Grrl Power IV: Constantly Expanded Universe

[Rogar Demonblud]

She does rather remind one of those characters whose arc is mocking the squares right up until they get killed by their bad habits. Which parallels how she keeps getting upstaged in her field of expertise by Sydney's geek-fu (toss a rock through the portal anyone?).

[Rogar Demonblud]

And the hyperactive kender is back.

[Lamech]

I'm starting to reaaallly want Cora to take Dabbler with her when she goes. It'd be the most organic way to write the character out.

That would be for the best.

[lord_khaine]

Times like this are when I find Dabbler most annoying. In a lot of ways she can be just as close minded as the prudes she likes to poke fun at, just coming from the opposite direction.

I honestly think that was a pretty measured response from Dabbler, simply stating "prudes".
Personally i would have said something much more cutting about Sydney Spazzing out like that, simply from learning she had shared sex partners with someone.

I'm starting to reaaallly want Cora to take Dabbler with her when she goes

Nahh.. Dabbler is just slightly annoying.
Who they really need to send off on a buss is Max. Her power level kinda blows the setting apart.
And leaves it kinda convoluted to get challenges she cant blow apart.

Though of course. At the same time she is kinda needed as the level of power above Sydney.
Sydney is kinda troublesome in that generally its all or nothing with her. Either the shield are down.
Or else its up, and so far we have only had 1 encounter who could deal with that.
Or.. perhaps 2. Likely Vehemence could have blown though.

[Keltest]

I honestly think that was a pretty measured response from Dabbler, simply stating "prudes".
Personally i would have said something much more cutting about Sydney Spazzing out like that, simply from learning she had shared sex partners with someone.



Nahh.. Dabbler is just slightly annoying.
Who they really need to send off on a buss is Max. Her power level kinda blows the setting apart.
And leaves it kinda convoluted to get challenges she cant blow apart.

Though of course. At the same time she is kinda needed as the level of power above Sydney.
Sydney is kinda troublesome in that generally its all or nothing with her. Either the shield are down.
Or else its up, and so far we have only had 1 encounter who could deal with that.
Or.. perhaps 2. Likely Vehemence could have blown though.

I mean, the comic has never been about watching people punch each other into submission. Max is a terror in a fight, but raw fights aren't the only thing the team needs to deal with.

[Dragonus45]

Yea the comic isn’t as much about the super powered punching as it is character based slice of life humor and world building with the occasional brawl on the side.
Also Max isn’t as far beyond everyone else as people like to state when complaining. Dabbler fights her to a standstill, and Sydney could likely also counter her effectively in a fight, Vehemance had to go through a bit of a plan to make it happen but he could also do it and likely would be able to do so again as thevplot desires. Then you have the unnamed enemy combatant who supposedly is as able to give her a run for her money, plus all the other people in the Page of future Villains at least a few of whom will likely be able to toss out a beat down here or there. Also Corra could likely at least also keep her at bay or pinned down with her super high tech hard light limbs and very heavy ordinance ordering on enough dakka. The real problem with power saving here is that the people you most expect to be able to be on her level, the supernatural crown who have been around for milenia, didn’t seem to have two brain cells to rub together between them and the one big fight we have seen them all in together was a hit specifically designed to hit them with as many overlapping advantages as possible so they looked positively pathetic. Also Alari girl who’s name I’ve already forgotten was positively a loser.

[Traab]

Sciona was never a threat by herself, the threat was her sending in magical troops and acting like a terrorist. I think they made it fairly clear that she was never meant to stand up to arcswat and be a real struggle to beat. Heck, she flat out FLEES as soon as she sees maxima coming and only went for the big throwdown as a delay tactic. She figured if she pumped herself up with enough abilities she could at least buy the 5 minutes she needed to win. But as for max not being as big a deal, meh. I dont think she was really meant to be some superman in a spiderman level setting. She is one of the most powerful supers known, but that doesnt mean the gap is insurmountable. Sydney versus max is at best a stalemate, all depending on if max CAN in fact, bust that shield. Short of doing a full stat dump from armor, I dont think sydney has any weapon capable of seriously hurting max. She might be faster in a straight line flight now, hard to say for sure as we dont know max's actual limits there. She is physically far weaker going by the lighthook which max can casually hold down as a way to measure its lifting potential.

