keep her under control – but it wouldn’t be a trap that eventually killed her. Put her on a pressure plate, tell her if she steps off it, a bomb will go off in a hospital somewhere. But a room with spiked walls closing in on her? Yeah, good luck with that.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
A thought:
If we’re doing the Star Trek theme, powers based on starship features… there’s three possible options. One is WARP DRIVE. One is TACTICAL/SENSORS. The last is MEDICAL.
Try Navigation….. Everything else is small beans if you don’t know where you are going or where you have been…..
+1
Then, of course, there is Ten Forward. For when you do not care if you get out of star dock or not.
What about a cargo bay? Honestly, it’s pretty dependent on what the unknown functions of the other Orbs are, and what kind of ship is intended, here.
Com orb is sensors, fly orb is warp, syd has tested for healing and please nav is sensors plus computer system. Why does everyone repeat those option like they have new meaning from the new poster?
Probably because a Geiger Counter is not a compass? Sensors and navigation overlap somewhat but they’re far from the same thing.
A compass is just a magnetic field sensor. Maybe you were intending to say “map” to indicate that the sensors have to be cross-referenced with a chart of known features before they’re useful for navigation?
And thus the computer side of the comment I posted morgenstern and glad you understood can man
When did Sydney test for healing powers? I only remember that superheroes here have a slightly better natural healing than regular humans even if they don’t specifically have regeneration powers.
We have never seen her doing that. However we have seen that she is a dedicated WoW (or similar) player. Plus she is clearly into tabletop roleplaying too. And has sustained numerous minor injuries since the comic started. Not to mention seeing Harem in agony, with a broken arm.
Given how frequently Sydney uses the orbs fro every other purpose, it would be inconceivable that she had not tried healing with them. So the very fact that we have never seen her using them for that purpose is a strong indicator that she has tried to do so and failed.
This is not to say that the orbs do not have some medical capability, it certainly would round out the power set. But there must have been some reason why Halo has not been able to use it (or be aware that she is using it).
Using the fact that she could have created air, whilst in air, and not known that it worked, a similar principle might apply to the orbs. Perhaps they instantly regenerate 80% of any injury (but no more than that)? This would explain why her cheek bone was not smashed by Shadow Boxer’s blow, for example.
Plus any testing would appear to have failed. Any minor cut, for example, always stings a lot initially. So if it eased off, but there was still bleeding and pain, then Sydney could well have concluded that it had not worked. Without realising that the wound was actually significantly less than it had been.
But if you are too squeamish to examine such closely (and we know that Sydney has just such a reaction from even saying ‘paper cut’), then she would not be able to spot the difference.
You know, it might be speculation, but I do like the possible origin that her orbs are for Expedition of Unknown Planets and one set got misplaced or the guy got killed or something and now Sydney picked them up for superpowers.
Sufficiently Advanced Technology is indistinguishable from Magic.
That is because it is. You may notice that succubi (a highly advanced, widely distributed galactic race) use both. In the Grrlverse magic is one of the scientific disciplines, like physics or chemistry.
Or physics and chemistry are branches of magic. Depending on who you talk to.
Of course primitive practitioners, like humans, are not yet advanced enough to treat them interchangeably.
Just like the Pervects from Robert Aspirin’s Myth series… the various dimensions have a varying degree of “magic” and “technology” per dimension, some are magic-rich tech-poor, like Skeeves world, and others are Hi-tech, low magic (like ours) and some are low in both, and others like Pervect, are very high in both… in this comic it seems we are high in both, but magic is rather controlled and “secret” knowledge rather than openly shared information like Dabblers world/society seems to have.
ever come accross the movie/series/manga called the guyver? guy gets a biomech suit becomes a monster killer turns out biomech suit is purely a spacesuit/life support system left behind by an alien race that designed humans to be blank slates for bioweapons development(the monsters are humans who were converted) and that the suit was so dangerous because it bought out the inner weapon so to speak
Also, it removed the Aliens’ ability to mind-control the human. Otherwise, they’d have just said “success!” and used Humans in BioBoost suits as their new ‘ultimate weapon’
Sounds like something off the HFY reddit.
Alien comes down to Earth, with a full hyperadvanced exploration kit, only to realize that EVERYTHING ON EARTH IS TRYING TO KILL YOU.
But only when you least expect it!
The alien was Steve Irwin.
you need to update sydney’s WHO’s Who for the more recent pages
Yup, that is on Dave’s to do list.
Updating” The Who’s who” has been on his list for a while. I’m not holding my breath… but hey, I’m also not complaining since the comic is progressing.
Actually the Who’s Who is pretty much up to date, barring the changed orb (and a spelling error on a minor character).
Rather it is the cast list which has long been on the ‘to do list’. Presently it is not accessible, at all, as it will take some work to update it to the current version of HTML.
Navigation?
