Grrl Power Thread #2: The Most Common Super Power

[lord_khaine]

The second thread about the now wildly popular web comic Grrl Power (http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/76), where the series protagonist seems to be one of the only people missing The Most Common Superpower.

Link to the Previous (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?248414-Grrl-Power) thread where we have observed an amazing evolution in both art and plot, as well as fan service for both genders, currently awaiting the end of the shower scene and shampoo fight.

[BannedInSchool]

Are we not also on Day Two of the story? Wow, we sure talk a lot about the strips if we have fifty pages per day of comic time. :smallwink:

[Traab]

Are we not also on Day Two of the story? Wow, we sure talk a lot about the strips if we have fifty pages per day of comic time. :smallwink:

If you want to get technical, we are actually three months in the past. So we havent even reached the first official day yet. This is all a giant flashback. How scary is that?!

[AvatarVecna]

Just under 5 years of RL time into this, and the comic has gone from -90 webcomic days to -88 webcomic days. Assuming the current rate, it'll be just 220 years before we finally catch up to comic #4.

[BannedInSchool]

Just under 5 years of RL time into this, and the comic has gone from -90 webcomic days to -88 webcomic days. Assuming the current rate, it'll be just 220 years before we finally catch up to comic #4.

And so eventually we can title a thread "More Pages Than the Wheel of Time".

[Rakaydos]

posting for the little star by the thread.

[AvatarVecna]

And so eventually we can title a thread "More Pages Than the Wheel of Time".

We've got a ways to go then. Let's get to work!

[Metahuman1]

I wonder how big a kickstarter would be needed to get the author to make this comic tops of his priority's list so that it can update more regularly with out having to sacrifice quality?

[Traab]

It would probably take a larger patreon support base. That way he knows how much he will get every update and make enough money to support himself on it.

[Lamech]

In case anyone is wondering what Sydney said on page 341, panel 2 its a Hiragana. Its one of the Japanese writing systems/Alphabets. Specifically the "A" sound, or "ah" if you would write it like an English author probably would. But that's because English is a bastard.
You can see a chart here!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Table_hiragana.svg/2000px-Table_hiragana.svg.png

[Admiral Squish]

Taggin' the thread for future reference.

[TheEmerged]

Meh, it's a page early but I'm game.

[BannedInSchool]

Yes, how now will we ever be able to tell the difference between Peggy and Heatwave. They're identical now!

[Avilan the Grey]

"Pivot"

ROFL. Seriously.

[Metahuman1]

I'm torn on this comic.


On the one hand, the Pivot was really funny, Sydney was funny, and the tone of over reactions and deadpans was funny.


On the other, I legitimately sympathize with Heatwave here. Loosing a Toe is no even kinda-sorta well adjusted person's idea of a good time or a good first day or good first mission or what have you, and he strikes me as someone who legitimately values what's she's lost more then some of those around her might have.

Add too it the completely and utter lack of any sympathy, and, yeah.


And as an added item, we've used her as the token person to demonstrate there's a limit to the healing powers the Docs have, and thus people can take real injuries that will last. (If I felt the need to do that as an Author I think I'd have had Math just pick up an extra Scar or two in the fight personally.)

[Traab]

Jiggawatt also lost some of her hearing. As for the sympathy, they felt bad sure, right up till she compared losing the first joint of her middle toe with peggy losing her lower leg. She lost her middle toenail and was broken up over not being able to wear "strappy shoes"

[Avilan the Grey]

Heatwave had my minor sympathies until the second she even remotely though she could compare her injury to Peggy's. Also it's a bit sad that she feels she can't wear sandals because of a very minor thing.

Not saying it didn't hurt like hell, though.

[AvatarVecna]

I will reserve judgement until I see a verbal response from Peggy one way or the other. If she shrugs and laughs it off, I'll accept that as being how she sees it (just a thing about her, not something she sees as a big limitation, etc.); if she takes offense, I will be in full support. But I've seen too many cases (mostly IRL) of people getting offended on someone else's behalf and all but socially lynching a person for "offending" them, when it turned out that the offended party didn't really care all that much.

Also, I find it interesting that I'm talking about Peggy as if she's a real person, rather than a character. It really speaks to how skilled Dave is at characterization, given how rarely Peggy has featured in the comic, or even been present. It's one of the many great things about this comic.

[Traab]

Considering the look on peggys face as she intentionally pivoted out of the way, I would say she is unamused. Not necessarily angry or offended or anything, but she isnt about to go with heatwaves assertion that now they are the same or whatever.

"Now we are like sisters!"

/deadpan and disbelieving tone of voice "What?"

"Uhhh, No."

Thats how I interpret the last two panels going by the looks on her face.

[Qwertystop]

Heatwave had my minor sympathies until the second she even remotely though she could compare her injury to Peggy's. Also it's a bit sad that she feels she can't wear sandals because of a very minor thing.

Not saying it didn't hurt like hell, though.

I don't think it's an appearance thing - flip-flops basically require the slight curling of the toes on either side of the top thing to stay on at all.

[Calemyr]

Considering the look on peggys face as she intentionally pivoted out of the way, I would say she is unamused. Not necessarily angry or offended or anything, but she isnt about to go with heatwaves assertion that now they are the same or whatever.

"Now we are like sisters!"

/deadpan and disbelieving tone of voice "What?"

"Uhhh, No."

Thats how I interpret the last two panels going by the looks on her face.

Yeah, gotta agree with this interpretation. Peggy works pretty hard to be casual about it, being the first to joke about it and such, but that doesn't mean she likes to see it trivialized. Her personal discipline and acceptance is such that she doesn't get upset about it, but instead she simply no-sells the entire banter. No talk back, no dumbfounded standing there while Heatwave tries to hug her, no over acting or under acting, just simply not being part of this farce. I gotta say it's probably the best reaction she could have given to the circumstance: she didn't get mad or tell her off or encourage her or let herself become the target of a joke. She was cool about it without being a victim. Another reason why the resident badass normals are among my favorites.

Of course, it could be that she, like Sydney, also has a little bit of an image problem in these showers. Yeah, she "appreciates beauty in all forms" and proudly welcomes Sydney to the "A Team", but we also know that she downplays personal problems by mocking them. Sydney wouldn't take well to being hugged under these circumstances. Peggy may simply be thinking "You want to hug a 'fellow sufferer'? Fine, do it when you're dressed and dry, sister."

[AvatarVecna]

In today's comic, Harem Dabbler establishes that she's not particularly picky in bed (and apparently possesses a turtleneck sweater with a boob window), Sydney showed that she got the reference to a certain sub-genre of internet porn, and we learned that superheroes apparently don't grow hair anywhere except their heads (except Sydney, who is a different kind of superhero).

[Calemyr]

In today's comic, Harem establishes that she's not particularly picky in bed (and apparently possesses a turtleneck sweater with a boob window), Sydney showed that she got the reference to a certain sub-genre of internet porn, and we learned that superheroes apparently don't grow hair anywhere except their heads (except Sydney, who is a different kind of superhero).

That's Dabbler in the sweater, by the way. And I have to admit I was actually pretty surprised to see Harem's reaction to the fur comment. I mean, seeing a ranking member of the Innuendo Squad stunned into silence by Dabbler is... simply impressive...

Also, as awkward as the location is, I'm really enjoying having Sydney interact with her teammates in a non-combat setting. Everyone gets along surprisingly well for such a nascent team, especially regarding Halo who is an oddity from pretty much any angle you care to think of: power level in the same league with Maxima, but a non-super, and a very eccentric, nerdy, diminutive, hyperactive girl to boot. I would have expected supers to have a little more trouble getting used to the concept of a non-super powerhouse. I mean, even Batman still conforms to the superhero archetype in Justice League despite not being a super, but Sydney is continuously an exception to all the rules that define a super in this setting - even the ones that limit the potential of a super. I'm just kinda surprised that they handle her presence with as much grace as they do.

[Avilan the Grey]

I think... that kind of thing is one of the few... things my brain really goes HELL NO on. Personal preferences of course (plus, AFAIR, Dabbler was originally created for an adult erotic comic about that fetish.)

[TheEmerged]

I think it's well established that Sydney is a walking example of "high charisma does not mean good looking" trope.

[Calemyr]

I think it's well established that Sydney is a walking example of "high charisma does not mean good looking" trope.

This is true. The girl is a great example of "charisma as force of personality". She can't be toned down, she can't be controlled, and others have serious trouble not liking her despite that. Or because of it. But supers have not been represented as having high charisma. They've been represented, each one, as being examples of physical perfection regardless of whether their powerset requires it. Even Math fits that bill, though he earns it the hard way. Sydney and Peggy, on the other hand, have to settle for being realistically attractive - not super models, but by no means unattractive. It still puts Sydney in a difficult to quantify category: easily powerful enough to be a super, but a glaring exception to every rule the nature of super-ness seems to stick to.

[lord_khaine]

power level in the same league with Maxima

Ahh.. while i do agree on the rest of your observations then i kinda feel a need to point out that Sydney is not even close to being in the same League as Max.
So far we really have only seen one other person who were in the 9+ catagory.

[Discus-Spinner]

I'm just kinda surprised that they handle her presence with as much grace as they do.
It appears that they were, generally, literally, people before they became superhumans. They're all quite used to dealing with all sorts of other people, and there's nothing about being super-powered that makes it hard to tolerate non-supers socially. If they were all top athletes, or all albinos, or all redheads, or all fighter pilots, we wouldn't be surprised if they managed to hang out with other people comfortably enough.

They might be snobbish about it, but that's not mandatory. Nor have they been pushed into forming an in-group with an "elite" or "us vs. them" attitude. (Peggy and Max might conceivably cop that sort of attitude, having special forces backgrounds, but don't.) For that matter, the command team work fairly well together, and they're a mixture of normals, sort-of-talents, and one super.

Admittedly, Sydney is an extreme sort of personality, but as others have said, she's likable enough in an exhausting sort of way. There's nothing about her that's going to rub supers up the wrong way particularly.

[halfeye]

Ahh.. while i do agree on the rest of your observations then i kinda feel a need to point out that Sydney is not even close to being in the same League as Max.
So far we really have only seen one other person who were in the 9+ catagory.
Without the orbs, Sydney is ordinary (unusual, but ordinary), with them, how is she not in Max's league? Her force field is apparently Max proof, for just one of seven.

[Calemyr]

Without the orbs, Sydney is ordinary (unusual, but ordinary), with them, how is she not in Max's league? Her force field is apparently Max proof, for just one of seven.

Right. Her forcefield alone would be enough to qualify for the big leagues. Then she also has the com orb, which has a true sight powerful enough to see through the disguises of both Dabbler (supposedly impossible) and Mister X (who not even Dabbler is supposed to be able to sense, though she can sense him obliquely). Then she has flight that, if not on par with Max, is still fast enough to impress her. Then she has the lighthook, which was able to even partially restrain a fully charged Vehemence. Then she has a blast power, which certainly is on par with the team for tank destroying power. Then her Comm orb also grants her telepresence as well. Might as well add in that her abilities are still in the early stages of development (her level up screen has a lot of empty circles). And then there's the orbs themselves, which even Maxima couldn't budge when they didn't want to go. And top that all off with the fact that she can use any two powers at the same time, allowing her many combinations. Yeah. She's definitely in the big leagues, despite being a second day rookie.


It appears that they were, generally, literally, people before they became superhumans. They're all quite used to dealing with all sorts of other people, and there's nothing about being super-powered that makes it hard to tolerate non-supers socially. If they were all top athletes, or all albinos, or all redheads, or all fighter pilots, we wouldn't be surprised if they managed to hang out with other people comfortably enough.

They might be snobbish about it, but that's not mandatory. Nor have they been pushed into forming an in-group with an "elite" or "us vs. them" attitude. (Peggy and Max might conceivably cop that sort of attitude, having special forces backgrounds, but don't.) For that matter, the command team work fairly well together, and they're a mixture of normals, sort-of-talents, and one super.

Admittedly, Sydney is an extreme sort of personality, but as others have said, she's likable enough in an exhausting sort of way. There's nothing about her that's going to rub supers up the wrong way particularly.

You raise a good point, so allow me to recast my statement. This organization just went public yesterday. Even given the time to get their ducks in a row, this is still very much a new team in a setting where supers are rather suddenly a thing when they haven't been since... who knows? Greek times? The age of the viking? Either way, from a popular perspective, they're brand new. People for no apparent reason have begun winning the superpower lottery, gaining idealized physiques on top of optimal fitness and straight up superpowers. We're not talking Captain America, here, who had to work to earn his powers in the first place and (in some continuities) only got them because he was a good man to begin with. We're talking about nouveau riche type folks who just became this (though how much of the tertiary aspects like no body hair and physique were always evident?), with neither the discipline a master (like Math) needs to earn his mastery or practiced traditions to act as landmarks in new territory. They are just suddenly "the best", and that can really screw with someone's perspective.

Of course, I'm expecting the team to be predominantly heroic and/or professional. The organization's mission statement set that stage from the get-go. We've got career military types, champions, and trouble makers who would rather be on the payroll than in the brig. The thought that it might be populated with good natured and broad minded people isn't a strange one. However, I expect them to be divas, and I expect them (after finding a club that's made for them and theirs) to already have a sort of disconnect with "normal" people. Sydney is this strange fusion of super and mundane that makes her one of them without being "one of them", if you follow. I didn't expect them to really know what to do with her, and to some degree I was right. Outside of Dabbler (who would kinda revel in it, though not in an evil sense), none of the girls even considered Sydney's image issues. Heatwave is still the dim bulb that doesn't think beyond her own perspective. Anvil is cool about it all but points out how she's actually disadvantaged by her looks because people are judgmental. Maxima is so sick of witnessing the worst in people that it's virtually all she sees now.

And yet, outside of a good natured brawl in the rec room and a wedgie heard round the room, this group gets along very well under the circumstances. It's just kinda nice to see that cliche ("We are a group of people, but what we need to be is a team!") not being played out right from the get-go. I'm sure it will come into play a little, but not even the X-Men or the Avengers were this comfortable around each other at this point, right?

[Traab]

Right. Her forcefield alone would be enough to qualify for the big leagues. Then she also has the com orb, which has a true sight powerful enough to see through the disguises of both Dabbler (supposedly impossible) and Mister X (who not even Dabbler is supposed to be able to sense, though she can sense him obliquely). Then she has flight that, if not on par with Max, is still fast enough to impress her. Then she has the lighthook, which was able to even partially restrain a fully charged Vehemence. Then she has a blast power, which certainly is on par with the team for tank destroying power. Then her Comm orb also grants her telepresence as well. Might as well add in that her abilities are still in the early stages of development (her level up screen has a lot of empty circles). And then there's the orbs themselves, which even Maxima couldn't budge when they didn't want to go. And top that all off with the fact that she can use any two powers at the same time, allowing her many combinations. Yeah. She's definitely in the big leagues, despite being a second day rookie.

Here is the thing. Max has stated flat out that she hasnt gone all out on blasting the shield. So we really dont know the limits it has. Its powerful, but we dont know where it breaks. Her true sight orb sees through illusions, and now can apparently see auras of some sort. Useful, but as peggy demonstrated, hardly awe inspiring. The lighthook didnt restrain jack squat. She tripped him early on after his initial power up. Got dragged by vehemence when he was roughly mid range power, you know, before he started stomping max, and was able to keep his throat from healing long enough for literally every super with a brick type to pile on him and hold him down. Her lighthook gives her roughly mid level super strength, not even remotely on par with maxima, even without her doing a stat dump into physical strength. Her blast orb we have seen once. It cut through the tank like a laser. Impressive sure, but maxima was able to obliterate the tank with a massive explosion that required a sydney shield to block the fallout from even after she launched it a massive distance away. Once again, we dont know its limits, so its hard to judge. Telepresence is a neat trick, with some interesting potential uses, but archon has communication tech, so big whoop in general. The upgrades make her a potential eventual match for maxima, but right now she isnt there. She is powerful yes, a part of the big leagues, yes. But not even close to maxima.

