Grrl Power #892 – The most valuable hostage
For the record, I think Muppets were primarily felt overtop of foam, but I could be wrong about that.
I’m sure this is not recognized police procedure, but it turns out that blowing off Maxima’s clothes is a good way to really annoy her.
Mid-combat banter is a bad idea. Don’t take your eyes off the Apex superheroine while you introduce yourself, especially one with super speed. It’s all about timing.
This is another reason for Max to carry a gun. It would technically be far more dangerous for her to point a finger at the guy’s junk, or even grab it, but… it might convey the wrong message.
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Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
So what would happen if Sidney hired Hench Wench? Would Wench get her own set of balls or would they share them? :)
Probably nothing as the balls are tech, Nth tech, but still an external source of power.
While Varia’s gestalt/power manifestation ability implied she might be able to use the orbs too while in contact with Sydney, her power works seemingly on almost anyone *Maxima being the only notable exception I can recall off the top of my head at 3 am; so not doing an archive crawl to double check*, most power copiers tend to have limitations. Mimic from the X-men for example can only copy mutant powers.
Basically copying an external power source like that would be like if her boss had a gun so a gun just manifested in her hand, or magical knowledge, battle mech suit, ect…
(although I actually have seen that, but it was from either magic duplication spells or a mecha-morph who can duplicate any device they scan).
Yeah I would assume that Sydney’s “powers” would not copy over any more than a guy with a gun hiring hench wench would not give henchie the ability to fire bullets from her hand. Tech isnt the same as powers even if the tech literally gives her powers :)
The assumption here is that Sydney’s powers aren’t “powers” and ARE tech. We don’t actually know this. She was the only one there when they were discovered (very dangerous when diving). They don’t show up on scans. They’re psionically bound to her. They have a “nerd and gamer” aspect in the skill tree. It’s very well possible they’re a manifestation of a power she actually internally has. (That would actually explain why they aren’t “there” when scanned… they actually aren’t.)
Considering that she only has the powers BECAUSE of the orbs, which are tech, the assumption is that Sydney’s powers are tech, not powers. They’ve mentioned this numerous times, in fact, including referring to the orbs are her ‘space guns’ compared to most people being at cavemen-tech level.
Now, you might argue the old Arthur C Clarke quote of “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” (or in this case, powers), but the point still is – it’s tech, not powers.
Being psionically bound to her? It’s an aspect of the tech.
Nerd gamer aspect of a skill tree? DEFINITELY tech-based.
They ‘arent there’ when scanned? They’ve already come up with various reasons this could also be tech, which Dabbler has theories on, although it could just be that they are upper dimensional tech or a tech that reaches into the ‘deep code’ of the universe, which is why when Krona (who can also manipulate the deep code of the universe on a basic level) saw even a glimpse of it, she saw deeper than the three dimensional surface aspect that most people see of the orbs.
Think of it like the story ‘Flatland.’ Two dimensional creatures cannot really fathom a third dimensional being.
Likewise, an Nth-tech might not be particularly fathomable to detection scans by lower level tech.
OR think of it like humans not being able to detect Fel radiation with human technology. Humans cannot detect Fel radiation, even though Dabbler’s tech can, and even when shown the scans, humans do not have any way to actually prove that Dabbler’s readings are true, since they don’t even understand how the science works and Dabbler won’t explain it.
we can also add to what Pander said that the mecha kaiju squids from beyond the stars reacted to the orbs specifically. They didn’t react to Dabbler and didn’t seem to react to Maxima either, but in their scan of Sydney we saw her as a glowing green entity *many interpreted as her nervous system*, the orbs as dark spheres like holes in space, yet faint hints of their colors inside Sydney’s head, and only got a read out on an active orb. The probe then freaked out, called in a continent sized ship whose immediate reaction was to kill and destroy.