I say that Dabbler should give her a pair of robotic arms just to see if extra arms could actually use more spheres. Wouldn’t that be beastly?
Dabbler has a strict ‘no sharing technology with humans’ rule.
Yeah, but this would presumably be a loaner for testing purposes. If nothing else it would help establish whether Sydney could use her powers through advanced prosthetics, should they ever be needed. Due to gloves being an apparent inhibitor to Sydney’s abilities the obvious assumption is that such prosthetics couldn’t use the orbs, but confirming is better than assuming.
If it somehow turns out that they do work then that gives them both some interesting insight into the orbs and another emergency strategy for dire situations. Probably worth the test, but not worth giving Sydney the arms outside of a limited timeframe for that test.
What about a clone?
Or any of the Star Trek episodes (mostly TNG) that technology ends up copying a person?
Your comment reminded me. I still think that Varia gains the ability to use Sydney’s orbs when she touches her.
Cloning is also a possibility, but it comes packaged with a slew of legal, ethical, and security concerns.
If you clone Sydney, is that clone entitled to the same rights and privileges due to Sydney? Is that clone legally a different person? Is it morally/legally permissible to dispose of the clone at the conclusion of the test? If not, what exactly do you do with her if she’s not useful to Archon? Given everyone in Arc-Swat’s super-celebrity status and the expectation that she could help with extraordinary threats, you can’t exactly throw her back out into society.
What happens in the event that the tether to Sydney transfers to the clone? Do you ditch Sydney and transfer everything to the clone? Did the new clone inherit/acquire enough experience to be trustworthy?
And so on and so forth.
The idea is not entirely without merit, but I’d say that the potential pitfalls far outweigh the potential gains, making testing ill-advised.
More importantly, will Sydney have to share her pay with her clone?
No, they are different people. The clone would not even be employed by Archon until or if it chose to sign a contract with them. Which it would not be able to do until it has been legally recognised as a person* and its status established (for instance as that of a U.S. citizen).
This is no different to the legal position with identacle twins, barring one was born naturally and the other created artificially. Which only affects fields on their identification documentation, not their distinctiveness as unique people.
* Morally and ethically automatically, bureaucratically at whatever pace the system goes at.
Absolutely not. Murder is neither morally nor legally allowed.
Yes, yes, humans always think that rules do not apply to them. In this case though it is Dabbler who is calling the shots, and we have not seen her weaken her stance. Not even when Sydney was willing to have her arm chopped off, to prove herself worthy of a cybernetic arm!
Other demons do not have such high moral standards though. Sydney had barely even met the succubus envoy, before being given a gift from her.
I think it always wise to be wary of accepting gifts from demons.
Oh no no, nothing like that. I’m thinking knowledge here, not application. When I say “loaner for testing purposes”, I’m not talking about gifting Sydney with anything.
I mean something along the lines of Sydney gets to visit Dabbler’s lab to try out some…let’s say Doc-Ock style limbs [movie version]. Test ends, limbs stay in the lab, Sydney leaves, they gain more information about the orbs under very controlled circumstances, in-house no less.
The point of the test would be to better understand how the orbs function and whether or not they’d recognize a prosthesis as Sydney’s hand. Null hypothesis, of course, being that the orbs wouldn’t recognize the additional limbs as a hand. If the orbs do work with those limbs then that closes a few hypotheses and opens a few more.
Not a bad plan.
*swishes tail satisfactorily*
Actually Dabbler made a mention of that earlier. Dabbler thought that having a artificial hand would not allow Syd to use them, as she could not s\’;see’ the orbs aura with her artificial eye. It would be an interesting try though.
The orbs may ‘read’ Syds bio-aura, so may present controls in the right place for her hand.
What has not been tried is if other people can use the orbs with Syds permission
Bypassable- we got tech that reacts to thoughts, or voice commands, or remote control. Tactile gloves in a robot, worn as non-installed prosthetics is a thing we can do right now- why not Dabbler just build one using our own tech, and Sydney’s paycheck?
See Wyld-One’s comment above.
Which is the real point of the two-hand limit. It is there to ensure that the character is interesting. Sydney has so many powers that relaxing the limit would stop anything being a challenge to her. I am sure that interest in the comic would drop off fast if the protagonist defeated every foe and solved every problem
And if she did not, with that kind of power capability, then interest would likewise drop off from anyone who despises stupid characters who cannot make use of the tools that they have.
So yes, a less skilled writer might be tempted to do that. But Dave knows what he is doing. That two orb limit is too important to loose.
Or consider when Syd has her hands full of orbs, insert mandatory “Hur Hur” here, she can’t do much else. Even if the robot arms can’t manipulate the orbs they could do the things normal people use their hands for even while Syd is fully orbed up.