Here are her limits. She can only use two orbs at a time. Meanwhile maxima can fly at speeds faster than the speed of sound, be tough enough to tank huge damage, and hit hard enough to launch you across town, while aiming her blaster at you to finish you off all at the same time. Sydney has lower stats in virtually every area, and can only use two at a time. Plus, maxima wont die if she is taken by surprise. Her durability is excessive even when she isnt trying, sydney needs to know or suspect an attack is incoming then put up her shield to block it. Peggy could kill sydney. It would take all of arcswat working together to eventually bring down maxima. Even that might not work. The best dabbler was able to do was cause a stalemate. Force maxima to go full armor mode and be unable to leave it, but unable to actually defeat her.

Bottom line, Sydney is really powerful, probably in the top 3 of the lineup, with the potential to go even higher. But she isnt there yet. And its her flexibility that puts her there, not her raw stats in each area. Stalwart doesnt rank very high because aside from his durability and his space shuttle weight move, he doesnt offer much to a fight. Hiro on the other hand, has a number of other advantages in addition to his strength and durability, so he is ranked well above stalwart. There is a reason that maxima and dabbler are at the top of the scale. Its their flexibility. You saw during the battle, dabbler was getting spanked by heavenly sword. Because she was sticking to one ability for way too long. As soon as she brought out the magic and tech, she started whupping butt.

[Calemyr]

Here is the thing. Max has stated flat out that she hasnt gone all out on blasting the shield. So we really dont know the limits it has. Its powerful, but we dont know where it breaks. Her true sight orb sees through illusions, and now can apparently see auras of some sort. Useful, but as peggy demonstrated, hardly awe inspiring. The lighthook didnt restrain jack squat. She tripped him early on after his initial power up. Got dragged by vehemence when he was roughly mid range power, you know, before he started stomping max, and was able to keep his throat from healing long enough for literally every super with a brick type to pile on him and hold him down. Her lighthook gives her roughly mid level super strength, not even remotely on par with maxima, even without her doing a stat dump into physical strength. Her blast orb we have seen once. It cut through the tank like a laser. Impressive sure, but maxima was able to obliterate the tank with a massive explosion that required a sydney shield to block the fallout from even after she launched it a massive distance away. Once again, we dont know its limits, so its hard to judge. Telepresence is a neat trick, with some interesting potential uses, but archon has communication tech, so big whoop in general. The upgrades make her a potential eventual match for maxima, but right now she isnt there. She is powerful yes, a part of the big leagues, yes. But not even close to maxima.

Here are her limits. She can only use two orbs at a time. Meanwhile maxima can fly at speeds faster than the speed of sound, be tough enough to tank huge damage, and hit hard enough to launch you across town, while aiming her blaster at you to finish you off all at the same time. Sydney has lower stats in virtually every area, and can only use two at a time. Plus, maxima wont die if she is taken by surprise. Her durability is excessive even when she isnt trying, sydney needs to know or suspect an attack is incoming then put up her shield to block it. Peggy could kill sydney. It would take all of arcswat working together to eventually bring down maxima. Even that might not work. The best dabbler was able to do was cause a stalemate. Force maxima to go full armor mode and be unable to leave it, but unable to actually defeat her.

Bottom line, Sydney is really powerful, probably in the top 3 of the lineup, with the potential to go even higher. But she isnt there yet. And its her flexibility that puts her there, not her raw stats in each area. Stalwart doesnt rank very high because aside from his durability and his space shuttle weight move, he doesnt offer much to a fight. Hiro on the other hand, has a number of other advantages in addition to his strength and durability, so he is ranked well above stalwart. There is a reason that maxima and dabbler are at the top of the scale. Its their flexibility. You saw during the battle, dabbler was getting spanked by heavenly sword. Because she was sticking to one ability for way too long. As soon as she brought out the magic and tech, she started whupping butt.

"and was able to keep his throat from healing long enough for literally every super with a brick type to pile on him and hold him down" counts as partial restraint, in my book. On her own, she wouldn't have been able to hold him long, but she was able to hold him long enough to make a difference.

As for a direct comparison to Maxima, I don't mean to say she's as powerful as the colonel. I mean to say she's in the same league as her - which is to say "jaw dropping, holy crap, that shouldn't be possible even for a super" league. The league, in my opinion, currently contains Sydney, Maxima, Dabbler, and Achilles, with only Achilles seeming to be a natural super on that tier. (Dabbler's a demon/alien hybrid, Maxima's apparently demonically powered, and Sydney's Sydney.) All four of them flat out break the rules on what it means to be a super in some way. Vehemence certainly qualifies as well, except for being an enemy rather than a teammate. (Note that by including Achilles here, I'm stating that this isn't about raw power. Achilles is functionally useless but apparently absolutely indestructible.)

So Sydney starts the story already in the "broken" league of supers. She has a host of WTH powers that she can readily use. She may not be as strong as Maxima, but she's definitely in the same league as her.

And yes: Versatility is the key factor here. According to what we've been told, versatility is a rarity. Maxima basically has a generalized powerset like Hiro, only boosted and then boosted again with a supplementary power pool to take a few stats into superb levels or one beyond legendary levels. But while Maxima is limited to a variable-but-generalized skillset, Sydney is actually able to switch specialized powers on the fly, and combine them.

[Traab]

She didnt restrain him at all. She did the equivalent of applying a twist tie to his neck, then prayed everyone else would grab him before he tore it right off himself. He had already done so to the light hook once before, when he wasnt even close to as strong as he was at the climax of the fight. Her light hook is roughly car lifting level of strength. (Or at least, thats the heaviest thing she has lifted to date according to her) Yeah its super, but its a drop in the bucket compared to what real super strong types can generally do. Like Vehemence, who punched stalwart hard enough to lift a space shuttle several inches into the air, once again, long before he reached his peak strength.

Where the hell did you get maxima is demonically powered from? She is just a game breakingly powerful super. Achilles is honestly a joke. Sydney could defeat him like this. /wraps achilles in light hook, uses other portion of lighthook to drop a lot of rubble on him, leaves him buried. His only power is that you cant hurt him. Aside from that he is only slightly stronger than a normal human, meaning he is less of a physical threat than peggy in a fight, since at least she uses guns. Yeah he has his uses, but he is pure gimmick fighting.

[Calemyr]

Where the hell did you get maxima is demonically powered from? She is just a game breakingly powerful super. Achilles is honestly a joke.

Achilles is honestly a joke, yes. But absolutely, unfailingly, utterly indestructible. Even sub-atomic attacks can't scratch him. He uses his chin as a backstop for a railgun demonstration. He is indestructible on a scale that even the most absurdly overpowered supers can't quite fathom.

As for Maxima being demonically powered, that theory's based on Dabbler's foreshadowing. Maxima in mega-mania mode (at the end of the news conference) reminded Dabbler of a flaming skull demon she fought before. Then, as Arianna scolds Maxima for the display, the rogue's gallery of people intrigued by her ultimatum (which included Vehemence's "Challenge accepted.") included the flaming skull demon saying either "Found you" or "Found it", been a while and I'm not going to look that up right now. Granted, could be talking about Dabbler, but it was portrayed as a consequence of Maxima's display. Combine that with the fact that Maxima's powers are clearly not standard issue (nobody else got metallic gold skin, or a supplementary power pool, or anything like either), and it shouldn't be a large leap to say what makes her unique is tied to the flaming skull demon. Not canon, I'll admit, not yet, but all the pieces are in place for it to be confirmed.

Note that I'm not saying Maxima is knowingly using demonic power. She's using the power she was given and not fully aware of what makes the power unique among supers, while that power is indentified as being at least similar to a particular demon who was specifically shown to be intrigued by Maxima's display.

[Traab]

The demon thing was Dabbler remembering a prophetic statement made by one of her defeated enemies. There was a lot of fire when maxima went high power on that tank, so she thought of his line about "a mighty burning to herald my coming" It had nothing to do with maxima having demonic power. Incidentally, that has to be the lamest attempt to predict a bad guy returning. A "mighty burning"? Every forest fire she sees on the news could be a "sign" Every over cooked steak could qualify. For all we know, the latest celebrity roast episode is a sign of his returning.

The "found you" was one of a half dozen different statements indicating bad guys wanting to fight arcswat in some way shape or form. There is no more reason to think demon boy is the source of her power than the guy saying, "the cleansing is at hand" On the other hand, mummy man is probably the other super maxima mentioned who she thinks (hopes) is dead. As you said, its pretty vague, we dont know what demon boy was looking at at the time. Could be maxima, but I think that its still a bit of a stretch to say, "She has gold skin, obviously she is demonically empowered" She Hulk had green skin, that doesnt make her demonically empowered. Being a different color from standard while remaining a goddess of physical beauty is uncommon, but hardly unique in the super community.

[Calemyr]

The demon thing was Dabbler remembering a prophetic statement made by one of her defeated enemies. There was a lot of fire when maxima went high power on that tank, so she thought of his line about "a mighty burning to herald my coming" It had nothing to do with maxima having demonic power. Incidentally, that has to be the lamest attempt to predict a bad guy returning. A "mighty burning"? Every forest fire she sees on the news could be a "sign" Every over cooked steak could qualify. For all we know, the latest celebrity roast episode is a sign of his returning.

The "found you" was one of a half dozen different statements indicating bad guys wanting to fight arcswat in some way shape or form. There is no more reason to think demon boy is the source of her power than the guy saying, "the cleansing is at hand" On the other hand, mummy man is probably the other super maxima mentioned who she thinks (hopes) is dead. As you said, its pretty vague, we dont know what demon boy was looking at at the time. Could be maxima, but I think that its still a bit of a stretch to say, "She has gold skin, obviously she is demonically empowered" She Hulk had green skin, that doesnt make her demonically empowered. Being a different color from standard while remaining a goddess of physical beauty is uncommon, but hardly unique in the super community.

Maxima is an exception. If you leave out her power pool and metal skin, she's just a high grade generalized super. Hiro, basically, albeit a bit more powerful. Excellent, but not unique. The metal skin and power pool, however, are traits that we have seen no examples of in this setting. Artificial skins as an "active" power, yes, like Concretia's stoneskin, but as a passive and permanent change (Maxima dislikes being golden, remember, and would presumably keep that in reserve if she had a choice), there are no other examples. Power pool has two examples that play similar to it: magic (both Vehemic and Tantric) and Halo, none of which are natural superpowers. We know why the other people break the "rules", magic and mysterious artifacts. Maxima has no knowledge (to our knowledge) of why she breaks them.

The gallery sequence had a lot of people getting giddy over a big fight, yes, but "Found you" was an uncommonly focused line. This wasn't an excuse to cut loose, this was something actively and specifically sought out. The subject in question (Maxima, based on the scene's lead-in) in particular is important. Combine that focus with Dabbler being deliberately used to draw a line between Maxima and Skully, and add in the fact that something unusual is at play with Maxima's powers and I don't think the theory is out of line. However, it is still a theory, and all evidence that supports it is vague enough that the story could easily go another way without contradiction.

[Traab]

Maxima is an exception. If you leave out her power pool and metal skin, she's just a high grade generalized super. Hiro, basically, albeit a bit more powerful. Excellent, but not unique. The metal skin and power pool, however, are traits that we have seen no examples of in this setting. Artificial skins as an "active" power, yes, like Concretia's stoneskin, but as a passive and permanent change (Maxima dislikes being golden, remember, and would presumably keep that in reserve if she had a choice), there are no other examples. Power pool has two examples that play similar to it: magic (both Vehemic and Tantric) and Halo, none of which are natural superpowers. We know why the other people break the "rules", magic and mysterious artifacts. Maxima has no knowledge (to our knowledge) of why she breaks them.

The gallery sequence had a lot of people getting giddy over a big fight, yes, but "Found you" was an uncommonly focused line. This wasn't an excuse to cut loose, this was something actively and specifically sought out. The subject in question (Maxima, based on the scene's lead-in) in particular is important. Combine that focus with Dabbler being deliberately used to draw a line between Maxima and Skully, and add in the fact that something unusual is at play with Maxima's powers and I don't think the theory is out of line. However, it is still a theory, and all evidence that supports it is vague enough that the story could easily go another way without contradiction.

Be fair, virtually everyone has something unique about their powers, so pointing out a unique trait isnt much evidence. Noone else can approximate the weight of a space shuttle, that doesnt make stalwart demonically empowered. Jiggawatt can turn herself into energy, harem can divide herself into 5 bodies, etc etc etc. Oh, and when varia touched vance, she turned into fem-collosus. Metal skin and all. As for her power pool, its not a source of energy she can draw on like magic, its reallocating how her power is distributed. She can weaken one ability to strengthen another. Just to create a random example, she has 50 points total in all her stats. She can take 30 of those points and put them wherever she wants, and switch them in an instant. She doesnt "run out" or gain more points like dabbler in mid orgy, or vehemence in mid battle, what she has is all she has.

Halo has no power pool at all. Much like how dabbler has those gems she can slap into her sword to cast spells, halo has orbs she can hold to use their abilities. Thats not a power pool, thats magical artifacts (or science, or whatever) Im not saying its impossible that there is a connection, im just saying your evidence is really flimsy. "Found you" is your best one, and thats pretty vague all by itself.

[AvatarVecna]

As far as villains from Maxima's past go, I thought the mummy-looking one would be someone Max has fought before. I remember someone asking something like "Are there supers in the Middle East?", and Maxima just smirked and said "Not as many as there used to be". Then, during her demonstration, that guy responded in a language that I think was confirmed as Arabic or something close, and the translation was something like "Dead? I've been dead before."

[Calemyr]

Be fair, virtually everyone has something unique about their powers, so pointing out a unique trait isnt much evidence. Noone else can approximate the weight of a space shuttle, that doesnt make stalwart demonically empowered. Jiggawatt can turn herself into energy, harem can divide herself into 5 bodies, etc etc etc. Oh, and when varia touched vance, she turned into fem-collosus. Metal skin and all. As for her power pool, its not a source of energy she can draw on like magic, its reallocating how her power is distributed. She can weaken one ability to strengthen another. Just to create a random example, she has 50 points total in all her stats. She can take 30 of those points and put them wherever she wants, and switch them in an instant. She doesnt "run out" or gain more points like dabbler in mid orgy, or vehemence in mid battle, what she has is all she has.

Halo has no power pool at all. Much like how dabbler has those gems she can slap into her sword to cast spells, halo has orbs she can hold to use their abilities. Thats not a power pool, thats magical artifacts (or science, or whatever) Im not saying its impossible that there is a connection, im just saying your evidence is really flimsy. "Found you" is your best one, and thats pretty vague all by itself.

I think there are basically two classes of super: generalist and specialist. Three if you count a mage as a super (do we?). Generalists are like Hiro and Maxima, they only have the general powers, but they're quite powerful in all/most of them. Then you've got specialists, like Jiggawat and Stalwart, who all have a few unique abilities, but only limited access to generalist powers. (Maybe flight, maybe strength, usually some grade of durability.) Generalists are great all-rounders, but lack anything special. Specialists have their own unique power set, but lack versatility. Even with all her power, Maxima remains a generalist, she can just buff those generalist powers to kingdom come. Magic users like Dabbler and Vehemence have a limited resource to fuel their powers, but can perform incredible feats when properly fueled. Sydney, however, acts like a specialist that can change specialties with no known resource requirement beyond a free hand.

Varia's ability is to synthesize an ability based on the person she touches. Becoming Femme Colossus while touching Maxima simply means that metal skin is part of her essence (Varia points out that her abilities work on non-supers as well, so it's not the target's abilities that matter).

Halo's similarity to the power pool is the ability to swap powers on the fly, rather than to shift buffs from category to category. Dabbler and Vehemence use magic to create their versatility, but it uses up some of their required resource.

As for evidence, I'll admit it's vague. I feel Dave is pulling a Homestuck - fill the setting with enough hanging hooks that virtually anything he wants to do in the future counts as properly foreshadowed. A lot of them will go nowhere, but the ones that are used stick in the mind. However, from a narrative perspective, Dabbler being "reminded" of Skully like that was intentional. Dave specifically drew a link between Maxima and Skully at that exact moment, and put to much emphasis on it to be readily dismissed as a throwaway hook. Skully then reciprocated, targeting Maxima (probably, judging from context) in particular in his declaration. Maxima is the only person we've seen with permanent alteration (again, she complains often about how it makes her look and how guys treat her because of it - I don't think she'd leave it on 24/7 if she had a choice), and she's specifically referenced as being extraordinary even for a super.

