Grrl Power VI: Stripping The Hero Doesnt Work

[Traab]

I think its less that she is considering switching sides and more she has to pass the time waiting somehow and it doesnt hurt her to confirm why she has no real choice in the matter. If she was a bit more savvy I would say she is setting up an eventual plea bargain. After all, hard to blame her for doing what she had to do to save her life. If someone said, "Rob that bank or I shoot you" I think that would be taken into account upon sentencing. So if she gets caught by arcswat and taken in, she has the ability to claim duress and maybe get at the very least a solid chance at jabberwokky status if not being let go. After all, she hasnt actually hurt anyone that we know of yet, so it would be fairly simple to justify.

[Keltest]

I think its less that she is considering switching sides and more she has to pass the time waiting somehow and it doesnt hurt her to confirm why she has no real choice in the matter. If she was a bit more savvy I would say she is setting up an eventual plea bargain. After all, hard to blame her for doing what she had to do to save her life. If someone said, "Rob that bank or I shoot you" I think that would be taken into account upon sentencing. So if she gets caught by arcswat and taken in, she has the ability to claim duress and maybe get at the very least a solid chance at jabberwokky status if not being let go. After all, she hasnt actually hurt anyone that we know of yet, so it would be fairly simple to justify.

She may also just be legitimately vexed by the situation and wanting to vent. She is a hostage after all.

[Dragonus45]

I think its less that she is considering switching sides and more she has to pass the time waiting somehow and it doesnt hurt her to confirm why she has no real choice in the matter. If she was a bit more savvy I would say she is setting up an eventual plea bargain. After all, hard to blame her for doing what she had to do to save her life. If someone said, "Rob that bank or I shoot you" I think that would be taken into account upon sentencing. So if she gets caught by arcswat and taken in, she has the ability to claim duress and maybe get at the very least a solid chance at jabberwokky status if not being let go. After all, she hasnt actually hurt anyone that we know of yet, so it would be fairly simple to justify.

There is real historical precedent for this kind of thing with Brian Wells who was supposedly forced to rob a bank with a bomb around his neck as leverage. The situation is complicated because authorities believe he was actually involved and it was some kind of multilayer alibi thing gone wrong but general consensus is that if that bomb were real he would have been mostly ok, but only because the context was that he had no reasonable means, or time, to notify authorities of the crimes. One could argue that whether she directly intends it or not informing Sydney here is giving her great cover.

[AvatarVecna]

"You know what I miss about having a flesh-and-blood body? The lovely way my titties bounced around."

r/menwritingwomen

[Keltest]

"You know what I miss about having a flesh-and-blood body? The lovely way my titties bounced around."

r/menwritingwomen

I dunno. If i was trapped exclusively in a fake body that didnt behave like my real one, i would be pretty put out too. The abnormality would be far more upsetting than the specific function i was missing, which i think is the point here.

[AvatarVecna]

I dunno. If i was trapped exclusively in a fake body that didnt behave like my real one, i would be pretty put out too. The abnormality would be far more upsetting than the specific function i was missing, which i think is the point here.

I don't disagree with that necessarily - there's almost certainly going to be some body dismorphia going on. But unlike more standard cases of BD, this is a pretty extreme "my body is completely different". I don't have an issue with "i miss masturbation", I don't think titty-jiggling would exactly be so near the top of her list of examples. You know that scene in Pirates Of The Caribbean where Barbosa is telling Elizabeth about the things he misses about being truly alive? You know how "feeling the weight of my johnson shifting in my pants when I run" wasn't on the list? Does that feel like an awkward thing to have near the top of your list? Cuz it feels pretty awkward to me.

And for some reason, I don't think the tits were mentioned because Dave did a ton of research into extreme body dismorphia cases. And while I'm not sure if Dave is intending to handle that for the next few strips, it's already starting on a worse foot than when QC touched on the same topic.