As for corra, nah. Unless she gets to use her cruiser and its full weapons/shields, I think she dies quick to a speed blitz maxima. Its only a theory but I think the dabbler tie was because max was basically testing her to see what she could do and let her ramp up till she had to turtle. Kinda like vehemence. I think it would be very VERY hard for him to setup another scenario where he gets to absorb the violence of a 40 man super rumble THEN gets to deal with the heroes using progressively scaling attacks as he ramps up to match them until he gets strong enough to match maxima. If she sees him again, im pretty sure her first shot will be for the kill.

[halfeye]

If she sees him again, im pretty sure her first shot will be for the kill.

He's serving time at the moment, if/when he is released, if she just sees him in the street, she blooming better not kill him with no provocation.

[Douglas]

Maxima wouldn't attack Vehemence without a good reason to, and she'd probably give him a chance to surrender first, but she'd escalate a hell of a lot faster than the first time because now she knows the escalation has to outpace the violence energy he gets from it. Depending on the circumstances, that could mean going for a kill shot right from the start.

It seems unlikely to come to that, though, because Vehemence knows that she's the kind of person that really will follow through on that kind of threat. If Maxima shows up and demands his surrender, he would immediately surrender unless he thinks he's already powered up enough to survive her deadliest attack.

[Ibrinar]

If he finds another teleporter he can just soak up some bigger normal conflict before dropping in on her and taking her out. She would be quicker but he also learned that maxima is someone he should just kill instead of going for a brawl. Well of course she is a main character so he has no hope of doing that. (Also he has no current reason to end up in a conflict with her.)

[Dragonus45]

The doubt Vehemence will be relevant again honestly outside of a potential boxed crook big damn heroes moment that ends in him being a perpetual jobber. But if he ever did need to be a threat the plot has plenty of ways to justify it.

[Traab]

He's serving time at the moment, if/when he is released, if she just sees him in the street, she blooming better not kill him with no provocation.

Well yes of course, I was talking about if he escapes and stirs up trouble. I dont mean that if he gets out on parole and she sees him wandering down main street with groceries in hand she will squish him.

[lord_khaine]

Sciona was never a threat by herself, the threat was her sending in magical troops and acting like a terrorist. I think they made it fairly clear that she was never meant to stand up to arcswat and be a real struggle to beat. Heck, she flat out FLEES as soon as she sees maxima coming and only went for the big throwdown as a delay tactic. She figured if she pumped herself up with enough abilities she could at least buy the 5 minutes she needed to win.

Sciona were for that matter fighting a rather large group of extremely powerful heroes. That she wasnt instantly squashed is honestly already impressed.

But as for max not being as big a deal, meh. I dont think she was really meant to be some superman in a spiderman level setting. She is one of the most powerful supers known, but that doesnt mean the gap is insurmountable. Sydney versus max is at best a stalemate, all depending on if max CAN in fact, bust that shield. Short of doing a full stat dump from armor, I dont think sydney has any weapon capable of seriously hurting max. She might be faster in a straight line flight now, hard to say for sure as we dont know max's actual limits there. She is physically far weaker going by the lighthook which max can casually hold down as a way to measure its lifting potential.

Well.. she does kinda seem like at least a Iron Man/Thor level Super in a Spiderman level setting.
The Gasp might not be insurmountable. But its close by. I cant see what combination of Archon members could take her down.
Else.. well.. it is of course just guesswork. But based on what sort of blast almost cracked the shield, and on what sort of energy Max seems to be able to generate.
Then its my own personal view that a full power blast likely can take it down to red at the very least.

As for corra, nah. Unless she gets to use her cruiser and its full weapons/shields, I think she dies quick to a speed blitz maxima. Its only a theory but I think the dabbler tie was because max was basically testing her to see what she could do and let her ramp up till she had to turtle. Kinda like vehemence. I think it would be very VERY hard for him to setup another scenario where he gets to absorb the violence of a 40 man super rumble THEN gets to deal with the heroes using progressively scaling attacks as he ramps up to match them until he gets strong enough to match maxima. If she sees him again, im pretty sure her first shot will be for the kill.

Just about everything dies to speed Blitz Max. She is far less powerful than Superman. But in return she is utterly ruthless. As we saw when she ashed Vehemence's arm.
If your not either fast enough to catch a bullet, or tough enough to shrug that off, then you dont need to apply.