[Emperordaniel]

Well, just caught up to the latest comic after an all-night archive binge. Consider me intrigued. :smallbiggrin:

[AvatarVecna]

Well, just caught up to the latest comic after an all-night archive binge. Consider me intrigued. :smallbiggrin:

...and now you get to play the waiting game, just like the rest of us! :smallbiggrin:

[lord_khaine]

Well, just caught up to the latest comic after an all-night archive binge. Consider me intrigued.

Welcome to the guessing game :)


Varia's ability is to synthesize an ability based on the person she touches. Becoming Femme Colossus while touching Maxima simply means that metal skin is part of her essence (Varia points out that her abilities work on non-supers as well, so it's not the target's abilities that matter).

Minor nitpick, that was not Maxima that were being touched there, Varia mentions her power dont work on Max.


The gallery sequence had a lot of people getting giddy over a big fight, yes, but "Found you" was an uncommonly focused line. This wasn't an excuse to cut loose, this was something actively and specifically sought out. The subject in question (Maxima, based on the scene's lead-in) in particular is important. Combine that focus with Dabbler being deliberately used to draw a line between Maxima and Skully, and add in the fact that something unusual is at play with Maxima's powers and I don't think the theory is out of line. However, it is still a theory, and all evidence that supports it is vague enough that the story could easily go another way without contradiction.

Im pretty sure that were refered to Dabbler, who directly had a personal flashback towards that demon.
As i read it then its more that Max were used to remind Dabbler of something in her past, to expand a little bit on her character.
Maxima already have one defeated super in her own weight class seeking revenge, she dont need to hog all of then :smalltongue:

[AvatarVecna]

Maxima already have one defeated super in her own weight class seeking revenge, she dont need to hog all of then :smalltongue:

Oh absolutely, I'd love to see Math go toe-to-toe with someone actually in his weight class (so to speak), or Dabbler combine a hodgepodge of tricks into a solid beatdown. Of course, the person we most need to see in the limelight is Sydney; with Maxima around, she almost never gets a turn! :smalltongue:

[Emperordaniel]

Well... I can now say that I know what merkins are.

Who's betting that Sydney will say something even more outlandish by the end of the day? Since this day's already going so well for her, and all. :smalltongue:

[lord_khaine]

Oh absolutely, I'd love to see Math go toe-to-toe with someone actually in his weight class (so to speak), or Dabbler combine a hodgepodge of tricks into a solid beatdown.

Yes actually, because i will bet cold hard cash on those two newer making an apperance again, not having any other meaning for the overall story besides taking part in a super hero brawl.

Unlike Maxima who already have one personal nemesis presumed to be dead but still alive and kicking.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Unlike Maxima who already have one personal nemesis presumed to be dead but still alive and kicking.

Uh... if you're talking about flaming skull guy, I'm pretty sure that's Dabbler's nemesis. And that his reaction to the TV conference was that he recognized a succubus glamer and Dabbler's abilities/personality.

[Kantaki]

Uh... if you're talking about flaming skull guy, I'm pretty sure that's Dabbler's nemesis. And that his reaction to the TV conference was that he recognized a succubus glamer and Dabbler's abilities/personality.

Maxima’s nemesis is the guy who looks a bit like a mummy and says something in arabic. If I recall correctly he comments on her statement that there are only two supers that could take her and that one of them is dead. The translation was something along the lines of “You think I'm dead?„

[AvatarVecna]

Maxima’s nemesis is the guy who looks a bit like a mummy and says something in arabic. If I recall correctly he comments on her statement that there are only two supers that could take her and that one of them is dead. The translation was something along the lines of “You think I'm dead?„

I thought his comment translated more like "You'll kill me, huh? I've been dead before...", but I might be recalling incorrectly. In any case, I think it's likely that he's an old nemesis of Maxima's, but I don't think it's explicitly stated as much as heavily implied.

[Kantaki]

I thought his comment translated more like "You'll kill me, huh? I've been dead before...", but I might be recalling incorrectly. In any case, I think it's likely that he's an old nemesis of Maxima's, but I don't think it's explicitly stated as much as heavily implied.

I think your version is closer to being correct. I was just stating (from my notoriously faulty memory no less) a rough approximation on the general meaning of his line. I just hope we get to see more of him and of the other guys on the page. And that the plot moves away from the showers and the details about the body hair of superpowered individuals.

[Douglas]

I thought his comment translated more like "You'll kill me, huh? I've been dead before...", but I might be recalling incorrectly. In any case, I think it's likely that he's an old nemesis of Maxima's, but I don't think it's explicitly stated as much as heavily implied.
I looked up the comments on that page, and someone's translation was confirmed as exactly correct by the author: "I’m dead, am I? So much the better."

He's commenting about how Maxima thinking he's dead will give him an advantage.

[AvatarVecna]

I looked up the comments on that page, and someone's translation was confirmed as exactly correct by the author: "I’m dead, am I? So much the better."

He's commenting about how Maxima thinking he's dead will give him an advantage.

Nice to have confirmation on this; thanks for looking it up.

Okay, so it's explicitly stated that he's the old enemy who could take her on that she thought was dead, it's just not stated in English.

[lord_khaine]

Uh... if you're talking about flaming skull guy, I'm pretty sure that's Dabbler's nemesis. And that his reaction to the TV conference was that he recognized a succubus glamer and Dabbler's abilities/personality.

If you just jump into the end of a conversation you might miss the contex of it. Like in this case that max already had one nemesis, and did not also need Skull guy.


Okay, so it's explicitly stated that he's the old enemy who could take her on that she thought was dead, it's just not stated in English.

And yeah, i am really interested in what sort of powerset he has that allows him to fight even with Max.

The last guy to do so, Vehemence more or less had a power that allowed him to build his character ingame :smalltongue:

[Metahuman1]

So, yeah, Math actually IS starting to get a bit to creepy for his own good.

[AvatarVecna]

Oh god, I almost forgot he was in this one. Math...Math, stop creeping. It's not funny, it's just creepy. What worse is thinking of how that scene occurred: was Math just lurking near one of the Harem clones, or did he spontaneously appear there in that creepy pose because his could-lead-to-sexy senses tingled?

[Metahuman1]

I'm not sure I want an answer to that question on the grounds I can't decide which is worse and thus feel it might be best to forever not know.

[HandofShadows]

New page.

You know, I don't think anyone ever DID say how much Sydney would be paid.

[Traab]

I put this on the comic comment board but I will put it here too. I dont think it should matter how much she gets paid. 40 bucks for a meal is price gouging. I wouldnt pay that much for a prime rib steak and lobster dinner, let alone some decent grub for lunch. So even though yeah, I bet they get paid big bucks, considering they are highly unique specialists working hazardous duty for the military/government, unless the chef is also a super who can cram enough calories and nutritional content to feed a super all day on a single meal, they are getting hosed. I dont care if they get paid so much they make football stars seem below the poverty line, unless the meal itself is special in some way, its not worth 40 bucks.

[Eldan]

Huh. You Americans must have it cheap. Switzerland: 10-15 bucks for cheap/bad fast food (McDonalds, etc.), 20 bucks for a cheap self-service restaurant, 40 bucks for something reasonable, 60-80 for a quality restaurant. Open upwards, of course, my parents have told me of 300 CHF meals they had for their anniversaries and so on.

That's in CHF, which I think are still more valuable than dollars.

[AvatarVecna]

$40 for lunch is fairly expensive, at least in my area. That's a large dinner at a really good restaurant; that's ridiculous for lunch unless you're very...fancy.

[Kantaki]

I'm pretty sure there is a catch. 40 Dollar for a meal seems a bit extreme. The real question is why the others don't tell Sydney what's up. It can't be that secret.

[AvatarVecna]

I'm pretty sure there is a catch. 40 Dollar for a meal seems a bit extreme. The real question is why the others don't tell Sydney what's up. It can't be that secret.

It's so this plot point can be dragged out beyond just the single comic panel it would usually take up.

Nah, there's probably a better reason for it than that. Surely...

[Traab]

Huh. You Americans must have it cheap. Switzerland: 10-15 bucks for cheap/bad fast food (McDonalds, etc.), 20 bucks for a cheap self-service restaurant, 40 bucks for something reasonable, 60-80 for a quality restaurant. Open upwards, of course, my parents have told me of 300 CHF meals they had for their anniversaries and so on.

That's in CHF, which I think are still more valuable than dollars.

I went to wendys last night for dinner for me and my niece. Bought a baconator combo meal large sized, then had a spicy chicken sandwich combo plus they had some new bacon cheese fries I wanted to try. Total hit 20 bucks for two meals. But that was an expensive setup for wendys too be honest. If I had gone to taco bell I could have gotten two cheesy potato burritos for roughly 5 bucks then bought a soda costing me maybe 6.50. 40 bucks could be my lunch budget for the week if I feel like stretching it out a bit, or at least enough to cover 4 days or so if not. So yeah, this had better be a special meal, like, its full of vaccines and grants higher resistance to all sorts of things so long as you eat there regularly.

[AvatarVecna]

I went to wendys last night for dinner for me and my niece. Bought a baconator combo meal large sized, then had a spicy chicken sandwich combo plus they had some new bacon cheese fries I wanted to try. Total hit 20 bucks for two meals. But that was an expensive setup for wendys too be honest. If I had gone to taco bell I could have gotten two cheesy potato burritos for roughly 5 bucks then bought a soda costing me maybe 6.50. 40 bucks could be my lunch budget for the week if I feel like stretching it out a bit, or at least enough to cover 4 days or so if not. So yeah, this had better be a special meal, like, its full of vaccines and grants higher resistance to all sorts of things so long as you eat there regularly.

While Wendy's and Taco Bell are hardly as expensive as it gets, $40 is still a lot for lunch.

[Calemyr]

First, was that lunch on campus or off? I'm not entirely sure, though I'm leaning towards on-campus.

If it was off-campus, I have to wonder if it's a surcharge for supers. Kind of a limited insurance thing, to make the reward worth the risk. That gets into segregation and prejudice, however, and that's not a cool road to look down.

[Forum Explorer]

I put this on the comic comment board but I will put it here too. I dont think it should matter how much she gets paid. 40 bucks for a meal is price gouging. I wouldnt pay that much for a prime rib steak and lobster dinner, let alone some decent grub for lunch. So even though yeah, I bet they get paid big bucks, considering they are highly unique specialists working hazardous duty for the military/government, unless the chef is also a super who can cram enough calories and nutritional content to feed a super all day on a single meal, they are getting hosed. I dont care if they get paid so much they make football stars seem below the poverty line, unless the meal itself is special in some way, its not worth 40 bucks.

40 is a lot for a single person meal, but not out of the question to hit. I've been to places where the meals started at around 20$ and went up from there. And they weren't that fancy. A really gourmet restaurant? 40$ easy.

[Admiral Squish]

I don't think I've ever eaten a single meal that cost more than $30 in my entire life. $40 for a lunch is ludicrous. That's five hours' work at minimum wage. And they didn't seem to go to a fancy ultra-gourmet restaurant, the earlier food scene looks like the gang was just eating at some cafeteria-esque place. Sydney had antipasto and fettucini alfredo, and Achilles was putting potato chips on a cheeseburger. I can't even imagine what a $40 cheeseburger would look like (actually, I can, but the mental image is either some sort of hand-formed artisan kobe beef patty topped with an unpronounceable cheese, or a ridiculous five-pound bacon-wrapped heart attack on a deep-fried bun)

[Discus-Spinner]

Well, I managed to spend the equivalent of $250 on lunch for two the other week, but that was at a Michelin-starred restaurant, and included wine. (Anniversary. Totally worth it.) I wouldn't make a habit of it, but sometimes, it's worth exploring the outer limits of human technical skill.

Anyhow, it looks like Harem fully intends to explain the reason to Sydney, but she wants to check some facts first. I'd assume that (a) Sydney didn't think to check the remuneration column in her contract of employment, and she's about to get a pleasant surprise, and (b) those canteen meals are created and monitored by the culinary and dietary-sciences equivalent of Tony Stark and Reed Richards.

(His name would be Heston Blumenthal, of course.)

[Avilan the Grey]

$40 is a plausible price for lunch at a Really fancy place.

Coincidentally I have never found a lunch actually worth $40. It seems somewhere over $20, the food stops improving and you just get less on your plate.

[Qwertystop]

Honestly, I've been getting really good hot sandwiches for $8-$9 for the last month or so since I got this summer job. That's not exactly the most expensive sort of lunch, of course, but... I don't even know what I'd be getting to spend $40 on it. Maybe if you're a big eater and skipped breakfast?

[Discus-Spinner]

Coincidentally I have never found a lunch actually worth $40. It seems somewhere over $20, the food stops improving and you just get less on your plate.
You need to try a few more actually good restaurants.


I don't even know what I'd be getting to spend $40 on it. Maybe if you're a big eater and skipped breakfast?
High-quality ingredients freshly prepared by a really skilled chef.

[Traab]

The last time I ate a meal that cost 40 bucks per person was at this fancy steakhouse. I have to admit, the prime rib was insanely tender and perfectly cooked, but I would honestly prefer to buy and cook several of my own steaks at home instead. Plus steakhouses never season my steak enough. Look, I like linen napkins as much as the next guy, but not enough to be willing to pay twice as much for a steak thats almost as good elsewhere.

[Eldan]

I've never Seen a steak for under 30-40 dollars.

[Traab]

I've never Seen a steak for under 30-40 dollars.

You are eating at some crazy overpriced places then.

[Admiral Squish]

I've never Seen a steak for under 30-40 dollars.

I can walk half a mile from my house and get two (admittedly small) steaks and a basket o' fried mozzarella cheese sticks for $20. There are another dozen places within 5 miles I could get similar prices from. I have no idea where you're getting your steaks from.

[AvatarVecna]

I can walk half a mile from my house and get two (admittedly small) steaks and a basket o' fried mozzarella cheese sticks for $20. There are another dozen places within 5 miles I could get similar prices from. I have no idea where you're getting your steaks from.

Once again, seconded.

[Douglas]

I have since moved far away and haven't looked for a local equivalent, but I used to live near a restaurant where $40 would get you not just "a steak", but all-you-can-eat steak in a wide high quality variety, carved fresh at the table by the server who had just then brought it from the kitchen.

[AvatarVecna]

I have since moved far away and haven't looked for a local equivalent, but I used to live near a restaurant where $40 would get you not just "a steak", but all-you-can-eat steak in a wide high quality variety, carved fresh at the table by the server who had just then brought it from the kitchen.

There's a place like that near me, although it's $50-60 where I am. That place was wonderful, but far too expensive to go to all but rarely.

[Forum Explorer]

I can walk half a mile from my house and get two (admittedly small) steaks and a basket o' fried mozzarella cheese sticks for $20. There are another dozen places within 5 miles I could get similar prices from. I have no idea where you're getting your steaks from.

Different countries. I don't know if you are in the US, but assuming you are, well, restaurants are just more expensive in general then the US. Or maybe that's just Europe. Though I know food and booze are both more expensive in Canada then in the US.

[AvatarVecna]

That's...a lot of money. Like, assuming she's serious about the numbers (and assuming she was making at least minimum wage before)...well, $40 is a lot for a lunch steak, but when you're a millionaire, it's less noticeable.

EDIT: She won't make any records, but if I had a check for two weeks bigger than my previous year of checks, I'd certainly be more willing to spend money on good food.

EDIT 2: And that author's note...are we sure Maxima isn't made of solid gold, and she's just been yanking everybody's chain the whole time? I'm joking.

[Traab]

I still say that even if she is making millions a year now, charging someone 40 bucks for lunch is gouging unless there is something special about it. She ate some freaking pasta dishes. PASTA! The components of fettuccine alfredo probably ran 5 bucks for her portion of it. So unless that was cheeses extracted from the milk of a peruvian super cow and pasta formed under the moonlight by vestal virgins using a gem encrusted pastamaker, I just cant see them justifying that kind of cost other than "Well, we need to make the millions we pay them back somehow!"

[AvatarVecna]

I just cant see them justifying that kind of cost other than "Well, we need to make the millions we pay them back somehow!"

This is the government we're talking about here. It wouldn't surprise me...

[HandofShadows]

Good pay is a good incentive to keep talented people working for you. And the number of people with Sydney's "talents" is very rare.