*rolls over, onto back, and exposes tummy*
*tail wagging*
As a final point, we already have the potential force multiplier of orbs, although I dont think anyone in the comic has specifically realized it yet – Varia when she touched Sydney, the orbs spun around both of their heads – while 1 hand almost certainly would need to be on Sydney, or sydney would need to ride on Varias back,that would be the only person who might get permission to actually be able to use the orbs (from the orbs themselves i mean, since other people can touch them but cant use them.
Most likely used out of a fight if it works though, to unwieldy as a 2 person linked mob. (just try to imagine moving around in a fight, plus the coordination needed to be useful if your basicaly stuck to another person & you ill get the picture very quickly)
However as a travel option, would let them use 3 orbs easily – flight, shield, and eco
I’m just thinking that there is something that Max should check. When Sydney goes to sleep her orbs power down and settle to the bed. What happens if someone sneaks into her room and swipes one or all of the orbs? That might be fun to discover.
Did you forget that at the beginning, the first time we see the orbs, they were powered down from non-use?
I would love to see Maxima try this. With her strength boosted to her maximum.
I do not think she would get far out of the bedroom door, before coming to a dead stop.
Not that I have anything to back this up, as Dave has indicated that Maxima was not at full strength the last time she was thwarted by Tubey. But it feels right. And they do manipulate the universe, at a fundamental level. So I suspect that their prohibitions will be equally profoundly enforced.
the danger would be Sidney waking up. especially if the orbs wake her with the PPO jumping into Sidney’s hand. which is not an unlikely scenario given that it appears the gas orb leaped into Sindeys hand when needed.
No real danger if it is Maxima, as she is proof against the PPO. As energy attacks go it is pretty weak. Possibly even Max’s minimum defense would keep her safe.
But even if that is not the case, this test is just to see if the usual tether-limit works, so could keep her shields up at maximum. As that is a couple of orders more powerful than the PPO, she would have no risk.
I was not thinking of Maxima per se. but there are lots of breakable things about. windows, doors, walls the city… maybe its best to think this through a bit more.
+1 for the reference to the belgarad series and sad rewired for shield first and it would be best to have max grab blaster for the test as she need take only one power as test
We’re not sure of the full power of the PPO, since the only combat application was with her new fire spit shots, which were ineffective to the golem, We’ve seen what powers it is a sun and whose to say if she does concentrated focus on a target, such as Maxima with the new aperture settings what true damage she could cause. I love Max, but I doubt she could withstand being in the corona of a star for long. That said, with her speed and expecting it, she could dodge the beam and cripple Syd at the same time.
Personally I see three main options:
She is a spaceship = cargo/passenger space. I think this is not very likely; Sydney is narratively borderline OP as it is, and being able to just make villains ‘go away’ into some kind of extra dimensional prison would kill a lot of stories. Unless she is already carrying ‘passengers’ and doesn’t know it…
She is ‘wearing’ a space/exploration suit = camouflage or cloak. It would be fun and funny to see Syd play around with a different body image than her current one. Unless it is just straight up invisibility which can make for some fun hijinks but may be OP with her other powers. There is some precedent here since her orbs are already cloaking themselves from non-visual detection. This may be overlapped by the lightbee, so not super likely.
Advanced battle armor = Meta; an interface for reprogramming the other orbs (may be the source of the skill tree or similar). May include instruction manual or tutorial. Normally, I’d guess some sort of repair kit or power source interface (a drain/absorb energy ability), but I think that’s unlikely because the balls appear to be indestructible (?) and lasted for centuries (?) without a power source. Unless Sydney was lying about how she got them (but we are seeing her SCUBA skill here, so that’s unlikely).
I am guessing that sensors/navigation is an upgrade on the Comm Ball regardless, and that Healing is an upgrade of Life Support.
Basic extradimensional storage wouldn’t make her that overpowered. If it has a size limit, either on total dimensions, or on the size of individual objects stored, or both, that are lower enough to not allow for storage of humans, and it’s basically just a way to expand her carrying limit.
Also, there’s nothing to say that the people stored there could survive there. It might have limited oxygen, for example.
Could act more organic- take the tardigrade or prehistoric viruses.
Dormant state until conditions re-activate the subject, so the orbs could have had a power source (previous user) and once it detected a new source (Syd), they re-acquired it. Kinda like how a Stargate can convert ALL energy types, even kinetic, in order to function.
At the same time, what if they were powering down? That’s why all the points aren’t clicked and aren’t being ‘acquired’, but ‘re-initialized’?
It’s God’s spaceship. :)
“What does God need with a starship?”
Nothing – God already has one. On loan to Sydney Scoville Jr.
Violet orb: “Call Home Beacon” ? Hopefully she doesn’t figure out how to activate it.
Actually, it’s the Orange Orb that’s unknown in-terms of powers. The violet Orb is the Lighthook/tentacle Orb. They’re discussing what use that would have on a spaceship.
And the violent orb is the PPO. I wonder if the brown orb is the ultra-violent orb?
Nope, it’s the ‘brown sound’ orb.