[Keltest]

I don't disagree with that necessarily - there's almost certainly going to be some body dismorphia going on. But unlike more standard cases of BD, this is a pretty extreme "my body is completely different". I don't have an issue with "i miss masturbation", I don't think titty-jiggling would exactly be so near the top of her list of examples. You know that scene in Pirates Of The Caribbean where Barbosa is telling Elizabeth about the things he misses about being truly alive? You know how "feeling the weight of my johnson shifting in my pants when I run" wasn't on the list? Does that feel like an awkward thing to have near the top of your list? Cuz it feels pretty awkward to me.

And for some reason, I don't think the tits were mentioned because Dave did a ton of research into extreme body dismorphia cases. And while I'm not sure if Dave is intending to handle that for the next few strips, it's already starting on a worse foot than when QC touched on the same topic.

I mean, you probably arent wrong, but at the same time, i feel like "my body doesnt move the way i expect it to unless i force it to" seems like a fairly serious thing that somebody would genuinely be upset about.

[Traab]

I mean, you probably arent wrong, but at the same time, i feel like "my body doesnt move the way i expect it to unless i force it to" seems like a fairly serious thing that somebody would genuinely be upset about.

And lets face it, of all the parts of your body, a womans upper quadrant probably does the most independent movement of any body part male or female. The bigger said quadrant is, the worse it gets. So you are going to notice they dont move anymore. Maybe if you have longish hair that would be a close second as it moving around is normal and now that its stone, it aint doing that no more. But yeah, Dave probably meant it to be a tone shifting joke more than anything else.

[Shining Wrath]

The maximum speed of a vehicle is not closely coupled with the acceleration. A good example is a spacecraft with a big sail to catch the solar wind. It accelerates very slowly, but the theoretical maximum speed asymptotically approaches the speed of light.

Yes, eventually the solar wind diminishes to "not very much", so your max speed is a function of stellar brightness, size of sail, and mass of spacecraft-sail system. Acceleration does matter, but that spacecraft is going to be going way faster than Mach 16 with acceleration a fraction of a g.

I think Concretia maybe likes talking to someone who isn't holding her body hostage, or trying to beat her up, or trying to flee in terror - admittedly, Sydney might flee if she could, but she's pretty calm right now.

[Kantaki]

New comic

Wow. One page, not even a name and already I want to feed him feet first into a wood chipper.
Even ignoring the creepiness of the scene.

Seriously, don't cut your minion off when they're trying to give you potentially important information.
Let them say their piece then torture them if you still deem it necessary.
Or, novel thought, don't.
Don't punish them for doing the job to their best ability/understanding.
Also, assume some basic competence unless proven otherwise.

I mean, you already messed up by abducting the lady in the first place, don't make it worse by mistreating her.

[HandofShadows]

I think a wood chipper may be to quick. And something just occurred to me, Sydney still has her glasses. You know the ones stuffed with advanced technology? How is that going to play into this?

[Keltest]

I think a wood chipper may be to quick. And something just occurred to me, Sydney still has her glasses. You know the ones stuffed with advanced technology? How is that going to play into this?

I have some vague recall of her being able to text with them through eye movement? Or something? Does that connect to earth phones?

[Traab]

Wood chipper is fine, you just go feet first is all.

[TeChameleon]

...

"Dr Has Issues with Women"? His first meeting with Max is going to be fun.

To watch.

For us

[Sean Mirrsen]

Anybody else think he looks suspiciously like Deus?

[Keltest]

Anybody else think he looks suspiciously like Deus?

Doesnt Deus have an extremely prominent scar on his face?

[The Glyphstone]

Doesnt Deus have an extremely prominent scar on his face?

Deus's scar is on the bridge of his nose/upper face, so the mask would cover it. On the other hand, his face is also shaped very differently. Much more narrow/angular than Dr Has Issues With Women.

[HandofShadows]

Defiantly not Dues. He treats his employees MUCH better.

[Dragonus45]

Yea, Deus also doesn't seem like a sex crimes kind of guy either. This guy reeks of that.

[Forum Explorer]

Anybody else think he looks suspiciously like Deus?

He's got way too many wrinkles. I think that puts him out of having a power of his own too.

[TeChameleon]

He's got way too many wrinkles. I think that puts him out of having a power of his own too.