[Calemyr]

I should point out that she may not even be taking home minimum wage. Sydney is part owner of small, failing comic shop. It may well be that she and her partner are taking hits to their paycheck just to keep the place afloat. If the choice is between an expensive dinner and keeping the lights on another day in the shop, it might sound like a good night for some ramen.

[AvatarVecna]

I should point out that she may not even be taking home minimum wage. Sydney was part owner of small, failing comic shop. It may well be that she and her partner are taking hits to their paycheck just to keep the place afloat. If the choice is between an expensive dinner and keeping the lights on another day in the shop, it might sound like a good night for some ramen.

FTFY. Otherwise, you make an excellent point; we're not necessarily talking millionaire Sydney, although she's still likely making a lot.

[Kantaki]

Ah, yes. That explains the expensive lunch. They want to get some of the money back they throw at the supers to get them to work for them. I think that supers are paid very well was established on a earlier page, but now Sydney and the readers learn what "well paid" actually means.

[Calemyr]

FTFY. Otherwise, you make an excellent point; we're not necessarily talking millionaire Sydney, although she's still likely making a lot.

Why "was"? She's not going to drop her part ownership and she's not going to throw Joel out in cold. She won't be in the shop nearly as often, I'm sure, but that shop is clearly a passion of hers - and one that endures her microsecond attention span. That's not going to change. Instead of bringing her hyperactive face to work each day, however, she'll be supplying the shop with star power and the ability to invest more funds into it. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if later on down the line we find that Joel misses having his little spaz hanging around all day.

[Kantaki]

Why "was"? She's not going to drop her part ownership and she's not going to throw Joel out in cold. She won't be in the shop nearly as often, I'm sure, but that shop is clearly a passion of hers - and one that endures her microsecond attention span. That's not going to change. Instead of bringing her hyperactive face to work each day, however, she'll be supplying the shop with star power and the ability to invest more funds into it. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if later on down the line we find that Joel misses having his little spaz hanging around all day.

It is likely the shop isn't failing anymore, considering that the fact that it is co-owned by a real superhero should draw a lot of attention and new customers. Then there is the deal Syd and Arianna made regarding the shop. If it is more than "Syd gets a few hours each day to work in her store it might be another source of income.

[Eldan]

I can walk half a mile from my house and get two (admittedly small) steaks and a basket o' fried mozzarella cheese sticks for $20. There are another dozen places within 5 miles I could get similar prices from. I have no idea where you're getting your steaks from.

Switzerland. At this point, we're just used to the fact that everything here costs up to twice as much as even just 50k away across the border, especially if there's service by actual people involved.

Also, yeah. What is minimal wage in the US, just to ask? I think it's 2000 dollars-ish around here for unskilled jobs, (though there's no formal minimal wage laws in a lot of industries), though that is seriously poor. 24 times that would be a seriously high wage, even around here.

[AvatarVecna]

Why "was"? She's not going to drop her part ownership and she's not going to throw Joel out in cold. She won't be in the shop nearly as often, I'm sure, but that shop is clearly a passion of hers - and one that endures her microsecond attention span. That's not going to change. Instead of bringing her hyperactive face to work each day, however, she'll be supplying the shop with star power and the ability to invest more funds into it. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if later on down the line we find that Joel misses having his little spaz hanging around all day.


It is likely the shop isn't failing anymore, considering that the fact that it is co-owned by a real superhero should draw a lot of attention and new customers. Then there is the deal Syd and Arianna made regarding the shop. If it is more than "Syd gets a few hours each day to work in her store it might be another source of income.

Yeah, this is what I meant: it was failing, and now it definitely won't be.

[BannedInSchool]

Yeah, this is what I meant: it was failing, and now it definitely won't be.
Maybe if Sydney still holds the rights to her own image to sell on t-shirts. :smallbiggrin:

[Traab]

Switzerland. At this point, we're just used to the fact that everything here costs up to twice as much as even just 50k away across the border, especially if there's service by actual people involved.

Also, yeah. What is minimal wage in the US, just to ask? I think it's 2000 dollars-ish around here for unskilled jobs, (though there's no formal minimal wage laws in a lot of industries), though that is seriously poor. 24 times that would be a seriously high wage, even around here.

I believe the current federal minimum wage is 7.25 an hour, though most jobs, even bottom rung type jobs, tend to pay more. Also, i think there has been talk to raise it to 10 an hour because thats just stupidly low. Even 10 an hour is incredibly low. I did the math, and if I wanted to live in a small but decent apartment and take care of everything myself, I would need to make at least 15 an hour without overtime, depending on how much in the way of extras I wanted to pay for, like cable tv and internet and a house phone and cellphone, etc.

As for business. My dad owned a car stereo shop back before I was born and years afterwards till it went under. (freaking stereo chain stores setting up literally all around him) Even a business that ISNT struggling will often have the owner taking home very little. Because a smart owner reinvests and expands as much as he can, so virtually all the profit from running the place goes back into making the place even better in hopes that it will bring in even more profit, etc etc etc. And while its different here, as the owners are the only employees (well till today at least) in dads business, the workers get paid, the bills get paid, and if anything is left over, he gets paid. If not? Then he doesnt get paid.

So this is awesome. Sydney not only never has to worry about bills again, she is free to invest some serious cash in their store if this business boom continues. It will obviously die down a lot once the initial frenzy is over, but I bet people coming in and buying something just to hear the latest stories will keep a solid trickle of new money coming in for the foreseeable future. Hell, even if it doesnt continue and they keep not making a profit, depending on how bad the not making a profit thing is, she could probably afford to keep it open herself and treat it as her enjoyable, if expensive, personal hobby.

[Calemyr]

Yeah, this is what I meant: it was failing, and now it definitely won't be.

Oh, well, I can't argue that. It's just not the point. Up until yesterday, it was failing and Sydney was co-owner of the shop. So her take-home from it may not have been very good for the last year. That was my point. Still, the birth of Halo has certainly turned the tides in her financial life, both as a business owner and an individual.

[Avilan the Grey]

You need to try a few more actually good restaurants.

High-quality ingredients freshly prepared by a really skilled chef.

Yes. It is amazing. However the treshold seems still to be somewhere between $20 and $30 (for a lunch, maybe 10 more for dinner) where you either start going for the extra special food (as in weird stuff) or just make less of it and put the asparagus in a 40 degree crossed angle and sprits the sauce around (and there isn't enough of it).

[Discus-Spinner]

I still say that even if she is making millions a year now, charging someone 40 bucks for lunch is gouging unless there is something special about it.
And there probably is. Archon will want this very expensive team in perpetual peak condition, so every dish may be assessed by professional dieticians. And the chefs could probably be running their own expensive restaurants uptown, if they hadn't been offered large paycheques of their own to take on the interesting challenge of keeping a bunch of semi-crazies with non-standard metabolisms interested and not all slipping out to the cheap-but-good franchise joints that we know are on the ground floor of the same building. And I bet they don't repeat a menu in any given month.


She ate some freaking pasta dishes. PASTA! The components of fettuccine alfredo probably ran 5 bucks for her portion of it.
Oh dear. There is considerably more to "pasta" than fettucine alfredo (nice though that can be). Penne with lemon and vodka, ravioli with lobster, tagliatelle with wild boar ragu... All to die for when they're done right, believe me. Though for that money, the pasta ought to be freshly hand-made, to be sure.


However the treshold seems still to be somewhere between $20 and $30 (for a lunch, maybe 10 more for dinner) where you either start going for the extra special food (as in weird stuff) or just make less of it and put the asparagus in a 40 degree crossed angle and sprits the sauce around (and there isn't enough of it).
"Weird" is a subjective term. So far as I'm concerned, very little rates as "weird" until you get into the Michelin-starred, three-figure-prices places. Now, gin-and-tonic-flavoured foam, or savoury doughnuts stuffed with slow-cooked ox cheek - those permit the word. Delicious, but ... idiosyncratic. But you'll probably be paying rather more than forty bucks for those meals.

Flashy presentation can be fun, too, although it can substitute for substance. But you won't get much of that with cefeteria service.

Now, the other question here is whether the non-super support staff in that building have to have a special food allowance to enable them to use the cafeteria.

[Traab]

Oh dear. There is considerably more to "pasta" than fettucine alfredo (nice though that can be). Penne with lemon and vodka, ravioli with lobster, tagliatelle with wild boar ragu... All to die for when they're done right, believe me. Though for that money, the pasta ought to be freshly hand-made, to be sure.




Yeah, but this is fettuchini alfredo and an antipasto. This isnt some super fancy meal, it doesnt have anything in it as named outside of pasta and cheese. Not even chicken! Speaking of which, I can buy a premade chicken fettuchini alfredo big enough to feed the whole family with leftovers from costco for 13 bucks. Thats a couple POUNDS of the stuff for nearly a third what she paid for herself. (its freaking delicious too) Im just saying that we went on a big tangent talking about steakhouses and such where expensive meals happen, and overlooked the fact that she didnt eat any big ticket items. She ate a couple dishes of pasta. Yeah its not exactly ragu poured over a dollar a pound box of boiled pasta, but its also not a 2 pound lobster served over a 18 ounce prime rib steak.

*EDIT* Also, dont forget, they were not wearing fancy dress or anything, so they clearly werent at any high falutin hoity toity restaurant either. Sydney peggy and brooke were in uniform, the guys were wearing their tshirts. And achilles was eating a damn burger.

[AvatarVecna]

*EDIT* Also, dont forget, they were not wearing fancy dress or anything, so they clearly werent at any high falutin hoity toity restaurant either. Sydney peggy and brooke were in uniform, the guys were wearing their tshirts. And achilles was eating a damn burger.

He was also using the phrase "mouth feel" and Sydney was the only one complaining; you'd think any restaurant worth it's snooty waiter would have something to say about that.

[Discus-Spinner]

Okay, it was specifically fettucini alfredo. (I'd still bet on freshly-made fettucini, though.) That wouldn't have been all the meal, though; antipasto was mentioned, and that's pretty well open-ended - cured meats, assorted Italian cheeses, artichoke hearts... And we don't know what Sydney had for dessert, but given her geeky and impulsive personality, and the options I'd expect in a good cafe... She may have had more than one. I'm kind of amazed she could walk afterwards.

As for burgers - there's burgers and burgers. The theoretical upper bound for the price is in four figures (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/11143554/Chef-creates-worlds-most-expensive-burger-cost-1100.html), which, yes, is just plain stupid and showing off, but doing something with optimal cuts of beef and stuff can turn a burger into something of a luxury dish with very little trouble.

Anyway, we don't know how much Achilles spent on that burger; it's entirely possible that Sydney's forty bucks was a little high. She does have eyes literally bigger than her stomach in some of the art...

[AvatarVecna]

Anyway, we don't know how much Achilles spent on that burger; it's entirely possible that Sydney's forty bucks was a little high. She does have eyes literally bigger than her stomach in some of the art...

While I won't deny that Sydney would definitely do something like that, I don't think she'd do something like that (splurge on a big meal) and then turn around and complain about how much it costs. Even Sydney's a bit too down-to-earth to do something like that; from what it looks like, she got was she thought was a normal meal, maybe with a good dessert, and was surprised that it turned out to be $40.

[Traab]

You know, I wonder if this will trigger the start of a bit of a timeskip soon? The standard "Main character gets a lot of money then proceeds to waste it doing stupid stuff and learns a valuable lesson" type story arcs. So a few panels showing sydney buying a car, getting fancy nerd memorabilia, maybe even moving to a bigger house or something. Then its two weeks later and she is moaning about not being able to afford the overly expensive lunches anymore because due to her getting an advance it will eb another week before she gets paid again. It would make sense, its pretty well known that a LOT of lotto winners and others who come into big money tend to waste it really fast due to lack of self control. At least she will be getting steady paychecks that are absurdly big money, so she wont become poor because she was stupid with her lump sum.

[Discus-Spinner]

That sounds a bit too prosaic for Sydney. I'm not saying that she won't do something dumb with the money - just that she's likely to do something differently dumb.

[Qwertystop]

You know, I wonder if this will trigger the start of a bit of a timeskip soon? The standard "Main character gets a lot of money then proceeds to waste it doing stupid stuff and learns a valuable lesson" type story arcs. So a few panels showing sydney buying a car, getting fancy nerd memorabilia, maybe even moving to a bigger house or something. Then its two weeks later and she is moaning about not being able to afford the overly expensive lunches anymore because due to her getting an advance it will eb another week before she gets paid again. It would make sense, its pretty well known that a LOT of lotto winners and others who come into big money tend to waste it really fast due to lack of self control. At least she will be getting steady paychecks that are absurdly big money, so she wont become poor because she was stupid with her lump sum.

It's a bit different in the case of a lotto winner - getting a single large lump-sum is very different from suddenly having a higher income. Improved general quality-of-life tends to be a sustained cost, so unless the lottery winnings are enough that you can get a significant gain from treating them as an endowment - that is, invest them in something safe and never touch them, only using the return from investment - it's not generally possible to do something that would actually improve your overall situation by a lot, except if perhaps you have debts (that you're actually trying to pay) and it would clear them. Often it's better just to use it to take a vacation, fix something that needs fixing, or otherwise do one-time things, because a lump-sum is not a long-term increase to income - if you can't sustain yourself on investing it, and you can't bootstrap it into a better income via it lasting long enough to pay you through schooling or an extended job-search or moving to somewhere with a better job market, you're not going to be able to make permanent improvements.

[Yuki Akuma]

So I read through the entire archive yesterday.

This comic only updates twice a week? Oh, God. Help. ;.;

[Traab]

So I read through the entire archive yesterday.

This comic only updates twice a week? Oh, God. Help. ;.;

It used to be once every week. For the first 4 YEARS it was once a week on updates. So at least it has doubled in production. But yeah, I wish he could go 3 times a week on this at least. But I get the feeling there is just too much art to draw to make it possible at this point.

[AvatarVecna]

So I read through the entire archive yesterday.

This comic only updates twice a week? Oh, God. Help. ;.;

There is a reason one potential title for this second thread was "And Now We Wait".

[Traab]

I think its truly frightening that the comic has been going for 5 years now and has barely passed 24 hours in universe. Just as terrifying that 5 years of comics amounts to like 2 hours of archive binging

[TheEmerged]

Also, there's simple supply and demand - the restuarants near Archon HQ have likely increased their prices to reflect the clientel showing up. Before you laugh, I remember too well the old Burger Chef across the street from one of the major employers in town when I was a child, and the prices there were sometimes 50 cents higher than the other Burger Chef on the other side of town. The same was true with the diner downtown when I was a teen, before a second diner opened up across the street...

Yes, I'm old enough to remember Burger Chef, stop laughing :smallredface:
I'm also old enough to remember major employers in town, ain't nobody laughing about that.

[Traab]

Ah well, at least now I can picture this.

"Hey Joel, dont worry, we can afford to hire olivia at a decent wage and even pay for health care now!"

"Uhh, why is that?"

"Ah, its just that now I make more in a month than the store makes in two years. I think I can swing covering that until we see if the store stays busy."

[Kantaki]

New comic.

I agree with Sydney, with that name the guy deserves powers.:smallbiggrin: Unfortunatly this isn't a universe where your name has influence on your powers.

[AvatarVecna]

Unfortunatly this isn't a universe where your name has influence on your powers.

Which is now, due it coming up twice, starting to look suspiciously like a plot point.

[Traab]

I think the massive amount of money she just got handed may have broken her already weak levels of self control. Not that I blame her. If I got my annual salary handed to me in a single check and was told I will get these twice a month, I would likely be bouncing off the walls as well. Nothing like having your budget increased 24x over to shove some adrenaline into your system. Once he gets her to calm down a bit and focus, I think he might have fun with her situation. After all, she is a business owner, not just random joe super who needs to know the best way to handle being a future millionaire instead of a regular guy with a small checking account at webster bank. So he will be able to do all sorts of different things for her.

[Yuki Akuma]

I find the author's complaints about bizarrely appropriate superhero names to ring somewhat hollow when his protagonist is Sydney "Uses Mace As A Light Condiment" Scoville.

[Kantaki]

I find the author's complaints about bizarrely appropriate superhero names to ring somewhat hollow when his protagonist is Sydney "Uses Mace As A Light Condiment" Scoville.

Why that? Sydney doesn't have powers that are related to her name. If her powers were heat, fire or capscain related I would agree.
That someone with Sydney’s quirks would build up her resistance to hot food when her name relates to the scale of food hotness isn't that surprising.
I admit that it could be seen one of those „odd coincidence” names but it makes more sense than a guy whose name sounds like teleporter getting teleportation-powers.