So either they ran into this tech before and are deathly afraid of it or those who own it…or are NPC left roaming the galaxy and reacting to a player character to initiate a boss battle…I am thinking DaveB may be more the former on that one (a little too serendipitious if the orbs do turn out to be higher dimensional being toys *one of the theories and a trope*, to also run into player opponents who needlessly destroyed a planet..unless the Alari in their blood portals accidentally opened a portal to a “toy box” and let out some of the action figures that proceeded to “play” and destroy their entire civilization in the process…again doubt it. Personally think they look a little too much like giant god-beast versions of the Fel to be a coincidence.
back on the orbs themselves.
if they were just a power manifestation you’d think they’d scan for illusionary light or psionic light at least but didn’t. They seem to have Nth tech level feature of “impossible light” where they just increase the brightness around and project reflections to look like regular light but there are no photons involved.
they also have an odd relation to magic. the forcefield can cut off area effect spells, and the true sight can detect and labels magical objects. Along with the orbs themselves not being scannable by magic but appearing as the area is “too empty”. Whatever they were designed for, detecting, avoiding, and countering magic looks to be part of their function.
What you said about their relationship to magic makes even more sense when you read about how Dabbler explains how magic works in universe – and how a three dimensional model is woefully inadequate to illustrate the relaitonships of fundamental forces of the thaumion field/aether/etc. Basically how magic works as a 5th fundamental force of the universe. If the orbs are extra-universal, and seem to be able to defy the first four fundamental forces of the universe with ease (weak and strong nuclear forces, gravity, and electromagnetism), there’s no reason it can’t also defy the fifth fundamental force of the thaumion field.
In case anyone forgot, here’s where Dabbler explains the thaumion field:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-813-metaphysics-101/
You’ll notice that it’s looped in with other aspects of the universe, like the astral planes (apparently more than one), hyperspace, bosons, and ‘other stuff.’
Actually Varia said she get’s no (obvious) reaction from Sydney. Mentioning the only other person that’s happened too was Maxima. So Sydney’s a special case of “what is it about her that makes her have 0 reaction?”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-324-she-should-put-all-those-answers-on-a-shirt/
Ackshually
I would bet that Rhuen’s statement “[Varia’s] ability implied she might be able to use the orbs too while in contact with Sydney” refers to the fact that that, despite Varia not recognizing any obvious reaction when touching Sydney, it is pretty clear to almost everyone that looks at that page you linked, that Sydney’s orbs start to circle around Varia’s head as well as Sydney’s, while she is in contact.
…thus implying the possibility that she can control and utilize Sydney’s orbs, while in contact with her
I’m personally bothered that, of the six other people we can see in that room, many of whom are competent hand-to-hand fighters and should notice small shifts in stature, arrangement, etc… none of them acknowledged that the orbs began to orbit around Varia’s head as well – but due to framing and side-by-side comparison, we as readers can see it very obviously… I wish @DaveB would comment on that, since he doesn’t seem to be in any significant hurry to show us in the comic narrative itself…
Varia says “nothing obvious”, but we don’t know how good her ears are or how much noise the orbs may make by pushing through the air or whatever, and her eyes are closed during her assessment
You could say that DaveB said in his blurb “So yeah, they missed something fairly obvious there”, and I can be pretty sure he’s talking about those six super powered police missing something like that, but I believe that’s ALL we have as direct author-confirmation, other than the art showing a clearly redirected orbital path…
To excuse all those people, it’s also a question of focus. When you are fighting, you are focused on small shifts and movements of your opponent.
When you’re expecting someone to pop into a human torch, or get all metallic, you might not be focused onto the little things circling her head.
Varia’s power seem to usually express in an alteration of her body. So you’d focus on her body, to try and find what’s different there.
Especially when they are always orbiting Sydney’s head all the time anyways. So the motion is going to be one of those things you just kind of tune out, and a small change in that motion isn’t going to grab your attention.
Polarbear beat me to it, we the audience should have noticed it, but the characters haven’t realized it yet.
What about when Sydney clutched Maxi’s legs after finding out the Fly Ball cures her fear of heights?