When Mythbusters tried to find it, I think they missed an important sound, one that is not just a note, but which is probably keyed into the instinct of every animal that was at least shrew-sized 365 million years ago, in its evolutionary history (which would include humans).
The roar of a T-Rex. Although they would primarily eat big prey, if those were not available, any small snack would do.
If I found one of those had tip-toed up behind me, and let loose a roar, I think we could bust Mythbuster’s conclusion. And I doubt even Adam, Jamie and co would be immune to the effect either.
Just go to a major zoo and go into the big cat area at feeding time. Listening to those arch-predators roar in anticipation of feeding, live, and in dreadful proximity you’ll discover a whole set of instincts you never new you had… You hind-brain has NOT forgotten.
Heh. I have had them on my lap. I love the big pussy cats.
They love playing with my tail, they just big kittys
Genetically speaking, this is pretty much correct. The differences are mostly just in coat and size. Panthera as a genus actually has a fairly small genetic variance, particulalrly in the most important anatomical traits. This is likely because cats are such skilled predators: they’ve found a nearly optimal body-shape for their hunting style.
Also Libra set a successful death trap for Martian Manhunter, I believe.
Lawyer and hard-core comic nerd. You is a very interesting human.
Do you turn green, if you get angry?
lol :) I’m also a video game fanatic as well.
I did propose early on that this is an alien version of a survival pack. Even out in space it can keep you alive. The question is was it designed only for someone with two hands and maybe a tail unless their feet were foot-hands to use? Or even designed by ancient advanced humans from an earlier mythical (to us) industrial age where they developed further than we have and on different paths that Sydney stumbled across. Who knows? Only one person knows.
The Shadow?
Sydney runs into a two-at-once limitation. No reason to think the intended operators have to endure any such restrictions. The only reason to think a born and bred “Spherian” can’t just socket all of them into assorted nerve cluster-rich pouches simultaneously in a row down their spine or something is their default hover-in-standby mode. Hands may not even be the intended interface at all, just a place on humans adequately analogous to the owner-aliens to stand in adequately as a use-port.
Space kangaroos?
Abjuration. shield orb
Conjuration. life support orb
Divination. com-ball
Enchantment. fly-ball
Evocation. ppo
Illusion. also com-ball
Necromancy. includes healing, so this could easily be the unknown orb.
Transmutation. light-hook
I like this line of thought.
+1
Only problem is, I believe all the supers in this comic were made in a system that I’m unfamiliar with, so the orbs vaguely fitting in with pathfinder’s arcane magic system could just be coincidence.
Possibly psionics, then, too?
*telepathically answers*
Hey, if you are not telepathic, the message is not for you! No translations for muggles.
It’s maintenance.
My real question is: Why would a spaceship have a SKILL TREE?
I can only think of two answers and neither one is great:
1) Interplanetary explorers have budget expenditure systems in place similar to departments in many large businesses, where they only get a bigger budget (for skills) if they’re using the ones they have, and lose them otherwise.
2) Earth, and many other planets, were being used as sites for a game by a group of aliens playing a very violent equivalent of laser tag.
So you mean Sydney is drawing on an energy source she’s gonna get charged beaucoup quatloos for down the road? That could suck…
Why couldn’t it be a Survivor type game where they are given what is, to their species, a very rudimentary tool kit and told so somehow survive, thrive, and make it back to “civilized” space? Each tool has some potential to be used as a weapon because a) Many advanced tools would seem to have great weapon potential to less evolved species and b) “Uncivilized” space… So maybe not a violent group of aliens but one that admires strength, self reliance, and ingenuity.
The immediate panic that ensues whenever something like that happens in fiction has always annoyed me. Logic tells me the first thing to offer any being from an OLD civilization is a case of motor oil, because they’ll have used up all their fossil oils over time. A few barrels of crude might actually have more value though. Biological samples of things like rattlesnake or spider venoms would likely have high valuations. Samples of caffeine, rotenone, nicotine and so forth – unique natural pesticides (yes, that’s what the plants think they are) to Earth would be very likely to have huge valuations.
Generally, in fiction, they don’t even ask the most basic question, like “please give a list of your fifteen most costly metals and a quatloo valuation for each”.
Makes me tear my hair, even in fiction I prefer people who at least ATTEMPT to attack problems logically.
PD, “they’ll have used up all their fossil oils over time”
This is not actually possible. Fossil fuels are just organic compounds. they are hydrocarbon chains. As long as you can farm plants you can’t really run out of hydrocarbons. WE already have the technology to farm corn and turn it into gasoline/ethonol/deisel, so of course an alien civilization would be able to do it better. If you can make gas, alcohol and diesel then its just a matter of developing a process to combine those hydrocarbon chains in order to get the heavier chains present in crude oil. Normally we never do that because we take crude and break it down into the lighter hydrocarbon chains that we use in our cars. But if an alien species NEEDED crude oil for some reason then they could certainly make it using a corn farm and processing plant. We could do that after all. There is just no reason for us to ever do it, since what we want are the lighter hydrocarbon chains found in liquid fuels.