[Eldan]

Yeah. If she was a comic book secondary character from the golden age, her name would be something like Spherula Septus or Olga Orbington.

[halfeye]

Why that? Sydney doesn't have powers that are related to her name. If her powers were heat, fire or capscain related I would agree.
Maybe not technically powers, but these pages are canon:

http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/185

http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/192

http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/194

There is another strip where she gets some in her eye.

So that's four pages about Sydney eating very hot food, then her surname is Scoville? That's naming by characteristics.

[Traab]

Yeah. If she was a comic book secondary character from the golden age, her name would be something like Spherula Septus or Olga Orbington.

Or possibly they would get "clever" and name her Harriet Lowman. Sort of like Lance Alvers whose mutant name is Avalanche.

[Qwertystop]

Yeah, I could see Sydney actually thinking about her name as it relates to spiciness and thus deciding to eat lots of spicy food.

[Kantaki]

Or possibly they would get "clever" and name her Harriet Lowman. Sort of like Lance Alvers whose mutant name is Avalanche.

Häh? I'm not sure I get the wordplay behind Harriet Lowman. And I'm sure I will bang my head against the nearest wall if I get a explanation.
Still, could you explain it?

@ halfeye: That's a bit like complaining about a character named Winchester having a interest in guns. Sometimes a persons family name can spark interest in a topic that is related to it. Considering Sydney and the way she tends to act trying to eat the spiciest food possible because of her last name seems relative normal. It isn't even the worst reason to try this.

Yes I admit, her name is oddly fitting but it is a minor quirk and it can be explained. Unlike powers that fit their users name.

[Douglas]

Häh? I'm not sure I get the wordplay behind Harriet Lowman. And I'm sure I will bang my head against the nearest wall if I get a explanation.
Still, could you explain it?
Harriet Lowman = Halo. At least, that's what I think the point was.

[Traab]

Yep, that about covers it.

[Kantaki]

Harriet Lowman = Halo. At least, that's what I think the point was.

:smallbiggrin:If that's the joke I was wrong - I don't want to bang my head against a wall.
Doing it to someone else would be much better.:smallamused:

Aunt Edith says: And it is the explanation. Well unfortunately for my desire to hurt someone I'm too tired and too peaceful to bang anyones head against a wall.

[Emperordaniel]

Maybe not technically powers, but these pages are canon:

http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/185

http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/192

http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/194

There is another strip where she gets some in her eye.

So that's four pages about Sydney eating very hot food, then her surname is Scoville? That's naming by characteristics.

She was hospitalized (briefly) after getting that stuff in her eye (http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/704), though.

[Discus-Spinner]

I think the massive amount of money she just got handed may have broken her already weak levels of self control. Not that I blame her. If I got my annual salary handed to me in a single check and was told I will get these twice a month, I would likely be bouncing off the walls as well.
Sydney was given to deranged free association and bouncing off walls long before she was handed that cheque.

[Yuki Akuma]

She was hospitalized (briefly) after getting that stuff in her eye (http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/704), though.

It's not about her having superpowers that let her resist spiciness because her surname is Scoville. It's just about her having a suspiciously appropriate name for an attribute of hers (that is, tolerance for incredibly spicy food) that makes the author's stated dislike of the same thing in superhero comics ring slightly hollow.

[Traab]

Sydney was given to deranged free association and bouncing off walls long before she was handed that cheque.

Yeah I know, but its been cranked up a bit in this last comic. It was a bit much of a reaction even for her and im blaming it on the endorphins and adrenaline from seeing that monster check. Im also curious to see if dave will go into the adviser actually explaining things to her or if that will be done off panel. I admit I have always been curious about how people with enough money they need an adviser actually end up setting up their financial situation. What happens when your bank account is too big for a standard webster checking account?

[Discus-Spinner]

What happens when your bank account is too big for a standard webster checking account?
You get more than one account, shunt some money into investment accounts, and start looking at other investment options.

Honestly, this stuff is important, and if you've got enough money to invest some long-term you should get advice, but it's not terribly exciting to describe the details. Especially as an adviser recommended by Archon isn't likely to be the sort of dubious type to go recommending weird high-risk options.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

Sydney scares me. If she considers this a well handled (by her standards) situation I don't want to see what a overreaction looks like.

Poor Aurelius, he has no idea what he is dealing with. I think after this he will need a long Holiday.

[Traab]

Man he has his work cut out for him. Sydney is insanely impulsive at the best of times. Add that to a new fortune and things are going to be scary. She needs one of those zap collars with a remote he can hold. Every time she starts to get tempted ot buy random stuff, /ZAAAP!

[AvatarVecna]

Oh dear. I was hoping that beneath the spastic nerd was somebody with a little bit of common sense (as has been shown on occasion), but apparently that common sense only comes out to play if superpowers and their governing tropes are involved. Oh well...

[Kantaki]

I think Sydney has plenty common sense. It's just that she is a bit overwhelmed right now, with makes her mind jump more than usual. Once she has calmed down a bit she should be more reasonable.

[AvatarVecna]

Overreacting is one thing, declaring yourself the queen of salt is quite another. Something that ridiculously out there is either a deliberately exaggerated response by Sydney for comedic purposes (which would be indicative of severe self-esteem issues) or it's a legitimate reaction, which is concerning for very different reasons (*cough* psychotic breakdown *cough*).

[Kantaki]

We are talking about Sydney. What normal people would call a overreaction is her normal. And what she calls a (relative well handled) overreaction makes normal people worry what happens if she doesn't handle a overreaction "well".

I'm pretty sure Mr. Shrapnell will take some SAN-damage while dealing with her but sooner or later she should go back to "Sydney" normal and be easier to keep on track.

[tomandtish]

We are talking about Sydney. What normal people would call a overreaction is her normal. And what she calls a (relative well handled) overreaction makes normal people worry what happens if she doesn't handle a overreaction "well".

I'm pretty sure Mr. Shrapnell will take some SAN-damage while dealing with her but sooner or later she should go back to "Sydney" normal and be easier to keep on track.

Exactly, and remember, we have the advantage of foresight (since we are still in flashback) of knowing that 3 months from now or so Sydney seems to be doing OK in a new comic book shop. Anything bad that does happen is (apparently) short-term.

[Traab]

Overreacting is one thing, declaring yourself the queen of salt is quite another. Something that ridiculously out there is either a deliberately exaggerated response by Sydney for comedic purposes (which would be indicative of severe self-esteem issues) or it's a legitimate reaction, which is concerning for very different reasons (*cough* psychotic breakdown *cough*).

Honestly, I agree. It fails the fridge logic test. It was an amusing scene, and it works due to the historic connection between salt and salary, but when you take 5 seconds to think about it, she had a mental breakdown, even if it only lasted a few minutes. Thats really not a good thing considering they are training her to be a military type person and eventually trusting her with real authority. They were already worried about her being a spazz and her odd reactions, and now they have seen another thing that makes her go nuts.

[Ibrinar]

Or she is part of the time a comic relieve character and thus doesn't always has to make sense in terms of normal behaviour.

[Calemyr]

I picture the Queen of Salt frame to be more of an "imagine shot", a la Scrubs. As in "All I did was foam at the mouth a little, I could've gone waaaaayyyy further."

Sydney, despite being the protagonist, is definitely a comic relief character. On both sides of the fourth wall, in fact. Her unusual perspective on things amuse and entertain her peers, whether it's her odd comments on super-hero body hair or being chased around the firing range by her own spheres, she's as much a tension breaker for the cast as she can be for the audience.

[AvatarVecna]

Or she is part of the time a comic relieve character and thus doesn't always has to make sense in terms of normal behaviour.

Being a comic relief character doesn't require you to throw logic out the window. It would be one thing if she jumped to her feet and declared herself the queen of salt in a loud, over-the-top manner, because that would indicate she's doing it specifically for comedic purposes in a way that isn't going too far. But no: she's in a fetal position under the table, with a death grip on the salt, a glazed look in her eyes, and her various coworkers huddled outside the doorway as if they're watching a bomb being defused. This is concerning, whether she's trying to weird for comedic purposes, or if she's legitimately going crazy.

[AvatarVecna]

What I like about today's comic: the financial advice stuff seems pretty sound, and also how Sydney's pupils slowly start dilating as she zones out. Alas, I don't know the "look at my horse, my horse is amazing" reference was intentional or accidental, though.

What I don't like about this comic: how slim the chances seem on this just being Sydney's vibrant imagination, as opposed to a mental psychosis or something. I mean, by the Nine, I do stuff like this when I'm trying to get into character for an RPG, where I'll craft elaborate contrived scenarios in my head for the characters to go through...but at least I have the presence of mind and willpower to not do so when I'm in the middle of a conversation.

Oh, I'm sorry, I mean isn't this just so wacky and not crazy? I'm sure there's a totally not concerning explanation for all of this.

[Kantaki]

I still think that Sydney's behaviour is relative normal - if exaggerateted for comedic purposes - for someone with a overly active imagination. Considering this is Sydney telling the story I wouldn't be surprised if the events are shown in a slightly inaccurate manner.

I'm missing a Karl May reference in the footnote.

[Traab]

If they could let zach braff on Scrubs be a doctor with his odd tendency to zone out and stare at nothing till he is done daydreaming, im sure sydney can be a superhero. But yeah, i do agree that this is a bit extreme and there should be meetings with the brass worrying over this. Because its kind of dangerous how crazy she gets. I know its done for comedic value, but its hard to ignore that any military seeing her act like this would have given her a section 8 discharge in short order. (Or whatever the current version is of a discharge because you are batspit crazy)

[AvatarVecna]

I have an overly active imagination. I go out of my way to not spend time around other people so that I can spend more time in imagination land. I create entire worlds in my imagination for countless original characters to explore, most of which I never get to play in a game or write for a book. I imagine my countless original characters jumping into fictional universe after fictional universe, purely to figure out how the two would interact. I am speaking as somebody whose imagination is powerful enough to hinder my ability to interact with people in a normal fashion, as someone who's been spinning elaborate plots in highly detailed worlds for countless characters of varying capabilities since I was 5, and Sydney is going even further than I do, simply by not having the self-control to keep it under control when she's around other people.

I am telling you this is ****ed up from an insider's perspective. Even I'm not this bad, and I may not be crazy, but my parents had me tested. Multiple times.

[Kantaki]

Let me rephrase: Sydney’s behaviour is extremely exaggerated. And yes, It makes her look a little bit crazy.

But I’m not entirely convinced that we really see everything as it really happens. For one Syd has a very active imagination - at least the salt-queen-incident could be a imagineshot - and since she is the one telling the story I wouldn't be surprised if she is exaggerating her own behaviour for amusement purposes.

[Forum Explorer]

It's a highly comedic comic that is a quasi serious parody of superhero stories. I don't understand why people are taking the over reaction so seriously.

[Traab]

It's a highly comedic comic that is a quasi serious parody of superhero stories. I don't understand why people are taking the over reaction so seriously.

Because quoting sagat and picking a fight with math isnt as disturbing as going into a mental breakdown and calling yourself the queen of salt in a fugue state. It was a bit too much crazy to fit in with her normal crazy. Normal crazy is her modesty mummy getup, dragging three of her new female friends away with her lighthook so she can have a quiet chat with them about her being a vegetarian. Even the foaming at the mouth/drooling thing upon seeing her first paycheck wasnt too much out of the ordinary for her. Creating a table fort and a candle lit altar for her paycheck while making a power cord salt shaker crown and having silverware between your fingers like wolverine claws while hollering about being the queen of salt is way past the boundaries of acceptable crazy.

[AvatarVecna]

One additional point: my concerns are less warranted if this is, in fact, a story being told by Sydney from her perspective. That said, when you take into account the general flashback nature the rest of the strip has taken, as well as the number of things that happen outside her personal perspective that are depicted in the comic, it doesn't come across (to me, anyway) that it's Sydney telling a story from the first-person perspective, but that a story mostly centered around Sydney is being told from a third-person omniscient perspective. In the first case (where the storyteller is Sydney), the possibility of an Unreliable Narrator is certainly present, but such a thing is far less likely in the second case, which has a lot more evidence. My concern is based on my understanding of the comic being that this is a story with a reliable narrator, and that the events depicted are to be taken seriously.

Sydney, for the most part, has been zany and off-the-wall and even a little bit kooky at times, such as her freaking out when the reporter snuck up on her ("Always. Expect. Ninjas."), or the previously mentioned "picking a fight with Math after declaring herself unbeatable", or her clocking Achilles upside the head for saying "mouth feel" over and over. Traab summed up why the queen of salt scene is disturbing far better than I could, though.

It's kinda the same thing that happened to Math: he went from about a 5/10 on the "creepy pervert" scale, with his losing to the kung-fu chick when her wardrobe malfunctioned, to a full blown 9/10 when asking other guys for wank material in the shower. It's taking a character trait that's solid but realistic, and turning it up to 11, to the point that it's more concerning than comedic.

[Kantaki]

Because quoting sagat and picking a fight with math isnt as disturbing as going into a mental breakdown and calling yourself the queen of salt in a fugue state. It was a bit too much crazy to fit in with her normal crazy. Normal crazy is her modesty mummy getup, dragging three of her new female friends away with her lighthook so she can have a quiet chat with them about her being a vegetarian. Even the foaming at the mouth/drooling thing upon seeing her first paycheck wasnt too much out of the ordinary for her. Creating a table fort and a candle lit altar for her paycheck while making a power cord salt shaker crown and having silverware between your fingers like wolverine claws while hollering about being the queen of salt is way past the boundaries of acceptable crazy.

Wait, did Sydney really pull the salt-queen-stunt? I was starting to assume that she imagined it.

I still think that Sydney is narrating the flashback and exaggerates her own craziness (and that of the others) for... whatever reason she has.

[Traab]

All that being said, if that is the norm for math, and the other supers have their own "too far" style quirks, like say dabbler and how she was acting when sydney first showed up after sleeping with the barberian, then it might be understandable why sydney acting the way she did wouldnt get her locked up fast. They are USED to supers being batspit crazy in different ways. Heck, there may even be scientific explanations for why it happens.

[Qwertystop]

I don't think this is an unreliable narrator situation - other than the first couple of pages framing it as a narration of how Sydney got started, nothing has hinted at any embellishment, or even that it was actually Sydney telling the story. There's even been a few moments with Sydney not present, right? When they were deciding whether or not to hire her?

[Hiro Protagonest]

There's even been a few moments with Sydney not present, right? When they were deciding whether or not to hire her?

Or when Math was trying to burn a hole through the wall. Or basically any time Sydney's talking to Harem and the next panel is about another Harem.

[Kantaki]

I don't think the fact that we get to see things that happen in Sydney’s absence disproves the idea that she „narrates” the events of the flashback. It might not be common to have a narrating protagonist describe events they aren't present for but it does exist.

Admittedly it isn't very likely, but it would explain the exaggerated oddness of some of the heroes.

[Traab]

And now the financial advice arc is over. And Sydney is abusing the heck out of genre savvy. Seriously, that perk should be expensive as hell in any rpg.

[Kantaki]

Did Sydney just try to reverse Murphy? I don't think it works that way.

[AvatarVecna]

It's nice to see that, however crazy she's appeared to be through all this, she's still apparently had some common sense that just wasn't getting any screen time. Hopefully we can get back to the high adventure soon enough, and leave behind this world of extreme perversion, debatable sanity, and paperwork.

[Traab]

Doubtful, this is intro day for sydney. Heck, when I joined the military, I spent the first WEEK marching all over the base filling out paperwork, picking up my supplies, getting my hair cut, getting my shots, taking a urine test, learning where everything was, etc. Chances are most of today is going to be fairly basic and uninteresting nonaction stuff like forms and lectures and such. Heck, even running laps was only done because sydney achilles and amorphus were being obnoxious at lunch. We also still need to see sydney attend her pr class that arianna has setup while saying she cant leave till she goes there. That may actually be what is being lead into here from the avengers hook up. "Ok, you can go to the premiere when it happens, but first, this is a class on how to behave."