Considering Vahriah pulled Sydney in close like one of those ‘manly handclasp-backslaps’, it’s possible Sydney’s balls simply moved so as not to whack her in the shoulders
Okay, after re-reading the page, it wasn’t a ‘mh-b’, and the balls weren’t that low, but the point still stands
a tilt would have made more sense or an up and over. Also the blurb pretty much gives it away that something happened they should have noticed.
I can see Sid hiring her just to get a henchman, though
Rhuen’s second statement seems right here. Varia showed us that she does not gain ‘new’ powers/orbs from Sydney, she just gets counted by the orbs as also being Sydney. The orbs orbited them together as if they are one being. So Hench Wench would gain access to the orbs, not her own set.
We now have a possibility of using six orbs at once if Varia, and Hench Wench work together with Sydney to pilot their little Nth Tech space ship. Only need one more hand to use them all in you include the one we don’t know anything about yet.
Where in the heck do people make that massive misunderstanding? https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-324-she-should-put-all-those-answers-on-a-shirt/
She never said that. She said that she get’s no obvious reaction, and the only other person her power’s don’t work on is Maxima. Making Sydney special, and also introducing an awesome plot hook. So for Hench Wench, she’d get nothing.
audience SHOULD see it, the characters don’t. A character doesn’t have to say something. We could plainly see that the orbs increased their orbit range around both of them. Varia just couldn’t feel it as its not a super power it is access to the orbs. She wasn’t even paying attention to them, but trying to figure out some other power. Everyone else in the room missing it is even weirder.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-324-she-should-put-all-those-answers-on-a-shirt/
Where is that misunderstanding coming from, with everyone? Varia said that Sydney’s like Maxima (her powers don’t work right with her), and introduced a really cool plot hook. Where did things go from “Interesting Plothook” to “She can use Sydney’s powers?”
Look at the bottom left panel, then the two next to it, pay closer attention to the orbs and the fact Varia isn’t even looking at them.
Vahriah said she gets gestalted from even supahs and regulah joes, so the fact Sydney herself has no powahs shouldn’t mean a damn thing
that doesn’t change what I said or the intent of this conversation regarding the orbs.
*or are you trying to revive the theory that the orbs aren’t tech but a manifestation of Sydney’s powers which were some long conversations from years back now in the comments.
Show me where it was ever said Vahriah got the same power as the one providing the sample
I never said nor implied that. Don’t try to start baseless arguments.
Seriously, the discussion was the orb increased their orbit implying Varia may gain the ability to use them. You are the only one somehow thinking that means she can’t get powers from non-supers or has to get the same power.
That was never stated nor implied, you are imagining it.
And you are one who believes that suddenly someone else can handle Sydney’s balls, even though her balls moved to include Maxi when Sydney latched onto her legs (and butt)
Yes, something happened, being able to use the balls would mean she has the same powers (or ability) as Sydney, which has been stated to have never happen with anyone else!!
Are you deliberately provoking a fight? The post four above clearly states that Vahriah gets powers from non-supers
I
never
said
she
can’t
get powers
from
none
supers.
this is completely unrelated to the response I am making to the person I was responding to.
and the leg thing is irrelevant as that was just her orbs going around something thin near her. Not a wide change in orbit like we saw with Varia.
the two things are unrelated. ONE is what I am talking about and responding to; the POSSIBILITY that Varia MIGHT be able to use them going by that.
the other thing you keep bringing up about non-supers is not something I said so responding to me as if I did is annoying and frustrating.
Nemrog’s comment
“https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-324-she-should-put-all-those-answers-on-a-shirt/
Where is that misunderstanding coming from, with everyone? Varia said that Sydney’s like Maxima (her powers don’t work right with her), and introduced a really cool plot hook. Where did things go from “Interesting Plothook” to “She can use Sydney’s powers?” ”
*which they made several comments like that.
My reply which quoting feels unnecessary as this is a text scroll but whatever.
“Look at the bottom left panel, then the two next to it, pay closer attention to the orbs and the fact Varia isn’t even looking at them.”
The clear indication there being where we are getting the idea from that Varia MIGHT BE ABLE to use them by touching Sydney is coming from the wide change in those panels *also other comments about the blurb DaveB himself made about something obvious being missed by the characters at this point.