If you think about it, all fossil fuels came from plant matter originally. Oil and coal are just ancient trees that underwent chemical transformations due to pressure and other factors. You just need to replicate that in a factory using corn, bamboo or sugar cane or some other fast growing easily farm-able crop. So the idea that fossil fuels can run out is pure nonsense, they cannot. of course once you run out of the stuff in the ground that is millions of years old you would probably stop calling it fossil fuel. Factory produced crude oil may not be a fossil, but its still oil.
Who says it’s actually a skill-tree? Level-ups seem correlated to new experiences or discoveries about the Orbs and their functions. It’s thus fairly likely that this is a training protocol, rewarding increasing skill and knowledge with increased access and capabilities. I can also see benefits in making such a system customizable, giving the user the chance to choose what to improve or modify, based on their needs and preferences.
It seems like a journeyman explorer’s kit, something meant for an apprentice who has enough skill to be allowed to explore the wider universe on their own, but who might not have the ability to use the entirety of the kit’s functions properly.
Apprenticeship. You have to show competence before you can use the more dangerous toys.
If the Green orb is a gas /atmosphere /matter tool, a sudden massive increase in CO2 would kill everyone in the area. above 16% is enough, and it sinks to the lowest places in a gravity well.
My theory is, there are only so many skill points possible. A hard coded limit to what you can unlock. Therefore the orbs will be setup with a respec option she hasnt figured out yet that lets her specialize the orbs along whatever needs she would currently have. For example, say the spaceship needs to go trans galactic on a courier mission. She could focus her points on shield, propulsion, and life support to max them out and make the trip safer. There would be less need for the lighthook or ppo so take the points from there. Basically, a lot like how maximas powers work.
Interesting take.
Think about it from the perspective of a villain: the hero’s not going to die anyway. If they die, that’s more heat on the villain, likely far more than they want. Can you imagine what would have happened to any villain who actually managed to kill Batman? A big red and blue target all over their back, just waiting to be whipped with a golden lasso, tossed around with a green ring, and pummeled in a flash.
So they’re not going to die, but if you just lock them up somewhere, they’ll get out. Heroes usually have powers or some means of escaping. Maybe a sidekick or civilian friend. Maybe a lockpicking kit. Maybe hidden explosives in one arm. So you can’t just go with a simple cell, and it’s unlikely you’re working on the kind of budget that lets you build an adamantium cage or what have you.
Solution? Death trap. Cheaper than hyper-advanced technology, you can just install a certain number of sawblades, piranha pools, mechanical hands, pendulums, pits, and something to stick tar and feathers to a hero. Holds them longer than a cell because they have to be more careful, the hero won’t bring in sidekicks or civilians because they could get hurt in the process, and they have to make sure to dismantle the thing for the public good. Plus, it shows off a villain’s creativity. There’s only so many times you can hit the same predictable targets in the same predictable ways. You gotta spice it up a notch. Be spontaneous. Break into a hot dog warehouse and steal all the meat the day before the first MLB game, then ransom the city’s wieners back to them for a million dollars.
Makes perfect sense, if you think about it.
You know I could see one other reason Maxima would stay in a death trap: The demoralizing factor for her enemy of watching it break ITSELF on HER.
Not to be a spoil sport, but I would think IEDs count as death traps. Would it be more fair to say Max has never seen a death traps WORK if for no other reason than invulnerability?
There is a distinct difference between a deadly trap and a containing trap designed to kill a super in a protracted or delayed manner. The latter being the topic under discussion by Sydney and Max.
“Do you expect me to talk?”
“No, Mr Bond. I expect you to die.”
mostly traps in war are designed to maim or warn. That way instead of one dead, you have a team involved to remove the wounded off the field.
Yet you still have not busted the delayed implementation of it I stipulated. Goldfinger was delaying, rather than killing. Which makes no sense. He could have just pointed it straight at Bond. Or shot him.
Whereas an IED does not delay, for the LOLs, it just goes off.
There was one notable exception to this, which did prove to be effective. During bombing raids in WWII it was found that bombs (which rarely directly hit the target) would only delay factory production slightly. But an unexploded bomb would halt factory production, until it was disarmed.
Hence the introduction of bombs with delayed detonation timers. Plus complex anti-tamper devices which would slow any disarming process.
A process emulated by the IRA. They found that inflicting casualties actually harmed their support base, at a time when they were contemplating a negotiated solution. So found they received as much publicity by phoning in a warning, and having the device disarmed, as they did with an actual bomb. Yet did not loose favour with their own supporters.
These though are not deadly traps rather they are potentially deadly traps. In neither case was the primary aim to kill. In the former it was to delay war production, and in the latter it was to garner publicity for their cause.