That said, there is always the potential for an interruption of some sort. Vehemence made the first evil move, bu there are a number of people intending to take up the gauntlet Maxima threw down. So it isnt impossible for there to be another attack that causes action to happen. The real question is, would they call in sydney if it doesnt take place at archon? She is a day 1 recruit, so normally the answer would be hysterical laughter and a no, but she acquitted herself really well last night and has proven to be an asset.


Did Sydney just try to reverse Murphy? I don't think it works that way.


Actually it does. There are a number of times when the hero says something like, "What? You expect beautiful women to just fall out of the sky?!" And then BAM! Supergirl smashes into the earth next to them, or whoever. Often followed by the hero saying, "What? You expect a billion dollars to just fall out of the sky?!" Sure then nothing happens, but the first time it does. Sydney was playing off that.

[Dusk Eclipse]

And now the financial advice arc is over. And Sydney is abusing the heck out of genre savvy. Seriously, that perk should be expensive as hell in any rpg.

My group actually homebrewed a "Break the fourth wall" perk for Anima Beyond Fantasy... it costs 8 advantage points (you start with 3 and you only get 1 every other level), so yes it is QUITE expensive.

[Kantaki]

Actually it does. There are a number of times when the hero says something like, "What? You expect beautiful women to just fall out of the sky?!" And then BAM! Supergirl smashes into the earth next to them, or whoever. Often followed by the hero saying, "What? You expect a billion dollars to just fall out of the sky?!" Sure then nothing happens, but the first time it does. Sydney was playing off that.

Sure, it works sometimes, but usually as a starting point for plot or as part of a joke. It almost never works for personal advantage things like money or cinema tickets. Especially not if you want it to work.
Sure, had someone said "Sydney, it doesn't work that way." the universe might have decided that proving that person wrong makes the better joke, but if Sydney wants it to work it doesn't.

[Traab]

Sure, it works sometimes, but usually as a starting point for plot or as part of a joke. It almost never works for personal advantage things like money or cinema tickets. Especially not if you want it to work.
Sure, had someone said "Sydney, it doesn't work that way." the universe might have decided that proving that person wrong makes the better joke, but if Sydney wants it to work it doesn't.

Ah, but this is the setup for her "speaking to the press" training. She is going to be bored as heck trying to stay awake, because the only way she will be allowed to go to the premiere is if she learns all this stuff. Im picturing lots of panels of her nodding off and forcing herself awake in different ways. Either that, or lots of arguing like she did earlier with arianna.

[Kantaki]

Wait, the last panel really happened? I assumed it was Sydney’s imagination.

But we all know what Durkon said about assuming stuff. Maybe I should listen.

[Traab]

Wait, the last panel really happened? I assumed it was Sydney’s imagination.

But we all know what Durkon said about assuming stuff. Maybe I should listen.

I dunno, I take it as real, because she often has people in the background looking worried when she goes through one of these "humorous" episodes. And I dont think dave has ever implied that its all in her head.

[AvatarVecna]

I assumed it was Sydney’s imagination.

This seems to be happening a lot.

Until we have evidence in-comic to suggest that anything taking place is fictitious in-comic, rather than only being fictional in the meta-sense, the base assumption is that everything is actually happening in the canon of the comic. There have been occasions previously when the comic has made the "Imagine Spot" obvious, such as the previous comic: Sydney's eyes are visibly zoning out, and the horse with the castle in the background has many similarities to the person she's talking to; it then cuts to her performing an action in the comic's reality that's similar to her in-comic imagine spot, making it obvious that the penultimate panel (the one with the horse) was an imagine spot.

There is nothing in this comic to suggest that the last panel is anything other than reality, so until such evidence presents itself (such as the next comic beginning with that panel appearing in a thought bubble, or something similar), we can only assume that it is canon.

[AvatarVecna]

And I dont think dave has ever implied that its all in her head.

By the Nine, if this is all just leading up to another St. Elsewhere style plot, heads will roll. Admittedly, it could be salvaged if only the stuff happening "today" in-comic was one giant in-comic imagine spot, and the in-comic imagine spot was a supervillain capturing all of their minds and puppet'ing them around, Delta-style.

[Traab]

By the Nine, if this is all just leading up to another St. Elsewhere style plot, heads will roll. Admittedly, it could be salvaged if only the stuff happening "today" in-comic was one giant in-comic imagine spot, and the in-comic imagine spot was a supervillain capturing all of their minds and puppet'ing them around, Delta-style.

I dont think thats likely, at worst its a Scrubs style fantasy taking place during actual events. She drifts off on a mental tangent where she does odd stuff like proclaim herself the queen of salt, then snaps back to the present. On the one hand, I dont think that is whats happening. On the other, that would really save the day in my mind, to explain why her first day isnt her last due to her complete and utter insanity.

[HandofShadows]

Yeah, her a.... hair.

However we do have conformation that the Flight Sphere DOES alter local gravity which is what allows her to fly.

[Kantaki]

Yeah, her a.... hair.

However we do have conformation that the Flight Sphere DOES alter local gravity which is what allows her to fly.

Does it alter gravity?

After checking the archive it looks like it does.

Well, today we learned that Archon already thought of everything regarding merchandise-rights (poor Sydney, no making more money) and some details about Maxima's power that I at least didn't need to know.

[Calemyr]

Does it alter gravity?

After checking the archive it looks like it does.

Well, today we learned that Archon already thought of everything regarding merchandise-rights (poor Sydney, no making more money) and some details about Maxima's power that I at least didn't need to know.

I don't think Sydney will be ill served, merchandise-wise. Arianna may well be utterly ruthless, but she said quite early that she will be representing Sydney's interests as well as Archon. I doubt the first thing she did was cheat Sydney, especially given the paycheck and ready access to a financial adviser. I also expect Arianna to be skilled enough at her job that her influence on marketing will result in far more profit for Sydney than if she got to keep all the profits herself while also contributing nicely to Archon's funding.

Put simply, Arianna is a professional. She set up Halo with fair market value payment (for an extremely exclusive skillset) before Sydney even stopped to ask if she was going to get paid at all. Sydney was still thinking "civic duty" and "sanctioned use of powers" signed that contract, no expectation of any payment. She wants Halo (and all of ArcSWAT) happy to be there, and she's going to make sure they're well taken care of: well paid, well represented in the public, and well represented in the courts.

Edit: Of course, I also expect Arianna will also listen to at least a few of Sydney's marketing schemes and may use them if they're either bold enough or brilliant enough. Sydney's insane, but she's shown herself to be quite clever as well.

[Dusk Eclipse]

At the very least I'm expecting Sydney to ask for some exclusive merchandise for her store.

[Traab]

At the very least I'm expecting Sydney to ask for some exclusive merchandise for her store.

At the very least I could see her getting to premier the new merchandise before other locations get it. "Come one come all! Get your limited edition signed archon collectibles! Once they go on sale elsewhere, there will be no more signatures!"

[Spamotron]

I didn't notice it myself until it was pointed out in the comic comments. Aurelius' outfit is different shades of purple with gold accents. Now what could have possibly enamored him on that color scheme? :smallbiggrin:

[Traab]

New comic up. And max is both teaching her a lot of technical crap about her pip device, and enjoying sydneys terror just a little too much to be healthy. I put it in the comment section but I will put it here too. Would sydney be able to use an enlarged shield and super speed flight as a weapon against enemy coptors and jets and such? Just buzz right by them at high speeds and create massive turbulence and such? It seems to be a problem for commercial airlines even with her regular shield since max had to warn her about it.

[Yuki Akuma]

Max is fast enough that she could safely catch Sydney if it turned out she was too terrified to call the flight orb to her hand at a safe enough altitude.

Syndey was never in any actual danger.

Also: I would assume that, yes, Sydney can probably buzz planes to destabilize them at least a little. Whether it would be an effective combat tactic against planes smaller than an airliner has yet to be seen, though (and I doubt Sydney would ever need to fight an airliner).

[Emperordaniel]

New comic up. And Max is both teaching her a lot of technical crap about her pip device, and enjoying Sydney's terror just a little too much to be healthy. I put it in the comment section but I will put it here too. Would Sydney be able to use an enlarged shield and super speed flight as a weapon against enemy copters and jets and such? Just buzz right by them at high speeds and create massive turbulence and such? It seems to be a problem for commercial airlines even with her regular shield since Max had to warn her about it.

Why weaponize the turbulence against aircraft when she can just slam straight into them with her shield? After all, even Max's nuclear-explosion-thingy wasn't able to break through it, so a relatively flimsy airplane or helicopter should be no trouble at all. :smallbiggrin:

[HandofShadows]

Heck Sydney doesn't even have to ram into a flying aircraft. All she needs to do is get in front of it while it's flying. (crunch)

[Traab]

You guys are assuming there would be no transfer of energy causing sydney to splat against the inside of her own shield. I dont know if being bullet proof resistant, means she can slam herself bodily into solid objects and expect to go through them like they dont even exist. Put her in the bomb suit again, then have her ram things at gradually increasing speeds to confirm or deny this potential application please. If there is even a ten percent reduction in speed, that means if she slams into a plane going 400 mph, she will hit the wall of her shield going 40. Crunch.

[halfeye]

You guys are assuming there would be no transfer of energy causing sydney to splat against the inside of her own shield. I dont know if being bullet proof resistant, means she can slam herself bodily into solid objects and expect to go through them like they dont even exist. Put her in the bomb suit again, then have her ram things at gradually increasing speeds to confirm or deny this potential application please. If there is even a ten percent reduction in speed, that means if she slams into a plane going 400 mph, she will hit the wall of her shield going 40. Crunch.
Even if that turns out to be true, which in this comic I doubt, she can match speeds, get in front, then slow down to a hover. If it doesn't smash (I think breaking is actually probable), anything less than a helicopter will stall.

[Admiral Squish]

Well, when Max was punching her shield hard enough to break glass and shake the building with the shockwave from the impact, Sydney wasn't punched through the floor or even across the room, so there's gotta be some kind of force-absorption involved.
For force to transfer from an object to the shield, the shield would have to have mass, or at least an 'effective mass' of some sort. So far, it seems to work off the same weird physics-defying forces as her orbs.

[John Campbell]

You guys are assuming there would be no transfer of energy causing sydney to splat against the inside of her own shield. I dont know if being bullet proof resistant, means she can slam herself bodily into solid objects and expect to go through them like they dont even exist. Put her in the bomb suit again, then have her ram things at gradually increasing speeds to confirm or deny this potential application please. If there is even a ten percent reduction in speed, that means if she slams into a plane going 400 mph, she will hit the wall of her shield going 40. Crunch.
There will be no significant transfer of energy. We already know this.

Physics-wise, "moving" and "stationary" are null words. Motion is only ever relative to other things, and you can always decide that any arbitrary thing is stationary and it's everything else that's moving.

This means that there is NO difference between something hitting Sydney's shield, and Sydney's shield hitting something. It's just the choice of reference frames, what thing you have decided to pretend is stationary when you look at the motions of other objects relative to it. By the same token, there is NO difference between Sydney's shield not moving when something hits it, and Sydney's shield not stopping when it hits something. Again, just the choice of reference frames.

Therefore, the fact that Sydney's shield didn't bounce around like a pinball and splatter Sydney all over the interior when Max punched it means that it will not stop or bounce off if Sydney were to ram Max (or an airplane, or the ground, or a billboard which she has done in the comic, or whatever) with it, and the fact that it did not transfer the energy of the punch to Sydney means that it will not transfer the energy of the ram to Sydney.

And we've seen the force Max can apply shatter pavement, grind concrete to dust, and send a 65-ton tank flying off into the distance. And we've seen Sydney's shield just casually shrug it off, with no more transfer to Sydney than, "Well, I could tell you were hitting it." This force is not in any way different than the force of the shield hitting something.

I had pretty much this same discussion with someone in the comments of Monday's page. One of the very first things we learned about the orbs, before we even saw them, is that they can resist large amounts of force without transferring that force to Sydney. Why do people insist on ignoring this to make Sydney's shield useless?

[Qwertystop]

Considering that they're clearly at least partially mentally activated, it's possible that the shield is related in some way to intent or perception. That is, the shield is a shield, and shields block things but they aren't weapons. It clearly doesn't follow conventional physics entirely - the question comes down to whether what it uses defines it as "a perfect defense" or as "an unbreakable sphere which does not move relative to (whatever)" or something else entirely.

[Douglas]

Is everyone forgetting the billboard Sydney "improved" on her way home last night, or dismissing it as too fragile to be a meaningful test?

[Traab]

Is everyone forgetting the billboard Sydney "improved" on her way home last night, or dismissing it as too fragile to be a meaningful test?

Billboards arent THAT fragile. And yeah I forgot about that one.

[Kantaki]

Great. Now I'm imagining Sydney attacking destroying planes and wonder in with context it might come up.
I only know that, should it happen, her battlecry will be „Ramming Speed”. And someone might point out that the Pew Pew Orb would have worked just as well.

[Yuki Akuma]

But to use the PPO, she either has to take her hand off the flight orb or the shield orb - so flying into things with her shield up is probably a better idea when she's in aerial combat.

[Traab]

Terrorist attacks if they managed to hijack a military base perhaps? Invasion force backed up by enemy supers? Its also possible it could work on regular flyer supers as well. After all, sydney wont need to worry about turbulence most likely if her shield is up. It probably wouldnt effect max much, she is just too strong, but as we learned at the super hero summerslam, not every flier is as tough as max.

Another interesting shield application is that, there may be bad guys out there capable of caging the heroes, or at least certain ones. I wonder if sydney could put up her shield and break through someone elses by virtue of her shield being stronger? Or if she is capable of accelerating with her flight orb from zero to "ZOMG THATS FAST!" instantly. If so, she could use her shield and instant acceleration to impart that incredible force to any cage she might be locked in, breaking it down.

[BannedInSchool]

Yeah, I don't know that we can assume anything based on concepts of mass, force, and momentum. It's all magic really. :smalltongue:

[Traab]

I wonder if there are any exploits to her personal gravity? Like, could she hold a glass of water while flying upside down and drink from it? (lame exploit but you get the idea) How far does it extend?

[Forum Explorer]

But to use the PPO, she either has to take her hand off the flight orb or the shield orb - so flying into things with her shield up is probably a better idea when she's in aerial combat.

Honestly I think 9 times out of 10, hitting people with the shield would be more useful anyways. They generally don't seem to want to kill people, so Sydney pushing people around with her shield and knocking them over and pinning them beneath it seems to be the better solution.

[AvatarVecna]

Just came here to say one thing: Troll!Maxima is best Maxima.

That is all.

[AvatarVecna]

Honestly I think 9 times out of 10, hitting people with the shield would be more useful anyways. They generally don't seem to want to kill people, so Sydney pushing people around with her shield and knocking them over and pinning them beneath it seems to be the better solution.

This brings up an interesting point that I've only ever seen really dealt with by one superhero story: why do we assume that these powers will have a different effect on people than on objects? Sure, running into Maxima will either stop the bubble in its tracks, or just brush her out of the way without injuring her (depending on the situation), but if Sydney goes to ramming speed with her shield up, and runs into somebody less durable, why wouldn't that person get destroyed like the billboard did?

[Traab]

This brings up an interesting point that I've only ever seen really dealt with by one superhero story: why do we assume that these powers will have a different effect on people than on objects? Sure, running into Maxima will either stop the bubble in its tracks, or just brush her out of the way without injuring her (depending on the situation), but if Sydney goes to ramming speed with her shield up, and runs into somebody less durable, why wouldn't that person get destroyed like the billboard did?

It depends. It may be like getting hit by a car at similar speeds. It also helps that people arent generally rooted into the ground with a giant metal pole buried in 10 feet of concrete keeping it in place when something smashes into it. But like with anything else, sydney has options, this is just another one that could come in handy. I dunno how this would effect someone like say, hiro, or stalwart. They are both classic brick types. Super strength and durability. (Yeah hiro is more than that, but for this discussion it doesnt matter) How does an unbreakable object hitting you at roughly 400 mph effect someone on that level? Anvil would absorb all that kinetic energy and thank sydney for the boost, maxima is so strong that unless she was caught by surprise, or had stat dumped everything out of armor it wouldnt do much most likely. Achilles would get launched but be just fine. Math would probably be pasted if he took a direct hit. He seems to have slightly post human physical stats, but I doubt they cover a 400 mph impact.

[Qwertystop]

Also, keep in mind that if Sydney isn't trying for lethality she could just fly slower.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

Using duct tape to secure the orb is a clever idea.