So your reply to ME,
“Vahriah said she gets gestalted from even supahs and regulah joes, so the fact Sydney herself has no powahs shouldn’t mean a damn thing”
Makes no sense as a reply to what I said. As I made no mention of Varia not getting powers because Sydney has no powers. That never came up from ME. So replying to ME like THAT. Was irrelevant, and illogical. and continuing that despite my repeating that I clearly wasn’t talking about that is frustrating.
Sydney isn’t a super.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-80-she-used-this-spell-to-scan-a-hotdog-once-once/
Not exactly. To be precise, Gwen says she doesn’t detect Sidney as being a super. Neither Gwen nor her scan are stated as being infallible. Actually, they are pretty much stated as being fallible, since the scan states the tube is empty. Which it obviously isn’t.
It’s not exactly farfetched to say that something Gwen couldn’t detect could have made Sidney a super in a way Gwen can’t detect.
With regards to Varia, that is irrlelevant. Varia can derive a power from anyone, normal or super alike. Whatever power manifests c/o a normal does not harm or affect the donor (as with the old Villains & Vigilantes game mechanic that possessor of a superpower — by whatever means — is quote immune from the effects of the power endquote). Even though it is Varia that gets the power, not the donor. I don’t know if this was ever explained in the comic, but it was in Wearing the Cape #6 (story co-authored by Dave B), where Astra crosses over into the GrrlPower-verse.
She would become a man.
I foresee hench wench getting fired in the next page or so…
Grünt is absolutely massive. One and a half head higher than Maxima.
Grünt? I thought the name was Brüt…
Same thing, only crunchy.
You got to admire Hench Wench’s enthusiasm.
Invulnerability or not, no one wants to get shot in the nuts.
heck, even if you’re immortal and fully regenerate from any injury, you wouldn’t want to get shot in the nuts.
Like Isstvan said when Skeeve asked him why he was afraid of fire: “Fire hurts. And after thousands of failed suicide attempts, I’ve had enough pain, thanks!”
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-324-she-should-put-all-those-answers-on-a-shirt/
Look above. Varia never said that, and we’re still waiting to see what if any reaction happens. Cause, Sydney’s like Maxima, her power’s don’t work right with Varia. That was the big Plot Hook.
On the contrary, it has been pretty much stated that Varia’s powers work on Sidney , just that it wasn’t noticed. Look at the text underneath.
So if Archon manages to hire Hench Wench, she’d have all the powers of Swat and Lite? That’s a bit O.P.
No, she gets the powers of her employers, not co-workers, hence why she got them to form a L.L.C. first
I would thing a Partnership would actually be better for those purposes than a Limited Liability Company. The big consultancies & accountants like Anderson (rot in hell) & PWC changed from Partnerships to LLC’s purely for tax purposes.
An oversized pistol that can stop a rhino for those times you need a delicate touch in combat.
At least when your other “weapon” tends to obliterate tanks and send things flying through concrete buildings.
Hey, Captain Armageddon why do you carry a gun?
C.A.: Oh, its so there is still a body to identify after.
In case noone has mentioned this already, adding umlauts to the letter u makes it sound like the letter y.
Thus in Swedish (which does not use umlauts in any way and borrows the pronunciation change from German) this guys name would sound like “Bryt”, which means “Break”, as in “break in half”.
I’m also quite sure Mötley Crüe didn’t know how silly their name actually sounds when pronounced in the correct manner.
Which is the same with this idiot: he probably saw the Motley Crue logo and thought it looked cool
Aaah, but those aren’t any umlauts, they’re Hëävÿ Mëtäl Ümläüts! To quote Spinal Tap “lïke ä päir öf ëyes. Yöu’re löoking ät thë umläut, änd ït’s löoking ät yoü”.
I’m sure Mötley Crüe named themselves as a joke and know exactly how silly it sounds. And looks.
also note that Varias power doesnt copy either, it gives her new temporary power based on one touched; either sydney doesnt have innate power to unlock ability for, or balls give her sort of immunity field (similarly as max’s power gives her immunity for touch based abilities)
No, Vahriah gains a new powah from anybody, no just supahs
Ergo, the lack of apparent reaction to Sydney (and Max) is capital-U Unusual. In this crowd, that’s saying something.