So there are ways to make dangerous situations for heroes, which can make sense, but only if the villains aim is not to kill the hero. But Dave already covered this by the example of endangering an innocent, to stop the hero from escaping. And clearly that is only viable until the innocent is rescued by someone else.
Therefore the tactic’s aim is to delay the hero whilst the villain carries out some diabolical plan. So not a death trap. Rather a potential death trap (for the innocent).
If the spaceship/spacesuit idea turns out to be a red herring, then I wonder what other purposes the Orbs could have been made for?
Dolphins. Obviously they would use flippers, instead of hands.
Or they also have an acoustic interface which would allow an authorized dolphin to use all the orbs simultaneously. Clearly Sydney needs to work on her whistling skills. :)
I think it might be the spaceship / suit hull. Activated once she fills in the right parts of the other orbs on the skill tree; turned on, she’s suddenly a mecha whatever, armored, with ftl engines, ready to head out to a fun weekend sunbathing on Arrakis or skiing Klendathu.
with optional cargo holds for planetary-sized sunblock and bug repellant.
In think we may be onto something here, what if it’s a translation orb? Lets her understand any verbal language. She probably wouldn’t have thought about that during hidden testing, and I think she understands Spanish as well, so she’d just think she was auto translating it when it was the orb making the sounds into “English” for her.
What do you guys think? Every good SF has something similar after all.
nah – the 7th orb goes in the blowhole, and causes the flippers to turn into hands. As Sydney already has hands, that’s why it doesn’t do anything. She’ll spend forever* not figuring this out ;)
*next strip, Krona turns Halo into a dolphin.
Video Game interface?
That would save Sydney having to worry about keeping obsolete game controllers in her utility belt.
I would kill for a wireless, all platform controller without connectivity issues or a need for charging.
when it happens … it will be obsolete.
Something that I love about this story is Max/Syd’s relationship. Max comes across as a hardass military chick, and I half expect her to be on Sydneys ass 24-7. I was honestly the entire first arc to be her coming to terms with Sydneys personality, and eventually warming up to her.
But instead you really blow me away with how she’s more like a Big-sister/BFF material right from the getgo, Shes seems to be pretty serious around every else, but around Syd’s shes like “PLEDGE TO PROTECT!” and seems highly amused and easy going, like she’s trying hard not to laugh at the silliness that her ‘little sister’ is getting up to.
Anyways, thanks for the comic :3
Maxima is shrewd enough to realise that she must not use one-size-fits-all training and discipline with supers. When you lead a team of individuals each of whom has practically unique god-like abilities, you will quickly find out that you need to pander more to their individual personality.
Those who respond well to tough-handed discipline she uses that. Sydney though Maxima can tell would react very badly. Do recall that she had a profound fear of being locked up and experimented upon. Being locked up, for disciplinary purposes, may well break her (and given her tendency to instinctively respond violently, I suspect it would not just end up with her needing time getting psychological treatment).
A rogue super can be devastatingly more dangerous than an entire warship’s crew mutinying!
actually- MAxima had a powerful lesson about Sidney early on. remember the comic day when she burst in on Maxima in a meeting with POTUS? that was a good lesson about Sidney. ( I also think that Maxima rolled and failed a save on that incident.)
As team commander, it isn’t Max’s job to train Sydney (or any recruit) directly. I get the impression that Peggy (and sometimes Anvil?) has the unenviable task of focusing Sydney on learning the ropes…and knives and guns…
In all honesty if Sidney were locked up for ANY amount of time, she would likely go nuts and escape. Suddenly and violently and all over the place.
What is that brown thing, behind the sofa? A TV set pointing out to the pool area? Or some external structure?
Doors, back into the building, far side of the pool.
Thank you.
*wags tail contentedly*
I’m pretty sure that she actually WOULD get paid more. Also that we covered this in the forums (with an actual military pay chart) when she got her first paycheck.
They’d basically get almost EVERY bonus they can throw at them, and then start to make up new ones.
Also, recruits start at “E-1, under four months” There is no E-0 pay.
They used to have signup bonuses, which I didn’t see in that chart. I went to Basic with a guy we called “chainsaw” cuz he was always getting called out of formation for psych evals. He’d signed up for EOD for the 10k bonus and because he “liked to blow shit up”.
I posted this in the earlier thread, but thought it worked here too. Oh, also that link appears broken.