Now I'm curious who will reach her speed-limit first, Sydney or Maxima. I wouldn't be surprised if Sydney at least Comes Close to Maxima's topspeed.

[halfeye]

New comic.

Using duct tape to secure the orb is a clever idea.

Now I'm curious who will reach her speed-limit first, Sydney or Maxima. I wouldn't be surprised if Sydney at least Comes Close to Maxima's topspeed.
Top speed? there is no top speed.

[Traab]

Im not sure if I am reading the orb right, but it certainly looks like sydney is not even close to her max speed. But is max going to hit her max speed before the orbs max speed is maxxed out? heh. Seriously though, I wonder how max will react to this. I mean, she seems to really relax while flying, so she might enjoy having someone at least close to her level. As she said way back when, being a super gets lonely. Its probably even worse when you are at the very top of the power scale. So having sydney at least be able to match her in flight would probably be a relief for her, and give her someone to connect to. I mean, hiro can fly, yeah, but max would feel like an olympic runner going out jogging with a regular joe. Having to hold WAY back just to stay on their level.

But as I said in the comments on the comic, I want to see so many things get tested here! First we have to find her speed limit, secondly, we have to test her carrying capacity and see how that changes things. Can she hold a half dozen people in her shield and still break the sound barrier? If so her usefulness just went WAAAAY up. Yeah max and hiro can fly fast, but without carrying something like a bus with them, they cant transport people safely at high speeds. She could transport the team into combat faster than their jet, evacuate civilians, remove wounded from the battles, carry supplies, etc etc etc. All while using a shield max would have to put a lot of effort into breaking. So about as close to total safety as you can get in this world.

On a related note, after you break the sound barrier. What happens as you continue to accelerate? I mean, we all recognize the visual effect of breaking through the sound barrier, but does anything else happen at mach 2? 3? 7?

[Yuki Akuma]

Well eventually you'll start glowing from the friction, and then eventually you'll be going fast enough to fuse air molecules in front of you and cause an atomic explosion large enough to level a city...

But, nah, mach 2, 3 or even 7 don't have any particularly impressive effects other than causing even louder booms as you pass over stationary objects.

[Traab]

Ah ok, cool. I didnt think so but I wasnt sure.

[BannedInSchool]

Your boom cone gets pointier.

[Emperordaniel]

Well eventually you'll start glowing from the friction, and then eventually you'll be going fast enough to fuse air molecules in front of you and cause an atomic explosion large enough to level a city...

But, nah, mach 2, 3 or even 7 don't have any particularly impressive effects other than causing even louder booms as you pass over stationary objects.

I thought the glow came from compressing the air in front of you, not from friction? :smallconfused:

[Traab]

Doesnt the compression cause friction?

[HandofShadows]

Compression can generate heat. The same result as friction in this case.

[Yuki Akuma]

I thought the glow came from compressing the air in front of you, not from friction? :smallconfused:

That's why re-entry causes a spacecraft to glow, yeah.

Friction causes things to glow too. Re-entry just doesn't take long enough for the friction to have much affect, so it's mostly compression.

If you accelerate through the atmosphere, though, friction is gonna have more of an effect.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

Sydney reaches her topspeed at Mach 4. That is impressive. Of course she will get even faster in the future.
And I really want to know how fast Maxima can go.

Of course Sydney looks for a cloaked spaceship. Who wouldn't?

[Emperordaniel]

At a guess, I'd say Maxima is somewhere in the range of Mach 8 to Mach 10. Seems to me like that would be fitting.

[halfeye]

At a guess, I'd say Maxima is somewhere in the range of Mach 8 to Mach 10. Seems to me like that would be fitting.
However, in space?

What is Max's or/and Sidney's top speed in space? Does Sidney's shield hold air in space?

[HandofShadows]

However, in space?

What is Max's or/and Sidney's top speed in space? Does Sidney's shield hold air in space?

Her shield does hold air in. In fact at one point she had been inside of it to long and started to get light headed.

[Kantaki]

However, in space?

What is Max's or/and Sidney's top speed in space? Does Sidney's shield hold air in space?

Maxima's topspeed in space? Yes. Sydney's? Right now Mach 4 I think:smalltongue:. Is Sydney's shield spaceworthy? It seems likely, considering it protects against everything else that hit it so far. And it is airthight.

[Emperordaniel]

However, in space?

What is Max's or/and Sidney's top speed in space? Does Sidney's shield hold air in space?

I... kind of doubt Max is able to reach orbital speed, since that would require her to be going nearly Mach 25+ (something I doubt even Maxima is able to pull off). She might be able to go suborbital if she really tried, by putting basically all her energy into maintaining forward velocity, but then that would bring up the question of whether Max needs to breathe to live; if I'm remembering the fight with Vehemence correctly, she does.

Sydney's shield is completely airtight so far as we know, so I suppose a Sydney jettisoned out an airlock or something would be able to breathe for as long as the carbon dioxide/oxygen levels in her little bubble remained at a safe level. :smallsmile:

[halfeye]

Maxima's topspeed in space? Yes. Sydney's? Right now Mach 4 I think:smalltongue:. Is Sydney's shield spaceworthy? It seems likely, considering it protects against everything else that hit it so far. And it is airthight.
They can both hover, so getting to space doesn't depend on speed.

Mach numbers depend on the speed of sound, which depends on temperature. The temperature of space is really high, perhaps surprisingly:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=speed+of+sound+at+300+miles

At orbitsl height, the speed of sound is higher, and wind resistance much lower, so what Sidney and Max could do in space is not yet known.

If Max needs air, it may well be that Sidney's ceiling is higher.

[Kantaki]

They can both hover, so getting to space doesn't depend on speed.

Mach numbers depend on the speed of sound, which depends on temperature. The temperature of space is really high, perhaps surprisingly:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=speed+of+sound+at+300+miles

At orbitsl height, the speed of sound is higher, and wind resistance much lower, so what Sidney and Max could do in space is not yet known.

If Max needs air, it may well be that Sidney's ceiling is higher.

Maybe I phrased that badly: Sydney's (current) topspeed in space should be the same as her (current) topspeed in the atmosphere. Since Maxima told her that she was flying Mach 4 I used that. ~2700 mph might have been more precise.

[halfeye]

Maybe I phrased that badly: Sydney's (current) topspeed in space should be the same as her (current) topspeed in the atmosphere. Since Maxima told her that she was flying Mach 4 I used that. ~2700 mph might have been more precise.
As I said earlier, there is no speed. It's all relative. The limit on Sidney's speed in the Earth's atmosphere is probably wind resistance. They need to test whether that changes with height. I don't believe any aircraft much exceed Mach one at sea level (modern jet fighters can get up to something like 800+ mph), because the air is so thick down here.

[TheEmerged]

Well, this is one time that the author's statement about how Maxima's powers work isn't going to apply. He once made a comparison to the old Marvel FASERIP system and said that Maxima's powers were Amazing level on their own, and could be upped to Unearthly with her power pool.

Thing is, Unearthly flight speed in that system was around Mach 2. Yes, I went to the trouble of checking, I remembered it as Mach 3. I don't recall whether or not her SuperSpeed "stacked" to increase it again or not, though.

[Traab]

I dunno, im thinking maximas top speed would be closer to mach 7 or maybe even lower. Why? Because she acknowledges its possible syndey might get faster than her in time and sydney seems to only have one more circle greyed out on her speedometer. Anyways, speed is one thing, now they need to test her reaction time while moving at speed. Im thinking a game of tag on the sprint back to archon. Its REALLY unlikely that sydney will do well here, because she is a normal human so her reaction times wont be equal to the task of mach 4 decision making. This may still be tried if only for max to demonstrate the weakness of her high flight speed.

Another option is max telling sydney that she needs to carry her back to base to test out how carrying cargo effects her potential speed. If she can still hit mach 4 while lugging around a giant gold statue of a hero, then they can try with more weight till they find her limit (Stalwart might be handy for that if it starts reaching impressive amounts) That should cover the majority of investigation into sydney and her flight orb and its general uses. Im sure there is room for more stuff to be tried, but that should cover the major bits of top speed, cargo capacity, and maneuverability.

I am hoping the next test is her shield. Break out the hydraulic press (otherwise known as max and stalwart) And start recording how much crushing pressure it can take till it breaks. Then move on to testing every type of energy they can weaponize to see if it has any weaknesses. It would suck to find out that freeze rays somehow bypass the shield when in the middle of a fight, or that a sonic attack can mess her up. So far nothing has busted it up, but then again, she hasnt faced maxima going full power, and only took a shield hit from vehemence like, halfway to his peak. So thats still a big question mark. Also they need to find out if the size of the shield effects its limits. Can her self only shield block more than one meant to protect a crowd of reporters?

Sydney mentioned her next upgrade point. I hope she doesnt put it in flight. She is fast enough already really, anymore speed boosting would be surplus to her needs. However, boosting her shield and lighthook would be excellent decisions. And it really doesnt matter if it just makes them stronger, or adds an extra feature or ability, either way would be great. Her shield is a great "lol nope" skill to use in any combat scenario and her lighthook is her primary weapon and all purpose tool. Her ppo is pretty deadly, so not likely to be used often, and its pretty inaccurate. You dont want to fire off tank confetti making beams of destruction if you cant hit your target and ONLY your target every single time. If they ever figure out a way to identify her skilltree and know what they all do, it could be handy to slap a few accuracy upgrades into it, but otherwise, stick to the shield and molestorb.

[Traab]

Speaking of upgrade points, I was in a discussion on the comic comment section about the skill trees and man is that a fascinating subject. For example, every orb has a connection to every other orb. What does that mean? At the very center there is a ring that fills in a shape in the very center. The flight and shield dots are filled. Does that explain why sydney has a slight deflector shield automatically while flying? Im also wondering when the mystery orbs will come into play. Im hoping one is a power magnifier. Basically, by holding that orb, your other orb is made much more powerful at the cost of only being able to use one of your skills, ie flight, shield, ppo, at a time.

[Ibrinar]

They test her shield and then they figure that the shield getting broken creates horrific backslash against the user (or maybe creates an explosion) and they have just put her into a coma.

Okay that would sound like terrible design, but when the shield gets overwhelmed it probably is something that would then kill the user and trying to keep up the shield as long as possible even if it leads to a worse failure node makes sense.

Not that I expect anything like that to happen I just wondered if abilities having backslash when being overloaded was a possibility how would you safely test their limits?

[Traab]

They test her shield and then they figure that the shield getting broken creates horrific backslash against the user (or maybe creates an explosion) and they have just put her into a coma.

Okay that would sound like terrible design, but when the shield gets overwhelmed it probably is something that would then kill the user and trying to keep up the shield as long as possible even if it leads to a worse failure node makes sense.

Not that I expect anything like that to happen I just wondered if abilities having backslash when being overloaded was a possibility how would you safely test their limits?

Probably the same way they tested it last time. Put her in a protective suit, have her hunker down behind a large slab of damage resistant material, and tell her to not die. You will never know till you try to find out, and living in fear of the unknown is just silly. Its equally as likely that if her shield breaks it will produce a wave of healing energy to instantly correct any damage about to take place from the attack that broke through the shield. Best to find out under as controlled a circumstance as possible.

[lord_khaine]

Probably the same way they tested it last time. Put her in a protective suit, have her hunker down behind a large slab of damage resistant material, and tell her to not die.

Like Achilles? :smalltongue:

[AvatarVecna]

Like Achilles? :smalltongue:

Sadly that plan may be problematic: most people who are super-durable also have a measure of super-strength that keeps them from being moved, and it's generally pretty comparable to the durability in the order of magnitude it's on. Hiro fits this trend well, as does Vehemence, as well as many of the random misc. villains we saw in the fight. That said, Stalwart is incredibly immovable, but doesn't seem to have either the pure strength or pure durability that's generally associated with that level of immovability. As another example of bucking the trend, Maxima can shift around her strength and durability for whatever immovable level she wants; if she does a full Str dump, an artillery round could tear through her, even if the same force in terms of weight would be easily carried and pushed against.

A nice, easily visible example is Achilles: there's multiple occasions were he's sent flying from blows; they don't kill him, or even injure him, but they do move him, sometimes very much so. The two occasions that spring to mind are 1) the obvious one where Dabbler demonstrated her hand-held railgun, and 2) when Sydney pimp-slapped him upside the head with her Light Hook for saying "mouth feels" over and over.

[Avilan the Grey]

Seems Sydney definitely is moving into Sue territory. I had hoped she would be mid-tier on her powers; having so many of them still makes her the most powerful member of the team. :smallsigh:

[AvatarVecna]

Seems Sydney definitely is moving into Sue territory. I had hoped she would be mid-tier on her powers; having so many of them still makes her the most powerful member of the team. :smallsigh:

As hard as it may be to believe, we're still pretty early in the comic's overall story; it's understandable that the main protagonist (whom the story focuses on) would be a powerful newbie, and it also means there's plenty of time to find weaknesses in her powers. Her shield and flight might be on Maxima's level (maybe), but her Light Hook definitely isn't, and whether the blast-orb is or not is debatable. the Truesight orb is virtually unmatched...well, when it's useful; IIRC they had a character point out how many situations where seeing through magic disguises wasn't useful.

And again, still plenty of time for flaws to be revealed.

[Avilan the Grey]

To be fair I might be biased, she is by far my least favorite of the team after all.

[Douglas]

having so many of them still makes her the most powerful member of the team. :smallsigh:
No, that's Maxima, followed closely by Dabbler. The cast page has been pretty clear about her power level from the beginning - she's extremely powerful but inexperienced, and on a team where multiple teammates outclass even her (in general power, not necessarily head-to-head on her strengths) and also have experience to go with their power.

Also, flight is her second-highest rated power on the cast page, behind only the force field.

[Traab]

Seems Sydney definitely is moving into Sue territory. I had hoped she would be mid-tier on her powers; having so many of them still makes her the most powerful member of the team. :smallsigh:

She is well below maxima in every category they match up in. She is slower, WAAAAY physically weaker even with her lighthook, and its doubtful her ppo can come close to what max is capable of blasting wise. Then you have dabbler, who was able to fight maxima to a standstill, so that would make sydney third ranking at best powers wise. Then when you take into account experience and training you would probably see her defeated by a couple others as well, or at best in a stalemate. She has the potential for more, but there is no way of knowing when that might happen. Hell, it may be years (in comic time) And by then she will be the leader of the west coast branch of Archon while Max heads up the east. :smalltongue:

Sydney is definitely powerful and highly useful, I wont argue that, im just thinking that like you said, your dislike for her is coloring your reaction a bit. (And really, hating the main character of a web comic generally is a bad sign)

[Hiro Protagonest]

Honestly, I'm mildly surprised she's so weak at this point after Maxima thought she might be the most powerful super. I think by the point Sydney gets a decent number of dots filled in, the stakes will be upped anyway.

[HandofShadows]

Honestly, I'm mildly surprised she's so weak at this point after Maxima thought she might be the most powerful super. I think by the point Sydney gets a decent number of dots filled in, the stakes will be upped anyway.

I think Maxima is looking at more than pure strength. Flexibility and adaptability can mean more than raw firepower.

[Traab]

I think Maxima is looking at more than pure strength. Flexibility and adaptability can mean more than raw firepower.

Exactly. Thats why dabbler tied with maxima. Greater flexibility backed up by enough power to force a stalemate. Make no mistake, sydney IS a game changer. She has numerous highly flexible powers, and virtually all of them are at mid to high level range in strength. Honestly, the part that makes ME think of sue, is her genre savvy actually working so damn well. Because despite dave going out of his way early on to point out the numerous fallacies in comic book logic, during the big battle comic book logic saved the day with at least two highly dangerous foes (vehemence and death toll) and helped out in a number of other ways. (tv tropes also was a big help, *cough* inverse ninja *cough*)

However, that was one fight. The only super fight so far (not surprising as its been barely more than 24 hours in comic land) so perhaps that will reverse itself in the future, where she relies on comic book logic to save the day and it fails her. Though speaking of logic, I loved how maxima broke so many of the rules she talked about to sydney when she fought. First forgetting to keep an eye on what was behind the target she aimed at, destroying some highway work, then using a giant cement pillar to attack him with instead of just giving him more boots to the head. As her fists and feet are way harder than cement.