Yes we have been told that Dabbler could fight Max to a draw. But at the same time, Max is ranked two tiers above Dabbler on the power scale.
It does not seem directly unlikely she has held back just a tiny bit. Its not like she needs the ego boost.

If he finds another teleporter he can just soak up some bigger normal conflict before dropping in on her and taking her out. She would be quicker but he also learned that maxima is someone he should just kill instead of going for a brawl. Well of course she is a main character so he has no hope of doing that. (Also he has no current reason to end up in a conflict with her.)

It would need to be a rather massive conflict to produce the degree of violence found in a massive super brawl. Though i Guess Vehemence could generate his own. I just doubt he will be allowed outside without careful tracking.

The doubt Vehemence will be relevant again honestly outside of a potential boxed crook big damn heroes moment that ends in him being a perpetual jobber. But if he ever did need to be a threat the plot has plenty of ways to justify it.

And yeah it does seem more likely Vehemence would be dug out in the face of an alien invasion or C'thullu dropping by. That sort of thing. Somewhere where they need another super on Max's level.

[Douglas]

And yeah it does seem more likely Vehemence would be dug out in the face of an alien invasion or C'thullu dropping by. That sort of thing. Somewhere where they need another super on Max's level.

Interestingly, he seems like the kind of guy who would actually keep a promise to return to imprisonment without resistance afterward.

[Keltest]

Yes we have been told that Dabbler could fight Max to a draw. But at the same time, Max is ranked two tiers above Dabbler on the power scale.
It does not seem directly unlikely she has held back just a tiny bit. Its not like she needs the ego boost.

My read on Dabbler fighting Max was that while Dabbler couldn't match Max blow for blow, she had such a wide array of options and abilities to draw from that Max simply couldn't make any headway. Dabbler couldn't overcome a Max focusing on defense, but she had enough tools and abilities to prevent Max from just unloading on her at full power.

[lord_khaine]

Interestingly, he seems like the kind of guy who would actually keep a promise to return to imprisonment without resistance afterward.

Yes. It is kinda my reading of him. Though at the same time, i suspect he would negotiate for a full pardon if he had to go out and help Max finish off Anti-Max
before their brawl leveled New York.

My read on Dabbler fighting Max was that while Dabbler couldn't match Max blow for blow, she had such a wide array of options and abilities to draw from that Max simply couldn't make any headway. Dabbler couldn't overcome a Max focusing on defense, but she had enough tools and abilities to prevent Max from just unloading on her at full power.

Yeah we were told thats how she managed to force the draw. Constantly keeping Max on the defensive. Forcing her to keep her pool invested in armor.
That just cant be the entire story. I mean we saw it work for Vehemence. But that was only because he were already as strong and as fast as Max.
And his lighting strikes were suposedly powerful enough to ash a regular human.

But even at her base level, without the assistance of her power pool, Max has a base strenght and speed around spiderman level.
Thats a lot when you add in flight and Comic book Thor level invulnerability.

So its kinda hard to imagine what Dabbler would do to keep away from Max just constantly rushing towards her to engage in melee.

[Lamech]

Kinda like vehemence. I think it would be very VERY hard for him to setup another scenario where he gets to absorb the violence of a 40 man super rumble THEN gets to deal with the heroes using progressively scaling attacks as he ramps up to match them until he gets strong enough to match maxima. If she sees him again, im pretty sure her first shot will be for the kill.

I don't think that V's power actually burns off over time unless he is using it for something or gets knocked out. If he ever gets released he could find himself plenty of conflicts to power up on.

It would need to be a rather massive conflict to produce the degree of violence found in a massive super brawl. Though i Guess Vehemence could generate his own. I just doubt he will be allowed outside without careful tracking.

There are quite a lot massive conflicts in the real world. Far bigger than that little super brawl, which was mostly restricted to a single lot. If manages to get acquitted or the charges dismissed or finishes his sentence he can just wander over to anyone of those.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Yeah we were told that's how she managed to force the draw. Constantly keeping Max on the defensive. Forcing her to keep her pool invested in armor.
That just cant be the entire story. I mean we saw it work for Vehemence. But that was only because he were already as strong and as fast as Max.
And his lighting strikes were supposedly powerful enough to ash a regular human.