There is something Visceral about having a deadly weapon pointed at your most delicate of areas.
Even with a degree of invulnerability all the nerve clusters are still there — getting kicked there would HURT. Reminds me of an arena battle royale where my Judge-Dredd-style Judge ended up (briefly) face to face with Ben Grimm (The Thing™) as an opponent. Street judge snap analysis? “His eyes….they’re blue. Human. He may be invulnerable, but he’ll blink.” Finger thrust at the eyes, and sure enough, he blinked, and I slipped past him, to let someone else take him on. He let me. Ajax Rule #6, “When facing multiple opponents, never spend more than a beat on any one.”
Umlauts over a U is a german thing, so the swedish chef and the other muppets are entirely unrelated.
Å, Ä and Ö are swedish.
The guy is clearly an idiot, let’s leave it at that
The county, that I live in is calld: COÖS (Co aus)
This page made me laugh out loud.
wait, where is that woman the guy trow the stolen weapon to?
On his way to Deus, to collect a reward?
Or possibly being dangled upside down, by a tentacle, whilst Halo decides what to do with the loot.
Sorry, called!
That Heatwave would engage in verbal sparring with the villain, thus distracting him enough for Maxima to tactically outmaneuver him and bring about his surrender?
Well done!
“Say goodbye to your two best friends, and I don’t mean your pals in the Winnebago…”
‘I was your father’s, brother’s, nephew’s, cousin’s former roommate!’
‘What does that make us?’
‘Absolutely nothing! Which is what you are about to become!’
-Gotta love Dark Helmet! (Or he hurts you!)
Lots of people are asking what would happen if Sydney hired Hench Wench, but she’s not /technically/ a super. What may be more interesting is what would happen if MAXIMA hired Hench Wench. Because it’s strongly hinted that not all of Maxima’s strength is her own innate powers, but something to do with that “Geode” that splashed her. Which means Maxima hiring Hench Wench would give an excellent idea of what her powers would be if that hadn’t happened, giving a gauge on just how big a difference that made.
It may be worth pointing out that so far, Maxima and Sydney are the only supers with an Origin Story, most are just born that way. And, imagine if you will for a moment, this idea gets tested. And Hench Wench get’s no powers…
It may even be that Maxima of all people is also not technically a super. That her powers are entirely due to that geode thing, it being some kind of Nth level tech performance enhancer like Sydney’s spheres are (bey her own current guess) some kind of Nth level spaceship setup.
I would guess nothing would happen too. If the geode is a symbiote type situation it falls into that same group as things like Venom (and associated Marvel symbiotes), the Witchblade, Guyver units, and Blue Beetle.
Power copiers usually come with a source limitation when there are multiple kinds of super beings in one setting, like only mutants, can’t copy aliens, only magic or can’t copy magic *even power copier/thief hybrids like Rogue have trouble with magic*.
but logistically if power copying is like a code copy from the metaphysical source code of super powers it doesn’t make much sense to copy external different power sources anymore than being able to manifest a gun in their hand because the other person is holding a gun *excusing mecha-morph copiers like Mega Man which is their thing and they can’t copy non-mechanical powers*
Last panel. Notice Mr. Amorphous, his expression, and the placement of his hands.
What exactly are Brüt’s powers? I mean, his name is derived from German, pronounced “bruit”, and there are several options:
Brüten = “incubating” (an egg: the most literary meaning)
Brüten = “brooding” (pondering over ideas, or just being moody)
Brüten = “breeding” (the whole process of bird’s procreation, from nestbuilding to feeding the chicks)
Brüter = “breeder reactor” (creates surplus radioactive material)
Fourth panel also mentioned swedish, but “Brüt” has no meaning in swedish; the german term “brüten” translates as “häckning”.
“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…”
Brüt as broot, instead of bright right?
bruht. Stupid autocorrect.