[Forum Explorer]

Exactly. Thats why dabbler tied with maxima. Greater flexibility backed up by enough power to force a stalemate. Make no mistake, sydney IS a game changer. She has numerous highly flexible powers, and virtually all of them are at mid to high level range in strength. Honestly, the part that makes ME think of sue, is her genre savvy actually working so damn well. Because despite dave going out of his way early on to point out the numerous fallacies in comic book logic, during the big battle comic book logic saved the day with at least two highly dangerous foes (vehemence and death toll) and helped out in a number of other ways. (tv tropes also was a big help, *cough* inverse ninja *cough*)

How was Death Toll genre savvy? That seemed to be more observation and a reasonable tactic.

[AvatarVecna]

How was Death Toll genre savvy? That seemed to be more observation and a reasonable tactic.

Firstly, there were three enemies defeated through Sydney's knowledge of comic book tropes: Negative-Energy-Knuckles Guy, Periwinkle Buttsniffer, and Lee Press-On-Nails.

NEKG was defeated by Sydney intentionally playing up a trope, only to subvert it once the enemy dropped their guard. LPON was defeated through her logically thinking through his power combo; in comic books, the heroes would've taken his statements at face value and just tried to whale on him, or restrict/restrain him in some way. PB was defeated by a rather tropy aspect of Sydney's gamer mindset: that any problem has a solution. When you're playing a game, the encounters are tailor-made to provide a challenge without just curbstomping you, with very few, extremely rare exceptions. Sydney assumed that PB was a universal power-counter who could only counter so many powers at once; if, instead, his power allowed him to adapt to the situation in whatever manner he pleased (such as creating an mind-affecting AoE, or becoming immune to powers), then they'd be screwed no matter what. It's possible that the fight could've gone differently if PB hadn't been operating on comic book/gamer logic (no defense if perfect, no offense is unsurvivable, etc.), but it didn't. Thus, PB was defeated because Sydney was genre savvy enough to know how to deal with what she thought his power was: if she hadn't known what to do, they would've just escalated one at a time (because there's too many opponents left for everybody to gang up on just one), until Maxima went toe-to-toe with Periwinkle Buttsniffer and pink curbstomped gold. By figuring out his power, and the way around it, Sydney defeated PB through Genre Savvy BS.

[Traab]

How was Death Toll genre savvy? That seemed to be more observation and a reasonable tactic.

Ok, there was no direct comic connection other than her experience with reading them probably helped her out there, but really, that is normally the reason why she was so effective at various times. She doesnt have the real experience of fighting, but she has read so many comics she can recognize the themes and trends. Like the whole "when someone tells you they get stronger from being attacked you choke them out! Its superhero 101." She didnt figure that out with pure logic, she figured that out from reading all her comics and graphic novels where situations like this pop up and thats how they got solved.

Its like saying, "I played a ton of rainbow six, so I understand small unit military/swat tactics" Only in her case its actually true and she is able to save the day.

[Reltzik]

New comic.

Sydney reaches her topspeed at Mach 4. That is impressive. Of course she will get even faster in the future.
And I really want to know how fast Maxima can go.

Of course Sydney looks for a cloaked spaceship. Who wouldn't?

Well, she dropped the ball on ninja tailors and got ambushed by a nega-knuckles ninja inside her own shield. I'd say her ninja spaceship paranoia is moderately justified. (But why isn't she also on the lookout for ninja poodles, ninja drone-copters, and ninja Spanish Inquisition?)

5 to 1 in favor of Dabbler having access to or the ability to create an invisible spaceship.

Also, it occurs to me that Sydney needs a CO2 filter more than she needs an oxygen tank.

[Kantaki]

Well, she dropped the ball on ninja tailors and got ambushed by a nega-knuckles ninja inside her own shield. I'd say her ninja spaceship paranoia is moderately justified. (But why isn't she also on the lookout for ninja poodles, ninja drone-copters, and ninja Spanish Inquisition?)

:smallbiggrin:No one expects the Ninja Spanish Inquisition.:smallbiggrin:

[Admiral Squish]

Someone in the comments pointed this out: If you look at the two big panels, particularly at the crowd, you can see a guy in a brown hat and coat whose skin turns blue in the second one. It might be a coloring error, but...

[Reltzik]

Oh, hey, you're right.

And it's definitely not just a coloring error, those blue ears are a different, non-human shape.

[lord_khaine]

Seems Sydney definitely is moving into Sue territory. I had hoped she would be mid-tier on her powers; having so many of them still makes her the most powerful member of the team.

It have allready been commented on a lot, but there are 4 members on the team who are stronger than her, and a handful that might in different ways tie with her.

She is mid tier, and will most likely remain there until she has gotten a lot more practice.


How was Death Toll genre savvy? That seemed to be more observation and a reasonable tactic.

I agree on this, as such being genre savvy outside of a work of fiction is kinda useless, from what i saw Sydney noticed how Death Toll only used a single power at the time, and always waited for someone else to attack him.
She is perceptive and smart, when she can remain focused, but i dont give to much for her comic book knowledge in general.

[Lamech]

Honestly Sydney took a big risk with Death Toll. There are a great many ways swarming him could have back-fired even if he only gets one power at a time. Stealing someone's body would have been pretty effective. So would have a bunch of portal shields. Bonus points if the portals close if someone gets partway through.

Nega-knuckles was a trick. Defeating big V was logic. Try to make him use as much energy as possible without triggering his violence absorption.



Its like saying, "I played a ton of rainbow six, so I understand small unit military/swat tactics" Only in her case its actually true and she is able to save the day. Point. Except none of them really have knowledge of serious superhero battles from what I can tell. Its all just theory crafting. Maxima's insane challenge could have ended much worse. What if Opal had opened by flooding the building with carbon monoxide? Or opened a portal into deep space? Or started pushing people through portals and closing them half-way? What if Viktor opened by throwing a car at the group? Or snapping someone's neck? Hell, they probably couldn't have even responded since there wouldn't be any indication of who just murdered their teammates.

Honestly, if genre savy its worked for anyone its Max. Things would have gone much worse if the genre was horror.

[lord_khaine]

Point. Except none of them really have knowledge of serious superhero battles from what I can tell. Its all just theory crafting. Maxima's insane challenge could have ended much worse. What if Opal had opened by flooding the building with carbon monoxide? Or opened a portal into deep space? Or started pushing people through portals and closing them half-way? What if Viktor opened by throwing a car at the group? Or snapping someone's neck? Hell, they probably couldn't have even responded since there wouldn't be any indication of who just murdered their teammates.

Well to start with we dont know if all of those options are something they could actually have done.
That aside though, i think the main reason for why things turned out as they did is that Vehemence were setting things up to give him as much energy as possible, and for that he needed a drawn out and somewhat even fight that left an exhausted Archon victorious.

[Traab]

Well Max at least has fought supers before. She did so in the middle east. Killed a few as well from the way she was talking. As for comic logic, the reason she was able to tell how to counter death was because she was experienced enough with reading comics to realize what he was doing and how to effectively test it. As for vehemence, even he recognized that she was being very genre savvy with her inverse ninja comment. The fact that she used her telepresence orb to talk with the guy who wasnt doing anything while she was in the middle of a small war, simply because she realized any guy standing there by himself almost has to be either in charge, or more dangerous than the rest or both, that was from her experience with super hero comics and other modern media. She recognized the pattern and was right to go with it.

She used her experience with things like fantasy books, comics, D&D to be able to figure out weaknesses like punching V in the throat then wrapping his neck up so it couldnt auto heal because exploiting loopholes is something she has a lot of experience with. No she wasnt rattling off issues of comics where it happened, but comments like superhero 101 just shows thats what it came from. She hasnt even STARTED superhero 101 yet, so clearly she didnt mean actual training, she meant its some of the most basic tricks in the comic book.

[Douglas]

There are a lot of stupid and nonsensical things in comics. There are also a lot of well thought out battles between highly varied superbeings that explore the logical consequences and interactions of various types of superpowers. Amass enough of those well thought out ones, and a decent portion of them will actually resemble reality closely enough to make useful points - and the sheer quantity of them will make those points encompass a far greater number and variety of situations than any real world super would have actually experienced.

Sydney essentially has a vast library of simulation experience to draw on, limited mostly by her ability to evaluate the realism and relevance of it all.

[Traab]

There are a lot of stupid and nonsensical things in comics. There are also a lot of well thought out battles between highly varied superbeings that explore the logical consequences and interactions of various types of superpowers. Amass enough of those well thought out ones, and a decent portion of them will actually resemble reality closely enough to make useful points - and the sheer quantity of them will make those points encompass a far greater number and variety of situations than any real world super would have actually experienced.

Sydney essentially has a vast library of simulation experience to draw on, limited mostly by her ability to evaluate the realism and relevance of it all.

Thats true, I was just pointing out that this is what comes closest to sue territory for me. That this girl whose entire life experience with fighting is what she reads in comics and fantasy novels was able to save the day, and be of a major help, not through overwhelming force, but because those comics told her everything she needed to know to win. Im not even against it really, im just saying that this utterly untrained and completely inexperienced girl is performing on par with, or better than, these highly trained supers. Many of which have military training, and all of which have worked extensively to master their powers and presumably to work together. Honestly, I could see it done better if she had all this excellent problem solving knowledge, but sucked at implementing it due to lack of practice with her skills. Like, she keeps missing her target with the lighthook and hitting the good guy by mistake, or wanders into the path of her teammates trying to take down their enemy. Sure she is fine, she has her shield, but they keep tripping over this civilian who is wandering a battlefield. Or even grabs the wrong orb. Tries to put up her shield, but accidentally blasts a hole in the wall of the restaurant. Things like that. But overall im ok with the path things have taken. There is room for improvement, but its an amusing story, even if the pace is glacially slow. "Here, let me tell you what happened 3 months ago. Might want to grab a pillow, this story will take a dozen years to finish"

[Douglas]

Ah, but how much of that "highly trained" education was in combat against other supers? I'd bet most of the experience and training of pre-Sydney Archon personnel was in fighting conventional military, with maybe a side dose of non-powered terrorists or guerrillas. Maxima took down an undisclosed number of supers in her tour of duty, but even she probably hasn't fought very many meaningfully combat-capable supers - with the notable exception of the one guy who matched her. If there were enough (willing-to-reveal-themselves) supers in the world for the team to get actual experience representing more than a tiny fraction of the volume of superhero comics, they wouldn't have been anywhere near as surprised as they were at the number of enemies in the super brawl last night.

Put Sydney up against a sizable detachment of conventional military forces, and I'd expect her to have very little clue what to do and win only through overwhelming force from her powers, while the rest of Archon would handily steamroll the battle in highly professional fashion. Against supers, though, everyone's a newb and Sydney has a head start on strategy from comics. Except maybe Dabbler, but she took a while to start taking the fight seriously.

[BannedInSchool]

Sydney might also royally screw up by relying on genre knowledge, but just hasn't done so yet. Heh, something could actually follow real world physics instead of comic book physics and that could trip her up. I am Newton Man! You will obey conservation of momentum in my sight! :smalltongue:

[Traab]

I dunno, while archon is only now officially open for business, it has been assembling and training this team for some time now (no we dont know how long) But they clearly have super boot camp, and trainees for it. And I doubt very much they were dumb enough to stick to pure military standard tactics. They likely have spent a lot of time training with and against each other specifically because they need training fighting other supers. But too be fair that is speculation. We flat out dont know how they are trained as we have only touched the very basics with sydney seeing as its her first day. And seeing sydneys massive suite of abilities need to be examined first, it may be a few days before they get past the testing stage and into the real training stage.

[Douglas]

Training against each other would certainly help, and I'm sure they do that frequently, but that's still a pretty limited roster of opponents, covering nowhere near the full spectrum of superpower variations.

[Traab]

Training against each other would certainly help, and I'm sure they do that frequently, but that's still a pretty limited roster of opponents, covering nowhere near the full spectrum of superpower variations.

True, though maxima has most of the general power set, super speed/strength/durability, flight, energy projection and dabbler probably has enough tech toys to approximate most others. Its not possible to be prepared for ANYTHING, but you can still theorycraft a lot. And the good guys did pretty dang well. Im trying to recall. I think before big V showed up, they lost heatwave, achilles and math. But in exchange they took down the better part of over 2 dozen bad guys. They clearly knew what they were doing.

[Kantaki]

New comic.

Flying is awesome.:smallbiggrin:

If I could choose a power flight or teleportation would be my first choice. Well, if I'm the only one who gets a superpower. If there are other supers I would take powercopying.:smallbiggrin:

Aunt Edith says: The version that let's me keep the copied powers of course.:smalltongue:

[Traab]

Meh, most powers are either a pita or a quick trip to the dark side. Flying would be neat and all, but there are so many laws and such restricting who can fly where and when that you would probably spend half your life trying to sort things out with the FAA. "Sir, you went over 400 feet in the air yesterday which is a violation of statute 101639a-b12. That will be a fine, and as this is the third time it has happened, there may be jail time involved"

As for the comic, I love the protege/friend dynamic thats forming here. Sydney really is maxima lite and I think max likes having someone that at least has the potential to be close to her level one day. the loneliness must suck. It helps that she has most of the maxima power bases covered in one form or another. A virtually unbreakable shield for durability, mach 4 travel speed, she has the lighthook for super strength, and of course, destructo beams of ranged death. Plus sydney is just difficult to avoid liking. yeah she can tick you off easy as heck, but she is just so darn friendly and chipper and amusing to be around most of the time.

Speaking of the lighthook, have you guys looked at its skill tree section? Oh man, literally none of the skill tree segments are more than half full. So that means its entirely possible her light hook may one day be boosted into maxima level of power, depending on which one makes it stronger. She may get into mid super strength level if its the halfway one, but even then, it will get a LOT more effective. There are a number of abilities they could represent. Extension length, maneuverability, lifting power, possibly even speed it can travel at. Im also wondering if perhaps the orphan node nearest the ppo could grant it an offensive power. Like, a taser effect she can trigger at will. Wrap you up, then zap you down. Geez, every time I try to comment on sydney lately I get distracted by power ideas.

[Ibrinar]

Teleportation + hang glider (or maybe a wing suit). Not real flight but teleportation would allow me to regain height so I could fly for a long time. And teleportation allows for quick getaways and doing such things far away from your home.

[Qwertystop]

Moving through things (plus the walking-speed flight that requires as a secondary, I suppose, to stay above the floor). Not sure why, I just like the idea.

[Douglas]

If I could choose a power flight or teleportation would be my first choice. Well, if I'm the only one who gets a superpower. If there are other supers I would take powercopying.:smallbiggrin:
I'd go with Harem's power, mainly for the multiple bodies. Teleportation is nice, but that degree of multitasking is better.

That's assuming choices like "make up my own power" and "omnipotence" are not available, of course.

[TheEmerged]

Heh, as I said in that thread, I'd want to be able to perceive the past at any location I'm at, in such a way that what I was perceiving could be recorded.

I wouldn't survive a week, given the people that would want me very, very dead very, very quickly.

[Reltzik]

New comic, extra-large splash page.

.... what?

It's extra large, and look at panel 5. That's a splash page.

I SAID IT'S A SPLASH PAGE!

Answered my question about Sydney getting away from Ariana.

If I could have any power, it would be precognition with choice. Like, here's what happens if I do A, here's what happens if I do B, here's what happens if I do C, etc.

[John Campbell]

If I could have any power, it would be precognition with choice. Like, here's what happens if I do A, here's what happens if I do B, here's what happens if I do C, etc.
That lets you determine things like: The universe in which you live the longest is the one in which you do not throw grenades at Skitter.

I think I'd just go with telekinesis. With sufficient tk power and control, you can emulate a pretty wide array of powers.

[Douglas]

That lets you determine things like: The universe in which you live the longest is the one in which you do not throw grenades at Skitter.
To be fair, Coil's power was considerably more limited in several ways than what Reltzik described, she didn't give him much choice, and he gave it a damn good shot. Of all the people she faced, Coil is one of the select few who took her very seriously indeed right from the start. I can't really blame him for failing to guess that "controls bugs" would turn out to be one of the ultimate supreme powers.

[Discus-Spinner]

It's possibly a sign of age (or good sense) when you say that all the other powers can go hang, you'll take Achilles' unaging invulnerability, thanks muchly.