So, looking things up online it’s not too difficult to get to a $200k starting pay for a new E1 if you add plenty of bonuses and multipliers. It’s not too much harder to get to $300k. It gets tricky to get to the $385k or $400k thst seems required but here’s how I did it. Oh for some reason the site I found discussed monthly pay so this will need halving for the paycheck (At just over $16k, it seems right for a failing business):
Basic E1 <2years: $1,638.24
Aviation pay $125.00
Diving duty pay $340.00 a bit weird for this point in the story but ok I guess
Hardship duty pay $300.00 this is the max military rate, half location and half mission based
High deployment allowance $1,000.00 non taxable
Hostile fire/imminent danger $225.00 non taxable
Overseas extension pay $80.00 again a bit weird as they're normally domestic
Judge advocate pay $5,000.00 cop bonus
Technical skills $525.00 I added this one but it seems reasonable, the site I found didn't list it for US pay
Career sea pay $50.00 I think this makes a screwy kind of sens
Special forces pay $380.00 not listed but I think this is in the right ball park
Assignment incentive pay $3,000.00 this is the military cap and is non taxable
Special pay: supers $6,000.00 I based this off medical specialties pay and gave it for the rating of each super, so ultra, paragon or whatever. I'm convinced this is in the right area. Besides, it's thematic.
On call pay $7,623.30 At 40%, this is high for public sector (low for private sector), but I added it as the biggest multiplie
Signing bonus $5,770.22 this is the monthly rate and is only payable for the first year (or reenlisting) and would need paying back if you don't complete basic. I've made it high at 18%, which might be unrealistic.
Total all this up and for a first year E1 you get $384,681.12 annually, some of it untaxed. Not counting allowances for things like food and board.
$32,056.76 A month or $16,028.38 per paycheck.
I also included an accounting error (because US tax system) by the signing bonus calculating against itself in the figures resulting in an overpayment per month of $1,038.64. This should add up (with compound interest) come he end of the year if Sydney spends much of this loot, even if she commits it wisely by say expanding the comic book store massively….
Quick ways to up your pay significantly include years served, going up in the supers powers ranking and getting promoted. After basic I can see the recruits having to complete specialist training (individualised to their powers) then special forces training. Which should be a breeze for most supers, but not Sydney. After all that, they get rates as corporal specialists (with commensurate pay increments).
The 6k figure sounds reasonable, but powers to specialties is still kind of apples to oranges comparison. Just having an ability isn’t enough, you have to demonstrate you can use it to the military’s satisfaction before they add it to your record, and this follows some training/testing to see if you meet a predetermined standard. In typical military they won’t issue the required equipment to make active duty use of an ability until you have qualified, but in this branch the best they can do is prohibit use of a power until formal examination of it, which they’d have to draft from scratch for every power never exhibited before.
I suppose that’s what Max is doing with Sydney in this scene; getting a demonstration of her abilities to evaluate and either formulate qualification standards for Syd to meet, or just ask the brass to sign off on her initial assessment and recommendation. “Everything is waiverable,” though this could put her reputation on the line if her recommendation is reviewed in light of Syd’s performance with the ability.
My comment disappeared awhile ago, so I’ll restate it:
It’s a Room Ball. Various modes are: medbay (heal/bodymod), 10 forward (eatery/replicator), cargo (hammerspace), quarters (phase out of existence to sleep/meditate. hope no one steals the orbs while you’re asleep and you don’t exist anymore!), engineering (there’s your tutorials)
So… a RoR Orb (Room of Requirement, as in Hogwarts).
I’ll be honest, I really do like the look of Sydney with the smooth hair and no glasses, don’t get me wrong I love Sydney’s normal look, it’s adorable! But I have to admit just seeing her with slightly different facial view and hair is kinda nice every now and again.
It’s the artistic equivalent of seeing someone’s soft side. I doubt it would work as anything but occasional but it definitely does work then. Minus the second to last panel, maybe.
speaking of cute Sydney, that last panel made me grin like a cat. I need that one on the image roster.
Actually, there was an episode of the Batman animated series (the one where Mark Hamil voiced the Joker) called Almost Got ‘Im which is pretty much exactly this – the Gotham Rogues sitting around the table, playing poker, and swapping stories about how they almost got the Batman.
Someone’s uploaded the episode to Daily Motion, so you can google it and find it. :)
Did Sydney forget about the light hook? Seems pretty tactic beam to me.
That is the Lighthook they’re discussing.
Oh yeah. Mistook that for one of the unknown orbs. I need to pay more attention
I think the idea that Dave was getting at by the end of his comment there was that you couldn’t hold Maxima with a death trap… but a Morality Trap with the lives of OTHER people on the line would be effective.
Other reds probable reactor… I.e energy
Purple maybe auto repair, maybe do to its stradular image.
Actually, I think the death traps may be subcontracted…. On that note(and addressing the “do they ever work”) take a look at the first arc of supervillainous.
Can you just imagine the resume?
Prior position: Created failed death trap.
Years of experience in creating failed death traps: 8.
No, the odd part about that is that that the 8 years of death trap making is the sign of a very, very good resume. (after all, person making them escaped to continue making them, did good enough no one complained or killed them after the fact, and still has new ideas about them)
I’ve met more than a few Specialists and Sergeants of various ranks who were worth more than a good half dozen or so officers. It’s not entirely that the officers were useless, it’s just really hard for a second lieutenant of ~21 years of age to have more practical value than a 15 year veteran. Even discounting their age and relative applicable experence, some non-coms might have 2 advanced degrees to weigh against the 2nd lts bachelor’s degree.