But even at her base level, without the assistance of her power pool, Max has a base strength and speed around Spiderman level.
That's a lot when you add in flight and Comic book Thor level invulnerability.

So its kinda hard to imagine what Dabbler would do to keep away from Max just constantly rushing towards her to engage in melee.

I'm trying to remember if Dabbler's powersuite includes blinking or short-range teleportation. I don't think so. But she's quite capable of mimicking it with her illusions, at least long enough to be breaking out her bag of tricks. Remember, while Max can respend her power points on the fly, it doesn't happen instantaneously. If Dabbler can force her to keep shifting around to adapt to one specific situation, she can get inside Max's OODA-loop for a while. Eventually, Max is going to just pick something and go with it, but the sparring session was probably called on account of budget meeting or whatever before that happened.

[lord_khaine]

I don't think that V's power actually burns off over time unless he is using it for something or gets knocked out. If he ever gets released he could find himself plenty of conflicts to power up on.

If it didnt, he would not need the trouble with setting up the super brawl.
He could just have watched a month of hockey matches.

There are quite a lot massive conflicts in the real world. Far bigger than that little super brawl, which was mostly restricted to a single lot. If manages to get acquitted or the charges dismissed or finishes his sentence he can just wander over to anyone of those.

Likely the range of his absorbtion is limited. I doubt even in most open warfare that you will find that degree of concentrated violence.

I'm trying to remember if Dabbler's powersuite includes blinking or short-range teleportation. I don't think so. But she's quite capable of mimicking it with her illusions, at least long enough to be breaking out her bag of tricks. Remember, while Max can respend her power points on the fly, it doesn't happen instantaneously. If Dabbler can force her to keep shifting around to adapt to one specific situation, she can get inside Max's OODA-loop for a while. Eventually, Max is going to just pick something and go with it, but the sparring session was probably called on account of budget meeting or whatever before that happened.

The point i were making is that Max dont need to adapt with the raw power she has.
Though yes Dabbler can blink a couple meters with magic.

[Rogar Demonblud]

The point I were making is that Max don't need to adapt with the raw power she has.
Though yes Dabbler can blink a couple meters with magic.

Raw power only matters if Maxima is trying to speed blitz Dabbler to kill her. That is useless in an evaluation session where you are trying to figure out someone's 1) power 2) skill and 3) experience. That's going to start slow and ramp up to find out where the limits are (vide Maxima doing the same thing with Halo).

[lord_khaine]

In such a scenarie Dabbler should have gotten stuck at Max on 75% output or whatever number is fitting.
Because even in a Vehemence setup, where Max are only "growing" slowly towards full power, then there should come a time where she became to hard to handle.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Awk-ward!


((really, the first thing to come to mind reading today's page, and still the best my brain comes up with))

[halfeye]

Awk-ward!


((really, the first thing to come to mind reading today's page, and still the best my brain comes up with))

Well yeah, but saying "I decided we are going out" is out of order at any time.

[Dragonus45]

I mean, tone and existing relationship before hand could do a lot to justify a line like that, or even make it endearing. This was not one of those situations to begin with. Also, OUCH. That stings, the moment you gain some confidence and go to ask someone out and then you see someone who is almost your exact copy in a lot of ways already got there first. Been there before lol.

[Rogar Demonblud]

The only times we've seen Sydney and Leon interacting was a nerd-off her first day and a geekfest when she came back from the nightclub. Calling them acquaintances might be stretching it.

[Ibrinar]

This promises to be awkward, despite having read the whole watamote anime characters in situations like this always make me a bit uncomfortable.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Sydney and Krona agree on something.

Also, Leon needs to shut up right now. Twenty seconds ago would've been better.

[Traab]

At least we dont have to deal with a weeks worth of sydney freak out moments before reaching this point.

[The Glyphstone]

Random question, but do we know anything at all about Sydney's mother aside from the fact that she is alive?

[Rogar Demonblud]

She acquiesced to naming her daughter Sydney Scoville Jr. And she's very much second banana in the parenting department, because that's pretty much it. We know Senior is also a comic book geek who want autographed originals of the ARCHON collectibles, but that's about it for him

Oh, and since the subject never comes up, they seem to approve of Halo's new career choices.

But then we know squat about anybody else's families, so it's not like this is an unusual state of affairs.