... huh. That brings up an interesting point; we don't know how powers interact with aging, do we? I'm pretty sure they don't grant immortality or anything (at least, not by default), but all the supers we've seen have been pretty young, relatively speaking, at least as far as I can remember.

And yeah, this guy is giving a radically different vibe than Deus. Deus always felt like... well, kinda Norman Osborn with Doctor Doom's ego. He's more focused on the corporate end of things, like Osborn, but he's the sort of guy who doesn't want to conquer the world because the world should submit to him willingly, as both its rightful ruler and the one most able to rule. Petty power plays like this guy is pulling are... not beneath him, exactly, I just don't think it would even occur to Deus to do things like that.

[Traab]

... huh. That brings up an interesting point; we don't know how powers interact with aging, do we? I'm pretty sure they don't grant immortality or anything (at least, not by default), but all the supers we've seen have been pretty young, relatively speaking, at least as far as I can remember.

And yeah, this guy is giving a radically different vibe than Deus. Deus always felt like... well, kinda Norman Osborn with Doctor Doom's ego. He's more focused on the corporate end of things, like Osborn, but he's the sort of guy who doesn't want to conquer the world because the world should submit to him willingly, as both its rightful ruler and the one most able to rule. Petty power plays like this guy is pulling are... not beneath him, exactly, I just don't think it would even occur to Deus to do things like that.

Yeah, while he has absolutely no problem with blackmail and extortion, he is not the type to be this petty small minded and vindictive. He would ABSOLUTELY be the type to hold your real body hostage so you work for him if your power set was valuable enough, but he wouldnt be casually abusive like this unless he caught her actively working to undercut him or escape. And the line he makes her say? Nope.

[Narkis]

I thought it'd be the Cleansing guy, but he looks too different even taking the art change into account. Even the eye color doesn't match.

[Dragonus45]

Yeah, while he has absolutely no problem with blackmail and extortion, he is not the type to be this petty small minded and vindictive. He would ABSOLUTELY be the type to hold your real body hostage so you work for him if your power set was valuable enough, but he wouldnt be casually abusive like this unless he caught her actively working to undercut him or escape. And the line he makes her say? Nope.

You know I don't know if Dues would even do the body hostage bit. Frankly if there was someone so valuable that he just had to have them but couldn't get them to join him willingly I think he would rather kill someone to remove them as anyone's asset then screw around with a complicated hostage situation that will inevitably bit him in the ass, and I agree that even if he did go that route he would aim for about as polite as he could manage to help cut down on the aforementioned inevitable downsides. Abusing your agent in the field is just counterproductive.

[lord_khaine]

Alright. That i think. Was genuinly smart.
A bluff build upon how weird her powers are.
And on how unpredictable super powers are.

[Traab]

Its a nice way to distract, confuse, and add some paranoia. I personally wouldnt have added the part about dabbler as that would make them hurry up, but its entirely possible everything up till then might have caused hesitation as they cant be sure whats going on. Drug her, make her vanish, hope she was bluffing. Also, its entirely possible this was her setting up a glasses based email to get the warning out. Enough nonsense phrasing so they cant tell what she is doing, but enough of a hint of issues to get attention from her fur baby. After all, if she just yelled out "Hey lover boy, im held at this location by three goons and conretia, tell dabbler/max/whoever quick before they vanish me!" They likely would have knocked her out within the first 3 seconds. This is next tier "Find a way to use the word vermilion to let us know you are under duress."

[Traab]

So todays update shows that max is having way too much fun to wonder whats been keeping sydney. The mercs also havent had a thought for her yet. Dabbler and the B team may be her only hope as they arent currently doing much. Maybe Frix will get the email sydney (possibly) sent out and contact his captain.

[lord_khaine]

Have to grant it to HW. Today's idea was a brilliant case of acting.
I laughted so hard at the clown comment. And of Max looking confused at her own fist

[Traab]

Agreed, I make fun of her because she is very off balance and out of her league, but she is actually a fairly smart fighter. And balancing powers you havent had all your life cant be easy.

[HandofShadows]

HW may be a fairly smart fighter, but Max is a VERY smart fighter as seen in the last panel.