And that 15 year veteran is making just over what the wet-behind-the-ears <1 years officer is making.
Ok, let me start out by saying I don’t exactly have a theory of my own (yet anyway) and I am not trying to be malicious in poking holes in other people’s theories, I am simply trying refine the criteria by which we are collectively trying to guess the last orb and it’s powers.
Stupid phone. While I am at it I may as well apologize in advance for any additional incomplete or erroneous posts.
Now on to poking holes.
Although I like the idea of a “Soft Weapon” (Larry Niven short story) or “Slaver Weapon” (Star trek episode) type espionage kit, the displayed functions just don’t add up. Actually they didn’t quite add up in the soft weapon either because all of the displayed functions (both in “the soft weapon” and for the orbs) are only useful in a Hot environment, which is to say your cover it’s already blown and now you are just trying to survive. An actual espionage kit would be laid out with things like, an absolutely secure communications system, psychic paper (Doctor Who) for bluffing your way into secure areas it out of trouble, a universal set of discrete lockpicks, some sort of auto destruct feature in case you are discovered, etc. Furthermore a level up/point buy system makes ABSOLUTELY no sense for almost any tool designed to be used in enemy territory, it limits your operative and gives way too much info away if seen by hostile forces.
The ability to fly, shoot stuff, lift stuff, shield yourself and others, scout areas safely and teleport to them instantly, survive in airless environments, etc are more like special ops or commando unit type abilities, although the ability to use more than 2 of these abilities at once makes you even more tactically flexible. For that setup/role cloaking/camouflage fills it up nicely, but again we run into the problem of that pesky level up screen which is proven to get in the way during active combat, temporarily removing your ability to do ANY of the things your operative SHOULD be doing.
On to new things, the last orb is very unlikely to be a power source or AI/interface with the other orbs because if it were it wouldn’t behave like the others. From a design perspective it would make more sense for it to hang out in the middle of the orbs if it was the only one with a drastically different function such as reprogramming, hand free control (you still need at least 1) AI, user interface, or power source it should behave inherently differently from all of the other ‘active’ ability types because it isn’t a “useable” orb like the others.
I will add more as I think of it but for now I don’t want to leave my partial post hanging.
Who else thought that the rebreather orb in front of Sydney’s mouth in panel 1 looked like she’s blowing a bubble gum?
Personally I thought it looked like the green formerly-a-mystery-orb-but-now-without-a-formal-designation.
But I suppose it could be the rebreather orb.
I have carefully considered my career options, and would like to volunteer to serve upon the NCC Scoville.
My guess last update of being able to survive space is echoed in-universe, sweet
Death traps, at least in TV Shows, are a dramatic conceit. They’re a way to let the villain put the hero in mortal danger, but then have the hero promptly escape. That said, they are something of a dead horse trope
And, a lot of the time, it was due to traps designed to work if the villain isn’t even there. he one big one that comes to mind, was a guy who specifically did it to hold people hostage.
I believe it was a mickey comic that had it revealed the reason that villan did it…was because he was squeamish about ACTUALLY killing someone.
And actually, the air recycler will still be very useful, since she can only use two orbs at a time. For example, when she’s flying at high speed, she needs both her flight and her shield orb, so she can’t use the life support orb.
+1
Looking back at this page, and re-examining the skilltree, I have to wonder if the last orb is sort of a control or power source for the other orbs. We’ve seen no evidence yet that it has any medical purpose or abilities, so at the very least they’re not passive. But if we’re going with the idea of a ‘spaceship’ theme and it could have been an alien equivalent of a spacesuit, then they have to have some sort of control or power source. And I can’t help but notice that the brown orbs has two strings of five dots each. Maybe the only reason she can only use two orbs at a time is because she hasn’t unlocked the ability to use her fingers or something?
Maxima looks prettier when she’s smiling.
+1
Is it me, or is Maxima less shiny when she’s gotten wet? Is this Goldskin equivalent of pruning?
By the way, pruning is actually a human superpower. When we’re in extended contact with aquatic environments, our skin absorbs water and adapts for increased traction and tactile sensation, so we’re less likely to slip.
sydney with her hair down hits diferent man, she is adorable
Working on the idea the orbs are for traveling/exploring new places, my best guess for the final orb is some kind of Containment area for flora/fauna/mineral samples. Essentially Sydney would have access to Hammerspace, which we all know she would absolutely loose it over.
Also, I have to wonder if the orbs and the geode that gave Max her powers might have been 2 halves of a set. One meant to make the user exceptionally tough to deal with threats/harsh environments, and one meant for dealing with travel and exploration of new planets.